It didn't take long for the potatoes to be stewed until they were fragrant, and his wife and Xiahou Juan chopped up the cleaned wild vegetables and put them in the pot. After waiting a few more minutes, the pot was brought off the stove. At this time, the porridge was also boiled, and the wife put three small bowls in a wooden bowl and placed them on the table.

Xiahou Yuan looked at the potatoes in the pot and asked in a low voice, "How can there be potatoes in the woods?" ”

Xiahou said crisply: "My mother and I secretly planted it in it, not only did we do this, but many people in the city secretly planted some by the river and in the woods. ”

Xiahou Yuan couldn't help but sigh when he heard this, he reached out and touched the horns on his adopted daughter's head, and said, "This is a violation of the official decree, don't you know?" ”

The wife said dissatisfiedly: "If it weren't for these secretly planted grains, the family would have starved to death a long time ago!" Feudal official? What government? I don't think it's as good as ......."

"Smack!"

Xiahou Yuan slapped the table and said angrily: "Shut up!" Do you dare to say such a thing? ”

"Father .....", Xiahou Juan said timidly: "But if you don't do this, you really don't have anything to eat!" ”

The anger on Xiahou Yuan's face suddenly froze, he looked up to the sky and sighed, pushed the porridge in front of him in front of his wife, and said, "You don't understand, the lord is doing great things, and doing great things will inevitably require sacrifices............

Speaking of this, Xiahou Yuan couldn't go on, he sighed again, the expression on his face softened, and Wen Yan said to his wife: "You are working too hard at home, you should drink these porridges." ”

His wife's eyes turned red, she snorted, and said, "You finally came back, and I will give you a drink." ”

Xiahou Yuan smiled: "I'll wait for the next time I go back to the barracks to eat, won't this save a meal?" ”

His wife couldn't resist him, so she took the porridge and ate it in small bites. Eating and eating, tears kept dripping into the bowl. The son was drinking porridge happily, and when he saw this situation, he was stunned, and then reluctantly pushed the porridge in front of him, and said in a milky voice: "Mother, don't cry, I'll give you the porridge to drink." ”

Xiahou Yuan's expression darkened, and he forced a smile: "Okay, why did you cry all of a sudden?" ”

The wife hugged her son and cried, "When will this kind of day be the end?" I'm not afraid of hardship, but I can't let my daughter and son go hungry all the time! ”

Xiahou Yuan said in a sullen voice: "It's soon, when Liu Bei is defeated, life will be better!"

When the people of Xuchang were filling their hunger with potatoes dug up from the fields, in the city of Xuxian County, Liu Bei was also gnawing potatoes with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. However, instead of boiling them, they roast the potatoes on the fire to a golden appearance, then peel off the skin, and then gently bite into it, and the rich aroma immediately fills the entire mouth, making people feel that this moment is extremely happy.

Liu Bei, who was tasting potatoes, was suddenly stunned, he watched Zhang Fei gnaw the potatoes with the skin, and couldn't help but feel a little distressed, "There are still a lot of potatoes in the granary, and the third brother will go and get a few more to bake and eat." ”

Zhang Fei ate a lot of food, and when he had two baked potatoes, he didn't eat enough at all, but felt even more hungry. But he waved his hand and said, "When you're full, you can eat more!" ”

Liu Bei was silent for a long time, and then said: "When you go to Guangling, kill Zhenrong immediately!" ”

Zhang Fei was overjoyed when he heard this, and shouted: "I would have asked my eldest brother to kill that guy a long time ago!" Zhenrong believed in the god Hu, brutalized the people, robbed so much gold, but used it to smear the body of the clay puppet, what is it to not kill such a foolish person? ”

A few days later, Liu Bei left Guan Yu to guard the city, and he took Chen to arrive, and Zhang Fei escaped by taking advantage of the night. Although Cao Jun was alarmed, he couldn't catch up with him in the night, and was surrounded by Liu Bei with a small number of elites. When he arrived in Guangling, Liu Bei and Chen Qi and Chen Deng's father and son were angry, and then killed Zhenrong, who was robbing business travelers and mutilating the people in the name of offering to the Buddha, and copied his family assets for military use.

Those believers were also incorporated into the army, either to transport grain and grass, or to be sent to various places to defend the city.

On the battlefield of Xuzhou, Cao Caojun and Liu Beijun were like two huge monsters, endlessly devouring everything around them, whether it was money, food or population, they were thrown into the meat grinder-like battlefield, turning into the lubricant of the war machine, and creating more blood and desolation.

It was because of Liu Bei who withstood Cao Cao in Xuzhou that Chen Cheng was able to develop calmly in Guanzhong, and clean up the situation from Hongnong to Luoyang and the annexation of Zhou. A lot of potatoes and sweet potatoes were also harvested in Guanzhong, but most of them were eaten by the people and soldiers, and the government only collected less than one million stones, and then transported them to the neighboring state for Zhao Yun to recruit the displaced people.

Every time he thought of Liu Bei fighting alone in Xuzhou, Chen Cheng felt a little guilty. But he had no other good way but to provide some support to Liu Bei through the Nanyang-Jingzhou-Yangzhou-Xuzhou road. But those things can be heard at most in a war of hundreds of thousands of people, and they will be consumed cleanly in a short time.

