Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 529 Southern Expedition
Luoyang, Wei Xing Palace.

Cao Pi walked in a hurry, with an angry look on his face, and cursed in his mouth: "You are an incompetent man, you have lost your master, and you have let Huo Jun break Xiapi."

When Sun Ying saw Cao Pi entering the palace, she stood up happily and went to greet him. She said softly: "What makes your majesty so angry?"

Seeing that it was Sun Ying, Cao Pi lost his temper a little and said angrily: "Huo Jun defeated Xu Huai's army. A group of incompetent people fled in separate directions. They sat back and watched Xiapi being defeated by Huo Jun."

"And Cao Xiu was still impeaching Jia Kui at Shangshu, saying that Xiapi was defeated because Jia Kui failed to rescue him. Can't Cao Wenlie think about himself? If he hadn't defeated Huo Jun, how could Xiapi have been defeated?"

Huo Jun defeated the Wei army at Xuhuai, and the conflicts between Jia and Cao led to the separation of Jia Kui, Cao Xiu, Zang Ba and other tribes. Although this is the case, it is not without their efforts.

When Huo Jun besieged Xiapi, they had been communicating with each other through letters, trying to wait until the Hebei soldiers and horses moved south, so that they could lead their troops forward together and rescue the trapped Xiapi city.

Unexpectedly, before the reinforcements from Hebei went south, Huo Jun only spent twenty days to defeat Xiapi with authentic methods. This gave the Wei generals who had reorganized the defeated army no time to react, and had to watch Xiapi City be breached.

Cao Xiu still did not forget the conflict between himself and Jia Kui, and Shangshu impeached Jia Kui for leading the troops instead of saving Pi City. Jia Kui could not let Cao Xiu slander him in vain, so he immediately went to Shu to refute and impeach Cao Xiu.

The conflict between the two sides once again made Cao Pi, who was already upset about the loss of Xiapi City, feel even more unhappy and wanted to scold Cao Xiu in person.

Hearing this, Cao Pi put the beauty into his arms, rubbed her chest, and laughed.

Taking advantage of the fact that there was no one around, Cao Pi vented his dissatisfaction and said: "Cao Xiu is incompetent. He has humiliated the country by losing his master and pretending to be a general of the clan!"

Thinking of Ma Chao now, Cao Pi felt ashamed and angry!
Under Cao Pi's angry scolding, although his tone was angry, there was a bit of helplessness hidden in his words. Although Liu Bei has withdrawn his troops today, the chaotic situation in the east and west has left him at a loss.

"Yin Li and Zang Ba are the thieves and bandits who have not changed their habits. They will advance when it is advantageous and retreat when it is unfavorable. They will not be able to general the troops and govern the county. The late emperor must have made a big mistake by using Zang and Ma to guard the border!"

"Your Majesty~"

And with the combat effectiveness of the northern army's infantry and cavalry, how could ordinary water thieves in the south be able to stop them?
Cao Pi secretly made up his mind and said: "What Ying'er said is reasonable. The words left by the late emperor to 'concentrate national strength and call off the war' are not a long-term strategy. Now we should look for opportunities to march south to see if we can severely injure the old thieves and restore the old land." "

Sun Ying, the close eldest sister, kept comforting Cao Pi and said comfortingly: "Your Majesty, there is no perfect path. Although the situation today is complicated, it is easier than when the late emperor raised his army. When the late emperor raised his army, Yuan Shao was in the north and Liu Biao was in the south. Tao Qian is in the east, at the location of the Four Battles."

Hearing this, Cao Pi looked thoughtful, obviously very interested.

He had long had the idea of ​​a southern expedition, but after thinking about Cao Cao's final words not to let him go south, and Liu Bei's advance northern expedition, his southern expedition plan was aborted.

After saying that, Sun Ying covered her mouth with a kerchief and snickered.

"Southern Expedition?"

"Now that Your Majesty is sitting on the territory of China, with thousands of generals and millions of soldiers, why can't he destroy Liu Bei in the south and Ma Chao in the west?"

