Liu Jing and Sima Yi entered the official room and sat down, and a guard served them tea, and Sima Yi said in a low voice: "Cao Cao sent Zhong Xuan as a special envoy and has gone to Jiaozhou. ”

Liu Jing frowned, "Is the news reliable?" ”

"It should be reliable, it's news from Yang Tian."

Liu Jing walked a few steps in the room with his hands in his hand, turned back to Sima Yi and said: "Cao Cao wants to use Jiaozhou to contain me and form a north-south echo trend, this is not surprising, I just wonder how Cao Cao sent Zhong Xuan as an envoy?" ”

"This Weichen thought of it, this should be related to the recent outbreak of the Jian'an Seven Sons case in Yedu, Cao Pi took the opportunity to eradicate Cao Zhi's forces, and even the Qinghe Cui clan was also affected, and Zhong Miao was Cao Zhi's main support, Cao Cao sent him to Jiaozhou in order to protect him."

Liu Jing nodded, "You are right, it should be this reason, but the Cui family's involvement in the case is not entirely to eradicate Cao Zhi's forces, I think it has something to do with Cao Cao's order." ”

Sima Yi was puzzled, "Your Highness, isn't it impossible to issue the Ding order?" ”

"How could it not be?"

Liu Jing sneered and said: "The Ding order is the same as the land reset order of the Han State, it is a matter of Cao Wei's life and death, how can Cao Cao not do it, he can't move the army magnates, so he will take the Shi clan who has always opposed him, Qinghe Cui has thousands of acres of fertile land, hiding thousands of displaced people, the Cui family does not hand over these populations and good land, Cao Cao will never give up, clean up the Qinghe Cui clan, the following is the Hongnong Yang clan, all the Shi clan can not escape, this is what Cao Cao wanted to do many years ago, and now it can no longer be delayed. ”

Sima Yi sighed, "He has moved the interests of the Shi clan, and he has undoubtedly destroyed his foundation. ”

"There is no way, Cao Wei's yeoman farmers have been reduced by nearly half, and the government's tax revenue has dropped sharply, so if this continues, what will he Cao Cao use to feed the army? Last year, Chen Qun told me that the Ding Order was first proposed by Xun Yu, which was originally called the Gongtian Order, and the private family owned more than five hectares of land, and ten acres must be handed over to the official four acres, together with the population on the land, and then it could not be implemented. ”

"Why is that?" Sima Yi asked with a smile.

"It's very simple, now the government has enough arable land, but there are no farmers to cultivate it, so Chen Qun built Yì Cao Cao, just force the local heroes to hand over the hidden population, the land can be spared, and with the population, you can concentrate on the tuntian, and re-implement the well field system, just like Jiaozhou."

Sima Yi sighed, "The strong and powerful everywhere are not stupid, without farmers cultivating, what is the use of the land in their hands?" No wonder it still can't be implemented, now using coercive means, favoring the powerful, only targeting the scholars, I estimate that even if it succeeds, it will greatly shake the foundation of Cao Wei. ”

Liu Jing pondered for a moment and said: "Cao Cao knows very well in his heart that his foundation is not a scholar clan, as early as when he promoted the Hanmen Legalist family, killed Bian Rang and Kong Rong, he was already opposed to the scholar clan, his foundation is to support his magnates, and to eradicate the scholar clan who support the Han State, and at the same time seize their population and land, wouldn't it kill two birds with one stone." ”

"Then His Highness watched Cao Cao attack the Shi clan and was indifferent?"

