Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 101 Liu Bei: Fengxian is not doing well
The eighth day of the sixth month, the first year of Xingping.

For a full sixty-three days, there was no rain in many parts of Qingzhou.

The river dried up, revealing a dry and cracked riverbed, and the green grass that grew there withered and died again due to continuous lack of water.

Although Pingyuan County and Dong County are close to the river, the amount of water has dropped sharply.

Yanzhou, Qingzhou, Xuzhou and Jizhou were all affected, among which Yanzhou and Qingzhou were the most affected and had the most extensive drought areas.

At the Yellow River, Liu Bei and his water officials once again measured the water level. After a busy period of work, the water official said with a bitter look on his face: "Sir, the water flow of the river continues to drop. If it doesn't rain everywhere, I'm afraid it won't be long before the flow stops."

"Can you give an approximate time?" Liu Bei asked with a frown.

The water officer took the documents from the clerk, looked down and flipped through several scrolls, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said, "Based on the records of the interruption of the flow of the river from the Qin Dynasty to the present, it will probably last for two months."

Liu Bei's face suddenly darkened, and he almost got scared before he finished speaking.

At present, the water in small rivers and wells has dried up, and many people have fled to live along the mainstream of the Yellow River. As the water official, I am worried that the Yellow River will dry up.

As a senior official in Cao, you knew that you had to measure the river water, but you were still flipping through the documents slowly in front of me, sharpening your skills before the battle, right?

Liu Bei was too lazy to say anything more, so he waved his hand and demoted the water official to a minor clerk and let the historian take over.

Bao Xin, a state official standing nearby, was not surprised at all, since Liu Bei had talked to him heart to heart all night and won his favor with his style of doing things.

I found that there was a huge difference between Lord Xuande and the famous scholar Liu Dai.

Xun Yu also advised him to abandon his petty ambitions and soar high like a swan.

Bao Xin figured it out. With the Han Dynasty in turmoil, who should he not serve? It would be better to choose the most capable member of the royal family to help support the country.

Wang Sunman, who recalled the Spring and Autumn Period, refuted King Zhuang of Chu with a few sentences: Although the virtue of Zhou has declined, the Mandate of Heaven has not changed, and the weight of the tripod is not worth asking.

Perhaps even as late as Liu Xuande the Han Dynasty had not declined, the Liu family's destiny had not been rewritten.

The Bao family is a family of nobles and have been enjoying the Han Dynasty's salary for a long time. Since the Han Dynasty can be saved, they can help it.

Because officials were needed to provide famine relief in various places, Liu Bei also sent officials to lead the people in the counties and towns to find dry riverbeds to dig out locust eggs to prevent the arrival of locust plagues.

Not only was Bao Xin appointed as a state official, but Cao Hong was also released from prison and transferred to Beihai, where the drought was most severe, as a chief official.

You agreed with him that since no one would pay a hundred million to redeem you, you would work as an official in Qingzhou for ten years to repay your debt.

Cao Hong was extremely surprised. The county prison in Qingzhou was really not a place for human beings to stay. It was dark and small. Being locked up for several months almost drove him crazy.

Only when you see the light of day again do you realize how good the past was.

When he saw Envoy Liu, he immediately bowed down. Just as he was about to speak, he heard the Envoy's promise, and he could not help but raise his eyebrows and clap his hands.

Cao Hong immediately pointed his finger to the sky and said, "Hong will serve you for ten years to repay your kindness. If I break this oath, heaven and earth will punish me!"

Bao Xin, who was his former cellmate, was taken out by the jailer not long after he moved in. He returned a few days later and said that he was now working under Liu Qingzhou.

Let Cao Hong take care of himself and think carefully that Meng De has no place to stand. It is unknown when he will lead his troops to rescue him.

If you don't think it through, this county prison is where you'll spend the rest of your life.

After the other party left, Cao Hong thought carefully and realized that there was no hatred between Cao and Liu Qingzhou. They were just fighting for their respective masters.

Why should he insist on not surrendering and risk his life for Liu Dai? Even if his elder brother was thinking, he would understand him. His thoughts were clear, and he immediately shouted: "Cao Hong is willing to surrender, go and tell Lord Xuande that Hong is also willing to surrender."