Zang Ba was loyal, but he was too incompetent and was defeated by Huo Jun many times. Ma Chao was capricious. Taking advantage of the chaos in Guanlong, he sent troops to separate Longyou.

"Shrimp soldiers and crab generals?"

Cao Pi felt unhappy when his men interrupted the upcoming battle. He asked with a cold face: "Why are you so anxious?"

Sun Ying showed a sweet smile and said: "Although the late emperor spent his whole life in the army, he had the power to be invincible in the world in his early years. However, since he grew old, he was first defeated by Jinkou and then by Hanzhong. Although the battle of Xiangfan was due to the mountains and rivers, But it also frustrated Xinye.”

In Cao Pi's eyes, if Cao Cao had not tried to save trouble and reused Zang and Ma to guard the border, the current situation would not have been so ugly.

While Cao Pi and Sun Ying were having fun, the attendants hurriedly broke into the palace and interrupted the upcoming physical fight.

Just like Sun Ying's children's fighting words, just getting beaten is not a long-term solution. If we can fight back and bring the war to the territory of the water thieves, even if we cannot win a big victory, we can still seize the opponent's city and destroy the water thieves' production.

With that said, Sun Ying pulled Cao Pi to sit down on the couch and said: "Your Majesty, although I don't know the military affairs, I know a little bit about the battle. If the war between the two countries is compared to a children's fight, the water thieves invaded the north one after another, attacking Entering the hinterland of Huaibei and Guanxi, our country has been defending for a long time without fighting. We should look for opportunities to march south, plunder the city and overthrow its army. "

"One defeat to Liu Bei and two defeats to Huo Jun. He has the appearance of an old man, but he has no power to dominate the world in the past. Therefore, the words of the late emperor cannot be fully believed. Your Majesty is in the prime of his life and has many powerful soldiers under his command. How can he be inferior to the water thieves? Are shrimps and soldiers and crabs going to be together?”

The attendant lowered his head and reported: "Your Majesty, Liu Bei led his army to retreat, and King Rencheng led his troops to pursue him. Unfortunately, he was killed in an ambush!"

"what?"

Hearing that Cao Zhang died in battle, Cao Pi became uneasy for a moment and asked: "How could King Rencheng fail to fight? Is there an error in the military report?"

"I dare not deceive His Majesty!"

The attendant did not dare to raise his head, but lowered his head and said: "The minister came to tell me that Sima Fujun had a special memorial to report, and the coffin of King Rencheng was already on the way. His body was not damaged, but his head was cut off by the water thieves."

"This~" After hearing the news that Cao Zhang died in battle, Cao Pi was in a daze and didn't know what to say.

It is completely false to say that he is not sad. After all, he is his half-brother. But apart from being sad, he was also relieved.

In the past, Cao Zhi competed with him for the position of crown prince, and Cao Zhang actually supported Cao Zhi. Although Cao Zhang's death in battle had an impact on the overall situation of the country, indirectly, it was beneficial to him.

"Your Majesty~"

When the attendant saw that Cao Pi did not answer, he raised his head and glanced at Cao Pi's expression, then lowered his head again.

Cao Pi waved his hand and said sadly: "I will postulate King Rencheng as King Liang, and order Dahonglu to hold a grand funeral for King Rencheng. There must be no mistake in choosing the posthumous title."

"promise!"

Everyone died, but Cao Pi was not stingy and directly named Cao Zhang the King of Liang.

In one day, the news of Cao Zhang's death in battle was revealed by someone unknown and spread throughout Luoyang City. When Queen Mother Bian heard the news, she almost fainted from tears.
-
Not to mention that Cao Zhang was buried in glory, Huo Jun was currently handling the government affairs at hand.

Huaiyin, the camp of the Han army.

Huo Jun flipped through a piece of silk handed to him by Liu Zhong and asked: "Donghai County has been almost empty due to years of war. Even though the people from around Xiapi have been moved here, if we want to conquer Qingxu in the north, the population here is still too high." Rare, what can I do?”

