The Nameless of the Common Clans

Although Liu Bei did not withdraw from Nanyang, with Wancheng being stable, Liu Bei's current state, unless God helps, it is nothing more than a fool's dream to want to take Nanyang from Zhang Liao, who has a well-trained army and sufficient food.

Liu Bei himself obviously knew that this was unlikely, so he shifted his focus to relocating people. Liu Bei sent troops to drive the people in the places that could be reached to the Han River area. Zhang Liao naturally could not watch Liu Bei take the people under the rule of Nanyang away. The following battles between the two sides were almost all about the people. Zhang Liao, Wei Yan, and Cui Geng intercepted them in three ways, but even so, nearly 300,000 people south of Wancheng were taken away by Liu Bei.

When the news reached Suiyang, the war in the Central Plains had basically ended. Cao Cao retreated to Qingzhou. Chen Mo was revising the laws during this period and implementing military settlements in the Runan area. On the one hand, he could raise another army, and on the other hand, he was also to prevent Sun Ce from crossing the river to the north. Although Shouchun was in Chen Mo's hands, Hefei was controlled by Sun Ce, and the initiative of the battle fell into Sun Ce's hands.

While Chen Mo consolidated the security of the Central Plains, he also had to further restrict Cao Cao. Langya, Taishan, and Pingyuan all had heavy troops to limit Cao Cao's activities within Qingzhou and keep them ready to attack at any time.

"Liu Bei really knows how to choose the time!" In the residence of General Suiyang, Chen Mo handed the letter from Nanyang to Xun You and Xu Shu for circulation, and said helplessly.

Now that Cao Cao has just been defeated, there are a lot of things in the Central Plains. The new law must be implemented cautiously, otherwise it will easily damage the prestige of the court if it changes orders every day. Cao Cao also needs to redeploy, and this year's Central Plains war has caused many fields to be uncultivated, delaying the farming season. It is about to fall, and famine is inevitable. Relief of the victims is the most important thing at the moment. Although it is a major disaster, it is also an opportunity for Chen Mo to establish his own image in the Central Plains. It depends on whether this dispatch is timely and whether it can help the people of the Central Plains overcome this difficulty.

Although some people suggested taking this opportunity to defeat Cao Cao completely in one fell swoop, the price is... hundreds of thousands or even millions of people in the Central Plains will become refugees and starve to death.

In the war years, the court only cares about fighting and ignores the lives of the people. This is normal, but now Chen Mo has occupied most of the world. There is no difference between the people of the Central Plains and the people of Guanzhong for Chen Mo, so how can he ignore them?

Completely destroying Cao Cao will cost most of the Central Plains to become a wasteland. In Chen Mo's view, this price is too high, so he only ordered people to build docks and forts at the border of Qingzhou to prevent Cao Cao's counterattack, and more energy was used on the governance of the Central Plains. A large amount of food and grass was transferred from Guanzhong and Jizhou in an endless stream, just to allow the people of the Central Plains to survive this disaster year.

Even Cao Cao couldn't take care of it, so how could Chen Mo start a war again at this time to attack Liu Bei?

"My lord, You thinks that the position of Jingzhou Mu can be given to Liu Bei." Xun You smiled and looked at Chen Mo.

Chen Mo was stunned for a moment, then reacted, looked at Xun You and smiled: "Yes, that's exactly what I want."

Sun Ce had his own court, so even if Chen Mo issued an edict, Sun Ce would not respond. But Liu Bei was different. His biggest problem was that he was not legitimate and his words were not smooth. Although he took over most of Liu Biao's foundation, he was not the King of Chu after all, so the court's edict still had some effect on Liu Bei.

Jingzhou was not Chen Mo's place of governance. Liu Bei was now the actual occupant of Jingzhou. The only thing he lacked was the righteousness. Now Chen Mo gave him this righteousness, not to show weakness to Liu Bei. Jingzhou's territory was not only Nanjun, Lingling, and Wuling. Jiangxia, Changsha, and Guiyang were also Jingzhou's land, but were temporarily occupied by Sun Ce. Now with Chen Mo's edict, Liu Bei was the legal ruler of these three counties.

Whether he takes it or not is his business, but with this edict, Liu Bei has a reason to take back the three counties at any time. Taking it or not is one thing. Even if Liu Bei doesn't have this idea, what will Sun Ce think? The alliance between the two sides was originally due to the pressure brought by Chen Mo's defeat of Cao Cao. Now there is this thorn in the way, and mutual vigilance is certain. Moreover, Liu Bei has little room for development now, and Jiangdong is a good way.

"Send someone to the court and ask His Majesty to write an edict, and then send it to Jingzhou to Liu Bei. Also tell Wenyuan to take Xinye as much as possible. This is the gateway to Jingxiang, but also the gateway to Nanyang." Chen Mo looked at everyone and smiled.

"Yes!" Xu Shu nodded. He was responsible for handling the correspondence between Luoyang and the capital. Now that the emperor was imprisoned in the cold palace, Chen Mo's delay in returning was also a deterrent to the court officials. The world could do without the emperor, but it could not do without Chen Mo. Moreover, he was going to be crowned king next. Chen Mo was going to build a palace, move the court back to Chang'an District, and completely separate the court from his team, so as not to be tied up. At this time, he would give these people some time to make a decision, so this emperor's edict was basically equivalent to Chen Mo's edict.

"My lord, the matter of General Cui..." Xun You looked at Chen Mo, wanting to ask how to deal with the matter of Cui Quan.

