Chapter 88 Autumn

Speaking of Ji Ling, he was indeed a loyal person to Yuan Shu.

He never surrendered until his death.

Of course, it might also be because Ji Ling's family members were under Yuan Shu's nose. Sun Ce and Zhou Yu dared to surrender because although their families were in Jiangdong, they were not under Yuan Shu's nose and there was room for change. But Ji Ling didn't.

If he dares to surrender, his family and relatives will immediately be wiped out by Yuan Shuyi.

Don't talk about surrendering, even if you are caught by Cao Mengde, people like Sun Ce and Zhou Yu who actually surrendered but did not surrender in name would not dare to do so. With Yuan Shu's current tyranny, I am afraid that his anger will be turned on his family members in an instant.

Yuan Shu now occupies Danyang, while Zhou Yu and his family are separated by a certain distance in Wu County. Ji Ling didn’t.

Cheng Yu was responsible for 'stealing' Sun Ce and Zhou Yu's family, and it was already completed when Cao Mengde annihilated Ji Ling. Although Yuan Shu reacted quickly, he never thought of immediately detaining the family members of Sun Ce and Zhou Yu.

For Yuan Shu, the evil strategy of the situation was a mess, and he was probably a little slow.

After the war, Cao Mengde ordered Yu Jin to lead 10,000 troops to suppress Jiujiang and station Liyang, facing Jiangdong across the river. Li Dian was ordered to lead five thousand troops to suppress Lujiang and Tunwan County. Both of them obeyed Xiahou Dun, and appointed Xiahou Dun as the governor of Zhennan to control the overall situation along the Yangtze River.

In this way, on the north bank of the Yangtze River, Cao Mengde built a military defense line with 25,000 troops based on Guangling, Liyang, and Wan.

In this way, he was relieved of his duties and returned to Yanzhou.

As for Lu Bu, Sun Ce and other surrendered generals, they naturally have to be brought back together. They are newly descended and have not yet truly returned to their hearts, so they cannot yet be of great use. Although it would be more useful if Sun Ce and Zhou Yu were placed on the southern front. But the danger is also great.

For one of the princes, war is just a means. The real test comes after the war.

Swallowing two states in one breath was a huge pressure for Cao Mengde. The area under control has increased dramatically, and the population has increased dramatically. How to manage people's livelihood and appease people's hearts is the most important thing.

Thanks to Xun Yu, a talented person like Wang Zuo, and thanks to Zhao Yu's original method of cultivating talents, he was finally able to sustain it.

At the beginning, Zhao Yu compiled Mongolian books and suggested that Cao Mengde establish an education system. He also used paper as a big killer. It has been more than two years now and the results have been remarkable. After Cao Mengde purged Yanzhou, the family members were dying and running away. Under such circumstances, the method proposed by Zhao Yu to establish an education system was fundamental to stabilize the political situation in Yanzhou.

Now the territory has suddenly expanded. Fortunately, after more than two years, Cao Mengde has trained many talents himself. Although he is not a super talented person like Xun Yu and Xun You, he is more than enough to govern a county or serve as a minor official.

And what Cao Mengde needs is this.

After the war, Cao Mengde took charge of the army, and Xun Yu followed behind and paved the way to manage people's livelihood. The talents trained in Yanzhou were placed in various places, either as county magistrates or county captains. In a very short period of time, without the support of aristocratic families, these two states were quickly brought under the rule.

Of course, Cao Mengde, a wealthy family, did not give up completely. After all, people like Xun Yu came from aristocratic families themselves. Although Cao Mengde's governing ideas and actions frightened many aristocratic families, some academic families in Yingchuan had already boarded Cao Mengde's ship. Although they criticized him, they could only support him more.

Not to mention that Cao Mengde's power is becoming more and more powerful now, just talking about Zhao Yu is enough to make those who know about it not dare to mess around, and then change their minds.

For Cao Mengde, everything is developing in a good direction.

After the squadron returned from the war, Cao Mengde did not immediately go to the other courtyard to see Zhao Yu, but made military arrangements again.

Focus on defense against Hebei.

He has 100,000 soldiers and horses under his command. Originally there were less than 80,000 people, but after the war, many prisoners of war were captured, and the weak ones were eliminated and the strong ones were selected, and 30,000 people were selected. The others were released to farm in their hometowns, and the 30,000 people who were selected were all brought back.

In addition to the 25,000 troops deployed on the southern front, he currently has over 80,000 troops in hand.

Therefore, he was completely unafraid of Hebei Yuan Shao.

The previous worry was that the war would be delayed. Once the troops were involved in the southern battlefield and Hebei Yuan Shao suddenly went south, it would be difficult to resist. Everything is safe now. The battle on the southern front was over, and the troops were safe again. Even if Yuan Shao went south with all his troops, he was not afraid.

Cao Mengde also based his military deployment on three points after returning to Yanzhou. The first point is in Taishan County, located at the junction of Qingzhou, Xuzhou and Yanzhou. He boldly appointed Zhang Liao as general, commanding 10,000 troops. The second point is in Dongjun, and Cao Mengde leads it himself. The third point is in Luoyang. Cao Mengde planned to take advantage of this great victory and the height of his military power to directly swallow up Henan County regardless of Sangui. With Xia Houyuan as general, he led 20,000 troops to guard Luoyang, clean up the ruins of Luoyang, and reorganize the imperial capital.

From this point of view, Cao Mengde may have the intention to move the political center from Puyang to Luoyang.

There are 80,000 troops on the northern front, at three points, of which 50,000 are stationed along the river in Dongjun. Across the river from Hebei, we show no signs of weakness.

Probably Cao Mengde's battle was a success and he returned to the army very quickly, which caught Yuan Shao off guard. The slight movement before gradually subsided. However, the battle between Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan in Youzhou in the north became less intense thereafter.

No matter how stupid Yuan Shao is, he can still see that Cao Mengde's threat is many times greater than Gongsun Zan!

Although Cao Mengde has now swallowed a large area of ​​​​territory in one gulp, he has not had time to digest it. Therefore, they are unwilling to start the war directly. Seeing that there was no movement from Yuan Shao, he began to immerse himself in development and did not mention it.

This busyness lasted until autumn.

After the great harvest in Yanzhou, Cao Mengde took some free time and came to Taihe Villa.

The other courtyard was still like spring. Cao Mengde walked through the formation, took a deep breath, and smiled to the left and right: "When I get old in the future, I will die here."

Accompanying Cao Mengde was Xi Zhicai.

Xi Zhicai was slightly stooped, coughed occasionally, and his face showed an abnormal red color.

Cao Mengde quickly supported him: "Don't worry, Mr. Zhao will definitely have a way."

The late Han Dynasty was an era of bright generals and brilliant counselors. However, many powerful people died in infancy. Especially the most powerful ones. For example, Zhou Yu also died of illness at a young age. There is also Xi Zhicai in front of us, and Guo Jia, who took over the role of Xi Zhicai in the original history.

These are all very remarkable people.

The so-called jealousy of talented people is probably like this.

It seems to have always been like this in the history of Zhuxia. Great people never live long. For example, when Emperor Wu was the champion, Huo Qubing was like this, and so was Zhongjun, who appeared frequently in history books or poems of later generations. The same is true for Zhou Yu, Xi Zhicai and Guo Jia. It is undoubtedly a pity that people died one by one at such a young age before they had time to express their talents.

And such signs have already appeared in Xi Zhicai. After this battle, Xi Zhicai fell ill while on his way to class. After returning to Puyang, I nursed him for several months before he felt a little better. Cao Mengde then took him to another courtyard and asked to save Zhao Yu.