Cao Pi, who was far away in Bingzhou, did not know that his father Cao Cao was planning how to match him and Cai Ji to complete the ceremony of Zhou Gong. At this moment, the young man who had just turned fifteen was galloping on the official road to Youzhou with his fiancée's car. With the Southern Xiongnu Shan Yu returning Cai Wenji to show friendship, Cai Ji's strategy in Bingzhou has also come to an end temporarily. The Qi army in the state needs to rest and recuperate, and the mutual market needs to be prepared, not to mention that September and October are still the busy agricultural season, and it is really not suitable to raise troops again. Therefore, after Cai Ji appointed the state to Zhang Liao and Pang Tong, he set up camp and went to Youzhou to inspect Jicheng.

Jicheng was the capital of the Yan State during the Warring States Period, and it was geographically adjacent to the Yishui Port of the Qi Army, so it was nominated by Cai Ji's staff as one of the three candidates for the shogunate. And Cai Ji, a traverser, also has a special affection for Jicheng, which is the predecessor of Beijing and Tianjin. However, no matter what Cai Ji's good feelings about Jicheng, and no matter how ancient the city was the ancient capital of several dynasties in later generations, Jicheng is only a remote city in the Eastern Han Dynasty at present, and it cannot be compared with the other two candidate cities, Pingyuan and Linzi, in terms of scale and population. Therefore, Cai Ji still needs to conduct on-site investigations before he can make a final decision.

In fact, not only Jicheng, but also the two states on the northern border have a pitifully small population. It is important to know that the population of a state is not even as large as that of a county in the Bohai Sea. Therefore, even though it was the busy farming season, the official road that the convoy passed through was lined with continuous wilderness and mountains, and it was difficult to find a trace of people.

Seeing this situation, Cai Ji, who was sitting in the car, couldn't help but sigh, "In the past, King Yanzhao was humble and thick, and he had the help of Le Yi, Zou Yan, and Ju Xin to achieve a hegemony. He would have thought that five hundred years later, today's Yandi would be ten rooms and nine empty, and it would be a depression. ”

Cai Ji's exclamation resonated with Cai Yan on the side. This talented woman who returned to the Han Dynasty has now been hired by Cai Ji as the literature of the General's Mansion, in charge of the classics and articles. I heard her sigh with a quiet sigh, "Since Dong Zhuo's chaos has been constant, the ten rooms and nine emptiness are not only in the land of Yan Zhao. ”

Cai Wenwen has a point. The war never ended. The people were restless. Cai Ji nodded approvingly.

Natural disasters and famine were certainly one of the causes of the turmoil in the late Han Dynasty, but the real cause of the sharp decline in the population of the Eastern Han Dynasty was war. According to later statistics, in the second year of Yongshou (156 AD), the population of the Eastern Han Dynasty was about 50 million. However, after the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the Three Kingdoms War, after the Chibi War in the thirteenth year of Jian'an (208 AD), the country's population plummeted to 1.4 million. When the Three Kingdoms returned to the Jin Dynasty, the Western Jin Dynasty recounted the population, and the total population of the country was only 16.16 million, including the 8.7 million Hu people who were attached. In other words, after the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the Three Kingdoms War, the Han population in the Western Jin Dynasty was less than 8 million.

It is true that such a huge loss of population includes a part of the population that the Maisons have concealed, but it is insignificant compared to the deaths caused by the melee of the princes. Regarding this point, Cai Yan obviously has more personal experience than Cai Ji. So she is also more pessimistic about the future. Seeing Cai Yandai's eyebrows frowning slightly, she shook her head again and again, "The Han family is declining, the princes are chasing the deer, and it is not easy to stop killing Hugo." ”

When Cai Yan said this, she suddenly remembered that the young woman sitting next to her was chasing one of the princes of the Central Plains, and she couldn't help but quickly bow her head and confess. However, Cai Ji was not unhappy by this. It is undeniable that Cai Yan said the truth. The princes led by Cai Ji, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Ce were indeed the culprits of the melee in the Central Plains. But these princes, while waging war, are also putting an end to strife and bringing peace to the locality. As Cao Cao said in "Let the County Clarify the Order": "Let the country be lonely, I don't know how many people should be called emperors." How many people are kings? So Cai Ji at this time will not feel guilty about his status as a prince. On the contrary, he said quite confidently, "It is not easy for Hugo to stop killing, but it is not difficult to protect the peace of one side of the prince alone." ”

Cai Ji's words were quite rich and peaceful, but in Cai Yan's ears, it was commendable. After all, in these troubled times, there are not many princes who will put the people in their hearts. So I heard Cai Yan praise from the bottom of his heart, "The Marquis of Qi loves the people like a son, which is really a blessing for the people." The luck of the Han family! ”

Who knew that Cai Ji smiled and waved his hand after hearing this, "Cai Wenwen has also won awards." Protecting the peace of the lonely party is not only for the people's livelihood, but also for the deer. ”

