Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1347 Essence
When Cao Qing followed the envoys sent by Cao Ang into Jicheng, the snow in the city had just melted and the weather was already warming up, which made her speechless.

When she set out from Cao County, although she estimated the time the journey would take, she underestimated the thickness of the snow and the difficulty of the road. As a result, she stumbled along the way and arrived more than a month later than expected, even missing the Spring Festival.

She had no choice but to stay at the Jicheng Posthouse first, and then went to the official residence to pay a visit to Ju Su and hand over Cao Ang's gift. However, she was told that Yuan Xi had gone out of the city for inspection in the past few days, so Cao Qing could visit Mrs. Ding first.

Cao Qing learned that Madam Ding had moved out of the mansion and lived alone not far from Yuan Xi's palace. Although there were still soldiers guarding the place, she could come and go freely.

After Cao Qing handed over the gifts and official documents, she said goodbye to Ju Su and set off in the carriage. She didn't know why, but she always felt a little depressed, so much so that when she passed by Yuan Xi's palace, she couldn't help but dig out her eyes in hatred.

It is called a palace, but in fact it was converted from Yuan Xi's previous residence. Its scope has not been expanded much. Just for the sake of safety, the scope of a surrounding block was widened, and at the same time, the residents were relocated and resettled, and the guards were allowed to live there to protect the safety of the palace.

Mrs. Ding's residence is in this protected neighborhood, which is the residential area for the families of guards. Although there are many eyes watching, the safety is still guaranteed enough.

Cao Qing's carriage followed the guards and arrived in front of a small courtyard, but she found that there was already a carriage parked in front of the door. After asking, Cao Qing learned that it was the Marquis's wife who had a very special status among Yuan Xi's concubines and came to visit.

She had heard about Mrs. Hou, who was originally the widow of Gongsun Zan. After Gongsun Zan died in battle, she was taken away by Yuan Xi. It was said that her daughter was also engaged to Yuan Xi's second son.

While thinking that Xionghu was a man with no taboos, Cao Qing got off the carriage, holding the clothes and other gifts that Cao Ang brought to Mrs. Ding, and walked inside. When she reached the door, she heard talking and laughing inside. She recognized two voices, one of which was Mrs. Ding, and laughter could be heard from both of them from time to time, and it was obvious that they were in a good mood.

Cao Qing suddenly felt a lot more relieved. For many years, she rarely heard Madam Ding laugh, and the same was true in Cao Cao's inner house. Now Madam Ding seemed to be trapped here, but wasn't it a relief?
If he were still in Wei, he might not be enjoying the peace he has today, right?
She knocked on the door and said, "Mom, I'm back."

Soon, the door was opened and Mrs. Ding appeared at the door. She looked at Cao Qing's weathered face, her lips trembling a few times, and she said softly, "Glad that you're back."

Seeing this, the Marquis's wife stood up and said, "I won't disturb you and your son's reunion. I'll come back another day."

She insisted on not letting Madam Ding see her off, so Madam Ding had no choice but to let Cao Qing see her off. Madam Hou was familiar with Madam Ding before, and Cao Qing had met her several times. In Cao Qing's memory, although Madam Ding was in her thirties, she was very slim and petite, and looked like someone in her twenties.

But this time, when Cao Qing helped Mrs. Hou get into the car, she found that although her figure was still slim, her waist was obviously swollen. She immediately came to her senses and stood there in surprise.

Seeing this, the marquis's wife smiled awkwardly, said goodbye to Cao Qing, and went back in the carriage.

Cao Qing returned to the house and talked to Mrs. Ding. Both of them had red eyes. Mrs. Ding sighed and said, "You have suffered a lot, child."

Cao Qing forced a smile and said, "My daughter is living very well with my brother. He and his wife are very virtuous. I have someone to talk to, so I am not lonely."

"I am worried that my mother is lonely and being bullied here."

Mrs. Ding laughed and said, "Ang'er, you are overthinking it, or maybe Qing'er is just exaggerating it?"

"I'm doing very well here. I can go out anytime. I've even been out of the city with the Marquis a few times and seen the scenery outside Jicheng."

"To be honest, under the rule of Jin, both officials and people are quite content. It is much more relaxed than under the rule of Cao."

"You have been to many places, so you should know that this King Jin is no simple man. It is not unfair for that man to lose to him."

Cao Qing knew that Mrs. Ding was talking about Cao Cao, and couldn't help but snorted, "It's just a conspiracy. He didn't get the name of the fierce tiger for nothing. Anyone who goes against him will suffer."

"Take Gongsun Zan for example. Not only did he kill me, but he also took my wife away from me. Now I think my wife is pregnant. It's really ridiculous."

Madam Ding sighed, "Don't think too highly of people. Madam Hou's situation is not what you think."

"She almost died in Yijing, not at the hands of the enemy, but because Gongsun Zan wanted to kill her. It was the King of Jin who saved her life."

"We women are most afraid of entrusting our love to the wrong person. It is almost impossible to turn back. Although that person and I did not get along, we were able to divorce in the end, which is already good enough."

Cao Qing whispered, "Mother, are you still thinking about my father?"

"Prince Jin was the culprit who killed my father, but now you are speaking for him?"

Mrs. Ding sighed, "You are a stubborn child."

"If you want to talk about hatred, don't we, the Cao family, owe others enough?"

"Except for Prince Jin, didn't all the other members of the Yuan family die at the hands of the Cao family?"

"If we really want revenge, would it be our turn to sit here and talk?"

She suddenly changed the subject, "Have you always liked Prince Jin?" Cao Qing blushed, bit her lip, and said hatefully, "Who likes him!"

Mrs. Ding seemed to see through everything. "If you hate him so much, Ang'er wouldn't let you come to see me, and you wouldn't agree, right?"

