Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3593: No Answer

Don’t be fooled by the smiling faces of everyone at the literary meeting, as if everything is calm and peaceful. In fact, every family has its own problems.

They can all act, speak, cry when they should cry, and laugh when they should laugh.

It's not that they are smarter than ordinary people, it's just that they can spend more time in their lives learning how to perform, while ordinary people have to spend their time figuring out how to survive.

They are the "management class" and "ruling class" of the Han Dynasty.

They do not create value, they are just carriers of labor value.

It is the vast majority of ordinary people who truly create value for the Han Dynasty, and in their eyes, these producers, these ordinary people of the Han Dynasty, are all inferior and untouchable people, like leeks in the wild and cattle and sheep waiting to be slaughtered.

Originally they all thought that their positions were stable and they could just lie back and work as blood-sucking porters, collecting taxes from the people for the emperor, and then splitting the money 30% to 70%, with 30% being handed over to the Shaofu and 70% being kept in the local area. After all, there were many porters in the local area who stretched out their hands to ask for a share of the profits.

Oh, maybe calling him a porter is not appropriate. It would be better to call him a gardener or a shepherd.

The gardeners, holding big shears, are cutting.

The shepherds also held big scissors and cut the sheep.

But the common people only have so much, and with the wars in the Han Dynasty, the economic downturn, and the turbulent situation, the value generated has declined whether in Youzhou or Jizhou.

life.

Only when you are born and can survive can it be called life.

It’s hard to live now, and you’re screaming that you want to have a baby?

Ten years ago, a tenant farmer was paid thirty cents a month. Ten years later, it was still thirty cents a month, or even less. Then I pointed at the tenant farmer's nose and cursed him, saying, "You should check your conscience. If there was no such a good master as me who gave you a platform to work, where would you get money to eat?"

Putting aside this upside-down logical relationship, let's say that ten years ago, thirty coins a month were enough to barely make ends meet. Now that there are wars everywhere and prices are soaring, thirty coins are no longer enough.

But they didn't care. After all, they just wanted to live a good life. They felt that giving thirty coins was too much. They believed that the Han Dynasty would be lonely and night-long without kind gardeners and shepherds like them.

It was not until now that they suddenly realized that they could no longer make ends meet, and they became anxious and angry.

They are angry because their own life of luxury is unsustainable, instead of worrying about the difficulties of ordinary people.

The weather has changed.

What can the gardener and shepherd do?

Things have changed in Youzhou, and Jizhou is about to see new changes. Under such circumstances, they naturally became worried.

Involution is inevitable.

Dad Cao has run out of milk, and Dad Fei is about to come.

Whether or not we can obtain the next round of capital injection, or debt-to-equity swap, or special bonds, has become the key point at this moment.

With the injection of new funds, they can naturally continue to live a carefree life.

Romantic, suave and free.

Gold-painted fan and rambutan wine.

Outing, hiking.

Ah, the life of a big man, the life I long for...

These were their desires and also the purpose of holding this literary gathering. For this reason, they sat down, testing each other and exploring prices.

They are all sold here. Selling them to the emperor is also selling them. Selling them to Yuan Shao and Cao Cao is also selling them. So why can't they be sold to Fei Qian?

No one's chrysanthemum is inlaid with gold and diamonds. As long as the price is right, we can negotiate.

After three rounds of drinks, not much food was eaten. It was obvious that no one cared much about eating and drinking. At their current situation, being full was no longer their pursuit. Eating well was what they were used to and the lifestyle they advocated.

Shu Kan stroked an old knife mark on the beam, which was left by Cao's pursuit of Yuan's remnants. Seeing that Ju Hu seemed to want to say something, he suddenly laughed and said loudly, "Have you heard Chu Feng call it a treasure? I don't know if it means seeking a phoenix, gold, or fame?"

Shu Kan sneered at Ju Hu, tapped the table with his fingers, and said in a rhythmic voice, "No matter how beautiful a pheasant's feathers are, it is still a bird."

Ju Hu looked at Shu Kan with contempt, knowing that if he could not suppress this troublemaker, today's literary gathering would be in vain and become a joke, so he put the wine cup on the table, raised his head, and said proudly, "In the past, Zheng Zichan cast a criminal code, and Shu Xiang ridiculed him. Now, looking at the cavalry equalizing the land order, isn't it Zichan's ambition? Do you want to be like Shu Xiang?"

As soon as the word "骠骑" came out, everyone's faces changed.

