Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 895 Times have changed
Yuan Xi shook his legs subconsciously, but seeing that Sun Li still held on to him, he said helplessly: "I'm talking to him, you get up first."

Sun Li still wanted to speak, but he caught Tian Yu winking at him and quickly stood aside. Yuan Xi just looked at the chief officer just now.

The chief had obviously realized who Yuan Xi was, his face turned pale, and Yuan Xi said, "Let me ask you a few questions."

"How old are you?"

"How long have you been in the Youzhou Army? What military exploits have you achieved and how high have you been?"

The commander stumbled to explain a few words, and Yuan Xi just understood the situation. This man was older than Sun Li, a native of Dai County, and had been in the Youzhou Army for a long time. Last year, he became a scout and later killed several horse thieves for meritorious service. , he was promoted to such a high position, probably not because of his relationship with Sun Li.

Yuan Xi said: "Why didn't you continue to be a scout, but came to patrol the city?"

The chief blushed, "I just got married, and there are elderly people at home. There has been no war in Youzhou recently, and Jicheng is short of people to patrol, so I asked for a transfer to take care of my family."

"But if Youzhou encounters a foreign enemy, I will definitely go to the battlefield!"

Tian Yu spoke up: "It is true that Jicheng has been in chaos recently. Mr. Gong and Mr. Yu mobilized nearly a thousand people to maintain order and barely allowed the city to operate normally."

Yuan Xi asked Tian Yu: "I didn't ask Sun Li to follow you at the beginning, why did he return to Jicheng?"

Yuan Xi nodded slightly, thinking that this was indeed a troublesome matter. The larger the city, the more difficult it was to manage. It was fine on weekdays, but in the event of war or epidemic, the pressure in the city doubled. The city in this era could not afford to be too large. Population, it seems that we need to figure out how to solve this problem.

"The Lord is talking to him, and he has no intention of blaming him. Now you come out to interfere, and you talk openly and openly to build relationships. Are you asking the Lord to show favoritism, or something like that?"

He said to Na Shichang: "You have done well, but you are still a little lacking."

"It's time for you to think about your future. My lord is surrounded by guards. Besides, do you still want to be a guard for the rest of your life?"

Tian Yu shook his head and sighed: "You, what can I say about you?"

"Ah?" Sun Li opened his mouth wide, "Brother Tian, ​​don't scare me. What's going on?"

Tian Yu replied: "At that time, I went to Xuzhou to report to the lord, and I was not worried about letting Sun Li take charge of the fleet, so I arranged for him to inspect the road from Jicheng to Piaoyuyi. Now he is also running on both ends."

Everyone laughed after hearing this, and Yuan Xi patted him on the shoulder, "Go ahead and think about it when things happen. I'll take good care of you."

"In the past few years that I have been with my lord, I have heard your lord say to you more than once that you can call yourself brother and sister in private, but don't take it for granted. What this means is that you can talk about feelings in private, but in public we have to deal with business affairs. These subordinates all need to address themselves as Lord, and you have been following them longer than me, haven’t you figured it out yet?”

Tian Yu hated the irony and said: "Everyone can see that you want to take the opportunity to support your brother, but the occasion is too wrong."

Sun Li wanted to open his mouth to speak, but found that Yuan Xi didn't look at him the whole time, so he swallowed his words again.

The chief officer saluted Yuan Xi with an excited expression, and then left with the soldiers.

Yuan Xi nodded. Seeing that the crowd at the city gate was gradually thinning, he stood up and said, "Let's go into the city."

"As a scout, the most important thing is to have a clear mind and understand the truth of the matter, and you are acting like a fierce general now."

"As soon as you showed up, you provoked the lord in many ways, and your actions were extremely lack of consideration. What the lord just said to the chief was actually meant for you."

"And my lord should be very disappointed with your performance just now. He asked you to follow me so that you could stand alone, but you can't do it now."

"If you were really clear-headed and reliable, wouldn't I have handed over the fleet to you a long time ago?"

"The supervisor Lu Boyan is also the lord's sworn brother. He has already become the governor of Jianghuai. He has never addressed him as sworn brother in public. If you call eldest brother in public, no matter how you ask the lord to speak, people will suspect you of nepotism. That’s why he sent your brother away first.”

"He seems a little angry?"

He called Lu Lingqi, led the carriage, and led everyone into the city. Seeing that Yuan Xi had not spoken to him from beginning to end, Sun Li couldn't help but feel worried. He quietly pulled Tian Yu from behind and said, "Brother, what's wrong?"

After hearing this, Sun Li bit his lips and said harshly: "I also want to catch up with you, but including eldest brother and you, we are all monsters. What I don't understand, you can understand at a glance. There are still things in my stomach." There are so many twists and turns, I want to learn it, but I can’t!”

"I won't talk about Supervisor Lu. I heard that my eldest brother also found a military advisor and let him take charge of Qingzhou alone in just half a year. How can I compare?"

"And I can't figure it out. A few years ago, I used to call him eldest brother publicly. Why can't I do it now?"

Tian Yu sighed: "Of course the situation is different now. At that time, my lord was fighting against the world with us, and a group of people were all Youzhou soldiers. It was not a bad idea to call them brothers."

