Honglou: This bastard is too persuasive.

Chapter 709 Development and Situation

Cao Cao stopped and looked at Guo Jia: "Feng Xiao is right. However, we cannot sit idly by. Send people to closely monitor Jia Changsheng's every move, and at the same time strengthen our own strength, expand our troops, and reserve food and grass."

Xun Yu continued, "My Lord, we can also use this opportunity to strengthen our ties with other princes, divide their relationship with Jia Changsheng, and create favorable conditions for our future development."

Cao Cao nodded in agreement: "Okay, let's do it. The situation in the world is becoming more and more interesting."

In Xuzhou, Liu Bei couldn't help but sigh after hearing the news: "This Jia Changsheng is so tough. It seems that the struggle in this chaotic world will become more intense."

Guan Yu stroked his beard and said, "Brother, although Jia Changsheng's move does not pose a direct threat to us, the situation in the world is so chaotic that we cannot take it lightly."

Zhang Fei was furious: "Why should we be afraid of him? I want to see how capable Jia Changsheng is! Brother, why don't we expand our forces and compete with him!"

Liu Bei waved his hand and said, "Third brother, don't be impulsive. Our foundation is not stable yet, so we can't act rashly. Let's consolidate the rule of Xuzhou first, develop people's livelihood, and wait for the opportunity."

Zhuge Liang waved his feather fan and said slowly, "My Lord, you are right. Although the expansion of Jia Changsheng's power has brought crisis, it also provides us with opportunities. We can accumulate strength in this chaotic world and wait for changes in the world."

Liu Bei nodded slightly: "The military advisor has made thorough considerations. Pass down the order to strengthen the defense of Xuzhou, appease the people, and pay close attention to the situation in the world."

In Jiangdong, after Sun Quan learned the news, he discussed countermeasures with Zhou Yu, Lu Su and other advisers in the tent.

"This Jia Changsheng has risen in a short period of time and even taken control of the alien territory. This is really beyond my expectation." Sun Quan frowned, his face solemn.

Zhou Yu looked determined and said, "My Lord, the rise of Jia Changsheng is both a challenge and an opportunity for us in Jiangdong. We can take this opportunity to unite with other princes to fight against Jia Changsheng, and at the same time, we can also take the opportunity to expand our influence in Jiangdong."

Lu Su suggested: "My Lord, we can also have diplomatic contacts with Jia Changsheng to understand his intentions and avoid direct conflict with him. At the same time, we should strengthen the navy construction in Jiangdong and consolidate our defense line of the Yangtze River."

Sun Quan pondered for a moment and said, "What Gongjin and Zijing said makes sense. Let's send people to contact other princes first to see their attitudes. At the same time, we should strengthen the training of the navy and expand the armaments. Sooner or later, this world will be ours!"

The various princes were shocked and realized that Jia Changsheng's rise had changed the entire world. They were either vigilant, or planning, or worried, or ambitious, but they all understood that this chaotic world would become even more turbulent because of Jia Changsheng's series of actions, and they would also start a more intense competition for their own hegemony in this ever-changing situation.

In this turbulent time, Jia Changsheng, with his outstanding leadership and far-sighted strategic vision, maneuvered in the three places of Da Sui, Bingzhou and grassland, and opened a magnificent chapter of development.

Jia Changsheng first set his sights on the political landscape of the Sui Dynasty. In the court, he vigorously implemented reforms and rectified the officialdom. He set up a special supervisory agency and selected honest and upright officials to supervise officials at all levels. These supervisory officials had the power to report directly to the emperor. Once they found that an official was corrupt, took bribes, or engaged in favoritism and fraud, they would be severely punished. For a time, the officialdom was renewed, administrative efficiency was greatly improved, and government orders were able to be transmitted unimpeded to every corner of the empire.

In Bingzhou, Jia Changsheng knew that the key to local governance lies in talent. He personally selected a group of capable and responsible officials and sent them to various counties. These officials went deep into the grassroots, understood the needs and sufferings of the people, and actively solved people's livelihood issues. Jia Changsheng also established a complete assessment system to regularly assess local officials and decide on the promotion, reward and punishment of officials based on the assessment results. This has significantly improved the level of local governance in Bingzhou and greatly enhanced the people's trust in the government.

