Three Kingdoms: Cao Cao and Liu Bei help me to ascend the throne

Chapter 260

The cold wind blew on the cheeks like a sharp blade, the shape of the dry trees resembled a death ghost, and there were occasional white flocculent floating objects in the air.

Even in the dim light of the evening, if not for the mountains and the crowds, everything in this land can be seen at a glance.

Now... in front of the emperor Liu Hong who is on tour in micro-service.

The scene in Jinan... can be described as "shocking".

Between the sky and the earth, the golden-yellow soft soil that once symbolized a good harvest has been washed away by the Yellow River everywhere, and there are signs of being submerged everywhere, mixed with white frost.

If you accidentally step on it, you will sink in if you don't keep it together...

"This..." Liu Hong said with emotion: "A good field can turn into a swamp that kills people!"

Huang Zhong and Wei Yan who escorted Liu Hong were also stunned...

They thought that Nanyang, which was once plagued by the plague... the people were miserable enough, and they were in dire straits, but who would have thought... Compared with this place, the people of Nanyang seem to be living in paradise.

The green blades of grass that once symbolized vitality on the roadside are now only left with potholes, not even a root of grass, and the big tree... Even the bark was almost scraped off and eaten... Standing naked In the wind, regardless of the cold wind, regardless of the bitter cold people here, regardless of all irresistible factors, wantonly search, plunder, and humiliate themselves.

From time to time, its dry torso is blown down by the cold wind, telling passers-by that it is gradually withering.

"What are those kids doing?"

Liu Hong pointed to a few children not far away. They got together... With the help of their parents, they squatted hard and pouted their buttocks...

"Your Majesty...ah no, Master..." Jian Shuo was still used to addressing His Majesty, but he thought that His Majesty's repeated orders, this is a private visit...so he hurriedly changed his words, "Master...it's better not to know these things...it's insulting to hear!"

at this time…

The vulgar voice of the peasant woman came.

"Er Gou, try harder." The peasant woman took a branch and carefully poked her son's anus.

The youngest son grabbed the dead grass with both hands, exerted all his strength, and cried, "Mother... I can't pull the baby out."

"It's coming, it's coming..." The peasant woman cried...

In fact, her son's anus was already bleeding.

After a while...

He heard the son cry out in pain, and then he fainted on the ground, but the peasant woman said happily, "Come out, come out..."

Liu Hong looked at this scene with great heartache... Now he finally knew why Jian Shuo said that it was insulting to hear...

Hehe...is it insulting?
At this time, Qiao Xuan said softly: "This is common in some chaotic cities and counties of the Han Dynasty. These children have nothing to eat, they can only eat half-dried grass roots cooked by their parents, and fill their hunger with hot water. You can eat it It's easy, but it's hard to pull it out! This kid is lucky, but unfortunately... the grass roots couldn't be digested in the stomach, and they swelled up, and they were strangled to death."

This…

Hearing Qiao Xuan's words, Liu Hong's eyes widened, and he was shocked.

His eyes stared like copper bells, "Why are these? No one reported me?"

This is just the tip of the iceberg... It's not that Liu Hong was unprepared, but... what makes him sad is that even if it's the tip of the iceberg, none of the courtiers, even the eunuchs he trusted, reported it to him.

He is really just like what Yu Er said... In the palace, he is a deaf and blind man!
"His Majesty…"

Qiao Xuan sighed, "It's not that I don't report it, but that I can't report it. If His Majesty didn't say it with his own eyes, whoever reported it, would His Majesty believe it? What's more... What Your Majesty sees now is only the Yellow River." The scene of the disaster in Jinan under the flood... Hehe, there are more disasters in Jinan that are ten times worse than this one? There are so many...Where do we start to report?"

call…

Qiao Xuan's words made Liu Hong let out a long breath.

At this moment, he bit his lips tightly with his teeth... He winked at Jian Shuo... Jian Shuo understood, and took out some food for the children.

Seeing the woman kneel down with a "plop", her head was pounding like garlic and bowing to Liu Hong, Jian Shuo and others, Liu Hong realized that the most sincere kneeling is not three kneelings and nine kowtows in the hall. , but the gratitude of the people from the bottom of their hearts.

"Go...continue!"

Liu Hong said with great difficulty...

At this moment, he has realized... what is the root cause of the troubles in the Han Dynasty!
...

...

On the other side, Cao Cao has just finished.

Xia Houyuan was setting up a tent, while Cao Cao was sitting on the ground with a pen and writing something on the bamboo slips.

"Third Brother, what Brother Yu has seen and heard from Jinbei to Jinan these days is shocking... Everywhere Brother Yu goes, victims of disasters, refugees, and poor people will swarm up, men kneel on their knees, and surround me and Miaocai , kept kowtowing and begging for alms, at this moment, I remembered the scene when... you asked me to open a warehouse to release food when helping the refugees in Dunqiu."