Huo Jun has been working hard to restore the vitality of Jianghuai all year round, hoping to build Jianghuai into a base and use Jianghuai as a base. If the population is small and no one serves as a corvee, a large army will have no logistics.

Now that Xiapi City has been captured, if we do not attack Shouchun, but go north along the Yishui River to attack Qingxu, we will be fighting far away from the Jianghuai River. Using troops like this, without a solid logistics base, they would be short of food if they fought with the Wei army for a long time.

In order to solve the problem of long-distance supply, Jianghuai needs more people.

"Captain, why don't you let the people with original household registration return to their hometowns!" Jiang Ji said.

"I'm afraid it won't be easy!"

Huo Jun put down his scarf and said, "Those people have settled in Wuyue for more than ten years and have already lived and worked in peace and contentment. If they are moved north, there may be inconvenience. Not to mention the people's wishes, the relocation of the people now will not only have to be done in Yangzhou County. If the county agrees, the capital must also approve it.”

Jiang Ji was confident and said: "Jianghuai and Yangzhou both have territory. If the governor elaborates on the strategy of the Northern Expedition, I expect the prime minister will agree. If the prime minister can agree, how can the governor of Yangzhou counties not agree?"

There are many stakeholders involved in returning the old people of Jianghuai to their homeland.

Under the Southern Han system, each county guard had its own assessment standards, which were formulated by Zhuge Liang based on the actual conditions of each state and county. Among these assessment criteria, the most important ones are the effective population and the actual tax amount.

Letting the old Jianghuai people return to their homeland will reduce the effective population and taxation of each county. At the very least, this will affect their assessment and promotion. On a larger scale, as the population moves in and out, the state's fiscal revenue will decrease, and more money will be spent.

"Forced relocation should not be done forcefully."

Huo Jun pondered for a while and said: "As Zitong said, please allow me to go up to your majesty and write a letter to the prime minister. With the prime minister's talents, he thinks it is feasible and there must be appropriate measures."

This matter can no longer be solved internally by Jianghuai, and Zhuge Liang needs to come forward to deal with it.

After a pause, Huo Jun looked at everyone in the tent and asked, "Do you have any different opinions?"

"Commander, our army used to use Yuzhou as its base and plundered many people when it went north. Now it is better to go back to the old strategy and send the navy to go north, plunder and move the people of Qingzhou south, and order the residents to move to Huaidong."

Gao Xiang still remembered his march north to Yuzhou more than ten years ago, and said: "To plunder the people and go south, every time the thieves lose one household, our army will have one more household. While the people's strength is lost, this will greatly benefit our army. And in the future. When the governor enters Qingzhou, he will use young people as guides, so there is no need to worry about not being familiar with the geography."

Huo Jun touched his moustache and said with a slight smile: "Although this strategy is good, it may damage your majesty's reputation for benevolence and make the people of Qing Dynasty fear our army."

Taking advantage of the naval force, when pirates plundered the people of Qingzhou, for every household lost in Qingzhou, there would be one more household in the Southern Han Dynasty. This was a good strategy. But the reputation is too bad, which will be detrimental to Huo Jun's future journey north.

"It's easy!"

Jiang Ji stroked his beard and smiled and said: "There are many profit-seeking people in the world. It is better for the governor to send the young people from the past to the north, sneak into the villages and counties, and lure them with wealth. Anyone who moves south will be exempted from taxes, given grain, rewarded houses, and allocated fields. It will last forever. There will be many poor people going south to settle down."

"At that time, the governor gave money and food to the young people to go north, and to lure friends and relatives from the hometown to go south. If this happens repeatedly, there must be many people going south."

"Zitong's strategy is feasible!"

Huo Jun nodded and said: "Not only that, a certain person thinks that it is feasible to divide the profits and return points. If a countryman goes south to one person, he will be rewarded with money and food. If the people from his country can persuade others to go south, the money and food can be distributed. The above two people are intertwined and intertwined. Wouldn’t the people see the benefits and take advantage of them? "

(End of this chapter)