Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 471 Cao Rui's Mask of Pain

In February of the first year of Jianxing, the Western Front Army of the Great Han in Guanzhong brazenly launched a surprise attack on Cao Wei's Hedong County.

Both Xu Huang and Zhu Ling sent people to ask Cao Zhen for help, and at the same time reported to the Cao Wei court in Luoyang.

A few days later, the news was sent to Luoyang, the capital of Cao Wei, through Yuban Road in Zhongtiao Mountain.

Luoyang Nangong is not a palace. The newly appointed emperor of Cao Wei, Cao Rui, is working hard on political affairs. He looks at the mountain of official documents on the table with a serious look in his eyes.

Since the death of the first emperor, he ascended the throne at the age of 21, and it has been nearly half a year now.

Chen Qun and Sima Yi will help deal with the affairs of the court, but Cao Rui understands that the courtiers alone cannot maintain the rule of Wei.

The most important thing is that although Taizu conquered a great country back then, Cao Weigen was already in a precarious situation because of the defeat in the Battle of Guanzhong and the Battle of Xiangfan in his later years.

Later, the first emperor fought repeatedly in the Battle of Chang'an, the Battle of Ziyun Mountain, and the Battle of Huainan Yangtze River, which made Cao Rui a mess when he took over.

Originally at its peak, Cao Wei’s military strength was 60 to [-] people. In the north of Youyan Monan, in the east of the Bohai Sea, in the west of Liangzhou, and in the south of Henan, the great family business was almost lost by nearly half. , Only then can it be defended.

Therefore, it can be said that Cao Wei is now at a time of life and death.

If they can withstand the next wave of big Han offensives and successfully cause heavy losses to the Southern Han Dynasty, the two sides can return to their respective starting points, start to recuperate, and confront each other between the North and the South.

Because before several battles such as the Battle of Xiangfan and the Battle of Guanzhong, Cao Wei's military strength was far superior to that of the southern Han. The comparison between the soldiers and horses of the two sides was almost 50 million versus 30 and less than [-], and they were in an absolute advantage.

However, after successive defeats and the annexation of Jiangdong by the great Han in the south, Cao Wei's military strength is already at a disadvantage. Time, Cao Wei will be suppressed.

So Cao Rui is very aware of his current situation.

For this reason, after taking office, he made many good government measures, such as sending people to the Youyan border, making peace with the Wuhuan Xianbei people, and stabilizing the border situation.

He also connected to Gongsun Yuan in Liaodong. After Gongsun Yuan threatened his uncle Gongsun Gong to give him the position, Cao Rui sent envoys to make friends with him, and worshiped him as General Yang Lie and Liaodong Prefect.

These measures are actually necessary.

In fact, because of the embarrassing situation where Wei is weak and Han is strong, the defense forces on the border of Youyan in the north are extremely empty, and the frontier army is basically useless.

Although they know that the initiative to show friendship with Wuhuan Xianbei, Gongsun Yuan and others is to seek skin from a tiger, but they have nothing to do now. Even if Wuhuan Xianbei and Gongsun Yuan go south at this time, and the southern big Han then goes north, and they attack from both sides, they will perish. danger.

The only good news is that Gongsun Yuan was quite ambitious in history and wanted to unite Soochow to make troubles in the north of Cao Wei.But Cao Wei was strong at that time, and finally Sima Yi rushed thousands of miles to Liaodong, and dealt with him to solve Cao Wei's future troubles.

But now because Cao Wei is relatively weak, if Gongsun Yuan makes trouble again, then Cao Wei will destroy the country. At that time, he will either submit to the big man or be wiped out by the big man.

Therefore, considering all kinds of reasons, Gongsun Yuan agreed to form an alliance with Cao Wei, and did not send troops to harass the rear.

However, he still took advantage of Cao Wei's overwhelmed self, and sent troops to occupy most of Liaoxi County.

These places were originally brought down by Cao Cao's raid on White Wolf Mountain, and now they have been seized by Gongsun Yuan. Since then, Cao Wei's forces have withdrawn to Shanhaiguan, and the entire Liaodong and Liaoxi areas have been occupied by Gongsun Yuan.

Cao Rui has nothing to do about this, he can only hold his nose and admit it, hoping that Gongsun Yuan will understand the situation clearly and not force Cao Wei to destroy the country.

At least Cao Wei has destroyed the country, Gongsun Yuan should figure out who the big man is going to deal with first.

Externally, Cao Rui stabilized Wuhuan Xianbei and Gongsun Yuan, the great enemies in the north, and at the same time deployed heavy troops in the south to guard against the attack of the only powerful enemy, the Han.

Internally, in order to alleviate the current extremely difficult people's livelihood situation, they chose light corvee, reduced taxes, and reduced the proportion of payment for farming.

Before Cao Wei farmed a lot of land, it was not bad at the beginning. The farm was divided into [-]-[-], the government got [-]%, and the people could also get [-]%. And when there was a famine, the Cao Wei government would help to cover the bottom line.

But now the garrison system has completely become an evil government. Not only will the Cao Wei government not help out in the famine years, but it has further increased the ratio to [-] or even [-].

