People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 267: Face and Back
After entering the tent, Xu Chen immediately understood what Ju Shou meant after giving him an introduction. He smiled slightly, walked forward, and shook Xun Chen's hand, with a look of joy on his face without any falseness.

Traditional scholars are not that important to Xuan Xia, but for Xu Chen himself, being able to gather talents to assist his career is indeed a happy thing.

Xun Chen was Yuan Shao's chief adviser, so his personal ability was not worth worrying about.

"Now that Xuanxia's business is becoming increasingly complex and large, it is becoming increasingly difficult for me to manage it. At a time when I am eager to recruit talented people, I am very happy to have such a great talent as Youruo join me."

Xu Chen pulled Xun Chen aside and sat him down, smiling slightly, "My Xuanxia is very different from the Han court. I don't need to explain the details. I think Youruo knows it well. However, you scholars can rest assured that I will not treat my meritorious officials unfairly."

The words stopped there, and the sentence that meritorious officials would not be treated unfairly made Ju Shou and Xun Chen both have some fantasies, but that was all.

Xun Chen felt enough respect from Xu Chen. Although this lord was young, he was indeed a man of great temperament. He originally thought that he would regard scholars as enemies, but after actually meeting him, it was a completely different story.

Thinking back to scholars like Ju Shou, who were all wholeheartedly assisting Xu Chen, Xun Chen gradually realized something.

This young lord hated the entire class of nobles and powerful people, who were sinful and vicious people, but he would not direct this emotion at any specific individual.

"Fortunately, the lord has taken a liking to me. Xun Chen is willing to serve you wholeheartedly!" Xun Chen straightened his body, bowed respectfully to Xu Chen, and finally put aside all his worries and expressed his attitude of serving you.

Xu Chen laughed, then shook his head: "In my Xuanxia, ​​there is no distinction between master and servant. I am not more noble than you, so there is no question of serving you. You are just accepting my employment and doing the work."

Hearing this, Xun Chen looked up at Xu Chen. He saw a kind of open-mindedness and indifference on Xu Chen's face.

Then he looked at Ju Shou again. Ju Shou had a calm expression on his face and didn't find this sentence strange at all.

This sentence doesn't seem to be a polite remark from the young lord. Is it true that there is no hierarchy in Xuanxia?
If this is the case, then Xuan Xia is truly implementing the doctrines they shout out.

This kind of thing is completely unimaginable in Confucianism, which advocates the hierarchy of status.

As soon as Xun Chen came to join the army, he immediately felt that Xuan Xia was different, which made him inexplicably curious and excited.

Ju Shou did not forget the most important thing at the moment, and immediately urged Xun Chen to report the information. Xun Chen cleared his throat and then told him the relevant matters.

“In fact, after the Black Mountain Army surrendered, Yuan Shao immediately decided to subdue Yu Fuluo, and at the same time they also formulated a plan to attack Xuan Xia.

Yuan Shao was determined to capture Fu Luo's cavalry and felt that he was not afraid of fighting Xuan Xia.

However, in this battle they did not just mobilize their own forces. Before setting out to enter Bingzhou, they had messengers running around to connect with the forces of Cao Cao in Yanzhou and Zang Hong in Qingzhou, with a total force of nearly 250,000 to form a siege.

Moreover, Yuan's army has been preparing for battle for nearly two years and now has more than 20,000 sets of armor. They are very powerful. If they are attacked together, our army may be in danger of being overthrown."

After Xun Chen finished speaking, Xu Chen was suddenly shocked.

The information revealed by this news completely exceeded Xuan Xia's expectations before the expedition. Even the Yellow Turbans would have to take a deep breath in shock at the sight of an army of 250,000.

"I thought that Xuan Xia took the initiative to attack, but I didn't expect Yuan Shao had already made plans. It was too hasty."

Xu Chen's brows furrowed, then he sat back in his seat with a serious expression and began to ponder.

Naturally, Xuan Xia had some expectations for this battle when he went on the expedition. According to Xuan Xia's estimation, even if Yuan Shao subdued Yu Furo and the Black Mountain bandits, he could only gather a force of 150,000 at most. But now with the addition of Cao Cao and Zang Hong, gathering an army of 250,000 would be a different matter.

We now have an army of 40,000, plus the 30,000 troops in Changshan, which only adds up to 70,000 troops. 70,000 against an army of 250,000, it is indeed very difficult to fight.

Moreover, after suffering a loss last time, Yuan Shao has now begun to make up for his shortcomings, with some improvements in both cavalry and armor. Although the quality of the soldiers is definitely much stronger than Xuan Xia, it will not be so easy to defeat Xuan Xia again.

Having said that, although they felt the pressure, they did not lose their composure at all.

They all knew that Xuan Xia's current strength on the scene was indeed not enough, but Xuan Xia's potential had not been truly brought into play. If necessary, Xuan Xia could continue to increase its military strength.

Ju Su felt that there was no need to consider it at this time: "My lord, the outcome of this battle is of great importance. We must not be conservative at this time. Give the order to continue recruiting soldiers!"