Liu Jing laughed meaningfully and said to Sima Yi: "If I defeat Cao Cao and unify the world, then how should I deal with these scholars, how can I make them hand over the population and land?" Has Chung Tat thought about this? ”

For Liu Jing's black belly, Sima Yi didn't experience it once or twice, he felt it again today, Sima Yi sighed in his heart, and had to be silent, Liu Jing said again: "The Han Dynasty is because of the strong division and the world is in chaos, any prince must rely on the support of the powerful landlords at the beginning of the army, but once it becomes the climate, they must turn around and deal with these powerful landlords who have supported them, Yuan Shao is like this, Cao Cao is also like this, this is the art of the emperor, thousands of years of cycles, The wise king will look for a balance point, that is, the so-called golden mean, I also hope to find such a balance point, the heroes who follow me should enjoy the glory and wealth, should own land, but not excessively, must maintain a limit, the Han system has long been clear, but the outline is often corrupted, these systems exist in name only, since I revive the Han family, it is to rebuild the system, and then establish the program, this Han is not the other Han, can Zhongda understand? ”

Sima Yi got up and said, "Weichen can understand!" ”

Liu Jing smiled and nodded, "This topic is too big to talk about for a while, let's talk about it another day!" Let's talk about Zhong Xuan's envoy to Jiaozhou, what does Zhong Da think we should do? ”

"Weichen feels that it is necessary to take into account the specimens, on the one hand, to prevent Cao Wei from forming an alliance with Jiaozhou, and on the other hand, to actively prepare to attack Jiaozhou in the south, this is the book, and it can't be delayed any longer."

Liu Jing walked to the window and pondered for a long time and said: "If we support a force in Jiaozhou to contain Liu Bei, then we will temporarily let Jiaozhou go, what does Zhong Da think?" ”

"Your Highness means to raise wolves and control tigers, but I am afraid that tigers and wolves will join forces, and we will suffer from them."

Liu Jing nodded, "Zhong Da is right, only by eradicating Liu Bei and unifying Jiaozhou is the way to cure the root cause, in fact, Gan Ning and Lu Xun are already starting to prepare." ”

Speaking of this, Liu Jing turned back to Sima Yi and smiled: "Since Cao Cao sent Zhong Xuan to Jiaozhou, how about Zhong Da also send an envoy to Jiaozhou for me?" ”

Sima Yi understood what Liu Jing meant, got up and saluted: "Weichen is willing to share worries for His Highness!" ”

Since Liu Bei's Northern Expedition ambitions were shattered a few years ago, Jiaozhou was hit hard, and after several years of lying on the salary, Jiaozhou's military strength gradually recovered to 30,000 people, Jiaozhou's population is sparse, which is the largest military force that Jiaozhou can support.

Of course, the Northern Expedition of that year was not completely fruitless, and Jiaozhou finally occupied Luling County as a passage for the Jiaozhou army to go north.

On this morning, a hundred stone passenger ship slowly approached the wharf of Ganxian County, Ganxian County is located in the south of Luling County, is an important commercial port on the Ganjiang River, although the population is not large, but the business is very developed, every spring and autumn, a large number of mountain goods and medicinal materials are distributed here on the ship, transported to Jingzhou or Jiangdong.

At this time, it was already early winter, and the wharf of Ganxian County was a little deserted, and more than a dozen dilapidated cargo ships were moored next to the wharf, but there were dozens of Jiaozhou soldiers on the wharf, and in the middle was a scribe about thirty years old, who was Liu Bei's master of the book, Bo Majian, and a group of magistrates such as the county commander and the county magistrate of Ganxian County.

Ma Jian was ordered by Liu Bei to meet Cao Cao's envoy Zhong Xuan, Zhong Xuan's entourage had arrived in Panyu City, Nanhai County, and sent Cao Cao's handwritten letter to Liu Bei, Liu Bei attached great importance to it, and immediately ordered Ma Jian to come to Gan County to meet the envoy Zhong Xuan.

Zhuge Liang thought that after the Han army destroyed Jiangdong, the next target must be Jiaozhou, and only by sweeping away the worries of Jiaozhou, the Han army could wholeheartedly compete with the Cao army in the Central Plains.

"Envoy, here!" A soldier shouted as he pointed to a passenger ship appearing in the distance.

Ma Tan looked a little nervous, the envoy turned out to be Zhong Xuan, who was famous for his calligraphy, which made him admire, and in a moment, the passenger ship docked, and several attendants surrounded an old man in a green robe and a small hat on the shore.

