After reading Cao Cao's letter, Sun Jian knew what Cao Cao's idea was. Thinking in his heart, what Meng De said is also right, if there is a dispute between the two families in Jingzhou, how will they join forces to fight Xuande in the future? Break Liu Biao first, and it is not bad to divide Jingzhou together.

Then he said to Cheng Pu: "Demou, I know what Meng De means." So he wrote a letter to Cheng Pu and asked him to bring it back to Sun Ce. After Sun Ce received Sun Jian's letter, he sent an envoy to Cao Ying, to see Cao Cao, and said that he was willing to join hands with the two families to break Liu Biao together. Cao Cao was overjoyed, and said in his heart Liu Jingsheng, Liu Jingsheng, this time you are dead!

Jingzhou is like this, Liu Bei has long known it through the intelligence system. He also wanted to save Liu Biao. It's just that after a protracted battle with Yuan Shao, he really can't do anything.

When the Son of Heaven and the hundred officials arrived in Qingzhou, they needed a large amount of money and food to support; The reorganization of so many armies requires a large amount of money and food; The newly acquired Youzhou and Bingzhou were in ruins after the war, and a large amount of money and food were needed to rebuild...... Money is being spent everywhere, and the reserves of Qingzhou Mansion over the years are rapidly decreasing at a rate visible to the naked eye. If the war starts again, don't say that he feels reluctant, I'm afraid that the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty and the ministers of the shogunate will not agree.

It's just that Liu Biao is the general of Zhennan and the Marquis of Chengwu who was sealed by the imperial court. Now that he is being beaten by others, there is no reaction from the court, which is really unreasonable.

The Xuzhou side made Guan Yu move, but Cao Cao and Sun Jian were on guard, and they couldn't threaten them for a while. For the first time, Liu Bei felt that he was a little too whipped.

After thinking about it for a long time, I summoned Xun Yu and others to discuss the matter. Everyone's faces are not very good-looking. Jingzhou is such a good place, if it can be controlled by Liu Biao all the time. When the war with Yuan Shao here is completely over, after his own hands are freed, he can fight with Liu Biao in the south and in the north, and attack Cao Cao or Sun Jian. When the time comes, the world will be one sooner rather than later. It's a pity that everything can't be as expected. The Cao and Sun families may have also discovered this, so they took advantage of the Northern War to strike first. Now if you want to save Liu Biao, you really have more than enough heart but not enough strength. If Cao Cao and Sun Jian insisted on destroying Liu Biao, they were afraid that they would be smashed by Qingzhou in the rear, and they would first bulldoze Jingzhou, and then turn around to deal with Qingzhou. If so, it is useless to send troops.

After thinking about it for a long time, Xun Yu spoke: "Lord, the matter has come to this point, and Jingzhou is hopeless." However, after Liu Jingzhou's clan, the important ministers of the court should not sit idly by and watch his defeat, but should send elite cavalry to save his return to the north. ”

As soon as Liu Bei heard that Xun Yu meant Jingzhou, he left it alone, but he could rescue Liu Biao. Liu Bei thought about it, and said in his heart that this is not bad, Jingzhou can't save himself, there is really no way, but if he can rescue Liu Jingsheng, he can also give an explanation to the people of the world. is also worthy of the love he has taken in for so many years in history.

So he said: "Liu Jingsheng is a famous man in the sea, a member of the Han family, and he must not be saved." Just how to behave? ”

Jia Xu opened his mouth and said: "My lord, why don't you send a letter to Liu Jingzhou, so that he can evacuate to Sili according to the story of Wu and General Zhang. General Zhao is in the division, so he can be sent to Wuguan to meet him. ”

When Liu Bei heard this, he patted the case and said: "That's it!" So he sent people to fly to Zhao Yun and Liu Biao to deliver the letter.

