Chapter 322 Return to Bingzhou
If this was really a fight between father and son, people would laugh their heads off if they told others about it.
But before Cao Hong could speak, he heard Chen Gong say, "Your Majesty is right. Since Master Pi is already in Leping Academy, judging from his current teachers and classmates, there is no need to rush to bring him back. He may become an extraordinary person."
"Now it seems that Qiao Bingzhou made the most correct decision to take Zheng Kangcheng from Beihai away from Yuan Qingzhou's territory in his early years. Unfortunately, we are a step too late and it is difficult for us to open a school in Yanzhou and Yuzhou."
Not to mention the issue of whether there are students and teachers, it is better to prepare for the future and reserve talents as early as possible. It is too late for them now.
"How come even Mr. Gongtai has joined in the fun?" Cao Hong couldn't help but mutter.
Cao Chun patted him on the back and told him to shut up.
This young man has already seen through the intentions of Cao Cao and Chen Gong.
It is not time to talk about how terrible Qiao Yan's march is, what benefits it can bring to her, and how big a threat it is to Yanzhou and Yuzhou. The purpose is to prevent most people from following the crowd and expressing panic.
Mentioning Cao Pi, who was still in Leping Academy at this time, turned the current tension into ridicule, which was Cao Cao's usual tactic. Only Cao Hong, who didn't realize it, was still here to sabotage.
Is Cao Cao worried about the current situation? Of course I am worried.
He originally thought that by taking over Runan and Chenjun, and then dividing the territory with Qiao Yan, he was buying himself some buffer time and the initiative to maintain whether he wanted to change his position in the future.
However, in the face of the record of easily conquering these two states, the two extra counties in Cao Cao's hands may not play a role in changing the situation.
It’s just that being anxious is one thing and losing your cool is another.
While thinking that after Qiao Yan's performance, there would be a high probability that there would be people in Chang'an who would intensify the conflict with her, which would be a good opportunity to get a glimpse of her ambitions, he said to Cao Hong: "If Pi'er can really kill Tadun in battle like Lu Bu's daughter, hunt in the wild with her father, and besiege Gongsun Zan, then it doesn't matter if he really becomes an enemy."
Unfortunately, it may be a bit difficult for Cao Cao to achieve this wish.
After all, Cao Pi and Lu Ji were entrusted to Cai Yong and Zheng Xuan in Leping Academy, so it was highly likely that they could only teach a great writer or astronomer.
Cao Cao was unaware of Qiao Yan's preparations and said, "If you are really bored, go to Bingzhou with Zixiu tomorrow."
"Why do you want to go to Bingzhou?" Cao Hong asked.
"Which year is this year's drought like?" Cao Cao asked him back.
"Guanghe... six years." Cao Hong asked tentatively.
Cao Cao nodded. "You know what happened in the sixth year of Guanghe, so how come you don't know what the winter of that year was like?"
The winter of the sixth year of Guanghe was probably the coldest in recent decades.
The ice in places like Beihai Donglai is several feet thick.
Having just experienced a summer drought and a poor autumn harvest, the people were caught off guard by yet another weather blow.
Not only was there no cotton to keep warm at that time, there was not even the mulberry skin clothes that Qiao Yan later made in Leping. The people who failed to earn enough silver from the autumn harvest had no spare money to buy cold-proof clothing, and countless people froze to death in this disaster.
Cao Cao took the risk of seizing most of Yuzhou's land before Yuan Shu behaved inappropriately during the drought, not to let them freeze to death in the extremely cold weather that might occur in winter, or even to reignite civil unrest.
He explained: "After several years of planting cotton in Bingzhou, the output of Qiao Yeshu must have greatly increased. Just for internal consumption, that is, the newly added Youzhou needs to have cotton supply, there must be a surplus. It should not be difficult for you to negotiate a deal with Zixiu."
"We don't want to take advantage of this matter. We just treat it as a normal transaction."
Cao Hong was a little puzzled and asked again: "Why do we have to go to Bingzhou to discuss this deal? Qiao Yeshu is not in Bingzhou."
She had just completed a thundering attack on Yizhou and was still finishing the remaining cleanup work in Chang'an. Even if she really had to take any action next, she would probably go to Luoyang first.
After all, she was there before the battle of Yizhou, and now Xun Yu and others are there to assist her in taking in the surrounding refugees and restoring order in the eastern part of Sili.
