I practiced magic in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 179 Meng De, I'm sorry for you

Cui Yong and Wu Xi were both former subordinates of Dong Zhuo. They surrendered with Xu Rong and were also the generals who stayed behind to assist Wei Yan in defending Liang County before Xu Rong left. After all, the two had fought against Yuan Shu's army for a long time, so they were familiar with the local situation. In addition, they were also needed to calm down the Xiliang soldiers stationed in Liang County.

When Wei Yan first came, Cui Yong and Wu Xi looked down on him because of his young age. They thought Wei Yan was just a young boy with no knowledge and incompetent deeds. They even hoped that he would make more mistakes and be demoted so that they could take his place and get the position of captain.

But what Cui Yong and Wu Xi did not expect was that Wei Yan would create such a big fuss as soon as he arrived in Liang County.

He actually led his troops to set up an ambush outside the city, and finally killed Chen Lan in battle!

At this time, Wei Yan returned victoriously. Cui Yong and Wu Xi also won military merit for their pursuit outside the city just now. Therefore, they no longer had any evil thoughts at this moment. They were all sincerely convinced by Wei Yan: "Congratulations, Captain. You have made such a great contribution. The court will definitely reward you."

Cui Yong and Wu Xi were both surrendered generals from Xiliang. Now that their backer Xu Rong has resigned and gone to Liaodong, they naturally hope to follow a new backer.

Wei Yan, who showed amazing talent at a young age and was highly regarded by Wang Jing, naturally became their target.

The most interesting thing is that Wei Yan came from a poor family and had no team of his own, but as long as he joined the army, he could immediately become the army's right-hand man.

Cui Yong and Wu Xi are not fools, they naturally know what to do.

"Captain, you fought this battle brilliantly. Not only did you use all sorts of strategies to manipulate the enemy, but you also led the troops in battle and killed the enemy general. You are truly a role model for our generation!"

Cui Yong and Wu Xi surrounded Wei Yan, flattering him half-seriously.

Wei Yan was young after all, and his desire for fame was even stronger, so he enjoyed the flattery and fawning of the two men: "Haha, you have good vision."

Cui Yong and Wu Xi struck while the iron was hot upon seeing this, and they tried their best to flatter Wei Yan, praising him to the heavens and claiming he was omnipotent.

Wei Yan felt very comfortable being photographed, and his eyes were half-closed.

However, although he loved to brag, Wei Yan did not forget his business. He immediately arranged for Cui Yong and Wu Xi to clean up the battlefield, count the military achievements, and then write a battle report and send it to Luoyang.

Cui Yong and Wu Xi were very surprised when they heard this.

Wu Xi was particularly eager to make achievements. Seeing that Wei Yan seemed to be about to stop the attack, he immediately asked: "Captain, the enemy army is in great defeat and the people are in a state of panic. Why don't we take this opportunity to capture Luyang?"

Cui Yong, a young and enthusiastic man, looked at Wei Yan expectantly upon hearing this: "Captain, how can the merit of killing the enemy compare to conquering cities and expanding territory? This opportunity cannot be missed, and it will never come back again."

Both of them were surrendered generals, and their status was awkward within the Northern Army. Therefore, they were eager to gain more military exploits in exchange for a brighter future. At the very least, they had to show enough loyalty and ability. Otherwise, wouldn't they only be able to live the life of a low-level military officer for the rest of their lives?

Cui Yong and Wu Xi were still under a lot of pressure. The reason they were so anxious was mainly because there were too many brave generals under Wang Jing's command, and each of them was incredibly strong. What's more, surrendered generals from the Yellow Turban Army like Xu Huang had now climbed to high positions and led an army to guard a region alone.

To be honest, Cui Yong and Wu Xi were so envious that their eyes turned red!
Who in this world doesn't want to be granted a title of nobility or prime minister, and bring honor to the family?

But now there happened to be an opportunity right in front of them, how could they resist?

"Captain, the opportunity for battle is fleeting, so don't hesitate."

"Yes, Chen Lan died in battle, so Luyang must be left defenseless. We can take this opportunity to capture the city in one fell swoop."

Wu Xi pulled Cui Yong to Wei Yan's side and kept persuading him. In their opinion, Wei Yan was young and energetic, and had just made great contributions, so he would definitely agree.

Unexpectedly, although Wei Yan was young, he had a clear mind. After listening to Wu Xi and Cui Yong's suggestions, he shook his head and rejected them, saying, "It is not the right time to capture Luyang yet."