"How familiar is this feeling with that time? Third brother...you always tell me that disasters and chaos...are the criteria for testing people's hearts. As expected, Jinan...is full of bitter and cold people. Here, Brother Yu saw his mother Leaving the child behind, brother Yu saw his father secretly hiding food for the whole family late at night, brother Yu saw that the purpose of a man marrying a woman is to sell her for a few days of rations, and he also saw that there are government officials everywhere to collect food and build temples! "

"This Jinan country is too chaotic. It seems that every commoner is the prey of those rich and powerful families. They are already so poor, but every rich and powerful family still tries to snatch food from them... As the third brother said, Biton The hills are ten times more chaotic, and just like what my father said, the waters in Jinan are unfathomable, but...Since Brother Yu is here, then...Brother Yu will try to fight against this chaotic sky!"

writing here...

Xia Houyuan set up the tent, he is relatively honest, he obeyed Cao Cao's words when he was younger...

"Brother, do you want to continue shopping tomorrow?"

"Stop shopping!" Cao Cao breathed out, "Go to the city tomorrow, go to the government!"

"Big Brother is going to take office?" Xia Houyuan was a little surprised, "I thought Big Brother didn't want to be the Prime Minister of Jinan anymore?"

"Hehe..." Cao Cao laughed, "Miaocai, we are all here, so we should leave something for the people here, right?"

Oh…

Xia Houyuan scratched his head.

The elder brother's words are just like Liu Guanzhu's words, sometimes people can't hear it...

"Success..." Although he didn't know why, Xia Houyuan nodded, "I will do what the elder brother says... However, when I went to Dunqiu to take office, the elder brother recruited a lot of warriors in advance, and it is these warriors... who can make the Big brother is attacking the powerful, but this time... we have no money and no soldiers... If these powerful landlords get embarrassed, then..."

Xia Houyuan scratched his head again, and hurriedly asked: "Why don't you borrow some money from Guanzhu Liu this time?"

"Need not!"

At this moment, Cao Cao seemed quite confident, "No one's money comes from the strong wind, this time it's up to us..."

what…

Xia Houyuan blinked, and he looked at this big brother in disbelief, the big brother is a little strange this time... isn't he cheating?Don't cheat brothers?Where does that money come from?

"Haha..." Cao Cao smiled, patted Xia Houyuan on the shoulder, and said with a smile, "The state-owned Jinan is money!"

When I blurted out this...

You can especially see how many farmlands have been occupied by the "ancestral temple" in Jinan.

These lands... are the cornucopia in the hands of the rich, but they are also the vision and hope of the poor!
...

...

The words are divided into two parts.

The newly promoted Jinan Prime Minister Cao Cao did not show up for more than ten days... The wealthy households in Jinan can't wait.

Is this really cowardly?
The wealthy households couldn't help their hearts beating wildly when they guessed this way.

It would be the best result for Cao Cao not to take office!

And often... when people's nerves relax, all kinds of signs of corruption will rise rapidly, and they will continue to drink and have fun.

All of a sudden, government yamen became gambling stalls, various government offices "concurrently operated" teahouses and wine shops, and the streets and alleys of Jinan specially invited artists from the south of the Yangtze River to play silk and bamboo orchestras and make a living as usual.

Going to Jinan, no one knew Cao Cao and his party.

He wanted to rest in the station first, and then report to Liu Taina, the monarch of Jinan Kingdom, the next day.

But after thinking about it, he decided to switch to a civilian hotel, and he also wanted to make...an unannounced visit in the city.

really…

Not only are there ghosts outside the city of Jinan, there are even more ghosts in this city...

"What a bustling place in Jinan..."

Cao Cao looked at the night scene with emotion...

It's no wonder...the night here is brightly decorated with festive lanterns, wine shops and flower streets lined up in rows, and the rich and young are in groups, eating restaurants, listening to music, visiting kilns, and getting tickets.

As if... the people here seem to live and work in peace and contentment, with a lifelike atmosphere, and the streets are full of prosperity, even Luoyang can't compare.

And this made Cao Cao gradually frown.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, no one was allowed to enjoy music privately, not to mention commercial performances, except for titles and licenses granted by the emperor.

This is the law...

Often a decree is well implemented in the imperial court or in the capital, but when it arrives in the local area, it will be the same.

But in the eyes of Cao Cao, this is really forbidden.

"Look at these wealthy businessmen and households in Jinan..." Cao Cao said to Xia Houyuan with emotion, "Even Your Majesty is not as comfortable as them!"

Xia Houyuan also frowned: "Who would have thought that a 'Hou' country... could rival Luoyang City in terms of prosperity and luxury."

"Hmph..." Cao Cao didn't say anything, just let out a cold hum...

The next day…

Waking up early in the morning, Cao Cao strolled along Jinan Street alone.

