Chapter 312 Duel in Central Plains
South of Xudu is Xutian.

After the purge, Xudu returned to its superficial calm.

Cao Cao inspected Xutian and stood on his carriage looking out at the endless paddy fields.

He couldn't help but let out a long sigh. After running Xutian for so long, Xutian alone could supply the food needs of more than 200,000 soldiers and civilians, officials, and their families and servants in Xudu.

Ren Jun, who was in charge of promoting military farming, accompanied the vehicle on the inspection, and his expression was quite unnatural.

Years ago, he was still actively promoting the system of recommending filial and honest officials in the military farms of the General of the Central Army at the county and state level. With the Xu Du Incident, the career he had been busy with for almost two years seemed like a joke.

As for the long-term plan of the military farming system taking over the Ministry of Agriculture, it now seems that it will have to be shelved forever and there is no hope.

Others could abandon their official positions and flee, but Ren Jun had no choice but to marry Cao Cao's cousin.

Cao Cao observed for a long time and said, "If Wankou is defended for too long, it will be lost. The large army will be disadvantageous for the battle."

Ren Jun was puzzled: "My Lord, do you mean to lure Liu Bei out of Wankou and then turn around and fight him?"

"Not only that, Liu Bei is in high spirits, we should not stop him head-on."

Cao Cao has recovered well in the past few days and smiled: "The morale of our army is low. Rather than letting Liu Bei accumulate small victories into a big one, it is better to defend Xudu to the death. Fortify the walls and clear the fields along the way. If Liu Bei has few soldiers, it will be difficult to protect the food supply. If he has many soldiers, it will be difficult to transport food."

Ren Jun listened and nodded slowly, and then expressed his worry: "I'm afraid Chen Changwen will change."

Chen Qun is still alive and is now basically the highest representative of Yingchuan scholars.

Cao Cao just smiled and said to Ren Jun: "Boda, I want to develop military farms. The people who followed the rebellion will be demoted to slaves to meet the needs of the military farms."

"This……"

Ren Jun was shocked. Based on the number of people killed in Xu Du this time, if the matter was investigated further, too many people would be deprived of their freedom and wealth.

Cao Cao was also helpless. He could not be lenient now. He had already started to take action and expanded the cleansing to the county level.

As long as they were the population that could be influenced and controlled, they would be screened, and all those who had any connection with the rebellious Lius would be demoted to slaves, and their property would be confiscated, and their wives and daughters would be taken away and redistributed.

Anyone who dares to resist will be killed.

Too many clan members and officials died, and Cao Cao's financial burden was greatly reduced.

Although many officials were very straightforward when they died for the Han emperor and the country, they also reaped rich rewards when their property was searched.

The two are not contradictory.

An institution like the imperial court is not engaged in production, but as long as it exists, it will instinctively expand in size.

For every additional official position with a rank of three or four hundred dan, Cao Cao would have to support two or three more households without working capital.

Therefore, the existence of the imperial court not only competed with Cao Cao for personnel and decision-making power, but also continued to drain Cao Cao's blood.

In order to gain the righteousness of the court, Cao Cao had to provide the basic necessities for the operation of the court.

As a supplier, Cao Cao was able to insert various people into the supply process.

The existence of the imperial court actually reduced Cao Cao's potential for war mobilization.

For example, the scholar-household system. There was really no other way. Cao Cao had to support the imperial court while fighting wars. He could not squeeze out any benefits himself, so he could only squeeze the potential of the scholar-households to death.

Without the bloated and constraining imperial court, Cao Cao could mobilize human and material resources more efficiently and directly!

No good solution could be thought of for the time being, so the only option was to reduce most of the population to slavery by accusing them of a crime.

As long as we can block Liu Bei's first round of offensive, we will have room and opportunity to readjust the internal situation.

With a slave population of hundreds of thousands or even millions, Cao Cao was confident that he could establish his own regime and then look for a better opportunity.

After this inspection of Xutian, Cao Cao became more confident.

The output of Xutian is enough to ensure that the defenders in Xudu City have two years of savings!

From beginning to end, he was never afraid of Liu Bei.

If Liu Bei dares to come, he will fight!
Ren Jun had no other way out and could only cooperate with Cao Cao to fight for his life.

Even if they escaped this storm and waited for the anger of the world to dissipate, they would not be killed if they surrendered in the future. They could not win the battle now, and it was their deserved punishment to be killed by all parties and their three clans exterminated; but only by withstanding the offensive of all parties and preventing them from being judged, could they survive and continue their family line.

Ren Jun had no choice, Cao Cao was really confident.