Ma Jian hurriedly stepped forward and saluted: "Your Excellency is Master Zhong?" ”

Zhong Xuan smiled and nodded, "Yes!" ”

Ma Tan was overjoyed, and hurriedly said: "Below is Ma Tan, the chief bookkeeper of the Imperial Uncle's Office, who came to greet Zhong Junshi on the order of Emperor Liu. ”

Zhong Miao smiled slightly, and bowed back: "It turned out to be Ma Liang's brother, and I have admired it for a long time." ”

Ma Tan was a little unhappy in his heart, the other party had admired him for a long time because of his brother Ma Liang, but then again, they had been in Jiaozhou for many years, and I am afraid that the Central Plains had already forgotten about them.

Although he was a little uncomfortable in his heart, Ma Jian did not dare to slack off, and immediately asked people to lead the horse over, and said to Zhong Xuan: "The river ahead is full of rocks, the water is turbulent, and we can no longer sail, we will first ride a horse south, cross Dayu Mountain, and then get on the boat to Panyu after arriving in Longchuan County." ”

"Oh! How far is it to Longchuan County? ”

"It's going to take about five days."

Zhong Xuan didn't speak again, turned on his horse, and followed Ma Jian and the others to the south

Panyu County is the capital of Nanyue established by Zhao Tuo in the past, and the political center of Jiaozhou was originally in Jiaozhi, but because the Shixie family has been operating in Jiaozhi for many years, there are many marriages with barbarians, Zhan tribes and other tribes.

Although Liu Bei's army destroyed the Shi family, it was hostile to the barbarian and the Zhan tribes, Liu Bei tried to ease relations several times but was rejected by the two tribes, and the envoys sent were also killed, Liu Bei had to set the ruling center in Panyu County, where the capital of Nanyue was located.

Panyu County is today's Guangzhou, located in Lingding Yangkou, and there are two rivers intersecting, water transportation is convenient, Zhuge Liang established a 5,000-person naval army for this purpose, with more than 300 large and small warships, and at the same time established official ship freight, so that the grain and materials in Luling County, Cangwu County and Yulin County and other places can be transported by water, and are continuously transported to Panyu City.

Liu Bei has always been eager to return to the Central Plains, and he is not very dedicated to running Jiaozhou, he just regards Jiaozhou as his temporary stop, but since the fiasco of the Northern Expedition a few years ago, Liu Bei's heart of the Northern Expedition has suffered a heavy blow and he began to manage Jiaozhou with his heart.

He appointed Zhuge Liang's military generals, in charge of government affairs, Wang Lei and Huang Quan, who came from Yizhou, were the left and right servants to assist Zhuge Liang in charge of government affairs, and appointed Sun Qian as the Taishou of Yulin County, Jian Yong as the Taishou of Cangwu County, and Mi Zhu as the Taishou of Luling County, and then ordered Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Chen Dao, Liu Feng and other generals to control the army, practice day and night, and prepare to wait for the opportunity to seize Jian'an County.

This is also Zhuge Liang's strategy of expanding northward, not seeking Jingnan, in order to avoid strong enemies, but to seek Jiangdong, Jian'an County has a vast territory and rich products, if it can capture Jian'an County, it can lay the foundation for continuing to go north to seize Linhai County and even Huiji County in the future.

Liu Bei thought so, he had already found that Jiangdong was gradually declining, and it was no longer as strong as it used to be, and he might not be able to provoke the Han State, but he could seek Jiangdong and also satisfy his desire to go north.

Just when Liu Bei was preparing to take Jiangdong, the news that Jiangdong was destroyed by Liu Jing came to Liu Bei, which made Liu Bei extremely shocked, and at this time, Cao Cao's envoy Zhong Xuan arrived in Jiaozhou, and at the same time, Cangwu Taishou Jian Yong sent someone to send the news, Liu Jing, the envoy of the Han King, and Sima Yi, the secretary of the Han State Military Department, also arrived in Cangwu County.