Three Kingdoms

"The hussars must be east of the river." 』

Cao Cao said slowly, his voice a little dull.

"Most of the elite hussar cavalry are now in Zuofengyi... and Hedong is only separated by a river..."

Cao Cao's beard moved and he swallowed the next half of the sentence.

The reason why Cao Cao and Guo Jia thought it was a good thing that Fei Qian came to Hedong before was because they felt that Fei Qian could no longer sit still and control Hedong, so Fei Qian wanted to come to Hedong to take charge.

To suppress Hedong, of course, we need to bring a large number of soldiers, and a large number of soldiers hoarding in Hedong will inevitably cause more problems. When the time comes...

If so, it's naturally good news.

Otherwise, why would Cao Cao brave the freezing weather to build a military camp here in Zhongtiao Mountain when he was full?

And why was Cao Hong sent to attack Zhang Yangchi and Cao Xiu to attack Zhiguan Road?

Naturally, it was to seduce Qi Qi Fei Qian.

But what Cao Cao never expected was that he deliberately opened his wings to expose the middle door, but no hussars came to attack!

Fei dived to the east of the river, but he was so calm, as if he didn't care whether Cao Cao crossed the river or built a military stronghold on Zhongtiao Mountain.

Feiqian can't come now...

That's a little awkward, and a little bad.

The first is food and grass, and the second is...

Guo Jia's eyebrows moved, "Lord, if that's the case...I'm afraid when our troops send troops to Anyi and enter the plains..."

"Jedi. ” Guo Jia didn’t dare to say it directly, but Cao Cao said it without hesitation.

Guo Jia was silent.

"All the generals said that Tong Pass should be broken in the middle of Tu Pass." But they don’t know that Hedong is the one who controls Dachuan and views Xijing most. ” Cao Cao said slowly, “Pingyang has fertile soil. Floods and droughts depend on people. They farm and herd, and they don’t know about famine. If the Yang family managed things properly back then and made Sili stable, why would there be a need to develop weapons now? 』

Of course, isn't this talking about Cao Cao himself?

Who can imagine what happened in those early years?

If it could have been imagined earlier, would there still be the present?

However, Guo Jia more or less understood what Cao Cao meant.

"The Yang family has a false reputation, but his civil and military abilities are really average." "Cao Cao shook his head and sighed, "The Yang family's original reputation in Sili Hedong is a pity...a pity..."

What's the pity?

Guo Jia didn't dare to think or say too much.

"The order is passed down, each department restrains itself and is not allowed to plunder the place without authorization for the time being. Cao Cao took a deep breath and said, "I ordered Xu County to collect more grain and grass and transport it here." 』

"Lord..."

Cao Cao waved his hand, "That's it for now... let's go and do it." When Yang Dezu arrived, he called in to see someone. 』

Originally, Cao Cao had the idea of ​​supplementing military supplies with supplies from Hedong, but now...

Not only cannot he move around, but he also needs extra care, otherwise it will really be the same as pushing the land of Hedong into Fei Qian's arms.

But how easy is it to dispatch supplies and food from the rear?

…

…

Yang Xiu sat on the cart, trying his best to straighten his waist and maintain his bearing as a messenger.

Pingyang City is far away in the horizon.

Back then, Fei Qian was just a nobody. Who would notice him in ordinary times?

Yang Xiu had already become famous in Heluo very early on. He went to high-end places and his every move was rumored and praised by countless people.

It wasn't until Feiqian's key battle in Hedong, where he defeated the Baibo Army in one fell swoop, defeated the greater number with less, and pacified the Northland, that Feiqian's name gradually became known to the world.

But he still sounds like a nobody.

But in fact, Fei is an ancient surname. In the Spring and Autumn Period, the grandson of Emperor Zhuanxu of Qin rushed to Jin Dynasty and was granted the title of Peijun in Peizhong. The mausoleum of the sixth generation was moved to Jie and named as Jiejun. Therefore, there were Pei family, Fei family, Bandit family, Lei family, Jie family, Lu family, etc. All are derivatives.

However, a certain person is the main branch of the Yang family!

Yang Xiu couldn't help but grit his teeth.

Who can't say a word of admiration after hearing someone's name?

As for...

Fiji?

What's this surname?

I have never heard of it, I have no sense of involvement, so I say goodbye.

Orthodox...

He, the Yang family, is the famous high-ranking noble family of the Han Dynasty!

The great Han Dynasty is orthodox!

Now, will the big man, like this surname, fall into the hands of a side branch?