In the grassland area, Jia Changsheng adopted a management strategy that was adapted to local conditions. He respected the cultures and customs of various ethnic groups such as the Xianbei, Wuhuan, and Qiang, and retained some of the original tribal systems, but at the same time he also sent officials from the Great Sui to supervise and guide. He encouraged exchanges and integration among ethnic groups and promoted cultural diversity and coexistence. In the military, Jia Changsheng built strong castles and fortresses at strategic locations on the grassland and stationed elite troops to guard them. These military strongholds not only effectively defended against the invasion of foreign enemies, but also became key nodes for controlling the situation on the grassland. In order to expand the army, Jia Changsheng promulgated a series of generous conscription policies. He improved the treatment of soldiers, not only giving them generous military pay, but also providing land and living security for soldiers and their families. This policy attracted a large number of young and middle-aged people to join the army, and the size of the Great Sui army expanded rapidly. Jia Changsheng also paid attention to the training and equipment updating of the army. He hired military experts from all over the country to teach the soldiers advanced tactics and martial arts. At the same time, he vigorously developed the military industry and produced more sophisticated weapons and equipment, which improved the combat effectiveness of the Sui army. In just a few years, the Sui army expanded to a million people and became a military force that attracted worldwide attention.

Jia Changsheng knew that agriculture was the foundation of the country. He vigorously promoted advanced agricultural technology in Dasui, Bingzhou and grassland. He organized agricultural experts to write agricultural books, detailing new planting methods, irrigation techniques and tips on using agricultural tools, and distributed these agricultural books to farmers in various places. In Bingzhou, he built water conservancy projects, dug canals and built reservoirs to ensure sufficient water for irrigation of farmland. In the grassland area, he encouraged herders to develop animal husbandry while guiding them to try to grow some crops suitable for the grassland environment, realizing the diversified development of combining agriculture and animal husbandry. These measures have greatly increased the grain output in the three places, not only meeting the people's living needs, but also providing sufficient food and grass reserves for the army.

In terms of business, Jia Changsheng adopted a series of open policies. He reduced business taxes and encouraged merchants to carry out trade activities. He also set up special markets and commercial areas in various places to regulate market order and protect the legitimate rights and interests of merchants. In order to promote trade between different regions, Jia Changsheng ordered the construction of roads and bridges that extend in all directions to improve traffic conditions. In the grassland area, he promoted the tea-horse trade with the Central Plains, so that the specialty products such as horses and furs on the grassland could be exchanged with the silk, tea, porcelain and other commodities in the Central Plains. This not only enriched the lives of the people, but also promoted the prosperity and development of the economy. Commercial taxes have also become one of the important sources of national finance.

Jia Changsheng knew the importance of education to national development. He decided to open colleges in the three places to cultivate talents and enlighten the people. In Chang'an, the capital of the Sui Dynasty, he personally selected the site and spent a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources to build a large-scale royal college. The college is well-equipped with a library with a rich collection of books, advanced laboratories and spacious and bright classrooms. Jia Changsheng recruited talents from all over the world and hired well-known scholars and experts from various fields to serve as teachers in the college. These teachers not only taught traditional knowledge such as Confucian classics, history, and literature, but also opened practical subjects such as mathematics, astronomy, geography, medicine, and engineering to cultivate students' comprehensive qualities and innovative abilities.

In Bingzhou and the grassland area, Jia Changsheng also actively promoted the construction of colleges. He sent outstanding teachers from the Chang'an Imperial College to various places to guide the construction and teaching of local colleges. He also encouraged private schools and provided financial and policy support to those who were able and willing to run schools. For a time, colleges sprang up in the three places, and more and more children had the opportunity to receive education.

In order to allow more people to have access to knowledge, Jia Changsheng vigorously promoted printing. He ordered the establishment of printing houses in various places to print a large number of books, textbooks and popular science books, and distributed these books free of charge to colleges, government offices and the public. This enabled knowledge to spread rapidly and the cultural quality of the people was significantly improved. Jia Changsheng also encouraged academic exchanges and collisions of ideas. He regularly held academic seminars and invited scholars, experts and students from all over the world to gather together to discuss academic issues and social development. In this open and inclusive academic atmosphere, various new ideas and theories emerged in an endless stream, injecting a strong spiritual impetus into the development of the country.

With Jia Changsheng's unremitting efforts, the three regions of Great Sui, Bingzhou and the grassland gradually prospered. The political situation was stable, the economy was prosperous, the culture was flourishing, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and the army was strong and mighty. Jia Changsheng's name also became a legend in this land. The prosperity he created attracted the attention of the princes of the world and left a glorious chapter in history for future generations.

At the end of the Han Empire, when the imperial power was in turmoil, the world was in chaos, and various princes rose up. In order to compete for land, population and resources, they launched a protracted and thrilling battle for hegemony, which eventually led to a complex situation in which Yuan Shao occupied Youzhou, Jizhou, and Qingzhou; Cao Cao occupied Yanzhou, Yangzhou, and Xuzhou; Sun Quan occupied the south; Liu Bei occupied Jingzhou; Liu Biao occupied Yizhou; and Dong Zhuo occupied Chang'an.