You are such a fool, how dare you say that!

Before, everyone would talk about it in private, but they would still be "taboo" in public, such as using the Dark Lord to replace a certain person. As a result, when they heard Ju Hu say it so "openly", they still couldn't get used to it for a while. Some people coughed twice, as if they felt phlegm in their throats. Some people lowered their heads and stroked the jade pendant on their belts, as if they had just discovered the beauty of the jade pendant.

Geng Chen received Zhen Xiang's look and nodded, then coughed, "Gentlemen! The Spring and Autumn Annals of the Spirit of the Spirit says, 'The king established the Nine Provinces, and the red crows held the red book in their mouths.' This year, on New Year's Day, red birds gathered in the northwest..."

Before he finished speaking, he heard Shu Kan sneer and said in a deep voice, "The red crow also eats carrion! Have you heard that Prince Bao usurped the Song Dynasty? The Gongyang Commentary says that the king's relatives have no generals!"

Upon hearing this, Zhen Xiang stabbed the fork and dagger in his hand on the table, squinting at Shu Kan, "What a mistake! Duke Zhou also issued the Nine Punishments! Who said that Duke Zhou was guilty of the whole world?! We should follow the example of Duke Tai and punish the Hua Shi! Those who come to the throne for false reputation should be slaughtered like cattle and sheep!"

As the candlelight flickered, Xing Zhen suddenly hit the cup with chopsticks, and the clinking sound was like the sound of weapons clashing. "In the past, when Guan Zhong was the prime minister of Qi, he united the nine states without using military vehicles. He was so kind! He was so kind! Can we do the same today?"

Amid the clanging sound, he looked up and sighed, "In the past, we could still have three chariots and six chariots, but now there are Wuhuan cavalry in the cavalry army, using the Hu to control the Han. This is not the way to "respect the king and repel the barbarians"! Naturally, we can't compare with the saints, let alone the theory of Zhou Gong!"

Zhen Xiang played with the jade hairpin and sneered, "You know what Zhao Jianzi said, 'I saw my son beside the emperor', and now it has come true. Confucius still wanted to live among the Nine Barbarians. If there is a gentleman living there, it would be easy to transform them. Since they are part of the Chinese nation, they should be used by the Chinese nation. Why should they give up eating for fear of choking? How can it be strange!"

Ju Hu said, "In the past, Zhao Jianzi dreamed of a boy singing and realized that the destiny was in Jinyang. Now the children's song in Yecheng is "The golden sparrow flies south, and the bronze horse comes west." Don't you believe it?"

Shu Kan shook his head and laughed, "A boy's song? I'm afraid it's just a warning to the public using ghosts and gods! How can it be trusted?! If the whole world is determined by the boy's song, what is the use of the government?! What a joke, what a joke!"

Xing Zhen frowned and said, "Gentlemen! Do you remember that the Tian family replaced the Qi family? If we divide the land today, we will divide the ancestral temple tomorrow!"

As soon as the words "divide the land" and "divide the ancestral hall" came out, more people were silent and thought-provoking.

For all the sons of the gentry in Shandong and Central Plains, the core interest, let alone other things, is the land, or the means of production. Similar to the capitalists of later generations, only after they control the means of production can they use these means of production to exploit the working people and maintain their exquisite lives.

If the Huqi Army arrived in Shandong and the Central Plains, and the Hu cavalry they brought with them became a tool of force to humiliate them, forcing them to divide up the land in their hands, then how would they face their ancestors?

Ju Hu frowned. Of course, he couldn't make any promises on behalf of the Cavalry, so he was a little embarrassed and couldn't help but look at Zhen Xiang.

Everyone fell silent.

In the Yuan family's old house, after the noisy voices disappeared, under the light and fire, the atmosphere of decadence, dilapidation, and decay gradually emerged.

Zhen Xiang slightly raised his head, turned the jade ring on his finger, and suddenly stood up, looked around, and said, "I have come up with a poem, please correct it."

"Watching the nine earths crumble and break, the stars fall to the stars. The fields are covered with weeds, and the bones are covered with frost."

"In the past, the rich and powerful occupied the fields and delivered the spring grain to the granary before it was ripe. The little children cried for their swaddling clothes, and the old women sold their hair to pay the tax."

"How can the Yellow Heaven bear to punish me? I am really the accomplice of jackals and tigers. The magic water cannot wash away the rotten sores, and the gongs and drums stir up my liver and intestines."

