After the autumn harvest.
This year was a year of disaster in the southern regions. The drought had caused a poor harvest. The production of various regions had been reduced by half, and some places had even lost a grain.
The commoners began to use their own food reserves to live.
Yanzhou and Xuzhou were still fine.
After the military and civilian farming system was used, the land was distributed to each household. Even if the grain was halved, they could still owe the local government office.
He would return it next year.
Therefore, every household still had rations, and the army still had rations.
However, Yuan Shu's Yangzhou was not so lucky.
After he became emperor, Yuan Shu's fortune did not change. Instead, he encountered a great drought in the first year. Many people in the territory who were afraid of heavenly punishment thought that this was because he usurped the throne and became independent, which led to a curse and heavenly punishment.
After that, the vassals from the four directions responded to the Han Emperor's call and began to besiege and divide up Yangzhou.
In just three short months, by the time winter arrived, all parts of Yangzhou had fallen.
Cao Cao's army was called the Snowy Dragon Cavalry.
White helmet, white armor, and a snow-white cloak.
From Yanzhou to Yangzhou, they were like a hot knife through butter. They passed through the stronghold and stabbed into Yangzhou like a spear, severely injuring Yuan Shu's troops.
The general in the lead was Zhao Zilong, who had fought 7,000 soldiers alone.
Thus, the opportunity to win was established.
Yuan Shu never dreamed that Sun Ce, who had just left him, would turn around and attack the south of Hefei after hearing that he was the emperor.
With the speed of the Snow Dragon Cavalry, they took down five cities in a month. They gathered the refugees and people from all over the place and began to build warships to set up a stronghold in Xiaoyao Jin on the other side of Hefei.
Thus, they occupied a large area of land.
……
Therefore, Yuan Shu could only withdraw his troops to the vicinity of Shouchun. In order to stabilize his territory, he had to survive through this winter. When spring came, these dukes would retreat because of the lack of food.
We can't go on an expedition for long.
At the same time, he wrote a letter to Yuan Shao, stating that the two of them were of the same clan. He asked Yuan Shao to launch a sneak attack on Cao Cao's Yanzhou. If he succeeded, the Yuan family would share the world of the Great Han Dynasty and participate in the grand event together.
However, there was no response.
Shouchun, Zhongcheng Emperor's palace.
The decoration of the hall was very gorgeous. The eight pillars were all inlaid with gold and jade. However, the civil and military officials present did not say a word.
Yuan Shu sat on the dragon bed, wearing a python robe and a crown with a bead curtain on his head. He looked as if he had lost his dream and kept looking at the empty space.
There was one thing that was the sharpest in this court session.
Shouchun City was over a hundred feet tall and several feet thick. It was easy to defend and difficult to attack. It was a fortress-like city that could be besieged for several months in a short period of time.
After all, Yuan Shu's hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers were all guarding the outer city.
However, the problem was that other than that, Shouchun had gathered more than 400,000 people.
How were they going to settle these people?
They didn't have a place to live, and their food and clothing weren't guaranteed. If they were locked up in the city and couldn't go out, they would definitely become a big problem. Moreover, their food would be consumed in large quantities, and it would be eaten up sooner or later.
However, if they were allowed to leave, they would definitely enter the territories of the other dukes. Shouchun would have nothing after the next spring.
Therefore, after the entire hall heard Yan Xiang's words, it was instantly silent.
Even Chen Gong, who was a guest here, could only watch with a sneer.
Lu Bu's 30,000 soldiers had lost several thousand of their men in the many clashes with the Snow Dragon Cavalry.
Now, there were only about 20,000 people left, and none of them wanted to continue fighting with Yuan Shu.
After a long time, Yuan Shu's voice sounded in the lifeless hall.
" Say something." He sat up slightly and scanned the crowd with an extremely ugly expression." Why aren't you talking?!"!! When I proclaimed myself emperor, didn't you all want to divide the world and make me the leader? Didn't you all say that you were invincible in Jiangnan?!”
These words made many of the officials present blush with shame.
They thought that there was a Han in the east and a Han in the west, and the dukes could not control them.
Who knew that these dukes would immediately stop fighting and attack Yuan Shu first?
Moreover, they were fighting so fiercely.
"Now, there are a total of six to seven hundred thousand soldiers and civilians in the city. Do you have any way to settle them?”
At this moment, the strategist on the left stood up. This person had a long beard that reached his waist, and his hair was mixed with black and white. He was already an old man, but he was still in good spirits.
This was Yuan Shu's chief strategist, Yan Xiang.
From the beginning, he had never agreed to become the emperor. He had also predicted that Cao Cao would attack as soon as Yuan Shu became the emperor.
