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

Chapter 70 The world is like chess, I should be the chess player!
Zhang Yulan was originally resting in the room next door, but because she was worried, she didn't sleep well.

When I woke up in the middle of the night, I found that the oil lamp in my husband Liu Yu's room was still on, faintly visible...

As if, my husband chatted with this "Cai Zi" for a long time.

Finally, the lights went out.

The faint moonlight shines through the window and falls on the ground like hoarfrost.

Cai Yong didn't bother to light the candles again, he got up suddenly and asked.

"What is the purpose of doing this?"

"Wash away the body of guilt for you!" Liu Yu replied smoothly: "And help Taoists enter the temple?"

"Then... what about the bridge?" Cai Yong continued to ask, as if he saw an unpredictable chess game, which was slowly unfolding.

Liu Yu's voice came out one after another. "The bridge is also part of the plan!"

This…

Cai Yong pondered for a while, under the moonlight, his eyes were gloomy, and he was a little unbelievable.

"Are bridge pieces also pawns?"

The reason why Cai Yong feels so emotional...

Not only because of Qiao Xuan's kindness in supporting and recommending Cai Yong, but also because of Cai Yong's admiration for this "Master Qiao".

This touch of worship is fully expressed in the "Taiwei Bridge Temple Monument" and "Taiwei Bridge Monument Ode" written by Cai Yong, which was handed down from later generations.

Cai Yong's eyes shot straight at Liu Yu, "Guanzhu Liu is the first person in the world who can make 'Young Master Qiao' willing to be a pawn!"

On the other hand, Liu Yu, who was silent at first, suddenly moved his lips a few times, and uttered a very soft but stern sentence.

——"The world is like chess, winners and losers... as long as you can win! Who is the player? Is it important?"

...

...

In the Si Nong Mansion at night, an unextinguished oil lamp was flickering, and Cao Song's frowning expression was reflected in the dim light.

He was restless in his sleep, obviously having a nightmare.

Xuxian's wife, Mrs. Zou, was sleeping next to him. Suddenly Cao Song cried out from his dream, "Money! Money! Money!"

His hands subconsciously held the quilt, and cold sweat dripped from his forehead.

He was still exclaiming in surprise: "Military pay, disaster relief, road construction...and...and what His Majesty wants...donkey! Donkey!"

Madam Zou was also awakened, "Master? You are..."

Cao Song covered his head, he seemed to be having a nightmare, his eyes were closed tightly... He muttered, "Yuan Sikong wants to withdraw money from the treasury to repair the official road, and the frontier general has to urgently ask for military pay for three hundred miles, but His Majesty... But they want me... want me to stock up on [-] donkeys! Me...me?"

Cao Song squeezed his head hard with both hands.

Da Si Nong is not an easy job, the operation of the entire empire revolves around the treasury and the Si Nong Mansion!
However, since Cao Song took over, the accounts have been complicated and vast, and the flow of every sum of money is related to various forces...

Just sorting out these things, Cao Song stayed up for more than a dozen nights.

besides…

Da Sinong's daily work can also be called tedious.

Where are more taxes paid?

Where did the harvest fail, and how much was undercollected?
Where and how much disaster relief?

How can the taxes of counties and marquis countries be deducted?or add?
In which places are taxes deducted in other kind?

Where are the taxes on currency purchases?
Where is the land being reallocated?

In which places the number of acres has decreased due to floods!

Each item is a thick stack of accounts. It is no exaggeration to say that managing the treasury took half of Cao Song's life.

Exactly, the most critical problem is that there is not much money in the treasury at all!
The Empire has so much to do and so little money...

Everything is a drop in the bucket...

What rose in Cao Song's heart was a sense of powerlessness, the powerlessness of a smart woman who can't cook without rice!
Can be…

However, at dusk today, Emperor Liu Hong took his confidant eunuch Jian Shuo to the Si Nong Mansion in disguise, and asked Cao Song to find a way to squeeze money and food from the treasury and hoard [-] donkeys in secret!
God!

Ten thousand donkeys!
Cao Song made a calculation in his mind, that is, each head is calculated at three thousand yuan, which is also 30 million yuan...

In addition to the cost of breeding, I went straight to 50 million!

It is true that the national treasury has 50 million money, but the scholar-bureaucrats and generals...are all thinking about this money?
In the final analysis, the emperor Liu Hong moved his mouth, but if the money was not used for disaster relief, repaired official roads, and was not sent to the border as military pay, but... hoarding donkeys!
That...huge pressure was enough to crush Cao Song to death!

