Three Kingdoms: Liu Bei seeks the master and seeks to conquer the world

Chapter 83

outside the city.

Zheng Ping and Liu Bei stood on a high slope, overlooking the city of Jucheng.

From a bird's-eye view, the yellow turban bandits outside Jucheng and the old and weak women and children being held hostage can be seen at a glance.

"Xianmou, even though Ziyi has discovered Zhang Rao's food storage place, with our troops, we can still defeat him by luring him into a narrow place."

"But even if Zhang Rao, the leader of the bandit, is killed, how will the more than [-] people be settled?"

Liu Bei was worried.

I still remember what Zheng Ping said before he set out in Pingyuan: It is easy to break the Yellow Turban, but the difficulty lies in how to arrange the Yellow Turban to surrender.

The Nine Counties in the Pingyuan were able to house the Yellow Turbans, except that Zheng Ping defeated them with lightning speed when the Yellow Turbans had just gathered, and more importantly, reached a consensus with the rich and wealthy businessmen in the nine counties in the Pingyuan, so that the soldiers could be dispersed and resettled.

But this Beihai country not only has more than [-] people gathered, Liu Bei also can't figure out the attitude of the rich and wealthy businessmen.

In the past, in the nine counties in the plain, each county faced a few thousand Yellow Turban soldiers, and a large number of more than ten thousand.

The rich and powerful merchants in various counties didn't want to offend Liu Bei, so they could spend some money and food to settle the Yellow Turbans even if they gritted their teeth.

But now more than [-] yellow scarves are under the theater city, and the daily consumption is astronomical. How can there be enough money and food to settle them?

These rich and powerful businessmen are all profit-seeking people. If they want to hurt their own money and food industry, they will definitely not want to make any effort!
But without trying hard, how can we raise enough money and food?

Now that the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans have just started, they are not the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans that have developed a climate a year later, and their combat effectiveness is not strong.

It is not difficult for a well-trained county soldier to defeat the Yellow Turban purely by force.

But the key to defeating thieves and comforting the people lies in the word Fu.

Without money and food, even if the more than [-] yellow scarves are surrendered, after starving, they will rebel again!
"Fu Jun, before answering your question, I would like to ask one more question."

"If the price of hundreds of thousands of people in Qingzhou will make you offend the prefects, governors, and even powerful and noble families in the neighboring counties, are you willing to bear the price?"

Zheng Ping's tone was very quiet.

It is difficult to settle the hundreds of thousands of yellow scarves in Qingzhou if they want to rely solely on Qingzhou's local money and food.

If they are forced to resettle, it is bound to cause a lot of losses to the powerful nobles in Qingzhou.

However, it is the most stupid decree to hurt Qingzhou's local powerful gentry.

In the past, Wang Mang offended all the powerful nobles, the common people, and the common people, so that the whole world turned against him.

Qingzhou is the foothold chosen by Zheng Ping for Liu Bei, and the local powerful gentry in Qingzhou cannot have too much hostility towards Liu Bei.

Therefore, when he was in Pingyuan County, Zheng Ping used the method of "wooing and dividing" and "luting them for profit" when dealing with powerful gentry.

Let the powerful gentry in Pingyuan County choose whether to support Liu Bei or not.

Similarly, Zheng Ping would not use the untimely method of "beating local tyrants and dividing the land" when dealing with the powerful and powerful gentry in Qingzhou.

Any decree that does not take into account the characteristics of the times and the specific environment is just an empty theory.

It seems reasonable to "strike local tyrants and divide the land" in Qingzhou, but it is actually digging Liu Bei's grave.

Based in Qingzhou, it is inevitable to tie the interests of Qingzhou's local powerful gentry with Liu Bei!
Liu Bei didn't answer immediately, but looked at Zheng Ping solemnly: "Show conspiracy, let's talk about it in detail."

The depth of offending the neighboring prefects, governors, even tyrants and gentry is not easy to touch.

Zheng Ping looked at the more than [-] yellow scarves outside the Jucheng, and breathed out slightly: "Your Majesty, you need money and food to resettle the people."

"Nowadays, most of the money and food in the Beihai Kingdom are in the hands of the powerful gentry in various counties."

"But it is not feasible to ask them to take out all the money and food to help the people."

"I once read the solitary "Book of Living People", in which there is a good strategy for disaster relief, called 'persuading the distribution': that is, to persuade wealthy households to contribute money and grain to the disaster victims."

"The "Living People's Book" says: If the government apportions money and food according to the level of each household, the rich households will not be motivated. But if the government comes forward to persuade the wealthy households to pay, the government will send people to buy rice grains in harvest places. Go back to the local area to help the people, and then return the capital of the wealthy households. If the wealthy households are willing to traffic themselves, they will do as they please. If the officials do not lower the price, if it is profitable, the wealthy households will rush to traffic.”

"In this way, the goal of 'if you don't persuade them, the rice will come out'."

"However, this move is very likely to be opposed by officials in neighboring states and counties. They are afraid that too much grain will be exported to the country and cause local food shortages, and it will also disrupt the original power structure of the powerful and noble families in the states and counties."