Because he had already touched the black bear's bottom line, he felt as if he had done the black bear a huge favor.

As long as he works hard, stops Liu Bei and delays Yuan Shang, he can live another ten or twenty years without any problem.

Anyway, the situation had deteriorated to this point, and the optimistic and positive side of Cao Cao's nature came into play, allowing him to successfully get out of his depression and pessimism and have some vision for the future.

After leaving Xutian, Cao Cao's chariot with a green umbrella slowly moved northward.

Jia Xu was riding in a carriage, looking at the Yingshui tributary which was becoming full of water.

There are already boats sailing on this tributary.

The summer wheat harvest in Xutian is being transported upstream to Yingyin by ship.

Yingyin was the county town and the western barrier outside Xudu.

Shipping saves a lot of manpower and time compared to car shipping. Even if it is a small boat, the efficiency of shipping with one person rowing is ten times that of a wheelbarrow used by an individual.

The wheels creaked slowly as Jia Xu stared, thinking about how to defeat the enemy.

After driving for more than ten miles, the carriage stopped.

Cao Cao got out of the car and extended his arms to invite him: "Wenhe, please."

"Please go first, sir."

Jia Xu bent down and stretched out his arms. Cao Cao then took a few steps first and Jia Xu followed.

They sat down under the shade of a tree, Cao Cao fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan, with only Cao Xiu following him on his left and right. Seven or eight steps away was Xu Chu, who was standing with his sword in his hands and his hands on his waist.

Cao Cao asked, "In your opinion, who is the biggest enemy in this critical moment of life and death?"

Jia Xu did not answer this question directly, as he knew Cao Cao's temper.

After careful consideration, Jia Xu pointed his right hand to the north with two fingers: "The six counties of Youzhou have long refused to submit to the Yuan family. Now that they have abandoned the court, they will not submit to the Yuan family or the Gongsun family. I think that the alliance between Guanzhong and Hebei will be broken because of these six counties of Youzhou."

As he spoke, he pointed in the direction of Taihang Mountain: "The Black Mountain Army has lost its courage, but Shangdang and Jingxing are both under the control of the Yuan family. For now, the two families share the natural barrier of Taihang. However, Yanmen is under the control of Guanzhong, and the elite cavalry of Guanzhong can easily go out of Daijun and Yuyang to support the six counties. Therefore, the Yuan family is attacked from both sides and it is difficult to intervene in the Central Plains."

After listening to this, Cao Cao nodded slowly. If there was only one Liu Bei, he had the confidence to deal with Liu Bei.

Liu Bei's weakness was obvious, which was his hot-tempered character. When he got angry, he just wanted to fight to his heart's content.

For example, at this time, Liu Bei would definitely fight to the death in Xu Du, and no one could dissuade him.

As long as the emperor's ceremonial guard is still in Xudu City, Liu Bei will definitely pounce on them fiercely.

In this situation, valuable mobile forces can come into play.

Jia Xu's analysis of Hebei made sense. Cao Cao's biggest worry was relieved, and he asked again: "How should the southeast respond?"

"I think Liu Fu is a kind and gentle person, and he has no intention of competing for supremacy."

Jia Xu said calmly, "The only people in the world who can send out an army of 100,000, apart from you, are Guanzhong, Jingzhou and Jiangdong. Given the character of Guanzhong, how could they allow Jiangdong to become so powerful? I heard that Hua Xin has fled. Hua Xin is a man who cares about big things and will never humble himself for small things. Hua Xin has made some progress in persuading Sun Ben. If he goes to Guanzhong, Sun Ben may defect as well."

Jia Xu smiled as he spoke: "Sun Quan is the new leader. He is raising a large army to fight. How could he give the military power to others? He is leading the army himself. Sun Ben is rebelling inside. Huainan has the support of Guanzhong. He will surely make Sun Quan return in defeat. If this is the case, Sun Quan will be in danger."

"It's good to be in danger. I'm just afraid that this kid will be proud."

Cao Cao also gritted his teeth. If Sun Quan had taken the initiative and launched the Jiangxia War earlier, the situation would be different now.

It was the semi-subordinate Sun Quan who shirked responsibility and delayed launching the Battle of Jiangxia, which invisibly magnified the influence of the defeat in Liyang and indirectly instigated the emperor and the Liu clan.

As long as Hebei fights against Guanzhong and the six counties of Youzhou, Huainan can stop Sun Quan.

Cao Cao was ready to have a good time with Liu Bei.

Without the imperial court's constraints and occupation of money and grain, Cao Cao could also give generous treatment to the scholars!

(End of this chapter)