I am not an ant thief in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 425, Xu You's poisonous plan
When Yuan Shao heard the news, he almost exploded!

Do you know how I spent the past three years?
I am a good role model for the world, the elite of the gentry, in order to relieve the victims, cheated, abducted, and plundered by force, this allowed the three states of the Central Plains to survive the drought safely, and I was more than ten years old, which saved your lives. Compared with the time of the first emperor , What I have done can be said to be unparalleled in the country, and you are repaying me with such rumors!

After Yuan Shao heard the rumor, he couldn't bear it at all, and immediately summoned his confidant counselors and said angrily: "Now the whole Central Plains is spreading the word that this drought is caused by Shao's failure of morality. Let's talk about how we can break this. gossip!"

And Xu You and others also seemed extremely embarrassed!

Back then when they occupied Luoyang City and expanded their influence to the entire three states of the Central Plains, everyone was full of spirits, thinking that relying on their abilities and relying on the wealthy three states of the Central Plains as their foundation, they would definitely be able to report to the emperor and get rid of thunder!

But these three years of disasters have almost wiped out their arrogance. Although with their efforts, even though the Central Plains suffered from three years of drought, they can barely maintain their lives, but Cao Cao in the same period can rely on one and a half states. Not to mention raising 20 soldiers, it can still maintain the basic stability of Qingzhou. At least in the past few years, not many people in Qingzhou have fled to Hebei.

However, millions of people in Yanzhou and Sili under their rule fled to Hebei.With such a strong contrast, they can't even deceive themselves and others if they want to. Cao Cao's background is not as good as them, but he does better than them. This does not mean that Cao Cao and his subordinates are more talented than them. Yau and others can't admit it!

And Liu Bei in the south was luckier than them, easily occupying half of the big Han, and during the three years of drought in the big Han, the whole south was not affected, plus Liu Bei was in Jingzhou, Yangzhou farming, the food in Liu Bei's hands could not only be self-sufficient , They can also resettle millions of refugees every year, and they even have to find ways to please Liu Bei so that Jingzhou can be sold to the Central Plains!
Not to mention Leigong in Hebei. Although Jizhou was also the hardest-hit area of ​​the drought in the past three years, Leigong has money. He first spent a lot of effort to build water conservancy in Jizhou, and then spent a huge price on reclamation in Liaodong. Lei Gong moved to Liaodong. Last autumn, Liaodong had tens of millions of grains to support Hebei. Yuan Shao and the others couldn't believe it!

In such a catastrophic year, Lei Gong could actually send tens of thousands of cavalry to expedition to Xiliang. Based on the information Yuan Shao and the others found, Lei Gong’s subordinates have already reached Dunhuang, the westernmost place in Xiliang, and are now preparing supplies and troops. Find a way to reoccupy the Western Regions!From this point of view, Lei Gong definitely has no shortage of food and grass.

In a vertical comparison, they did more than 10 times better than the officials of the first emperor's time, but Xu You and the others compared the surrounding princes and found that they were the worst in dealing with the drought!
What made them most fearful was their greatest enemy, Lei Gong, who turned out to be the best-performing vassal force in this drought. Lei Gong could not only carry out infrastructure construction during the drought, but also help millions of victims. According to Yuan Shao's statistics, he The number of people who fled to Hebei on the territory exceeded 200 million, and 2000-3000 million shi of grain was needed to feed these people. Lei Gong could not only feed them, but also spared the energy to go to Xiliang thousands of miles away!

Yuan Shao and the others were even a little fortunate that this time Lei Gong was going on an expedition to Xiliang. If Lei Gong was conquering them, there would be no need to travel thousands of miles. Lei Gong might send hundreds of thousands of troops to conquer the Central Plains, and it would be impossible for them to resist Lei Gong. !

Tian Fengman said indifferently: "Duke Ming doesn't need to care about this rumor. No one can replace Duke Ming in the Central Plains now, not even Liu Bei! It's just that the nobles in the Central Plains are worried that Duke Ming will use them as pigs to be slaughtered." !"

It is not without sequelae that Yuan Shao and Cao Cao conspired to deal with the powerful and noble families in Xuzhou!In the eyes of the nobles in the Central Plains, since Yuan Shao could slaughter the nobles in Xuzhou as pigs, he might do something to them!
So in April of this year, when the drought in the Central Plains was initially revealed, the nobles in the Central Plains were a little frightened. They were worried that Yuan Shao was short of food and grass, and they would attack them, so they acted preemptively, tarnished Yuan Shao's reputation, and made Yuan Shao dare not treat them. act rashly!

