The autumn was crisp, and Guo Jia came to Guanghan County under the escort of Xiao Ren, Xiao Yi and a hundred guards.

From Guo Jia's departure from Chengdu, there was a Qin family's eyeliner to convey the news back to Guanghan County, and when Guo Jia arrived, the Guanghan clan became nervous again, and learned that Guo Jia only brought a hundred personal guards, and relaxed his vigilance a little, but still sent someone to secretly investigate what Guo Jia wanted.

The foundation of the Qin family is actually in Mianzhu, but when Guo Jia's army went south, he rested in Mianzhu, and the Qin family temporarily retreated to Ye County.

After inquiring about Qin Mi's residence, Guo Jia dismounted in front of a mansion with a very grand façade, and the guards watched the pedestrians around them vigilantly at intervals of three steps.

In broad daylight, the door of Qin Mi's house was tightly closed, Guo Jia asked Xiao Ren to knock on the door, but Xiao Ren returned in vain, not only did the Qin family not open the door, but even a messenger was not sent out to send Guo Jia, as if the house in front of Guo Jia was empty.

The crowd of onlookers saw that Guo Jia had eaten the closed-door soup, and they all showed a playful look to see how Guo Jia responded.

Guo Jia, who always looked indifferent, stood by the door outside the house, and no longer asked people to knock on the door, just stood by the door, closed his eyes and recuperated.

Xiao Ren and Xiao Yi didn't get Guo Jia's order, so they didn't dare to act rashly, they just glanced at the door of the mansion and secretly became angry: The Qin family, what a big shelf.

Guo Jia didn't believe that the Qin family didn't know that he was coming, so he came to Qin Mi's house, and Qin Mi must have known that Guo Jia was looking for him.

But even if Qin Mi wanted to see Guo Jia, he couldn't open the door of the mansion so grandly and invite Guo Jia in, because he wanted to give the clans a posture of antagonism to Guo Jia.

The mystery in this, Guo Jia and Qin Mi should be tacitly acknowledged, so Guo Jia stood outside the gate of the mansion and waited, not the humble gesture of pretending to be a corporal of Lixian as passers-by guessed, which would only make others despised, because Guo Jia's identity has not yet reached the point where he can make the scholars and nobles grateful.

From near noon to the end of the day, Guo Jia never moved, closed his eyes and said nothing, the Qin family never opened the door of the mansion, seeing that the sky was about to darken, Xiao Yi came forward and said to Guo Jia: "Lord, let's go back, it's dark." ”

"Let them all eat and fill their stomachs, and leave me alone."

Guo Jia was still standing in place after speaking, and Xiao Yi reluctantly walked back and asked the guards to eat some dry food to satisfy their hunger.

For a whole day and a night, Guo Jia stood outside the gate of Qin Mi's mansion, sleepless all night, if he visited the virtuous and sought talents, his sincerity would be enough to move others, but Guo Jia and the Qin family were two opposite parties, Guo Jia stood quietly outside the mansion all day, at most, it was just to let the Qin family not gain an inch.

The next morning, the door of Qin Mi's house finally opened, and Qin Mi, who was not looking good and slightly tired, stretched out his hand to Guo Jia with a wry smile and said, "General, please." ”

Get off the horse, the Qin family has already given it, and with this step, Qin Mi can have an open contact with Guo Jia.

Stretching his muscles, Guo Jia raised a smile, refreshed, and did not walk towards Qin Mi's house, but also stretched out his hand to Qin Mi and said, "Today, I want to take a walk with Zi Meng in Guanghan County." ”

After Guo Jia stepped on the flaming horse, Xiao Ren brought a horse for Qin Mi to ride on, Guo Jia and Qin Mi rode side by side and slowly left, followed by Guo Jia's personal guards.

After leaving Ye County and heading north along the field road, Guo Jia saw Qin Mi's depressed appearance, and asked with a smile: "Could it be that Zi Mian didn't rest last night?" ”

Qin Miqiang cheered up, rode on his horse and nodded: "The general has not slept all night outside the mansion, and he didn't dare to ignore this intention, so he had to read it at night in the mansion." ”

Talking between smart people is to save trouble, this show is to be shown to the Qin family, to be shown to the Guanghan clan, Qin Mi guessed what Guo Jia meant when he learned that Guo Jia was turned away but did not leave.

The farmers in the fields are busy with the autumn harvest, there are no natural disasters this year, and when Guo Jia's army went south, he also repeatedly ordered not to disturb the people and not to trample on the farmland, so this year's harvest is still very impressive, it can be regarded as a bumper harvest year.

"Do you know why I quickly sent people to surrender the counties after I took Chengdu?" Looking at the peasants who worked in the fields at dawn, Guo Jia sighed secretly.

After cheering up, Qin Mi said casually: "In the autumn harvest season, the general must have to let the counties be attached before the arrival of winter, so that the grain reserves can be filled. ”

This is the most fundamental reason, Guo Jia's lifeblood is in the army, the lifeblood of the army is in the military rations, and the reason why he quickly sent troops to the counties to make the fourteen counties in the north of Yizhou submit after entering Chengdu is that in addition to the needs of the rule, it is fundamentally for food.

Looking at Qin Mi, Guo Jia smiled lightly: "Today, Zijian will take a look at the scene of the autumn harvest in Guanghan County, with a rich harvest, presumably the people of Guanghan County can also spend the winter in peace, and look forward to the next year will also be a bumper harvest year." ”

couldn't guess what Guo Jia was thinking, Qin Mi didn't ask, and followed Guo Jia around Guanghan County.

