Chapter 161
Liu Bei's words are so powerful. This shows that I don't want the army anymore. I'll give it to you. Who can do this? So far, I can't doubt that Liu Bei is sincere. After all, what else can you do? Liu Bei dares to say this because Liu Bei's army was also formed according to the military system like Youzhou. Liu Bei firmly believes that the soldiers he brought out will not betray him. It's just that Cao Cao will support him for him for the time being. When he uses it, as long as he summons himself, these troops will still follow him. This is also a hidden part of the book "Introduction to Youzhou" given to Cao Cao to Liu Bei. However, there is a reason. Although Cao Cao didn't know Liu Bei's plan, Cao Cao still had a headache about the gift that Liu Bei threw over easily.
A total of 70,000 or 80,000 troops is also a big or small force. If this is absorbed, it should be considered a good thing. However, the problem is that it is not the time. Cao Cao's military food is short of now. Although Cao Cao used Cheng Yu's strategy to capture a large group of wealthy families in Yanzhou and harvested a huge amount of food and grass. But that is just the ability to support the reserved military food until this year's autumn harvest. However, it is absolutely impossible for Cao Cao's army to survive until the next autumn harvest. Therefore, the problem of Cao Cao's military food shortage still exists, and it is just temporarily adjourned. Although Cao Cao is no longer as urgent as he was about the military food problem at the time of the beginning. However, only after Yanzhou and Sili can harvest well in the next year and provide sufficient military food for Cao Cao, Cao's military food shortage problem can be considered a real solution.
Now Cao Cao has four internal solutions to military food shortage:
First, disarmament. Use elite troops to save elite troops, reduce military rations, and maintain certain combat effectiveness.
The second is to move the capital. The army stayed in Yanzhou, reducing the additional loss during the transportation of military rations and extending the army's supply capacity.
The third is to purchase. After the autumn harvest this year, buy grain from various places so that your reserves of military rations can support the autumn harvest again in the coming year.
Fourth, war. Use force to seize a wealthy force and support your army with its military rations until the autumn harvest is again.
Among them, neither opinion of one or three was favored by Cao Cao. It can only be regarded as a bad strategy, and it is a backup plan when there is no other strategy.
In Cao Cao's opinion, the first opinion is absolutely impossible when the strong enemy is surrounded by them. Maybe before he can become an elite soldier, he will be wiped out by others. The third type is not to mention the money spent, in this state, the military rations of each prince are in short supply. It is difficult to buy. I am afraid that only in Youzhou can you buy food. In this case, it will not only help Youzhou's financial strength, but also hand over the lifeline of the military rations to Liu Bin of Youzhou, which is too unrestworthy.
Therefore, Cao Cao still agrees with the two opinions of the second and fourth. Now Cao Cao is just waiting for the princes to pay homage to the emperor and then prepares to choose one according to the specific situation. But now Liu Bei is planning to throw Cao Cao's troops of 70,000 to 80,000 troops, which is a little worse. How can Cao Cao not have a headache?
Although Cao Cao no longer doubted Liu Bei's sincerity in surrendering to him, Cao Cao still said: "Brother Xuande, the court now has 500,000 troops. All the elite soldiers are strong generals. The scattered soldiers recruited by the people are useless to keep them. Why not let them get rid of their troops and return to their fields and enrich their hometowns?" Cao Cao said this, that was Cao Cao's nature. If you don't know anything secret, you won't let them know. Especially when Liu Bei is just a new arrival, Cao Cao will be even more unlikely to praise Liu Bei for his secret of military food shortage.
But Liu Bei knew Cao Cao's indescribable secrets. Although Liu Bei looked motionless at that time, he was shocked and sweating in his back. Cao Cao was too awesome and too careful. He handed over all the troops to him. He didn't completely believe it. He was also ready to disband his army to control himself. It was too sinister. He was under such a person and it would be difficult to develop. He must keep the army and find opportunities.
At this moment, Liu Bei cried with a sad face, "Ming Gong, all his subordinates have been fighting for many years, but they really cannot bear to abandon them. If they had to settle down with Ming, they had no worries about food and clothing. Bei could be said to them to have an explanation. Bei could be at ease. But now Ming Gong wanted to let them go back to their hometown. They thought they had no money, no land, and no skill to settle down. It was really miserable. Bei couldn't bear it. Well, there was a treasure that originally wanted to offer to Ming Gong. It was just to meet the emperor, which was not convenient to carry. Therefore, they stayed in the army to wait for Ming Gong to settle down after Ming, and then offered it to Ming Gong. Now they had to sell it when the princes gathered. Get some gold and silver, and scatter it for them to settle down." After saying that, Liu Bei felt that tears flowed down in a colorful way.
