Chapter 315: Horses in Exchange for Food, Praise Begins Yanzhou, north of Zhongmu, south of Honggou, and Guandu battlefield. This place is a fertile and flat land in later generations, but it was a strategic location during the Eastern Han Dynasty. Because at this time, a tributary of the Yellow River passed through this place, dividing Dongjun Chenliu into two parts. Another spring has arrived. Cao Cao stood on the Guandu camp, watching the soldiers in the distance digging defensive offensives. In the distance, from north to south, are the large number of people that Cao Cao migrated from Dongjun. Looking from the top of the village, the refugee team looked like a giant winding dragon, stretching to the horizon with no boundaries in sight. This is Cao Cao clearing the fields and building a new line of defense! Don’t think that Cao has won great victories in local wars since the beginning of the war. But Cao Cao was unable to stop Yuan Shao's huge army. In order to fight against Yuan Shao, he mobilized 70,000 troops this time.

Excluding the branches that were separated, the main force only had 40,000 soldiers. These 40,000 are the maximum number of troops he can mobilize now! Because although Cao Cao in this timeline is powerful, his defense line is also longer. While fighting against Yuan Shao, he had to keep a large number of troops to guard against Liu Bei. This is also the advice of a group of counselors. Even though Liu Bei is now attacking Yuan Shao, the defense against Liu Bei cannot be relaxed. In addition, he mobilized a large number of auxiliary troops and civilian laborers, totaling more than 100,000. This caused Cao Cao's logistical pressure to increase exponentially, forcing him to abandon a large amount of land despite consecutive victories! Looking at the refugees from Dongjun moving south, Cao Cao could not help but sigh: "Even if we win this battle, it will be a pyrrhic victory. If they go south, how will we sustain ourselves next year?" Most of these people were the Yellow Turban Army from Qingzhou that he had conquered. Just as he had put a lot of effort into appeasing them before, this time he put just as much effort into relocating these people. "My lord, my lord, Priest Guo is here to see you!" While Lao Cao was thinking, Xu Chu behind him suddenly reminded him. When he turned around, he saw Guo Jia standing in the distance, looking exhausted. When he saw Guo Jia coming, he smiled. "When did Fengxiao come? If you are here, why don't you come over and talk?" When Guo Jia heard him speak, he stepped forward, bowed and said: "Since I see that my lord is thinking about this, I dare not disturb him." "Food and fodder have been delivered to our rear, and I'm here to report!" "Oh?" Hearing the word "food and grass", Cao Cao showed a look of joy and said: "I wonder how much food and fodder Wen Ruo has collected in the rear?" As soon as he asked the question, Guo Jia showed a worried look on his face and said:

"There are only 50,000 shi in total, which is not enough for our army to eat for a month!" Before Guo Jia finished speaking, Cao Cao glared at him angrily: "It has been more than ten days since I sent for food. Now the army is running out of food and grass." "Why did you only send 50,000 grains and fodder? How can I hold on?" "If this happens again next month, we will starve to death here when the food arrives!" "My lord, calm down. It's not that I didn't try my best. It's just that the situation is like this!" Seeing that he was angry, Guo Jia immediately put on a serious face and bowed to him, saying: "Although our army had a good harvest last year, there was a severe drought the year before last, so we didn't have much food in stock!" "Last year, we also attacked Nanyang, Xiliang, and Henei. We fought over thousands of miles and our food and fodder had already run out." "Since July last year, tens of thousands of people have been fighting non-stop, and millions of bushels of food and fodder have been used up." "So even if Brother Wen Ruo is very capable, he can't conjure food out of thin air." "These 50,000 shi of grain and grass were only obtained after Brother Wen Ruo raised them from all over the place." "My lord, even if you want to criticize me, you can criticize anyone else, but you shouldn't criticize Brother Wen Ruo!" When Cao Cao heard this, he could naturally feel the pressure from Xun Yu in the rear. In fact, he knew that the situation Xun Yu was facing now was several times more complicated than his. Because he was only fighting on the front line, Xun Yu had to ensure the logistics of tens of thousands of people. This kind of work is extremely complicated, and only Xun Yu can undertake it! But he had to be angry now, because Yuan Shao was about to march south, and if there were not enough food and grass, he would face a complete retreat. Seeing Guo Jia like this, Lao Cao thought for a moment and said in a deep voice: "In fact, I don't want to blame Wen Ruo. The truth is, our army has no food. How can we fight now?" "I think this place is too far from Xuchang, and it will be difficult for Wenru to transport food." "Why don't we retreat a step further and defend Chenliu? What do you think, Fengxiao?" Since there was not enough food and grass, his only option was to continue retreating, shortening his own supply line and lengthening Yuan Shao's supply line. However, as soon as he expressed this idea, Guo Jia shook his head firmly: "We cannot retreat any further. Guandu is our army's last line of defense in the Central Plains." "This place is surrounded by the natural barrier of the Hongcha. If we can't defend this place, we can't defend anywhere else!" "And now the emperor has moved west. If our army retreats, Yuan Shao may lead his troops westward!" "Although Luoyang had a strong pass at that time, it could not stop Yuan Shao's army!" "Once Luoyang falls, our army will be divided into four parts and will have no chance of survival!" "Then how are we supposed to protect it? Are we just going to live here and eat the spoils?"