Wu Xi and Cui Yong were dumbfounded after hearing this. They simply couldn't understand why it was not the right time?

Luoyang, General Wei’s Mansion.

Wang Jing, who received the pigeon letter from Wei Yan, smiled and said after reading the battle report: "Wen Chang really lived up to my expectations. He was clearly fighting on the defensive, but he went out of the city to ambush. He is indeed a brave general who likes to use strange strategies."

Wei Yan's battle was indeed very brilliant. He successfully won a big victory with a small force. In one fell swoop, he greatly weakened the strength of Yuan Shu's army and relieved the pressure on the southern front.

Even Xun You, who is good at military tactics, couldn't help but exclaim after reading the details of the battle report: "Wen Chang is truly a young hero. With such wisdom and courage, he will surely become a pillar of the country in the future. Congratulations, my lord, on having another great general under your command."

There are brave generals, command generals and wise generals, but the most rare are the generals who can truly lead an army and guard a region.

This kind of general is both civil and military, capable of both offense and defense, has comprehensive abilities, and has no obvious shortcomings. He is a truly top talent.

There is no doubt that the qualifications demonstrated by Wei Yan have been recognized by Wang Jing and Xun You, who believe that he has the potential to be a great general.

But then Wang Jing sighed again: "What a pity, now is not a good time to attack Nanyang."

Xun You nodded upon hearing this and said, "It is indeed a pity. If our army had not already made a plan for its strategy, we could have taken advantage of this battle and marched south, first conquering Luyang and then Nanyang. It would have been a piece of cake to destroy Yuan Shu."

Neither Wang Jing nor Xun You took Yuan Shu, who was entrenched in Nanyang County, seriously.

The main reason was that Yuan Shu lacked top talents under his command. He had a bunch of second- and third-rate generals. The only one who could be taken seriously was a general named Ji Ling.

The others are just so-so, a bunch of insignificant trash.

On the contrary, Cao Cao in the north of Yuzhou, Chen Gong in Yanzhou further north, and Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan in Hebei are the real strong enemies and competitors that the Northern Army needs to pay attention to.

Therefore, Wang Jing has no intention of annexing Yuan Shu's territory now. Instead, he wants to take advantage of the gap when the struggle for hegemony among the princes has not yet fully started to integrate internally, stabilize the rear, and establish a complete industry so that the land and population under his command can be mobilized efficiently, continuously produce supplies and provide troops, and then accumulate strength to wait for the moment when Yuan Shao gains hegemony over Hebei.

When Yuan Shao defeated Gongsun Zan and became the overlord of the north at his most powerful, his military strength was actually at its weakest.

What Wang Jing had to do was to attack Yuan Shao at the most right time, defeat him with one blow, and then seize the fruits of victory.

It was precisely because he and Xun You had formulated this development strategy so early that Wang Jing was not distracted even though an opportunity arose.

Putting down the battle report in his hand, Wang Jing looked at Xun You with a smile: "Gongda, you have seen Wen Chang's performance this time. Do you still have doubts about my vision?"

Xun You smiled bitterly, then bowed and said, "It was my ignorance that almost caused my lord to miss out on a great general like Wen Chang."

"Haha, it seems you acknowledge his ability."

Wang Jing's words made Xun You sigh: "I was worried that Wen Chang was young and hot-tempered and didn't know how to control himself, but I didn't expect that he was brave and resourceful, and didn't ruin the overall situation for the sake of small gains. Such a talent is rare."

Wei Yan did not take the opportunity to advance into Luyang. He must have guessed the strategic plan of advancing northward from the distribution of troops by Wang Jing and Xun You, so he did not rush forward rashly. Instead, he chose to hold on where he was and wrote back to ask Wang Jing whether he wanted to continue sending troops.

From this we can see that although Wei Yan was proud, he was not weak in wisdom and was very sensible in doing things.

Even Xun You had to admit that he had indeed made a mistake.

Xun You was also helpless. After all, Wei Yan's previous performance did not seem like a rational person. It was obvious that he was very reckless in his dealings with others in his daily life.

I didn't expect him to be so calm during the battle.

After talking about the battle in Liang County and arranging some trivial matters, Xun You stood up and took his leave.

…………

In the horse market in the east of Luoyang City, there is an unnamed tavern with a sign that says "Wine".

In the eyes of the city's dignitaries, these small taverns were noisy, the food and drinks were crude, and they were simply unpalatable.