Chen Gong said, "If the Lord of the Mansion sent people directly to Chang'an, how would others think of this action? They would only say that he was intimidated by Qiao Yeshu's military achievements and immediately sent his eldest son to Chang'an with his brave generals to pay tribute. This would do us more harm than good in our current situation."
Cao Hong nodded as if he understood, but he wondered, if they went directly to Bingzhou, could they avoid such speculation from others? It seems impossible.
Anyway, according to his thinking, such actions are somewhat like an attempt to cover up one's guilt.
However, neither Cao Cao nor Chen Gong intended to talk to him any more.
First of all, this transaction must be reported to Yuan Shao, and part of it must be sent to Yecheng after the transaction is completed.
Since Jizhou and Qingzhou are located further north than Yanzhou and Yuzhou, they have a greater demand for such cotton-padded clothes.
But if Yuan Shao, who had just lost Gongsun Zan, his northern barrier, were asked to reach a deal with Qiao Yan, he would definitely not be happy.
I can't bring myself to lose face.
With Cao Cao as the middleman, it is obviously the most appropriate way to negotiate the deal between Yanzhou and Bingzhou.
In addition, this also gave Qiao Yan a legitimate reason to temporarily withdraw from the court in Chang'an and take the opportunity to visit Bingzhou.
I believe she will take this opportunity.
After sending Cao Ang and Cao Hong away, Cao Cao changed his previous open-minded attitude and showed some worry on his face during the conversation with his strategist Chen Gong. "From Gongtai's perspective, will Qiao Yeshu send troops again this year?"
"We probably won't take the initiative to send troops." Chen Gong obviously knew what Cao Cao was worried about, and replied.
"Bingzhou, Liangzhou, and Guanzhong have been in a fairly stable state after two years of operation. This gave her the opportunity to reach out to Henan Yin and Hongnong County in the east of Sili and swallow up a large number of population resources in one go during the natural disaster, but it also caused a considerable burden at the same time."
"Before these people finish cultivating the land around Luoyang and get a year's harvest, they need to rely on the savings of the three states in the past two years. At the same time, this part of the savings needs to be used to stabilize the grain prices in the three states and the advance into Yizhou and Yingchuan this time—"
Cao Cao calculated and said, "Then it is almost leveled."
The amount of grain that can be stored on Qiao Yan's territory has actually been clearly stated in the Leping Monthly Report, and a rough estimate can be made.
I think the supply from Jingzhou, Yizhou and Yangzhou in these two years was very limited.
Even though she performed particularly well during this year's drought and locust plague, the inevitable reduction in production due to the weather is not something she can completely eliminate through human power.
This investment must be made to stabilize grain prices in the three states.
This is truly a balanced asset.
"What about the output of Yizhou, the land of abundance?"
Chen Gong shook his head. "In the past, the governor of Yizhou, Xie Jian, levied heavy taxes and collected a lot of wealth in Yizhou. Most of the wealth he accumulated was used for his own enjoyment. So if we want to calculate the grain reserves of Yizhou, we have to start from the time when Liu Junlang took over the position of governor of Yizhou."
"In the past few years, there was considerable opposition from within Yizhou. The consumption of sending troops several times made it difficult to store food. I also heard that when Liu Junlang was in Luoyang in his early years, he had some royal family problems, and it was probably even more so when he came to Yizhou. With this calculation, after this amount of stored food was used to support Xuzhou and Youzhou, it could only be used as a disaster prevention reserve for various states."
"Look at the long-term preparations Qiao Yeshu has made for the drought, and you will know that she will never give up on having a reserve of food that can be used at any time, so the order of attack is Yizhou first and Youzhou later."
Cao Cao clapped his hands and smiled: "Gongtai is right, so she won't... or at least she won't make any big moves this year."
However... just like Chen Gong said, this may only lead to the conclusion that she will not "take the initiative" to send troops. The current situation in the world seems to be dominated by the four directions and the states and counties are independent, but in fact it is a state where a single move can affect the entire body.
Qiao Yan's foresight in observing the world should not be underestimated. Just like she chose to sail to Liaodong from Xuzhou this time, there is no guarantee that she will not move a chess piece on the chessboard when she temporarily stops.
But even Cao Cao, who had known her for ten years, felt that it was not easy for him to guess where Qiao Yan would choose to move first.
