Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 340 Sitting on the ground and dividing the spoils
A few days later, Cao Cao received news that the convoy carrying tax money belonging to Xu Yang, the Chancellor of Chen State, had been robbed outside Qiao County, and that the bodies of Xu Yang and hundreds of his confidants had all been found dead in Qiao County.

Liu Chong and Luo Jun did not let go of anyone Xu Yang had planted in Chen State, and the Xu family did not even send out the news.

Meanwhile, the Xu families of Runan and Yingchuan both received messages from Liu Chong, the Prince of Chen, claiming that Cao Cao had intercepted and killed Xu Yang, who was delivering tax money, without cause, and that Liu Bei and Cao Cao were plotting to harm loyal officials and intend to incite bandits to slaughter all the famous families in the world.

At this time, Xiahou Dun's troops, which Cao Cao had sent to Yingchuan to collect taxes, were stationed near Pingyu.

Several soldiers who "escaped" from Qiao County also said that Cao Cao was responsible for the incident.

Hundreds of clansmen were killed, and the victims were members of the direct line of the clan, which was undoubtedly a blood feud.

The Xu family mobilized 5,000 clan soldiers and contacted various powerful families in the surrounding area for assistance. They launched an attack in Pingyu and clashed fiercely with Xiahou Dun's troops.

Xiahou Dun was quite capable; although he was attacked, his counterattack was extremely swift.

Xiahou Dun personally led his armored cavalry into the enemy ranks, with Dian Wei and other infantrymen assisting him. In one battle, they beheaded three thousand enemies, and most of the Xu family's private army was defeated.

But just after Xiahou Dun achieved a great victory, King Liu Chong of Chen launched a surprise attack from the flank and rear with several thousand crossbowmen.

Ranged units are indeed better suited for launching surprise attacks, and no cavalry can gain an advantage against crossbow formations.

No one expected that Chen Guo would have so many powerful crossbows. Although Xiahou Dun responded immediately, the crossbow array composed of thousands of powerful crossbows was very difficult to break in that era.

Fortunately, Xiahou Dun was still clear-headed. Upon seeing the dense barrage of crossbow bolts, he immediately led his troops to flee, otherwise they might have been completely wiped out.

By the time Cao Cao arrived, Liu Chong and Luo Jun had already stationed themselves in Pingyu County and Xujiawu Fortress respectively to defend the city—a crossbow formation would be even more difficult to deal with.

Cao Cao attempted to organize an attack, but was still defeated by the crossbow formations. Liu Chong's troops had an astonishing number of sharpshooters.

Chen Guo has kept a low profile all these years, but the strength of the troops he has deployed has exceeded everyone's expectations.

Knowing that he could not break through this strong crossbow formation quickly, Cao Cao had no choice but to retreat.

Upon learning of this, Liu Pi, who was robbing people in Runan, immediately withdrew, preparing to go to Linzi ahead of time to report back.

Liu Pi and Huang Shao had already made a great haul. Because Liu Bei had said that cattle and horses could be valued at double the price, Liu Pi had practically taken away half of the cattle and horses in Runan.

Fortunately, Liu Pi retreated in time, which allowed Cao Cao to receive reinforcements on the way, and also prevented Liu Chong from continuing to pursue Cao Cao, so as to avoid being attacked from both sides.

Of course, Cao Cao did not launch a counterattack, but wisely retreated to Qiao County.

Cao Cao was no longer a reckless fool. He knew he had been tricked and that it was not worth fighting back now.

In this battle, Cao Cao's troops initially won but then suffered a defeat, losing more than two thousand men and killing over three thousand enemies.

If you only look at the casualties, it doesn't seem like a loss... but in reality, Cao Cao suffered a great loss.

This is equivalent to Cao Cao's troops wiping out the Xu family and offending many powerful clans in Yan and Yu, but taking away no spoils of war and not even being able to retrieve the bodies of his comrades.

After the war, Liu Chong, the King of Chen, led his troops to Pingyu in Runan, and Luo Jun went to Yanxian in Yingchuan, taking all of Xu's wealth and grain. In reality, this was just taking back the wealth that Xu Yang had plundered from Chen over the past eighteen years, and it was done by using Cao Cao to kill people.

In truth, Liu Chong was even the benefactor who "rescued the Xu family".

After taking the money and grain from the Xu family and returning to the State of Chen, Liu Chong stationed his troops in Yangxia and Luo Jun in Chen County. They openly adopted the title of "General Who Assists the Han Dynasty" and began recruiting soldiers under the banner of "welcoming the emperor and rectifying the court."

Just as Liu Chong had predicted, it was indeed necessary to defeat Cao Cao before the various prominent figures in Yanzhou would dare to follow him.

