I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 272 I’m back!

On February 18, Yuan Shu led Xu Chong, Cao Cao, Xiahou Dun and a team of guards to Daze Township around Fuli County.

This is where Chen Sheng and Wu Guang launched the uprising. It is also the place where the first peasant uprising sounded the death knell for the rulers. In Yuan Shu's opinion, it has a profound significance.

At this moment, nearly four hundred years have passed since the "Are kings, princes, generals, and ministers of different races" incident. Similar peasant uprisings have occurred many times on this land, but they were met with more brutal suppression from the rulers each time.

As Yuan Shu walked on this land, he seemed to be able to still feel the roar of anger made by Chen Sheng, Wu Guang and others who were desperate in those days.

Is it okay to wait for death in the country of death?
Yuan Shu sighed deeply about this.

Cao Cao noticed Yuan Shu's mood, came over and asked.

"Captain, you seem to be a little emotional? Are you thinking of the story of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang?"

"Yes, back then, the cry of "Are there any kings, princes, generals or ministers of different races?" frightened countless people.

Yuan Shu said slowly: "I was wondering, today, does anyone still remember that roar?"

Cao Cao was a little surprised.

"Most people would consider such remarks to be rebellious. Do you think they are correct?"

Yuan Shu smiled.

"I think there should be more of these words, the more the better, the louder the better, the more people who know the better, and the more people who think this is right the better."

Cao Cao was even more surprised.

"I didn't know you looked at Chen Sheng and Wu Guang in this way..."

"Those who eat meat are mean and have no long-term vision. They cannot understand gentle words, but only roars of anger."

Yuan Shu shook his head and said, "If there is no roar, they will degenerate, become arrogant and extravagant, and bully the people. If there is a roar, they can restrain themselves a little and not be so ruthless. If they push people to the brink of death, they will just wait for death and the country will die. By then, corpses will be everywhere and blood will flow like a river. Is this what we want to see?

After hearing this, Cao Cao was silent for a moment.

After a while, he slowly said, "What you said makes sense."

Yuan Shu laughed.

"Eunuchs' persecution of us does not require death. We can all rise up to eradicate eunuchs. But if we are left without food, cold and hungry, how angry and horrified will we be? Meng De, no matter what, no one should be left without food. If some meat-eaters want to make everyone go without food, then I will make sure those meat-eaters don't even have the brains to eat."

Cao Cao was shocked when he heard this, but didn't say much.

When I looked around at this land again, I inexplicably felt a sense of desolation.

At the end of February, Yuan Shu received a notice from Duan Xing, asking him to make preparations and lead his troops back. Basically, all the remnants of the eunuchs that needed to be dealt with had been dealt with.

From Jizhou to Yuzhou to Yanzhou and then to Xuzhou, the remnants of eunuchs in several densely populated states were all liquidated, especially those who took the lead in the riots, including Wang Ji, Cao Shao, Wen Mu, Jiong Fei and Zhang Hao, all of whom had their three clans directly exterminated.

Including those officials, clerks, powerful families who were close to them, anyone who was involved in the previous Party and Faction Persecution would have their families destroyed and their clans exterminated, there was nothing to say.

According to the data Yuan Shu obtained from Duan Xing, more than two thousand people were killed in the two counties of Jizhou alone. The eunuchs and their remaining property with a total value of about 3 billion coins were confiscated by Duan Xing and prepared to be handed over to Luoyang and sent to the national treasury.

Of course, this data is seriously distorted.

Duan Xing privately told Yuan Shu that the actual wealth he had confiscated from the eunuchs in Jizhou, including treasures such as gold, silver, pearls, and jade, as well as real estate such as land, houses, and shops, had a total value of about 5 billion coins.

Part of it was rewarded by Duan Xing to his generals and soldiers.

Part of it was given to the local famous families who were persecuted by the eunuchs to appease the people and show the Luoyang court's attitude of restoring order. This has always been the routine operation of the Luoyang court.

Part of it was left for use by local county governments for post-war reconstruction and other work.

He also gave some of it to Yuan Feng as a personal gift.

He also planned to give another part to Yuan Shu as a gift to "respect" Yuan Shu.

The gift that Duan Xing planned to give to Yuan Feng was worth about 300 million coins, while the gift that he planned to give to Yuan Shu was worth about 500 million coins.

He gave less to Yuan Feng than to Yuan Shu.

Duan Xing did not mention how much he had taken. Of course, Yuan Shu would not care about this number. This number was not important. Duan Xing's attitude was already very correct. He treated everyone equally and gave everyone what they deserved. He was very satisfied in all aspects.

In this way, no one would care how much he took. Anyway, except himself, no one would really know how much the confiscated wealth was.

And similar situations to Duan Xing also occurred in other places.