So he just said in a joking tone: "I feel much more at ease with Gongtai's words. Now it seems that the necessity of learning arithmetic is becoming more and more important."
You have to keep track of all the inflows and outflows so that you can have a clear idea of what's going on when confronting your opponent.
"You said, although we cannot open a school like Dongjun College in Yanzhou, is it still feasible to open a crash course in arithmetic?"
Chen Gong replied with a smile: "If you think that there will be traps like Yuan Benchu borrowing grain in the next cotton transaction, it would be okay to set up a math class."
"But I think we should first let people devote their extra time to digging canals and wells."
It doesn’t seem that difficult to tell which one is the most urgent.
Only when you have solved the problem of food and clothing can you consider more things.
This "fullness", supported by Cao Cao's quick response to the disaster and Zao Zhi's military farming policy in previous years, is still on the critical line of not causing people to leave, but this is only the case this year.
What if...the disaster is even worse next year?
They have to think about whether there is anything like an underground reservoir within their territory.
The underground reservoir in front of the Qinling Mountains in Guanzhong does not sound like a place that was set up just to boost people's confidence.
When Cao Cao heard this, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
This man, who is in a precarious situation, has encountered an environment that does not intend to help him recover. What the situation will be like in the future, even he has no way of knowing until next year.
He can only do what is in front of him.
At least as the governor of Yanzhou and the person in charge of Chenjun and Runanjun in Yuzhou, he cannot mess up!
"Cotton trade?" After Qiao Yan received the news from Bingzhou, he was somewhat surprised by Cao Cao's reaction.
But when I think of the other party's sentiments of "drinking and singing, how long is life" and "being generous and unforgettable with worries", I feel it is not surprising that they would propose such a deal.
Her eyes turned, and she thought about the waves her behavior in the past few days had caused in Chang'an City, and immediately decided to go to Bingzhou first.
Other prefectures, even those that were not loyal to the Chang'an court, proposed such a deal at this time. If she did not go there in person, how could she evaluate clearly whether there was a possibility that Yanzhou and Yuzhou, which were adjacent to Sili, would be directly under their control.
According to what she and Liu Yu said, Cao Mengde made this deal with her for the sake of winter people's livelihood, which was actually a reasonable deal.
But you have to know that whether you can stand your ground and whether you should take such action at this time are two different things.
If she had shown enough respect for Cao Cao's envoy, it would have been strange if Yuan Shao, with his petty mind, did not develop a grudge against Yanzhou.
This rift might not have been revealed after the Youzhou incident, in case the ally in the south was lost, but it would have played its due role sooner or later.
Although Liu Yu felt it was a bit strange, he still approved her decision to return to Bingzhou.
It was already August, and the time for autumn harvest was approaching.
This is the busiest time for all places, and the impact of the change of ownership of Yizhou and Youzhou was temporarily diluted by the more simple and direct issue of survival.
According to the systematic operating procedures that had been established in Guanzhong in the past two years, the only change was that the grains were not as full as last year. Generally speaking, the business would not be unable to continue without Qiao Yan.
The carriage and the guards headed north. When they passed the northern suburbs of Chang'an, Qiao Yan lifted the curtain and looked outside. He saw farmers carrying hoes, sickles and backpacks heading towards the fields.
In the past few years, whenever the Sanfu area encountered a locust plague, they were almost helpless and passive due to the worship of the locust god. But this year, even though a reduction in production was inevitable, they were still able to maintain their livelihood.
When Qiao Yan looked at those people's faces, their faces were still filled with the joy of harvest.
As if they had noticed the mark on the carriage, the farmers walking along the official road stopped and looked towards the convoy. When Qiao Yan was about to lower the curtain and stop looking outside, they suddenly bowed towards the convoy, as if to express their silent gratitude to her.
Her hand movements paused for a moment, and she heard Li Ru, who was riding in the same car with her, say, "I didn't expect that the Lord is such an emotional person."
She smiled and said, "If people don't act on their emotions, they will lose a criterion to check themselves. As long as you don't let your personal feelings and wishes completely affect your judgment of the current situation, it will be fine."
How could she be indifferent to these people?
If during the Yellow Turban Rebellion she still felt that these people were merely tools for her to gain fame, then when she arrived in Leping, heard people say that the bark of the tree used to make paper mulberry and leather clothes was not tasty, and saw them rushing to greet her after she shot the governor with arrows to quell the locust plague, she was already tied to this era.
