Han family achievements

Chapter 447 Natural and man-made disasters
Liu Bian walked out of the ruined temple and began to walk in the rain.

He was a little anxious to begin with, and since he had been away from Beijing for a long time, something unexpected might happen.

But this letter from Huangfu Jianshou made Liu Bian even more eager to return to Beijing.

The rain was heavy and the road was muddy. Even if Liu Bian chose the gravel road he was most familiar with, he still had trouble walking and walked very slowly.

What's more, there are people following them.

After walking for who knows how long, Zhao Yun caught up with him in a raincoat and shouted loudly beside Liu Bian: "Your Majesty, those people have retreated."

Liu Bian held an umbrella with one hand, wiped the rain off his face, looked at the road ahead, and said, "Don't take it lightly."

"Yes." Zhao Yun responded.

Liu Bian walked a few steps. His shoes were already soaked and his pants were half wet. He asked, "The nearest one is Xiao County?"

Lu Yu was relatively relaxed and said: "It's Xiao County, and the closer one is Xiang County."

Xiang County is the administrative seat of Pei County and Yuzhou.

Liu Bian pondered for a while and said, "Okay, let's go to Xiao County."

Lu Yu was startled and stopped talking.

His Majesty's behavior is really unpredictable. Originally, they all thought that the destination of this trip was Xiangxian County.

People outside thought that Liu Bian was still in Xiapi.

The group of people who followed Liu Bian from a distance now retreated far away and did not continue to follow.

A young man held a knife and said to Qiao Mao beside him: "Sir, they are only five hundred people, and we have a thousand people. Whether it is a sneak attack or an ambush, the odds of winning are with us. Why don't we advance instead of retreat?"

The young man was indeed puzzled and spoke again and again, but this gentleman with an unpredictable background seemed to be very afraid of that group of people. He never dared to join them and would run away at the slightest sign of trouble. He was as timid as a mouse.

Qiao Mao's face was expressionless, his hair was wet with rainwater, and he was wearing a raincoat. He looked like a thin old farmer.

He looked to the west and saw no one at all, only the heavy rain.

His face was expressionless, and he ignored the questions of the young man beside him, but was thinking.

Indeed, there were several times when Qiao Mao couldn't help but want to send troops to seize a God-given opportunity.

But after much hesitation, he gave up.

One was that he was not sure. Liu Bian clearly knew that there was a large group of pursuers, but instead of running away, he took a rest for the night.

Qiao Mao also suspected that Liu Bian was bluffing, so he set up a suspicious formation. Whether it was fear or suspicion, he did not take action and missed again and again.

The second one is thinking that if Liu Bian is killed now and Luoyang City supports a little emperor to come up, it will ruin his current plan!

After weighing it over and over again, Qiao Mao gave up and could only watch Liu Bian drift away.

‘That’s all. ’

Qiao Mao sighed unwillingly and said: "There is still a chance, let's go."

Young people are a little tired of Qiao Mao, hesitant and hesitant, which is the bad habit of scholars.

At this moment, Liu Bei, who was in Xiang County, had received the flying pigeon letter from Liu Bian.

The three brothers Liu, Guan, and Zhang studied this 'private letter' for half an hour, but still did not come to any conclusion.

Liu Bei looked sad and longed for a counselor who could help him solve his problems.

Guan Yu seemed to see what was on his elder brother's mind. He narrowed his red eyes and said, "Brother, in my opinion, Your Majesty wants you to prepare troops and horses to send troops to Pengcheng Kingdom at any time. Maybe there is something unusual in Pengcheng."

Zhang Fei immediately raised his voice and said: "The governor of Pengcheng must be Zuo Rong. I remember that my eldest brother even wrote a recommendation and praised him."

Liu Bian's expression changed slightly and he said, "Could it be that something happened to Zuo Rong?"

Guan Yu frowned and said seriously to Liu Bian: "Brother, you must be cautious about this matter. Once that Zuo Rong really commits a serious crime, don't implicate your brother."

Zhang Fei looked at Liu Bei nervously and said, "Brother, what do you think we should do!?"

Liu Bei also just remembered what happened with Zuo Rong, and instantly felt that the previous half hour was all nonsense, and the depression in his heart became even heavier.

"Just obey."

Liu Bei had no other choice and said: "Deploy troops first and monitor Pengcheng. If there is any abnormal movement, strike first."

"Brother,"

Guan Yu Danfeng's eyes flashed and he said, "Do you want to communicate with that Zhang Liao?"

Liu Bei nodded and said: "Yes, I will write a letter right away. He is your Majesty's confidant, and he must know more. There is nothing better than communicating with him."

At this time, a young man who looked like a young man came in and said: "Master, there is news from Mr. Tian Fu, saying that the Shang Shutai asked Yuzhou to submit all the income and expenditure account books of last year. Mr. Tian Fu asked the master to make preparations in advance."

Liu Bei looked puzzled and said, "Account books? What does the Chancellor need these for?"

