Chapter 873 Taking Advantage of the Situation

Yuan Shu was certainly no match for Cao Cao, especially since Cao Cao only lost territory, but his troops were still there. He didn't lose much in the fight against Liu Bei, it was mainly a stalemate and a tug of war. In addition to the troops he left to defend Yuzhou and the troops that escaped from Yanzhou, he still had more than 200,000.

With Cao's military accomplishment and the advantage in the number of troops, this time Cao completely defeated Yuan Shu to the south of the Yangtze River and controlled almost all of Yuzhou. Only part of Peiguo County was occupied by Liu Bei and he had to connect with Liu Bei, so he didn't do it.

Yuan Shao finally let Cao Song and others go to Yuzhou, to save some face and reputation. Jizhou and Yanzhou are both places with concentrated populations, and many families are there. Their family members are all working for different princes, betting separately to ensure family inheritance. If Yuan Shao killed Cao Cao's family, then can he kill other people's families? This is obviously a way to lose people's hearts.

Only Dong Zhuo could do this, and Wang Ze would not do such a thing. Of course, the thief Wang should be killed as well, after all, all the great families in Youzhou were killed, but he killed people for a clear political basis, not because some of the children outside these families caused him any trouble, so he carried out revenge...

After returning Cao Song, Yuan Shao did not wait for Cao Cao to attack him, but asked Zhang Yang to provoke him and attack him. He also contacted Liu Biao, not to attack Yuan Shu first, but to attack Cao Cao instead. He also wrote a letter to Yuan Shu, asking him to put aside his prejudice and attack Cao Cao first. He also wrote a letter to Liu Bei to win over Liu Bei.

Tao Qian had died of illness, and Liu Bei was the fake governor of Xuzhou. Tao Qian submitted a petition before his death, and Yuan Shao also submitted a petition. Li Jue and others in Chang'an did not stop him, and simply agreed to Liu Bei's appointment as governor of Xuzhou. They also sent an envoy to announce the decree and send Liu Bei's seal, and Liu Bei became the real governor of Xuzhou.

But Liu Bei did not accept Yuan Shao's solicitation, and he was still with Cao Cao. Now everyone is fighting Cao Cao, and Cao Cao himself is not weak, but Liu Bei is very weak. If he forms an alliance with Yuan Shao and others to fight Cao Cao together, then if Cao Cao is defeated, both Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu will definitely want to kill him. This is not a multiple-choice question. Anyone with a clear mind knows that they are in the same group with Cao Cao.

So Cao Cao was on guard against Liu Biao and Yuan Shu, and attacked Zhang Yang fiercely. Yuan Shao did not lose face and directly sent troops to attack Yuzhou, so Cao Cao did not provoke it, did not take the initiative to attack Yanzhou, and killed Zhang Yang first.

This is because Yuan Shao entered Yanzhou, and it was the Yanzhou nobles and officials who took the initiative to welcome him, not Yuan Shao took advantage of Cao Cao's battle outside to send troops to attack and take it down. These are two different things. The former still kept his face, and the latter really started to fight.

At this time, Li Jue, Guo Si, Ma Teng in Chang'an, Han Sui and others stationed in Jincheng, and even Liu Yan of Yizhou got involved, and there was also a war over there, a mess.

This is when the world is in chaos. There is no safe place, and there are wars everywhere. Even Wang Yan is fighting here. He is still cleaning up the Xianbei, Xiongnu and other tribes in the grassland. They must be driven out of the grassland, whether they run to Mobei or to the Western Regions, but they cannot stay in the grassland.

Wang Yan has certainly not been idle for more than a year. In addition to the military operations that must be carried out on the grassland every winter, he is also actively expanding. The four counties of Yunzhong, Wuyuan, Taiyuan and Xihe in Bingzhou have been brought under control. Bingzhou has occupied most of the land. Including the newborns, the new population is more than 700,000, which is close to 4 million.

And the population of Bingzhou is basically these, and they all ran to his rule. There are basically not too many people in the remaining large tracts of land. This is because of the impact of war, and the grain production in the past two years has been worse than the previous year, the population has dropped sharply, and because of Dong Zhuo, Ding Yuan, Lu Bu and others, the population of Bingzhou is not large.