Until the end of the day, after turning a big circle and returning to the outside of Ye County, Guo Jia grabbed the reins, and asked softly in front of Qin Mi, who was puzzled: "Zi Meng, this time, you and I have walked around the counties of Guanghan County, may I ask, how many farmers do you think there are in Guanghan County?" ”

After lowering his head and thinking for a while, Qin Mi said uncertainly according to his guess: "It should be at least sixty or seventy thousand." ”

Guo Jia pretended to be surprised and said: "That's strange, in the household registration that Guanghan Taishou reported to Chengdu, I roughly calculated, there are only more than 60,000 households in Guanghan, and less than 40,000 farmers, but why do you come up with an answer of 60,000 or 70,000?" ”

Sixty or seventy thousand or Qin Mi didn't dare to make a bold guess, and now he finally understood what Guo Jia meant when he saw him.

Revealing a bitter smile, Qin Mi shook his head and said nothing.

Which powerful wealthy family in the whole world is not a private farmer, and concealing it is for their own interests, not to mention Guanghan County, and this is the case in all counties.

Putting away the deliberate surprise he pretended, Guo Jia asked Qin Mi another question.

"Zi Meng, the Han family is declining, and the world is declining, in your opinion, why?"

Qin Mi was able to answer this question in a straight way.

"The first emperor was deaf, the dynasty was [***], annihilated the ministers and seized power, and poisoned the world. And if today's son is young, the national thief Dong Zhuo stole from the Dragon Court, perversely, the common people are in trouble, the disasters are endless, the Central Plains is in flames, the people's hearts are in turmoil, and the world is uneasy. ”

Qin Mi really dared to tell the truth, and he could open his mouth to spit out words of disrespect to Emperor Han Ling, Guo Jia was very pleased, at least Qin Mi did not perfunctory him.

Turning his head to look at Qin Mi, Guo Jia stared at him with burning eyes and asked, "In Zi Mi's heart, am I also a thief?" ”

When Qin Mi heard this, he smiled bitterly, lowered his head and said in a low voice: "As far as the matter is concerned, the general has not committed any crimes in capturing Yizhou and Minqiu, the strict military discipline is admirable, there is no reckless sword killing, and there is no arrogance and extravagance, the general is indeed a thief to the princes of the world, but for the people of Yizhou, the general's temporary behavior is far stronger than that of Liu Yan." ”

This comment is very pertinent, to the princes of the world, that is, to the Han family, Guo Jia is a traitor, but for the people, Guo Jia is still a good ruler for the time being.

With Qin Mi's words, Guo Jia can continue to talk about it.

"Zi Meng, the previous question, your answer may be that the scholars of the world will say the same thing, the emperor is mediocre, the courtiers are annihilated, the upper beam is not right, the lower beam is crooked, but I want to ask, the Son of Heaven is high above the temple, how can he know whether the people everywhere are doing well? If the Son of Heaven wants the people to live and work in peace and contentment, who should he let do? In my eyes, Dong Zhuo is not qualified enough to really make the world chaotic, but the wealthy families in various places are enough to make the country chaotic. ”

Qin Mi showed a solemn expression, looked at Guo Jia inquiringly, and motioned for Guo Jia to continue.

Looking at the farmers who were busy in the fields from morning to night, Guo Jia said lightly: "A family of five, no less than two servants, ploughing in spring and summer, harvesting in autumn and hiding in winter, serving as conscripts, not sheltering from wind and dust in spring, not sheltering from heat and heat in summer, not sheltering from rain in autumn, and not avoiding cold and freezing in winter. In the past, agriculture was divided into three grades, the upper agricultural resources accumulated huge millions, the secondary agricultural self-sufficient industry, not to the people, the lower farmers had no inch of land, all to the people. At this time, son, can you tell me how many people are still farmers? Is it a sub-farmer? ”

Qin Mi showed a look of struggle on his face, he couldn't answer, the wealthy family with thousands of acres of fertile land is difficult to fill, and will always try to merge the fields in the hands of the people into his own pocket, and the people who are forced to be desperate can only become the labor of the wealthy family, and their fate is completely in the hands of the wealthy family.

Guo Jiaze came to Qin Mi's side, stretched out his hand to hold his forearm, and said with a sad face: "Most of the people are illiterate, they don't understand the great principle of governing the country and leveling the world, and they don't care who is the Son of Heaven, who is the pillar of the country, who is the thief of the country, the Yellow Turban Rebellion, there are righteous armies in response to Zhang Jiao in the eight states, and no less than a million people have risen up before and after, do these millions of people know who they should overthrow?" Do they really know what the Son of Heaven above the temple has done? Do they really have a deep understanding of who is beneficial to the country and who is harmful to the country? Zi Xun, you can regard me as a careerist, a traitor who wants to steal the country and usurp his name, but if I Guo Jia wants to rise and reign over the world, I will win the hearts of the people, no matter how big the country is, it is not as big as the hearts of the people, no matter how strong the scholars are, they are not as strong as the people of the world, and the truth that the righteous and the unrighteous are not helped, you understand better than me, I Guo Jia is to win the hearts of the people in the world, not to cater to the people of the Shi clan and the people to oppress the people. ”

Qin Mi gritted his teeth and trembled uncontrollably, and Guo Jia's hand holding his arm made him feel heavy.

The world is the world of the people.

The heart of man is the heart of the people.

Looking at Guo Jia, Qin Mi struggled.

If you protect the interests of the family, isn't it oppressing the people in disguise? What is the use of reading the books of the sages?