Chapter 462 Level Difference
Behind the curtain, Black Bear sat upright on a high chair.

Holding Yuan Shang's handwritten letter in both hands, his face darkened: "Is Cao Cao so terrible? Or does the general have unspeakable difficulties?"

In the letter, Yuan Shang strongly denounced Cao Cao's brutality, as well as the troubles and turmoil within Hebei.

Some people have even begun to migrate to Youzhou in an attempt to avoid the invasion of Cao's army.

Guanlong had actually been destroyed long ago, and the only remaining fruits were the scholars of Tianshui.

Black Bear looked down on the real estate in Tianshui, but he also needed key scholars, so he accepted the remaining scholars from Guanlong.

Therefore, even though the fields, mines, and forests in Guanzhong had actually been nationalized and land was redistributed, Hebei did not have such a strong emotional reaction.

After all, everything valuable in Guanzhong was mostly the result of control snatched from the ten tribes of Guanzhong.

The land was washed away again by taking over and reorganizing the troops of the ten generals of Guanzhong. Besides, the people of Guandong would not empathize with the Western State scholars like Guanlong, and only understood what happened in Guanzhong as a generous and greedy reorganization of resources.

The resource reorganization, rational allocation and redistribution promoted by Cao Cao in Qingzhou deeply touched the hearts of Hebei scholars.

Black Bear still underestimated the storm that Cao Cao had created, which had a terrifying impact on the cognition of traditional Kanto scholars.

They are even more powerful than the Yellow Turban Army. When the Yellow Turban Army passed through the border, they did not offend the local big families much, but only targeted the official power of the Han Dynasty.

The Yellow Turban Army's initial target was Luoyang, rather than separatist local areas. They did not cleanse the local areas bit by bit, so as to accumulate strength in order to confront and compete with the Han court for a long time.

Dong Zhuo's evil was not even one percent of Cao Cao's behavior.

What did Dong Zhuo do?

He did not steal everyone's official position, but he violated the rule that the big families controlled their disciples and former officials by committing insubordination, which made everyone lose face.

As for Dong Zhuo staying overnight in the palace and killing and persecuting the people of Luoyang...this was really nothing to the scholars in Guandong.

Overall, Dong Zhuo can only be said to have committed numerous evil deeds.

And Cao Cao is the undisputed traitor and villain, the Jie and Zhou of the time.

Ju Hu also sat on a large chair, and said bitterly: "Cao Cao is extremely brutal. If he cannot be killed or severely damaged, the people of Hebei will have trouble sleeping and eating. The common people of Qingzhou are ignorant and have been favored and deceived by Cao Cao. In the future, they will become his accomplices and will surely be a brutal army, which is absolutely incomparable to Cao's army in the past."

Ju Hu felt like crying but had no tears. However, he had some conscience and clarity. He knew very well that if Hebei wanted to compete with Cao Cao in his current state, it would not be able to survive relying on the administrative system of the general's office that concurrently served as the governor of Jizhou.

Human and material resources could not be used efficiently, and their endurance in war was not as good as that of Cao's army.

Previously, Cao's army lacked courage in battle because of the staggered service system.

At that time, Cao's army was more brutal, with their bullying of the weak and the brutality and bloodiness of wolves eating sheep. When encountering an enemy of equal strength, Cao's army would become lazy and begin to cherish their lives.

Now Cao's army has eliminated internal obstructions, and the flow of troops up and down is smooth, as if they were one.

Ju Hu's distress also stemmed from this. He knew very well that if Hebei wanted to become strong, it must disintegrate big families and powerful people like his.

Otherwise, he would not be able to compete with Cao Cao at all.

If they cannot defeat Cao Cao, the sufferings of the Qingzhou scholars will also befall these big families and powerful people.

Therefore, some poor and low-asset scholars who have figured out this problem have begun to flee to Youzhou.

Faced with two possible fates: first defeating their families and then defeating the enemies, or failing to defeat the enemies but having their families destroyed, this group of people chose to flee Hebei and seek refuge in Youzhou.

At least the General Zhenbei of Youzhou is under the command of the Grand Marshal, so if Cao Cao marches into Youzhou, he will definitely be intercepted by the troops from Guanzhong.

As for Hebei and Jizhou, why would the soldiers from Guanzhong give up their good life and come to work for you Hebei people?
A scholar from a poor family who had thought through these issues could easily abandon General Yuan and run away with his family and fellow villagers.

This is also what makes Hebei most uncomfortable. It is difficult for Yuan Shang to stop this exodus by violence.

A big family like Ju Hu, out of the most basic security needs, would not agree to use violence to prevent a small and humble family from leaving.