The vehicle swayed and creaked.

It's like crying, but also like laughing.

…

…

Standing on the top of Pingyang City, Fei Qian looked into the distance and shook his head slightly.

"After all, I still can't hide it from Cao Mengde. 』

Cao Cao sent Yang Xiu to deliver a letter.

War letter.

Xun Chen whispered from the side: "The thieves are advancing to the east of the river, but the land is peaceful and the people are stable and will not be disturbed by them... Therefore, it is probably guessed that the lord is here." 』

Of course the explanation can also be explained in this way.

Fei Qian nodded without delving into the meaning of this leak.

Because regardless of whether the fact that he was in Pingyang was leaked or not, the battle situation was still like this.

Cao Cao could not defeat Tongguan, or in other words, it was impossible to defeat him in a short time, and Cao Cao's rear could not support it. The larger the proportion of the agricultural economy, the more difficult it will be to support a long-term war. Just like China often talks about itself as a "big country", it seems to be very bullish, but once it is invaded by a foreign enemy, it immediately changes its mind and thinks it is just a "scabies disease" and is not worth mentioning.

If it were a powerful country, would those "scabies diseases" dare to invade?

Of course, this also shows from another perspective that, at least in the eyes of many Shandong people, Fei Qian and the Guanzhong regime under Fei Qian may still be insignificant. These people are stubborn about what they think and are unwilling to accept any changes.

Yang Xiu arrived.

He seemed to walk up to Fei Qian calmly and bowed deeply, saying, "I have seen the Hussars General." 』

Fei Qian smiled and said, "Dezu came here, is it the Yang family or the Cao family?" 』

Yang Xiu cupped his hands and replied, "No." Xiu came here this time, which is the "courtesy" of the world. 』

"Hmm..." Fei Qian narrowed his eyes slightly, "Where does "ritual" come from? 』

Yang Xiu said: "'Li' comes from 'people'." Since the Hussar hopes to control the world, he should also know that "when he is satisfied with human feelings, he suffers from indulgence and is quick to desire, forgetting the meaning of careful punishment." 』

Fei Qian laughed, waved his hand and said, "Dezu has come a long way, so he must be tired. You might as well go and rest for a while, waiting for someone to host a banquet for you." 』

Yang Xiu thanked him and retreated first.

Fei Qian glanced at Xun Chen and said, "Youruo, do you think Yang Dezu should be killed or not?" 』

Smiling in front of his face and holding a knife behind his back, Fei Qian can be regarded as adhering to the "fine tradition" of China for thousands of years...

Xun Chen was stunned for a moment, then lowered his head and said: "My lord, this... the two armies are fighting, don't kill the envoy..."

Fei Qian nodded, "Then why is it "the two armies are fighting, and the envoy is not killed"? 』

"This is the battle between Song and Chu..." Xun Chen said halfway, then suddenly stopped, "My lord's intention is..."

Fei Qian smiled, nodded and said, "Go and do it." 』

Xun Chen took a breath, accepted the order and left.

This kind of "preferential treatment" for messengers existed not only in ancient China, but also in later generations.

But not absolutely.

For example, if Cao Cao sent someone randomly, Fei Qian would kill him casually.

Not just anyone can become an envoy, just like if Yang Xiu didn't say "a gift from the world", but just delivered a letter of challenge and killed Fei Qian without saying anything, after all, people who can't reflect their own value, It doesn't have much value anymore.

Now, Yang Xiu didn't mention anything about the gauntlet, and neither did Fei Qian.

Although this is obviously Yang Xiu's most important task on the surface, it obviously doesn't mean much to Fei Qian and Yang Xiu, because not only Fei Qian and Yang Xiu, but also Cao Cao know that the focus is not on what is written in the war book. How, but the things behind the gauntlet.

Just like history, it's not about how well the thirty characters are written, but whether Jiangdong can withstand the three hundred thousand troops behind the thirty characters.

Jiangdong's declaration of war against Cao Cao is a game of will of the entire Jiangdong gentry system.

Cao Cao also had bad intentions when he came to give Fei Qian a gauntlet.

And what Fei Qian wants to show now is also something outside of the letter of challenge...

…

…

Where the convention comes from, few people seem to delve into it.

Just like the Han Dynasty's method of governing the country, it seems to have come from previous practices, but why it is like this, not many people have carefully explored it.

Envoys are mainly served by scholars.

So, what if you try it as an ordinary person?

The results can be imagined.

