Xun Yu had been stunned by Cao Cao's wonderful idea and had forgotten about this troublesome matter.
Now that he had returned to the main tent, his brows were already furrowed into a ball.
"My lord, Yuan Shao's crusade against Gongsun Zan is progressing too smoothly. Gongsun Zan is losing again and again. Yuan Shao is pressing on step by step. If this continues, in less than three months, Yuan Shao will annex the four northern provinces.”
Hearing this, Cao Cao was shocked and a drop of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.
Gongsun Zan was a local tyrant, with tens of thousands of soldiers under him and elites like White Horse Yi Cong, but he was forced to this extent by Yuan Shao.
This also signified that the great battle between him and Yuan Shao would soon begin.
It was too fast. Cao Cao did not even have time to prepare.
"My lord, I don't think Yuan Shao's army is scary. What's scary is that he has too much food. We have been fighting for years and have no food reserves.
In the following days, if the soldiers were to be used for farming, they could barely collect hundreds of thousands of dan of grain at the end of the year, but they would not be able to keep up with the training.”
Now, they were facing a huge problem. It was also a problem that all the feudal lords in this era would encounter when they grew stronger.
Food!
Usually, when faced with this problem, the various dukes would let their armies participate in farming, but this would reduce the time for training, which would inevitably reduce their combat quality.
Normally, it was fine, but now that they were about to fight Yuan Shao, if they let these elite soldiers farm for a few more months, they might really become a group of farmers. Even if they did not lose, they would lose.
"Wen Ruo, this question is indeed fatal.
How about this, you discuss with Guo Jia, Cheng Yu, Jia Xu and the others to see if there is a compromise.”
"Understood!"
……
Unfortunately, it had been half a month since they returned to Xuchang from Xuzhou. After much discussion, there was only one solution.
The elites would continue to train while the weaker ones would be responsible for farming. At the same time, they would collect taxes from the three regions to make up for the lack of food.
Among the four of them, Xun Yu's internal affairs ability was the strongest. Even he could only come up with such a method, let alone the others.
"Let's do as you say for the time being. I hope that we won't encounter any natural disasters this year. Otherwise, sigh…"
Cao Cao walked out of the hall dejectedly.
The few of them looked at each other and felt a sense of oppression. It was their own incompetence that they could not share their lord's worries.
He had originally planned to go out for a walk, but unknowingly, Cao Cao had walked to the military camp's kitchen.
Since it wasn't wartime, and Qin Chuan was the gang leader, who would dare to order him to do anything?
Now, he was leaning on the lazy chair at the door of the kitchen, drinking wine and eating meat. No one in the entire military camp could be more comfortable than him.
No.
It should be said that in the entire Xuchang City, it was difficult to find a master who was more leisurely than him.
"Yo, Old Cao!" Seeing Cao Cao walk over, Qin Chuan jumped up.
"Old Cao, I thought you forgot about me. What's wrong recently? Old Xu and Old Guo haven't come over either. Did you guys get unhappy because you drank too much last time?”
Qin Chuan was really enthusiastic.
These days, he had been really leisurely and bored.
The others were either dragged to farming or responsible for food issues. He was the only one who had nothing to do and no one to chat with.
Now that he saw Old Cao, how could he not be excited?
"Haha, Brother Qin, I can't help it. I've been really busy lately and can't get away at all. I finally got half a day off today, so I came to see you immediately.”
Seeing Qin Chuan's enthusiasm, Cao Cao's worries seemed to be swept away by this friendship.
Forget it, if the sky falls down, I'll be covered with a blanket!
No matter how annoying he was, he had to live, right?
"Let's go inside. Today, no matter what, we brothers will not go home until we're drunk!”
Qin Chuan held onto Cao Cao tightly, afraid that he would run away.
"Don't worry, Brother Qin. Why do you look like someone who came out of prison?”
"Don't misunderstand. I just want to drink you to death, Old Cao, or be drunk to death by you!”
In his previous life, he was a man who drank vodka. In this era, it was all low-concentration fruit wine. It was not enough.
Two stools and a table were set up. After the wine and meat were placed on the table, Qin Chuan rolled up his sleeves.
His actions made Cao Cao seem to have forgotten all his repressed feelings.
To be honest, this small kitchen in front of him was indeed much simpler than the mess in the Xuchang Imperial Palace.
For the first time, Cao Cao felt that it was good to hide their identities.
He believed that at this moment, in the entire Xuchang City, other than Qin Chuan, no one else would dare to drink with him like this.
Thinking of this, Cao Cao secretly decided that he had to continue burying this secret.
"Good!" Cao Cao also sat down steadily and smashed the wine cup on the table onto the ground.
"Hiss…Old Cao, what's wrong? You haven't even drunk it yet and you're already drunk?”
"Please don't insult me with a wine glass. Let's blow the whole pot!”
"Aiyo, this is great. Then I won't stand on ceremony!”
Qin Chuan also imitated Old Cao and threw the cup in front of him. He picked up the wine pot and emptied half of it.
Gulp gulp…
Just like that, the two of them had half a pot of wine and a big mouthful of meat. They talked about which brothel's courtesan was prettier in Xuchang City and which state's woman was prettier.
However, Qin Chuan was the one talking most of the time. He was Cao Cao, after all, so it was fine to just make fun of him.
How could these young girls enter his eyes?
He wanted to talk to Qin Chuan about which dukedom's concubine was more attractive, but after thinking about it carefully, this Qin Chuan was still a sixteen year old child after all, how could he comprehend such profound mysteries? He might as well let him speak to his heart's content.
"What's wrong, Old Cao? You're not in a good mood. Last time you came, you talked a lot. Why are you drinking so much today? If there's anything you want to say, say it.”
Cao Cao's eyes were burning. His brother was really a caring person.
After sighing, he put down the wine pot and said dejectedly,
"Brother, you should have heard about the recent events in the military camp, right?”
"Is it about the division of troops for farming?" Qin Chuan asked after pondering for a while.”
"Yes, that's it. Four-fifths of the people in the military camp have been pulled to farm, and many civil officials are on this mission. If this continues, I'm afraid I'll have to go farm as well.”
Originally, Cao Cao only wanted to vent the depression in his heart. However, Qin Chuan seemed to be brewing something and slowly shook his head.
"Brother, do you have any opinions on this matter?”
" They have a big opinion. A bunch of stubborn people. Sigh, my lord has really raised them for nothing…"
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