Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 136
Kong Rong, Mi Zhu, Sun Qian, and Jian Yong hit the wall one after another, and everyone turned their attention to Chen Deng. Seeing this, Chen Deng knew that he had to speak up.

In fact, Chen Deng was extremely happy when Yuan Xi came this time.

Teaming up with Yuan Shao is much better than joining forces with Yuan Shu.

Once Liu Bei surrenders to Yuan Shao, Qingzhou and Yanzhou will be safe, and they only need to concentrate on dealing with Yuan Shu in the south.

However, there is a Yangtze River between Xuzhou and Yangzhou. It is extremely difficult for Yuan Shu to attack Xuzhou.

However, if Liu Bei and Yuan Shu were allied, they would become Yuan Shu's forward, facing the enemy on both sides at the same time. According to Xuzhou's size, it would not be able to withstand the attack of Yuan Shaojun and Cao Cao's army at all.

Therefore, the advantages and disadvantages of relying on both sides can be seen at a glance.

Moreover, Yuan Shu had an unruly heart, and he had signs of establishing himself as emperor, which made Chen Deng, who was loyal to the Han Dynasty, very displeased.

If Liu Bei gets involved with Yuan Shu again, his reputation will only get worse and worse!

Chen Deng knew that what he could figure out, other counselors could also figure out.

Most people just can't save face.

After all, Cao Cao, Yuan Shao's minion, slaughtered Xuzhou, and Yuan Shao's army had just defeated the Xuzhou army, and the beams on both sides would not be untied in a while.

But relying on Yuan Shao is much better than surrendering to Cao Cao. After all, the latter really has a deadly enmity with the people of Xuzhou's gentry.

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Chen Deng said to Yuan Xi, "Why do you think Xuzhou can rely on Yuan Zhoumu?"

"Cao Cao failed to take down Xuzhou twice. Do you think Xuzhou is so easy to be fished by people?"

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "I heard that Cao Cao's army has ceased fighting with Lu Bu's army."

When everyone heard this, their faces changed.

The fool also knows that Lu Bu has strong generals like clouds, Cao Cao is now in a stalemate with him, and the two sides are negotiating peace, which shows that they feel that they cannot win the other side.

Once Cao Cao frees his hands, the next step must be to deal with the weakest!

Look around Yanzhou, the softest persimmon is of course Liu Bei who just lost in Qingzhou.

Seeing the tangled expressions on everyone's faces, Yuan Xi felt a little complacent.

In the battle of Qingzhou, the fire was just right.

Beating Liu Bei half disabled made him lose the confidence to resist Cao Cao head-on.

But it has not been completely destroyed, and there is still some confidence and hope to deal with Cao Cao.

Chen Deng's eyes lit up slightly after hearing Yuan Xi's words. The other party was very smart, and one sentence was worth ten sentences, which happened to hit Liu Bei's weakness.

He nodded slightly and said, "I don't have anything to ask."

Seeing that Chen Deng was so easy, Yuan Xi let go. He was a little strange at first, but after thinking about it for a while, he immediately understood.

Looking at Chen Deng's reaction, as well as the letter he wrote to Yuan Shao in later generations, it is obvious that he is extremely in favor of Yuan and Liu joining forces!
Chen Deng... Yuan Xi recalled the historical records of later generations, and suddenly found that this was the talent he lacked the most!

Chen Deng is the lieutenant of Xuzhou Diannong School, in charge of agricultural production, personally inspecting the soil conditions in Xuzhou, developing water conservancy, and developing farmland irrigation.

Under his governance, Xuzhou's agriculture developed well, rice was abundant, and the people worked happily.

Thinking of this, Yuan Xi's desire grows stronger. He will occupy Youzhou to farm in the future, and he urgently needs a large number of agricultural talents!

Farming in ancient times was actually a difficult task.

If you want to plant grain and harvest it smoothly, you must not make mistakes in the links of cultivation, fertilization, irrigation, and interplanting.

In any link, any unexpected mistake may lead to nothing.