As for the new population added by Wang Yan this time, part of them are the Black Mountain Army in Taihang Mountain. They were attacked by Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and Zhang Yang together, and their lives were quite difficult. Therefore, many small bandits simply killed their leaders and took their heads out of the mountains to seek refuge.

In addition to sending part of the new population to the northeast and part to the grassland, the rest stayed in Bingzhou to redivide the land and carry out large-scale construction. It is mainly water conservancy construction, which is the most important factor in farming. Bingzhou is not geographically favorable and has less grain production. Fortunately, there is more coal here, which can help development through domestic circulation regulation.

Simply put, it is to sell coal to the people in Youzhou and Liaodong, and then use the money to exchange for food. Then pay money through the labor of the people in Bingzhou, and the people use the money to buy food. Through continuous transactions, the regulation of materials is completed.

In order to facilitate transportation and the mobilization and turnover of materials, wide roads should be built accordingly, and small roads should be built in the countryside. In order to increase the speed faster, the craftsmen finally remembered to build rails and build special carriages to drive directly on the rails. But there are still various problems, such as snow in winter, and it is difficult to walk uphill. At present, there is only one experimental railway line from Jixian to Linyu.

This can also be regarded as a horse-drawn train, but it represents advancement and creation.

Science is not an example, but a method. It is a set of theoretical systems for discovery, summary, research, development, and iteration. General Wang used this theoretical system to determine the regime and support it with policies. Various researches are being carried out and progressing.

This will lead to changes in social forms, and changes in social forms will give rise to corresponding cultures. A bunch of trolls in Wenchang Pavilion study hard every day, respond to and adapt to social changes, promote the rise of thoughts under General Wang's rule, and make culture unprecedentedly prosperous.

As the place where the most literati gather today, the Wenchang newspapers that are constantly transmitted by caravans also have a huge impact on literati in other places.

However, the impact on the princes is relatively limited. They don't pay attention to culture. They pay attention to how Wang Ze, who has a tax rate of one-tenth, no miscellaneous taxes, and no forced labor from the people, but instead spends money to hire people, maintains the operation of his rule. At the same time, they are also paying attention to their own rule, and absolutely do not allow anyone to publicize how good Wang Ze is.

In such an era, their blockade is of course efficient. Many people have never left the county in their lives. As long as they are suppressed, it is difficult to pass on the news. The nobles will not make Wang Yan famous, after all, Wang Yan is their mortal enemy. If there is no other way, and there is really no one to take the lead, they also want to kill Wang Yan first. After all, if Wang Yan really wins the world, they will surely die.

So their actions were successful. Although the news had spread a few years ago, Wang Yan had been in business for ten years, and it was no longer a hot topic. People had forgotten it. Maybe when he was hungry and fainted, he would imagine the prosperous times he had heard of and dared not imagine...

Whether in Youzhou or Liaodong, the summer was very hot, and the river was full of children. Several children drowned every year, and they would not listen to anything. This was uncontrollable. Children were playful by nature, and the ignorant were fearless. If one jumped into the river, a group of children would jump. At this time, there were no children playing by themselves, but in groups. Parents had a lot of work to do, and every household had a bunch of children, so they could not manage them at all.

Although there were police patrols, they could not always stare at the river. There were always times of negligence, so some tragic things happened every year.

Apart from that, there was nothing serious. It would be too much to say how beautiful the scenery was. There was really nothing exquisite about it. It was just natural. It looked okay at the beginning. After all, there was a huge gap of two thousand years, and the air was different. But after seeing more, you should understand how hard the people are behind it. If you think about it again, it seems that no matter how beautiful the scenery is, it doesn't mean much.

However, Ji County is different. There is also a scene here, that is, it is lively and prosperous.

Since the general's mansion was moved to Ji County, the political and economic center has also moved with it. After three years of construction, the larger Wenchang Pavilion and medicine have also been built outside Ji County, leaving a part of the backbone forces to continue to develop in Tuhe, and the others have moved to Ji County.

In addition to commercial trade, there are goods from the north and the south here, and there is no curfew policy. Ji County has a preliminary nightlife. The cultural people in Wenchang Pavilion and officials are the main consumers. They are well treated and have a lot of spare money, so they naturally spend more.

So in Ji County, there are people everywhere, including short-sleeved men, bare-chested little children, well-dressed literati, officials in blue shirts, and all kinds of merchants in brocade clothes, men and women, old and young, rich and poor, and everyone can be seen.

