Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1129 Choice
Zhuge Liang and others withdrew. They did not care much about Xu Chu's life or death. After all, on the battlefield of Jizhou, a purely military general was really insignificant compared to the attack and defense of hundreds of thousands of people.

Moreover, Xu Chu's current position is not high and he is not very famous. Although Yuan Xi specifically told him to be careful in dealing with people, because the battle in the central route was generally lost to Cao's army, Zhang He, Zhuge Liang and others did not dare to mention such a trivial matter as Xu Chu in front of Yuan Xi. They only sent a letter to Yuan Xi to explain the situation and apologize after they had retreated safely.

After receiving the news, Yuan Xi in Yijing immediately sent a letter to comfort them, saying that the current battle situation could not be decided by one or two people. At the same time, he sent thousands of soldiers to reinforce Zhuge Liang and Zhang He and allowed them to reorganize the army.

Although he suffered a small defeat in this battle, Yuan Xi was actually quite satisfied. This was the first time that Zhang He led so many soldiers, including many new recruits, and he was able to defeat Cao's army, which was led by Cao Cao himself and had a larger number of soldiers, like this. It was already very good.

Moreover, this was just an exploratory confrontation in the early stages. Yuan Xi had not yet fully mobilized the war potential of Youbing and other states. It should be said that the fact that he was able to defeat Cao Cao in person with only the troops mobilized in the initial stages was somewhat beyond Yuan Xi's expectations.

This kind of stalemate where it is hard to tell who will win is exactly what Yuan Xi hoped for. Cao Cao is definitely not as good as him in dragging out the battle. If the battle continues until next year, I am afraid that Cao Cao will not even have enough military rations for the New Year.

Although Yuan Xi had been engaged in wars constantly over the years, he was far from being aggressive, because he had always controlled the scale of the wars to a level where he had more than enough to fight. In addition to ensuring people's livelihood and military expenses, the income from his territory also left him with a lot of savings. Therefore, over the years, he became richer and richer.

But it was different on Cao Cao's side. In the past few years, whether he was attacking Jingzhou or Yizhou, the manpower invested was never small, and it could even be said to be a loss-making business. Therefore, Cao Cao had been exploiting potential, especially last year when Yuan Xi feigned an attack on Jizhou, which caused Cao's army to transfer a lot of troops to Yecheng in vain, wasting a lot of military supplies, which made the situation even worse for Cao's army.

Yuan Xi had no intention of winning a quick victory from the beginning. He mobilized such a large number of soldiers in the early stage in order to force Cao Cao to increase the scale of the war accordingly and accelerate the collapse of his logistics.

Therefore, even though Anping was lost this time and the battle line was hundreds of miles deep, Yuan Xi was very optimistic about the battle in the middle, believing that Cao's army might not dare to advance rashly.

Sure enough, the next day news came that Xiahou Dun had retreated ahead of schedule, heading south from Anping and returning to Julu, where the battle had originally taken place, to reorganize his troops.

Upon seeing this, Zhuge Liang and Zhang He immediately turned around and advanced, continuing to put pressure on Cao's army. At the same time, Gao Lan on the left also reported that the battle was going well. He and Zhang Liao withstood the attacks of Cao Ren and Ma Chao. Although Cao Xiu came to help, he was defeated by Zhao Yun. Cao's army could only build a camp in the southern part of Changshan and adopt a defensive stance.

As a result, the battle line returned to its state before the war. After all the battles, the Cao army suffered much more casualties than the Jizhou army.

Just when Yuan Xi thought everything was going well, news from the eastern front made him worried.

He called Ju Shou and Tian Feng over, handed the letter to them and said, "There is something I would like to ask you two gentlemen."

The two men took the letter and read it carefully. It was the news that Cao's army was digging a river in Yanzhou. It said that as of the time the letter was sent, the area over a hundred miles downstream was flooded by the river, and many people were affected. Now the disaster area is expanding rapidly and has spread to Pingyuan County in Qingzhou.

After reading it, Ju Su sighed, "Cao's army is also very decisive. They actually dug a river in their own territory, and dug so many places."

"Although I know it's difficult to stop them, I was surprised that they took action so early. It seems that the two land and sea forces sent by the lord have forced Cao's army into a corner and they can only respond in this way."

Tian Feng said angrily: "What a bullshit! You just don't treat the people as human beings!"

"This is trouble. The Yellow River has burst its banks on a large scale. The consequences are disastrous. In a month or two, the flood season will arrive. I'm afraid that the entire Qingzhou area will become a disaster area. This will have a huge impact on the battle for Jizhou. We must prepare for it as soon as possible."

Yuan Xi's face was also solemn. "The key is that it will be the summer harvest soon. If Qingzhou fails to harvest any grain, it will not only be unable to support Jizhou, but will also need food relief from all over the country. If it is not handled properly, there will be a large number of disaster victims and even thieves will rise up."

Ju Shou and Tian Feng also had a headache. The people of Qingzhou had been tough since ancient times, and the gentry and landlords had weak control over the local area. The central government's control over Qingzhou was even worse, resulting in rebellion if the people did not have enough food.

And Qingzhou has been the only place since ancient times where there have been rebellions and uprisings whenever there have been turmoil or changes of dynasties. Therefore, now that Qingzhou has suffered a disaster, it needs to be handled with great caution, especially when the battle of Jizhou is at a stalemate. If Qingzhou is unstable, it may affect the entire war situation.

Yuan Xi sighed, "Although I have occupied the coastal counties and have accumulated a lot of wealth through trade routes and farmland, these places are located downstream and have corresponding disadvantages. I am afraid of the current situation."

