Chapter 311 Yuan Shu's Sacrifice
As the leader of the next generation, Zhuge Liang was obviously more inclined towards internal affairs, while Sima Yi and Lu Xun were slightly more inclined towards military strategies.
Although all three are all versatile talents capable of becoming generals or ministers, they each have their own relative strengths.
Zhuge Liang took into account the current internal affairs of various places, so he was a little conservative about expanding the army, because he was well aware of the current population shortage under Tian Ze's rule.
Sima Yi and Lu Xun considered the matter more purely from a military perspective.
Of course, they also knew Chen Gong's difficulties, so they did not ask for too much. Otherwise, given their personalities, they might have directly asked for an increase of 500,000 troops.
"In that case, let's expand the army by 300,000." Tian Ze said.
Then he glanced at Chen Gong, whose face looked a little grim, and said, "Let's put the war with Gongsun Bogui on hold for now. We'll talk about it next spring."
Because of Cao Cao's successive mistakes, Sili was captured too easily, which was beyond the imagination of Tian Ze and others.
As a result, Zhang Liao and Zhang He's troops did not suffer many casualties, and they could have directly attacked Xiliang.
Especially now that Cao Cao has suffered a heavy blow.
However, considering the situation under his rule, the war situation and the expansion of the army, Tian Ze chose to put the matter on hold for the time being.
After all, the five major princes have just formed an alliance and are full of vigor.
Once Tian Ze takes action at this time, it will inevitably arouse their strong resistance, and Jizhou, Qingzhou Donglai and Sili will inevitably be plunged into a long war.
"It will take a long time for Sili to stabilize and develop. After all, it was once the place where the king rose. In the future..." Tian Ze hesitated for a moment, but still did not make up his mind.
Although Jixian is a good place, it is too far to the northeast, which will be disadvantageous for conquering the Central Plains and the South, and controlling the Western Regions and Shentu in the west. Tian Ze thinks it is better to move the capital to Chang'an and Luoyang in the future.
But it is still too early to say this now.
Although Tian Ze did not say it explicitly, everyone present heard the implication of Tian Ze's words.
There are inevitable reasons why Chang'an and Luoyang became the capitals of countries many times in later generations.
Considering the geographical location, surrounding environment and other aspects, this is indeed one of the most suitable places to build a capital in this era.
"My lord, I understand." Chen Gong said proactively.
Although the area of Sili is not large, according to Tian Ze's requirements, it requires much more money, grain and manpower to manage it than Jizhou, Bingzhou and other places.
Over the past few years, the Sili area has suffered great damage. Not only does it have to be completely rebuilt, but the various water conservancy projects and checkpoints that have been abandoned for a long time also need to be restored. The cost can be imagined.
Upon hearing this, Cheng Yu sighed slightly, but said nothing.
You can't have your cake and eat it too. Now that the military expansion has been decided, it is no longer possible to force an attack on Xiliang.
Moreover, from a strategic point of view, attacking Xiliang at this time is indeed more risky.
Cheng Yu could not guarantee whether Guan Yu and Xu Huang could protect Cao Cao, Yuan Shao and Sun Ce if they joined forces and marched north once Liu Bei and Liu Yan sent troops to contain them.
How can porcelain touch earthenware jars?
Whenever there was a possibility of breaking into Jizhou, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao would rather completely abandon the defense of Yanzhou and Qingzhou and give it a try.
In the fertile places, they could make up for their losses by taking over one or two counties.
For Tian Zefang, even if he could win, once the Jizhou area was swept away by him, it would be a loss.
This war cannot be started if the safety of Jizhou cannot be ensured.
...A battle that started off well but ended badly ended just like that.
As Tian Ze defended Sili and Jizhou to the death, the five great princes did not dare to take the initiative to attack, and the war came to a temporary end.
This year, as expected, there was another severe drought across the country, and even the locust plague was quite serious.
Because of Tian Ze's reminder, all the princes made preparations in advance and avoided a total loss, thus preserving about 30% of the previous harvest.
Although there was still not enough food, with the food and fodder traded by Tian Ze, at least people would not starve to death.
Of course, except Yuan Shu.
This guy was a hopeless case, and he didn't take Tian Ze's reminder to heart. To be more precise, he didn't care whether the people and soldiers under his rule could eat enough.
As a local lord, although Yuan Shu has his own unique qualities, his level in many aspects is not even above the passing line, and he is not a qualified lord at all.
The Yuan family's Confucian classics may be useful for governing the country, but they are completely useless for actually managing internal affairs or leading troops in battles.
Therefore, Yuan Shao made great use of the talents of Yingchuan, and his factions included Runan, Yingchuan, Jizhou, and Xuzhou.
However, Yuan Shu was so foolish that he really believed in the Yuan family's tricks and continued to practice "ruling by doing nothing".
If it was a peaceful and prosperous time, or if the weather was good, it would be fine to do so. Although the people would not become rich, at least they would not be too poor.
But given the current situation, coupled with the disaster, the people and soldiers under Yuan Shu had eaten all the tree bark and could only catch clams in the river to eat.
You have to know that these people who catch river clams to eat don't have any seasoning. It's good enough if they can be cooked. The taste is self-evident, it's much worse than tree bark.
The most important thing is that catching river clams is not only risky and difficult, but there are also many parasites in the clams, which are difficult to handle and there are many risks in eating them.
But even at this point, Tian Ze had transported the grain to the vicinity of Huainan, but Yuan Shu was still stubborn and refused to trade.
The disadvantages of being born into an aristocratic family are fully exposed, which makes people feel that there is no need to worry about not eating meat.
Yuan Shu did not realize the seriousness of the problem, but Sun Ce, Liu Bei and others knew it very well.
Although the Huainan area was severely harassed by Yuan Shu, it still has a large population and is a piece of fat meat.
They had been eyeing Yuan Shu for a long time, but they just hadn't had the right opportunity to take action.
The alliance of the five major princes is just an opportunity. As the dead bones in the tomb surrounded by Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Ce, it is time to contribute your own value.
Using it as a sacrifice to lay the foundation for an alliance will benefit everyone.
Yuan Shao's mood at this time was quite complicated.
If possible, he actually wanted Yuan Shu to hold on.
Although he and Yuan Shu did not get along, they were both from the Yuan family after all, and the two brothers were connected by bones.
As long as Yuan Shu could see the situation clearly and he gave him adequate treatment, there was a great possibility that he would lead his troops and territory to join him.
Unfortunately, he didn't get this opportunity.
Liu Bei, Cao Cao and Sun Ce were all aware of Yuan Shao's intentions, and they would certainly not allow this to happen. Therefore, the division of Yuan Shu among the four parties was a foregone conclusion.
Just as people from all sides were ready to make a move, Yuan Shu was still lying on the dragon bed in the imperial palace, drinking honey water, completely unaware of the horrific crisis that was approaching.
(End of this chapter)