One day, Wang Yan was fishing by the river out of boredom. It is very difficult to catch fish in the river now. Many fish were caught in the net two years ago. Besides, children can't just jump into the water. They also catch fish. Anyway, they don't let go of anything they can eat. The current supplies are still not abundant, and the people are still hungry.

However, due to large-scale ice making and large-scale fishing, sea fish can be eaten in summer, but it is not as cheap as in winter. Is it because of the increased transportation costs? In addition, there are fish ponds in Ji County, but the output is relatively limited and cannot supply a large market. Also, because it is fresh, the price is higher.

There are many problems to be solved, but it is not a matter of one day or one night. They all have to develop slowly...

"General." The guards came over carefully, fearing that they would disturb the general's fish.

"What's the matter?"

"Cao Cao sent an envoy to Ji County with the caravan. This is Cao Cao's handwritten letter."

Wang Yan raised his eyebrows. Just as he was about to take the letter, he felt the movement of the fishing rod. He picked up the fishing rod with a snap. A fish estimated to be two or three pounds came out of the water with a splash and swung wildly.

The guards beside him came over to remove the hook and threw it into the wooden barrel that was already filled with a lot of fish.

The general then took the letter and unfolded it to read.

In fact, there was nothing important. It just praised Wang Yan's achievements in fighting the grassland, his ambition to feed the people, and his spirit of sailing out to explore the unknown and looking for good breeds to bring back to China. Then he analyzed the current situation in the world, and then denounced Yuan Shao for being shameless, first kidnapping his father and then taking his Yanzhou. Finally, he stated his purpose, hoping that he, General Wang, could go south and attack Jizhou, so that both sides would benefit. One side occupied Jizhou, and the other side recovered Yanzhou.

In addition, two young women in their twenties were sent over...

This was because they heard that he had large-scale marriages with wealthy families, raising more than 20 wives, and they all got married after the age of 18. They thought he was a lecher, so they came to please him.

Should I say it or not, Wang Yan felt quite complicated. Thinking back to the past, he had thought that he might have to fight with Lao Cao. Old Wang, there is a bit of Old Cao's spirit in him.

Now he not only fought with Old Cao, but Old Cao also sent him two beauties.

Regarding this, Wang Yan wanted to say that Old Cao really wronged him. He is a serious gentleman, how could he be on the same side as Old Cao?

After thinking carefully for a moment, Wang Yan put the letter away and said, "Let's set off to Gaoyang tomorrow."

"Yes, General."

"Where is the beauty Cao Cao gave me?"

"I'm temporarily staying at Guanyi. General, do you want to send me to the mansion?"

Wang Yan shook his head: "No need, let's get these two girls married to their husbands."

It’s not like he’s short of women, these two women don’t have any reputations either. If it’s Xiao Qiao, he’ll accept them without saying a word. The main thing is that they are celebrities, and he just wants to feel the feelings, nothing else. Now he randomly sent two women here. They may be beautiful and charming, but among his more than 20 wives, each one is prettier than the other. They are really as good as these two. Besides, where he puts his energy, he is really well-informed, and he is no longer the young man he used to be.

After making arrangements, Wang Yan didn't see any messengers. After spending the night, he took a hundred personal guards and set out for Gaoyang early the next morning. That was the first line of battle with Yuan Shao. Taishi Ci was transferred to take charge. Huang Zhong was transferred back to guard Xushui.

Tai Shici is also in his thirties this year. He has been with Wang Yan for more than eight years and is a serious veteran. He is capable of fighting, has brains, and is young, otherwise Wang Yan would not have let Taishi Ci take the lead a few years ago and lead the team alone to seize Yanmen Pass.

But this kid is relatively free. Sima has already taken care of everything, so there's no point in staying around. After changing the defense, he took a hundred-man team to find someone to challenge him. He was beaten by the enemy general and fled in embarrassment. He never came out to challenge him again. It was only at that time that Wang Yan knew that the defender on the opposite side was Zhang He.

After four days of traveling, on the fifth day, Wang Yan took Tai Shici to call for the formation.

The two armies were only five miles apart, and there were scouts everywhere. Taishi Ci didn't pay attention to them, because Wang Yan had already given instructions to let these soldiers take a good look at what they were doing here. Otherwise, Tai Shi Ci would have taken action long ago. After all, the scout rangers here are the most powerful in combat. In groups of three or two, they dare to go hundreds of miles deep to spy on the enemy.

