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Liu Jing and Sima Yi entered the official room and sat down. A guard served them tea. Sima Yi then whispered: "Cao Cao sent Zhong Yao as the special envoy and has gone to Jiaozhou."

Liu Jing frowned, "Is the news reliable?"

"It should be reliable, it was the news from Yang Tian."

Liu Jing walked a few steps in the room with his hands behind his back, turned to Sima Yi and said, "Cao Cao wanted to use Jiaozhou to restrain me and form a response to the north and south. This is not surprising. I just wonder how Cao Cao sent Zhong Yao as an envoy?"

"I thought of this. This should be related to the seven Jian'an cases that broke out in Yedu recently. Cao Pi took the opportunity to eradicate Cao Zhi's power, and even the Cui family in Qinghe was affected. Zhong Yao 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 the reason. However, Cui's involvement in the case is not entirely to eradicate Cao Zhi's power. I think it has something to do with Cao Cao's Ding Ling."

Sima Yi was puzzled, "Your Highness, isn't it a matter of sanctions?"

"How could it be left alone?"

Liu Jing sneered and said, "Ding Ling is the same as the land reset order of the Han Dynasty. It is related to the life and death of Cao Wei. How could Cao Cao be left alone? He could not move the powerful army and the powerful, so he attacked the gentry who had always opposed him. The Cui family in Qinghe had thousands of hectares of fertile land and hid thousands of refugees. If the Cui family did not hand over these populations and fertile land, Cao Cao would never give up. After dealing with the Cui family in Qinghe, the Yang family of Hongnong was below. All the gentry could not escape. This was something Cao Cao wanted to do many years ago, and now he could not drag it down."

Sima Yi sighed, "He has moved the interests of the gentry and undoubtedly destroyed his foundation."

"There is no way. Cao Wei's self-cultivated farmers have been reduced by nearly half, and the government's tax revenue has dropped sharply. If this continues, what will Cao Cao use to support the army? Last year Chen Qun told me that the order for Ding was first proposed by Xun Yu. It was originally called the Order of Gongtian. It owned more than five hectares of land, and ten acres must be handed over to four acres of officials. Together with the population on the land, it could not be implemented. Last year Chen Qun proposed improvement measures, as long as people do not want land, so it was changed to the Order of Ding."

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

"It's very simple. Now the government has enough arable land, but no farmers have farmed. So Chen Qun suggested that Cao Cao just need to force the powerful people from all over the country to get out the hidden people, so the land can be spared, and the population can be used to concentrate on farming and re-implement the well-field system, just like Jiaozhou."

Sima Yi sighed, "The powerful people in various places are not stupid. Without farmers farming, what's the use of the land they have in their hands? No wonder they can't continue to implement it. Now they use coercive means to favor the powerful and only target the gentry. I guess even if they succeed, they will shake the foundation of Cao Wei."

Liu Jing pondered for a moment and said, "Cao Cao knew very well that his foundation was not a gentry. He had already opposed the gentry when he promoted poor law, killed Bian Rang and Kong Rong. His foundation was to support his powerful people. To eradicate the gentry who supported the Han Dynasty and seized their population and land at the same time, wouldn't it be a killing two birds with one stone?"

"Did Your Highness watch Cao Cao attack the gentry without hesitation?"

Liu Jing laughed meaningfully and said to Sima Yi: "If I defeat Cao Cao and unify the world, how should I deal with these gentry and how to make them hand over their population and land? Have Zhongda thought about this?"

Sima Yi didn't understand Liu Jing's darkness once or twice. He felt it again today. Sima Yi sighed in his heart and could only be silent. Liu Jing said with his hands behind his back: "The Han Dynasty was in chaos because of the separatist powers. Any princes had to rely on the support of powerful landlords at the beginning of the rebellion. But once it became a climate, they had to turn around to deal with these powerful landlords who once supported them. This was the case with Yuan Shao, and Cao Cao, and this was the emperor.

The king's art has been repeated over the past thousand years. The wise king will find a balance point, which is the so-called doctrine of the mean. I also hope to find such a balance point. The heroes who follow me should enjoy wealth and honor and own land, but they cannot be excessive. A limit must be maintained. The Han system has been clear, but the principles of the conscience are corrupted, and these systems are in name only. Since I revived the Han Dynasty, I want to rebuild the system and establish the principles of the conscience again. This Han is not the other Han. Can Zhongda understand it?"

Sima Yi stood up and said, "I can understand!"

Liu Jing nodded with a smile, "This topic is big, I can't finish it for a while, let's talk about it another day! Let's talk about Zhong Yao's mission to Jiaozhou. What should Zhongda think we should do?"

"Weichen thinks that we should take into account both the symptoms and the root causes. On the one hand, we should prevent Cao Wei from forming an alliance with Jiaozhou, and on the other hand, we should prepare to go south to attack Jiaozhou. This is the foundation and we cannot be delayed any more."

Liu Jing walked to the window and pondered for a long time and said, "If we support a force in Jiaozhou to restrain Liu Bei, we will temporarily let Jiaozhou go. What do Zhongda think?"

"Your Highness means raising wolves to control tigers, but we are afraid that tigers and wolves will join forces and we will suffer."

Liu Jing nodded, "Zhongda said it well. Only by eradicating Liu Bei and unifying Jiaozhou can the root cause be cured. In fact, Gan Ning and Lu Xun are already preparing."

