Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

In Luoyang West Palace, Cao Cao is sitting in the main hall.

He was the only one in the hall.

No candles were lit in the room, only a tortoise, crane and Yannian palace lantern were lit on the left and right sides of the screen.

The Yingying candlelight could not let the entire hall see through, and it reflected Cao Cao's expressionless face, which was half shadowed and half bright.

Huwei Jie told him everything Xun Yu said.

Hearing the interweaving of trees and vines, Cao Cao was indifferent.

Hearing that Xun Yu swallowed the medicine without hesitation and committed suicide, Cao Cao's face was slightly moved.

Hearing that Xun Yu would rather die by looking at the setting sun of the big man, there was even a flash of strange anger in his eyes.

why.

Wen Ruo.

Do you have to die for that rotten man?

Gu has given you the last chance.

Cao Cao let out a long sigh.

In the end, the deep gaze turned into a touch of regret and painful remembrance.

"Buy the "big man" Shangshuling respectfully."

Cao Cao said that big man heavily, and then added: "It is announced to the outside world that Xun Lingjun has been working on state affairs for a long time, and died of illness."

"only."

Jie went away from the lead.

After the people went out, Cao Cao put his hands on the table, patted his forehead on the table, his face was gloomy.

Section never said.

Wei Gong once explained when he sent him.

If Lord Xun Ling asked to see him one last time, he must bring Xun Yu to him.

But until he finally died, Xun Yu didn't want to see him.

When Cao Cao learned of Xun Yu's choice, his heart was full of complex emotions such as discomfort, sadness, anger, and reminiscence.

Xun Yu was disappointed in him.

Why isn't he disappointed with Xun Yu?
What is there to save this dilapidated country of the big man?
If not alone.

How can the big man continue to this day?

It is a lonely person, struggling to support this withered and dilapidated country, making it continue for decades.

There is no such meritorious person in the world.

In the future, there will be no such people in the world.

Why not call yourself a duke alone, even if you are called a king?
Wen Ruo, Wen Ruo.

You ended up choosing the wrong path.

From now on, I will say goodbye to you alone.

Cao Cao was silent for a long time, and the breeze blew into the hall, causing the candles to sway slightly.

The light and dark face was full of peace.

his ovary.

Finally left him.

.

.

In the 21st year of Jian'an in the Han Dynasty, the world is still not peaceful.

After Jiangdong Sun Quan's defeat in Hefei, Liu Bei sent envoys to appease him, and hoped that he could reorganize his troops and horses before attacking Hefei northward.

After that, Liu Bei withdrew Huang Zhong's 2 troops stationed in Jiangling to Jiangzhou, under the command of Tai Shici.

In fact, Tai Shici was already very old at this time.

In history, he died of illness as early as the 11th year of Jian'an ten years ago at the age of 41.

But now he has lived ten years longer, perhaps because he was stationed in Jianchang Haihun and other southern regions in history, and died of illness due to the influence of poisonous insects and miasma.

Now he is stationed in Jingzhou and Yizhou all the year round, and he has good medical guarantee, which has allowed him to live ten years longer.

Among the generals Liu Bei followed in the early days, Guan Zhang was the first, followed by Tai Shici, and Zhao Yun again. Therefore, when Guan Zhang was on the front line, Tai Shici became his pillar of the rear.

At this time, plus the 3 people who were transferred from Jingzhou earlier, plus the current 5 people, Jingzhou has already transferred [-] people, and the rear has become very empty.

Because the 5 troops in Nanyang were guarded by Cao Hong and Xu Huang, the [-] Jiangxia navy and the [-] soldiers from Zhao Yun's county were deployed on the front line. After Liu Bei transferred [-] troops from Jingzhou, it meant that only There are more than [-] county soldiers scattered all over the country.

Then distributed to the counties, the number of soldiers in each county is only 2000.

In addition to Guiyang County, which was lent to Sun Quan, the six counties in Jingnan were in vain. The five counties in Jingbei, Nanyang, Zhangling, Jiangxia, and Xiling were guarded by Shen Chenjun, Huang Shejun, and Zhao Yunjun. The crucial Nanjun It suddenly becomes empty.

So in a sense, the only troops that can be mobilized in Jingzhou on the surface are the Jiangxia Navy.

When Sun Quan heard the news, he was furious.