"To implement this policy, we have to use some tactics to put pressure on the officials of the neighboring states and counties, and even use deceit!"

Using deceit means breaking your promise.

If you break your promise, you will offend others!
And to exert pressure by means of tactics, even if the opponent is smiling on the surface, he will wish to kill Liu Bei in his heart.

This policy involves Liu Bei's personal honor and disgrace!
For Liu Bei, who has always insisted on implementing "no one can stand without faith", it is a severe challenge!

To put it simply, Zheng Ping's strategy is: resolutely safeguard the interests of Qingzhou scholars and common people, and transfer the conflict outside Qingzhou.

Although this strategy is a bit shameless for other states and counties, for the people of Qingzhou, Liu Bei is the savior of Qingzhou!
Saving the people of a state by damaging the reputation for a while can win the hearts of the scholars and people of Qingzhou.

Liu Bei was silent.

He came from a humble background and had no support from his family.

Liu Bei has always acted with benevolence and integrity in order to gain fame. This is Liu Bei's way of life.

Because of benevolence and faith, those who have heard of Liu Bei are willing to help Liu Bei.

But Liu Bei is also very clear, if no extraordinary measures are used, how can the more than [-] people who have left their homes be resettled?

This is just the refugees of the North Sea country.

Donglai County, Qi State, Optimistic State, and Jinan State also have hundreds of thousands of refugees.

Taking a deep breath, Liu Bei's eyes gradually became firm: "What is personal honor and disgrace compared to the survival of hundreds of thousands of people?"

"Xianmou, when you put forward the twelve strategies, I was already mentally prepared."

"As long as we can help the refugees in Qingzhou to rebuild their homes, even if we offend the prefects, governors, tyrants, and gentry in the neighboring counties, it will be worth it."

"How can there be two ways in the world? I just have a clear conscience!"

Hearing the firmness in Liu Bei's tone, Zheng Ping felt a little more admiration.

To gain a foothold in this era, fame is a very important rule of the game.

When the Twelve Strategies were put forward before, Liu Bei was only a high-ranking official, and he didn't have much reputation, so Liu Bei didn't have much to lose in terms of personal honor and disgrace.

But it is different now, Liu Bei's reputation is different from the past.

With the improvement of fame, Zheng Ping cannot accurately determine whether Liu Bei will carry out his original intention.

And now, Zheng Ping has heard Liu Bei's unchanging original intention!
"It is a blessing for the people of Qingzhou that the government does not care about personal honor or disgrace, and is dedicated to serving the people."

"Since that's the case, let's use this man's head first to commemorate the Qingzhou scholars and people who died because of this war!"

Zheng Ping looked at the Yellow Turban Bandit Soldier with more contempt.

Threatening the people to attack the city is nothing more than a dirty trick.

night.

It was cold and windy.

Zhang Rao's food storage place was full of snoring.

Although the three armies went ahead without using food and grass, which was the most important thing in the march, these yellow turban soldiers were not worried at all that someone would come to rob food.

It has always been only the Yellow Turbans who rob food, how can there be any reason for the Yellow Turbans to be robbed of food?
therefore.

When Liu Bei led the crowd into the place where the Yellow Turbans were hoarding food, the remaining Yellow Turban leaders were completely dumbfounded.

Since they are the reinforcements who came to save Jucheng, instead of fighting Zhang Rao, what are they doing in this place where food is stored?
The leader of the Yellow Turban didn't know the art of war, and he couldn't take effective countermeasures against the county soldiers who fell from the sky like magic soldiers.

"Go and tell Zhang Rao, leave the other ear, maybe he can spare his life." Zheng Ping released the leader of the Yellow Turban.

If it is a normal march and fight, the robbery of the camp will burn food and grass to cause panic.

But now in Qingzhou, food and grass are more precious than gold, and burning food and grass is simply reckless.

But when he inspected the pile of grain and grass, Liu Bei frowned: "These grains can only be eaten by more than [-] people for five days, which is too little."

Zheng Ping shook his head: "My lord, Zhang Rao is not so kind. If he really distributed food to the people, why would the people risk their lives and go to the city?"

"This is just the food that Zhang Rao prepared for the [-] young and strong. Only in this way will the [-] young and strong be willing to serve."

"Time is running out, and the tactical purpose needs to be changed."

"Try to kill Zhang Rao tonight, so that there will be a buffer for the resettling of the rest of the people."

There is only enough food for more than [-] people to eat for five days. If it is not handled properly, even if Zhang Rao is killed, these people will elect a new "Qu Shuai"!
Liu Bei nodded, and handed the command sword to Zheng Ping: "Xianmou, give the order."

Zheng Ping did not hesitate either.

All the generals under this command, whether it is Guan Yu or Tai Shici, all know Zheng Ping's skills.

And Ying Xun of Taishan County was also ordered by Ying Shao to carry out Liu Bei's military order.

"Everyone."

Zheng Ping spread out the map, and then drew a line with his finger on the location of Zhang Rao's military camp and the storage area.

