I am not an ant thief in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 369, Stubborn Aristocrats
Xu Wei is not completely ignorant of the current situation of the Han Dynasty. Although the history is out of shape, the Han Dynasty is still torn apart and scattered into seven or eight vassal forces. Among them, Liu Bei and Yuan Shao's forces should be the strongest. Even if Cao Cao's forces do not advance San also entered the top five, but his geographical environment is too harsh, even worse than the environment where he originally made his fortune in history.

The east is the sea, the north is Dagan, the south is Tao Qian, and the west is Yuan Shao. It can be said that his strength is slightly stronger than Tao Qian, and he cannot beat all other princes.What is even more tragic for Cao Cao is that although the big man is split, every force is bigger than him. He wants to expand his strength. Except for Tao Qian in Xuzhou, he can't find any forces that can be annexed. Now Cao Cao His life was even more difficult than in history.

Cheng Yudao: "Drought broke out in the Central Plains, and Taishan County has no crops. Although Qingzhou is better, it is inevitable to reduce production. My lord heard that Mr. Lei is in power, and he is merciful. I think I don't want to see the people of Qingzhou displaced. Please support the government. We have 300 million shi of grain in Qingzhou, so my lord has a reason to return the two or thirty thousand soldiers of the Yellow Turban Army to the ruling!"

Zhang Baiqi on the side said furiously: "300 million shi of grain, Cao Cao really dared to think, he dared to blackmail us into Dagan! There is no 300 million shi of grain, but we have 20 troops in Dagan, so I don't know Cao Cao can do it!" You can't resist my big cavalry!"

It's no wonder that Zhang Baiqi is so angry. Cao Cao is an unknown person, but a small prince with tens of thousands of soldiers from the county, dared to blackmail them to do a big job, it's a shame!
Zhang Baiqi's words made Cheng Yu break out in cold sweat. Dagan's strength is more than 10 times stronger than Cao Cao's. If Lei Gongzhen sends 20 troops to attack Qingzhou, they will definitely not be able to resist!

This kid Guo Jia has also tricked me to death. It would be good if these yellow turban thieves were killed, but I wanted to let this old man make a deal. Lei Gong killed people like hemp. How could such a deal be made? , Cheng Yu secretly complained.

He immediately said: "My lord also didn't want to kill in vain, so he sent me here to come to Lei Gong's ruling place. If you have something to discuss, just discuss it!"

Zhang Baiqi said loudly: "Let Cao Cao send our people to Pingyuan County. For the sake of keeping people under his sword, we will spare his life when we attack the Central Plains in the future. This is our greatest forgiveness." !"

If Cheng Yu really agreed to this condition, he would have no face to go back to Qingzhou. Even though Cheng Yu was worried that Dagan would attack Qingzhou, he still said: "My lord is also the state shepherd of a big man. He has tens of thousands of soldiers in his hands, not Dagan. My servant, it is impossible for my lord to agree to such a condition, since there is no sincerity in governing, this time I will act as if I have never been here before!"

After saying that, Cheng Yu wanted to leave here!

Zhang Baiqi said angrily: "Aren't you worried that our big cavalry will wipe out Qingzhou?"

Cheng Yu said with a cold face: "I have hundreds of thousands of troops. The ruler really plans to attack the Central Plains. My lord is waiting for you at any time! At that time, everyone will rely on their own abilities, but the 3 subordinates who are in power will probably become the ones who sacrifice the flag!"

These Zhang Baiqi were a bit scrupulous on the contrary, many of the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army were his old acquaintances, and it was impossible for him to really not care about the life and death of the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army, otherwise his old friends would not be able to get around him!

Xu Wei saw that the negotiation was about to fall apart, so he said: "The asking price of 300 million shi for grain is too high, and we are also short of food, so how about I exchange 10 shi of salt for my subordinates? One hundred thousand shi The value of the salt exceeds hundreds of millions of dollars, and Caozhou Mu is not at a disadvantage!"

It is impossible to fight a war. The drought this time is not only serious, not only in Jizhou, but also in the Central Plains. If he sends troops at this time, it will not be a problem to conquer Qingzhou and Yanzhou, but Xu Wei can't provide tens of millions of stones of grain to feed the two states The victims of this war, I am afraid that the Central Plains will starve to death.

Xu Wei felt that the population was insufficient to develop a Liaodong. He wished to immigrate 500 million people to Liaodong immediately. The current population of the entire Dahan may only be around 4000 million. This population is already very small in Xu Wei’s opinion. Even the current Dahan is very difficult. Fill it up, let alone satisfy his ambition to colonize the Quartet, and now there is a big fight in the Central Plains, and the number of people who starve to death will be hundreds of times more than those who died in battle. The entire Central Plains may be as uninhabited as in history, and everyone will die Well, what did he use to occupy the territory.

