Yangzhou, Wu County

The weather is getting colder, fortunately the south is not as cold as the north, even if it is the end of the year, the ground has not frozen to death, the scorching sun is shining, bringing a trace of warmth to the people working on the ground, inside and outside the county, countless people are busy, many of them are the people of Yangzhou, in the busy farming season, Cao Cao did not use them, but now, most of the people have nothing to be busy with, Cao Cao also let them help together.

On the other side, there is a group of captives, these people are wearing clothes that can barely cover their bodies, working here, these are all prisoners taken from overseas, around them, there are soldiers to guard, so that they can not escape, under the intense labor, these people are almost paralyzed, difficult to move their feet, numbly waving the tools in their hands, but they dare not stop for a moment.

The soldiers who patrolled around were also staring at them coldly, so that they did not have any chance to relax, as long as they dared to relax, they would eat a severe meal head-on, since they were caught, they began to dig the canal, during this period, they were killed a lot, they were tired to death, in short, the life was very hard, and the food they got every day was only enough to fill their stomachs.

It can be said that now Cao Cao's methods for them, even if Dong Zhuo saw it in the past, he was afraid that he would tremble, he was not so ruthless, in some aspects, Cao Cao can be said to be more ruthless than Dong Zhuo, and now in Cao Cao's eyes, he can only dig the canal earlier and complete the great cause in his heart, as for how many lives are needed to complete this great cause, he doesn't care at all.

The people who were working often went to peek at the captives and showed pity to them, compared to these captives, the treatment of the people was really good, not only free meals, but also some subsidies, the people were not so resistant to work, compared to the poor worms on the other side, they should be content.

However, for Cao Cao's use of these laborers, the officials in Yangzhou are very opposed, including frustration, they probably feel that Cao Cao's behavior is not in line with benevolence, but for Cao Cao, who is a Situ, they have no way to dissuade, or block, frustration and dissuasion many times, Cao Cao also avoided it, did not care about his ideas at all, only wanted to complete it earlier.

Cao Cao was discussing the next goal with a few henchmen and officials, and the angry frustration came over, he frowned, the anger was directly on his face, and the surrounding soldiers did not dare to stop him, he walked directly into this small pavilion, Cao Cao raised his head with a smile, looked at the officials around him, and said: "These copywriters, you have to send them in person, remember, carefully observe their progress, I need to report truthfully!" ”

The officials nodded, each left, this time the excavation of the canal, is carried out in the entire Yangzhou at the same time, Cao Cao these days, running around, almost never stopped, this is also the reason why the frustration has not been able to see him for a long time, ordered these officials, Cao Cao turned around, saw the frustration in front of him, and said with a smile: "Frustrated!" I haven't seen you for a long time, I miss it so much, and today I finally got to see each other!! ”

Fu Zhu didn't pay attention to Cao Cao's enthusiasm, frowned, and said, "In these six days, nearly a thousand people have died!" Cao Mengde, Cao Mengde, thousands of people have died in our county alone! Are you going to take their lives to fill this canal??! Hearing the frustrated words, Cao Cao was also a little surprised, and hurriedly asked, "How many Yangzhou people died??" ”

Frustrated, he shook his head and said, "The people of Yangzhou are fine, but..."

"Come, sit. Sit..."Cao Cao pulled him, and the two sat down.

"Frustrated... In the past year, nearly half of the Yangzhou Canal has been dug by me... Of course, I don't need to say much about this, but you must know that Xing Gong, who is far away in Liangzhou, also started construction like me, but so far, he has not even completed the gallop in a county... How did I get to this point? Cao Cao asked with a smile, and said with some annoyance: "That's because you treat people as livestock!" ”

"Oh? Person?? Cao Cao was stunned for a moment, and asked with a smile: "Fu Gong, I am Situ of the Han Dynasty, and the survival of the people in the Han Dynasty is under my jurisdiction, and those outside the Han Dynasty are not under my control.. How they are, that's their thing... As long as I can treat the people in this Han territory as human beings... That's it.."

"Cao Mengde... Even if they are prisoners of war, why do you persecute them so much? Even if you don't pay attention to it, at least you can't force them to death! If they're all dead, who's going to build the canal?? ”

"No, You Jun has already set off to arrest someone..."Cao Cao smiled and shook his head.

Frustrated Professor looked at him helplessly and said, "Cao Gong has also read the sage book, how can he do such a thing?" What he said was to educate the people, so why didn't he do it like this? ”

"Frustrated !!" Cao Cao said solemnly: "Do you believe that if you change positions and let them catch our people, they will be even more ruthless... There will be no chance of survival at all!! ”

He nodded, and said with the same seriousness, "I know, they will." ”

"You may be scolding me in your heart, not for the sake of the people, but worrying about some foreign captives, who are corrupt people... However, Mengde, I want you to know that my people of China, since the enlightenment and enlightenment, are good people, and many of us are sages, based on benevolence and righteousness, the people are simple, and the son of heaven is benevolent!! ”

"But now it's different, they are all defenseless and weak, I don't want your actions like this to change the benevolent heart of my big man, and make my people tyrannical and cruel, just like them!!"

Hearing the frustrated words, Cao Cao couldn't help but laugh, he couldn't help it.