All along, Xu Chen has been trying his best to downplay the impact of the military on people's livelihood, and has made extremely efficient use of military forces, always achieving predetermined combat objectives with the least amount of troops.

This meant that the people throughout Xuanxia had no direct feeling of the war, the government never levied additional taxes and grain, and there was always room for the conscription of military households in various places.

Under such circumstances, the people have been living in stability for a long time, which is also the basis for the prosperity of Xuanxia's industry and agriculture.

But now facing tremendous pressure, perhaps we have to choose to continue to unleash our potential. There is no way we can avoid it if it affects ordinary people to a certain extent.

Xun Chen stepped forward and said, "My Lord, the only way to solve the current predicament is to continue to recruit soldiers and collect money and food from the people to supplement military expenses."

Ju Su's expression changed slightly, and he wanted to say something, but he didn't know how to say it.

In this situation, recruiting soldiers is easy, as Xuanxia still has a large number of reserve military households that can be mobilized, but collecting money and grain is a bit awkward. Xuanxia has long declared that all exorbitant taxes will be exempted, so collecting money and grain at this time would be a slap in the face.

But if we don't levy war, even if we increase the number of troops, the logistics and money will not be enough to support the war for too long.

This is a question of whether to choose substance or face. It is difficult to persuade him, so Xu Chen has to make the decision himself.

"Don't collect money or grain anymore. I have made a promise to all the people to abolish all exorbitant taxes and levies, and I must not destroy my prestige." Xu Chen shook his head and immediately rejected it.

Ju Shou shook his head and sighed, but did not try to dissuade him.

But Xun Chen found it hard to understand. At this critical moment, how could he still care about these things? How could someone who wants to accomplish great things be so rigid? Just win the battle first and then everything will be fine.

Moreover, given the level of support that the people of Xuanxia have for the Yellow Turbans, even if there was such a one-time breach of their word, most people would probably not take it to heart.

Xun Chen was anxious. It would be embarrassing if the Yellow Turbans were defeated just after he joined them.

He was about to persuade him again, but he saw Xu Chen stand up. His brows had relaxed at some point and his expression became calm.

"If we can't collect money and grain, then we'll have to borrow money!" Xu Chen said in a low voice.

Ju Shou and Xun Chen were both stunned, wondering what kind of trick this was: "Borrowing money?"

"That's right, borrow money, borrow government debt!" Xu Chen looked over and gave them an order without even explaining: "Send someone back immediately and order Wang Dang to recruit another 30,000 troops, and issue bonds worth 100 million coins to the entire Xuanxia territory in the name of me and the Xuanxia court."

When Ju Shou and Xun Chen heard the order, they looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

I have only heard of the government collecting taxes and grain from the people, but I have never heard of borrowing money from the people.

Is this possible?
Ju Su was unsure, so he asked, "My Lord, what does this government debt mean?"

Xu Chen then gave a brief explanation: "In fact, it is a debt issued by the government. The government debt is calculated for the people within a specified period of time, so that the people have a certain willingness to buy it, and the government can use it to raise money and grain. As long as the settlement and repayment are made after the due date, there is no need to violate the promise made by this seat."

After this explanation, Ju Shou and Xun Chen suddenly understood.

They were smart people. They were just confused by this new thing before, but now they came to their senses after hearing the explanation. After all, the government was just borrowing money from the people using its own credit.

Then after thinking about it again, they immediately realized the subtlety of this method.

It may seem ridiculous and damaging to the government's credibility to borrow money from the people, but as long as they can fulfill their promises and make settlements and repayments, the people will trust the government more.

After all, in this day and age, the government has absolute authority in the hearts of the people and its status cannot be violated or questioned. The government is willing to keep its promises and reason with the people, which can completely move the people to tears.

He could obviously just levy it by force, but he was willing to lend it and even pay interest!

"My lord, you are so talented. I admire you!"

The more Ju Su thought about it, the brighter his eyes became.

Xuan Xia's prestige in the hearts of the people is terrifyingly high. If possible, it would be best not to destroy it. Borrowing money is indeed smarter than going back on one's word and levying additional taxes and grain.

Now we have both face and substance.

Ju Su did not delay. After realizing that this was feasible, he turned around and arranged it.

Xun Chen looked at Xu Chen and couldn't help but sigh.

Even in this situation, he was still unwilling to break his promise and collect money and grain. Even if he really couldn't bear the suffering of the people, it would be just a woman's kindness once the war was lost. Assisting such a pedantic lord would naturally make him disappointed.

But the young man in front of him was able to find a way to have the best of both worlds in such a contradiction, which made him even more extraordinary.

Perhaps it is true as Ju Shou said, this man is truly a heroic leader worthy of serving.

It has to be said that if Xuan Xia recruited another 30,000 soldiers and borrowed money and food, it could ease a lot of pressure, but this was obviously still relatively conservative. Xun Chen naturally saw that Xu Chen did not intend to really gamble all his family assets.

Even so, it still seems a little insufficient.

After Xun Chen pondered for a while, he offered Xu Chen his first strategy after his surrender: "My lord, the enemy is pressing us with the force of alliances, we may not be able to defeat them with the force of alliances, I think."

(End of this chapter)