Cao Cao became a little annoyed, and looked at Guo Jia in a rather dull manner and said: "Feng Xiao is also familiar with the art of war. It is true that food and fodder must be sent before the army moves. How can our army win without food?" "You are wrong, my lord. Our army is not without food, it's just that it hasn't been delivered yet!" Guo Jia corrected Lao Cao's mistake in speaking and said bluntly: "Your Majesty is collecting food and fodder in the rear, it's not like the food has run out." "Although 50,000 shi of food and fodder is little, it can sustain us for more than 20 days." "Until the next time the food runs out, there will be food and fodder delivered!" When Cao Cao heard this, he naturally knew that Guo Jia meant for him to trust Xun Yu. "Having said that, now is a time of transition!" "I know Wen Ruo's ability, but where should he get food?" Now it’s not that he doesn’t believe in Xun Yu’s ability, on the contrary, it’s because he knows Xun Yu too well. If the granary had not been empty, Xun Yu would never have distributed only this amount of food and fodder. It was only March, and Xun Yu couldn't get any food or grass no matter how capable he was. Unless Xun Yu, like Cheng Yu, allowed his soldiers to plunder the people to raise food and grass, but if he did that, Xun Yu would no longer be Xun Yu! As the saying goes, a good cook cannot cook without rice. Where can Xun Yu get the food from? After he finished speaking, Guo Jia remained expressionless and said firmly: "Your Excellency may have forgotten that our army still has a place to borrow food!" "There are still four months until the summer grain harvest. As long as our army can borrow 300,000 shi, we can last until this year's autumn harvest!" But Cao Cao was stunned for a long time when he heard this, and frowned: "You want me to borrow food from Liu Bei? What do you mean by that?" "Liu Bei is doing a great favor by not sending troops to attack my rear now!" "Why would he agree to lend me so much food at this time?" If it were Sun Ce, Lu Bu or Yuan Shu in the south now, he would be so shameless as to ask for food. But Liu Bei was different. Although he had some favors to Liu Bei, Liu Bei would definitely not agree to borrow food for nothing. But as soon as he finished speaking, Guo Jia shook his head and denied it: "Liu Bei will not lend food without words, but Liu Bei is short of horses!" "As long as you agree to exchange it for horses, Liu Bei will not refuse!" "Now Liu Bei's food and grass can be used as military rations. If we can exchange all of his food and grass for horses, our army will have nothing to worry about!" "You must know, my lord, that although the military rations are low, we cannot retreat even a single step." "It's like the Chu-Han contention. Whoever retreats will fall into an irretrievable situation." "Now our army has the horse-producing land of Liangzhou. It would be beneficial for us to exchange horses for food!" If it was when Cao Cao was trapped in the Central Plains before, they would have exchanged horses for food, but they would have suffered losses no matter how they exchanged. But now Liangzhou is in their hands. Although the output is not as much as Hebei, it is still not small. Even if they exchange all the idle horses for food, it would not be a big deal for them.