Although Liu Bei sent envoys to appease, but the first foot was appeasement, and the second foot transferred the soldiers and horses of Nanjun. The meaning is obviously self-evident.

Due to the disastrous defeat in Hefei, Sun Quan's importance in Liu Bei's heart was lowered to a higher level. Only the Jiangxia navy who was not good at land warfare was left to guard the defense line of the Yangtze River in Jiangxia and Nanjun, which seemed to look down on him.

However, since the situation on the front line in Guanzhong is not yet clear, he doesn't know the truth about Liu Bei's specific troop mobilization in Yizhou, so he dare not make mistakes.

I could only write a letter to Cao Cao to congratulate Cao Cao on being the Duke of Wei, and at the same time send an envoy to Liu Bei to express his obedient attitude that he would continue to fight Hefei when he was ready.

The situation on Liu Bei's side is actually quite clear.

First of all, except for the Nanyang Army and Jiang Xia Army that could not be mobilized, the rest of the soldiers and horses were almost taken out and all went to Jiangzhou.

But he didn't directly take these soldiers and horses to the rear to hide them, but instead, he used Yizhou soldiers and horses and the Qiang Di people recruited by Ma Chao one after another to make false and real changes.

After a short operation, 12 troops emerged on the front line of Guanzhong, but 5 troops were hidden behind Bodao, and the number of soldiers and horses in Yizhou reached more than [-] at once.

In addition to the troops on the front line and the troops hiding in the rear, these soldiers and horses also included troops fighting the rebellion in Jingnan, as well as troops left behind in various counties and Jiangzhou.

There are not many first-line main forces, and the total number is only 10. The rest are second-line county soldiers or ethnic minority teams.

It's just that after several years of army restructuring and rectification, even the second-line county soldiers should be able to fight with Jiangdong's main army in combat effectiveness.

So Liu Bei was not worried that Sun Quan would suddenly launch an attack.

The second is the reality of the front line.

Among the 12 army, the main force is still the [-] elite from Guanzhang and [-] cavalry, followed by the [-] Jin army, and the rest are all Qiang and Di people.

Relying on Ma Chao's prestige, the Qiang people in Wudu waited for the wind to invest, and suddenly expanded tens of thousands of horses for Liu Bei.

However, Liu Bei also knew that the morale of these Qiang and Di people was not high, and they came to vote all because of Ma Chao's prestige, and they might not necessarily fight for him.

The second is that their combat effectiveness is not strong. Their nomadic nature makes their discipline far less strict than that of the Han people.

Therefore, Liu Bei issued a reward system to the whole army to increase the morale of the army.On the one hand, he retreated the army to Wudu and Hanzhong, ordered Ma Chao to be the commander of Qiang and Di, Lei Ding and others were deputy generals, and stepped up the training of soldiers.

Therefore, the current situation in Guanzhong is that Cao Jun's Xiahou Dun and Yu Jin's army blocked the exit of Baoxie Road and Chen Cang Road, and confronted Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. confrontation.

The two sides included their own main forces, foreign troops, recruited rebels, and even second-line troops totaling 40 to [-] people. The forces on both sides were intertwined and tried back and forth from time to time. There were no large-scale wars, and small-scale fights continued.

It wasn't until August of the 21st year of Jian'an, after eight months of confrontation, that Cao Cao finally accumulated a wave of food and grass, and began to march into Lucheng.

Gushan Pavilion is a rural pavilion [-] miles north of Xiabian. There are dense hills and mountains on both sides of the road here. Liu Beijun was stationed here before. When he heard that Cao Jun was coming, he withdrew to the rear.

It is more than two hundred miles from Xixian County to Xiabian, and there are mountain roads along the way, with countless village pavilions in the middle. Liu Bei arranged a large number of sentry posts, scouts, beacon towers, and camps in the mountains on both sides and in each pavilion, stretching for hundreds of miles.

After arriving at Gushan Pavilion, there are only three towns of Chiting, Qiubeiting and Wujie left in Xiabian.

Cao Jun fought every step, and Liu Bei's army retreated step by step.

Sima Yi offered advice to Cao Cao. He believed that Liu Bei's army retreated step by step, he must be luring the enemy.

It is better to take the strategy of countering the enemy and send the vanguard to attack Chiting. Once Liu Bei chases him, he will immediately pretend to be defeated and retreat, and take the opportunity to ambush.

Cao Cao then sent Zhang He as the vanguard, leading 5000 men to go straight to Chiting.

