Three Kingdoms: Fusion of Entries, Change of Destiny

Chapter 48: Boiling a frog in warm water, letting the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou fly for a while
Dongjun, inside the county magistrate's mansion.

When Xun Yu walked into the hall, Guo Jia was already busy working.

This guy said he didn't want to do it, but his body was extremely honest. He even came earlier than Xun Yu.

I guess he was stimulated by Xi Zhicai's achievements.

Guo Jia also wanted to show off and attract Cao Cao's attention as soon as possible.

Hearing the footsteps, Guo Jia raised his head and greeted Xun Yu with a smile, "Wen Ruo, you're here!"

Xun Yu responded with a smile, quickly approaching and glancing at the bamboo slips piled on Guo Jia's desk. "Feng Xiao has been coming so early these past few days. Does he seem to have some big plans?"

Guo Jia put down the bamboo slips in his hand, stretched himself, and jokingly said, "I don't really have any big plans... It's just that Zhicai has been very popular recently. If I don't work harder, I'm afraid I won't be able to catch the lord's eye in the future!"

At this time, Cao Yan also walked into the hall and saw Xun Yu and Guo Jia talking. He asked curiously, "What are you two talking about?"

After Guo Jia briefly explained his duties, Xun Yu added, "The Lord has already begun arranging personnel to persuade the Yellow Turbans to surrender, and many have already come over to us.

If it were just refugees, we in Dongjun could still barely handle it.

But now we have to add hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turbans to the mix, and with our current food reserves, we're afraid we won't be able to make it through the autumn harvest."

After hearing this, Cao Yan understood their concerns and asked, "Hasn't Li Qian already taken people to seek support from other noble families and wealthy families?"

Xun Yu shook his head helplessly: "The situation is not optimistic. Although those noble families and wealthy people are willing to provide some food, facing hundreds of thousands of refugees, it is just a drop in the bucket.

Even if we can hold out until the autumn harvest, the food supply in our county is not enough to feed so many refugees."

Historically, food shortage was a major problem that troubled Cao Cao for many years, and even led to the tragedy of a city massacre.

But how could Cao Yan, who had long been aware of Cao Cao's "difficult problem", not make preparations?

After Xun Yu and Guo Jia finished speaking, they didn't see Cao Yan reply, so they turned their eyes to him to see what he thought.

At this moment, Cao Yan was leaning over his desk, looking through a book.

"Ha! Found it!" After searching for a long time, he finally pulled out a scroll of bamboo slips, unfolded it, and said:
"According to the latest report, the workshop has built more than 6,000 new curved plows this month.

In addition, we also purchased, loaned, and requisitioned over 3,000 oxen from various locations."

"So many?!" Xun Yu and Guo Jia were shocked by the number reported by Cao Yan.

These matters have always been supervised and managed by Cao Yan himself, so Guo Jia and Xun Yu did not understand them very clearly.

They only knew that Cao Yan spent money lavishly to purchase various tools and materials, but they didn't expect that this guy was so crazy and bought so many!
Xun Yu couldn't help but ask, "Zi'an, it's only been about a month. How did you get the craftsmen to build so many curved plows?"

Cao Yan explained: "The workshop has never stopped recruiting craftsmen, and now there are more than 500 craftsmen in the workshop.

Two hundred men were employed in cutting the timber and planing the surfaces;
Two hundred people were responsible for drilling holes for mortise and tenon joints and reshaping components;
The remaining more than one hundred people were engaged in splicing and debugging to ensure complete functionality;

They could produce two hundred curved plows a day.

They work six hours a day and only manage to produce this much. I think their efficiency is too low."

"Still... still low?!" Xun Yu and Guo Jia asked in astonishment.

They had seen the curved plow before. It was made up of more than a dozen parts and required delicate mortise and tenon joints. The craftsmanship was much more difficult than that of ordinary farm tools.

With just over 500 craftsmen, they can produce 200 curved plows a day, and their efficiency is still so low?
You shouldn’t be called Cao Yan, you should be called Cao Baopi!

Cao Yan didn't hear their complaints and continued to talk about his plans for the future.

"Of the 130,000 refugees we previously absorbed, after excluding the elderly, the weak, and the young, there are still more than 80,000 people left. I have arranged for them to reclaim wasteland.

Assuming that one person cultivates five mu of land per month on average,

Then remove the fields that cannot be cultivated due to insufficient fertility,
"When spring plowing begins, we'll have nearly 400,000 mu (approximately 1,000 acres) of arable land. Add to that the jobs and salaries provided by the government, and we shouldn't have any trouble feeding an additional 300,000 to 400,000 people!"

Cao Yan suddenly changed the subject and said:

"I have already told my eldest brother in the letter that he should not rush to gather all the Yellow Turban refugees.

Instead, we should first carefully screen the Yellow Turban refugees and exclude those who are accustomed to committing crimes.

It would also be best to wait until after the autumn harvest before fully accepting the Yellow Turban population.

This way, we will have much less pressure.”

After hearing this, Guo Jia felt that it was not that simple.

He took a look at Cao Yan and suddenly asked, "On the surface, you hope that the lord will slowly absorb the Yellow Turban population to give us more time to digest it.

But what you actually think in your heart, Zian, is probably far more than that, right? "

"It's indeed more than that!" Cao Yan nodded, a meaningful smile appearing on the corner of his mouth.

"Alas..." At this time, Xun Yu beside him suddenly spoke up: "Zi'an, Zi'an, you are planning to drive the local aristocrats and gentry of Yanzhou to death!"

Upon hearing this, Guo Jia couldn't help but look at Xun Yu.

He naturally thought of this, but he didn't say it because he was concerned that Xun Yu came from a wealthy and aristocratic family.

But Cao Yan knew that Xun Yu had already reached a consensus with them on the issue of aristocratic families.

For the long-term development and continuation of the country, the problem of aristocratic families must be eradicated!
Xun Yu was a wise man with a global vision; it was impossible for him not to understand this principle.

So some things can be discussed openly in front of him without having to worry too much.

Cao Yan was not worried that Xun Yu would stop him.

After all, he was not targeting a certain family, but all the noble families in the Han Dynasty!

In response to Xun Yu's sentiment, Cao Yan asked something seemingly irrelevant: "Since the Yanzhou nobles were able to welcome Cao Cao to Yanzhou, why can't they welcome another person to rule Yanzhou?"

Xun Yu and Guo Jia obviously did not expect Cao Yan to ask such a question. They frowned and fell into deep thought.

Cao Yan was not trying to scare them.

Historically, after Cao Cao killed the famous scholar Bian Rang in a rage, he completely offended all the famous scholars in Yanzhou.

This group of celebrities has a huge appeal among the gentry.

So Chen Gong, a representative of the Yanzhou gentry, took advantage of Cao Cao's attack on Xuzhou, which left Yanzhou with a lack of troops, and lured the wandering Lu Bu forces into the city...

Cao Cao was so miserable at that time that he almost had to start wandering again.

As a time traveler who knows history, how could Cao Yan not be on guard against the aristocratic families' opportunistic mentality?
Seeing that the two were lost in thought, Cao Yan stopped talking.

For some things, it will be better to let them figure it out on their own.

Xun Yu sighed, "That being said, we must be careful about the limits. If we push too hard, we might provoke resistance from the nobles."

"Of course I understand." Cao Yan replied with a smile: "So, we should absorb the Yellow Turban population, reclaim wasteland, and strengthen our own strength.

While dealing with the gentry, he took his time.

Once we are strong enough, we will completely solve the problem of the aristocratic families."

(End of this chapter)