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei also looked at each other, unable to speak for a while.

Liu Bei's words are logically problematic. After all, it is natural for the Shangshutai to require local governments to submit revenue and expenditure accounts. But the problem is that Shangshutai has allocated almost no money to Yuzhou.

After the automatic pacification, all the money and food support in Yuzhou were raised by Liu Yao, Tian Feng, Liu Bei and others.

What is the purpose of the Chancellor's desk now asking for these account books?
The boy said: "I don't know, this is how the message is delivered."

Liu Bei waved his hand, his expression slightly condensed.

He has 40,000 troops and horses left by Cao Cao, which is the foundation for guarding Yuzhou. These 40,000 soldiers and horses are almost all elites from the Forbidden Army camp.

Liu Bei used many methods to try to subdue these 40,000 elite soldiers, but whenever he did something, it was like a leaky sieve. Not to mention Liu Yao, Tian Feng and others quickly knew that Luoyang also sent a message to 'inquire'.

Liu Bei knew the depth of the water and did not dare to cross it too much.

But in order to feed these 40,000 elite soldiers, in addition to farming, Liu Bei's main source of money and food aid was actually "alms" from major aristocratic families.

The major noble families are not good people and will not give you money for free. Therefore, Liu Bei has secret unspeakable transactions with the major noble families who provide money and food.

The most eye-catching one among them is his brother-in-law Mi Zhu. However, as Liu Bei traveled around, he did not have the expected rapid success and brought enough benefits to the Mi family. This brother-in-law's dissatisfaction with Liu Bei was almost written on his face. .

Liu Bei thought deeply in his heart and said, "Second brother, third brother, you guys will move your troops first, and I'll go see Mr. Tian Fu."

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei didn't say anything and went out.

Liu Beikong sat for a while and asked the boy not far away: "Is there still no news about Zhuge Kongming?"

The boy said: "Yes. Some people said that they lived in seclusion in Nanyang, some said that they returned to Langya County, and some said that they went to Yanzhou and Jizhou. Some people were recommended by others and have already served as officials in Luoyang, but I have checked them carefully, and there is no accurate answer. of."

Liu Bei couldn't help but sigh softly, and looked up to the sky and said: "God, why don't you treat me Liu Bei so well, why can't you give me a great talent..." The young man knew his master's desire for talents, and his expression was also helpless.

When Liu Bei went to the government office, Liu Yao, the herdsman of Yuzhou, was patrolling the river.

Wearing a raincoat, followed by a group of officials, big and small, he walked along the river for a long time, his face constantly solemn, and he said nothing.

The people behind him kept advising: "Your Majesty, it's better to leave here first. The rain is so heavy that the embankment may burst at any time."

"Your Majesty, we are enough here. A gentleman would not stand behind a dangerous wall..."

"Your Majesty, there are still many official duties waiting for you..."

Liu Yao seemed not to have heard anything. He came to a high ground and looked at the rushing muddy water downstream. He felt heavy in his heart and said, "How much food and how many people are needed to ensure that the dike does not burst now?"

Everyone looked at each other, and it was the river patrol censor from the censor station who took over the conversation and said: "Liu Shijun, the Hun River breaks its banks all year round. If it had been possible a few months earlier, it is now the rainy season and it cannot be repaired. ”

Liu Yao suddenly turned his head to look at him, his eyes widened angrily, and shouted: "Are you saying that we can only watch the water burst the embankment and drown countless people? Do you know how many people will die!?"

The accompanying officials were as silent as a cicada, bowing their heads and saying nothing.

Liu Yao also knew their virtues and said: "Let me ask you, last year, a sum of money and grain was allocated to control the river, and the labor Cao personally supervised it. Why did it not work? Where did the money and grain go?"

Everyone looked at each other quietly, and then immediately retracted their heads without making any sound.

Liu Yao's face straightened, his expression ashen, and he shouted: "The Censor of Patrolling the River!"

The river patrol censor was very young, less than thirty years old. Hearing this, he quickly said: "Returning to the envoy, the subordinate officials don't know about this money and food. The subordinate officials are only responsible for supervising the river work."

Liu Yao's heart thumped, and he had a premonition of something, and said: "Huh, you know better than me the responsibilities of the censor of patrolling the river. If you don't sign the whereabouts of the money and food, you won't be able to send it out at all! I'm asking you now, that money and food Where have you gone? If you can’t tell me why, I’ll arrest you now just to take the blame for breaking the dike!”

The censor patrolling the river was so frightened that he knelt down with a bang and said urgently to Liu Yao: "Calm down your anger! Calm down your anger! The money and food have been divided up by the states and counties. They said, they said, the salary arrears of the imperial court, and Suppressing bandits, providing disaster relief... They, they took them all away, Xianguan, Xianguan, I was wronged..."

Liu Yao gritted his teeth and his eyes turned red.

He had already guessed it, but when he heard it with his own ears, he was still furious.