The Cao Wei government took [-]% to [-]% of the harvest, and the common people could get [-]% to [-]% at most. It is very difficult to guarantee that they will not starve to death, let alone live a good life.

Under such circumstances, many people in the villages either chose to flee south to the Han Dynasty, or chose to revolt against the rule.

According to historical records, during the Cao Wei period, there were more than ten cases of Tuntian uprisings, and the leaders of the uprising army had names and surnames, and more than 30 cases were anonymous.This is just an uprising by the villagers, there are hundreds of non-Tuntian rebels.

It can be said that the heavy corvee, high taxes, and layers of exploitation and oppression by the government not only seriously damaged the interests of the people, but also greatly shaken the foundation of Cao Wei's rule.

At present, there are only five or six million people registered in Cao Wei, and all the corvee and taxes are spread on these people, which will definitely cause large-scale resistance.

For this reason, Cao Rui's choice of light corvee and tax reduction is actually a more reasonable way, which can stabilize the situation.

But this created another problem.

That is, the root cause of Cao Wei's serious exploitation is that they need food, soldiers, and civilian husbands to fight against the Han court in the south.

If the tax is reduced for light corvee, what about the food, the source of soldiers, and the auxiliary soldiers responsible for transporting supplies?
So in the spring of this year, Cao Rui is considering implementing a new policy to make up for the gap from aristocratic families.

The current population of Cao Wei and Dahan is about the same, both are more than 1000 million, and the combined total population should be more than 3000 million.

However, the registered population of the southern great Han is much larger than them, and the food and soldiers they can supplement are far more than Cao Wei's. The reason is that the southern aristocratic family has been cut down badly, unlike the Cao Wei aristocratic family that still dominates.

In history, although Cao Wei was united with the aristocratic family, they cooperated more. Unlike the Soochow and later Jin dynasties, the aristocratic family might overwhelm the imperial power if they were not careful. There is even a saying that the king and Xie share the world.

Now Cao Rui is considering whether to change the form and give the aristocratic family more power in exchange for the support of their food, grass, soldiers and corvee. Otherwise, it will be difficult to support the war in the south in the future.

Cao Rui propped his chin in thought, and after a while, he summoned Wei Zhen to discuss the matter.

Wei Zhen was his important minister when he was in the East Palace, and he had a very good personal relationship. Cao Rui would consult with him on many important matters. After all, he is still relatively wary of the three ministers who left behind Cao Pi.

After a while, Wei Zhen came in and bowed to him.

Cao Rui then asked him: "Mr. Wei, Liu Han in the south wants to go north to the Central Plains all the time. If the imperial court collects grain, grass and corvee from the people, I am afraid that uprisings will continue. I plan to lighten the corvee and reduce taxes and rest with the people. What do you think? Is this correct?"

Wei Zhen replied, "It's correct."

Cao Rui continued: "But if the corvee is light and the tax is reduced, and the confrontation in the south continues, and the army, horses, and grass are consumed every day, and there is a lack of supplies and civilian husbands to transport the luggage, then our army may be in a predicament of lack of food and clothing, Mr. Wei. What do you think should be done?"

Wei Zhen probably also guessed what Cao Rui meant. He himself came from a family, so naturally he did not object to the family having more power, so he said: "I think that although all the big families now comment on the nine-rank Zhongzheng, there are still many The aristocratic family is dissatisfied that they have not been rated as a better grade, which will make many talents buried."

"Oh?"

Cao Rui asked, "What's the clever strategy of Mr. Wei?"

Wei Zhen said: "I feel that His Majesty should issue a government order, and those who are willing to give more money and servants to support the imperial court's war should be raised in rank, and outstanding disciples in the family can also become officials."

"Ah."

Cao Rui nodded slightly, it was the same as what he thought.

The Jiupin Zhongzheng system has indeed greatly eased the conflict between the Cao Wei Group and the aristocratic family.

In the past, the inspection system was monopolized by the top families, and it was too difficult for small and medium families to stand out. Now that the Ninth Rank Zhongzheng System has been established, small and medium families can also become officials one after another.

But still at that point, the nine-rank Zhongzheng system also divides talents into three, six, and nine grades, divided into nine grades: upper upper, upper middle, upper lower, middle upper, middle middle, middle lower, lower upper, lower middle, and lower lower.

Among them, the top grades are almost all monopolized by the top aristocratic families, while the small and medium aristocratic families can only carve up the middle and lower grades, and the poor families can only grab the lower grades.

This is why there was a saying in the Jin Dynasty that "the upper class has no poor families, and the lower class has no noble families".

Therefore, although small and medium-sized families can become officials, it is more difficult to go further.

What's more important is that the big family has monopolized the top grade, but it doesn't mean that being born in a big family is necessarily an elite talent.

For example, the Cao family and Xiahou family are already the top families.

The clan has a population of several hundred, countless young children, and very few of them can be of great use. In the second generation, there are only a few such as Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu, Xia Houshang, and Xia Houba. The third generation is even more superb. The famous Cao Shuang also buried Cao Wei Jiangshan.