Otherwise, if violence could be used to stop Xiaohanmen today, the desperate Xiaohanmen would be highly bound to Yuan Shang; if the situation were reversed, Xiaohanmen and Yuan Shang would also be able to use violence to coerce the big and wealthy families.

Protecting the poor from leaving is actually protecting the wealthy family itself.

Even though he knew it was bleeding, he didn't dare to stop the bleeding. Ju Hu was well aware of this deep-seated contradiction, so he was very distressed.

Besides, the poor families are also well-dressed people who rely on powerful families and have complicated relationships with them.

In order to raise military funds, Yuan Shao plundered and killed wealthy and powerful families, and Yuan Shang also killed many people when he first ascended the throne.

Did Yuan Shao and his son kill more people in Jizhou, or did Cao Cao kill more... This is a fatal question that cannot be discussed, but everyone has a scale in their heart.

I can't figure out who has more and who has less, so can't I just leave my hometown and go away?
However, it is difficult to tell Black Bear about these deep-seated contradictions in Hebei.

Black Bear studied Yuan Shang's letters. If Yuan Shang did not lie, Jizhou would soon lose its cohesion and the courage to fight against Cao Cao.

As expected, sufficiently successful examples of killing can indeed effectively deter neighbors.

As a result, Cao Cao successfully frightened Hebei, and probably even frightened Liu Bei.

If Yuan Shang was unable to highly integrate Jizhou, then Liu Bei was even less likely to do so.

Without the ability to control grassroots forces as deeply as Cao Cao, the quality and quantity of military mobilization would not be able to compete with Cao Cao.

No solution.

Cao Cao's forces were reborn from the ashes, throwing off the original shackles and flails, and finally began to approach the system of the Warring States heroes.

The ability to maintain this system depends entirely on the military pressure exerted by oneself; at the same time, there is also the tremendous moral pressure of killing the previous emperor.

The combination of various pressures and coincidences enabled Cao Cao's forces, which were in a desperate situation, to be transformed.

Perhaps the confused emotions felt by all parties in Kanto at this moment are the same as when they face themselves.

Black Bear pondered for a moment, then asked, "Do you have any letters from Lord Zhengnan?"

Ju Hu was greatly surprised, but he still took out a piece of silk book and handed it over under the astonished eyes of the deputy envoy: "Mr. Zhengnan did have a handwritten letter, and the general also knows about it."

The silk book from Shen Pei was passed into Black Bear's hands, and Black Bear spread it out and lowered his head to read.

Shen Pei's letter consisted of only a hundred words. He hoped that Black Bear could give the scholars in Hebei time to change, just like what happened in Shu.

Anyway, we have no intention or plan to send troops now, and it is objectively not allowed.

If we send troops eastward, Jingzhou will lose its control and will be defeated.

The unrest in Jingzhou is very likely to spread to Shuzhong.

Therefore, he did not move and stayed in Guanzhong obediently, inspecting everywhere, pruning all kinds of messy branches, building up the Sanfu well, and using it as a base to train skilled officials. It would not be too late to expand outward after the scale of officials expanded.

Therefore, maintaining the survival of Hebei and checking Cao Cao's mindless growth will bring many benefits to the future.

After thinking for a while, Black Bear said, "When I was in Hebei, I was taken care of by Lord Zhengnan. I have to repay this favor. Please rest assured, Lord Ju. I will send an envoy to warn Cao Cao. If he dares to cross the Yellow River to the north, I will send troops to attack him."

Suddenly, Ju Hu felt refreshed.

How can asking Liu Bei for food and aid in the war be compared to the mediation here?
Anyway, the people of Qingzhou are already in that state. Defeating Cao Cao cannot bring the dead back to life, and the damaged Gaomen cannot be restored to its original state.

It would be better if everyone just stopped fighting and lived in peace for a few days.

Ju Hu was deeply moved, and stood up with the deputy envoy to bow to Black Bear: "The people of this state will remember your kindness and will never forget it."

In response to this promise, Black Bear smiled gently and said, "This alliance is a good idea. There is no need to do this. Just drink tea with me. There is just one thing that I need to trouble Lord Ju to persuade the general. I have recently obtained a lot of Shu brocade in Shu. I want to send an envoy to set up a trading house in Yecheng to sell the special products and local customs of the jurisdiction."

"Don't worry, Grand Marshal. This is easy."

Ju Hu agreed immediately. Who doesn’t like luxury goods?

Then Ju Hu asked in return: "Can our state set up a trading house under the jurisdiction of the Grand Marshal?"

"I am on equal terms with the general, and this matter should also be treated as such. I will allocate 3,000 acres of land for the general to build a trading house and a fortress near Chang'an, which can support 300 guards."

(End of this chapter)