Shu Han Confucian General of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 59 Cao Liu Alliance
Cao Cao is very upset now, quite upset.

After the victory against Yuan Shu, Cao Cao wanted to take this opportunity to replenish his strength.Even if Huainan can't be included in his territory, he still has to earn a lot of money, at least the money and soldiers can't let it go for nothing.But what I didn't expect was that just after I finished Yuan Shu, Xun Yu, who was staying in Xuchang, heard the news that Dong Cheng and his gang were planning to carry out a coup d'état while he was away.This made him burn his butt and had to return to the army. Except for money and food, the source of soldiers could not be replenished at all.

Now, Yuan Er Er is gone, but Yuan Boss in Hebei is staring at him.According to reports from sentinels, Yuan Shao's army began to gather at Guandu on the Yellow River, and the number of them was increasing, exceeding [-].Although Yuan Shao had a good friendship with him since he was a child, Cao Cao knew that he was definitely not here to reminisce about the past.

As for his own situation, it was even more bitter tears.Xuzhou, which had been coveted for a long time, failed to be defeated. He fought against Liu Bei several times but did not get any benefits. Now Yuzhou is occupied by Liu Bei again.Right now he occupies Yongzhou, Yanzhou and Sizhou, with an army of nearly 30.It sounds cruel enough, but the food problem is also a headache.Moreover, Yuan Shao claims to have an army of 70, and Jizhou is a city with a large output. In terms of family background, he is far worse than him.

In short, Cao Cao doesn't have enough food to eat now, and there are not enough people who want to fight, but there is a big boss on the other side of the Yellow River watching him covetously.This situation is very passive. If Zhao Feng knew that he could make Cao Cao suffer so badly, he probably wouldn't believe it himself.But the fact is that the current Yuan Shao is comparable to the one in history, but Cao Cao has less Xuzhou and Huainan and half of Yuzhou than the Cao Cao in history.Moreover, even the Cao Cao in history was obviously struggling to face Yuan Shao, let alone this one now?
All the counselors were silent. After a long time, Xun Yu, who was the first on the right, spoke admonishingly: "My lord, I have thought about it for a long time, and finally I have some shallow opinions. I hope the lord will make a decision."

"Wen Ruo, please tell me!" Cao Cao quickly signaled Xun Yu to speak.Although Guo Jia and Jia Xu are slightly better than Xun Yu in terms of strategy, but Xun Yu's independent ability and vision of overall planning are beyond the reach of Guo Jia.This is why Cao Cao called him Wang Zuozhi, what kind of Wang Zuozhi can only fight?
Xun Yu nodded and said first, "Everyone, our army is often short of food. In contrast, Liu Bei in Xuzhou has never had such a situation. At first, Yu thought it was because Xuzhou was rich, but after Guan Yu occupied Yuzhou, there was no shortage of food. , Yu thought it was because of farming. But now our army is also carrying out farming, but there is still a shortage of food, which is a bit puzzling."

"Why?" Not only Cao Cao, but all the other civil servants also looked at Xun Yu with some expectation. After all, food is the foundation of a person's life!

"Yu ordered some old farmers from Xuzhou to inquire carefully this year, only to find out that under Liu Bei's rule, whether it was Xuzhou or Yuzhou, the farming methods were quite different from ours. What they practiced was intensive farming. It is several times higher than before!" Xun Yu exclaimed. "Several times?" Cao Cao was really shocked at this moment. The food was multiplied several times all of a sudden. What kind of concept is this?
"Can it be improved several times?" Cao Cao is also a little unbelievable. "That's true." Xun Yu sighed, and added casually: "This method was promoted by Liu Bei's subordinate Zhao Feng when he was Prime Minister of Pingyuan, and now Xuzhou and Yuzhou are all growing grain in this way."

"Zhao Feng?" Hearing this name again, Cao Cao was a little surprised.In recent years, he has suffered several times because of this person, which also made him start to pay more attention to Zhao Feng.

"Wen Ruo, next year our three prefectures will also start to implement this method of intensive farming!" Cao Cao's consistent style is to act resolutely, and this kind of thing can't be delayed, Xun Yu repeatedly promised.Cao Cao knew that as long as the grain production could be doubled under his own rule, then the problem of food would definitely be solved in the future, and now the remaining problem was how to deal with Yuan Shao in Hebei.

"My lord!" Xun Yu hesitated this time. After seeing Cao Cao's expectant eyes, he gritted his teeth and said, "I think that if you want to fight Yuan Shao at this time, you'd better form an alliance with Liu Bei and fight against Yuan Shao together!"

"Alliance with Liu Bei?" Cao Cao was also frightened by this proposal, and the rest of the counselors, such as Cheng Yu, were also stunned. Some even wondered if Xun Yu was crazy.

"Wen Ruo, Liu Bei and I have fought against each other several times. How can we form an alliance with him?" Cheng Yu was the first to express his opposition clearly, while Guo Jia and Jia Xu frowned and kept silent.

"My lord, this is a last resort!" Xun Yu's tone was bitter, but he was still firm: "Although my lord has an army of 30 men, the chances of winning a war with Yuan Shao are slim. The only solution now is to join forces. Liu Bei, we have a chance of winning if we fight Yuan Shao together. Furthermore, if Liu Bei suddenly attacks Yanzhou when we are confronting Yuan Shao, we will be defeated on both sides. Don't forget, Taishan County is in Liu Bei's hands right now. inside!"

"This?" Cao Cao was dumbfounded when he heard the words. It took him a long time to look up at the crowd, and said wearily, "If you want to form an alliance with Liu Bei, what should you do?"

