The loss of Lishi County did not have a great impact on the defense deployment of the entire Cao Wei militarily, but it had a profound impact on the Cao Wei in terms of economy and politics, breaking the calm between the Han and Wei dynasties for nearly two years and causing the war atmosphere between the two countries to escalate suddenly.

More than half a year ago, the turmoil caused by the conflict in Nanyang caused the price of rice in Yedu to triple the price of rice, but due to the reconciliation between the two sides, the price of rice soon fell again.

But this time the Han army crossed the Yellow River and occupied Xihe County, Bingzhou, which also dealt a heavy blow to the economy of Yedu, and the news spread to Yedu, and the price of rice in Yedu rose from 120 yuan to 300 yuan of rice overnight, causing panic in the Yedu market, and hundreds of thousands of people in Yedu poured into various rice shops from all directions to buy grain, which triggered a rare rush of rice in Yedu, and plunged the entire Yedu city into turmoil.

The streets were full of people rushing to buy food and various daily necessities, most of the shops were closed, and the market boom caused by the free trade between the Han and Wei dynasties was like a bubble, and the Yedu market was beaten back to its original shape.

Groups of Tiger Guards and Yedu City Defense Soldiers patrolled the streets, constantly catching thieves who took risks and robbed houses.

Zhang Liao served as the governor of Yedu Jiumen, in charge of the defense of Yedu, he commanded 12,000 troops, all of which have been sent to maintain order in the city, Zhang Liao rode on a war horse, led 300 cavalry to patrol all parts of Yedu.

Song Xian, the general next to him, sighed in a low voice: "I don't understand, why as soon as there is a disturbance, Yedu falls into turmoil, grabbing food and goods everywhere, on the contrary, Chang'an is very calm when I hear it, and it is not affected at all, which is incomprehensible!" ”

Zhang Liao also sighed and said: "Freezing three feet, not a day's cold, for more than ten years, the Cao army has been defeated by the Han army, which has already caused the confidence of the Wei people to lose everything, so as soon as there is a war, everyone will think that it must be the defeat of the Cao army and the pursuit of peace, so it is not surprising that there is such turmoil." ”

As soon as he said this, a shout broke out in the distance, Zhang Liao was stunned, and looked at the shout, only to see countless people running towards the same place with pocket baskets, he also realized that something was wrong, and urged the war horse to order: "Follow me!" ”

He led three hundred cavalry to run towards the shouting place, and after running hundreds of steps, he could see clearly that it was a grain shop near the Beiyuan Bridge that was out of control, and the guys at the grain store couldn't stop the angry crowd, and countless people rushed into the grain shop to grab grain, causing great chaos.

The grain shop was close to the river, many people were squeezed into the river, shouting for help, the cry shook the sky, Zhang Liao saw that the shape was in danger, and said to the general Song Xian: "Go and transfer a thousand troops immediately, go quickly!" ”

Song Xian immediately turned his horse's head and ran towards the city gate, while Zhang Liao led three hundred cavalry to rush to the grain store, rushed to the street closest to the grain store, and intercepted the large number of people who poured into the grain store.

Zhang Liao was furious, he saw a man standing on the wall shouting, holding a torch in his hand, as if to set fire to the house, Zhang Liao immediately pulled out an arrow, pulled the bow like the moon, and shot an arrow at the man on the wall, the arrow hit the man's left chest, the man screamed, and fell into the river.

At this time, the general Song Xian led two thousand soldiers to rush to the army, the army rushed into the grain shop, arrest the people who robbed the grain, as early as the arrival of Zhang Liao's cavalry, many of the grain robbers saw that the situation was not good, they had quietly fled, most of the people in the grain shop did not grab the food, he ignored the risk, desperately shouted and crowded.

It wasn't until the soldiers of the Cao Army Brigade arrived that they finally stopped the rush of grain in the grain shop, nearly 1,000 men and women were arrested, squatting all over the ground, and the people who fell into the river were also rescued, although the Cao Army stopped the grain grabbing, but more than 20 people died, most of them were trampled to death, mainly the elderly and women, and the corpses were all over the place.

Zhang Liao saw that one of them was blurred and different, so he pointed at it with a horsewhip and asked, "Who is this?" ”

One of the men replied, "This is our proprietor, beaten to death by the mob!" ”

Another man next to him said angrily: "It was your temporary price increase that angered everyone, and the grain robbery incident occurred." ”

The man explained to Zhang Liaoshi: "General Zhang, the price of rice is 300 yuan for rice this morning, and it has risen to 350 yuan for rice at noon. ”

Zhang Liao was stunned, "You know me?" ”

The man replied: "The humble post is Liao Jing, the secretary of the Ministry of War, and I have seen the general!" ”

Zhang Liao suddenly said angrily: "Since you are an official of Yedu, you didn't stop the grain grabbing, and you still participated in the grain grabbing, can you know your crime?" ”

The man shook his head and said: "The lowly duty did not participate in the grain robbery, today happened to be on shift, and I rushed to buy rice, and I happened to encounter this grain robbery turmoil, and the lowly duty also tried his best to stop it, but it couldn't be stopped at all, the lowly position just wanted to say that these people were good people, and they were forced to be helpless, and I hope the general will forgive them." ”

Hundreds of people wept and begged: "General, there are old and young people in our family to feed, and there is no way!" The general will spare us! ”

Zhang Liao saw that these people were all frightened and pitiful, and they didn't look like evil workers, so he sighed in his heart and ordered left and right: "Take back the grain, and people can let it go." ”

Song Xian next to him was startled, and hurriedly reminded Zhang Liao in a low voice, "The general let them go, I'm afraid it will be difficult to send them to Wei!" ”

Zhang Liao sighed, "It's not their fault, why blame these poor people again, I will explain it to Duke Wei." ”

Everyone kowtowed in gratitude, handed over the food, and left to go home, Zhang Liao ordered the dead corpses to be gathered, waiting for their families to collect them, Zhang Liao turned the horse's head again, and galloped towards the Tongque Palace.