On this day, after being pestered by Liu Qian for a long time, Chen Cheng still came to Weiyang Palace, ready to deal with various things. As soon as he sat down in his chair, Bao Zhu brought up a wooden box.

"What is this?"

Chen Cheng had already smelled the stench of corruption, and he already knew what was inside, but he didn't know who this head was. There was a seal on the box, and Bao Chu, of course, didn't know whose head was inside, he shook his head and didn't speak.

"Okay, I once gave Song Jian's head to He Jin, Yang Feng later gave Dong Zhuo's head to me, and now someone has sent his head over." Chen Cheng complained: "Could it be that everyone is not interested in giving brain platinum these days, but instead giving away heads?" ”

Having said that, he jumped open the seal with his dagger and opened the box. The box was opened, and the stench of corruption became even stronger. Chen Cheng looked inside the box and saw Gao Shun's calm face.

"..........", Chen Cheng closed his eyes, was silent for a while, then opened his eyes and said in a low voice: "If the crockpot is not broken from the well, the general will inevitably die in battle." General Gao Shun, I didn't expect to be sent over by your head! ”

His voice was a little sad and a little sentimental. Originally, among the generals under Lu Bu's command, there were many brave and good fighters, but in addition to Zhang Liao, there was only Gao Shun who could take charge alone. Chen Cheng was still ready to wait for time, so he would transfer Gao Shun back and let him be the leader of the "trapped camp".

But who knew that when I said goodbye outside Chang'an City that day, when I said goodbye, it was already yin and yang!

That time it was for Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and them, and Gao Shun was also on the banquet. It's just that Gao Shun is silent and hasn't talked much with him. Now that I think about it, Gao Shun is silently drinking in the corner of the main hall, as if he is still in front of him.

Chen Cheng closed the wooden box and opened the letter written by Cao Cao. The letter contains the words that Gao Shun said before his death, and at the end, Cao Cao wrote, "When a man is about to die, his words are also good." Although he was an enemy general, he was loyal and brave, so he sent his head to Chang'an'er. ”

"Cao Mengde .......", he pondered for a moment, the feelings in his heart were very complicated, Cao Cao dug the embankment, flooded Pi, killed hundreds of people, and committed the crime of slaughtering the city many times, but Chen Cheng just wanted to kill him, but he still couldn't hate him, "Probably, it's because this person still has some heroism!" ”

Cao Cao is naturally brutal and unkind, but compared to Lu Bu and people like Dong Zhuo, Cao Cao is already a hero. But if it is compared with Liu Bei, it is too far behind. It's a pity that this world is not won by good character. Although Cao Cao was brutal, he was able to extract maximum resources for war. Liu Bei was kind-hearted, but he was defeated again and again.

Sent over with Gao Shun's head, there was also Liu Bei's letter asking for help. Through the words on the letter, the rich smell of blood seemed to come out. After Chen Cheng read it, he thought for a long time and shouted to the outside of the hall: "Someone! ”

The guards walked in and asked, "What do you command?" ”

"Serve the order........ There are also Chinese book orders called over! ”

After a while, Jia Wenhe, who was next door, walked in, bowed his hand and said, "Lord." ”

Chen Cheng said: "Brother Xuande can't support it in Xuzhou, we need to move." ”

Jia Xu said: "But we are not fully prepared, is it too early to do it now?" The grain around Luoyang has not yet been harvested, which is not enough to support the dispatch of the army. If too few troops are invested, it will only startle the snake, but it will not be able to deal a fatal blow to Cao Cao! The main army has always planned and then moved, why did it do the opposite this time?

The tooth soldiers have not all been withdrawn from the state, so why not wait until after the autumn harvest? At that time, the food and grass were sufficient, and the soldiers had been trimmed, and it was time to go out to fight! ”

Chen Cheng pointed to the wooden box on the table and said, "Cao Cao sent Gao Shun's head over, if I don't move it again, I don't know whose head it will be sent next time." Draw 400,000 yuan from the inner family, use it to buy grain from Zhang Yang, Liu Biao, Liu Miao and others, and then squeeze out some grain from Guanzhong and Xiliang, which can support 20,000 soldiers and horses for a month or two. ”

Jia Xu objected: "Although the minister is not as good at using troops as the lord, he also knows the truth of anticipating the enemy and being lenient. What if Cao Cao can't be defeated within two months? This matter needs to be considered in the long run! ”

Chen Cheng said: "I will convene the civil and military officials to discuss, now I will talk to you first, take some money out, and solve part of the food problem first." ”

Jia Xu still objected, and said: "Soldiers, the country's major affairs are also!" How could the lord send troops because he cared about the lives of Liu Bei and others? This is not the work of a wise man! ”

At this time, there was no one else in the hall, so Jia Xu was no longer the silent and low-key appearance in front of everyone, but fiercely opposed. Seeing that he was so strongly opposed, Chen Cheng also had to reveal some information to him, "If you want to defeat Cao Cao within two months, you have to have an army of 100,000." But you don't have to do it yourself to fight a war, you can also rely on the strength of others. ”

Jia Xu is a smart person, and he quickly thought of something, so he asked, "But do you want to contact the scholars of Yanzhou and Haoqiang to do things together?" ”