After Liu Chong raised the banner of General Who Assists the Han, Liu Dai raised an army in Dongjun and together with Qiao Mao, the former governor of Dongjun, occupied Yan County and Baima.

Bao Xin and Yuan Xu launched their uprisings in Shanyang and Jiyin respectively. Bao Xin occupied Changyi in Shanyang, while Yuan Xu was stationed in Dingtao in Jiyin.

Zhang Miao, in alliance with Yuan Yi, killed Feng Dai, the governor of Chenliu, and took over as governor of Chenliu himself.

Yuan Xu and Yuan Yi were both cousins ​​of Yuan Shao. These people were bound to oppose Liu Bei, so it was normal for them to respond to Liu Chong and welcome the emperor.

However, they were unable to take control of the various prefectures for the time being, and it was difficult for them to unite with each other, since being a "prefect" at this time meant facing many underworld figures.

During this period, the powerful families of Runan were constantly being plundered, and upon learning of the prestige of Prince Chen, Liu Chong, they flocked to seek refuge with him. In addition to the powerful families, many refugees also fled to escape the calamity.

Luo Jun did not distinguish between powerful clans and commoners; as long as someone sought refuge with him, he would provide them with financial assistance and distribute the people among various counties.

Perhaps Luo Jun was simply trying to recruit as many people as possible, but his approach was most effective at this time. Because he treated everyone equally, Liu Chong's followers began to expand rapidly, and people in various counties of Yanzhou responded to the call for "General Who Assists the Han".

……

At this time, Liu Bei's side was also absorbing a large number of refugees and supplies.

Issuing letters of marque will inevitably come at a price and will attract many enemies, but it is not a bad thing for enemies to appear in the open.

While there was growing pain, there were also substantial benefits.

As gangsters returned to Qingzhou in waves, caravans of oxen pulling carts were brought over by various gangsters, along with cartloads of goods to be 'taxed'.

Moreover, the 'tax arrears' actually paid are far more than the taxes that each county should actually pay.

Because it will result in a lot of repetition...

For example, the Liang Kingdom of Yuzhou, which is relatively close.

Because of its geographical location between Yan, Yu, Qing and Xu, it is not too far from other places. There are more than a dozen gangs that went to Liang to collect taxes, including various gangs from Huai and Si, as well as the powerful families from Taishan and Lu, which had just been pacified.

Those gangsters from Mount Tai who hadn't participated in the rebellion, as well as the wealthy tycoons from Lu, all wanted to make a name for themselves, since the scene of dozens of groups bidding for the project had looked truly terrifying.

These gangs that went to collect taxes owed by the Liang Kingdom all returned and paid the entire amount of the Liang Kingdom's regular taxes—they were not particularly powerful thieves, but they all wanted to try to be among the top ten taxpayers.

As a result, they all claimed to have "received all the owed taxes"...

Actually, they were all stolen from big spenders.

The tax revenue of just one prefecture in Liang State is more than that of the entire Yu Province... They collected hundreds of millions of yuan in taxes together.

The same applies to other regions.

Of course, what was actually recovered was neither grain nor money, but a large number of cattle.

Because cattle and horses can be taxed twice as much.

For organized crime, their families have a limited number of members, so having too many oxen is unnecessary, since raising cattle also has costs, while money, grain, and silk are always better in abundance.

Moreover, in order to transport supplies, they would have had to seize enough cattle and horses to pull carts.

Most of the cattle that were seized were left to Liu Bei after the goods were transported.

These cattle were quickly distributed by Jian Yong to various military settlements as public assets as soon as they were acquired. The settlement chiefs were in charge, and the tenants were responsible for providing fodder and feed, which they could then rent out.

Liu Bei hoped to achieve a level of one ox for every three households in the military settlements, and now it seems quite possible to do so.

Purely agricultural societies differ from modern societies. Modern societies have less arable land per capita and rely on machinery, thus reducing the need for oxen.

At that time, Qingzhou was basically one qing (approximately 70 mu in modern terms) of land per household, and the average number of people per military settlement was six to seven.

If a curved plow is used, one ox can carry three acres of land.

This will greatly increase productivity and free up a lot of labor. Since the curved plow only requires one person to operate, the actual number of people freed up will be even greater, and even one strong laborer can be freed up from each household.

For every additional cow, more than three able-bodied men can be freed from the fields to join the army, go into business, work, pursue art, or do side jobs...

Only by liberating people can we achieve a rapid improvement in overall strength.

Whether it's military strength, technology, industry and commerce, or anything else, everything can develop rapidly.

(End of this chapter)