So from a certain point of view, the nobles are even very excited about this "envoy" status...

It's like a dog seeing meat.

This is not to say that Fei Qian wants to break this "convention" and kill Yang Xiu, but the flavor behind it is too "big man"...

Fei Qian doesn't think this "routine" is very good.

Perhaps the entire situation now, in the eyes of these Han gentry children, is like that of Wang Mang and Liu Xiu back then.

The order in the court collapsed, and all the heroes in the world competed.

The wealthy families supported the political power in their respective places, forming separate vassals one after another.

People of later generations are familiar with the Three Kingdoms because of the great contribution of Mr. Luo. In fact, during the periods of Wang Mang and Liu Xiu, the situation of feudal princes in various places having separatist regimes had already happened.

For example, Wang Lang’s ascension to the throne was jointly planned by Prince Liu Lin of Zhao Mu and Zhao’s great tycoons Li Yu and Zhang Shen;

When Liu Yong raised his army, he "recruited many heroes, including Zhou Jian and others, and appointed them as generals";

Zhang Bu segregated the entire territory, and "there were many heroes supporting the crowd and Zhang Bu's army";

Lu Fang was the result of "the discussion of heroes from three rivers", and was supported by heroes such as Li Xing and Sui Yu from Wuyuan, Tian Sa from Shuofang, Shi Qian and Min Kan from Daijun, who "each raised an army and called himself a general"... …

So now if Wang Lang is replaced by Yuan Shu, Liu Yong is replaced by Cao Cao, Zhang Bu is replaced by Yuan Shao, and Lu Fang is replaced by Ma Teng and Han Sui, there seems to be nothing against it...

This is where the problem lies.

Big man's problem.

If you have never fallen down before, then you can be forgiven. But if you know that there is a pit somewhere, but you still fall into the pit and let the dog chew its shit again, then it is not the problem of the shit, but the problem of the dog.

The role of the Han court is not to be a dog that doesn’t know the smell of shit!

What’s more, we shouldn’t repackage the shit that our predecessors have eaten and feed it to future generations!

Does chocolate-flavored shit not mean shit?

When Fei Qian first arrived in the Han Dynasty, his understanding of the gentry and the concept of a wealthy family was not that profound. However, with the gradual development of his political group, Fei Qian's understanding of this aspect has also deepened.

The Han gentry problem is a fundamental problem.

That is to say, when the Eastern Han Dynasty was founded, it was already symbiotic with the Liu Xiu regime in its infancy and could not be cut off or removed.

The Eastern Han Dynasty was built on the basis of aristocratic society.

Since Liu Xiu himself represented the interests of the wealthy family, he could not get rid of his own limitations.

Liu Xiu mainly relied on the Nanyang wealthy group. During the process of establishing the Eastern Han Dynasty, the wealthy forces in other regions had relatively few supporters and many resisters. Therefore, the targets of his initial conquest were mainly wealthy families from various places. This is very similar to the current situation in which there are many princes in various places and local governors control the countryside, dividing and rejecting the unified dispatch and management of the central government.

So after the war was over, how to manage these wealthy families was the primary problem for the Eastern Han government.

Liu Xiu's strategy was to learn from the practices of the Western Han Dynasty. The most important of these is the use of severe punishments to regulate the behavior of wealthy families, which has the effect of restoring and maintaining social stability, but at the same time it also makes the problem of harsh officialdom increasingly serious.

The Western Han Dynasty used cruel officials and appointed governors to directly attack the lawless wealthy families, which achieved certain results. However, the most effective way to inhibit the development of the powerful families was to implement the "relocation of mausoleums" system. It is a pity that after Emperor Yuan of Han Dynasty, this system was abolished.

This system of "relocating mausoleums" was obviously simple and crude, which caused pain and pain to the Han gentry. However, there is no doubt that this crude and simple system inhibited the powerful clans from becoming powerful in the local area. However, the compromises and concessions made by the Yuan Emperor to the powerful clans since the Yuan Dynasty have alleviated the problem. The conflict between the imperial court and the wealthy families contributed to the development of the wealthy families' power, so that at the time of Wang Mang, the imperial family was no longer able to control the local wealthy families.

So, for Fei Qian, how to control the local wealthy families has become the key to not chewing shit again.

If you want to distinguish what a wealthy family is, you need to know how this wealthy family came into being.

In addition to the commonplace issue of land annexation, another typical way for the generation of wealthy families in the Eastern Han Dynasty was through relatives and eunuchs.