"Although we have made plans for Cao's army to dig the river before, we wanted to force them upstream as much as possible to make them hesitate when digging the river. Now it seems that Cao's army has already thought of this. They are willing to drag us into the water even if Yanzhou suffers."

"Now that things have come to this, what remedies are there?"

Ju Su said: "The most urgent task is to reduce the losses and provide relief to the victims."

"If possible, we should increase the number of troops deployed in the east. It would be best if we could attack Yanzhou and find a way to plug the gap in the river. If we succeed, we can catch up with the summer harvest."

Yuan Xi listened and nodded slightly. Just as he was about to speak, Tian Feng said, "I don't agree with Gong Yu's approach."

"To try to fix it now is like a drop in the bucket. Besides, the Yellow River has been dug up, how can the gap be easily plugged?"

"Not to mention that I have to send people to suppress Cao's army while repairing the river at the same time. Cao's army must understand this and will definitely send more troops to harass us. In this case, I am not optimistic about how effective this strategy of blocking the river will be."

Tian Feng's words were very impolite. Although Ju Shou knew that he was right, he still felt a little embarrassed and asked, "Does Yuan Hao have a better idea?"

Tian Feng hesitated for a moment and said, "I am far inferior to Gong Yu in leading troops in battle, but I think I am slightly better in making unexpected and risky plans."

"I have a plan, but it is too harmful to the harmony of nature. If you use it, I am afraid you will be criticized by the world." After Tian Feng said this, Yuan Xi became interested and said, "Sir, please tell me, and we can discuss it together."

Tian Feng took a deep breath and finally made up his mind and said, "The Yellow River is hard to stop when it overflows. Once it bursts, we can only wait until the dry season to build a dam."

"It will take less than half a year before the entire Yellow River flows into Qingzhou. As long as Cao's army holds the upper reaches of Qingzhou, they will be able to contain us."

"Not to mention the possibility that they could take advantage of the situation to loot."

"I have a plan to solve this problem."

Ju Su hurriedly asked, "What does it mean to remove the firewood from under the cauldron?"

Tian Feng said slowly: "Go south from the Black Mountain Passage to the border between Jizhou and Sili, and dig up the Yellow River port over there."

Yuan Xi and Ju Su were shocked. Tian Feng's plan was to use his own method against the enemy!

Ju Su was overjoyed, "Yuan Hao's plan is brilliant."

His voice suddenly stopped, because he immediately realized that the disaster area had been moved from Qingzhou to Jizhou!
Ju Shou finally understood what Tian Feng was worried about. Even if it was a local area, one should think twice before doing such things. What's more, this was Jizhou, a place that Yuan Xi had recaptured in the name of righteousness before the war. If the people of Jizhou knew about this, how would they view Yuan Xi?

Tian Feng sighed and said, "Now you understand, right?"

"In fact, it's not that you can't think of this plan, but you don't want to think of it. You may have even thought of it, but rejected it in your heart."

"This kind of thing is commonplace for Cao Cao, but it is a huge pressure for the lord. After all, the lord governs the country with virtue, and everyone in the world sees his every move."

Yuan Xi stood up and walked back and forth by the window. This was a typical moral dilemma. A good man was being pointed at with a gun by a bad guy, and there were innocent people around him. If you wanted to hide, you would have to bear the risk of the bad guy killing innocent people.

The current situation is that unless the guns are seized, there is no way to prevent the people from suffering. But then again, if the guns could be seized, Yuan Xi would have defeated Cao Cao on the frontal battlefield long ago. Why would he still consider these things?

He frowned and paced back and forth. Ju Shou and Tian Feng were all waiting quietly. Now that they had said everything they needed to say, it all depended on Yuan Xi's decision.

Yuan Xi stopped and said, "I once heard of a carriage problem."

"There was a carriage running wildly on the road. In front of the carriage was an innocent civilian. The mad horse could not be stopped, so the only thing to do was to turn it around. However, there were civilians all around. If it crashed into another direction, the casualties would increase several times."

"In this situation, how should you two choose?"

Ju Shou and Tian Feng knew that this was a variation of the river digging problem, but it was even more difficult to decide. The two looked at each other, and Ju Shou said in embarrassment: "My lord, this question reminds me of the old saying of ruling by doing nothing. Do you also see this dilemma?"

The idea of ​​ruling by inaction was proposed by some ministers in the early Han Dynasty, who saw that the Qin Dynasty was destroyed by tyranny. They suggested that the emperor should not excessively interfere in people's livelihood, but instead adopt a policy of recuperation and recuperation with the people. This would allow the people to be less harassed and live and work in peace and contentment like in ancient times.

Someone immediately refuted this with Han Feizi's theory, saying that in ancient times people ate raw meat and drank blood, and Yao, Shun and Yu all lived in thatched huts, but now the county magistrate also has a carriage, so how can they be compared?

In the end, the two sides argued, but neither could convince the other and the matter ended in nothing.

Tian Feng said, "My Lord, is this also what you mean by digging the river?"

"No," Yuan Xi took a deep breath and turned to face the two of them, "I just figured out something."

The two subconsciously asked, "What's the problem?"

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "This so-called carriage problem is actually bullshit from the perspective of politicians."

"This is a lazy political practice of changing the concept. Because of the incompetence of the ruling party, a problem that could have been solved was replaced by a lie that no matter what is done, the interests of some people will be harmed."

"As the ruler of a country, you are responsible for the affairs of the world. How can there be so many things in the world that cannot be solved?"

"A ruler of a country is supposed to solve problems for the people under his rule. If he can mobilize the power of all the people and take all the benefits of the people, but he doesn't even want to do this kind of thing, then what is the meaning of his existence as the ruler of this country?"

(End of this chapter)