"Hahaha!!" Cao Cao laughed loudly, his face gradually turned blue and black, and he asked, "Cao Gong??" Is there anything wrong with what I said?? Cao Cao stopped laughing abruptly, and slowly approached Frustration, his eyes were exceptionally cold, "Frustrated... The First Emperor did not rely on benevolence and righteousness to unify the countries, and my Taizu, Taizong, and Shizu Emperor did not rely on benevolence and righteousness to make the Han Dynasty strong... This world, in Cao's view, is just the law of the jungle...."

"When the Han is so powerful, if you don't eat more meat... But I am afraid that in the future, someone will come and eat our flesh..."

"The frustrated mansion is kind-hearted, as a great sage, with the wind of the world, Cao admires, but unfortunately, Cao can't learn... Does he want to eat meat, or do he want to be treated as meat? ”

Frustrated Professor stood up in horror, looked at the person in front of him, only felt terrifying, stretched out his hand, pointed at Cao Cao, but he was speechless, seeing Frustrated Professor like this, Cao Cao felt funny, couldn't help laughing again, the coldness of Fang Cai, suddenly disappeared, it seems, Cao Cao is still the humorous black short old man, there is no difference, but Frustrated Professor's gaze has long been different.

The person sitting in front of him, just let him see his heart, just a glance, but it brought him endless fear, this person seems to be not afraid of anything, nothing is afraid, in his heart, from beginning to end, only his own ambitions, other than that, everything will not enter his eyes, looking at the frustration, Cao Cao laughed, and asked: "I see, at the latest next year, most of the canals in Yangzhou will be completed, and the next step, I am going to Jingzhou... The rest of the things here still have to worry about Your Excellency. ”

Frustrated without a word, he shuddered, and turned to leave.

Cao Cao shook his head and continued to look at his map.

Cao Cao didn't know that his actions in Yangzhou had already caused a sensation in the entire Luoyang, during the Jianning period, Dong Zhuo was insulted by the courtiers because of the harsh treatment of the captives, and now, Cao Cao is far beyond Dong Zhuo, his cruelty to the captives is almost a situation that has never appeared in the Han Dynasty, for the talents of the Han Dynasty, this approach is very excessive, they are all Confucian scholars who govern Confucianism, with a benevolent heart in their hearts.

Cao Cao is different, he reads Confucian classics, and he acts, but he is more ruthless than Legalism.

The ministers of the court and the central government impeached Cao Cao's behavior, these plays, so that Liu Xi did not dare to go out easily, fortunately, Empress Lu was pregnant, Liu Xi also took advantage of this excuse, hiding in the palace, and was not ready to deal with this matter, of course, it could not be left like this, in the end, the matter still fell into the hands of Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi, the Son of Heaven asked them to be responsible for handling the matter.

Most of the courtiers knew that Liu Sikong was a benevolent and righteous person, and they were also extremely happy to hear that it was handed over to him to deal with, thinking that Situ would definitely make concessions.

In Sikong Mansion, Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, and Sima Yi sat together.

"The queen is pregnant, Your Majesty is a father for the first time, and it is inconvenient to disturb all the affairs of the court and the central government, and the three of us will handle the affairs of the commonplace... I have to worry about the two of you..."Liu Bei said with a smile, but Sima Yi shook his head and said: "Before and Sikong, we are all juniors, and we dare not discuss this matter with Sikong.

Hearing Sima Yi's words, Liu Bei smiled and said, "No, both of them are rare heroes of my big man, if you don't participate, I don't have the ability to make a decision..."

"Since there is an order, we will definitely not dare to disobey."

The two were chatting, but Zhuge Liang seemed a little impatient, he didn't like these doorways, Liu Bei easily saw Zhuge Liang's thoughts, so he said directly: "Kong Ming, Zhong Da, Cao Gong's matter, I think you have also learned that Yangzhou dug a canal, a total of more than 400 people were killed, wounded and captured... It's really shocking to the temple...", Liu Bei said, but said helplessly: "However, I heard that the matter is not as they said..."

"When those people were caught, they were not accustomed to the soil and water, so they suffered from diseases, and many people were killed and wounded..."

Hearing Liu Bei's words, Sima Yi mostly understood what he meant, but Zhuge Liang said seriously: "Xuande Gong, I think, should you still send some people to go to the local area to see the situation there in person?" ”

"Kong Ming's words are reasonable... However, Kong Ming, now, the temples are busy, I am busy with the affairs of science, and you are also busy with official and academic affairs, who can go and take a look? ”

"But, Xuande Gong, after all, the matter there involves human life..."Zhuge Liang frowned, he was about to continue, but Liu Bei stood up and said solemnly: "What Kong Ming said, I understand it in my heart, and I am also very sad when I hear that those laborers have suffered heavy casualties... I wish I could help them now, but... I didn't have much use in the past... It's useless to punish Sikong!! ”

"Those who work don't need our condolences and visits, they don't need us to punish Sikong, they need change, they need doctors... In this way, I will personally find a doctor to help them solve the problem of adaptation... In addition, Cao Situ, I am also ready to play to Your Majesty, and ask Your Majesty to issue an edict, asking him to heal these laborers, control the disease, and not let the disease spread everywhere..."

"You say, 'Is that okay?' After Liu Bei finished speaking, he looked at them and asked.

The corners of Sima Yi's mouth moved, nodded, and said, "Respectfully." ”

Zhuge Liang looked at Liu Bei for a long time, and then nodded helplessly.