But he couldn't really do anything to those county governors and county magistrates.

Once he has this idea, these county guards and county magistrates will first complain and complain, and then the people behind them will apply pressure. Liu Yao will be isolated in Yuzhou in less than half a month!

"I ask you,"

Liu Yao suppressed his anger and shouted: "If we want to build the river now and ensure that the embankments will not burst, what can we do?"

The Censor Xunhe's eyes flashed and he said: "This, this, I'm a lower official, I don't even know..."

Liu Yao shook it off bitterly, turned around and strode forward.

The officials behind him were frightened and followed him bravely.

They were worried that after the embankment burst, Liu Yaozhen would use them as scapegoats!

Liu Yao inspected the area for nearly ten miles, and the more he looked, the more frightened he became, until his hands and feet became cold.

Even if he is not good at river management, he can still see that once the heavy rain continues to fall, sooner or later the embankment will burst, and it will come with ferocity, at least dozens of counties in the middle and lower reaches will be flooded!

Liu Yao couldn't wait to return to Xiang County and found Tian Feng and Liu Bei.

After listening to Liu Yao's dictation, Tian Feng was silent for a long time and said: "Rush repairs now require a lot of manpower and material resources, which are difficult to gather in a short time. Perhaps some can be deployed urgently to dig a river downstream to divert the flood from the embankment. , to reduce flooded counties as much as possible.”

Liu Yao glanced at him and turned to Liu Bei.

Liu Bei frowned and looked thoughtful.

Tian Feng's words actually made it very clear that emergency repairs are now impossible and we can only reduce losses as much as possible.

To put it bluntly, the dike bursting is inevitable.

When Liu Yao saw that Liu Bei was silent, he said with a sullen face, "Xuande, don't you have anything you can do?"

Tian Feng also looked over with a scrutinizing look in his eyes.

Tian Feng has never been able to observe clearly this Yuzhou general who claims to be a descendant of the Han Dynasty.

This person didn't show any special abilities. He didn't have enough perspective on the overall situation, nor was he sharp-edged. He was only known for his "benevolence".

In Tian Feng's view, this Yuzhou general was good at seeking fame and reputation, but had little real achievements.

Seeing Liu Yao's questioning, Liu Bei had no choice but to say: "If we have money and food, we may not be able to recruit people."

Liu Yao's frown deepened, and he turned to Tian Feng and said, "In any case, let's move the people downriver first and resettle them. Then, we will go separately to meet those aristocratic families, especially those who may be submerged. Presumably they are doing it for themselves." , and are willing to spend money and food to repair the river embankment.”

Tian Feng's eyes lit up and he said: "What the envoy said is that this is indeed a good idea."

Liu Yao was not so optimistic. He knew the temperament of those nobles too well. Even in this situation, if he didn't bite off a piece of their flesh, he would never get a penny or a grain of rice from their warehouse.

Liu Bei thought about it but had no idea, and he yearned more and more for help from talented people.

He is a person who has a very clear understanding of himself and his abilities, so he knows exactly what talents he needs and what kind of people can help him achieve great success!
Liu Yao did not dare to delay, and the whole Xiangxian County seemed to be alarmed. They tried their best to raise money and food, recruit young people, and prepare to rush to repair the river embankment.

On the other side, after an arduous trek, Liu Bian and his party finally arrived in Xiao County.

Perhaps it was because of the heavy rain for many days in a row. There was not a single person to be seen on the street, only the drifting heavy rain.

After renting a restaurant, Liu Bian moved in, took a shower and changed clothes, went to the living room, took a mouthful of hot noodle soup, then took a long breath and said, "I'm alive."

As a man of two generations, this was also the first time Liu Bian had to travel in the rain like this, all on foot.

Over the years, he has been pampered and pampered. If he hadn't been young, he would never have been able to survive now.

Zhao Yun, Lu Yu, Dian Wei and others had gotten acquainted with each other first. Now each of them was holding a bowl of noodles in their hands, and they were also devouring it.

They ate dry food along the way, and when they were hungry, the hot noodle soup was simply a delicacy.

Liu Bian smiled when he saw how happy they were eating, and started eating without saying anything more.

After Liu Bian had eaten two bowls, Huangfu Jianchang came in from the outside, took off his raincoat, trembled all over, shook his head, and then came to Liu Bian and said: "Your Majesty, we have almost inquired. Your Majesty wants Xiao." The directory of county officials will be available later.”

This matter is actually very simple. It is just to be as detailed as possible and to find out the relationship, so it is a little late.

Liu Bian nodded and said: "Sit down, there are still noodles and soup, eat quickly."

Huangfu Jianchang was also hungry. After thanking him, he sat opposite Liu Bian and looked longingly towards the kitchen.

The moment the soup surface came up, Huangfu Jianchang suddenly argued with Liu again: "Your Majesty, I also heard that there are many people in Xiao County who have fled, saying that the Hun River is about to burst its banks again."

(End of this chapter)