At first, Dong Zhuo entered the capital in the name of serving the emperor with the help of the Xiliang cavalry and took control of the government. He deposed the Shaodi, established the Xiandi, and monopolized the government. He acted recklessly, which caused dissatisfaction among the princes of the world. Dong Zhuo was cruel and allowed his soldiers to burn, kill and loot, and the people in Chang'an and surrounding areas suffered terribly. He also built luxurious palaces for himself, which wasted people's money and labor, causing public resentment.

Cao Cao, who was then the Northern Lieutenant of Luoyang, was not afraid of power and beat Dong Zhuo's confidants to death, which made him jealous. Seeing that Dong Zhuo was committing atrocities and the world was about to fall into chaos, Cao Cao fled Luoyang and returned to Chenliu, where he spent all his wealth, recruited volunteers, and raised the banner of attacking Dong Zhuo. He issued a manifesto, enumerating Dong Zhuo's crimes and calling on the princes of the world to rise up together. At one time, many people responded.

Yuan Shao was born into a prominent family, with three generations of officials, and his family had students and officials all over the country. He was the first to respond to Cao Cao's call and raised troops in Bohai County. With the prestige of his family and his own appeal, Yuan Shao quickly gathered a large number of talents and troops. His younger brother Yuan Shu, who occupied Nanyang and had a rich land, also raised a team. Yuan Shu was arrogant and ambitious. Although he and Yuan Shao were brothers, they had their own thoughts and conflicts gradually emerged.

Liu Bei, as a descendant of the Han Dynasty, was displaced in his early years, but he always had great ambitions. He swore brotherhood with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei in Taoyuan and raised an army in Zhuo County. Liu Bei was kind and righteous, and he treated people with respect, which attracted many people with lofty ideals to join him, such as Zhao Yun. However, Liu Bei was weak in the early days, and he moved around in many places, and successively attached himself to Gongsun Zan, Tao Qian and others.

Sun Jian, the fierce tiger of Jiangdong, started his army in Changsha. He fought bravely, made many military achievements, and performed well in the coalition forces against Dong Zhuo. After Sun Jian's death, his son Sun Ce inherited his father's ambitions. Relying on his father's old subordinates and his own strategies, he crossed the river and swept across Jiangdong, laying the foundation for the Sun family in the south. After Sun Ce's untimely death, Sun Quan took over the power and, with the assistance of counselors such as Zhou Yu and Lu Su, further consolidated and expanded the Sun family's sphere of influence in the south.

Liu Biao, a relative of the Han Dynasty, was well-known for his virtue and was appointed as the governor of Jingzhou by the imperial court. He rode into Jingzhou alone and used both kindness and force to quickly stabilize the situation in Jingzhou. Under Liu Biao's governance, Jingzhou was relatively peaceful, attracting many refugees and talents from the Central Plains to seek refuge, and its strength gradually increased.

Although the coalition army seemed to be powerful, it was full of contradictions. The various princes had their own ulterior motives and wanted to preserve their strength and fight for territory, so they were unwilling to attack Dong Zhuo with all their strength. Cao Cao once led his army to pursue Dong Zhuo alone, but was defeated due to the disparity in strength. In the end, the coalition army disbanded in chaos, and the princes began to attack each other.

Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan fought fiercely for Jizhou. Yuan Shao first used a trick to gain Han Fu's trust and took Jizhou without a single soldier. Gongsun Zan was very dissatisfied with this and attacked Jizhou many times. In the Battle of Jieqiao, Yuan Shao's general Qu Yi defeated Gongsun Zan's Baima Yicong with 800 first-line soldiers, and Gongsun Zan was seriously injured. After that, the two sides fought many times, and Yuan Shao gradually gained the upper hand and finally defeated Gongsun Zan and occupied Youzhou. Together with Jizhou and Qingzhou he had occupied before, Yuan Shao became the most powerful prince in the north.

Cao Cao also encountered many challenges when developing his power in Yanzhou. He first defeated the Yellow Turban Army and recruited 300,000 Qingzhou soldiers, greatly increasing his strength. But then, Cao Cao launched an attack on Xuzhou Tao Qian because his father Cao Song was killed in Xuzhou. During the attack on Xuzhou, Cao Cao's rear was attacked by Lu Bu, and most of Yanzhou fell into Lu Bu's hands. Cao Cao had to return to rescue and fought a two-year tug-of-war with Lu Bu. In the end, Cao Cao defeated Lu Bu and recaptured Yanzhou. After that, Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shu through a series of wars, occupied parts of Yangzhou, and attacked Xuzhou on the pretext of Liu Bei's betrayal when Liu Bei temporarily lived in Xuzhou. Liu Bei was defeated and Xuzhou fell into Cao Cao's hands.

(End of this chapter)