It is not obvious outside the city. In this city... it can be said that there is a shrine in three steps, and a temple in five steps.

Some of these temples are majestic, some are magnificent, and they all occupy prominent positions on the street.

Compared with the low and simple houses in the alleys, it is a world of difference, not to mention that there are countless women, children, old and young living under the eaves on the side of the road...

"The living live in the streets, and the dead occupy the temples."

Cao Cao muttered in his heart...

He has visited the north and south of the Yellow River, visited the streets and alleys, and obtained first-hand information on people's livelihood... Cao Cao has a thorough grasp of it.

Finally, the last day of the term of office...

Cao Cao went to the Prime Minister's Mansion with his entourage and simple luggage.

His predecessor has long since disappeared, and the remaining directors and meritorious officials are sitting around the mat playing dominoes and discussing with the directors of the salt industry, public security, taxation, and household registration.

"Today is the last day of Cao Cao's term of office. If he doesn't come again, we have to write a memorial quickly and ask the court to send a new prime minister. Otherwise, it will be out of order!"

"That's right, the next one will come, at least... Zhang Changshi won't be so afraid, so we don't have to be afraid of anything!"

Speaking of which...

Fu De, who was in charge of the salt industry, held a card he had just drawn, and shouted to Cao Cao, who was striding into the Prime Minister's Mansion, in Jinan dialect full of Taishan flavor: "Go out, man is not working today!"

Cao Cao and Xia Houyuan are still walking in...

Qian Shan, who is in charge of the smelting industry, was impatient: "Are you a dog? Our new Prime Minister hasn't taken office yet, so he doesn't work! Do you understand? Get out!"

While talking...there were two yamen servants lazily getting up to stop Cao Cao.

I never thought... Xia Houyuan tripped the two of them with one kick.

Cao Cao walked up to the front of the mat where they were discussing, smiled slightly, and said in a Beijing accent: "Damn, why don't you think that we are the new Prime Minister and come to work?"

Hearing the standard Luoyang official accent, several officials present did not panic, they had seen a lot!
But it does not deny that this person is not Cao Cao.

Of course, because... they were backed by a mountain, these people... didn't appear to climb the ground to beg for mercy immediately.

Zhang Liu, who is in charge of household registration work, has a lipoma the size of a soybean on the corner of his right eye, and there are a few long hairs on it, which are two inches long, which shows that he has lived for a long time.

He looked Cao Cao up and down calmly: "Since he is the new Prime Minister, he should show his seal and official documents of his appointment."

Cao Cao took out his official seal and official documents from his sleeve.

"Come on, take a good look and see if our Beijing official is real or not?"

This is out of the way...

These few people dropped their dominoes and got up.

For a while...these people panicked...

"My lord, if you need to deal with important matters, the next official will resign first!"

"My lord, the mind of the lower official, I forgot... If you want to rush to Liu Junhou's mansion for a banquet, you should take a step first..."

One by one they want to leave with excuses...

Cao Cao sat on the mat where the prime minister of the country was sitting. He squinted his eyes, raised his legs, and said to them, "No one is allowed to leave. Come, name us!"

Now... the group of people looked at each other in blank dismay.

But... it's all said and done, so it won't work if you don't report it.

Everyone signed up one by one, and under Cao Cao's inquiry, informed what they were doing.

On the contrary... when Qian Shan, Fu De, Zhang Liu and others introduced themselves, Cao Cao would say something meaningful.

"Oh, you are!"

This scared the souls of these three people out.

how?

What do you mean?
Frightened... Everyone is wondering if this Prime Minister has not taken up his post recently and has gone around to settle things?What else did you find out?Damn... this is prepared!

"Cao...Cao Guoxiang..." Zhang Liu smiled attentively, "We have long been looking forward to Xiangguo's arrival... don't we still have a lot of gifts prepared?"

While talking, they took out the gift list prepared by the rich people from their sleeves and handed it to Cao Cao.

——Two silver carts, ten catties of gold, five hundred catties of silver, and two million yuan in money!

When Cao Cao saw how generous the gift was, he secretly sighed: "Isn't this... the money for recruiting soldiers and bravery, did they just give it away at their own size?"

don't say...

Under Liu Yu's deliberate arrangement, Cao Cao has experienced a lot and grown a lot.

Although he still maintains his original intention and passion, he is no longer that stubborn Cao Cao... He understands what Cao Song told him before leaving—the so-called "detour"!
When Zhang Liu saw Cao Cao's face softened, he was surprised, and secretly pleased. It seems that money can turn ghosts, as long as the etiquette is strong enough, there is no official who can't go into the water!
Zhang Liu further said: "My lord, look at...these gifts..."

Cao Cao gave him back a big wink, looked at Zhang Liu pretending to be relaxed, and asked, "What do you think?"

...

...

"

(End of this chapter)