When Zhang He arrived, the defenders of Chiting really fled.

Cao Jun chased all the way.

Halfway through, Zhang Fei was stabbed obliquely, Cao Jun was defeated, and he fled in embarrassment.

Seeing this, Zhang Fei was elated and continued to chase.

Unexpectedly, he fell into Sima Yi's treacherous scheme and encountered an ambush in Gushan Pavilion, but lost many troops.

Zhang Fei fled back to Xiabian, but Liu Bei could only stick to it.

After that, Cao Jun besieged the city for more than a month and provoked repeatedly, but Liu Bei remained unmoved. Finally, after two months of siege, Cao Jun dispersed on his own.

In October of the 21st year of Jian'an, after Cao Jun retreated, Liu Bei learned from the pain.

He believed that the reason for his disastrous defeat in Gushanting was that he did not have a reliable military adviser around him to advise him.

The strategy of luring the enemy into deep was arranged by himself, and it was fine against ordinary people, but against people like Cao Cao, the general strategy would not work, and would be seen through by Cao Cao, and countered.

So he needs a resourceful military adviser to accompany the army to help as a reference.

But at this time his main counselors were not around.

Zhuge Liang sits in Jiangzhou and handles official affairs in Jingzhou and Yizhou.Pang Tong was in Shu County, Fazheng Jia Xu was in Xiangyang, and Xu Shu followed Guan Yu to confront Xiahou Dun Yujin on the front line of Baoxie Road, but they couldn't get out.

Finally, he wrote to Zhuge Liang to inquire about this matter, and Zhuge Liang suggested that he transfer Fazheng and Jia Xu to Hanzhong.

Because Jingzhou has almost been governed, what should be killed has been killed, the land that should have been confiscated has been confiscated, and the population has been liberated, so it is meaningless to keep Fazheng Jiaxu in Jingzhou.

And they left to make Sun Quan happy.

After all, Sun Quan has always been afraid of them. Although Sun Quan must be most afraid of Shen Chen, but Shen Chen was restrained in Nanyang. Once Fazheng and Jia Xu left, there would be no one in Nanjun. If Sun Quan wanted to attack Nanjun, he would definitely be happy to see this scene .

Liu Bei felt that what Zhuge Liang said made sense, so at the end of the 21st year of Jian'an, he called Fazheng and Jia Xu into Yizhou to fight against Cao Cao with him.

At the beginning of the 22nd year of Jian'an, Xiahou Dun and Yu Jin entered Xieyuguan.

Guan Yu camped for tens of miles behind Xieyuguan, and started a bloody battle with the two men. Finally, using Xu Shu's strategy, they defeated Xiahou Dun and Yu Jin, and the two retreated to Mei County.

In February, Cao Cao went to Mei County in person and led the troops to attack.

Guan Yu was defeated and retreated to Jigu to hold on. Because Cao Jun was unable to attack repeatedly, Cao Cao was worried that he would go too deep, and Liu Bei was forcing Tianshui, so he retreated.

The two sides still maintained the situation that Zhuge Liang left Qishan for the first time, and the two sides confronted each other.

However, the two small victories at Xiegushan Pavilion and Xieyuguan made Liu Bei's soldiers shrink back and defended, which gave Cao Jun a lot of advantages. Under such circumstances, the Chendu court began to build momentum for him.

Cao Cao's party members in the court wrote letters asking the emperor to become king.

Liu Xie was helpless. At the end of April in the 22nd year of Jian'an, he sent Zongzheng Liu Ai as an envoy to hold the festival and go to Chang'an as a royal doctor to worship Cao Cao as the king of Wei.

At the same time, Liu Xie allowed Cao Cao to set up the banner of the Son of Heaven, call him a policeman when he went in and out, give him twelve crowns, ride a golden root chariot, and drive six horses.

Since then, Cao Cao's travel and regulation have been no different from that of the emperor, except for usurping the throne.

When Liu Bei learned of this, he was furious, and condemned Cao Cao for violating the White Horse Alliance, wanting to seek power and usurp the throne, personally leading the army, and going out of Qishan to attack Tianshui.

Cao Cao went to fight him personally, and the two sides faced off again.

It coincided with the 22nd year of Jian'an, when there was a great epidemic in the world, especially in the north.

Except for Kong Rong, who had been killed long ago, and Ruan Yu, who died young, the Seven Sons of Jian'an were all wiped out by the regiment.

