Chapter 290 The knot in my heart is hard to get rid of
Four days later, the news of Guo Jia's death and the circumstances of his death were reported back to Xu Du.

Cao Cao sat in front of the pond, with his clothes open, fanning himself with a cattail leaf fan.

Since May, Xudu has been unbearably hot.

Fortunately, it was simply scorching heat, not stuffy or humid.

I originally wanted to go to the nearby Rangshan and Yingshan to escape the summer heat, but now in Xudu, I can’t do without him.

Yang Biao has been speaking louder and louder recently, and more and more people are rushing to visit him.

Even the people of Yingchuan and Runan began to respect Yang Biao very much, which made Cao Cao feel even more difficult.

Fortunately, the news of Guo Jia's death came.

People like this were easily executed by Black Bear, so what could the other Ruying people do?
Cao Cao was filled with sadness and immediately asked someone to bring his chief clerk Yang Xiu.

Yang Xiu was handling official business, but when he heard Cao Cao's urgent message, he brought Cao's official Chen Jiao with him.

When he came to the pond, he saw Cao Cao with a sad face: "My Lord, do you know anything about Fengxiao?"

"I don't know. Please let me know."

Yang Xiu suppressed his emotions, stood upright with his body bowed; Chen Jiao, who followed him, stood seven or eight steps away, holding the bamboo slips in both hands and bowed even lower.

Cao Cao stood up and swayed, raised his hand to refuse Xu Chu's support, and came to the pool with his hands behind his back: "I wanted to ask Fengxiao to persuade the Grand Marshal to withdraw his troops. The Grand Marshal is originally a member of the Chen royal family. I am willing to petition the emperor to restore his throne and serve as the country's northwest barrier from now on. But I don't know why the Grand Marshal hates Fengxiao so much. During the conversation, he actually asked the historian Wengong to beat Fengxiao to death!"

"What a pity!"

"It hurts me too!"

Cao Cao covered his chest and leaned forward. After barely standing up, he clenched his fists and beat his chest. After a dozen punches, his anger was slightly relieved, and he continued, "The death of King Chen and the destruction of his country were not the fault of the court. I knew that the Grand Marshal was wronged, and when the court and the public were puzzled, I defended him a lot and appointed him as the Grand Marshal against all odds, and even gave him the noble title of Marquis of Liang. I thought this would make him let go of his hatred. I never thought that he would be so cruel... Fengxiao~!"

Yang Xiu's expression also changed slightly, and he bowed deeply: "Please accept my condolences, sir."

"My Lord Dezu, you also know that there are some misunderstandings between your father and I. Now the only one who can go to Heluo to redeem Fengxiao's corpse is your father. Let's not talk about official business today. I hope that my Lord Dezu can fulfill my private love."

"I understand. I will try my best to persuade you, sir."

Yang Xiu was respectful and bowed deeply again, expressing his sorrow for Guo Jia's death.

Seeing Yang Xiu's mood change, Cao Cao waved his hand feebly to signal Yang Xiu to leave, but then he saw Chen Jiao holding a wooden tray in the distance and asked, "What's the matter, Cang Cao?"

Yang Xiu replied: "The matter of raising grain has not yet been decided, so I have not informed you yet."

After hearing this, Cao Cao also realized that this was a war mobilization to suppress the rebellion of Chang Xi, the Prime Minister of Donghai.

The army has begun to mobilize. Xiahou Yuan, the governor of Yingchuan County, is the chief general and has already set out along the Wei River. The two troops of Xu Huang and Li Dian, who withdrew from Hebei, have also moved south along the Si River. They will gather in Pengcheng.

During this period, the armies of Wang Zhong and Liu Dai will join in. As for the other army led by Lu Qian and Taishan near the East China Sea, they cannot be moved lightly.

With Mount Tai in hand, he would have the advantage of attacking the surrounding areas from a high position, which could not only intimidate Jinan and Beihai, but also contain Zang Ba of Langya.

Lu Qian cannot be touched until the last moment.

Cao Cao took a look at Chen Jiao and felt even more anxious when he thought that this person was also from the royal family.

Chen Jiao was adopted by his aunt's family when he was young, and only then did he change his surname; he initially entered the officialdom under Chen Deng. At that time, because Chen Jiao married the daughter of the close branch of the Liu family, the dispute between Qingxu and Liangpei caused quite a stir.

But then the Liu family explained this marriage by saying that Yao, Yu, Chen, and Tian were descendants of Shun but had intermarried for generations, thus breaking the public opinion that people with the same surname should not marry.

Seeing Chen Jiao, Cao Cao became even more unhappy. Because Chen Jiao was by his side, he said to Yang Xiu: "The matter of raising grain must be handled properly. Dezu will report to me later."

"Yes, I obey your command."

Yang Xiu bowed again, and seeing that Cao Cao had no intention of giving him any further instructions, he stepped back five or six steps, turned around and signaled to Chen Jiao.

Chen Jiao also bowed deeply to Cao Cao, and Cao Cao waved his hand in return.

Seeing this, Chen Jiao turned around and followed Yang Xiu away.

Chen Jiao followed Yang Xiu to the Huangge where the chief clerk worked. As soon as he sat down, he said, "Since May, the Central Plains has been suffering from drought. The Bian River is drying up. Ruying is in dire straits. I think we can transfer grain from Jiyin, Lihu and Dongping."

The grain in Dongjun cannot be moved, as it is stockpiled to supply the army for the expedition to Hebei. The situation in Liyang was not going well, and although the troops were withdrawn, if the grain in Dongjun is not transported well again, it will be inconvenient for the next expedition to the north.

The grain transportation is fast and has little loss if it is transported downstream; but if it is transported upstream, such as to Dongjun and Chenliu, it will be difficult as it is more dependent on wind direction.

