In Jizhou, Yecheng, and Yuan's mansion, Lin Mo rubbed his temples and held his chin in a daze.

The northern country is simply a mess here, and it is not an exaggeration to describe it with four words: internal and external troubles.

originally thought that coercing Yuan Shang to make the northern country make him like a fish in water in the northern country, but in its current form, it is more like a fish in a soup pot.

The power of the Northern Kingdom Family was far beyond Lin Mo's imagination, and he even felt that he was about to lose control of this situation and cause chaos.

This matter also starts with the annual taxes, acres of land, and books sent by the county governments in the north.

At that time, Lin Mo found a very strange problem, that is, the county government's taxes, registered acres and population were very different from what he knew.

With this number, it is absolutely impossible for Yuan Shao to feed the hundreds of thousands of troops in the northern country, and if the above figures are simply used to enrich the treasury, then the army that can be fed by the entire Jizhou and Qingzhou will not exceed 150,000.

The question is, Yuan Shao was known as an army of 700,000 at his peak, where did he get the grain, grass and army?

After inquiring about the Xin family brothers, it turned out that more than half of Yuan Shao's so-called hundreds of thousands of troops were serfs or private soldiers from the four states of the northern country.

Together with Yuan Shao, there were countless ordnance, war horses, grain and grass.

This is the strength of the family, everyone works together to launch a leader Yuan Shao who swallows mountains and rivers.

However, there are pros and cons in everything, and the advantages are obvious, as the head of the world's scholar clan, the Yuan family, can follow the example of Liu Xiu, the son of the plane, and strengthen themselves from all sides.

The disadvantage is that it is subject to the constraints of the family, and it is influenced by them, and this kind of clamping does not necessarily have to collide on the surface, but more about the promotion of family power.

The simplest analogy is that in a county, the family annexes the land, and in turn absorbs the people, so that these people become serfs of the family, and with armaments, they are government soldiers.

As the family annexes more and more land and absorbs more and more people, the taxes that can be received by the government will become smaller and smaller, because the people absorbed by the family will not be registered by the government, and naturally there will be no need to pay taxes.

In essence, this is the core cause of the party's scourge.

Because the big and small families were carving up the cake of the Han Dynasty, the imperial power and prestige were challenged, and the eunuchs had to be pushed to the front to suppress the scholars.

But Yuan Shao was able to resolve this contradiction relatively well, and the reason was because the Yuan family itself was the largest family, and he could easily let these fat-eating families use it for himself.

The problem is that Lu Bu does not have this background, and the more the family eats, the less he can eat.

Moreover, the wind of annexation and the absorption of displaced people in the north are far more serious than those in Xuzhou and Huainan, and the taxes of the two state treasury can only be on a par with Xuzhou.

After careful investigation, Lin Mo found that it was himself who caused this situation.

The Quyuan plough invented in Xuzhou allowed the people to go to the unclaimed land outside the city to open up the wasteland, and because of the efficiency and a series of policies to benefit the people, they could feed their families.

Especially after the advent of chemical fertilizers, there was even a situation where there was a surplus of grain in agriculture, and the direct effect of this situation was that Xuzhou's taxes were greatly increased, and the government had abundant money to expand Lu Bu's military strength.

However, the channel for this Quyuan plough and keel waterwheel to enter the northern country turned out to be through the family, who preemptively built the Quyuan plough and went to the borderless land outside the city to open up wasteland, anyway, there were many serfs in the family.

It's really not enough, it's just a matter of a mouthful of food, as long as the autumn harvest arrives, the harvest will eventually exceed the expenditure, which directly makes the merger of the family prevail outside the city, and further aggravates the number of people absorbed by the family.

Correspondingly, the tax that the government can collect is even lower.

In Xuzhou, the advent of Quyuan plough gave the people hope to live, and successfully allowed Lu Bu to gain the upper hand in the collision with the family.

However, in the northern kingdom, Qu Yuanli became an accomplice of the families to annex land and absorb the people, while further weakening the control of the lord of the northern kingdom.

This gives rise to the first problem that makes Lin Mo extremely headache, how to choose the policy?

The three counties of Xuzhou and Huainan have policy tilts in terms of taxes and Ding books, and they also have the upper hand in getting along with the family.

So, what about the Northland?

Originally, the tax was small, and I had to take the road of Xuzhou, but I was afraid that I would not be able to make ends meet in the end.

In case of a natural or man-made disaster one day, you have to beg the family to open a warehouse.

Moreover, in this situation, it is foreseeable that in the future, in the northern country, Lu Bu will definitely be in a weak position in the relationship between Lu Bu and the family.

This kind of weakness, Yuan Shang's identity cannot be changed, because all this is done with the tacit consent of the old Yuan family.

Worst of all, the Northland Family is already ready to move.

At the beginning, some families took the register of serfs, grain and grass signed by the Yuan family in the past, and asked to return the soldiers and horses lent to the Yuan family, on the grounds that the autumn harvest was about to be made, and there were not enough people in the house to collect grain.

