Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1077 Doubt

Qiu Tai saw Cao Ang was so honest, and his suspicions were somewhat relieved, but he was still worried. After Cao Ang said goodbye and left, he asked the messenger to come to him and asked, "Is the loss of Weili City related to those surrendered Youzhou soldiers?"

The messenger thought for a moment and said, "I heard that more than half of the people were killed or wounded, and almost everyone who escaped was injured. Only three or four hundred of the seven or eight hundred returned. I dare not say anything else."

Qiu Tai felt less suspicious after hearing this. He ordered the messenger to leave. Then Gongsun Shuo stood up and said, "I don't want to delay the king's important business, so I will go back first."

Qiu Tai looked at Gongsun Shuo's departing back and thought that the Gongsun family had given a lot of dowry this time, but he did not get what he wanted most, namely soldiers, armor and weapons. The Gongsun family only sent 500 private soldiers, but their armor and weapons were very ordinary, far inferior to those of Gongsun family's elite soldiers. This made Qiu Tai's plan to unify Ma Han fail.

Thinking of this, Qiu Tai's face became a little gloomy. He knew that the Gongsun family had territorial conflicts with the neighboring Goguryeo, so they wanted to win over himself who was also an enemy of Goguryeo, but they didn't want to become too powerful themselves. It could be said that this was a good plan!

The combat effectiveness of Baekje soldiers was very average, but Qiu Tai was very ambitious and thought of many ways to strengthen his own strength. However, he could not find many opportunities, and each opportunity would be affected by the changing situation in the world.

Just like during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, many Qingzhou scholars and craftsmen fled north across the sea and arrived at the Korean Peninsula and the Liaodong Peninsula. Baekje took in some craftsmen, so the technological level, especially extremely important technologies such as iron smelting and farming, made a leap forward in just ten years.

But even so, Baekje's foundation was too weak, and the gap with the Central Plains was still huge. Moreover, many truly capable scholars and craftsmen preferred to join the Han nobles in Youzhou and were not very interested in Baekje. Moreover, as the situation in Qingzhou has been stabilized in recent years, many of them have left Baekje and returned to their hometowns, and this trend has intensified.

The reason for this is that after Qingzhou was returned to Yuan Xi, under the governance of Zhuge Liang and others, a policy was adopted that gave equal importance to conscripting elite soldiers and recuperating with the people. The burden on the people was not heavy. With the support of Xuzhou, Jianghuai and other places, Qingzhou quickly recovered its vitality and presented a vibrant scene.

Without war, as long as there are people and labor, production can be easily restored, and refugees are willing to move to prosperous areas. Therefore, in the past few years, people under the rule of Cao Cao and other forces have continuously fled to Qingzhou to settle down.

The same was true for Baekje, which was only a hundred miles away from Qingzhou by sea, but the living standards on both sides were incomparable. So the previous refugees began to return home, and even some civilians from Baekje ran over.

This trend was undoubtedly very unfavorable to Baekje. Qiu Tai felt that this momentum must be stopped, so he came up with a crooked idea.

So he ordered his soldiers to disguise themselves as bandits and attack passing merchant ships and ships carrying civilians by sea and land, creating an atmosphere of terror so that people would not dare to cross the sea. At the same time, he could also make extra money, which he could later blame on the Three Han or even Goguryeo, killing two birds with one stone.

In fact, it is possible that the Three Han and Goguryeo had done such things, but they did not dare to be so blatant. They were not as unscrupulous as Qiu Tai. So after Yuan Xi asked the Procuratorate to come over, he quickly found out what Baekje had done.

Yuan Xi was just worrying about having no excuses, and now someone gave him a pillow just as he was dozing off, which was exactly what he wanted. In addition, it was almost time to close the net after his previous layout, so he sent troops to attack Baekje and sent out the combination of Cao Ang and Jia Xu in advance.

He was not worried about Cao Ang's rebellion. After all, Cao Ang was not stupid. In this situation, turning against Baekje and standing on the side of Baekje would be no different from committing suicide.

What's more, Yuan Xi had added several layers of insurance. The guards behind Cao Ang were: the man was Yuan Xi's personal guard Zhang Fang, who was very capable, and the woman was Yang Feng.

In fact, according to Yang Feng's idea, after getting close to Qiu Tai, he would just kill him with a single blow. However, Yuan Xi thought that it was too dangerous. Even if they succeeded in time, they would be easily besieged and threatened by Baekje guards. Secondly, it was not a justifiable claim. Killing the leader of a country without a legitimate reason would lead to great hidden dangers and would easily lead to continuous rebellion by the local people, which would cause endless troubles.

So Yang Feng could only follow Yuan Xi's arrangements and wait and see what would happen patiently. When she heard that Weili City had been breached, she knew the time was almost up. She and Zhang Rang escorted Cao Ang back to their residence, then came to the center of the yard and began to sharpen her ring-handled sword on the stone.

The rustling sound of sharpening the knife was calm and solemn, indicating that the crisis was gradually approaching, which made Cao Ang, who was reading a book in the house, unable to calm down.

It had been several years since Cao Ang came to Liaodong after his near-death experience in Wancheng. Initially, he had thought of escaping, but Yuan Xi's soldiers were on high alert, and after he saw with his own eyes several soldiers being bitten to death by the venomous snakes and ferocious beasts that frequently appeared in the dense forest, he gradually gave up the idea.