So for Xu Wei, population is the most important resource. Xu Wei even regards the people on Cao Cao's territory as his own tribe, and he cherishes it even more than Cao Cao!

Cheng Yu said: "I'm sorry, our Qingzhou already has a salt field, and recently we have learned the government's salt drying method. Now our Qingzhou not only does not lack salt, but can support Dahan's other places!"

Xu Wei looked at Cheng Yu in surprise and said, "Cao Cao already knew about the salt drying method less than two years ago?"

However, the spread of ancient technology is very slow, and how it came to me is completely different. It has only been two years since Cao Cao knew about it. In a few years, I am afraid that there will be salt farms in Xuzhou and Yangzhou!
Cheng Yu saw that Xu Wei's tone was not as serious as Zhang Baiqi's, so he also said: "If the ruling is sincere, we can reduce the grain by 50 shi!"

Zhang Baiqi said unhappily: "We are also short of food!"

Jizhou’s first season’s grain was hit by drought before it was harvested. If it hadn’t been for the development of millions of acres of land in Youzhou in the past two years and tens of millions of grains, the grain supply in Daqian would still be as tight as it was in the previous two years. , and now that Jizhou is also suffering from drought, it is even more impossible to give food to Cao Cao!

Cheng Yu said incredulously, "It's okay if you don't give me some weapons and armor!"

In fact, Cao Cao handed over his 5 troops to Tao Qian to support him early on, and he also got millions of shi of grain from Liu Bei. Although Qingzhou still lacks grain, it is still possible to save a little, and Cao Cao's weapons and armor However, it is extremely lacking, especially the iron armor. Cao Cao tried his best, but he only raised a thousand pieces, compared with hundreds of thousands of iron armor, the gap is more than a little bit!

Xu Wei shook his head and said: "We are enemies now, and we don't know when swords will face each other. Giving you weapons and armor is a fire!"

Xu Wei thought for a while and said: "We will not trade things that can strengthen Qingzhou's strength. In this way, the woolen cloth I have made is unparalleled in the world, and can even be used as money in the territory of Dahan. If Cao Cao is sincere, I will use 10 Ten thousand bolts of wool cloth for my subordinates!"

Then Xu Wei threatened: "If Cao Cao disagrees, there is a drought and I have no way to attack Qingzhou, but I can assure you that within three years I will lead an army of 20 to recover this blood debt from Cao Cao!"

Xu Wei's words made Cheng Yu a little moved. Wool cloth is also a precious resource in this era, especially in this Little Ice Age. Everyone can feel that the weather is getting colder and colder, and wool cloth is the most cold-resistant at this time. Cloth, the first-grade woolen cloth in Dahan territory is worth 3000 yuan, not much worse than Shu brocade!

Cheng Yu said: "This lower official can't be the master, so he needs to go back and discuss with the master?"

Xu Wei said: "Then you can ask Cao Cao, this is my last line!"

Jizhou and Qingzhou are not far apart. Cheng Yu went down the river and returned to Qingzhou in 5 days.Then he told Cao Cao about Xu Wei's conditions!
Guo Jia said regretfully: "Now Lei Gong has learned a lot, and he didn't want the sword and armor!"

Qingzhou is close to the ocean, so the drought here is not too serious. In addition, Guo Jia reminded Cao Cao that other counties and counties of Cao Cao bought grain in advance, and also borrowed Tao Qian's grain to feed his soldiers. The situation of food shortage in Qingzhou is not It's too serious. Back then, Guo Jia's first choice was weapons and armor, but he was worried that Xu Wei would not give them, so he talked about food first!
Xun Yu said: "Wool cloth is the same, it is even better than grain for us. We can sell these cloths to Jingzhou, and then buy grain from Jingzhou and return to Qingzhou. Liu Bei has been cultivating and cultivating in Jingzhou all these years. There are tens of millions of acres of land, and the land in the south is not short of water and has not suffered from drought. The price of grain in Jingzhou is the lowest in the whole of Dahan. We can use these woolen cloths to exchange for 200 million shi of grain, which is already beyond our It's expected!"

At the beginning, their plan was to use these captives to get 50 million shi of grain. If Lei Gong counter-bids for [-] shi, that would be acceptable!
When Cao Cao heard this, he laughed and said, "Yes, with these two million stones of grain, we can build hundreds of miles of canals in Qingzhou! As long as Qingzhou's water conservancy facilities are well constructed, Qingzhou's grain output can be increased several times." In the future, food will no longer limit our military expansion!"