On the contrary, if they could get a large amount of food and supplies, they would win the war sooner or later. So Cao Cao thought for a moment and asked Guo Jia: "How many horses, according to Fengxiao's estimate, can be exchanged for 300,000 shi of grain and grass?" Guo Jia didn't think twice and stretched out a finger: "At least five thousand, and all must be war horses!" "Five thousand horses? Our army only has over ten thousand horses in total!" Cao Cao's eyes widened again. You know, a war horse in the Central Plains usually costs three to five gold coins to buy. Five thousand war horses are worth at least fifteen thousand gold, and three hundred thousand stones of grain and fodder are not worth that much money at all. "If this is how we sell horses, our army might as well sell them ourselves!" "Five thousand horses can at least be exchanged for five hundred thousand dan of grain." But when Guo Jia saw this, he shook his head calmly and said: "Not to mention whether the noble families have so much food and grass, even if our army sells it to them, they will only buy three to five hundred stones at a time, which will take a long time." "Our army's food and fodder can only last for twenty days at most. We don't have much time to sell them slowly!" Cao Cao felt a pang of pain when he heard this, but when he thought of his great enemy Yuan Shao, he gritted his teeth and said: "Well, as long as we can gather food and fodder, we can do it!" "But even if I agree, it's too late to inform Wen Ruo now!" "How can we sustain the food and fodder until Liu Bei's army arrives?" He was halfway through his words when Guo Jia took out a book from his bosom: "In fact, this strategy was proposed by you, my Lord. All that is left is for you to agree!" "As long as the lord agrees, I will send an urgent letter to ask them to negotiate with Liu Bei's army." "Make sure that the food and fodder are delivered here within a month!" As Guo Jia took out a book, Lao Cao was stunned for a long time before pointing at Guo Jia and laughing: "Good of you, Guo Fengxiao. If you knew about this, why didn't you speak out?" "Now that you've just mentioned it, I'm worried. I thought you were going to withdraw your troops!" Seeing his reaction, Guo Jia smiled and said: "I see that my lord is worried all day, so I am trying to make him smile!" "But this method is only a temporary solution. If it is feasible, I don't want to make things so difficult for you, my lord!" As he said this, Cao Cao's mood, which had just been relieved, sank again, and he sighed: "Yes, if the situation is not like this, I would rather fight with Liu Bei's army than be a horse!" "By the way, why did Qin Zhen go to Jiangdong?" Lao Cao was very concerned about Qin Zhen's movements and often asked about related developments. Qin Zhen was not far away, and he was already filled with resentment, wishing that the boy would die quickly.

But Qin Zhen was far away from him, and he felt a little lonely. I always feel like there's no one plotting against me, which is a little bit unusual. In response to Lao Cao's questions, Guo Jia told him all the news about Qin Zhen in Jiangdong. These naturally included Qin Zhen's governance of the aristocratic families, the distribution of land tax, and the conquest of the Shanyue people. After hearing this, Cao Cao was silent for a long time before he asked: "How much tax did Qin Zhen collect from the people in Jiangdong?" Guo Jia heard this and sighed, then he let out a long breath and said "The common people all pay a tenth of the tax, and the settlers also split it in half." "After the implementation of this policy, a large number of tenants in Jiangdong returned to their hometowns last year." "The tax revenue for Jiangdong alone should be more than two million dan." "After deducting various expenses and surpluses, there will be at least 500,000 dan of military rations. Qin Zhen will have to mobilize troops again this year." "Either we go west to Jingzhou or south to Jiaozhou!" "With Qin Zhen's ability, if our army wins this battle, Liu Bei's army will gain another state!" To be honest, Liu Bei is now strong enough. If he could also capture Jingzhou and Jiaozhou, Liu Bei would become the most powerful warlord in the world. But they couldn't stop all this, so he was helpless. Cao Cao obviously didn't notice what he said next. He muttered the words "one-tenth tax" and couldn't help but think of a sentence in "Shangshu Dachuan", "The king collects taxes at the eleventh, and praises are made." In this chaotic world, can Qin Zhen really create a paradise? His eyes couldn't help but sweep over the people fleeing in the distance. If this is true, even if he wins, can he really be a match for Liu Bei? (End of this chapter)