Zhang Liao rode to the front of the Tongque Palace, but saw a carriage slowly stopping in front of the palace gate, and the military advisor Zhong Xuan got down from the car, Zhang Liao hurriedly shouted: "Zhong Junshi!" ”

Zhong Xuan turned around and saw that it was Zhang Liao shouting to himself, so he stopped, and when Zhang Liao ran to his eyes, he laughed and said, "Why is General Zhang so anxious? ”

Zhang Liao bowed and asked, "Is the military advisor going to see Duke Wei?" ”

"Exactly, Duke Wei summoned us to discuss the current situation, can the general go with us?"

Cao Cao did not summon Zhang Liao to go, and Zhang Liao did not dare to leave his post without authorization, so he said to Zhong Xuan: "Since the military advisor is going to see the Duke of Wei, please tell the Duke of Wei that the situation in the city is tense now, and the people are panicking, and there have been three incidents of robbery of shops. ”

Zhong Xuan nodded, "I will build a yì with Duke Wei, but Duke Wei will definitely find the general to inquire about the situation, and the general should not go far." ”

"I understand, and I will wait here."

Zhong Xuan arched his hand, turned around and hurriedly walked towards the inner palace.

The grain robbery incident that occurred at Beiyuan Bridge is just one of the many turmoil in Yedu, and it is not a big deal, but many things are connected together, but it is enough to shock the government and the opposition, it not only affects the daily life of the small people, but also affects the stability of Yedu, and affects the stability of the army's heart.

In the inner hall of Tongque Palace, dozens of high-ranking officials of the Wei State gathered together to discuss the chaos caused by the loss of Lishi County, which was originally in charge of Cao Pi to maintain stability, and was generally held in the Deputy Prime Minister's Mansion, and Cao Pi was solely responsible for the sharp rise in grain prices half a year ago.

But this time, because the situation was strict, it was related to the entire battle situation, so Cao Cao personally presided over the response meeting, at this time Cao Cao had not come out, and there was a whisper in the inner hall, and everyone was talking about the crisis and consequences caused by the defeat of Lishi.

In the corner of the inner hall, Liu Ye said to Chen Qun worriedly: "Liu Jing proposed trade freedom last time, I suspect that he has ill intentions, there must be a deep plan, now it seems that there is really an intention, in just over half a year, the Han Kingdom has almost bought all our materials, these days I am investigating in various shops in Yedu, every merchant has a lot of Han money in his hands, but the warehouse is empty, so the root cause of the surge in food prices this time is not necessarily the loss of Lishi County, the fundamental reason is that there is too much money in the hands of Yedu people, and the money is worthless. ”

Chen Qun also felt deeply, "Ziyang is right, a simplest example can be proved, last year the tavern hired a bartender, only need to pay 2,000 Han a month, but a month ago the price has risen to 6,000 Han money, a full three times, it can be seen that Han money is flooded in Yedu, it is said that the Han State has stopped trade between the two countries ten days ago, and it is strictly forbidden to leave the country, we have money and can't buy Han materials, this winter is difficult." ”

Although the voice of Liu Ye and Chen Qun's conversation was not loud, many people around heard it, and gradually, the inner hall quieted down, everyone was preoccupied, everyone was a high-ranking official whose wisdom surpassed that of ordinary people, and they saw the problem very deeply.

They all realized that the Han State used half a year of trade, relying on the absolute advantage of Han money, to buy a large number of materials in the Wei State, and the crisis had accumulated within the Wei State, but everyone did not expect this, and this time the Han army captured Lishi County, provoked a war, and suddenly broke out the crisis accumulated within the Wei State, which is the key.

It was only at this time that everyone finally understood why Liu Jing provoked the Nanyang crisis half a year ago, and then forced Wei to relax trade restrictions, which was clearly a means used by Liu Jing to destroy Wei's national strength.

On the surface, the trade between the two countries was exchanged, and Wei could even get pig iron and grain, but because there were too many trade points, the Han State purchased a large number of materials from Wei from various channels with intention to unintentional, official to non-governmental, and imported countless Han money and gold into Wei, so that Wei gradually faced a severe shortage of materials.

However, Liu Jing cut off the trade between the two countries at a critical time, or strictly forbade Han materials to enter Wei, which finally caused today's disaster, and I am afraid that the current shortage crisis of materials cannot be suppressed by suppressing food prices alone.

At this time, a bell rang inside, this is Cao Cao came, the inner hall suddenly quieted down, but it was Cao Pi who walked out first, he hurriedly said to everyone: "Father's health is not good, everyone should be careful when speaking!" ”

Just when everyone was puzzled, Cao Cao slowly walked out with the support of the two maids, his face was like wax paper, his spirit was sluggish, everyone was secretly shocked, no wonder the prince wanted to come out to say hello first, and Wei Gong actually recovered the decline at the beginning of last year.

You must know that after more than a year of recuperation, Cao Cao's body has gradually recovered, and he can also take a carriage to Xudu, why haven't he seen him for a few days, and he is old? Everyone immediately realized that this must have been a heavy blow to Cao Cao due to the loss of Lishi.

Everyone stood up and saluted, "See Duke Wei!" ”

Cao Cao sat down, waved his hand, and said in a weak voice: "Don't be formal, let's be casual!" ”