Guo Jia has seen a lot of water conservancy facilities in Mayi and the elevated water canals in Gaoshun Yuntian, but after coming to Qingzhou, he found that it is difficult to see a few water canals in the counties and counties of Qingzhou, which made him very dissatisfied. He knew in Mayi that as long as there are water canals, the grain can generally be doubled. If struvite is added, it is not a dream to produce four and five shackles per mu, and there is no need to fallow, which is equivalent to one mu of land can be compared to five Acres of land, Lei Gong relied on guo stones and water canals to feed tens of millions of people in Bingzhou, which was barren in the future.

So this time when the drought came, Guo Jia offered Cao Cao the strategy of providing relief with work, and asked the affected people to build water conservancy facilities throughout Qingzhou!
Cao Cao couldn't believe it at first when he heard that Mayi had 5-6 mu of land.

But Guo Jia said later, if there is no such output, how can Bingzhou feed tens of millions of people!

Cao Cao had no choice but to believe this.

Before the late emperor died of illness, in order to deal with Lei Gong and give the big man a chance to breathe, he drove all the five or six million refugees from the entire Central Plains to Bingzhou. What surprised the whole big man was that Lei Gong really supported millions of refugees with a Bingzhou!
Cao Cao has never been able to figure out how Lei Gong did it, but now Guo Jia’s words let them understand how it is done. The land in Bingzhou is barren, and most of the yield is more than one stone per mu. Now Lei Gong uses struvite and water channels to improve Five times the grain output, if you add no fallow, this is equivalent to a 5 times increase. No wonder Lei Gong can feed tens of millions of people with just one state.

Knowing the role of the canal is so great, Cao Cao naturally supported Guo Jia's plan to provide relief with work. Anyway, there is a drought in Taishan County, and refugees are everywhere. As long as they have something to eat, they will work with peace of mind!

Guo Jia looked at Cheng Yu and asked, "The drought in Yanzhou, the drought in Jizhou is not bad, right?"

Cheng Yudao: "The drought in Jizhou is a bit lighter than that in Yanzhou, but the grain growth in the fields far away from the water source is very poor. When I went to see Lei Gong, I found that there are people building canals and wells everywhere in Jizhou! It's almost July now, It will be difficult to keep this batch of food!"

Cao Cao said with a smile: "Lei Gong is also using work for relief. Given the current situation in Jizhou, he has to provide food to the people of Jizhou!"

This is good news for Cao Cao. There is a drought in Jizhou. Lei Gong thinks it is impossible to get much food in Jizhou. Without the accumulation of food, Lei Gong cannot attack the Central Plains. This drought gave them two years of respite. , now he is finally not worried that Lei Gong will attack the Central Plains after the autumn harvest!

Guo Jiadao: "It is impossible for Lei Gong to mobilize troops this autumn. This gives us the opportunity to equalize the land. We will establish a military household for every 100 mu of land and provide a soldier. I will help them prepare weapons and armor. With our land in Qingzhou , enough to provide 30 soldiers, and with the addition of the strength of the other princes of the Han Dynasty, we will have the power to fight against Lei Gong!"

Guo Jia's military household system is a bit like the future military system. They are soldiers in wartime and civilians in peacetime. Because they are given 100 acres of land, they don't need to pay monthly salary. Cao Cao only needs to provide some weapons and armor. Food is also provided when going to war, but even food and grass can be prepared by the soldiers themselves for defense.

Xun Yu said worriedly: "But this requires the Qingzhou nobles to provide 3000 million mu of land. Although we have discussed with them several times and even made them army commanders, it is still difficult for the Qingzhou nobles headed by Kong Rong to accept such a situation." Military household system!"

If soldiers don’t need monthly salary but also bring their own dry food to fight, the land allocated to them will naturally be the best. According to Guo Jia’s idea, these soldiers’ land is all high-quality paddy fields, which are very convenient for irrigation and harvesting. They can harvest more than 300 shi of grain a year. Only such a middle-class family can cultivate strong and brave soldiers!Just like the Liangjiazi in the former Han Dynasty, if you want to deal with Lei Gong, you need 30 Liangjiazi in Qingzhou.

But this will cost the lives of the entire Qingzhou noble family. They were worried that Lei Gong would divide their fields, so they pushed Cao Cao to become Qingzhou shepherd to help them resist Lei Gong. What kind of thing is this to divide the land!

Even if there are Jizhou aristocrats who continue to play the landlord version of Yang Bailao to Kong Rong and the others, so that the aristocrats in Qingzhou realize the cruelty of Lei Gong and the persecution of their aristocrats, they know that if Lei Gong is not eliminated, Lei Gong will definitely destroy their family.

Even if they know that Lei Gongyou is so hateful, it is impossible to divide their fields!Cao Cao has negotiated with the patriarchs of the noble families in Qingzhou several times, but none of them succeeded.

Anyway, the attitude of these patriarchs is that if you want us to pay money, food, or even send troops to deal with Lei Gong, but if you want our land, there is no way!

(End of this chapter)