Tian Feng and the others could easily see the mastermind behind the scenes, but he also knew that it would be difficult for Yuan Shao to punish these nobles in the Central Plains. Yuan Shao doesn't have Xuzhou's subordinates here, so Yuan Shao can easily attack the rich and powerful families in Xuzhou.But if he really dared to attack the nobles of the Central Plains, Yuan Shao's army would collapse!
"Feng thinks that we need to change our strategy now. Lei Gong has been going south for three years. This drought is also a huge blow to the Dagan army. It is impossible for the Dagan army to go south in a short time. We should reduce the pressure on the city. Expansion, the construction of Wubao Pass, but we should find a way to use manpower on the construction of canals. The construction of 30 troops has already overwhelmed us. This year is also a drought, and the reduction of food production is inevitable. If there is another drought next year, only I'm afraid that without Lei Gong's action, our power will collapse!"

Although the drought in the Central Plains is serious, but now in the Central Plains, it is not like in the history that the princes are fighting and the world is in turmoil. Instead, Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and Liu Bei must strengthen their strength to deal with the drought. Lei Gong is actively responding to the drought. In this world, people who really starve to death There are not many people in the drought.

Yuan Shao, on the other hand, experienced an enhanced version of Cao Cao's treatment, and Yuan Shao's bottom line was higher than Cao Cao's (Cao Cao made rice and meat to support the army and Qiufa Zhonglang in order to deal with the drought, it can be said Cao Cao’s willpower is extremely tenacious in survival, and he dared to do anything in order to survive), so he was disgraced by natural disasters. Originally, Yuan Shao’s background would not have been so miserable, but now he is not facing a powerful Lei Gong. Even during the worst drought in the past three years, he did not give up his plan to arm 30 elites. At the same time, in order to resist Lei Gong's iron cavalry, he strengthened the defense of Luoyang City, built eight passes in Luoyang, passes in various places in Guanzhong, and built various Wubao.

It is precisely because too much support from military equipment has affected Yuan Shao's disaster relief operations. Both Hebei and Cao Cao are building canals, but Yuan Shao is building docks. In this case, it is understandable that the drought on his site is the most serious. !
And Tian Feng was worried that if the expansion of military equipment continues like this, the drought will continue to expand, and Yuan Shao's power will collapse because of this drought!
Feng Ji hesitated and said: "There won't be so many droughts, it's been three years in a row, and the weather should be normal next year no matter what!"

Ju Shou said calmly: "This drought has been happening for three years in a row. Who is sure that the drought will not continue next year? If we don't think about building an army and building water conservancy facilities to fight the drought, I'm afraid we won't be able to wait for Lei Gong's army! "

Xu You retorted: "The pedantic view is that now is the most intense moment for the princes to compete for hegemony. The army is trying to expand its armaments. Cao Cao has expanded his army by 20 in one and a half states. Liu Bei is known as a man of benevolence, but he occupies The territory of the three states has also expanded its army to 30, not to mention Lei Gong in Hebei. The standing army exceeds 20. At the same time, it still retains an arsenal that can expand an army of one million. Downsizing here is not asking for death!"

Tian Feng said angrily: "We are going to kill ourselves if we continue to expand our military equipment. You only talk about Lei Gong, Cao Cao, and Liu Bei expanding their military equipment, but you don't say that Lei Gong has been trying to find ways to build new water conservancy and cultivate an army since the beginning of his army. After occupying Wei County for a few months, he also tried to get 300 million mu of land for reclamation.

After occupying Mayi, the first thing to do is to reclaim the land and build water canals. Now one Mayi can provide Dagan with tens of millions of shi of grain. In the past two years, the drought has been severe, and Lei Gong even summoned millions of people in Jizhou. Minfu has been extending the water conservancy facilities in Jizhou. Now half of the land in Jizhou can be covered by water canals. He also started Liaodong reclamation at the same time. This is also the reason why Lei Gong does not lack food in the year of the catastrophe! "

"As for our ally Cao Cao, he also began to farm in Taishan County when he raised his troops. Later, he oppressed Qingzhou's powerful clans to take out land for military settlements. At the same time, he vigorously built new water conservancy projects throughout Qingzhou and Xuzhou. Although Cao Cao's site also suffered from drought, But he survived by relying on the military camp.”