"When I surprise Zhang Rao's grain storage place, Zhang Rao will definitely send elite soldiers to grab the grain tonight."

"Although the yellow turban bandits are all mobs, they will fight desperately because of the threat of starvation and death if food and grass are robbed."

"Originally, I planned to disperse Zhang Rao's troops in the way that the enemy retreats and advances, and the enemy advances and retreats, so that they will be exhausted, and then look for opportunities to defeat them."

"But now there are some changes, and Zhang Rao must be captured and killed in the first battle."

"The terrain here is narrow and overgrown with dry grass. It is an excellent place to attack with fire."

"."

Fire tactics and water tactics are the easiest tactics to kill the enemy's vital forces, but they are also the most cruel and most likely to leave disasters.

And because the fire plan and the water plan need to consider the weather and location, there are too many factors to consider in the implementation, and it is not easy to succeed.

Therefore, very few generals will use fire and water tactics.

Zheng Ping didn't plan to use fire at the beginning. After all, burning a group of yellow turbans to death in a narrow valley is not acceptable to ordinary people.

Killing, and killing, this is completely different!

This is also a different matter from compassion not in charge of soldiers.

But now, this fire plan had to be used.

If Zhang Rao cannot be broken quickly, it is almost impossible to resettle these more than [-] people!

Without money and food, how can we talk about resettlement?
After hearing Zheng Ping's entire deployment, whether it was Guan Yu, Tai Shici, or Ying Xun, they couldn't help but gasped.

Even Liu Bei couldn't bear it anymore: "Xianmou, isn't this too cruel?"

If Zhang Rao wanted to grab food, he would have to have at least a few thousand Yellow Turban soldiers.

Burning thousands of yellow turban bandits to death in the valley will hurt the peace of heaven.

"Do your best and listen to the destiny. Tonight, the Lord of the Palace can pray to the heavens and pray for rain." Zheng Ping said calmly.

Praying for rain?

Liu Bei was stunned for a moment: "Show off, this kind of ghost story—"

Zheng Ping smiled, "You don't have to worry, I have carefully calculated the sky before coming here. It has nothing to do with manpower when it rains. Worshiping the sky and praying for rain is just a way to appease the Yellow Turban bandits."

"As long as the plan goes well, Zhang Rao will be able to deeply understand what is merciless, what is the law of heaven."

Seeing Zheng Ping's confidence, Liu Bei was secretly relieved.

And the other side.

When Zhang Rao learned that Liu Bei had raided the grain storage place, Zheng Ping also satirized Zhang Rao's mutilated ear, and he was furious all of a sudden.

"Zheng Ping, how dare you humiliate me like this?"

"I swear to kill you!"

Thinking of Zheng Ping's arrow that directly mutilated his left ear, Zhang Rao couldn't contain the anger in his heart.

Why did Zhang Rao ask Kong Rong for his daughter?
The root cause is the hatred towards Zheng Ping!
Zhang Rao wants to humiliate Zheng Ping by insulting Kong Rong's daughter, so that he can avenge his revenge.

It's a pity that the Jucheng is well-defended. Even if Zhang Rao used the old and weak women and children to make the tower guards dare not use the defense equipment easily, he still failed to break through the Jucheng.

Now, Zheng Ping not only raided the food storage place by surprise, but also humiliated him, how could Zhang Rao bear it?
"Trash, how dare you come to see me!"

Zhang Rao slashed and killed the leader of the Yellow Turban who came back to report the letter, feeling a little panic in his heart.

If Zheng Ping burned all the food with a fire, and the city was temporarily invincible, wouldn't everyone starve to death?
"Gather everyone, if you don't want to starve to death, immediately follow Shuai Benqu to grab food!"

Zhang Rao spat viciously, dragged his saber and walked out of the tent.

Hearing that the food was gone, all the Yellow Turbans panicked.

Immediately, more than [-] people came to follow Zhang Rao to grab food.

Zhang Rao did not reorganize the army either.

As far as Zhang Rao is concerned, 500 people can barely be restrained.

5000 people?
That was too troublesome, Zhang Rao couldn't get his head around it.

Almost all of these five thousand yellow scarves followed Shuai Qi, rushing forward like a swarm.

In this autumn and winter plan, it gets dark early and the moon is hidden in the clouds.

All the yellow turbans could only hold torches and drive in the dark night. From a distance, they could see the yellow turban bandits moving forward like a fiery snake.

"coming!"

Guan Yu and Ying Xun, who were in ambush, were shocked.

There was no need for scouts to inquire more, the firelight had already exposed the position of the Yellow Turban Bandit Soldier.

Seeing that the Yellow Turbans had all entered the valley, only a sharp gong sounded.

On both sides of the valley, a large number of fire baskets woven with weeds were thrown down!
When the fire basket encountered withered grass, it intensified the fire.

And in the valley, there is a large amount of sulfur, saltpeter, bezoar, etc. buried, and when encountering a fire basket, thick smoke immediately rises!

(End of this chapter)