Speaking of this, Liu Jing turned around and smiled at Sima Yi and said, "Since Cao sent Zhong Yao to Jiaozhou, how about Zhongda also sent me a mission to Jiaozhou?"

Sima Yi understood Liu Jing's meaning, stood up and saluted, "I am willing to share your worries with you!"

.........

Since Liu Bei's ambition to the Northern Expedition a few years ago, Jiaozhou has suffered a heavy blow. After years of lying on firewood and tasting gall, Jiaozhou's troops have gradually recovered to 10,000 people, and Jiaozhou has a sparse population, which is the most military force that Jiaozhou can support.

Of course, the Northern Expedition was not completely unrealized. Jiaozhou eventually occupied Luling County as a passage for the Jiaozhou army to head north.

On the morning of that day, a stone passenger ship slowly approached the Ganxian wharf. Ganxian is located in the south of Luling County and is an important commercial port on the Ganjiang River. Although the population is small, the business is very developed. Every spring and autumn, a large amount of mountain goods and medicinal materials are distributed here and shipped to Jingzhou or Jiangdong.

It was already early winter, and the Ganxian wharf seemed a little deserted. More than a dozen dilapidated cargo ships were parked next to the wharf, but there were dozens of Jiaozhou soldiers on the wharf, and a taxi about ten years old in the middle was Bo Masu, the head of Liu Bei's recording room, and there were also a group of local officials such as Ganxian County Magistrate and County Magistrate next to it.

Ma Su was the special envoy Zhong Yao who came to welcome Cao Cao under the order of Liu Bei. Zhong Yao's followers had already arrived at the Yucheng, Nanhai County, and sent Cao Cao's handwritten letter to Liu Bei. In order to pay attention, Liu Bei immediately ordered Ma Su to come to Gan County to welcome the special envoy Zhong Yao.

The news of the demise of Jiangdong had already reached Jiaozhou, which made the whole country very nervous. Zhuge Liang believed that after the Han army destroyed Jiangdong, the next target would be Jiaozhou. Only by eliminating the worries of Jiaozhou, the Han army could fully compete with Cao's army for the Central Plains.

"Empress, here you come!" a soldier shouted at the passenger ship that appeared in the distance.

Ma Su looked a little nervous. The special envoy turned out to be Zhong Yao, who was famous for his calligraphy, which made him admire him. After a moment, the passenger ship docked, and several followers surrounded an old man wearing a green robe and hat and went ashore.

Ma Su hurriedly came forward and bowed, "You are the Military Advisor Zhong?"

Zhong Yao nodded with a smile, "That's right!"

Ma Su was overjoyed and hurriedly said, "I am the chief clerk of the imperial uncle's record room, Ma Su, who came to greet Mr. Zhong at the order of Emperor Liu."

Zhong Yao smiled slightly and bowed and said, "It turns out that he is Ma Liang's brother, and he has been revered for a long time."

Ma Su felt a little unhappy. The other party was because of his brother Ma Liangcai, but then again, they had been in Jiaozhou for many years, and I'm afraid the Central Plains had already forgotten them.

Although he felt a little uncomfortable, Ma Su did not dare to neglect him. He immediately led his horse over and said to Zhong Yao: "The river ahead is full of rocks and the water flows fast. You can't take a boat anymore. We rode our horses south first, crossed Dayu Mountain, and then got on the boat to Fanyu after we arrived in Longchuan County."

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

"It will take about five days to go."

Zhong Yao did not speak anymore, turned over and followed Ma Su and others to the south.

...........

Fanyu County is the capital of Nanyue State established by Zhao Tuo in the past. The political center of Jiaozhou was originally in Jiaozhi, but because the Shixie family has been in Jiaozhi for many years, they have many marriages with the barbarians and Cham tribes.

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

Fanyu County, which is today's Guangzhou, is located at the mouth of Lingdingyang, and has two rivers converge, which has convenient water transportation. Zhuge Liang established a naval army of 5,000 people, owned more than 1,000 warships, and also established official ship freight, so that the food and food resources in Luling County, Cangwu County and Yulin County can be transported continuously to Fanyu City through water transportation.

Liu Bei has always been eager to return to the Central Plains, and he is not very dedicated to operating Jiaozhou. He just regards Jiaozhou as his temporary place to stop. However, since the Northern Expedition was defeated a few years ago, Liu Bei's intention to pursue northern expedition suffered a heavy blow and began to manage Jiaozhou with all his heart.

He appointed Zhuge Liang's military advisor General, who was fully in charge of government affairs. Wang Lei and Huang Quan from Yizhou were the ministers of the left and right, assisting Zhuge Liang in charge of government affairs. He also appointed Sun Qian as the governor of Yulin County, Jian Yong as the governor of Cangwu County, Mi Zhu as the governor 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, preparing to seize Jian'an County.

This is also the strategy of expanding north by Zhuge Liang. He did not plan to Jingnan to avoid powerful enemies and instead seek Jiangdong. Jian'an County has a vast territory and abundant resources. If Jian'an County can be captured, it can lay the foundation for continuing to go north to capture Linhai County or even Kuaiji County in the future.

Liu Bei agreed deeply. He had already discovered that Jiangdong was gradually declining and no longer as powerful as before. He might not be able to provoke the Han Dynasty, but he could seek Jiangdong and also satisfy his desire to go north.
Chapter completed!