Not to mention Liu Bei, he started to farm in Youzhou, and he also started to farm when he went to Xiliang later. He also started to farm in Jingzhou, and he also tried to find a way to cultivate in Yangzhou, so Liu Bei has never been short of food since he started his army!
Look, which one of the forces around us is not doing reclamation, only we have done the least in reclamation, and now it is difficult to maintain the army, is this not worth our vigilance? "

Yuan Shao was a little moved after hearing this!

Indeed, among the various forces in the Han Dynasty, Lei Gong is farming, Cao Cao is farming, and Liu Bei is farming, so this drought has little impact on them, but he does not farm. This drought has the greatest impact on his power and has already affected him. The survival of the regime is at stake!He wants to find a way to build more water conservancy facilities to deal with the drought!

But at this moment Xu You stopped him and said: "It is absolutely impossible! Now the strength of the princes of the Han Dynasty is not the opponent of Hebei. If we want to survive, the only thing we can rely on is the army in our hands, not to farm. The soldiers in our hands are not only defending us, but also defending the big man! If we don’t have enough food, we can buy it from Cao Cao and Liu Bei. Come out, what do we have to resist the big army?"

Guo Tu also said: "Although it is important to farm the fields, for us now, it is more important to guard against the big army. This is related to our life and death! Looking at Lei Gong's actions for a few months, we can know that there is no shortage of food in the big army. Lei Gong can send 5 troops to expedition to Xiliang, even to Dunhuang thousands of miles away, and can support millions of Qiang people! Lei Gong has so much food in his hands, and now that the summer harvest is approaching, Lei Gong will soon be There will be tens of millions of shi more food, and if Lei Gong finds out that we are reducing the army, everyone wonders if Lei Gong's hundreds of thousands of troops will take the opportunity to capture the Central Plains!"

Yuan Shao hesitated after hearing Guo Tu's words. Lei Gong can send out an army of 5 to attack Xiliang, and naturally he can send out an army of more than [-] to attack the Central Plains, but it is very difficult for him to even resist. He doesn't have much food, so how can he gather an army? Come and resist Thunder God's army!
Yuan Shao found himself in the current situation where both sides were dead. If he didn't want to fix the water conservancy, the huge army would collapse his power. If he disbanded the army and spent all his resources on water conservancy repairs, Lei Gong might take the opportunity to attack him!

Guo Tu's words silenced everyone, because this is very likely to happen. In the current situation, the side with the most food will take the initiative!And now it is Lei Gong from Hebei who takes the initiative!
Xu You thought for a while and said, "The only way we can break the situation now is to use other people's food to feed our own soldiers. This strategy was used by Cao Cao the year before last, and it worked well. We can also use it!"

"Now everyone is not worried about Lei Gong attacking the Central Plains! Let's take the initiative to attack. We will unite with Cao Cao and Liu Bei to form a coalition army, cross the Yellow River, and attack Hebei. Jizhou is the key point for Lei Gong. As long as he captures Jizhou, he doesn't even need to occupy it. Jizhou, as long as one side is burned, killed and looted in Jizhou, Lei Gong's granary will be destroyed by us.

In this way, it will take at least two years for Lei Gong to stock up enough food and grass to prepare for the battle against the Central Plains, and we have Liu Bei and Cao Cao to help us raise troops, plus two more years of preparation time, we may not be able to resist Lei Gong. North of the Yellow River! "

Xu You's crazy idea shocked everyone present!

Tian Feng was surprised and said: "Cao Cao and Liu Bei will not agree. Now that we are fighting in this season, more people will starve to death in the rear than we will die in battle!"

Xu You said earnestly: "If Cao Cao and Liu Bei disagree, you would spread the word to the world and force Cao Cao and Liu Bei to join the coalition army. Only when we severely injure Lei Gong in Jizhou can we find a way out!"

Feng Ji worried: "This may also be a dead end. Don't forget that Lei Gong has mastered millions of barbarians on the grassland. He can easily gather hundreds of thousands of cavalry to go south. We are not looking for a dead end when we go to Jizhou to fight the cavalry! "

Xu You sneered and said: "As long as we assemble quickly, Lei Gong will not have time to recruit the cavalry on the grassland. Our Northern Expedition is not to capture Jizhou, but to destroy Jizhou's grain harvest. As long as the army moves in and out quickly, Lei Gong's cavalry will How could it be possible to catch up with us!"

(End of this chapter)