Seeing that Cai Ji was still sighing a moment ago, "The war will never end." The people are restless for a day", but at the next moment, they still remembered the great cause of chasing the deer, Cai Yan couldn't help but sigh secretly in his heart, the female princes are also princes after all, and they also have a heart to dominate the world. Thinking about it again, she is now the staff of this female prince, Cai Yan only feels that her life is really ups and downs. In fact, Cai Yan is not a conservative woman. When he was young, Cai Yan's greatest ambition was not to teach his husband and children, but to continue to study Hanshu with his father like Ban Zhao and leave a name in history. However, now that his father Cai Yong is no longer alive, Cai Yan is no longer an ignorant girl, but it is difficult to serve beside female princes like Cai Ji, and it is difficult to leave a name in the history books.

"Cai Wenxue knows what the lonely deer values the most so far?"

Cai Ji asked coldly, interrupting Cai Yan's flying thoughts. Cai Yan, who came back to his senses, thought about it sideways, and then immediately replied, "People's hearts." ”

"Kindness is the will of the people." After Cai Ji smiled and bowed his head, he immediately said proudly with a look on his face, "Don't hide literature, you can get today's achievements with the body of a woman, one is to be lenient and gentle to the people, and the other is to fight and martial arts." Therefore, the more stable the state and county under the rule of the orphan, the stronger the army under the orphan tent will be. Soft people and heavy battles in solitude are complementary things, and both are indispensable. ”

Cai Ji's words are not boasting, but her true experience in the world over the years. It is important to know that the casualties caused by war to civilians include famine and pestilence caused by war, in addition to direct killings. Especially in an era when agriculture was still underdeveloped such as the late Han Dynasty, a large-scale war often ruined a region's harvest in a year. Therefore, even though Guanzhong, Central Plains and other regions have large cities such as Chang'an and Luoyang, they have never been able to restore population and agricultural production. On the contrary, remote coastal counties such as Donglai and Bohai have been fortunate to retain a large number of people and arable land because they are far away from the main battlefield of the Central Plains and enjoy marine protection. In addition, Cai Ji is good at using the experience of later generations to govern the people's livelihood, so under the triple role of time, place, and people, he finally achieved the reputation of "granary" of Donglai County. It also gave Cai Ji enough capital to "benefit the people" and win the hearts of the people.

Of course, having a "granary" alone is not necessarily a good thing. As the so-called gentleman is not guilty, he is guilty. Without the corresponding force as a backing, no matter how good Cai Ji is at managing internal affairs, in the eyes of other princes, he is just a fish belly to be slaughtered. Fortunately, Cai Ji has recruited many famous generals and strategists over the years with his understanding of the historical process. So the princes who regarded Cai Ji as a fish belly ended up becoming the fish belly on her dinner plate.

Although Cai Yan did not experience entrepreneurship with Cai Ji, she is familiar with history books. Taking history as a mirror, many truths can naturally be understood at one point. Therefore, after listening to Cai Ji's confession, Cai Yan took the opportunity to ask him, "I don't know if the Marquis of Qi is a soft people or a heavy battle when he inspects Youzhou this time?" ”

"The soft people are the mainstay, and the preparation for war is supplemented." Cai Ji said without thinking.

Hearing that Cai Ji wanted to be in Youzhou Roumin as the main thing, supplemented by preparing for war, Cai Yan couldn't help but ask suspiciously, "Qi Hou wants a military tun?" ”

"That's what Lonely means." Cai Ji replied with a happy bow. It is said that you are not like Jizhou, where the people are prosperous and have abundant fields, these two states are not only sparsely populated but also threatened by foreigners all year round, so they are not suitable for promoting the uniform land system. On the contrary, due to the annexation of the two states, the Han people mostly lived around the city. Undoubtedly, the implementation of military cantonment is more in line with the actual situation on the ground.

However, the reason for Cai Ji's joy at this moment is not Juntun. In fact, there is no need for Cai Ji to issue a special order, and the civil and military forces under his command have already "recruited people to Tuntian to pay the army" in various important towns in Youzhou. Among them, the two largest tun houses are Yishui Port and Jinxi City.

Therefore, what really surprised Cai Ji was Cai Yan's shrewd and steady appearance. Due to the influence of historical books, Cai Ji has always preferred to invite Cai Yan to Longkou to edit classics for him. However, Cai Yan's sensitivity to politics just now greatly surprised Cai Ji. And Cai Ji is surrounded by a lack of a suitable same-sex staff. It must be known that Linglan is loyal, but after all, she is only a maidservant. Vision and knowledge are not enough to be alone. Duan Emei has outstanding martial arts and strategies. But since Cai Ji has handed over the spy organization to Duan Emei, he is in charge. Naturally, she can no longer be allowed to meddle in other important military and political affairs. Therefore, Cai Yan's appearance undoubtedly fills the vacancy around Cai Ji.