Most of the customers who come to this kind of tavern are drunk and uncouth men. They eat fried beans while talking nonsense, bragging about when they met some important people and how old they were when they said goodbye to their virginity.

In a corner of the smoky tavern, Guo Jia, Xun Yu and Xi Zhicai, who had changed into simple clothes, were sitting in a corner.

Some people, even if they are wearing coarse linen clothes, still have an extraordinary temperament. The three of them belong to this kind, so much so that there is a lot of empty space around them. Others in the tavern deliberately stay far away from them, like a river with clear boundaries.

Guo Jia actually liked this atmosphere very much, and said excitedly, "I didn't expect that there is such an interesting place in Luoyang City. I didn't even know about it. Wen Ruo, you really should have brought me here earlier."

"I just heard that if I want to find out the news about Luoyang City, this is the most suitable place. In fact, I have never been here before."

Xun Yu calmly poured himself a bowl of wine.

He is used to drinking from porcelain cups on weekdays, so he is still a little uncomfortable using ceramic bowls, but his elegant movements are still so pleasing to the eye.

It can only be said that good education, once ingrained into the bones, will fundamentally change a person's temperament and spirit. This is not something that those nouveau riche who want to be pretentious can compare to.

Compared with Xun Yu's elegance, Guo Jia's behavior seems a lot more unrestrained and unrestrained, but he is also very charming. When people see him, they don't think that his behavior is vulgar, but instead think that Guo Jia is true to his nature.

The people around him often talked a lot, and although the topics they talked about were very messy and miscellaneous, it did allow Guo Jia to collect a lot of valuable information.

After all, for many major policies, don’t listen to how those at the top brag about them. Ultimately, it still depends on whether the bottom of society can benefit from them and whether their living conditions can be improved as a result.

Xi Zhicai looked at Guo Jia with a smile and asked him, "Feng Xiao, what did you gain?"

Guo Jia sighed: "I have gained a lot indeed."

In Guo Jia's eyes, the life of the people in Luoyang was indeed better than many places he had been to. Even prosperous and wealthy cities such as Yingchuan and Yecheng could not compare to Luoyang.

If one thought that this was because Luoyang was located at the foot of the emperor, a good place with many dignitaries, so there were many opportunities to make money, but after listening to the discussions of the people around him, Guo Jia realized that this was not the case.

In the past, beggars and refugees could be seen everywhere in Luoyang. Even the rivers were active with all kinds of heroes and outlaws. Coupled with the exploitation of officials, the lives of the people living near Luoyang were not much better. Only the rich families in the inner city had a slightly better life.

The vast majority of people still have to struggle to get by and lead extremely difficult lives.

However, Wang Jing's arrival completely changed everything.

Especially the workshops that have appeared recently are recruiting people aggressively, offering much higher salaries than farming. Even if you don't know anything, moving bricks and shoveling soil at the construction site is enough to support a family of three.

People started to have money, and life became better.

Just look at how busy the taverns in the horse market in the east of the city are and you will know. If they had no money, how could so many people come to drink?

Doesn’t drinking cost money?
It was precisely because of seeing these that Guo Jia had a deeper understanding of the reforms that Wang Jing was promoting, and also saw a new picture that was completely different from the past.

"It seems that the policies implemented by Marquis Qi are indeed very effective."

The more Guo Jia looked at Wang Jing, the more satisfied he became. It was obvious that Wang Jing fit the image of a wise ruler in his mind.

Xun Yu thought for a moment, and then told Guo Jia another important piece of information: "There is another piece of news. The imperial court is carrying out military farming in Hedong and Hongnong County. The main persons in charge are Duan Zhongming and Wang Yanyun. It is said that the two have something called fertilizer in their hands, which can increase the yield of grain."

"High yield, how high is it?"

Xi Zhicai and Guo Jia were both very interested in this. As top strategists, how could they not know the importance of food in troubled times?

Only with food can we feed the population, and only with population can we recruit soldiers. It can be said that food is the basis of everything and the cornerstone of grand ambitions and hegemony.

Xun Yu shook his head. "Only Duan Wei and Wang Ling know the details. I have only heard Gongda mention it occasionally. I only know that the effect of increasing grain production is very significant, absolutely beyond imagination."

