However, it was said that Wen Chou beheaded several generals of Yuan Shu in Liyang, and then led his troops to retreat to Ye County.

The trial was stationed in Ye County, and in order to prevent Yuan Shu from raising troops to attack, he had already fortified the wall. Where Yuan Shu's army passed, it was like splitting bamboo, and it reached the city of Ye County.

However, after Yuan Shu's army attacked Daoye County, it encountered unprecedented resistance. The sorcerers attacked for several days, suffering countless casualties, but there was no progress.

One night, the trial sent people out of the city to rob the camp in the middle of the night, and burned most of Yuan Shujun's grain and grass. The army was short of food, and the army was furious, and ordered his subordinates to attack the city day and night.

Before Yecheng was breached, the news that Yuan Shao had defeated Gongsun Zan and captured most of Youzhou had already spread.

When the defenders of Yecheng heard the news, their morale was greatly boosted. Yuan Shu had no choice but to lead his troops out of Jizhou.

At the same time, Cao Cao occupied the entire Qingzhou like the autumn wind sweeping away the leaves, and began to cultivate and recuperate.

For a time, the war-torn princes were calmed down again.

Bingzhou, Jinyang City, after learning that Chen Gong went and returned, Chen Xu was overjoyed in his heart and hurriedly met Chen Gong.

Chen Gong confessed, but Xu didn't care, took Chen Gong's hand, and discussed the situation in the world.

In the first five years, after the grain was planted, there has been an endless drought. By August of the same year, large swaths of the crops had dried up and died, and locusts were eating the crops.

Seeing that the autumn harvest is coming, it has encountered such a big change. Many people have also eaten up the grain in their homes, and the entire Han Dynasty is facing famine in many places, and the price of grain in Guanzhong has even risen to 800,000 yuan per yuan.

It can be said that at this time, food is even more expensive than gold and jade.

Chen Jing hurriedly ran in and shouted loudly: "Big brother, as you expected, there is a great drought across the country, locusts are transiting, and the crops in many places can be regarded as no harvest. ”

When Chen Xu heard this, there was not much joy on his face.

Drought is bound to be accompanied by mass famine. The people of the Han Dynasty don't know how many people will starve to death.

It didn't take long for the rest of the civil and military ministers of the state to come to the governor's mansion.

When Chen Xu saw Zhang Yu, he hurriedly lowered the steps, saluted him, and then held Zhang Yu's hand and said: "If it weren't for Nanhe this time, the whole territory of Bingzhou would definitely be nothing!" ”

Seeing this, Zhang Yu was quite moved in his heart, and he said loudly: "If it weren't for the lord's decision to deal with things and accept advice, it would have prevented drought in advance, and how could the state be preserved?" ”

After finishing speaking, he glanced at Tian Feng twice.

Tian Feng was a little embarrassed, but fortunately, he was not very human, and he knew that he could change his mistakes, so he stepped forward and said to Zhang Yu: "I have been offended a lot in the past, please don't blame Nanhe!" ”

At the beginning, because Tian Feng didn't like Changyu's chatter, he was very dissatisfied with the drought predicted by Changyu.

If it weren't for Chen Xuli's insistence on preparing for the drought, he would have defied public opinion. I'm afraid that the current state is also a famine.

This great drought is spread all over the country. However, in contrast, the southern rivers are far less affected than the north.

Due to the construction of waterwheels and the storage of river water in advance, the drought in the state was alleviated to a certain extent.

Zhang Yu is not a calculating person, he said with a straight face: "Every doctrine has its own merits. Although astrology and divination seem mysterious, there are still traces to follow. ”

Facts speak louder than words, and Tian Feng had no choice but to say yes.

"Hahahaha!"

Chen Xu stepped forward, grabbed the arms of the two, and said: "Both of them are the pillars of the state, and they should be more intimate in the future!" ”

Zhang Yu and Tian Feng naturally nodded in agreement.

Seeing that the civil and military forces of Bingzhou had arrived, Chen Xu asked Zhang Yu: "Nanhe, is the locust plague in Bingzhou serious?" ”

With an excited look in his eyes, Zhang Yu said: "At the beginning, the locust plague was raging in Bingzhou. Then the government issued an order to drive the chickens and ducks into the fields, and the locust plague was brought under control. ”

"Not only that, but the chickens and ducks don't need to be fed with food at all, they prey on locusts every day, and all of them grow fat and fat, and even the eggs they lay are increasing rapidly."

"Nowadays, the prices of eggs and duck eggs have fallen again and again."

When Xu heard this, he said with a smile on his face: "If there are too many eggs and duck eggs hoarded in the hands of the people, the government can buy them together." ”

"However, you must remember that the grain and materials in the state must not be sold in the territory!"

There is no famine at all, so food is not too expensive. The price difference between grain is so large that many large households and merchants in the prefecture buy grain and sell it to places where there is serious famine to make huge profits.

Chen Xu knew that although there was no shortage of food in the current state, he didn't know when this drought would stop. If the flow of grain within the territory is not controlled, the state will sooner or later fall into famine.

How did Changyu not know the point? He nodded solemnly.

Xu looked at Chen Jing and said, "Ah Jing, you are responsible for purchasing the surplus grain in the people's homes. For those who smuggle grain and grass, there is no mercy! ”

Speaking of this, Chen Xu's face was full of murder.

Chen Jing didn't answer, just nodded emphatically.