Unexpectedly, the jailer said coldly: "You have gone to fight Yuan Shao and have not returned yet. Besides, you have said that no one can release you except him."

"This...this!?" Cao Hong was stunned.

Hong was just a military man. How could he be valued by Lord Xuande and even given special instructions to the jailer?

Liu Bei did not value Cao Hong as much as Bao Xin, and the only thing that interested him was his identity.

He liked to do anything that was not beneficial to Cao Mengde, as it was a bit of fun after fighting and conquering.

He then threw Cao Hong into the North Sea and never asked about him again. In an era when oaths and trust had not yet collapsed, someone dared to treat oaths as fart, which was tantamount to cutting himself off from the world.

"Sir, all the counties in Qingzhou are killing locusts to prevent the arrival of a locust plague, but locusts are good at migrating. If there is an insect plague in Yanzhou, Qingzhou will also be affected!" Bao Xin, who had a sparse beard, pondered for a moment and gave advice.

It’s not that he is still thinking about Liu Dai of Yanzhou, but the insect plague broke out suddenly, and the effect of controlling only one place would not be that great.

Liu Bei came back to his senses and asked with a smile: "What is Yuncheng's plan? Feel free to tell me."

Bao Xin bowed and said, "I heard that when you defeated Yuan Shao and returned, the nobles and clan leaders of various counties in Yanzhou came to pay their respects to you. Why not write to them and ask them to take their clans to the dry river to kill the locusts? This will firstly win people's hearts and secondly, it will hit Liu Dai's prestige. If you haven't taken Yanzhou, you can govern it and demoralize the people in the state."

“Then when the drought is over, we can let Governor Guan take Jiyin County, Governor Zhang lead his troops from Jinan to attack Taishan County, and Governor Qian can attack Dongping County. At that time, there will be powerful families in the county responding and strong troops from outside approaching, and Yanzhou will be easily taken.” Bao Xin offered his advice.

Now at least half of the nobles in each county believe that Liu Bei’s occupation of Yanzhou is unstoppable.

When Yuan Shao, who was the third Duke of Jizhou for four generations, fought against Gongsun Zan, he did not lose any famous generals from Hebei. However, when he fought against Liu Xuande, the brave general Yan Liang was captured alive.

The grain carts were loaded with corn, and the baggage carts were loaded with countless arrows, blades, and weapons.

Who didn’t see the nobles who went to pay homage to Lord Xuande?

When the Xue family of Dongjun and the Wu family of Jiyin heard that Qingzhou was measuring the land, they measured the land, re-verified the household registration, corrected the reclaimed land, population and taxes, and took the initiative to pay the balance to the state.

Of course, it is to supply the Qingzhou tribe, not the Yanzhou tribe.

This caused some powerful families to secretly curse, wondering how there could be such a shameless person in the world.

Xue and Wu heard the insults in private but didn't care. What did the powerful families matter? As long as they clung to Lord Xuande's thigh, what they would get in the future was beyond the imagination of a group of ants like you.

If you give up some face now, you will gain more in the future.

You are unwilling to give up anything. When Lord Xuande follows Emperor Guangwu in measuring the land in Yanzhou, you will naturally understand what it means to gain neither profit nor fame. If you dare to use your troops to stop us - too many powerful families have been born in Yanzhou over the past hundred years. With fewer competitors, you will have dozens more vacancies for officials.

Why not?
Xue and Wu didn't know that some people were cursing but didn't stop moving their hands and feet.

Officials in various counties in Qingzhou were overwhelmed with the allocation of grain to various villages for disaster relief, and Liu Bei and Xun Yu were busy and overwhelmed.

The drought in Dongjun caused a sharp drop in farmland yields, and many seedlings fell in the fields. However, the wealthy families in various counties secretly transported grain to Dongjun without Liu Dai's knowledge. The price of the grain they sold was the same as the usual price, and they had no intention of raising the price.

He also secretly sent his clan members to help with disaster relief.

Not to mention Guan Yu was surprised, even Liu Bei was stunned when he received the news.

Liu Bei pondered, "Perhaps in history, the nobles and aristocrats of Yanzhou also welcomed Lu Bu with such enthusiasm, but Fengxian was not up to the task and failed to defeat Meng De and force him to flee..."

(End of this chapter)