“I… I wouldn’t dare!”
Seeing his father fly into a rage, Huangfu Li shuddered.
Steeling himself, he presented the letter with both hands.
…
Huangfu Song stared at his son for a long moment before gritting his teeth and taking the letter.
He wanted to see for himself where those bandits had put his ancestors.
“This is going to be interesting…”
At that moment, Cao Cao had practically become invisible.
His gaze kept drifting toward Huangfu Song, though he didn’t dare stare too openly.
Thud.
Huangfu Song had read only half the letter when it slipped from his hand and fell to the floor.
His expression turned dazed as he muttered, “Outrageous… Absolutely outrageous…”
“This is simply beyond outrageous!”
By the end, his muttering had become a furious roar.
Thump.
With tears welling up in his clouded eyes, Huangfu Song dropped to his knees and kowtowed toward the heavens.
His voice was filled with grief and guilt as he cried, “Honored ancestors, your unfilial descendant has failed you!”
Huangfu Li also fell to his knees beside him.
Seeing the scene unfold, Cao Cao swallowed hard, completely unsure of what to do.
Pfft!
Just as Cao Cao was thinking about quietly slipping away, Huangfu Song—overcome by rage—suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood before collapsing unconscious.
“Father!”
In an instant, the entire hall descended into chaos.
“Let’s see what all the fuss is about.”
After everyone hurried out of the hall and no one paid him any attention, Cao Cao thought for a moment before stepping forward to pick up the letter.
“Hiss… that’s ruthless.”
After quickly reading through it, Cao Cao’s heart tightened.
He then prepared to take his leave.
On the way back to his residence, an idea suddenly seemed to strike Cao Cao.
“Grave robbing… actually has potential.”
Born into a great aristocratic clan, he understood the elaborate burial customs of the age better than anyone.
When an elder passed away, even if the surviving descendants had to live in poverty, they could never allow their ancestors to receive a shabby burial.
Meanwhile, the situation in the Sili region was utterly chaotic.
Even after spending quite some time in Chang’an, Cao Cao still hadn’t managed to untangle the mess.
As for the people’s livelihood— it was an absolute disaster.
That night, at the residence of the Colonel of the Northern Army.
Cao Cao hosted a banquet for Li Jue, Guo Si, and Fan Chou.
After several rounds of wine and the meal well underway—
“Generals,”
Cao Cao said, his cheeks slightly flushed from drink, his expression grave.
“I have been in Chang’an for quite some time now. Forgive my bluntness, but I fear our current situation is far from promising.”
The three men exchanged puzzled glances.
None of them understood where Cao Cao was going with this.
Guo Si was the first to ask, “Mengde, why do you say that?”
“Food.”
Cao Cao answered seriously.
“I don’t know exactly how much grain Chancellor Dong once stockpiled, but now that the regional lords govern independently and merely pay lip service to the Imperial Court’s decrees, the court receives virtually no grain during the autumn harvest.”
“If this continues, disaster is inevitable.”
“Just think about it.”
“What will we do when the day comes that our grain stores are exhausted?”
Before Dong Zhuo relocated the capital to Chang’an, Jingzhao Commandery still had a population of more than two hundred thousand.
Together with the people forcibly relocated from Luoyang and elsewhere, the population had once exceeded three hundred thousand.
But now, after two and a half years— the entire commandery could scarcely muster even one hundred thousand civilians.
There were likely fewer civilians than there were Xiliang soldiers.
As for expecting the various warlords to send grain to Chang’an, that was virtually impossible.
“What do you propose, Mengde?”
Guo Si nodded and looked at Cao Cao.
They weren’t fools.
Naturally, they understood the seriousness of the problem.
It was simply that the three of them constantly kept one another in check, and because Dong Zhuo had left behind considerable grain reserves, they had deliberately chosen to ignore the issue.
“I have two proposals.”
Seeing all three men looking at him, Cao Cao continued, “First, recover Liang Province.”
“Han Sui and Ma Teng have already submitted to the Imperial Court. We can join forces with the two generals and use the strength of all Liang Province to support the court.”
At present, both Han Sui and Ma Teng were nominal officials of the Han.
Han Sui held the title General Who Pacifies the West and was stationed in Jincheng Commandery of Liang Province.