Isn't this, Lin Mo knows that this is just a pretext, purely to express his dissatisfaction with Lu Bu Linmo's son-in-law.

And this dissatisfaction, the Xin brothers did not help at all, and even intensified their antagonism.

It was only at this time that Lin Mo suddenly realized that his calculation was wrong, and he originally wanted to promote Guo Tu and the Xin family brothers to appease the Northern Family, and with Yuan Shang in charge, it should generally be able to stabilize.

I forgot that Guo Tu and the Xin family brothers are all from Henan, including the Yuan family themselves, and the Hebei people feel insulted.

The problem is that you can't refuse to agree to the request of the northern families to return the peasants, because they have documents to testify, unless you deny Yuan Shang's status as the lord of the northern kingdom.

It's not good to force them to be anxious, in case they unite and run to support Yuan Xi, this matter will be a big deal.

Now the problem has fallen into a paradox, if you want to appease the Northern Family, you can only give up power, promote the Northern Scholar, and give them some important positions.

But the Northern Kingdom family is already very strong, Lin Mo is thinking about how to weaken them, it is best to achieve a benign balance like Xuzhou, if you still use official positions to stabilize them, you will definitely suffer the consequences in the end.

"If necessary, defeat two, and you should make an example of the chicken!" Obviously, he was already the de facto ruler of the Northern Kingdom, and Lu Bu couldn't understand why he had to suffer such a dumb loss, and he was very angry.

"Hit whom? Did you call it? Lin Mo smiled bitterly.

"Whoever is the most fierce will beat whomever we want, and if we subdue the biggest one, the others will be honest!" In the barracks, I just like to play this set, and if you have the ability to beat the most fierce one down, everyone else will be afraid of you.

However, this set is used on the body of the family, but it can't be played.

At least, in this era, he can't play with this situation.

If you want to say which is the biggest and most fierce, after the death of Tian Feng, Fu Zhu, Xiao Ji and others, it seems that there is no famous family representative.

Actually, no, there are two families, although there are not many celebrities, but their strength can be ranked in the top ten of the entire Han world.

They are the Li family of Zhao State, and the Cui family of Qinghe County, that is, the Zhao Jun Li family and the Qinghe Cui family, which are the most famous five surnames in the Tang Dynasty.

In this era, the influence of these two families is not as arrogant as in the early Tang Dynasty, but it is also not to be underestimated.

Especially after the death of the representatives of these families, the entire northern kingdom began to look at these two families.

If they are really moved, once everyone in the family is in danger, it is entirely possible that they will all turn to support Yuan Xi.

And these families, just the serfs and government soldiers in captivity at home, as few as a few thousand, and more than 10,000 like the Cui family and the Li family, can become a force themselves.

To play with them, you can't be tough, you can only use political means.

"Actually, what they are worried about is just because we are too inclined to the Yingchuan faction, and I didn't handle this matter well enough.

When the Anfeng war is over, let Yan Liangwen go back to the north, although they are only military generals, but in the end, they are from the north, and many times the dependence on them is also the attitude of the north. ”

For these families, Lin Mo never thought of compromise from beginning to end, because he and them were the same as the conflict between the imperial power and the family back then, which was irreconcilable.

Therefore, weakening them is the way to go, and Lin Mo has indeed thought of some ways, but before that, he still needs to appease this group of people and buy some time for himself.

"Anfeng Express!" A scout ran in and handed Lu Bu a bamboo slip with An Feng's seal on it.

Lin Mo couldn't help but poke his head to see what the situation was, he had learned that he had used Chen Deng as bait to earn more than 10,000 Cao Jun, and he had beheaded Gao Lan, and Weng and his son-in-law were still very happy.

Let's hope you don't let yourself down this time.

However, after reading the content of the express report, Weng and his son-in-law both tacitly chose to remain silent, with a melancholy expression on their faces.

Cao Jun retreated, which was excellent news, and it was always on Anfeng's side that Xiahoudun suffered a big loss.

The problem is that Zhang Liao is seriously injured, but they can't be happy.

Especially Lu Bu, he walked to the windowsill and let half of his face hide in the shadows, and he couldn't see what he was thinking, but Lin Mo knew very well in his heart that he must be very worried.

Zhang Yang died, Wei Xu, Hou Cheng, and Hao Meng died in battle, Cao Xing, Song Xian, and Cheng Lian defected, and only Wei Yue and Zhang Liao were left in the former robes that remained with the old father-in-law.

If feelings can be qualitatively measured, Zhang Liao is undoubtedly his most sympathetic brother in the world, and his old father-in-law once said that he, like Zhang Yang, is a brother worthy of his life.

Now, Zhang Liao doesn't know whether he is alive or dead, it can be imagined that his heart must be very uncomfortable, and he can't wait to put on his wings and fly to Anfeng.

"Uncle has been fighting horses for half his life, and a little injury will be fine." Lin Mo couldn't think of better words of comfort.