Therefore, as soon as Wang Yan took action, the other side gathered urgently and stood ready. Zhang He was still relatively stable.

When they arrived at the military camp opposite, thousands of troops had already marched a mile forward and were waiting.

Wang Yan did not come here to fight. He was not wearing armor today and was still dressed in the same outfit. Taishi Ci put on his armor and followed Wang Yan as a bodyguard. The two of them slowly rode forward together.

Taishi Ci shouted: "General Tianwu has arrived in person, and Zhang He came forward to speak."

After he finished speaking, he saw that there was some chaos on the other side, and Zhang He was not allowed to come out. This is what we should be vigilant about. After all, Wang Yan can really fight, and Taishi Ci and Zhang He can't do it, and they can easily be captured alive.

After a while, Zhang He and his two lieutenants approached.

"Zhang He has met the general." He was very sensible. He rode on his horse and bowed his hands to Wang Yan in a decent manner, and then asked, "I wonder what the general is looking for?"

Wang Yan nodded with a smile and answered the question: "I wonder what Jun Yi thinks of me?"

Zhang He was not surprised that Wang Yan knew his handwriting. Although he didn't know why Wang Yan asked this, he was just trying to show off his skills.

He said: "The general has the ambition to control the world and the ability to govern the world. I reject this. I have seen the true nature of the general's rule and I deeply admire him."

"In your opinion, can I conquer the world?"

Zhang He was silent...

He didn't dare to say this, although he also felt that Wang Yan could really conquer the world as long as he worked steadily, but he couldn't say it, otherwise he would be marked as Yuan Shao, and what would he do in the future?

Wang Yan didn't pay attention, and continued: "In your opinion, can Yuan Shao conquer the world? You came from a poor family, so you should be on the same path as me. There are many powerful people under Yuan Shao's command, how can they value you? Even if you make great contributions in the future, I have become a powerful person by myself, but if you are not from that generation, you will be marginalized by that generation, and you will not be able to take on big responsibilities or be put in important positions. If you are not like this, why should you protect me?

You were born in a poor family, and all your subordinates are Guizhou refugees and refugees. Why should you sacrifice your life for Yuan Shao? My way is to the people, and they are all for the benefit of people of similar origins like us. My army protects the home and country, defends the land and brings peace to the people, and is an upright division. Everyone says that I am a rebel and a barbarian, but they are killing us indiscriminately, so why do we claim to be civilized and polite? The Han Dynasty lost Qilu, and the virtuous people lived there. The great virtue is with me, and the general trend is with me. Jun Yi must understand the situation, abandon the darkness and turn to the light, and join me to conquer the world together. "

Zhang He became even more silent. What could he say? Yuan Shao is not a big-hearted person. If anyone reveals this, he will be almost useless.

He took a deep breath and asked, "Why is the general here?"

Wang Yan didn't pay attention and threw the brocade bag he had already held in his hand to him: "This is a letter from Cao Cao. He wants to form an alliance with me and attack Yuan Shao together. Please give this letter to Yuan Shao and pass on my oral message. If you want Tell me to stop and send 500,000 people back 200 miles. If they don't comply, I will attack them. If there is no reply within half a month, I will attack Jizhou."

Zhang He was stunned for a moment. This was taking advantage of someone else's situation. He raised his hand and said, "Don't worry, General. I will definitely bring you here. I'll take my leave now."

"What I said is true, Junyi should think about it. In life, the most important thing is self-knowledge. A mantis' arm is like a chariot, so he is not a hero."

"Farewell." Zhang He cupped his hands, turned around and ran away. He couldn't listen anymore...

Tai Shici asked: "General, if he doesn't surrender, what should I do if our swordsmen meet?"

"You don't have to hold back, your own safety is the most important thing." Wang Yan glanced at him.

Taishi Ci understood the general's eyes, which meant 'don't talk nonsense'. He smiled and then asked: "If Yuan Shao doesn't obey, will he really attack Jizhou?"

"We'll see what happens."

After that, Wang Yan turned his horse around and rode back slowly on the snow...

Thanks to (Brother Z of Society) for giving 100 coins to continue supporting.

Daily thanks to the good brothers who voted for the monthly ticket,

Thanks to the brothers who voted for the recommendation,

Thanks to the brothers who read the book silently.