And just when Cai Ji was secretly re-evaluating Cai Yan's talent, he overheard Cao Pi report in a respectful manner outside the car, "Qi Hou, Longkou 600 miles urgent." ”

Hearing an urgent report from Longkou, Cai Ji immediately stopped the discussion about government affairs, and instead lifted the curtain and took the bucket containing the official document from Cao Pi's hand. and opened the seal in front of Cai Yan, took out the official document and read it quickly. Since Cai Yan did not know the use of stirrups and horseshoes, she did not know the meaning of the "Six Hundred Miles Emergency". However, through Cai Ji's solemn expression, Cai Yan could still feel that the thin page must contain extremely important information.

Sure enough, after a cursory sweep of the official documents. Cai Ji, who was sinking like water, slowly spit out a sentence and said, "Liu Jingsheng has passed away." ”

Cai Ji's voice was not light, so that Sun Quan, who was following the car on the left side, turned pale when he heard the news of Liu Biao's death. It is said that although Sun Quan has been traveling around with Cai Ji for many years, this does not mean that he does not understand the situation in the south. On the contrary, from the Four Alliances to the Battle of Xinye, Sun Quan has always been paying attention to the situation in Jingyang and Yang. Now that Liu Biao is dead and Liu Bei has fled to Changsha, Cao Cao's next soldier must be the Sun clan entrenched in Jiangdong. It is true that Sun Quan has always trusted Sun Ce, but when he thought that his brother and Gongjin were facing Cao Mengde, who was punishing Lu Bu and destroying Yuan Shao this time, the second son of Jiangdong was inevitably a little weak-hearted.

Compared with Sun Quan, who was nervous, Cao Pi was overjoyed at this time. In his opinion, as soon as Liu Biao died, how could the leaderless Jingzhou civil and military be his father's opponent. What's more, the head of Xiangyang City, far away in Jingzhou, may have already erected the banner of Caozi. However, the joy on Cao Pi's face did not last long. Because he soon noticed that Cai Ji did not seem to be happy for Cao Cao to take Jingzhou. Thinking of how dissatisfied the generals of Qi Ying were with Zhong Xuan's capture of Jinyang before, Cao Pi's mood suddenly turned from sunny to cloudy, and the smile on his face disappeared together.

The changes in Sun Quan and Cao Pi's expressions were all seen by Cai Yan. For these two young nobles who followed Qi Hou's left and right, Cai Yan was still quite interested. Sun Quan's initiative to stay in Qiying as the son of Jiangdong is already curious. And Cao Pi, who was given to Cai Ji by the Son of Heaven to marry, is like a proton in Cai Yan's opinion, and his identity is both embarrassing and pathetic. Just like Cao Pi at this moment, he obviously wanted to cheer for his father's capture of Jingzhou, but he had to take into account Cai Ji's attitude, so he finally had to restrain his smile and bow his head and remain silent. As far as Cai Yan has seen these days, although Cai Ji is not courteous to Cao Pi, he can be regarded as a favorite. Cao Pi himself is also cautious in his words and deeds in Qiying, and never ostentatious. But with the gradual expansion of the power of Cao and Cai, the two sides will meet each other one day, and how should the second son of Cao deal with himself at that time. Cai Ji will dispose of her little husband who has been with her for many years. Thinking that Cai Ji was a prince but still couldn't control his marriage, Cai Yan couldn't help but sigh faintly.

However, at this time, Cai Ji didn't have the energy to pay attention to Sun Quan and Cao Pi's mood, and at this time she was analyzing the situation in the south with reference to history in her mind. While the trajectory of history has changed much as a result of her intervention, some things do not seem to have fundamentally changed. Even if Liu Bei had five more years to recruit troops, he still couldn't make a move under Cao Cao. I don't know if he has asked Zhuge Liang to come out of the mountain now. Not to mention whether Liu Bei can make a comeback again, Sun Ce, who sits in Jiangdong, is more prestigious and warlike than Sun Quan in history. Can Sun Ce and Zhou Yu alone block Cao Cao's troops? Will Cao Cao take advantage of the victory and advance eastward as he did in the original history? Or will it stop after seizing the counties north of the Yangtze River?

From Cai Ji's standpoint, of course, she hoped that Cao Cao would fall as deep as possible in Jingyang and Jingyang. In this way, she would have enough time to digest the newly occupied three states of Hebei, You, and He. You must know that the foundation of Cai Ji's rule lies in her forward-looking strategy, and it is precisely by relying on this forward-looking Cai Ji that she can accumulate resources several times that of other princes. So the longer the peace, the better it will be for Cai Ji. As Jia Xu said, accumulation is the way for Cai Ji to be handsome. But Cao Cao is not Yuan Shao after all, after seeing the strength of the Qi army, how could Cao Cao let her Cai Ji continue to develop in the rear. (To be continued......)