Today, it is closely linked to the territories of these several states.
"Your Excellency said not to let your emotions affect your judgment of the current situation. There seems to be some hidden meaning in your words." Li Ru slowly picked up the teacup on the table in the car and commented.
Qiao Yan replied: "There's no need to make this matter so clear."
Of course, she was talking about Wang Yun.
Since she had not informed the court in Chang'an about her advance into Yizhou, and she had asked for honors from her generals for the war in Youzhou, even though Wang Yun was reprimanded by her in court for his remarks that he had not accomplished anything, it did not affect his underlying attitude of being critical.
If he said that he did it for the sake of the Han people, and did not want a powerful official to do such a reckless act without regard for the court, and even develop to the level of Dong Zhuo? I’m afraid not!
He just wanted to cling to his reputation as a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty and the honor of belonging to the scholar class, and did not want Qiao Yan to become a useless person as a result of his actions step by step.
Perhaps, even if she told everyone about the strategy of attacking Yizhou, he would still be able to find a way to argue with her.
Who knows, his ideas and ambitions are quite different from Xun Yu's?
However, who said that Wang Yun’s behavior was a bad thing?
At least with these actions of his, Liu Yang, who was originally hostile to her, would probably feel that he had found a like-minded person. And the officials in the capital who, like Wang Yun, were dissatisfied with the Grand Marshal would naturally regard Wang Yun, who was in the position of one of the Three Dukes, as their leader and then gather around him.
This is great, she doesn't have to fish individually using targeted baits.
There was a Li Ru who deliberately showed up to lure out Qi Zhou, and then Qi Zhou came to Wang Yun for advice, and then Wang Yun jumped out to be the leader in public. This was something that made Qiao Yan less worried.
At this time, she temporarily left Chang'an City and went to Bingzhou to discuss the cotton trade, which also provided them with a safe space for communication.
She wanted to see what kind of interesting drama these people could come up with when they did not have much military power and were surrounded by her territory.
It can't be a failed usurpation of power like Liu Zhang's, right?
Wang Yun is not as stupid as Zhao Wei.
This unknown possibility made Qiao Yan think of this and he couldn't help but smile.
She turned to Li Ru and said, "Speaking of which, Mr. Wen You's performance ability has greatly improved after working with Mr. Wen He for a long time."
Someone had already reported to Qiao Yan the contrast he showed when he reappeared in front of Qi Zhou, which made her find it very interesting.
But Li Ru was not happy to attribute the credit to Jia Xu.
The reason why he appeared in Chang'an that year was because he was dragged into the water by Jia Xu. If this guy hadn't insisted on "arguing with him", he could have continued to live out his retirement in Shangjun because of his apprentice's performance.
Now I have to work as a clerical worker in Chang'an for two years.
It was because Qiao Yan wanted to send a signal to Wang Yun - that Li Ru might have exposed his identity to the outside world, so he had to hide his tracks first. Only then was Li Ru temporarily allowed to return to Bingzhou.
He replied: "My performance is at best a true-to-life performance, not as good as Jia Wen and Chang Xiu Shan Wu."
Qiao Yan couldn't help but laugh.
She watched the competition between these counselors and did not do anything to stop it. After all, who can say that this is not a way to make these guys who are not very proactive play a role?
In order to enjoy the same treatment of working four days and resting two days as Jia Xu, Li Ru has helped a lot in the past two years.
Qiao Yan felt no guilt about this healthy competition.
Anyway, compared to those who take the initiative to work overtime for their own treatment, the one who has been kept in the dark is probably more miserable.
Behind their carriage was the carriage carrying Tian Feng, who was heading to Youzhou to promulgate the emperor's decree.
He worked hard to come up with an imperial decree that balanced the positions, which led to him getting the commission to go to Youzhou to announce the decree.
Unfortunately, what he didn't know was that this might not be his chance to successfully return to Jizhou and report what he had gained in the past few years, but rather the time for him to formally break away from Yuan Shao's camp.
Long before the caravan set off, Qiao Yan had already delivered a letter to Zhang Liao.
She has enough confidence in this capable general, so Zhang Liao should also know that -
At what point should Tian Feng reshape his cognition?
After three years of undercover promotion, it is time to end it.
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