"A hungry woman cuts firewood to exchange for millet, but the child in her arms is still cold. Dogs and pigs hate the dregs, and people compete to eat the soil and die."

"When the traitor Dong burned the Luoyang sun, I did not see his tears staining his clothes. Now I see the country gentlemen weeping over their fields, and I know that the Han Dynasty is dead."

After Zhen Xiang finished reciting, he looked at Xing Zhen and said, "It is said in the countryside that the Xing family is unparalleled in loyalty and filial piety, and is wholeheartedly devoted to the country and the people. Today, I see that their reputation is indeed well-deserved, well-deserved!"

Xing Zhen's face suddenly turned red, and then turned purple. She pointed at Zhen's portrait with trembling fingers, but was unable to utter a word for a long time. She gritted her teeth and overturned the table and left.

Zhen Xiang laughed out loud, "Interesting, interesting!"

For the Zhen family, the amount of land they own doesn't really matter.

Of course, it would be better to have more farmland, but if they didn't rely on farmland to make a living, the Zhen family wouldn't have many problems now. With the development of the trade route in Guanzhong, the Zhen family and others understood that as long as the cavalry didn't fall and the Western Regions didn't become chaotic, this trade route would at least support the Zhen family for decades.

Everyone's butt is different, some are fat, some are thin, some are wide, some are narrow. It is obviously impossible to have one pit to satisfy millions of people.

Zhen Xiang did not intend to immediately make opponents like Xing Zhen agree to welcome the Hussars. He just wanted to create a first-mover advantage so that when the Hussars arrived, he could use this as an achievement and gain more benefits.

Since the Cavalry doesn't want them to occupy more land, then there should be no problem in giving the Zhen family two more trade routes, right?

As soon as Xing Zhen left, Shu Kan could no longer sit down. He shook his head and sighed, then followed him, but he did not overturn the table. The so-called literary gathering, the only decent article was the half-length Han Fu recited by Zhen Xiang, but the meaning was on point, and everyone did not have the intention to select a winner, and they all left knowing what was going on.

No one said what choice was to be made, but in fact the choice had been made.

The remarks made at the literary meeting were a statement of attitude, and subsequent events would probably follow what was said. Those who were willing to agree with Ju Hu and Zhen Xiang would naturally send people to continue contacting them, while those who did not follow up meant that they did not want to see the day when Guanzhong's system would cover Shandong.

However, some things cannot be avoided just because someone doesn't want them to.

……

……

Yanzhou.

Cao’s army camp.

When the clock struck midnight, Cao Cao suddenly woke up with a start.

The sticky cold sweat on his palms soaked the bamboo slips of "The Art of War" in his hands. In a trance, the pieces of bamboo slips turned into blue bricks on the parapet of Xuzhou City.

The dirty blood that seeped out from the cracks in the bricks had dyed his fish-scale armor a dark ochre.

The candlelight on the desk burst into a spark, reflecting Cao Cao's pale and old face.

For some reason, Cao Cao suddenly dreamed of Xuzhou and recalled the past...

"Father..."

The sound from Cao Cao's throat was barely audible.

As long as his parents are around, he can still be a child.

His parents have passed away, so he can only fend for himself.

The Qinggang sword leaning against the side of the bed seemed to be emitting layers of blood light under the flickering candlelight.

Since when did he need a sword leaning against his bed to sleep peacefully?

No, even with a sword, or more swords, he still couldn't sleep well.

Like tonight.

Cao Cao raised his head slightly and looked at the flickering candlelight.

The flickering flames seemed to be the same as the column of blood that spurted from the neck after he chopped off the head in Xuzhou that year, dark red and flickering.

In a trance, Cao Cao seemed to see corpses floating on the Si River.

Those faces that went with the flow seemed to be hanging deep in his heart, and would occasionally open their eyes, revealing their bluish-white eyeballs.

"Boom..."

There was a loud thunder outside the window, followed by a flash of lightning. The dark red color remained in the bottom of my eyes, just like the cinnabar on the order to massacre the city.

scarlet.

Stinky.

The rain splashed down, bringing out the fishy smell of the earth, and the evils that permeated Cao Cao reminded him of the smell of rust that permeated Pengcheng back then.

The starving Qingzhou soldiers opened their bloodshot eyes, like hungry wolves. If they were not given flesh and blood, they would eat Cao Cao himself the next moment.

Cao Cao would never admit that the first target of the butcher's knife that massacred Xuzhou was not Tao Qian's troops, but the iron lock of the barn of Wang family of Langya.