For example, Dong Xuan was also sent to confiscate the eunuchs' property. After the confiscation, the specific amount of property he reported was 1.3 billion coins, but he privately gave a gift of 100 million coins to Yuan Shu. So Yuan Shu would not pursue how much he took for himself and how much he gave to others, as long as he could take all aspects into consideration.

As for the properties that Yuan Shu had confiscated in Pei State, the total value was about 2.1 billion coins. Apart from the 700 million in cash, gold and silver jewelry and other items that were easy to transport and the property he rewarded to his subordinates, most of the real estate belonged to him.

But no matter what, Yuan Shu still gained huge benefits from this battle. Not only did he gain military merit, which could serve as a basis for further promotion, but he also gained a large amount of wealth, especially real estate such as land and houses, which could help him build more good villages.

This is the part that matters to him most.

In comparison, the horses, ironware, food and other property that the Cao and Xiahou families jointly gave him, which were euphemistically called "rewards for the troops", were just a drop in the bucket and not worth mentioning.

Yuan Shu could now say that if all these properties were counted as his alone, he would indeed be one of the richest men in the Han Empire.

If he was the only one spending the money, and it was used for living rather than anything else, no matter how much he struggled or squandered in his life, he would never be able to spend all the money.

On February 27th of the second year of Zhengshi, Yuan Shu officially announced that he would lead his army back to Luoyang. His route was to start from Qiao County, pass through Chen State and Yingchuan County, cross Xuanyuan Pass, and go directly to Luoyang.

Unlike the time when he set out with a small entourage, this time when he returned, he not only carried a large amount of property belonging to the court, himself and his subordinates in large and small carts, but also a large number of prisoners of war of various identities. Therefore, the entire team was quite large and moved relatively slowly.

Moreover, when passing through Yingchuan County, considering that the Xun family, the Zhong family and other families had some relationship with him, Yuan Shu also took the time to visit these famous big families with some gifts.

Mainly, these big families will occupy a certain position in the era when Yuan Feng dominates the Han Empire. They will become an indispensable and important part of Yuan's dictatorship era and are Yuan's main allies.

Although the future new era does not have ships to carry them, Yuan Shu still has to make use of them in order to reach the new era.

Otherwise, if he didn't fight for it, and they were all won over by Yuan Ji and Yuan Shao, it would be disgusting for Yuan Shu.

In the past, they all relied on the protection of the Yuan family. Now that they are liberated, they will return to the political stage of Luoyang and regain power. In the short term, Yuan Shu still needs some of the elites among them to do something for him. He cannot let this entire group become an obstacle to him.

His Yi Xin Hui is not strong enough, and everyone has not grown up yet. If he has another ten years to allow all these people to grow up, then Yuan Shu will have confidence.

After visiting these big families, Yuan Shu led his army to Xuanyuan Pass on March 16, the second year of Zhengshi. After crossing Xuanyuan Pass, he arrived in Luoyang early in the morning of the 18th, completing this successful expedition mission.

After arriving in Luoyang, Yuan Shu did not go home immediately. Instead, he first settled his soldiers, allowing them to set up camp and rest smoothly. Then he entered Luoyang with light luggage, went to the palace to hand over the military orders and report on his work, and then waited for all the soldiers to return to Luoyang before rewarding them uniformly.

After finishing what he had to do, Yuan Shu went straight to the Shangshu Terrace and asked someone to inform him. He learned that Yuan Feng was working at his desk.

Yuan Shu had previously told Yuan Feng the exact time he would be back, and thought Yuan Feng would be very happy and come to greet him. However, he didn't expect that from the time he arrived in Luoyang until now, he hadn't seen Yuan Feng at all. Yuan Shu thought something had happened, but he found out that Yuan Feng was just handling official business.

When Yuan Shu entered, he found that there was no one in his office. He seemed to be so engrossed in his work that he didn't even look up when Yuan Shu came in.

"Father, I'm back."

Yuan Shu shouted, but Yuan Feng did not respond. Yuan Shu thought he didn't hear him, so he raised his voice and shouted again, but he still remained silent. This made Yuan Shu feel a little strange.

So Yuan Shu walked straight to him and saw that he was dealing with some rewards for the victorious army after returning to Luoyang.

At this point, Yuan Feng seemed to have finally seen Yuan Shu, but he still maintained his working posture without any change.

"came back?"

"Yes, I'm back."

"Did you enjoy the battle?"

"Uh... How can we be happy while fighting? Father, are you kidding me?"

"I heard that you personally charged into the battle line and used a ladder to climb the tower to fight the enemy troops. That's why you have a reputation for bravery and fearlessness in the army?"

"This……"

"Do you remember what you promised me before you set out?"

Yuan Feng finally put down the pen in his hand, raised his head, and stared at Yuan Shu with very sharp eyes.

(End of this chapter)