The three of them attached great importance to this information. In the Yanhan Dynasty, which advocated the unity of man and nature, and especially in the Eastern Han Dynasty when the study of prophecies and divinations was the national science, the significance of high-yield crops was extraordinary. It was not as simple as just a good grain harvest. This matter could be used as a powerful political bargaining chip.

If a new method of increasing grain production really emerges and is proven to be effective, then the rulers can show it to the world as a "good omen" to demonstrate the legitimacy of their own regime.

The singing of the phoenix at Mount Qishan in the Zhou Dynasty and the white snake-slaying uprising in the Han Dynasty are examples of such auspicious signs.

In this world where gods exist, auspicious signs mean "heaven's favor" and the effects are often good. Farming depends on heaven, and such a simple and crude auspicious sign as increased grain production can be packaged as "auspicious sign from heaven". If done well, it can even easily gain the recognition of people all over the world. The effect is probably no worse than really finding a phoenix!
Guo Jia frowned, doubting the truth of the news: "Could it be fake news deliberately released? After all, if it was true, why would the Northern Army keep it secret?"

Xi Zhicai also felt that what Guo Jia said made sense: "Yes, is there any need to conceal such news?"

Xun Yu couldn't give any reasonable explanation and could only sigh: "I don't know the details. After all, Gongda never lies. He has no reason to deceive me."

"If you want to know the truth, you can ask me."

The sudden voice startled the three of them.

Xun Yu recognized Wang Jing's identity on the spot and stood up to salute: "My Lord..."

Wang Jing was quick to respond and held Xun Yu's shoulder: "Hey, Wenruo, you don't have to be so polite. I am here as a friend in private. You won't be unwelcome, right?"

"Why, please sit down."

Xun Yu gave up his seat, asked Wang Jing to sit down, and then he found another seat and sat down.

Guo Jia and Xi Zhicai stood still, sizing up Wang Jing.

Wang Jing smiled at Guo Jia and said, "Feng Xiao, I haven't seen you for a long time. I miss you so much."

Although Wang Jing now holds a high position, has been granted the title of marquis and appointed as a general, and Guo Jia is still just a commoner, their friendship has not changed in the slightest.

"Yuan Xu's style is even better than before. It seems that you have finally made up your mind to conquer the world."

Guo Jiayan smiled broadly, obviously very satisfied with Wang Jing's choice.

Wang Jing then turned his gaze to Xi Zhicai: "What is your name, my friend?"

Xi Zhicai immediately bowed to Wang Jing and said, "I greet Lord Qi."

"Since Zhicai is a friend of Wenruo and Fengxiao, he is naturally also a friend of Jing. There is no need to be so polite. You and I can just call each other by our courtesy names."

The four of them sat down and talked freely at the banquet.

Guo Jia was the best at perceiving people's hearts. He saw that Wang Jing was worried, so he smiled and asked, "Yuan Xu has a depressed look on his face. What difficulties have you encountered?"

Wang Jing put down his wine cup and said without hiding anything: "Isn't it because you are short of people to make trouble?"

After suppressing the rebellion in the four counties, the aristocratic families surrendered and sent a group of outstanding young men from the family to join Wang Jing's army, but these people were just a drop in the bucket.

If Wang Jing wants to strengthen his control over the local areas, he naturally needs to place a large number of officials there. However, the current literacy rate in the imperial dynasty is only 10% at best. And what’s the use of just recognizing words if you don’t know how to handle government affairs?

Most of the talents in the Mohist Academy and the Taoist Academy are scientific research oriented, that is, science majors, and are not suitable for management, so Wang Jing is very troubled by this.

Upon hearing this, Guo Jia first exchanged a glance with Xun Yu and Xi Zhicai, then smiled and suggested to Wang Jing: "Yuan Xu, do you know that the most prosperous private school in the imperial dynasty is in Yingchuan? As long as the Northern Army takes over Yuzhou, there will be no shortage of talents."

Among the four people present, except Wang Jing, Guo Jia, Xun Yu and Xi Zhicai are all from Yingchuan. It is not that they are bragging, but during the Han Dynasty, private schools in Yingchuan, Nanyang and Runan counties were extremely prosperous, and Yingchuan was the best in the world, and the trend of private learning was extremely popular among the people.

There are not only aristocratic families and wealthy clans, but also many talented people from humble backgrounds, such as Guo Jia, who is the most typical example.

Wang Jing suddenly thought of the decree to seek talents issued by Cao Cao in history. No wonder among so many princes, only Cao Cao's policy of selecting talents based on merit was so effective.

(End of this chapter)