Chapter 231 Sorting out the general situation After using a combination of coaxing and threatening to appease the surrounding princes and taking Xuzhou into his hands, Yuan Shao finally breathed a sigh of relief. Taking over Xuzhou seemed simple, but he had been planning for a long time and paid a considerable price for it, even temporarily bowing to Yuan Shu. These things that would have made him feel extremely humiliated in the past now seemed not worth mentioning to him. He had suffered too many setbacks and failures at Tian Ze's hands, and had washed away his former arrogance and self-willedness, and had completely let go of his pride. Those who want to achieve great things should not be obsessed with small details. In the past, Han Xin could endure the humiliation of being kicked in the crotch, so what's wrong with Yuan Shao lowering his head? Now that he has fallen into such a situation, what else can't he let go of? In the Battle of Hebei, Cao Cao suffered a lot of losses, but he lost even more. The feint attack on two checkpoints and the attack on Xu Huang's troops resulted in the loss of no less than 60,000 troops. The loss of soldiers in the Xinding Basin was no less than 80,000, and these were basically the most elite troops he could muster, mostly veterans. The army of more than 200,000 led by Gao Lan was basically dragged down by the deaths and injuries of soldiers. This scale of troops was beyond Gao Lan's normal command ability. Although he could barely lead them, except for the initial use of his large number of troops to contain Guan Yu, he was completely suppressed by Guan Yu afterwards and had almost no ability to fight back. The total loss of soldiers on all sides was nearly 200,000, and nearly half of Jizhou was lost.
Even if he took Xuzhou, Yuan Shao could only recover some blood, and his strength was not as strong as before the war. At this time, Yuan Shao was ready to give up Jizhou. Using the natural barrier of the Yellow River as the boundary, he focused on managing Qingzhou and Xuzhou, plotted to take over the Central Plains, accumulated strength, and waited for an opportunity to march north. The route designed by Ju Su for Yuan Shao was basically Yuan Shao's only way out. However, it is easy to say but difficult to implement in practice. Not to mention Cao Cao and Liu Bei, who are two difficult people to deal with, there are also many problems within Yuan Shao himself. Migrating population is easy to say but extremely difficult to do. Being attached to one's native land is almost an instinct engraved in the blood of the people of this era. Unless they are forced into a desperate situation, no one is willing to move to a strange place. Even under Tian Ze's rule, it was difficult to relocate the people. Even though the government had a high reputation and prestige, and even though the treatment was good, only a few people were willing to cooperate. The reason why Tian Ze requested to move the population to Bingzhou as soon as possible was because he happened to have a large number of people newly recruited from the south. We need to move these people out as soon as possible while they have not yet completely taken root in Youzhou, otherwise it will be difficult to move out after a long time. Although the current development focus is on the Northeast Plain, Tian Ze will naturally not ignore other states and counties of the Han Dynasty, and it is impossible to concentrate the population only in the Northeast Plain. Bingzhou and its neighboring Sili and Youzhou are now sparsely populated, so it is natural that more people should be relocated to facilitate future governance and management. Tian Ze had enough people willing to migrate, but Yuan Shao did not. The only solution he could take was forced relocation. Forcibly relocating most of the people in Jizhou to Qingzhou would not only cost a large amount of money, food and supplies, but would also cause resistance from the people. Many people even fled north to Tianze's jurisdiction. Fortunately, the local noble families are all "sensible". Tianze's rule was not a good place for them. It would have been fine if they had left some talented and virtuous family members or branches, but for the sake of family interests, they still chose Yuan Shao, just like Tao Qian. He did not bring his two sons to the Jixia Academy because neither of them had much ability, and Tao Qian was not from a noble family and had relied on his own fighting in his early years. It would be difficult to pave the way for them even if they went to the Jixia Academy. Only in Xuzhou did he, as the former governor of Xuzhou, have some influence. Therefore, he left his two sons behind to serve as county magistrates or county chancellors under Yuan Shao, which was better than being lost in the crowd.
