In this era, the noble class had considerable power. Liu Xin planned to gradually suppress this class from the beginning, but he couldn't help but rely on the power of this class. There are two reasons for this, on the one hand, when Liu Xin first arrived in Jingzhou, his strength was weak, so he accepted the refuge of the Kuai and Cai families. On the other hand, reading was a very luxurious thing at that time, and the children of ordinary people could not afford to read at all, but the governance of the country was inseparable from these readers.

Now, Liu Xin is running schools all over the country, and it won't be long before he can gradually break the monopoly of the scholar class on reading. But Liu Xin knew better that the reason why the scholar class had such a powerful power was not only because they had knowledge, but also because they had great wealth.

Every time Liu Xin captured a city, he carried out a purge of the local nobles, depriving them of their property and land, and even turning them into official slaves, thus wiping out their wealth. However, this method can only be used against the nobles of the hostile forces, but not against the people of their own camp.

The Kuai family and the Cai family in his camp, including the Mi family who joined later, originally had a huge family fortune. Many of these families held official positions and ran caravans, and their wealth grew ever since. And some civil and military officials from the Han clan only rely on their money to live, although they can also do without worrying about food and clothing, but compared with those families, the gap between the rich and the poor has become wider and wider.

And that's only within his camp, and if compared to the civilian population, the gap is even more staggering. Although these major families are now loyal to Liu Xin, with the increase of their power, it is difficult to guarantee that there will be a few ambitious guys in these families, so Liu Xin must take precautions.

Liu Xin's first measure was to implement the separation of government and business, and all officials, if they continued to do business at home, must take the initiative to resign. At the same time, Liu Xin also planned to order a re-measurement of the land in the world, and the land distribution was carried out according to the size of the family, and all the ownership of the land was returned to the imperial court. Of course, the imperial court will give appropriate compensation to the registered owner.

If this measure is implemented, it is estimated that the vast majority of officials will abandon their caravans and shops and concentrate on becoming officials. The reason why the scholar clan is different from the Shu clan is because people from this class can come out to be officials. After all, Shinong is the first in business, and Shang is in the last place. Being an official is very face-saving, and everyone must choose to be an official.

As a result, those officials will lose caravans and shops, and their land will be greatly reduced, their wealth will shrink, and their quality of life will be reduced. Therefore, Liu Xin will also consider adding money to them.

Of course, doing so could also provoke a strong backlash from the gentry. But Liu Xin is not afraid, he has now firmly grasped the military power of the whole country in his hands, and the truth that power comes out of the barrel of a gun is unbreakable. Moreover, the entire military system is now independent of the system of Shinong, industry and commerce, and all the generals and soldiers are real professional soldiers.

Liu Xin has been thinking about these measures for a long time, but he has been hesitant about when to implement them. Now, the matter of full favor has reminded Liu Xin and made him completely make up his mind.

Man Zhong must have taken a fancy to Li Ping's concubine, otherwise even if what he said was true, there was no need to leave a good concubine in the back office, and he could wait for the end of the war and treat these family members differently. Of course, Man Pet can also wait for those family members to be sold by the government to buy her. However, it seems that even if Man Pet can get enough money, he is not sure that he can compete with those rich scholar families.

When he thought of this, a flash of inspiration flashed in Liu Xin's mind, and he decided not to sell the families of those criminals in the future, but directly rewarded them to officials at all levels as slaves.

Slaves also participated in the distribution of land according to the size of the family. The more slaves in the family, the more land they will get will naturally increase. Land was the most important asset of a family in those days. Through this means, Liu Xin can make officials at all levels rich in disguise. And the distribution of these slaves is completely mastered by Liu Xin, who can balance the wealth of officials through this means.

There is another benefit to this. Many of the servants assigned to the families of these officials were originally from noble families. Some were originally slaves, while others were Mrs. Miss, Young Master and Son, and now they have also become slaves. These ladies and young masters themselves can also serve as a warning to officials at all levels, warning them to clamp their tails and behave and not to violate the laws of the Han Dynasty, otherwise once they commit a crime, their ladies and young masters will become slaves of others.

