People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 542 Understanding Current Affairs

On the vast land outside Changsha City, it was clear that a city and an army were facing each other from afar, but the atmosphere was exceptionally calm.

Just over half a month ago, a small siege broke out here. Now the bloodstains on the city walls and below have dried up and turned into ashes, and the atmosphere of killing and cruelty seems to have also weathered away.

But calmness only appears on the surface; undercurrents beneath the water surface may intensify and emerge at any time.

After all, the two sides are just in a standoff, not a complete truce.

In the Yellow Turban camp, the soldiers gradually got used to this confrontation, and the camp became quieter than before. The number of soldiers seemed to have decreased significantly as well.

In fact, once the strategy of long-term siege was determined, the Yellow Turbans immediately began to reduce the size of their forces.

A full 100,000-strong army retreated in an orderly manner to Yangzhou in the rear within half a month, while only 50,000 standing troops were maintained in the camp on the front battlefield.

This actually reduces the burden on the front line.

Maintaining the size of an army of 50,000 is equivalent to completely giving up the option of attacking the city, but if they advance, they can keep a close eye on Changsha to achieve the purpose of blockade, and if they retreat, they can rely on the camp to protect themselves and use the troops as efficiently as possible to achieve strategic goals.

If they only need to blockade Changsha City, 50,000 troops are enough to accomplish the goal. No matter what actions the Wu and Shu defenders in the city take, the 50,000 troops can respond immediately, and the 100,000 troops retreating to Yangzhou can also respond immediately and rush to the front line.

Of course, the Yellow Turbans would not be so naive as to disband an army of 100,000 on the spot. Disarmament was just a matter of an order, but if they wanted to reorganize themselves when a war really broke out, it would take considerable time.

The war is not over yet, and these 100,000 troops have to maintain a state of combat readiness even after retreating to the rear.

Xu Chen was still petty. He could foresee that the siege would last a very long time, and he was reluctant to leave hundreds of thousands of troops idle here. If he sent these troops to the rear, they could also engage in farming in Yangzhou, which was much better than wasting them on the front line.

Serving as a soldier in wartime and farming in leisure time was a common situation in this era and was not something strange.

It seemed that the situation in the world suddenly relaxed. Yangzhou, which had just experienced war, soon gradually became stable under the leadership of the Yellow Turbans. After the movement of dividing land and fighting against local tyrants ended, the people quickly broke out with a strong enthusiasm for production.

After hundreds of years of development, the vast majority of the world's wealth has been seized by the nobles and powerful families, and most of the people are their domestic slaves and tenants, with no freedom at all and no guarantee of survival.

If the Yellow Turbans had not emerged, their living conditions would not have changed much even if a new dynasty had unified the country in the future.

Until now, the Yellow Turbans' policy slogan of "equally distributing land, exempting miscellaneous taxes, and abolishing corvee labor" has resonated throughout the world, and the fate of countless people has been completely changed.

This slogan is as good as a rain after a long drought, because it can really nourish people.

The people of Yangzhou, who had been suffering from heavy corvee labor and grain taxes imposed by the Wu court, finally broke free from their shackles.

The former tenant farmers and slaves regained their freedom and were given land to live a decent life. Even for the people who had a hard time in the early days, the government would give them interest-free money to settle down that could be repaid in installments. This was a huge blessing for the people. They had never seen such a government in their lives.

It is no exaggeration to say that now, as long as Xu Chen makes a wave of his hand, the people of Yangzhou, who have only known the Yellow Turbans for a month or two, will rush forward to fight for him.

However, the saint Xu Tianshi, who was praised by the people of Yangzhou every day, did not need the people to do too much. The war had reached this point and there was no suspense. All that was left was to wait for time to pass, and victory would naturally belong to the Yellow Turbans. And Xu Tianshi obviously had the patience.

Another day passed, and the Yellow Turban camp remained peaceful. During the confrontation, the Yellow Turbans basically maintained a semi-truce state, maintaining only basic low-intensity training every day.

It is foreseeable that such days will last for a long time, but neither Xu Chen nor Wang Dang and others are in a hurry. They all know that the ones who should be anxious now are Zhou Yu, Liu Bei and Sun Quan.

Xu Chen inspected the camp as usual every day. When it was almost noon, he went to the high platform to look at Changsha City.

It can be seen that Changsha City also remained calm, as if it was competing with the Yellow Turbans in patience, but the continued calm meant two different things to both sides.

"Zhou Yu is still quite capable. I still made him stumble with my last move."

The tranquility of Changsha City made Xu Chen feel emotional. He put himself in the shoes of Zhou Yu, who was guarding the city at that time, and felt a sense of powerlessness and sadness.

Unable to protect his career, he can only wait for death. His family is separated and he loses contact with his wife and children, who fall into the hands of the enemy and don't know their fate. How hopeless it is.

Xu Chen had seen the so-called Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao, who were indeed two sisters with stunning beauty. Unfortunately, Xu Chen was not a thief like Cao Cao and would not occupy someone else's wife. The final fate of the two sisters was nothing more than to undergo labor reform and become a new person like Wu's crown prince Sun Shangxiang.

Many famous figures in history no longer have the opportunity to return to the stage in today's circumstances. Even Zhou Yu only has this final brief moment of glory left.

Ju Su, who was following Xu Chen, stepped forward and said with a smile: "Zhou Yu was indeed a hero of his time, but in front of the lord, he is just a fluorescent light in front of the sun and the moon. Although he can survive in Jingzhou now, his time is running out."

Xu Chen chuckled and stroked his moustache, feeling quite proud in his heart.

No matter how unreasonable I, a person from later generations, am to the people of today, the final result is that I win. I can surpass all the heroes with famous names in history books. That is my ability.

I wonder if Zhou Yu would also shout out "If I were born, why was Xu born?" when he was at the end of his rope.

At this time, Ju Su handed over another item, but he was reporting the main business: "Just now, Shi Xie of Jiaozhou sent an envoy to hand over a letter of surrender, willing to lead Jiaozhou to submit to Xuanxia, ​​and only begging the court to consider his sincerity and give him a place to stay."

Xu Chen was stunned when he heard this, but then he started laughing.

That's right. With the general trend like this, the remaining figures should also recognize the situation. There is no need for the Yellow Turbans to lead the troops to attack, as they will surrender and offer their land on their own.

Shi Xie was a warlord in Jiaozhou who had previously submitted to Sun Wu. But now that the situation had changed drastically, he was able to change direction in time.

If he surrendered to Sun Wu, he could still exercise great power in Jiaozhou, but if he surrendered to Xuan Xia, that would be another matter.

Xu Chen also fell into silence. According to his background, Xuan Xia naturally could not give Shi Xie preferential treatment, but at least he was sent to Jiaozhou for free. If this contribution was not counted at all, it would be disheartening.

Suddenly, he remembered something: "Speaking of which, it won't be long before we can go out to sea."

(End of this chapter)