The wailing in those manor houses still vibrates with tinnitus in the middle of some nights.

Thunder and lightning flashed, and the candlelight flickered. Cao Cao saw his shadow twisted into two on the tent. One of them was holding a banner of "avenging my father" and trampling the city to pieces, and the other was drawing a red circle on the grain register of Xuzhou county.

"I am not greedy, violent or bloodthirsty..." Cao Cao shook his head and smiled bitterly, as if explaining to someone in a low voice, "If there is no money and food in Xuzhou, how can there be military farming in Yanzhou?"

Do you really think that if you pour the food from your left hand into your right hand, or from your left pocket into your right pocket, the food you eat will reappear?

The people of Xuzhou died, but the Qingzhou army was fed.

He gave the order.

He didn't try to defend himself.

If he were given another chance to choose, he would still make the same choice.

Even the blood-stained grain bags dragged out from the counties, granaries, and cellars of Xuzhou were covered with corpses.

"In the past, Yuan Benchu ​​controlled four states, Liu Jingsheng enjoyed the benefits of the Yangtze and Han rivers, and Yuan Gonglu..." Cao Cao suddenly laughed, "This chaotic world, this chaotic world... is originally a cauldron! Bones are used as firewood, and meat is used as cooking!"

"Now it's your turn..." Cao Cao smiled, and his face began to tremble. "It's your turn. Do you... kill him or not?"

Three hundred thousand Qingzhou soldiers knelt in the snow like starving corpses, with ten empty granaries of Yanzhou behind them.

There were mountains of corn on the walls of Xuzhou, and Tao Qian was transporting boxes and baskets full of money to Yuan Shu, Liu Bei, and the conscripted soldiers from Danyang.

Cao Cao's gaze stayed in a certain direction.

Shandong is a wealthy and prosperous place.

You can bear it, but what about your subordinates?

Your generals can bear it, but what about your soldiers?

The people they killed, the money they robbed, and the blood they shed all belong to you!

If you don't feed them, they will turn around and gnaw on your flesh and suck your marrow!

But you want to feed him, how do you do it?

There are more people in Shandong than in Guanzhong!

Much more!

Cao Cao smiled, and his smile was meaningful...

You think you are in control, but who is actually in control?

You think the world obeys you, but who are you actually obeying?

Having come this far, can you back down?

If you don't retreat, people all over the world will tear you apart, insult you, and slander you!

If you retreat, your men will rush forward and, together with your enemies, cut you into pieces!

Ha ha ha ha……

The rain fell with crackling sounds.

Mixed in with the sound of rain, it seemed as if someone was whispering something outside the tent.

"What is it?"

Cao Cao rubbed his face, as if to rub away his fatigue and weakness, and seemed to put on the mask of majesty and calmness again.

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, someone has come from Yecheng..."

The guard outside the tent reported in a low voice.

When Cao Cao heard the word Yecheng, his heart suddenly skipped a beat, making his breathing a little tight, but when he spoke, his voice was full of power, short and powerful, "Spread it."

The man was covered in mud and water. He bowed to the ground as soon as he entered the tent, "I am here to deliver a letter on the orders of Envoy Chen!"

As he spoke, the man took out the bamboo tube wrapped in oilcloth from his arms, opened it carefully, and saw that the bamboo tube was not damaged or water-logged. He breathed a sigh of relief and handed it to Cao Cao's guard.

"Thank you for your hard work..." Cao Cao nodded and asked, "Any other messages?"

The man shook his head.

"Go down and have some rest." Cao Cao waved his hand and asked the man to leave.

Since there is no verbal message, there is no need to silence the person, but that doesn't mean things are simple.

Cao Cao checked the wax seal on the bamboo tube and confirmed that it was correct. Then he took out a knife, pried open the bamboo tube, pulled out the silk cloth, and looked at it for a few seconds. His eyebrows trembled, and then he closed his eyes and reached out to pinch his forehead...

The guard was standing by, watching anxiously, and instinctively felt that something bad might have happened, but he didn't dare to ask. He quickly shifted his gaze to the door of the tent, staring at the door curtain blown by the wind and rain, as if there was an assassin lurking in the wind and rain outside the tent and he needed to be cautious and on guard at all times.

After a while, Cao Cao's voice was heard from inside the tent.

Cao Cao's voice was still steady, powerful, brief and clear. "Send Cheng Zhongde here!"