My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 29 Yuanlong, I'll show you a treasure.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, this was the ultimate political correctness, which earned the Chen family a lot of credit.

Chen Gui and Chen Qiu's sons all rose to powerful positions such as prefects and chancellors of commanderies and kingdoms, holding positions with a salary of two thousand piculs of grain, undoubtedly benefiting from Chen Qiu's legacy.

On the other hand, Donghai County is indeed not as safe as Xiapi County at present.

The western part of this area is already a barren wasteland, while the northern part is bordered by Zang Ba and Chang Xi, who control separatist counties and wield significant military power. These are forces whose allegiance is unclear.

Compared to Xiapi, it is indeed much safer.

Of course, the most important thing was that Chen Deng realized that times had changed.

Although the Han court still existed, Chen Deng keenly sensed that the era had entered a period of chaos.

In chaotic times, only those with strong armies and powerful horses can protect themselves.

In peacetime, Chen Deng aside, the other local scholars of Xuzhou would naturally hope that Liu Bei, a frontier warrior, would get as far away as possible, fearing that he would harass the countryside and plunder the area.

But now, we need to change our attitude towards warriors.

Chen Deng and the gentry of Xiapi did not have strong troops, so they had to win over military men to protect themselves.

This was also because the aristocratic families at that time were unaware of the enormous power they possessed. They had no idea that with their financial resources and influence, they could easily raise a large army.

Therefore, frontier warriors like Liu Bei, Lü Bu, and Sun Jian had the opportunity to participate in the magnificent struggle for supremacy among heroes at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

At present, Liu Bei is the partner chosen by Chen Deng and the Chen and Mi families, among other scholars from Xuzhou.

Because Liu Bei was not only a skilled fighter, but also had a reputation for benevolence.

This is important because being kind means not exploiting others and not doing things without any moral boundaries.

Given this, Chen Deng naturally hoped that Liu Bei could bring his troops and station them directly at his home.

Compared to Liu Bei, Cao Cao's reputation is now extremely bad.

The reasons for Cao Cao's Yanzhou Coup were very complex. There were disagreements between Cao Cao himself and the local gentry in Yanzhou, the fear of insecurity among the gentry due to years of war in Yanzhou, and the contradictions caused by Cao Cao's promotion of gentry and clans from Yingchuan to suppress the excessive power of the local gentry in Yanzhou.

However, there is another reason that cannot be ignored: Cao Cao's excessive exploitation of the Yanzhou region.

Cao Cao's exploitation of Yanzhou was extremely severe. This was not because Cao Cao plundered the people's wealth for his own luxurious life, but because he wanted to survive. He wanted to lead the people of Yanzhou to survive in this chaotic world, and he also wanted to strengthen himself.

Historical records show that from the time Cao Cao took over Yan Province in the latter half of 192, there were continuous wars, and these wars involved tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people.

Cao Cao took over Yan Province when Liu Dai, the governor of Yan Province, suffered a crushing defeat and died. In that battle, Liu Dai lost to a million-strong Yellow Turban army that had entered Yan Province to plunder.

Therefore, after Cao Cao became the governor of Yan Province, his first priority was to fight a major battle against the million-strong Yellow Turban army in Yan Province.

They had barely won the battle when they were suddenly attacked by Tao Qian's allied forces.

They managed to repel Tao Qian, Liu Bei, and Shan Jing with great difficulty, but before they could even settle in, Yuan Shu arrived.

After Cao Cao painstakingly defeated Yuan Shu and drove him away, before he could pursue and expand his advantage, Tao Qian from neighboring Xuzhou felt confident and once again organized a coalition of bandits, leading Que Xuan and Zang Ba to seek revenge on Cao Cao.

In those short two years, Cao Cao fought four or five major battles involving more than 50,000 men each, requiring astronomical sums of money and supplies. Fortunately, these were home-based battles within Yan Province, which did not require long supply lines.

Otherwise, even if Cao Cao plundered Yanzhou to the point of overflowing, he still wouldn't have enough money and grain.

Even so, the amount of money and grain required was extremely large, and the only source of this massive amount of money and grain was the taxes from Yanzhou.

Liu Feng personally believes that it was precisely this heavy tax burden that was the root cause of why the scholars of Yanzhou could not bear Cao Cao.

After all, the political struggle in Yanzhou was only just beginning. Xun Yu had not been in Yanzhou for two years, let alone the other scholars from Yingchuan.

Therefore, the political struggles in Yanzhou were far from reaching the point where the locals needed to overturn the table.

What truly enraged the locals was Cao Cao's constant plundering of their money and grain, and his exploitation of them.

This is a matter of life and death; how could the aristocratic families, who lack long-term vision, possibly tolerate it?
In fact, the fact that the people of Yanzhou were able to endure for more than two years before turning against Cao Cao when he launched his second campaign against Xuzhou already shows that they considered the overall situation and were worthy of Cao Mengde's trust.

Similarly, with Cao Cao's example in Yanzhou, the scholars of Xuzhou placed great importance on benevolence and virtue when choosing a warlord to cooperate with.

This allowed Liu Bei to stand out and snag such a great opportunity.

The scholars of Xuzhou were indeed right about Liu Bei. Although Liu Bei lost Xuzhou the following year, during his year in power, he reduced taxes and levies, avoided trouble, and was not afraid of trouble, which perfectly satisfied the scholars of Xuzhou.

The gentry of this era were generally like guard dogs.

What kind of warlords were most popular with the local gentry?
That means avoiding trouble, maintaining peace and quiet, keeping taxes and levies low, and using as little money as possible to maintain basic defenses.

Want them to help you expand your territory?
That's not impossible, but you have to offer benefits to the scholars first. Only after you've given them benefits will they invest in you.

Even so, if things don't go well from the start, these aristocratic families might immediately back down and withdraw their investments; it wouldn't be surprising if they did.

Therefore, Liu Bei, who was considered obedient, sensible, and benevolent by the gentry of Xuzhou, still enjoyed a high reputation in Xuzhou after losing the province. He could easily gather tens of thousands of people, making it difficult for Lü Bu to sleep at night.

At present, Chen Deng has already persuaded the scholars of Xiapi.

They unanimously agreed that the gentry and powerful families of Xiapi were willing to pay more money and provisions for Liu Bei's several thousand soldiers who were both capable and benevolent.

But Liu Bei's reaction was a bit off. He was silent for a moment, then slowly shook his head.

Seeing Chen Yuanlong's somewhat puzzled and disappointed look, Liu Bei explained, "Yuanlong, this matter is of great importance, and Donghai Commandery is also unstable. If we move the capital to Xiapi at this time, we may lose the hearts of the scholars of Donghai. Please allow me to consider this matter carefully and give me more time."

Although Chen Yuanlong was somewhat disappointed, he also understood the principle that too much of a good thing can be bad.

Moreover, Liu Bei's words were quite practical. If the capital of the state were moved at this time, the gentry of Donghai would definitely curse him, since Chang Xi was eyeing them covetously from the north.

Therefore, Chen Deng decided to temporarily cease his efforts and planned to try to persuade Liu Bei again at a better time.

Although Liu Bei successfully deflected the question, he inexplicably felt guilty and quickly changed the subject.

"Yuanlong, I have a fine treasure to show you."

(End of this chapter)