The Three Kingdoms: The Cold Gate World

Chapter 275 Seven Southern Counties
成都
Qin Mi was extremely considerate to strangers. As a high-ranking figure among Guo Jiazhi's civil servants, he was not arrogant and showed a gentleman's demeanor in all his dealings with others.

This visitor named Yong Kai had a somewhat vulgar posture, nodding and bowing in front of Qin Mi, and he seemed flattered even when Qin Mi poured him a cup of tea.

Qin Mi already knew the identity of the other party. He was a powerful and wealthy family in the south of Yizhou. Although Guo Jia was a shepherd in Yizhou, he did not really rule the entire Yizhou, such as Jianning County, Yongchang County, Yunnan County, etc. in the south. , did not fall into Guo Jia's control.

The wider the territory, the stronger the strength does not mean.

Han Gaozu Liu Bang fought against Xiang Yu from Hanzhong, and finally won. The very rare and convincing reason is Liu Bang's basic strength. Hanzhong was still an undeveloped barren land when the Qin and Han Dynasties alternated. The North flourished and the South declined. The economic, demographic and political situation in China began to change at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. 400 years later, Hanzhong was still inferior to Hebei. 400 years ago, even Hanzhong was in a backward state. How far can the southward regions be developed? the point?
At the stage when Yizhou did not develop into a bottleneck, Guo Jia did not go south to include that piece of land into the territory of the power. There were two reasons. One was the natural environment in the south of Yizhou itself, and the income from input and output was not enough. In order to make Guo Jia feel greedy.The second is that the tribes in the southern part of Yizhou are mixed and difficult to control. The Han people’s rule sometimes inadvertently anger other tribes. There are also local tyrants and bandits who occupy the mountains as kings. Focusing on the Central Plains, he has no extra energy to conquer the south. It is one thing to conquer the territories, but it is another to stabilize the internal affairs and recuperate. In the first five years, Guo Jia was resting and recuperating. Cao, Guo Jia can't even spare the time to manage Guanzhong well. He wants to catch up with the battle of Guandu, so how could he send his troops south?

But Guo Jia didn't go to fight, but someone from the south came to Chengdu.

"Master Qin, I came to Chengdu on behalf of the seven counties in the south, hoping to join Guo Shijun's command, but I am not familiar with the place, so I am afraid I don't understand the rules. I heard that Master Qin is a modest gentleman, so I rushed to visit. I hope Master Qin will not Blame me for being abrupt."

Yong Kai lowered his voice and couldn't even straighten his waist in front of Qin Mi.

Such a performance is easy to be underestimated, but Qin Mi's heart is as calm as water, and his eyes on Yong Kai are impartial.

Qin Mi fell into silence, and asked after a while, "I have advocated Yizhou for nearly ten years, why did you come here now?"

Yong Kai showed embarrassment on his face, and faintly dodged Qin Mi's gaze and said in a low voice, "Oh, well, didn't Mr. Guo Shijun in Yizhou back then, um, killed a lot of people, and those who fled from the north to the south all killed a lot of people. Guo Shijun is said to be a tyrant who kills without blinking an eye. A few years ago, the people in the south were terrified of Guo Shijun. The people have enough food and clothing, and I have been waiting for the people in the south for a long time, so I was sent to surrender to Guo Shijun."

Qin Mi nodded in satisfaction.

You are right.

The livelihood of the people under Guo Jia's rule is obvious to all, and people with evil intentions can't help talking about it.

"My lord understands the righteousness with one step, and my lord will be very relieved when he finds out. But my lord is not in the city at the moment, and I will discuss it with my colleagues tomorrow. This is a happy event. The seven counties in the south are governed by my lord, which is a blessing for the people. Within three days, I will give you a definite answer."

Qin Mi didn't think much about it, no matter if it was Han people or barbarians in the south, it was a good thing if they were willing to ask for naturalization.

From a far-reaching point of view, Qin Mi can understand Yong Kai. Guo Jia is strong and prosperous, and he must conquer the seven southern counties in the future. Being conquered and taking the initiative to surrender have different meanings, and the treatment they get is naturally different. Yong Kai is so Doing, in Qin Mi's eyes, is a manifestation of current affairs.

In the early morning of the next day, Qin Mi came to work in Yizhou Prefecture. Zhen Yan, Zhen Yao, Peng Yi, Zhang Song, Huang Quan and others were all present. Qin Mi informed everyone that Yong Kai had surrendered on behalf of the seven southern counties. Discuss how to respond.

This matter is beneficial to Guo Jia. From any angle, it seems that Guo Jia has no reason to refuse.

In the end, the officials of Yizhou Prefecture came to a conclusion, which was to agree to Yong Kai. As for how to govern the south in the future and the appointment and dismissal of officials, they would make arrangements after Guo Jia returned to Chengdu.

They had to give Yong Kai an answer now. Even though Guo Jia was not around, this was not an excuse. If there was a delay, Yong Kai would become suspicious: he had come to surrender wholeheartedly, but in the end Chengdu did not give an answer. Did he have other plans?
Because of this, Yizhou government officials made a decisive decision to accept the other party in name first, and the detailed plan will be discussed later.

With a satisfactory answer, Yong Kai embarked on his way back to the south.

Just three days after he left Chengdu, a carriage drove into Chengdu and stopped in front of Yizhou Mansion. A middle-aged man got off the carriage and looked at the plaque of Yizhou Mansion with a lot of emotion.

"For more than two years, I have been thinking about this place day and night."

A young man jumped down from the carriage, and said to the middle-aged man: "Father is dedicated to the public, if the Lord knows, hehe, I will definitely reward my father again."