In ancient times, it was even worse to open up wasteland. To cultivate new land and plant new crops, you need to take great risks, one of which is the degradation of crops.

When the crops in the south are planted in the north, it is likely that after one or two generations, due to various reasons, the yield will be reduced, or they will get sick, or even degenerate into wild crops that are completely inedible.

In this era, there is no shortage of land and food.

Today's ancient grains, some of which have begun to decrease in yield, are gradually being replaced by more efficient crops.

Potatoes and corn were useless before the advent of the age of great voyages, and one of the best options left was rice.

Under the right conditions, rice yields far more than other grains.

However, rice has higher requirements on growth conditions and cultivation techniques. It must cooperate with water conservancy, polder terraces, land leveling, and soil improvement to be suitable for rice cultivation.

At this time, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, rice was planted sporadically in the northern states, but none of them had formed a large scale.

Yuan Xi also tried to grow rice in Beixincheng, but the effect was not very satisfactory due to water conservancy and water and soil problems.

But the significance of rice is very important, because it is not in a competitive relationship with wheat, but in a complementary relationship.

The growing seasons of rice and wheat are different. As long as the arrangement is proper, the same field can harvest two crops of rice and wheat at the same time in a year.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Heng recorded in Nandu Fu that there was a successful precedent of rice and wheat cropping in Nanyang, Henan.

However, after the war at the end of the Han Dynasty, agricultural production suffered great damage, and many agricultural technologies were lost.

Only some gentry families have similar books and records, and only by relying on them can this knowledge be passed on and carried forward.

As long as the gentry mastered the knowledge, it would be impossible to be completely wiped out. However, compared with land annexation, the inheritance and continuation of knowledge is benign.

Knowledge can do evil as well as do good. Of course, for a scholar like Chen Deng who is proficient in agriculture, the more the better.

Yuan Xi's heart was fluctuating. In his heart, the importance of a talent like Chen Deng was no less than that of Guo Jia.

It's too wasteful for this person to stay in Liu Bei's hands. Now Liu Bei doesn't understand the value of Chen Deng at all!
Moreover, Chen Deng should not be as loyal to Liu Bei as others. It can be seen that he has taken refuge in Lu Bu and Cao Cao successively.

Although Chen Deng has the local feelings of the Xuzhou gentry and has never left Xuzhou, but has been operating in Guangling County for many years, it has to be said that Chen Deng has made great achievements in both internal affairs and military affairs.

He is not only a civil servant, but also very strong in military use. When he was Cao Cao's vanguard, he personally broke through Xiapi, defeated Lu Bu, and defeated Sun Ce's army twice in Guangling. He is a rare talent.

It is too early to die.

Thinking of this, Yuan Xi said to Chen Deng: "Mr. Yuanlong, are you feeling ill?"

Everyone was startled, why did they mention this for no reason?

Chen Deng shook his head and said, "No."

Yuan Xi pretended to be surprised and said, "Really not?"

"I have a friend who once calculated that Mr. Yuanlong had a hidden disease, and even mentioned the symptoms."

When Mi Zhu heard this, he shook his head and said, "How could such a thing happen, I'm afraid you were deceived."

Yuan Xi laughed and said, "It's the brat who is being abrupt. After all, his complexion turned red suddenly, his chest is stuffy, and his mood is irritable. This kind of disease will endanger life within a few years. It's like nonsense."

As soon as these words came out, the faces of Mi Zhu and the others changed slightly, but Chen Deng's expression remained the same. He shook his head and said, "It's really outrageous. How can I be upset if I belong to Duke Xuande?"

He flattered Liu Bei without showing any traces. Zhang Fei was very happy to hear that, and he stretched out his thumb and praised: "Mr. Yuanlong is a cultural person, and his eloquence is really extraordinary."

Yuan Xi smiled, his goal had been achieved.

Someone must have known about Chen Deng's symptoms before, just by looking at the reactions of Mi Zhu and others.

But Chen Deng pretended not to know, obviously to avoid suspicion, but Yuan Xi's plan was poisonous, and it was useless for Chen Deng to pretend to be stupid. There must be people who knew the truth and were already suspicious of him.