Classmate Lao Cao waved and said, I am a eunuch, but I am ashamed of being a eunuch! The old man is greedy and has nothing to do with me!

Just like a fish that cheated grandpa, the Chinese official media didn't even bother to talk about corruption and just mentioned family tradition.

Fei Qian knew what Yang Xiu was actually here for, but for Fei Qian, wasn't it another opportunity?

Hedong, from the Hengling period, there were wealthy families...

…

…

Yang Xiu was very tired, but he was still observing his surroundings intentionally or unintentionally, as if he had been observing silently all the way here.

Along the way, Yang Xiu discovered a problem.

A problem that Fei Qian might not have noticed himself.

This made Yang Xiu feel a little excited in his heart, and he felt vaguely complacent that "everyone else is drunk".

This feeling of complacency made Yang Xiu behave more calmly and confidently.

This feeling is also a characteristic that Yang Xiu has always displayed on the outside, like a mask he wears all year round, with calmness written on the left side of his cheek and confidence written on the right side.

The hussars should have some reserves.

Look at the utensils in this post house.

Used charcoal fire.

Hot meals delivered to your doorstep...

Yang Xiu had some idea in his mind.

Fei Qian was not as embarrassed as the people in Shandong had expected, and Yang Xiu even speculated that Fei Qian's current logistics might be more generous than Cao Cao's.

After all, Cao Cao's place has a huge number of people, so the consumption will naturally be greater.

But, does Fei Qian really have such strong confidence?

When he saw himself coming to issue a challenge, he neither acted flustered nor deliberately treated her with force. Instead, he was very calm, as if everything was under his control.

This surprised Yang Xiu.

He originally thought that he would be humiliated when he came to Pingyang...

It was just like the "humiliation" he suffered in Tongguan back then, even more and more severe.

So Yang Xiu decided to use "ritual" as an excuse and raised it like a shield, but Yang Xiu didn't expect that Fei Qian seemed to have changed a lot.

No, it cannot be said that the people have changed completely, but it should be said that the current situation has changed a lot.

When the environment changes, people will also change.

Even Yang Xiu himself is like this.

At that time, Fei Qian felt it was a great shame and humiliation for Yang Xiu to come and go as soon as he summoned him. He was so angry that if he accidentally thought of it when he was sleeping at night, his mind would be tossed over and over and he could not sleep peacefully. But now, Fei Qian still hasn't asked anyone about Yang. The process was arranged directly based on Xiu's opinion, but Yang Xiu didn't feel anything was wrong now.

Yang Xiu knew that he came to Pingyang with a mission and also risks.

Yang Xiu came here with a third-level purpose, but it was obvious that the first-level Fei Qian did not fall into the trap. This is one of the reasons why Yang Xiu agreed to come.

Yang Xiu also felt that Fei Qian was not that stupid, but Fei Qian had other aspects...

Will he fall into a trap?

For so many years, Yang Xiu has always felt superior to his own intelligence.

The sense of superiority in IQ made Yang Xiu forget that the reason why he seemed smarter than ordinary people in many cases was because he knew more information. The reason why he has more information is because his identity allows him to have more channels to obtain information.

When it comes to truly relying on his own abilities, it's actually not that many.

Just like now, Yang Xiu also wanted to use everything he observed to guess Fei Qian's bargaining chips, but then he found that he couldn't figure it out.

If Fei Qian had sufficient soldiers and horses, it didn't seem like it. After all, Hedong was summoning county soldiers in Anyi to gather troops and horses. Those soldiers did not look like the elite soldiers originally under Fei Qian's command.

It would also be inappropriate to say that Fei Qian did not have the troops and men ready to deal with Cao Cao. Cao Jun crossed the river in large numbers and climbed over Zhongtiao Mountain, but Fei Qian seemed to be responding calmly, without any panic at all.

So is Fei Qian just showing off, or does Fei Qian have another agenda?

Yang Xiu not only wanted to investigate for Cao Cao, but also wanted to be investigated for himself.

Even for the investigation of the nobles in the world...

It's just like the "gift from the world" that he and Fei Qian said before.

"Mr. Yang, please come." 』

The person who led the way took Yang Xiu to the door of the banquet place, and then made a fuss.

Yang Xiu straightened his clothes and then walked in proudly. However, after he entered the door of the banquet place and saw the scene in the courtyard, the calm and "unbreakable" mask that Yang Xiu had maintained suddenly snapped. " There was a sound, which seemed to open a hole, making Yang Xiu's smile stiffen a little...