Lu Bu didn't speak, just nodded in a wooden voice.

Lin Mo didn't say anything more, he wasn't good at comforting people, not to mention, he himself was also riddled with a bunch of.

Because it is very clear in the war report, in addition to Zhang Liao, Yan Liang and Wen Chou were also injured, Wen Chou is fine, Yan Liang's injury is not light, it is estimated that it will be difficult to ride a horse in three or five months, so naturally they can't be expected to come to the north to help now.

Jiang Yiqu in Liyang, Zhang Yan in Taihang Mountain, a family in the north, Cao Cao in the tiger's eye, plus Yuan Xi in Youzhou, the north is really a mess.

Now, the only thing Lin Mo can count on is that Guo Tu can bring Yuan Xi back, and if he wants to deal with the Northern Family, he must first cut off their idea of supporting Yuan Xi, so that he can do it without any worries.

Of course, even if Guo Tula can't return to Yuan Xi, he can still count on the two people he is looking for on this trip to help at a critical moment, the premise is that they still have to use troops against Youzhou, only in this way can they really be useful.

According to the calculation of the day, Guo Tu should have arrived in Youzhou a long time ago, and he didn't reply to the letter, Lin Mo was still a little anxious in his heart.

If you can't wait for Guo Tu, the next plan will not be able to be carried out.

Therefore, in addition to appeasing these families, there is only one word left to do now.

Hopefully, don't keep yourself waiting too long.

The situation was similar to what Lin Mo expected, Guo Tu had indeed been in Youzhou for some days, but the difference was that his trip did not succeed or fail, because he had never seen Yuan Xi at all.

In fact, before Guo Tu arrived in Youzhou, Cao Cao's envoy had already met Yuan Xi first, and Yuan Xi at that time was just a good son of the Yuan family who wanted to divide the border in peace, and he had no intention of fighting for power, nor did he want to be involved in the struggle.

But Cao Cao's envoy whipped into the lobbying, saying that yesterday's Yuan Tan, tomorrow's Yuan Xi, the tiger is not harmful, and people are harmful to the tiger's heart.

In addition, the news that Lu Bu coerced Yuan Shang to order the northern kingdom spread throughout the northern country, and Yuan Xi began to panic.

This panic came from the fact that he didn't know if Lu Bu would attack him, until he learned the news of Guo Tu's entry into Youzhou, and he began to believe that Lu Bu would not let him go.

Moreover, he is much smarter than Yuan Shang, and there are no decent strategists around him, and based on his own analysis, he also guessed that Guo Tu is here to salute first and then soldier.

First of all, I explained that I was ordered by Yuan Shang, the lord of the northern country, to ask you to go back to Jizhou, go and dig your own grave; If you don't go, Lu Bu will definitely start a war to attack Youzhou in the name of this.

What to do, in a dilemma, fortunately I didn't see Guo Tu, left him in the post house, and ran from Zhuo County to Fanyang County.

Yuan Xi knew that once Lu Bu moved his murderous intent, it was not a way to hide by himself, and this hurdle would have to be faced sooner or later, but before facing the worst situation, he needed to be fully prepared.

The first is that he needs an ally who is strong enough to make Lu Bu jealous, and this, of course, is Cao Cao.

The second point is to strengthen itself, in this regard, the Zhen family of relatives can help a lot, but the financial resources of the Zhen family alone are not enough, and they also need a super luxury family that can control the field, and only the Fanyang Lu family has this strength in the entire Youzhou.

Fanyang's Lu family, like the Qinghe Cui family and the Zhaojun Li family, became one of the famous five surnames and seven wangs in the Sui and Tang dynasties, and was one of the most prosperous families in the entire northern country.

As long as he can get the full support of the Lu family, it is equivalent to gaining the support of the entire Youzhou family, and at the same time, with the relationship between the Lu family and the Cui family and the Li family, he will even have the opportunity to disintegrate them from within in the next confrontation.

Now, the only advantage for Yuan Xi is that Lu Bu's coercion of Yuan Shang to make the northern kingdom is well known, so even if he shows that he wants to replace Yuan Shang, he will not be disobedient to Yuan Shao's death.

Moreover, the Lu family will not lose morality.

This trip to Yuan Xi had little effect, and the Lu family had an ambiguous attitude, and did not clearly express their support, nor did they explicitly refuse.

The consistent style of the family may also be considered in the overall situation, and they also need to negotiate privately with other big families, after all, the interests of the family have always been one, and only by holding together can the warlords and princes be jealous.

Therefore, what Yuan Xi can do now is just like Lin Mo, wait.

However, he was not willing to go back to Zhuo County to wait, he simply stayed in Fan Yang, and before he gave a clear answer, he really didn't know how to face Guo Tu.

Or, if you stay in Fan Yang for a long time, Guo Tu will leave in the end.

In short, before he was completely sure, he didn't want to see Guo Tu, and he didn't plan to leave Fan Yang.

Chapter 2 Evening

(End of chapter)