"Are you going to keep deceiving yourself like this?"

Cao Qing's eyes got even redder. "I don't like him. I hate him very much!"

"If mother says that again, I will go back to Cao County!"

Mrs. Ding looked at it and sighed, "Forget it, it's up to you what to do next."

"We haven't seen each other for two years. Are you here to piss me off?"

Cao Qing quickly crawled behind Madam Ding and began to pat her back, apologetically saying, "Mother, how dare I do that? My brother asked me to come and serve you for a while longer. You won't chase me away, will you?"

Mrs. Ding shook her head helplessly and said, "You are so old, but you are still like a child."

She was also quite troubled by Cao Qing's affairs, knowing that what stood between her and the Prince of Jin was not only the complicated hatred between the two families, but also the criticism from the whole world. She could only say that this was the retribution for being born into the Cao family.

At the same time, Yuan Xizheng, Tian Yu, Qian Zhao and others were patrolling within a radius of hundreds of miles around Jicheng, looking for suitable locations to build villages and towns.

After years of fighting with the Xianbei outside the Great Wall, the original villages were almost all destroyed. If people wanted to come back to live there, they had to find a good place in advance.

Nowadays, many people are still temporarily living on the border between You and Ji. This is not a long-term solution, mainly because there is not enough land, and many people have to work to make a living, which is not a long-term solution.

In addition, many people also expressed their desire to return home. When the news reached Yuan Xi, he also had a headache. There might be more wars with the Xianbei in the future. If these people return, aren’t they afraid of war?
Several old men who stayed in the area answered Yuan Xi's question. They said to Yuan Xi, "Your Majesty, you can see clearly that although the North is in chaos, it is our homeland after all."

"Although there are external enemies, we have been living like this all these years. We have passed it down from generation to generation for hundreds or thousands of years. What are we afraid of?"

"Besides, we Youzhou people have been here since the Spring and Autumn Period. We have never been afraid of the Xianbei people. We are willing to trust Your Majesty."

After hearing this, Yuan Xi couldn't help but sigh that the people of Youzhou were so stubborn. They didn't even know how terrible the Five Barbarians' Invasion of China would be in the future.

But since he was here, he naturally had to take responsibility. So after discussing with Tian Yu and others, he went to various places to inspect and solve the problem of population return.

He has also figured out some tricks these days. Youzhou has many hills, which are suitable for building villages. Building villages on high places can not only resist floods, but also rely on the terrain to block the Xianbei cavalry. As long as outposts and arrow towers are set up at mountain passes and dangerous places, the enemy can be kept out of the village with very few people.

The warhorse under his feet was extremely majestic. It was a fine horse produced in Youzhou, and was hybridized with horses brought back from Dayuan and other places in the Western Regions during the Han Dynasty. It was the best warhorse in the northern part of the Central Plains today. The shoulder height of this hybrid horse could be up to seven feet.

The Xianbei people's war horses, the ancestors of the Mongolian horse breed, were actually not that tall. They were a full foot shorter than Youzhou horses, and sometimes even as tall as a foot and a half.

In cavalry combat, height difference is extremely important. Attacking from a high position can create great suppression. This one-foot distance is the natural barrier between the Youzhou cavalry and the Xianbei cavalry. If the Youzhou cavalry could not keep up with the horse production, the Xianbei would have been driven away from the border long ago.

These tall horses have brand new horseshoes nailed to their feet, which is a pioneering work in this era. Horseshoes can greatly extend the life of horses. At the same time, if they have tiny serrations, they can also allow war horses to run on ice without slipping.

Of course, the cost is quite high. One horseshoe can be used to make several spear heads. The four horseshoes of this warhorse alone can arm more than a dozen lightly armed soldiers, not to mention the materials needed for stirrups and saddles.

Therefore, cavalry in ancient times were absolute money-eating beasts, especially the Youzhou cavalry under Yuan Xi's rule. If Yuan Xi had not been committed to the development of mining and iron smelting, the State of Jin would not have been able to support a cavalry of more than 10,000 people.

As for the cavalry of other forces, they are not on the same level at all. Even if they know the existence of stirrups and horseshoes and have learned how to make them, they do not have that much financial support and can only be equipped with a thousand elite soldiers at most.

The most typical example is the Hu people outside the Great Wall. For a long time, they needed to exchange dozens of furs for an iron pot. This was because their iron smelting technology was not good. Therefore, when the Hu people outside the Great Wall invaded the Central Plains, they had to go to great lengths to obtain iron smelting technology.

However, the iron smelting technology required too many technical chains and links, so for thousands of years the Hu people were unable to do it and were suppressed by the Chinese. It was not until the Song Dynasty that the iron smelting technology flowed out and the Chinese gradually lost to the foreign races, and thus fell into a long tug-of-war with the foreign races outside the Great Wall.

In this era, what determines the outcome of a war is technology and financial resources, and the technology that plays a decisive role is iron ore. The advantage of iron smelting technology is the greatest reliance of the Chinese nation in resisting foreign invaders.

All of Yuan Xi's current development and expansion routes, from Liangzhou to Xianbei Mountain outside the Great Wall, are the production areas of shallow iron mines in later generations. As long as these places are controlled, the technology of the hostile forces outside the Great Wall can be locked. After that, Yuan Xi only needs to focus on suppressing the technology of the alien races outside the Great Wall while quickly climbing China's technology tree, he can be invincible and achieve his goals step by step.

This is the real understanding that Yuan Xi has gained over the years based on the experience of later generations and after years of fighting in this era.

This forward-looking strategic vision is what enabled him to get to this day. This is the essence that he found by standing on the shoulders of giants, which is unique to him and most suitable for him, allowing Yuan Xi to stand at the pinnacle of the world and be on par with his predecessors and successors.

(End of this chapter)