Shu Han Confucian General of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 53
"Your Majesty, Han Hao is collaborating with the enemy, and now Cao Cao's troops are coming towards the palace! Please stay away for now, Your Majesty!" At this time, a soldier hurried back to the noisy hall to report to Emperor Zhong.It is said to be a main hall, but in fact it looks almost the same as a vegetable market in a mess.

"Avoid? Where to avoid?" Yuan Shu suddenly laughed.Even if they break out of the siege now, there are enemy troops in all directions.All counties in the east and west were captured by Liu Bei, and Yuan Shu had no way to retreat.At this time, the sound of killing was getting closer and closer. Yuan Shu got up to look around, and then walked out of the hall. There were still a few of his officials following him.

"My lord, Cao Cao's army is already attacking the palace, and Sun Ce has already passed, let's go too!" Just as Xuzhou's army had just entered the city, Gao Shun rushed to report to Liu Bei.

"Of course, by the way, what happened to the treasury?" Liu Bei hurriedly asked.

"Cao Cao has already taken it, and the general Xia Houyuan is carrying the grain." Gao Shun was also a little frustrated, but still sighed: "Yuan Shu has really accumulated enough grain, if we had known, we would not have lent it to Cao Cao."

"At this point, it's okay." Liu Bei was very open, since Xuzhou is not short of money and food anyway.But Zhao Feng, a money fan, felt a little heartbroken, God, that was Yuan Laoer's savings for many years!

"Hey, why is there a fire over there? At this moment, a sharp-eyed soldier pointed to the thick smoke rising in the distance. Everyone looked, and sure enough, thick smoke billowed from the west." It's Yuan Shu's palace! "Gao Shun said with some surprise, he came from there just now.

"It seems that Yuan Shu has brought it upon himself!" Liu Bei murmured, and then sighed. "Brother is just too kind. You forgot how Yuan Shu treated us in the Allied Army!" Zhang Fei said angrily.

"Forget it, third brother, it's fine if he's dead." Guan Yu squinted his eyes and looked at the smoking and burning palace, but didn't say anything else.As for Cao Cao, seeing Yuan Shu raising fire, he quickly ordered to stop the attack, but he did not put out the fire, because the forbidden palace was meant to be burned down.It's just an order that if Yuan Jun's soldiers surrender, pay attention to receiving it.

In fact, this was indeed the case. Seeing the fire in the palace, Yuan Shujun, who knew that he had no chance of winning, began to surrender gradually.By the afternoon, basically the entire Shouchun City had been brought under control.Yuan Shu and dozens of his confidantes were all murdered and killed. The rest of the important officials of the puppet Zhong court were either killed or captured. Cao Cao ordered them all to be beheaded at the entrance of the downtown area.As for the 15 troops guarding Shouchun, in addition to those who died in battle and burned to death in the palace in the past month, the three coalition forces also captured nearly [-] prisoners in total.

"Today I was able to wipe out the rebel Yuan Shu, all of you have meritorious service, I will drink this cup to the full!" That night, Cao Cao held a banquet in high spirits to reward everyone in the Shouchun prefect's mansion. "Prime Minister, please!" Everyone did not take Cao Cao's face seriously, and they toasted each other for a while, and then praised each other, and the atmosphere was quite harmonious.Cao Cao, who was sitting in the main seat, was trembling with laughter. He was happiest because he completely stole Yuan Shu's treasury, and all the money and food that Yuan Shu had searched for for many years returned to him in the end.Now Cao Cao has enough food, even if Yuan Shu comes to fight him again, it will be no problem.

After drinking for three rounds, Sun Ce first asked, "Now that Yuan Shu is destroyed, who does the Prime Minister want to send to govern this place?" After saying that, he stared at Cao Cao and waited for his answer.Zhao Feng's heart trembled when he heard the words: This Sun Ce is really young and can't hold his breath, and now he asked him face to face.However, everyone stopped drinking after hearing the words, watching how Cao Cao responded.

Cao Cao put down his wine glass calmly and said, "Why is Bo Fu so impatient? It won't be too late until Cao reports to the court!"

"It's not that Ce is impatient, but in fact Jiujiang County is under the rule of Yangzhou. As the governor of Yangzhou, Ce naturally wants to seek more benefits for his own people." Sun Ce said seriously, and the reason was very good.Cao Cao was about to speak again, but saw a person hurried in from outside the door and handed over a letter. Cao Cao took it over and looked at it, and his face suddenly became gloomy.

"Your Majesty has something to call, Cao needs to go as soon as possible." Cao Cao said calmly after reading, but there was a hint of murder in his tone.After a pause, Cao Cao said again: "I will return to the army tomorrow morning. As for who will take over Lujiang, Shouchun and other places, Liu Taiwei and General Sun can discuss it and report to the court. I will ask Your Majesty for permission. Cao Cao first Excuse me, Zixiao, greet you gentlemen for me." After speaking, he left the table in a hurry, leaving Sun Ce, Liu Bei and others with astonished faces.Cao Ren saw that the atmosphere was a bit awkward, so he hurriedly persuaded him to drink again. For a while, the banquet at least seemed to have returned to normal.

"Everyone, why do you think Cao Cao hastily left the banquet today?" After the banquet was over, everyone in Xuzhou returned to Liu Bei's tent, Liu Bei asked in a low voice.

"My lord, I think Cao Cao has not been in Xuchang for a long time, and the people who opposed him in the court did something to force Cao Cao to go back as soon as possible!" Zhao Feng half speculated, but he was secretly recalling the historical development. Trajectory, at this time, it should be almost the time when Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty wants to write a clothes belt edict, right?
"I think so, let me send some more detailed agents to Xuchang to inquire about it." Liu Bei probably did the same, and then changed the subject and said, "Cao Cao asked us to discuss the ownership of Yuan Shu's territory with Sun Ce. What do you guys think?"