"But now the soldiers under the lord's command come from all over the country, including Heishan, Jizhou, Qingzhou, Xuzhou, and even Jianghuai. If he openly favors the Youzhou Army, what will the other soldiers think? Especially seeing that the lord has so many brotherhoods, will they? Will it work?" "You know, the lord now occupies half of the Central Plains, and has millions of people under his rule. He has many more things to consider than before. Not only can you not share his worries now, but you also pose problems for him. What do you think he will do? think?"

After hearing this, Sun Li said in a low voice: "I understand. I will go back and think about it carefully before I apologize to my eldest brother and my lord."

Tian Yu sighed, "Sun Li, everyone does have their own strengths, but you are by no means as useless as you think."

"Don't even think about it. Everyone from Qu Yi to Zi Long has praised you. Are they saying things against their will just because of the Lord's face?"

"Don't compare yourself with Supervisor Lu and Military Advisor Zhuge. Just do your own thing well."

Sun Li listened and nodded heavily.

Lu Lingqi whispered to Yuan Xi in front: "Your little brother is struggling."

Yuan Xi said calmly: "It will happen sooner or later."

"As you climb to the top of the mountain, some people will fall behind, some people will try their best to follow, and some people will easily reach the top. There is no fairness in the world."

"Sun Li needs to find his position and understand what he wants to do and what he can do. I can't help him with this. He can only do it if he wants to do it."

"And I also have difficulties. The temporary change of military orders will indeed help maintain order, but it is not a long-term solution. Fundamentally, the military cannot be mixed with money-making things. This is the most dangerous thing."

"In addition, Sun Li came to interrupt at this time, so I can't openly favor anyone."

"I can only say that the higher you go, the lonelier you will be."

"Let's not go back to the mansion first. Let's go to the official residence to convene a meeting with the subordinates."

Not long after, all the important officials in Yuan Xi's official residence were present. The only people who could really decide the affairs at the moment were Ju Shou and Tian Yu. The rest of the people with similar status were almost not in Jicheng.

Jushou stood up and said that everyone was here. After a brief introduction, Yuan Xi got straight to the point and said: "Before I returned to Jicheng, I thought I could directly start the plan to march westward to Bingzhou next spring."

"But today outside the gate of Jicheng, I saw the refugees who had fled from Jizhou. They were far beyond the capacity of Jicheng. Although most of these extra people have some wealth, the people in Youzhou Food does not come from the ground. Distributing limited food to multiple people will inevitably drive up food prices."

He stopped Jushou who wanted to speak, "I know some people may say that food prices can be controlled and rationed per capita. I think it may be useful, but the phenomenon of private trading of food will definitely increase. If there are several times or dozens of times With money in front of them, many people will sell most of their own or even their family’s rations.”

"I won't talk about other issues first. Regarding the issue of food, I want to hear your thoughts."

Everyone hesitated for a moment. Yuan Xi blocked most of their suggestions with just one sentence, because food is the basis for survival, and no one can say what will happen after food shortages.

Jushou first spoke up and said: "This is because I didn't think carefully. I ask my lord to punish me."

Yuan Xi shook his head and said: "I'm not here today to ask for guilt. I also know that this is your first time encountering this situation, but why didn't you take measures in advance?"

At that moment, someone spoke to explain. Only then did Yuan Xi realize that Jicheng had not failed to respond, but had tried its best to purchase through the trade route. However, at several key points of the trade route, Qingzhou and Xuzhou used a lot of food in the war this year, and Youzhou had some. Money can't buy it either.

Yuan Xi felt a little depressed. It turned out that the root cause was that his frequent wars had worsened the food problem in Youzhou?
But he understood that it was normal for the world not to have enough to eat. The attitude of most princes towards the refugees was to fend for themselves. After all, their armies were short of food, and someone like himself was almost obsessed with ensuring the food supply in the territory. It is extremely rare, which also puts a lot of pressure on the subordinates.

In the end, everyone discussed it, and the suggestions were nothing more than to collect a settlement tax on the foreign population, encourage wealthy households to open up wasteland in Liaodong and even the Korean Peninsula to reduce the food pressure in Yuyang, or purchase the cattle and sheep of the Hu people in the north at high prices, etc.

However, these measures are not so immediate. It may take several months to see results. But now that the Chinese New Year is approaching, who is willing to bother?

Yuan Xi indeed had an idea in his mind. He said: "First contact the tribes in Bingzhou and buy as many cattle and sheep as possible. Don't care about the price, so that the noble tribes in Jizhou will also bleed."

"For other measures, Mr. and Gong will summon the deputies and discuss them in the past few days and let me know."

"You should go back and do your own business first."

Yuan Xi always kept his stories short, and after hearing this, the subordinates all left one after another, and Yuan Xi alone asked Ju Shou to stay.

Jushou confessed again and said with a wry smile: "I know that in order to prevent disagreements, the lord has transferred other counselors with similar status to me, but I am really alone now. Please give me a few more people."

Yuan Xili was happy and thought, "You finally understand. Isn't it worthwhile for one person to do the work of several people?"

(End of this chapter)