"The crime of treason is unforgivable. Let Nanyang execute the person for this matter." Chen Mo understood what Xun You meant. Cui Geng was a general who had followed Chen Mo for many years and was considered a confidant. Now that the head of the Cui family had committed treason, whether he should be forgiven or not, other things were easy to say. The crime of treason was the bottom line and could not be pardoned. It was a mercy outside the law to let Cui go.

Sometimes the family affairs were too difficult to judge, but the bottom line could not be touched.

"Yes!" The two agreed and understood how to deal with it.

"Three days later, I am going to Xuzhou. One is for the matter of the governor of Xuzhou, and the other is to return to the family. Gongda will stay in Suiyang to continue to govern. I will be back in half a month at the shortest and one month at the longest." Chen Mo looked at Xun You and smiled.

This time he went to Xuzhou to appease the Xuzhou gentry, and also to go back to his family. After all, his surname was Chen, there were some things that he couldn't avoid, and he also wanted to pay homage to his brother Chen Deng. Among the Chen family, Chen Mo was the most grateful. In addition, he also wants to return to his hometown to see if the manor from back then is still there? Is there anyone else?

"Don't worry, my lord, many things are now on track." Xun You responded with a smile.

Now many things are on track, and Chen Mo's departure will not affect these things.

"These days, you two have spent a lot of time following me. Let's go and rest." Chen Mo stood up, stretched his body, looked at the two of them and said with a smile.

"I'll take my leave!" Xun You and Xu Shu stood up and bowed to Chen Mo.

In the next two days, Chen Mo spent more time meeting with the scholars from all over the world to appease people's hearts. Three days later, Chen Mo took Dian Wei, Xu Shu and the accompanying guards to Xuzhou. Although the Central Plains was now settled, However, there are still many remnants of Cao's army in various places who have become bandits or occupy the mountains as kings. There are also some gentry who take the opportunity to become bandits and rob the villagers. Most of Chen Mo's troops are deployed around Qingzhou to guard against Cao's army's counterattack, so the public security in various places is currently Not too good.

He would not overestimate his ability, so he was accompanied by nearly a thousand people on this trip to deal with possible assassinations.

Facts have proved that Chen Mo's preparations were not unfounded. He had just left Suiyang less than a hundred miles away and had been assassinated three times and even encountered an ambush. If he had not been fully prepared and only had dozens of people accompanying him as usual, it would have been possible. Something unexpected happened.

Because of this, Chen Mo temporarily changed his route, gave up going to Xiao County, and took a detour from the Huaipu area to Xuzhou.

"I originally planned to come here again when I was preparing to return. Since I passed by, I came back." Linhuai, Xia Qiu.

Looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar city, Chen Mo looked at Xu Shu and Dian Wei beside him with some emotion.

"Lord, are we not going into the city?" Dian Wei looked at Chen Mo with some confusion.

"No, let's just go back to our hometown after another round of socializing." Chen Mo shook his head and glanced at Xiaqiu County. When he was a child, the city was majestic in his eyes. Now when he looks back, it is small and pitiful. The city has not changed. Become yourself.

Thirty miles is not a long journey for Chen Mo's bodyguards, who had already rushed back to Zhuangzi in the afternoon.

In the dilapidated Zhuangzi, you can occasionally see the awe-inspiring looks of some farmers. In the past, Zhuangzi had a population of dozens of households, but now only a few can be seen, and most of them are dilapidated. Chen Mo led people to the former residence, a small In the courtyard, the beams have collapsed, and the doghouses originally built are no longer visible.

"My family has been poor since I was a child, and my mother was frail. This house is everything our family has. Although we are poor, we live a fulfilling life." Chen Mo sat on the stone pier at the door with some emotion, looking at the desolate scenery around him. , shook his head and sighed: "What a pity. How many families were destroyed by the Taiping Sect disaster?"

"But if it hadn't been for the disaster caused by the Taiping Sect, my lord might not have had the fate he did later. Blessings come from misfortunes, and misfortunes come from blessings. That's probably it." Xu Shu also said with some emotion, even a child from a poor family is not so poor. , Chen Mo's achievements today are really admirable.

"How could I have thought about this back then?" Chen Mo shook his head and said sadly: "Sometimes, people's growth is forced."

Xu Shu nodded, deeply agreeing. It is said that heroes emerge from troubled times. How many people know that this hero crawled out from among the corpses of many people?

Just as he was sighing, he saw an old man in his fifties coming here, surrounded by several farmers, and was stopped by his personal guards.

"Let him come over." Chen Mo turned his head, looked at the old man who was talking to his bodyguard, and said with a smile.

"Little old man, I have seen..." The old man looked at Chen Mo tremblingly, not daring to look directly, and not knowing what to call him.

"This is the general of the current dynasty, Marquis Changling!" Dian Wei said loudly.

"I've met Marquis Changling." The old man bowed quickly and said. Although he still didn't know who this person was, it didn't prevent him from knowing that he was a big shot.

"Excuse me." Chen Mo stretched out his hand to help the old man up and asked with a smile, "Is my father the right person here?"

"Exactly, it has been more than twenty years since I moved here." The old man said quickly.

"It's been more than twenty years. Time flies sometimes." Chen Mo nodded, stood up, looked at the old man and said, "Old man, have you seen the people who originally lived here come back in these years?"

"Originally lived here?" The old man understood instantly. This was a person who lived here before the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Now he has prospered. When he came back to his hometown to see it, he nodded quickly: "Yes, yes."

"Oh?" Chen Mo originally just asked casually, but he didn't expect it to happen. He quickly smiled and asked: "Are you still there now? Can you take me to see you?"

"Of course, Lord Marquis, please come with me." The old man nodded repeatedly, turned to a farmer next to him and said, "Go and tell that blind man Cheng that the noble man is here and ask him to come out to greet him!"