What Liu Bei said about offering treasures to Cao Cao did not arouse much interest. People like Cao Cao had great ambitions, so Cao Cao became much more indifferent to this material desire. Like ordinary secular treasures, they could not arouse Cao Cao's thoughts at all. Moreover, Cao Cao also heard of Liu Bei's origin. In Cao Cao's eyes, what kind of good treasure could Liu Bei have? Therefore, Cao Cao would not be moved by the treasures Liu Bei said. However, although the treasures could not touch Cao Cao's thoughts, Cao Cao was really a little ruthless when facing the crying Liu Bei in front of him. It is said that men don't cry easily. What does a big man cry like here?
Cao Cao was depressed and Cao Cao was upset. With Cao Cao's rich experience in his life, Cao Cao had never encountered such a soaking place. Then Cao Cao would not have any suitable solution to it. If ordinary people did this, he would not need to cry for such a long time, and Cao Cao would kill him. But Liu Bei had just given Cao Cao a big gift, and Liu Bei was also the first little prince to come to pay homage to the emperor. Other princes were watching from behind. Cao Cao really couldn't do anything to Liu Bei. In this way, even if he was as wise and powerful as Cao Cao, he would not know what to do at this time.
Cao Cao was depressed, and Liu Bei was also depressed. Liu Bei thought to himself: I have been crying for a long time, but you are saying something. If you say something, I can continue to say it. Otherwise, why are we going to waste here? The atmosphere was awkward for a long time, and Cao Cao finally broke the deadlock and said, "Xuande shouldn't ask Pei Qi. Xuande's kindness and loving military spirit is so admirable. However, Xuande sells goods and raises money in front of the princes, which is a decent demeanor of the court and damages your identity as a Han royal family. Moreover, the price of selling treasures may not be enough for you to dismiss the soldiers. It is better to do this. Anyway, your treasure was originally intended to give to me. I will accept it with a bold face. And the cost of sending the soldiers is less than that, and I will pay for you. What do you think?"
Cao Cao was helpless. Cao Cao really had no surplus grain to support his soldiers now. Otherwise, when Cao Cao was crying like this, Cao Cao really wanted to take away Liu Bei's troops and prevent Liu Bei from crying and being upset. But the cruel reality made Cao Cao unable to make such a decision. Therefore, Cao Cao could only use an excuse to give some money to Liu Bei, and just treat it as losing money to eliminate disasters. Send Liu Bei away first. Anyway, the book "Introduction to Youzhou" given by Liu Bei is also a treasure. It is not unfair to give Liu Bei some money. Moreover, his family has a great career and a strong foundation. Although there is not much food, it is not a simple matter to raise some severance fees for Liu Bei.
Cao Cao thought he was helping Liu Bei. But after Liu Bei finished speaking, Liu Bei scolded in his heart: This ball is too poisonous. He borrowed a message and climbed up. He had to kill me. He was just thinking about disbanding my military power. OK. Since you dare to pay for me, I will see how much you can pay. Hehe. asking for a price is my strength. Let's just gesture on it and gesture. Liu Bei stopped his sad face and showed a surprise look and said, "Ming Ming is indeed kind and righteous. Bei will take my subordinates to thank Ming Gong." As he said that, Liu Bei stood up and bowed to Cao Cao.
Cao Cao quickly stopped Liu Bei and said, "Hey! Why should Xuande be like this? You and I speak in a slight manner. Love is like brothers. What is this matter? You sit down and calculate how much severance costs are still needed. I will ask someone to take it to you." Cao Cao was proud. He did this beautifully. Spend some money to buy someone's heart. This business is worth it! He treats Liu Bei so well, why worry that Liu Bei will not work for him in the future.
At this time, Liu Bei sat down and slowly muttered in his mouth: "Well. Now that the war is in chaos, it should not cost much to buy land. If you have ten cents of money, you can buy a good acre of land. In this case, it would be enough for one person to have three acres of land. This is thirty cents of money. If you have land, you have to have some farming land. Now, it is difficult to find a farmer, and it will cost 20 cents of money. The guy has bought it all. He also needs some seeds and rations. Now the year is not good, and the food is too expensive, so the money is too much. You have to calculate it well..." Cao Cao, who was already a white-faced, sat next to Liu Bei at this time, and the more he heard, the whiter his face became.
Finally, Liu Bei stopped to forget it. He stopped and said to Cao Cao, "Ming Gong, I have calculated it. I have prepared some remaining food and salary in my hands. In this way, you can prepare another 300,000 taels of gold, so that you can dismiss these subordinates and let them live in peace."
Cao Cao only felt his head buzzing, and the fire couldn't help but rush up. Liu Bei was too ignorant. What kind of soldiers were worth so much money? Even in peacetime, it would be great to send a soldier and each person gave him a few stagnant of money. Now, there is no saying that escaping them is to give them a bite of food. If they don't raise them and let them get out, that would be good. Otherwise, if they were sold as slaves, how could they make a fortune? Now, you even count their annual rations. If I had their annual rations, would I have to ask you to dismiss them?
Chapter completed!