"Jiujiang County is the result of our bloody battle, and we must not give it up. Besides, only when we occupy the Jianghuai River, can we practice navy. As for Lujiang River, we can let it go." Zhao Feng first put forward his point of view, Liu Bei was stunned, and then asked : "Bo Tao wants to train as a navy?"

"Exactly, my lord, this Sun Cexiong is a great man with great ambition. Now that he is close at hand, he will meet us on the battlefield sooner or later. Without the navy, how can we fight them!" Zhao Feng half speculated and half affirmed. Hearing this, Liu Bei looked at Lu Su again, who also nodded.

"In this case, how should we negotiate with Sun Ce?" Liu Bei asked.Zhao Feng looked around. Jian Yong and Sun Gan, who are always good at eloquence in Xuzhou, were not there. Only he and Lu Su could still talk. Although Xu Shu was resourceful, his eloquence was not good. I'm afraid how to negotiate would still fall on him. , and immediately volunteered: "My lord, let Zijing and I negotiate with Sun Ce."

"Alright!" Liu Bei looked at Zhao Feng and Lu Su, and nodded in agreement.At this time, Guan Ping hurried over and said, "Uncle, then Sun Ce is sending people to persuade Yuan Shu's troops to surrender, and to persuade them to go to Jiangdong together! And just now, County Magistrate Li also sent someone to send news that Jiangdong has sent people to join them. Those counties incited the people to move to Jiangdong, and tens of thousands have already left in the past few days!"

"Sun Ce's actions are so fast!" Zhao Feng was also a little caught off guard, seeing that some generals still didn't understand, he explained immediately: "Jiangdong is a vast land and sparsely populated, Sun Ce's current population is only one million, and the number of soldiers is less than 94, so there is an urgent need Population. The population of Huainan is close to one million, and Sun Ce is determined to win it this time. Even if Huainan cannot be taken, he will try to get as many people and soldiers as possible.” Speaking of this, Zhao Feng also sighed in his heart: Shu Han was defeated by too large a population in history. Few, not enough troops.At that time, the Shu Han occupied Yizhou, and the core area actually had a population of [-].It is incredible to think of the population of over [-] million in Sichuan in later generations.

"So that's how it is!" Zhang Fei and others suddenly realized, "Huh, Sun Ce really can't wait, brother, wait for me to teach him a good lesson!" Zhang Fei was eager to do it. "Third brother, don't be reckless, Bo Tao, Zi Jing, Yuan Zhi, I don't know if you have a good plan for this?" Liu Bei stopped Zhang Fei, but turned to Zhao Feng and others.

"My lord, this matter needs to be dealt with as soon as possible. If Sun Ce recruits too many people to go to Jiangdong, it will be useless even if we take Huainan. I think the lord should send someone to recruit them as soon as possible, and tell the county magistrate Li They, as long as the people of these five counties are willing to stay here or go to Xuzhou, they will be exempted from half of the tax in the next three years!" Xu Shu considered two contingency measures.

"Half the tax?" Liu Bei was caught off guard by Xu Shu's "generosity". "Don't be alarmed, my lord. The people in these five counties have lived under Yuan Shu's rule for a long time, and they are deeply oppressed. If the reduction is half, then I, Xuzhou, will not be short of this little money, but the people will be grateful." Xu Shu continued to explain.

"That's how it is!" Liu Bei understood after hearing this, but Zhao Feng added with a smile: "Besides, we are so generous in reducing taxes by half, if Sun Ce wants to incite the people to relocate, he will have to pay a higher price. At best, we can give them less benefit."

"That makes sense!" Liu Bei also laughed when he heard the words, but at this moment Zhao Feng thought of another one, and immediately suggested: "My lord, if you want to recruit soldiers, you can ask General Ji Ling to go and call the soldiers. After all, General Ji has been in Huainan for a long time. , very prestigious, it should be more effective for him to persuade those soldiers to surrender."

"That's right!" Liu Bei nodded in agreement when he heard the words, so Ji Ling immediately set off to lobby the prisoner camp.Originally, Cao Cao was supposed to be in charge of the prisoners of war, but now that Cao Cao is busy going back to Xuchang, naturally he can't take care of them anymore.As for who will take care of Sun Ce and Liu Bei, this still needs to be discussed. Right now, we can only create a public opinion offensive.

Early the next morning, Cao Cao's entire army left the stronghold. Liu Bei and Sun Ce sent them dozens of miles away before returning.However, although Cao Cao left in a hurry, he took with him as much as he could.Even those soldiers had a few more burdens, and they really gained a lot.

"It can really be moved!" After sending Cao Cao away, Zhao Feng hurriedly went to Yuan Shu's original "Treasury" to have a look, and there was not much left inside.After asking someone, I found out that yesterday Cao Cao ordered people to carry it overnight, and at least [-]% of the money and food were taken away.

"Isn't this just sharing the spoils?" Zhao Feng thought mischievously.Cao Cao was in a hurry to leave, so he took Yuan Shu's money and food; now Liu Bei and Sun Ce are not in a hurry, and they will slowly talk about the ownership of the land and population, which cannot be taken away.Of course, if you really can't agree on an agreement, you can only fight.

So that afternoon, Zhao Feng and Lu Su came to Sun Ce's army to discuss the distribution of spoils.Sun Ce didn't show up in person, but after meeting with them, he entrusted the matter to Zhou Yu and Zhang Zhao who came in a hurry.

(End of this chapter)