After all, the emperor was already in his hands. If he did nothing, no one would listen to the emperor in the future.
I won't go to Xuchang to accept the edict.
However, if he gained fame, Cao Cao would really become the only loyal person who supported the Han Dynasty. In the world, those who said that Cao Cao was a treacherous hero in troubled times would be ashamed because of this.
He did not wear his official uniform and was still dressed in plain clothes. He bowed to Yuan Shu and said,"Lord, it's useless to talk about the past now.”
"However, I believe that the people are the foundation of governing the country, the city, and the county. If the people are gone, who will grow next year's grain?”
"Do not drink poison to quench your thirst and mess up your foundation. At this time, we should open the granaries to release food and suffer with the people. When winter is over and spring comes, after the vassal armies retreat, we can plan to develop again.”
Yan Xiang's words made Yuan Shu shake his head. He had heard these words countless times, and his ears were about to have calluses.
"You make it sound so easy, Yan Xiang, are you asking me to give all the rations in the army to these peasants?？”
"I gave them a stable and prosperous place to live, but what about them? How did they repay me?"
"In less than two months, as long as the troops of the vassals arrive, these commoners will surrender! Some small cities even opened their doors to welcome them. Was this what you meant by putting the people first?”
Yuan Shu was so excited that he even stood up and glared at Yan Xiang.
The strategist was speechless.
He couldn't help but roll his eyes at Yuan Shu again.
Don't you know how these people lost their support for the lord?
If it wasn't for the fact that they had usurped the throne, they would not dare to speak out. They had been holding grudges for a long time. Why would they immediately open the door and surrender as if they were escaping?
This Zhong Family's Son of Heaven had already done this. Was there really a way out?!
Ever since the Ancestral Dragon founded the Great Qin Empire, he had never heard of such an emperor who was pushed down by everyone. How could he dare to call himself the Emperor of the Zhong Family?
"My lord, what do you think?"
Yuan Shu took a deep breath and looked at Chen Gong, asking,"Gongtai, what do you think?"
Chen Gong laughed coldly," Your Majesty Zhong, you don't have to ask me. I don't know how to settle the people, but the only way to delay this city until next spring is to defend it to the death. Otherwise, once the city gates are opened, Cao Cao's army will definitely attack. At that time, no one will be able to escape.”
"That's right. This is what I mean. Everyone understands, right?”
Yuan Shu leaned back on the chair and looked at Yan Xiang blankly. Then, he said to the general on his right,"Ji Ling, I want you to take all the food in the city under your command. The soldiers must keep a close watch on the people and not allow them to cause trouble. Then, we will distribute the food to them in batches to ensure that they will not starve to death during winter. When spring comes next year, those dukes will run out of food and will naturally return.”
"Everyone is still my civil and military officials. We still have Yangzhou. Defending to the death is the only way out!”
"Here!"
The muscular general with a big waist pressed his fists together and replied solemnly.
Then, he turned around and left.
At this moment, Yuan Shu looked at Lu Bu, raised his chin and said,""General Lu Bu, you used to be the Great Han Dynasty's general, and now you are my vanguard general.”
"Your daughter marrying the son of my Yuan family is a match made in heaven. Why don't we get married as soon as possible? I'll give you the 200,000 stones of grain that I promised earlier.”
Lu Bu was delighted.
He suddenly felt happy in his heart. He had always been planning this matter. If this marriage was arranged, he could gain the reputation of an aristocratic family and bring glory to his family.
Secondly, there were 200,000 dans of grain, which was a considerable amount of income.
But before he could say anything, Chen Gong cupped his hands and said,""There's no need for that. Thank you, Emperor Zhong. My general was born in the wilderness and is from the Five Plains. His background can't compare to the daughter of the Yuan family's four generations of three dukes. Such a marriage alliance would only bring shame to the Yuan family, so please retract your order.”
When Lu Bu heard this, even though he knew that Chen Gong had said it in a moment of desperation, he still felt a surge of anger.
The thing he hated the most in his life was when others used his lowly status as a Five-Origin to talk about things.
As a result, his breathing became heavier.
Yuan Shu narrowed his eyes and waved his hand."Forget it, let's discuss it in the future."
"Retreat. From today onwards, defend Shouchun to the death and do not open the city gates. No matter how Cao Cao attacks the city, I will see how much money, food, and lives he can waste!”
……
At this moment, outside Cao Cao's camp.
Liu Bei, who had come from the north, had finally reached this place and joined forces with Cao Cao.
At this moment, he already could not wait to see Xu Zhen.
He also wanted to see with his own eyes if Xu Zhen was really doing well in Cao's camp.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。