After saying this, Liu Bei said to everyone: "The price of grain in the market is soaring today, what are the countermeasures of Qing and the others?" "That's right, after days of war, the two states of Qingdao and Xuzhou, where the price of grain is stable, have also risen continuously. Liu Bei has already made people put stored old grain one after another, but it is only slowing down. As a strategic material, the situation on Liu Bei's side is already very scarce. Reflected in the market, it is strange if the price does not rise.

Liu Yu governed Youzhou back then, and made Youzhou in order, and later generations praised him with poems: Youzhou is not a fairy land, and the valley stone is thirty dollars in the world. In this poor state, the grain is thirty dollars a stone, which is really good. Of course, the lowest price of grain is not Liu Yu's thirty yuan. In the history of the Han Dynasty and the Han Dynasty, there was a grain price of eight coins and one stone, which really hurt the peasants.

The incident of eight coins and one stone occurred during the time of Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty. The era when the Western Han Dynasty was at its strongest. At that time, Zhao Chongguo was in turmoil, and Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty gave him a holy decree: there are more than 100 Sushi in the east of Zhangye today, and dozens of slashers are bound. Turning and losing, the people are troubled. The general will be more than 10,000 people, not early and autumn to fight for the benefits of water and grass for their animal food, want to winter, the captives are all animal food, more hidden in the mountains according to the danger, the general is cold, the hands and feet are barren, rather advantageous? The general does not think about the cost of China, and wants to win by age, who is not happy with this! It means that the general should hurry up, I can't bear it, and a stone of corn will cost more than 100 yuan!

Zhao Chongguo replied: What is the disloyalty! In my words, is it evil to be captured? The former can be the first to Qiang, I lift Xin Wuxian, Prime Minister Yu Shi Fubai sent Yiqu Anguo, but he was depressed and defeated. Jincheng, Huangzhong Valley Hu eight money, I call Geng Zhongcheng, two million Hu Valley, Qiang people dare not move. Geng Zhongcheng asked for a million Hu, but he got 400,000 Hu. The righteous canal is used again, and it costs half of it. Losing these two volumes, the Qiang people dared to rebel. The slightest mistake is a thousand miles away, because of it. When Jincheng and Huangzhong had a bumper harvest, the price of grain fell to eight yuan, and I asked the imperial court to buy 2 million stone as a strategic reserve, but only bought 400,000 stone.

Look, this filial piety is not in vain. When the price of grain rose to more than 100 yuan, Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty felt that it was expensive, and he was afraid that the people would not be able to bear it. Then again, Liu Bei came to Qingzhou, and although the price of this grain has risen and fallen, it has never broken a hundred yuan. Moreover, he collected a low field rent, thirty taxes and one tax, so the people under his rule were also doing well. In addition to growing grain and rations, almost all of the excess was sold to Liu Bei.

It's just that the successive wars in the past few years have almost consumed the savings of many years. Although Liu Bei vigorously promoted tuntian and wasteland reclamation in his territory. However, limited to the level of science and technology and production, the yield per mu in these years is frighteningly low. An acre of land in the Han Dynasty was smaller than that of later generations. And the production capacity per mu is six stones, which is already very good. If you can break ten stones, it will already be one of the few fertile fields in the world. Jikang, the ten sages of the bamboo forest, once said in the "Theory of Health Maintenance": "The farmer of the husband's field, one acre and ten hundreds, is called good land, and the common name of the world is also." In fact, one acre of land, serving for a year, only three stones of grain abound.

Fortunately, Liu Bei attaches great importance to agriculture, and after coming to Qingzhou, he constantly summoned old farmers to ask for advice, and then slowly experimented and changed step by step. As a result, extensive cultivation under the rule gradually became intensive cultivation. And because of its proximity to the north, it traded with the Hu people to trade a lot of cattle, vigorously promoted cattle ploughing, and liberated the productivity of the farmers. This makes it possible for the fields under Qingzhou to reach more than 10 stones per mu as long as there are no diseases and no disasters. Particularly fertile land with higher yields. It's just ten stones per mu, which is far from enough.

Thinking of the great druid Mr. Yuan in later generations, Liu Bei sighed in his heart.