Therefore, a large family does not mean that there are high-level political elites. Small and medium-sized families also have a lot of talents, but they cannot be promoted due to grade issues. As a result, Cao Wei's talents are somewhat withered.

Cao Rui thought about relaxing the grade selection and paying taxes and population in exchange for the support of the majority of small and medium-sized aristocratic families.

This is a bit similar to the Liu Bei Group's policy when it first started cleaning up the family in the south. It also used official positions and political status in exchange for the population and land of the family in the south.

The difference is that Cao Rui is not as thorough as Liu Bei did, taking away the population and land of the aristocratic family directly. Cao Rui only needs food and the support of the aristocratic family's population. The slaves who robbed them became Cao Wei's registered population.

From this, it can be seen that Cao Rui's methods are much gentler.

The main reason is that after several defeats in the war, Cao Wei had to move closer to the family. If he followed Liu Bei and directly weakened the family and robbed the family's population and land, the result would be rebellion and Cao Wei's rule would fall apart.

So he has nothing to do.

After dealing with this problem, Cao Rui thought about it and said: "The war in the south is unstable now, and Liu Han may make another northern expedition at any time. I am afraid that Xia Houshang will not be able to take on the important task. I want Sima Yi to go to Henan as the general of the army. Wei Jun thinks how?"

Wei Zhen said, "Your Majesty is wise."

"Ah."

Cao Rui nodded: "Then let's do this. The country has been recuperating for half a year since the strike last year. The defeat in the Huainan War has dealt us a huge blow. There are many good generals left by the Taizu and the late emperors. For the dead and wounded, I feel uneasy."

Wei Zhen persuaded: "Your Majesty re-enables General Hussars to go to Huainan, at least you can stabilize the situation. Although there have been many wars in the south, although they have won, the consumption must not be too small. Your Majesty should first govern the country well. If the country continues to have civil strife, Internal and external troubles, I am afraid it is not good, only by eliminating internal troubles first, and then resisting foreign enemies, can we be stable."

"Ah."

Cao Rui responded, closed his eyes, rubbed his nose, and said, "That's why I sent envoys to Liaodong to win over Gongsun Yuan. The foreign enemies in the north will be stabilized for the time being, and the civil strife in the Central Plains can also be eliminated as soon as possible. As long as the people's labor is reduced , presumably will not be as repeated as before."

Since Cao Pi died and Cao Rui took over the mess, Cao Rui felt that he had to live 20 years less.

What kind of country is the Wei country that just took office?
It has just experienced several defeats in wars, internal and external troubles, and precarious weather. The entire interior has less than 30 soldiers and horses, and the rebellion continues.

In order to quell these problems, Cao Rui was exhausted, sleeping for less than three hours a day, and dealing with government affairs around the clock.

After half a year of hard work, he finally stabilized Xianbei Wuhuan and Gongsun Yuan. At the same time, he appointed the 64-year-old veteran Xia Houyuan as the general of the hussars and went to Shouchun to garrison.

Before Guan Yu had killed Shaopi, Cao Xiu was critically ill, and the defenders did not dare to defend, so they abandoned the city and fled.

However, Guan Yu did not occupy Shouchun because the follow-up food and grass did not keep up. Instead, he retreated to Hefei, rebuilt a new city, and began to plan the Northern Expedition.

Xia Houyuan was turned into a civilian by Cao Pi because of his defeat in the Battle of Ziyun Mountain. However, after Cao Xiu died in battle, Huainan had no generals. Facing Guan Yu, the leading commander of the Southern Han Group, Cao Wei was under great pressure.

For this reason, Cao Rui reactivated Xia Houyuan and let him sit in Huainan.

And there is only Xiahoushang left in Henan, and Cao Rui was afraid that Xiahoushang would not be able to support the whole situation, so he planned to send Sima Yi there.

In this way, at least from the overall situation, there are Cao Zhen, Xu Huang, and Zhu Ling in the West Front Pass, and Xia Houyuan and Xia Houshang in the south, Sima Yi, should be able to barely resist the Northern Expedition of the Han army.

As long as he can obtain a steady stream of food, grass and population from the aristocratic family in the future, the common people will enter the stage of recuperation, relying on sufficient population background and stronger productivity, and in a few years, they will expand by [-] soldiers and horses to fight against the Southern Han Dynasty. Not a problem.

Thinking of this, Cao Rui felt a lot more relaxed. Originally, Cao Wei's corrupt situation seemed to be pressing on him like a mountain, but now seeing that the days are getting better day by day, and the future can be expected, he is also relieved.

The expression on his face became much more relaxed.

"His Majesty!"

At this time, Chen Qun's face was serious, and he hurried in and reported to him: "Hedong urgently reported that Shen Chen suddenly crossed the river and attacked Hedong County a few days ago. Dong Ting then rushed to Jiucheng and burned our army's food and grass!"

As soon as these words came out, Cao Rui, who originally felt a little more relaxed, suddenly felt that another mountain was pressing on him, causing his heart and lungs to stop suddenly, and he couldn't breathe!

The expression on his face became more and more painful.

(End of this chapter)