Sima Yi's elder brother Sima Lang died of the disease because he went to the epidemic area to inspect the epidemic.

Lu Su died of the plague.

Ling Tong passed away.

Huo Jun passed away.

After Tai Shici passed away, the whole world became sad because of the plague.

Even Tai Shici, who lived an extra ten years, could not carry it through, and finally died of illness in this kind of epidemic.

Strictly speaking, historically, the plague swept through the north where Cao Cao was located, Huainan where Sun Quan was located, and Jingzhou where Liu Bei was located.

It doesn't have much impact on the Bashu area.

But now, because Cao Cao and Liu Bei fought in Guanzhong and Xiliang, many people were killed and injured, coupled with the continuous allocation of food and grass in the Guandong and the South, infected people spread everywhere, and gradually became popular in the army.

Under such circumstances, both Liu Bei's army and Cao Cao's army had large-scale outbreaks. In the end, one of the two sides withdrew to Chang'an in Guanzhong and the other to the Hanzhong Basin.

At this time, the epidemic situation in the world is still raging, and the north, Xiliang, Guanzhong, Hanzhong, Huainan and Henan have become the hardest hit areas.

On the contrary, there are not many infections in the Nanyang Basin.

Of course, Shen Chen didn't know that there would be a plague sweeping the world this year in history, but he knew how to prevent it.

Therefore, after knowing that there was a large-scale epidemic in the north, a large number of policies were immediately promulgated.

For example, patients should be isolated, wash hands frequently and ventilate frequently, drink boiled water, do not gather outside in large numbers, all troops are stationed in camps for closed management, and people have as little contact as possible, etc.

Although there is no mask, it can prevent at least 80.00% of infections.

Finally, Zhang Zhongjing appeared.

Zhang Zhongjing's family was nearly ruined by the plague in the early years, so he aspired to study medicine and often lived in Jingnan or Lingnan to find medicinal materials and study treatment methods.

At this time, Zhang Zhongjing was already in his later years, and finally wrote the medical book "Treatise on Febrile Diseases and Miscellaneous Diseases". When he learned that the plague was coming again, he went to Xiangyang in person and handed over this book to the government, hoping to provide some help.

When Shen Chen heard about this, he quickly asked Zhang Zhongjing for help. He once sent someone to bribe the jailer, and obtained Hua Tuo's lifelong book "The Book of Green Bags", which also contained some methods to deal with the plague.

After Zhang Zhongjing finished reading "Qing Nang Shu", he added his own "Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases", and studied the prescriptions for the symptoms.

For a time, the plague in Jingzhou was eradicated.

In the same year, Shen Chen sent people to Bashu and sent many experienced doctors from Jingzhou to find Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong immediately dispatched doctors and a large number of symptomatic medicinal materials to the front line to help Liu Bei solve the problem of rampant plague in the army.

By the end of the 22nd year of Jian'an, the plague in Jingzhou and Yizhou had basically been eliminated, and the affected population and scope were only a few hundred thousand people.

But the north was not so lucky. The impact of the plague was extremely serious. It spread all over the place under Cao Cao's rule.

Especially the people at the bottom, if one person infects the whole family and suffers, sometimes the plague will wipe out the family and the family, and often even the dead in a township or a county.

For example, Zhang Zhongjing's own family had more than [-] members, less than one in ten died, and the infection was extremely rapid, which is the terrible thing about the plague.

Cao Zhi saw the damage caused by the plague with his own eyes, and wrote "Speaking of the Plague Qi".

With the plague, the population in the north dropped sharply, and the population in Yangzhou also dropped a lot. Only Jingzhou and Yizhou quickly controlled the spread of the epidemic and stopped the loss in time, so that the epidemic did not expand.

After that, Zhang Zhongjing couldn't bear the suffering of the people in the north, so he begged Shen Chen to print "Treatise on Febrile Diseases" and "Book of Qing Nang" into books to treat the north.

At that time, the epidemic was ferocious, and it swept through the entire Han Dynasty in just a few months. Jingzhou and Yizhou were also seriously affected. It took Shen Chen a lot of effort to calm down.

In the matter of saving the north, even if he had the mind of a saint and chose to help the enemy rule the people, he was powerless at the time.