Ma Teng held the title General Who Conquers the West and was garrisoned at Mei County in Youfufeng.
“I’m afraid campaigning in Liang Province isn’t appropriate.”
Fan Chou, who hailed from the same region as Han Sui, spoke up.
“Liang Province is a harsh frontier where the Qiang and Hu peoples live intermingled. To think that Liang Province alone could sustain the Imperial Court… Mengde, you’re being overly optimistic.”
It was wishful thinking.
For generations, successive emperors had spent over a century trying to bring Liang Province under effective control, yet none had succeeded.
There was little chance that they could accomplish what those emperors had failed to do.
Besides, the entire population of Liang Province numbered only around one million.
More than sixty percent were non-Han tribes.
The registered Han Chinese population amounted to only three to four hundred thousand.
One could easily imagine how difficult the province was to govern.
“Mengde is a man of the Central Plains.”
Li Jue spoke in Cao Cao’s defense.
“It’s only natural that he’s unfamiliar with Liang Province’s customs and conditions.”
“But this plan truly would be difficult to carry out.”
“Then there is only the second option—establishing military agricultural colonies.”
Cao Cao’s expression showed disappointment.
“We can implement military farming in Jingzhao Commandery to temporarily ease the court’s grain shortage.”
“However, this only treats the symptoms, not the root of the problem.”
“It is not a long-term solution.”
Naturally, Cao Cao knew that unifying Liang Province was unrealistic.
He had never intended to truly serve Li Jue and the others.
His real objective was to use the establishment of military agricultural colonies as a means of gaining control over military forces.
After all, despite holding the title of Colonel of the Northern Army, he commanded only a few hundred men.
There was no way he could seize control of Chang’an with such a small force.
Even if he managed to kill Li Jue and the others, all it would accomplish would be leaving chaos in its wake.
What Cao Cao truly wanted was to absorb the entire Xiliang Army.
His talk about the Xiliang Army’s looming grain shortage was merely intended to sell Li Jue and the others a sense of impending crisis, making Li Jue believe in his loyalty.
“Military farming is indeed feasible.”
Guo Si spoke first.
“However, our army consists almost entirely of hardy men from Liang Province. If we force them to work the fields, they’ll probably resent it, and the results may well backfire.”
The Xiliang Army contained many Qiang and Hu tribesmen.
They had never been known for discipline.
When it came to looting, killing, and pillaging, every one of them was an expert.
But asking them to farm the land, that was hardly realistic.
Simply put, Li Jue and the others lacked the prestige necessary to make the Xiliang Army obey such orders.
“General Guo makes a good point.”
“The Xiliang veterans truly aren’t suited to agricultural work.”
Li Jue and Fan Chou both nodded in agreement.
Neither of them wanted to send their own troops to cultivate farmland.
“This…”
Although Cao Cao had anticipated this response, he was still somewhat speechless.
Three parts genuine disappointment— the remaining seven parts carefully acted.
“Mengde, how about this?”
Seeing Cao Cao’s reaction, Li Jue didn’t want to discourage his enthusiasm.
“We’re all rough soldiers and know very little about military farming.”
“Why don’t we leave the matter to you?”
“Here’s what we’ll do.”
“I’ll authorize you to recruit three thousand soldiers.”
“You can organize the common people to establish military farms.”
“If you do a good job, His Majesty will surely reward you.”
Li Jue knew that Cao Cao’s former troops had been transferred to Duan Wei.
Duan Wei was something of an oddity among the Xiliang commanders, being one of the few who actually favored military farming.
Entrusting the matter to Cao Cao, Li Jue also had confidence in his abilities.
“I agree.”
“So do I!”
Guo Si and Fan Chou’s eyes lit up.
Both thought Li Jue’s proposal was an excellent one.
They all knew that the grain reserves Dong Zhuo had left behind were said to be enough to last thirty years.
In reality, they would last at most one more year.
That meant that by the following autumn, they would inevitably face a severe grain shortage.
“This…”
Cao Cao’s expression shifted repeatedly, as though he were deeply conflicted.
At last, he rose to his feet and bowed to the three generals.
With a look of unwavering resolve, he declared, “Since the three generals have placed such trust in me, I, Cao Cao would not shrink from ten thousand deaths!”
— The end of the Chapter–
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