At this time, Tian Feng suddenly spoke: "My lord, now the princes have stopped fighting because of lack of food. Why don't we take advantage of the food in our hands to capture Guanzhong? ”

Sima Lang hurriedly said: "The lord can't! Although because of the foresight of the lord, there was no famine in the territory of the state. ”

"However, the drought and locust plague still have seriously reduced the grain production, and the people may only harvest 30% of the grain in previous years."

"This kind of harvest, if there is no grain in the people's homes, I am afraid it will be difficult to support next year's spring ploughing. What's more, it remains to be seen whether next year will be as dry as this year. ”

"If you raise an army to capture Guanzhong at this time, it will cost money and food, and I am afraid it will bring disaster to the state."

Chen Xu was silent for a long time, and set his eyes on Chen Gong, who only frowned, but did not answer.

Tian Feng and Sima Lang's words all make sense.

If Bingzhou takes advantage of the lack of food in Guanzhong and raises the army to ask for it, it is very likely to defeat the Xiliang army in one fell swoop and break through Guanzhong.

However, as Sima Lang said, there is no telling when this drought will stop. Although the prefecture has made some preparations, the grain production in the territory is still seriously reduced.

Waging a large-scale war will inevitably consume a large amount of grain and grass.

If there is a slight setback in the march into the pass, when the grain and grass in the annexed state are exhausted, they will inevitably face the same situation of lack of food as the princes.

Just when Chen Xu was hesitating, Li Ru suddenly smiled and said, "Has the lord forgotten the layout of Wen and the past?" ”

Chen Xu was stunned at first, and then thought of Jia Xu's previous plan, and was suddenly overjoyed. He said to Jia Xu: "Wenhe, if I raise an army to attack Guanzhong, can I?" ”

Jia Xu stroked his beard and said, "The lord might as well mobilize troops and horses first and wait for his momentum." If there is a change in the level, you can raise troops to attack it. ”

Chen Xu no longer had doubts, and on the one hand transferred Cheng Yu back to Jinyang, he also transferred troops and prepared to go south.

Chang'an City, because Chen Xu exchanged weapons and armor for a large amount of grain and grass. made the Guanzhong Xiliang Army more short of food than in history.

Therefore, the price of grain in Guanzhong has only risen to 800,000 yuan per yuan.

One Hu is also one stone, what is the concept of 800,000 yuan and one Hu? If it is converted into the price of later generations, it is equivalent to more than 10,000 yuan to buy a pound of grain.

It can be seen from this that the price of grain in Guanzhong has risen to what extent?

Ordinary people have no extra money and food at home, and they can't afford to buy expensive food. As a result, countless people had to go up the mountain to gnaw on the bark of trees and go down to the river to catch fish and shrimp.

Even so, many people are still starving to death.

Some people dig up the bodies of dead people and eat them in order to survive. After the corpses were eaten, the people even ate their own children.

Not only ordinary people, but even those large households who do not have much food in their homes cannot afford to face such high food prices.

The grain and grass in Li Dao, Guo Yan, Fan Chou, and Zhang Jijun have also been exhausted, and the Xiliang army is panicked every day.

In order to stabilize the morale of the army, they let the tent soldiers go around plundering the common people and rich households.

The Xiliang army plundered all the grain and grass in Guanzhong. They are like locusts crossing the border, greedy and ferocious.

Even so, the grain and grass looted by the Xiliang army still could not meet their consumption. Some soldiers even went around killing people in order to eat meat, and then boiled it in a cauldron.

For a time, the whole Guanzhong was full of mourning, corpses and bones were all over the ground, and there was no rooster crowing for thousands of miles.

When Emperor Liu Xie heard about the tragic situation of the people, his face suddenly turned sad, and he wept at the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty and said: "How innocent are the people, how could God send down such a punishment!" Could it be that my big man's qi has really been exhausted? ”

When the ministers heard this, they all wept bitterly.

Suddenly, a person came out of the class and said: "Your Majesty, there is still money and food in the palace treasury, it is better to send people to give porridge in the city to save the hungry people." ”

The emperor looked at it and found that the person who spoke was Zhong Xuan.

Emperor Xian wiped a handful of tears and said: "What Ting Weizheng said is extremely true, the people are all the people of the Han Dynasty, how can I sit idly by? ”

Zhong Xuan held the positions of court lieutenant and Huangmen squire in the court. At the beginning, Cao Cao won Yanzhou and sent a messenger to meet Emperor Xian and ask him to be crowned Yanzhou Mu.

Li Dao and others thought that 'Kwantung wants to establish himself as the Son of Heaven, and although Cao Cao has a mission, it is not his truth', they wanted to detain Cao Cao's envoy and refuse Cao Cao's request.

Zhong Xuan said to Li Dao and Guo Yan at that time: "Fang Jin's heroes rise together, each is autocratic, but Cao Yanzhou is the heart of the royal family, and against its loyalty, it is not the hope of the future." ”

Li Dao and Guo Yan were deeply impressed by Zhong Xuan's words, so they agreed to Cao Cao's request and repaid Zhong Xuan.

Since the emperor heard Zhong Xuan's words, he ordered people to cook rice into gruel to satisfy the hunger of the people of Chang'an City.

But they didn't want to, Li Dao and Guo Yan, who were already short of food, sent troops to snatch the food for the emperor to help the victims.

Not only that, but they even stormed the palace warehouse and robbed all the money and food inside.

The money and grain in the treasury were robbed, and the emperor and ministers had nothing to eat. The emperor sent people to Li Dao to take five rice and five ox bones to give them around.

Li Wei said angrily: "Eat day and night, why should he ask for it?" ”

They are made of rotten flesh and rotten grain, and they are all stinking and inedible. Seeing this, the emperor was furious.