Of course, Xu Huang couldn't think so far, but they would not refuse Liu Xin's proposal. It's just that they think more about this war in their heads. Xu Huang had already bowed his hand and said: "Your Majesty, Cao Cao is now like a lost dog, can he raise troops to the north as soon as possible and capture Yecheng?" ”

Zhang Fei was even more anxious, and said continuously: "Big brother, I am a pioneer!" ”

Liu Xin waved his hand and said, "In the war, I am not as good as you." Gongming, the battle against Yecheng is still under your command, in addition to the first, second, and third legions, I have transferred 50,000 foot soldiers from the fifth legion, together with Wei Yan, to be under your command. ”

In the two wars, Liu Xin handed over the heavy troops to his command, Xu Huang felt Liu Xin's deep trust in him, and hurriedly said: "The last general will definitely live up to his mission!" ”

Liu Xin nodded and said, "I'll leave it to you, I'm completely relieved." Now it's time for the final battle, and Zilong and Wen Yuan can also act at the same time. ”

Zhang Fei and Zhang He's eyes lit up, this is a big battle across Hebei to the grassland, and it will go down in history. The young Wei Yan was even more excited. Only Huang Zhong was a little depressed, and asked, "Your Majesty, why is there no matter of the last general?" ”

Liu Xin laughed and said, "Hansheng, don't worry, I have a big deal for you to do." ”

Huang Zhong was overjoyed and said, "Your Majesty, please speak!" ”

Liu Xin stretched out his right hand, pointed to all directions, and said: "Someone once commented that Cao Cao is a capable minister who governs the world and a traitor in troubled times. Now in troubled times, like this traitorous male, how can I let it go, not to mention that there are resourceful people like Xun Yu and peerless generals like Xiahoudun and Xiahouyuan by his side. Cao Cao can't be captured for a day, and I can't sleep for a day. ”

Huang Zhong immediately bowed down and said, "Your Majesty, rest assured, the last general will set off now!" ”

"Wait!" Liu Xin shook his head and said, "Yuan Shao has Gongming to deal with, don't worry about me, there is nothing to do, I will go with you!" ”

Everyone was taken aback, and hurriedly persuaded: "Your Majesty, you must not be in danger. ”

Liu Xin said without thinking: "I am not a paper paste, and there are the two of them here, what danger can there be?" Get the map! ”

Cao Cao escaped from the battlefield yesterday evening, and no one knows whether Xun Yu, Xiahoudun, Xiahou Yuan and others were with him or separated from him. What Liu Xin has to do now is to race against time and cast the net as quickly as possible.

The order to set up a card to investigate and arrest Cao Cao has been written, and after dawn, it will be transmitted to Xu and Yang counties through the flying pigeon. The 40,000 infantry of the Fifth Army Corps have also been dispatched, and they will be stationed at various traffic crossings to carefully check the passing personnel and caravans, and if they find suspicious people, they will be arrested on the spot. The 10,000 cavalry of the Fifth Army also divided into five teams, one for each 2,000 men, and pursued them separately.

The key now is not to know how many men and horses Cao Cao still has around him, if he has enough soldiers in his hands, he will probably go all the way north. If there are only a few people around him, he is likely to be incognito, lurking among the people, and then looking for an opportunity to go north after the limelight passes.

Despite the many uncertainties, Liu Xin did an analysis of Cao Cao's possible whereabouts. There was a naval fleet patrolling day and night on the river, and Cao Cao could not fly to the south of the Yangtze River even if he had wings. Then, Cao Cao's ultimate goal is most likely to go north to Yuan Shao. No matter how much hatred they had in the past, how intriguing they were, now they can only abandon their previous suspicions and unite against Liu Xin.

In this way, Cao Cao's route is more obvious. From Shouchun to the north, there are two roads to choose from. The eastern route enters the East China Sea through Xiapi County in Xuzhou, and then enters Qingzhou by way, and the western route enters Pengcheng through Qiaojun in Yuzhou, and then enters Qingzhou.

There are pros and cons to both paths.

Although Cao Cao had already occupied most of Xuzhou, the two counties of Xiapi and Guangling were under Liu Xin's control, and the troops of these two counties may be empty. But if he encounters a well-guarded general like Man Chong, Cao Cao may be difficult to please. Moreover, he killed in Xuzhou back then, and the people of Xuzhou hated him to the core, and it was very difficult to hide his traces.

If Cao Cao chooses the Western Front, he will also encounter danger at any time. Because the reinforcements of the Han army came from Runan and Qiaojun, the vanguard troops were all cavalry, and Cao Cao should not know whether there was infantry in the follow-up and where the infantry went. If he chooses the Western Front and happens to run into the Han infantry, wouldn't he be caught in the net?

Liu Xin carefully figured out Cao Cao's psychology. He knew that Cao Cao was suspicious by nature and would often leave the big road and take the small road instead. According to common sense, Cao Cao is more likely to choose the eastern front, after all, he is now fleeing rather than attacking cities and land. The Eastern Front was empty, and even if his whereabouts were revealed, he could calmly retreat.

Of course, Liu Xin can also bother with this, as long as he waits for dawn, if there is no news from the eastern front, it means that Cao Cao chose the western front, otherwise he chose the eastern front.

There are still two hours before dawn, and although they are not long, they can sometimes play a decisive role. So Liu Xin didn't wait for dawn and immediately launched a pursuit!