Only if he stayed well in the Jixia Academy could Yuan Shao feel truly at ease. In the process of population relocation, the aristocratic families, as the leading force, made a lot of efforts, suppressed countless voices of opposition and created many disabled people, and only then were the vast majority of the people successfully relocated and this huge project was completed. However, these aristocratic families were not philanthropists and would not work for Yuan Shao for nothing. After arriving in Qingzhou, they did not hesitate to "divide the spoils" with Yuan Shao, dividing up almost the entire land of Qingzhou and directly raising the tax rate to 70%. It would have been fine if it was a good year, but these people had just settled down and this year a terrible locust plague occurred. The people could no longer afford to eat, and they began to rebel without hesitation, with many becoming bandits. At that time, Yuan Shao was still busy with the war with Tian Ze and had no time to deal with this matter. Most of his civil and military officials were also involved in the war, leaving only Guo Tu, Jiang Qi, Gao Gan and others to look after the family. In this situation, the drawbacks of Yuan Shao's all-out gamble reappeared. Guo Tu was not capable enough to handle the rebellion of the people in Qingzhou. If it were not for the strong abilities of Jiang Qi and Gao Gan, I am afraid that the Yellow Turban Rebellion would have happened again in Qingzhou. The aristocratic families also realized the problem, but who would be willing to give in at this time? Guo Tu did not have the prestige of Yuan Shao, so he could not stop it at all. Even his own Guo family took advantage of the situation to rob. Fortunately, the war in Hebei ended quickly and Yuan Shao rushed back quickly. Ju Shou, Shen Pei and others resolved the chaos in no time. Yuan Shao now seems powerful, dominating two and a half states, and is apparently on par with Tian Ze. But in fact, Jizhou was half-abandoned, the civil strife in Qingzhou had just been quelled, and Tao Qian had sold a lot of people in Xuzhou. The overall strength was even weaker than when he first occupied Jizhou. This is the disadvantage of being overbearing. If we cannot defeat a strong enemy and cannot use war to support war, there will be an internal collapse and we will become weaker and weaker as we fight. However, Tian Ze, who follows the kingly way, becomes stronger and stronger. This is also the reason why Cao Cao and Liu Bei actually acquiesced to Yuan Shao taking Xuzhou, which they originally regarded as a forbidden delicacy. Because the general situation is like this, if the fight continues, both sides will suffer losses, and Tian Ze will benefit. For the sake of the overall situation, they had no choice but to endure. "Gongyu, Xuzhou has been taken. What should we do next?" Yuan Shao asked a little tiredly, gently wiping the seal of Xuzhou Governor in his hand. "Rest and recuperate, put internal affairs in order, store food and grass, prepare for war and wait for changes in the times." Ju Su said in a deep voice. His previous exchanges with the civil officials under Cao Cao had brought him considerable benefits. Although both sides had their own ulterior motives, they also knew that they were at a disadvantage compared to Tian Ze and had to work together for warmth. Therefore, they also exchanged some real things with each other, such as Shen Pei's military command method and Mao Jie's strategic planning. "Times have changed." Yuan Shao said with a hint of bitterness: "Can there be a better time?" "Yes. As long as Tian Chengshou aims at the world, he will inevitably reveal his flaws. The party that takes the initiative to attack will always suffer losses." Ju Su seemed to be comforting Yuan Shao, or to comfort himself. "In the current situation, we can only rely on the alliance with Cao Cao, Liu Bei and other princes to compete with Tian Chengshou. Only by defeating Tian Chengshou first can we have further possibilities." "Cao Cao and his men are also well aware of this." "Another campaign of the princes against Dong?" Yuan Shao shook his head slightly. "Cao Cao and Liu Bei might have such an idea, but Yuan Shu, Liu Yao, Liu Biao, Liu Zhang, Li Jue and Guo Si, I'm afraid they don't have such foresight."
"Then let them disappear." Ju Shou said lightly, while staring at the map on the wall, frantically urging his talents to sort out the general situation. "It is a foregone conclusion that we have occupied Xuzhou, and the general trend will inevitably change. Cao Cao and Liu Bei will definitely take action, and the situation in the Central Plains will surely change soon." (End of this chapter)