The person standing outside Yizhou Mansion is none other than Xi Zhicai, who has been away from Chengdu for a long time.

Today, his face is rosy, his complexion is good, and he can't see the slightest morbidity. After more than two years of recuperation, not only his body and bones have healed, but also his body is strong, and his mental outlook is completely new.

Xi Zhicai smiled and reprimanded the drama inspector, and then told his son to go home first. He entered Chengdu, and immediately came to Yizhou Prefecture.

When Xi Zhicai appeared in the meeting hall of Yizhou Mansion, all the people present were dumbfounded. After realizing it, they swarmed up and surrounded Xi Zhicai. The smiling faces kept greeting Xi Zhicai, and looked at Xi Zhicai up and down at the same time. With complexion and countenance, he nodded frequently.

"Everyone, everyone, you should still be busy with business."

Xi Zhicai bowed his hands to the people around him, afraid that they would continue to admire him as a rare treasure.

"Zhicai returned to Chengdu, does my lord know?"

Qin Mi asked teasingly.

Xi Zhicai smiled wryly. In fact, whether he can return to Chengdu is not decided by Guo Jia, but by Zuo Ci. Zuo Ci thought that his health was fine, so he naturally let him leave Tianshi Palace.

After joking and laughing, Qin Mi then told Xi Zhicai about some official affairs in Yizhou.

Xi Zhicai was about to start business again, first of all he had to understand the political affairs of the past two years, he listened quietly to Qin Mi's narration, and only frowned when he heard that Guo Jia stationed troops at Hangu Pass to march eastward.

"My lord, you underestimate Yuan Shao, don't you?"

Xi Zhicai learned that Guo Jia was only planning to invest 12 troops to attack the Central Plains. This kind of soldiers and horses had little effect except to take advantage of the cheap and reap the benefits. Of course, if it was an alliance with Cao Cao, it would be a different matter.

If Yuan Shao wiped out Cao Cao in one go, wouldn't Guo Jia's 12 soldiers dare to kill themselves?

Qin Mi said rather helplessly: "My lord is trying to overcome all opinions on this matter. Maybe my lord predicts that Yuan Shao will be defeated, and the current situation in Guandu does not mean that Yuan Shao can really swallow the Central Plains in one go."

After Xi Zhicai briefly understood the situation in Guandu, he sighed, "I really don't know what Yuan Benchu ​​was thinking. Can't Xuzhou be attacked? Can't he divide his troops to outflank Cao Cao? Even if he divides up 70 troops, how can Cao Cao still fight?" Have a chance to fight against him at Guandu? With [-] soldiers in hand, Yuan Shao deserves to be ashamed of his ancestors for being able to fight like this.”

Qin Mi chuckled a few times and said, "Perhaps Yuan Shao was afraid of being beaten by the lord, and he didn't dare to divide his troops easily, otherwise he would be defeated one by one, and his strength advantage would become smaller and smaller. will withdraw."

Xi Zhicai shook his head and did not make any further remarks.

Yuan Shao seems to be powerful, but in fact he has been bitten by a snake for ten years and is afraid of well ropes. He is five percent sure that he will not fight, and seven percent sure that he will not fight. Only when he is very sure can he dare to fight boldly.

But obviously having a huge advantage, the fight started in February, and after nearly half a year, Yuan Shao only crossed the Yellow River and never moved forward. This situation made Xi Zhi feel dumbfounded. If you fight like this, let alone 70 soldiers What's so scary about giving Yuan Shao 100 million soldiers and horses?

Qin Mi then told Xi Zhicai about Yong Kai's surrender on behalf of the seven southern counties a few days ago.

Xi Zhicai, who was lamenting Yuan Shao, suddenly frowned.

Seeing his expression, Qin Mi asked back, "Is there something wrong?"

Xi Zhicai shook his head and said: "Everyone's answer to Yong Kai is no problem. You should reassure him at the first time. If there is a delay, after three to five days, Yong Kai may become suspicious, and it will be self-defeating. But , I just have some ominous premonition in my heart, the timing of Yong Kai’s vote on behalf of the south is too coincidental, it coincides with the lord going north, and it coincides with Yuan Cao’s fierce battle in full swing.”

Hearing what Xi Zhicai said, the people around came over again, and Peng Yan asked curiously, "What's the meaning of Brother Zhicai's words? What about coincidences? Could it be that Yong Kai has other plans?"

Xi Zhicai asked in a deep voice, "How many soldiers and horses are left in Yizhou?"

Zhen Yan immediately replied: "There are 14 in Guanzhong, the Lord Dongzheng took away 12, and left 16 in Guanzhong to guard against Han Sui. There are [-] in Yizhou, [-] in Chengdu, and Jiangyang has four troops led by General Zhang." Wan, Hanzhong and Padang have [-] naval divisions led by Generals Gan and Zhou respectively."

Xi Zhicai asked again: "If there is an enemy in Yizhou, how many troops can be mobilized?"

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, what enemies does Yizhou have?Liu Biao in the east only dared to defend, not to attack.

But Zhang Song looked at Xi Zhicai in amazement and said, "Could it be that the seven counties in the south will rebel and attack Chengdu?"

Xi Zhicai said in a low voice with a serious expression: "I just assume that if the south invades, although Yizhou seems to have 16 soldiers and horses, the [-] guards in Chengdu cannot be mobilized, and the [-] navy is deterring Liu Biao. The only thing that can be mobilized is General Zhang's [-] troops."

Everyone was amazed, and Zhen Yao smiled optimistically: "The seven counties in the south can fight if they want to. Why come here to pretend to surrender? However, it is imperative to be on guard. Let's send someone to the south to inquire about the news."

Xi Zhicai nodded, and everyone also agreed.

(End of this chapter)