"My lord, I would like to go to Xuzhou as an envoy to discuss the alliance. Yuan Shao has 70 troops, of which 15 are guarded by Zhang Jai and Gao Lan in Qingzhou. If Liu Bei can be persuaded to go north to Qingzhou, the pressure on us will be greatly reduced. "Xun Yu is obliged to do so at this time, and volunteered to ask Ying to say.

"But I don't know, how does Wen Ruo want to persuade Liu Bei to march?" Cao Cao asked hesitantly.There is no such cheap thing in this world. If Liu Bei wants to send troops, Cao Cao must spend some capital.However, Cao Cao's capital is limited now, too much money can't afford it!
"Liu Bei has always lived as the clan of the Han Dynasty himself, my lord, please ask Your Majesty to confirm this name for him. In addition, more titles will be enough!" Xun Yu said with some uncertainty.Cao Cao knew that this was the only thing he could take out, and now he could only hope that Liu Bei would see the situation clearly and agree to form an alliance.

A few days later, Shangshu ordered Xun Yu to come to Xuzhou to read out the latest imperial edict from Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty. "Lieutenant Liu Bei is loyal to the king's affairs. Now I checked the genealogy and found out that he is a descendant of the Han family. He is my uncle. He was specially granted the title of Marquis of Qi. He took charge of the military and state affairs of Xu and Henan prefectures!" Xun Yu said loudly. His voice sounded in the hall of Xuzhou Mansion, and Liu Bei led everyone to thank him for accepting the decree without mentioning it.So far, everyone has called Liu Bei Uncle Liu Huang.

That night, Liu Bei quietly ordered Zhao Feng, Chen Deng and others to be summoned to the Xuzhou government office. "Cao Cao wants to form an alliance with me!" Liu Bei said in disbelief, and then showed Cao Cao's personal letter to everyone.Zhao Feng read it, and there were not too many other words in the letter, the general idea was that now Yuan Shao is so aggressive that I can't handle it alone, it's best for everyone to stand together.Otherwise, if Yuan Shao collapses, everyone will have a hard time.

It seems that Lao Cao was messed up by himself!Zhao Feng could only sigh in this way.No matter how difficult it was in history, Lao Cao had never formed an alliance with anyone. It is indeed unexpected that he has come to this step now.But the current situation is indeed the case. Even if Liu Bei and Cao Cao form an alliance, the territory occupied by the allied forces is only about the same as that of Lao Cao in history.Considering that it is impossible for the two sides to cooperate seamlessly, and it can even be said to be in the same bed with different dreams, the pressure faced by the Allied Forces is actually great.

"My lord, let's promise Cao Cao first." At this moment, Lu Su spoke first.Zhao Feng was not surprised by this, after all Lu Su always advocated the weak against the strong.Hearing this, Liu Bei looked at Zhao Feng again, but he also nodded.

"Cao Cao is domineering and oppressing the emperor, how can I form an alliance with him?" Liu Bei frowned. "My lord!" Zhao Feng still undertook the task of persuading Liu Bei: "Although Cao Cao is a national traitor, he is also considered a minister of meritorious service. Right and wrong, it is hard to explain in one word. The enemy is Yuan Shao right now, and the rest will be discussed after the immediate matter is over! The Son of Heaven is still in the hands of Cao Cao, even if we intend to reorganize the court, we cannot send troops to Xuchang now!"

"Forget it!" Liu Bei sighed, acquiescing to form an alliance with Cao Cao.As for the specific details, Lu Su and Xun Yu will discuss it.Zhao Feng originally wanted to take this opportunity to make Cao Cao another money, but he opened the map and looked at it. At present, Liu Bei and Cao Cao's bordering land is really limited, basically confined to the Yanzhou area.As for Yongzhou and Sizhou, even if Cao Cao was willing to let Liu Bei's people go there, Zhao Feng didn't want to go to those places that were far away from Xuzhou. "Jingzhou, Jingzhou!" Seeing Jingzhou stuck between Yuzhou and Yongzhou, Zhao Feng really wished that Liu Biao would die immediately so that he could take Jingzhou.

The negotiation between Lu Su and Xun Yu didn't last long, after all, everyone is busy now.In the end, there was only one agreement. Even after Cao Cao fought Yuan Shao, the Xuzhou army would go north to attack Qingzhou to support Cao Cao.As for the rest, I can't talk about it for the time being.

"My lord, Mr. Hua Tuo from Xuzhou College has a letter!" On the afternoon of the day when the alliance was agreed, Liu Bei received an urgent letter from Hua Tuo, and when he opened it, his expression changed drastically.

"My lord, what's the matter?" Seeing that Liu Bei's expression was not quite right, Zhao Feng asked hastily.

"Mr. Hua said that there were heavy rains in the Hebei provinces this spring, but now it has been sunny for a month in a row. I'm afraid there will be a plague!" Liu Bei was a little shocked, and everyone around them didn't change their colors when they heard this.Whether it is Cao Cao or Yuan Shao, in the face of this kind of disaster, their strength is very small.

Zhao Feng knew that in ancient times, this kind of plague was often very terrible.Historically, both Asia and Europe have been hit by this kind of plague. Sometimes, as many as [-]% to [-]% of the people in a city will be killed by the plague.During the Three Kingdoms period, the population declined sharply, and several large-scale plagues were also one of the important reasons.

But Zhao Feng also knew that if he could take some measures within his capacity, the plague could still be controlled within a certain range.In order to prevent it from happening, Zhao Feng didn't care about shocking the world, so he took the initiative to stand out and said: "My lord, Feng has a few methods, which may alleviate the plague."

As soon as the words fell, all eyes in the hall were focused on Zhao Feng.

(End of this chapter)