But at the end of the year, the epidemic in Jingzhou and Yizhou was finally brought under control. Upon hearing Zhang Zhongjing's request, Shen Chen did not hesitate, and chose to print a large number of these books and send them to the north for sale.

This is to control the epidemic in the north and prevent the people in the north from suffering further disasters.

Secondly, it is also for myself.

Due to the spread of the epidemic, there have been a large number of dead patients in Henan.

Because Nanyang was temporarily controlled by Shen Chen's epidemic regulations and policies, and the situation was relatively minor, many people thought that Nanyang could be treated, so a large number of people chose to go to Nanyang with their families.

At that time, Cao Hong himself was troubled by the plague that was rampant in the army. He learned that the people had migrated to Nanyang in large numbers, but he did not stop it.

The first is powerlessness to stop.

Secondly, it is not a bad thing to let the plague patients go to enemy-occupied areas.

So the matter was acquiesced, and even the switch was released, so that at least [-] people moved to the south.

In this case, even if Zhang Zhongjing helped Shen Chen barely control the spread of the epidemic in Nanyang, it would continue to cause large-scale infections because of the continuous arrival of new patients.

It is impossible for him to massacre sick people.

Therefore, it is the best choice to let the method of treating the epidemic spread to the north.

On this point, Shen Chen made use of his own strengths, and conducted multiple analyzes with Zhou Buyi to study the pros and cons.

From the perspective of rationality and practical interests, the more severe the epidemic in the north, the better.

Anyway, the southern epidemic has been brought under control. Even if new epidemics continue to spread, his losses will definitely be much smaller than Cao Cao's.

If the loss of 100 million people in Jingzhou and Yizhou can be exchanged for the loss of 500 million people under Cao Cao's rule, then for the future confrontation between the North and the South, Ji Han will have too many obstacles to recover the North.

But considering his sensibility and expected benefits, he should help.

Xing, the people suffer.

die, the people suffer.

The people all over the world are suffering, and everyone is Han Chinese after all, so why treat you like a bandit just because you are a citizen in the enemy-occupied area?

And controlling the spread of the epidemic in the north can also help the epidemic in the south not to recur again.

So that's a good thing.

The most important thing is to take advantage of this opportunity, Shen Chen can carry out cultural propaganda among the northern folks.

He himself is a great Confucianist in the world, and his works include "Zhuzi Yan" and "Shen's Classic Collection".

The former was compiled by Xu Shu, which records Shen Chen as the protagonist, and his dialogue with Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, Xu Shu, Sima Hui, Pang Degong and others.

It includes the analysis of the ills of the Han Dynasty, the narration of human nature, and the concept of "unity of knowledge and action" and so on.

The latter was compiled by Shen Chen and many disciples, and it records the scriptures of Shen Chen's education of his disciples.

After the two books were printed, they were spread all over the world, and all the aristocratic families collected them. Even Cao Cao himself read them. Shen Chen himself has a certain status in the northern academic circles.

At this time, if we help to control the plague, we can carry out a cultural invasion, win the hearts of the people, and pave the way for the future pacification of the north.

It's just that this kind of popular interest is invisible and intangible, and it is far less realistic than the benefit of a large number of people in the north. That's why it is said to be a projected benefit, not an actual benefit.

But when Zhang Zhongjing asked him to help, Shen Chen made the choice without any hesitation. These interests and emotional and rational analysis were also the result of his review after discussing with Zhou Buyi.

Because Shen Chen is a conscientious person, even if there is no benefit in helping, as long as it is within his ability, he still has to help, and he still needs to be saved.

A child who has been exposed to the rain will eventually hold up an umbrella for others.

I personally think that this plague should be the beginning of the population decline of the Three Kingdoms. Even Cao Cao issued an edict saying that the plague fell from the sky, and many people died, so that no one was farming, which worried him very much.In addition, Cao Zhi's "Speaking of the Epidemic Qi" also recorded that every family was wiped out. Historically, the entire Han Dynasty was basically swept away. Although the specific number of people was not written, I think it affected at least 500 million people. There were many plague records before and after the end of the Han Dynasty. They all just said that there was a big epidemic in a certain year and a certain month. The specific number of people who died and the extent of the spread will not be recorded. Only this time, a large number of celebrities died of the plague in the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Wu, and Cao Cao and Cao Zhi died too much because of folks. It is extremely rare for the common people to worry that no one will farm so that his army rations will not be continued. The other one also wrote that many low-level people died.