Yang Xiu was holding a bamboo slip and reading the grain reserves of the three counties of Jiyin recorded by the warehouse official. He asked, "How much grain is left in Rencheng?"

"Not counting this year's advance harvest, Rencheng State still has 570,000 dan of grain in reserve. Of this, 320,000 dan are in the military warehouses, which cannot be mobilized by the Minister of Agriculture."

Chen Jiao instinctively lowered his voice. The grain handed in by the Qingzhou soldiers was not something that the Minister of Agriculture could requisition at will. The soldiers guarding the warehouse were the Qingzhou soldiers. The Qingzhou soldiers were in a somewhat unstable state, so Chen Jiao didn't want to touch this batch of grain.

After hearing this, Yang Xiu looked at the account books again and saw that the grain allocated to Jiyin and Dongping counties also came from the warehouses under the Grand Minister of Agriculture and had nothing to do with the local military warehouses.

After this grain transfer, the four counties where the Yellow Turban Army of Qingxu was settled had less than 500,000 dan of official grain.

If the collection of summer and autumn crops is not smooth, there will be big problems.

Thinking of several extreme examples, Yang Xiu said, "This is one plan. Let me propose two more. One is to use half of the official warehouses in Jiyin and other counties, and the remaining military rations will be taken from Liang and Pei. The last one is to use one third of the official warehouses in Jiyin and other counties, one third from Liang, Pei, Lu and Chen, and one third from Guangling, Xiapi, Pengcheng and Huainan."

"There are three plans. Please calculate the specific amount of grain that each place will need to provide, the manpower, ships, and order of grain transportation. Send it to Huangge after you have figured it out."

After Yang Xiu finished speaking, he saw Chen Jiao was deep in thought, and added: "This year's drought is inevitable. Huainan has received abundant rainfall. I hope Huainan and Guangling can bear more of the burden."

Chen Jiao was from Guangling, and he knew that there was nothing wrong with Yang Xiu's consideration.

As long as there is no war, it is unlikely that people will starve to death in places like Guangling and Huainan.

Chen Jiao thought for a moment and said, "The army and people of Huainan have just joined, and there is a lot of work to be done. If we collect grain from Huainan, I am afraid that the officials and people will be in chaos."

When it comes to collecting military rations, if they can collect them the first time, they can definitely collect them the second time.

Given the current turbulent situation, the amount of money to be levied will only increase.

Military rations have begun to be collected, so should the system of staggered labor service be arranged as well?
Chen Jiao did not see Yang Xiu's response, so he said, "I would like to persuade the people of Guangling to share the country's worries. The matter of Huainan's additional taxes should not be mentioned again. Even if the word gets out, it will ruin a lot of efforts of Envoy Liu."

"Ji Bi's concerns are reasonable, I am just too impatient."

Yang Xiu sincerely apologized, stood up and bowed deeply, and Chen Jiao also stood up to return the greeting.

Sitting down again, Chen Jiao always felt that Yang Xiu was not in a good state and was in a state of unrest.

Yang Xiu also noticed that Chen Jiao's demeanor had changed, so he said, "Then follow Ji Bi's advice and remove Huainan."

"Yes, I will go and draw up a detailed strategy right away."

Chen Jiao stood up and picked up the wooden tray, and Yang Xiu also stood up and walked him to the door of the small hall.

Yang Xiu stood on the steps in front of the door and bowed with a smile. Chen Jiao took two steps back before turning around and leaving. He walked along the corridor for more than twenty steps and disappeared after turning around the small door.

Yang Xiu narrowed his eyes, walked down the steps to the edge of the corridor, and looked up at the deep blue sky.

It felt like every breath he took was burning his lungs.

Last year it was Hebei that suffered from severe drought, and this year it is the turn of the Central Plains.

In the middle of the day, there was not even a single bird of note near the trees in the courtyard.

Raising his hand to wipe the fine sweat off his face, Yang Xiu rubbed his hands, turned around and returned to the small hall where Huang Ge worked.

In the hall, he picked up other official documents and read them, and found that they were from Man Chong, the governor of Runan County.

He did not do any good to Man Chong. When Yang Biao tried to force Cao Cao to hand over power, he failed and Cao Cao's revenge came quickly.

Soon after, Man Chong, a clerk of the Western Cao, was appointed as the magistrate of Xudu. Yang Biao was then imprisoned and handed over to the famous cruel official Man Chong for investigation.

Many people, including Xun Yu and Kong Rong, wrote to Man Chong, hoping that Man Chong would conduct normal inquiries and not torture him.

Man Chong continued to torture Yang Biao as he pleased, but he was unable to obtain any evidence that Yang Biao was colluding with Yuan Shu.

The torture proved Yang Biao's innocence, and it also allowed Cao Cao to vent his anger.

On the surface, Yang Biao managed to save his life and won the reputation of being a tough guy, but he actually suffered a severe beating.

If he lost his temper and confessed his crime, or died under torture, that would be another outcome.

The current outcome seems to be that only Man Chong’s strict enforcement of the law can save Yang Biao.

Only his son Yang Xiu knew how dangerous the situation was at that time. It can only be said that Cao Cao underestimated Yang Biao's toughness.

Man Chong, whom Cao Cao had high hopes for, really could not withstand the public backlash of killing Yang Biao.

Looking at Man Chong's official document, Yang Xiu's thoughts became even stronger.

As for the deadly feud between him and his son, he could let it go. Could Cao Cao really not care about it for the rest of his life?
There is also the death of Guo Jia. The death of himself and his son combined is not as important as Guo Jia.

Such a person died just like that.

How could Guo Jia seek death on his own initiative without Cao Cao's approval?
(End of this chapter)