What caused a fundamental change in his thinking was the change in the lives of the people in Youzhou over the years. With the construction of roads and water conservancy projects, unknown inventions emerged like mushrooms after a rain, and the planting of unfamiliar crops greatly improved the lives of the people around Cao Ang.

Just like what Cao Ang is wearing now, it is called a cotton-padded jacket. This is because the cotton bolls are harvested and then twisted into cotton thread, which is then woven into cloth.

Although the cloth woven from this thing was still quite crude due to the immature textile technology, it was much warmer than linen clothes, especially winter clothes. As long as cotton was put in the middle layer, it could withstand the severe cold. It was cheaper than fur which required multiple tanning processes, and it could be said that it greatly improved the living conditions in the north in winter.

Moreover, cotton had not yet become popular. Cao Ang heard from Yuan Xi that after the looms were improved in the future, the people in Youzhou and even the whole world would have enough clothes to wear.

This was undoubtedly a huge shock to Cao Ang, because he had traveled all over the country and fought in many places, and had seen many people who could not afford clothes. Some families took turns wearing one piece of clothing, some wrapped themselves in straw, and some were simply naked. This situation was common in troubled times.

Cao Ang had seen many such things in the territory ruled by Cao Cao. He felt that even if Cao Cao pacified the world in the future, he might not be able to change this phenomenon many years later. After all, it was good enough to be able to survive in troubled times.

Moreover, Cao Cao also said that this is a necessary sacrifice in the fight for the world and the same goes for others. Everyone is trying their best to get to the end, so who has the energy to care about these trivial matters?

However, after Cao Ang came to Youzhou, everything overturned his cognition. Not only was the north not as barren as he thought, but people lived very well there, at least much better than under Cao Cao's rule!
They are both fighting for the world, why is there such a big difference?
With doubts in his mind, Cao Ang searched for answers over the past few years, and finally he slowly approached the truth. However, this truth was even more difficult for him to accept.

War and people's lives are not fundamentally in conflict, and both can be taken into account at the same time.

The most likely reason why Cao Cao's territory became like that was that Cao Cao didn't know what to do, or even didn't want to do it at all. Cao Ang even thought of a possibility that made his back shudder.

After all, the cost of fighting for the world is huge. If the population grows, more food will be needed, which will drag down the supply of military rations, resulting in a decrease in the combat effectiveness of the army. A low combat effectiveness of the army will lead to the inability to defend the territory.

The reduction in the base will affect the income population and food, thus forming a vicious circle, a vicious circle where the more people there are, the poorer they are. Everything comes from the lack of governance capabilities, just like leading troops.

Therefore, controlling the population to a certain number, abandoning the elderly, children, women and children, and maintaining a large proportion of labor soldiers would be sufficient for self-circulation and would also be suitable for the current situation of Cao Cao's territory.

After all, the elderly and children cannot produce anything during wars, and women can rely on massacres and looting, so there is no need to support these people!

After Cao Ang figured this out, he couldn't help but have great self-doubt in his heart. Is his father's path really the right one?

My father said that he wanted to pacify the world and that those who stood in his way were enemies, but the territory is governed like this. Could it be that the one who is the enemy of the world is the Cao family?

Once this idea came into being, it could not be suppressed. It was not something Yuan Xi forced upon Cao Ang, but something he realized on his own after seeing the reality. That is why it had such a great impact on Cao Ang.

Reality is the best teacher. Once doubts arise, they will linger in Cao Ang's mind, tormenting him like a thorn in the flesh, just like the sound of sharpening knives in the yard now.

Cao Ang's mood became increasingly restless. He opened the door, walked out of the house, sat on the doorstep, and watched Yang Feng sharpen the knife quietly.

When Yang Feng heard the voice, he raised his head slightly, then continued to lower his head as if he didn't care.

She knew Cao Ang's identity, so she didn't want to talk to him. Instead, she secretly complained to Yuan Xi, "You have nothing better to do than to ask yourself to protect the son of your enemy. You are really stupid!"

At this time, Zhang Fang came over and saw Cao Ang looking at Yang Feng, so he smiled quietly and said, "So, Master likes this?"

"I thought the young master was interested in the girl from the Gongsun family."

Cao Ang knew that he had looked at Gongsun Shuo a few more times today, so he smiled bitterly and said, "I just have some feelings."

"As women, some travel thousands of miles for family marriage, while others have no idea what they have experienced, have practiced martial arts, and have suffered so many injuries. As for who has a better life, I'm afraid only the individual knows his or her own thoughts and choices. Without understanding the other's feelings, it's hard to judge who is better."

"Just like many of my ideas over the past few decades have been overturned in the past few years, I still can't tell what is right and what is wrong."

Zhang Fang grinned, "For those of us who have been living on the edge of a bed, this question is actually very simple."

"Whoever makes our life better is right."

Cao Ang asked back: "But the person who makes you live well may not necessarily make others live well."

Zhang Fang was stunned for a moment, then he started to think.

He thought for a long time before speaking: "Whoever makes most people live well should be right, right?"

Cao Ang continued: "Then who knows if it is the majority?"

"And are the thoughts of most people sincere?"

"Or is there a possibility that someone deceived the majority of people, and then turned against them after taking power and took back the benefits they had given to the majority?"

Zhang Fang also praised this series of questions: "Young Master, you have indeed learned poetry and literature. You are different from us rough people."

“Perhaps only that person can answer this question.”

The three of them couldn't help but look in the direction of Weili City. They knew that the man was coming soon.

(End of this chapter)