After all, no matter what Yuan Xi said was true or false, Chen Deng would definitely ask Yuan Xi for advice in private. After all, this disease was life-threatening, who would take the risk of making life difficult for him?
There was a moment of silence

Seeing this, Yuan Xi said to Mi Zhu: "Brother Zizhong, I heard that the Mi family has set foot in trade routes, including the sea route in Yangzhou. How many routes are there?"

"I'm here this time, entrusted by Jizhou businessmen, and I want to ask the Mi family if they are interested in cooperating."

"After all, Jizhou is rich in products. If they can be transported to the south, it will be very profitable."

Mi Zhu couldn't help being overjoyed, and then reacted, and said awkwardly: "There is a chance, there is a chance, there is a chance, hehe."

Liu Bei felt extremely uncomfortable, Yuan Shao's son was so disgusting, he blatantly attacked the wall!

It's not that he didn't see Yuan Xi's depravity, but he had to pretend to be stupid, so depressed!

Liu Bei had no choice but to chuckle and said, "Since Mr. Xian Yi is talking about this, let's open the skylight and speak frankly."

"As long as Yuan Zhoumu still has his heart for the Han Dynasty, he is willing to talk with him."

Everyone thought that they had agreed to give Yuan Xi a chance first, but why did Liu Bei express his opinion after a few words of probing?

They didn't know that Liu Bei was afraid of Yuan Xi's ability to undercut the wall, and he didn't want Yuan Xi to speak again!

Zhao Yuntai Shici didn't say anything, now that he is openly poaching people in front of him, how shameless is this?
Liu Bei is really scared, after all, his current strength is far behind Yuan Shao!
Seeing Liu Bei's reaction, Yuan Xi smiled slightly, this is the role of fame among the nobles.

What Liu Bei was afraid of was not himself, but Yuan Shao behind him.

Yuan Xi deeply felt the importance of reincarnation, this is the world's greatest kindness to him, much stronger than most golden fingers.

Just like a saying in later generations, "Money is not for women to spend, but for women to see."

The licking dogs of later generations spent countless money to kneel and lick the goddess in their hearts, but in the end they lost their money and money.

And those so-called goddesses would throw themselves into the arms of a rich man who was driving a luxury car, and they would just get out of bed without asking for a penny from the other party.

Because those women are not stupid, they are more like a long-term meal ticket than a short-term withdrawal.

Of course, there is also the risk of being prostituted for nothing, but if one is willing to fight, the other is willing to suffer.

For these women, it doesn't matter how many times they are cheated, as long as they succeed once, it is enough.

But many of the scholars standing in front of Yuan Xi now have the same thoughts as those women.

Fame is also for scholars.

Those who have more investment value than self-made people are of course the children of aristocratic families.

It was also because of this that things went so smoothly this time. Yuan Xi's plan was just icing on the cake.

As for whether you can prostitute yourself to scholars for nothing, it depends on how you operate.

Now that Liu Bei has loosened his tone, the two sides began to bargain from sending troops to offense and defense, from food and grass to mutual aid.

Time passed unknowingly, Liu Bei entertained the banquet at noon, but Kong Rong did not show up.

After eating, the two sides continued to talk in the afternoon, which lasted for a whole day, but Yuan Xi found that Liu Bei was actually making progress by retreating. When Xi came here, he must have something to ask for in Xuzhou.

This was far from Yuan Xi's previous psychological bottom line, and Yuan Xi also got angry in the end.

Seeing that it was getting late, he became more and more dizzy, and proposed to talk about it tomorrow, and Liu Bei readily agreed.

When it came to the dinner party and the place to stay, Yuan Xi felt angry and said with a smile: "I have bothered Mr. Xuande for a meal at noon, so I won't eat at night."

"As for the residence, I can't afford it. I heard that the Mi family's residence is not bad. Can you open my eyes?"

When Mi Zhu heard this, his face turned bitter, this person is so bad, he deliberately tricked me!

(End of this chapter)