It's not easy to be a big secretary!

Thinking by day, dreaming at night... Cao Song was awakened by the nightmare, and he no longer knew what to do!

"Master...Master..."

Mrs. Zou on the side patted him on the back again and again... It seemed that only in this way could Cao Song calm down.

Speaking of which, Mrs. Zou is Cao Cao's stepmother and Cao De's biological mother!

As the saying goes, it's hard to be a stepmother. For her with a mediocre background, if she can marry into the Cao family to make up for the house, she has already burned high incense.

Therefore, over the years, she has tried her best to treat everyone in Cao's mansion with virtuousness and patience. Not only has she never felt sorry for her "stepson" Cao Cao, she has also cared for him a lot!
Even to his own son, Cao De, he couldn't compare to him!
She is particularly concerned about the eyes of outsiders, for fear that someone will comment on her - "The stepmother is like a hornet poisonous woman!"

"Ahem... this... what's going on!"

Cao Song came back from the nightmare, he sighed helplessly. "How can His Majesty go out of the palace in disguise, just to squeeze out money and food from the treasury!"

"A few days ago, the Zhen family hoarded horses for the sake of hoarding, but...but this hoarding of donkeys? What's the point? Donkeys are donkeys after all, can they be raised to the same price as horses?"

Helpless to complain...

Mrs. Zou must have eyes, she reminded. "Master just came out of prison a few months ago, if... if you don't do what His Majesty said, then...then..."

"Alas..." Cao Song still shook his head helplessly. "Your Majesty bestowed me this great farmer because he saw that I had no power behind me! If you don't listen to His Majesty, I...whom can I listen to?"

"But... but this hoarding of donkeys is really outrageous. Last winter, the Xianbei invaders... border gates refused to fight, and dozens of border villages were looted. I managed to squeeze out 50 million money...but...but I have to ignore the gates , go...to stock up on donkeys! If the general knows, then scolding Cao Song is the next best thing, how will the pass be guarded this winter?"

You know, when Cao Song was young, he wrote an article "On National Defense".

Some knowledge of the military...

In addition, he once obtained a Ph.D. degree from the Taixue Confucian Academy, and the writing of this "Defense Theory" is naturally very high-level. pay attention to.

——You can’t speak the truth, you can’t tell lies, you can’t say things that the people above don’t like to hear, and you can’t say things that the emperor and eunuchs can’t mention in front of them.

——You have to say "good things", "pass the words", say "everyone is happy", and skillfully point out the essence of the problem, and add honey water to the herbs so that they don't taste bitter.

When it comes to pens, Cao Song is a master...

However, the problem he encountered today was more complicated!
There is no way to solve it smoothly.

If you do something wrong, if you don't do it well, you will be infamous. If you let the frontier lose, and a foreign race crosses the border... then Cao Song will be a sinner through the ages!

"It would be great if Auntie was here!"

At the end, Cao Song sighed...

What he actually thought of was that in the "Empress Song case" a few months ago, Ah Meng was instructed by the little brother Liu Yu to beat the Dengwen drum twice to save the Cao family from the fire and water.

That "game"... is a hundred times more dangerous than the current "game"!
Maybe... taking advantage of Ah Man's face, he, Cao Song, can also ask that little brother Liu Yu for advice and advice?
He does not mean that…

When Cao Cao was mentioned, Mrs. Zou suddenly thought of something.

You know, she has always been quite concerned about this "stepson".

Even if Cao Cao is in Dunqiu now, Mrs. Zou will always inquire. If Cao Cao is short of money, Mrs. Zou will find a way to help him raise money!
"Master, you just said... Your Majesty wants you to hoard donkeys?"

"Is something wrong?"

Cao Song asked back.

Mrs. Zou pondered for a moment, then hurriedly spoke. "Recently, Ah Man is also hoarding donkeys in Dunqiu County..."

Well…

As soon as this remark came out, Cao Song's eyebrows twitched slightly, and his eyes flickered slightly, although this throbbing was like light feathers splashing water, without any trace.

But... Mrs. Zou immediately realized that the master must have thought of the little Guanzhu Liu through Meng De!
Ah Man will never hoard donkeys for no reason!

Ah concealing the hoarding of donkeys, there must be the order of that Liu Xiaoguan!
if so…

that…

Cao Song bit his lower lip slightly. He walked slowly to the window in his pajamas, opened the window... looked up at the sky, and suddenly, he found that the stars all over the sky were so bright and bright in this dark night!
...

...

(End of this chapter)