Volume 1 Jiangdong Fengyun Chapter 112: Eat slowly and carefully
In September of the first year of Jian'an, the Ministry of Civil Affairs headed by Lu Su finally completed the re-registration of household registrations in Wu County and Kuaiji County, and had also collected the "fines" from each household.
This made Xu Gong very happy. Bai Tu's move of using cattle to pay off debts directly caused the price of buffaloes to increase two or three times!
After hearing the news, Bai Tu felt the same joy as Xu Gong...
It is said that when the noble families of the two counties wanted to buy cattle and horses from the Xu family, they would "beep" the cattle of Xu Gong very hard. Those with good relations would ask for a premium of 50% or even double the price, while those with average relations would dare to ask for two or three times the price, and those with bad relations would bleed themselves heavily!
Including the Lu family, one of the four major surnames in Jiangdong, and the Yu family, a prominent family in Kuaiji, all had to buy Xu's oxen at 40,000 coins per head, nearly three times the price.
Rumor has it that Xu Gong privately admitted that this was to "crack down" on "traitors" who had a tendency to lean towards the governor's office.
Although many families were dissatisfied with Xu's taking advantage of the situation, they had no choice but to spend money to avoid disaster - after all, the cow was handed over to the governor's mansion at a price of 150,000 coins to pay off the debt!
Coincidentally, as the representative of the most radical group of powerful people, Xu should have been the one who resisted most fiercely against Bai Tu's "punishment", even though Bai Tu had already left room for them.
However, because of the purchase of buffaloes, Xu Gong was happy to push for this "punishment".
After all, although the Xu family had to pay a fine, they made a lot of money from buffaloes.
Many families did not have so much cash, so they used land and slaves to pay off their debts. Xu Gong, who had become rich, even wanted to become the leader of the Jiangdong tycoons...
At the same time, some people have begun to wonder why these buffaloes are registered in various counties instead of being concentrated in one place. Logically... buffaloes should not be able to plow the land... right?
"The price of cattle has increased threefold. Xu Gong seems very happy recently? He is such a good man... Then let's make him happier!" Bai Tu said.
"Many people will thank the lord." Lu Su agreed deeply.
On this day, Bai Tu came to Cheng Ji Mansion and uploaded the entire production process of Bai Gong Plow and Bai Gong Ring, as well as the report on the results appraisal!
At this time, Cao Cao and his staff were discussing Bai Tu's recommendation to Sun Ce and Zhou Shang as governors...
As an ordinary written petition, there was an upload time from Qu Aji to Da Hanji, but there was no time difference in the petitions for merit by Bai Gongli and Bai Gonghuan!
"We naturally understand Bai Tu's purpose of dividing Yuzhang County into three parts. However, the focus now is that the Sun family, the Zhou family... and even the Lu family have shown a tendency to side with Bai Tu. In this way, Jiangdong may be difficult to control. Wen Ruo should stop hiding his shortcomings!" Cao Cao said somewhat depressed.
Bai Tu only gave a superficial analysis of Xun Yu, and seemed a little dissatisfied with the fact that he avoided talking about the meaning behind the appointment of Sun Ce and Zhou Shang.
When Xun Yu heard this, he said slowly: "The princes are all over the place, and they emphasize making friends with distant countries and attacking nearby ones. At present, Yuan Shu in Huainan is the common enemy of us and Jiangdong, and in the future... Ha, Lord Bai obviously just wants to protect the country and the people.
After the great victory over Yuan Shu, he did not pursue the enemy bravely, and in Jiangdong under his jurisdiction, he was also busy with farming and neglected military preparations, all of which showed this point.
In Yu's opinion, it is far better to have Bai Gong lead Jiangdong than to have the young tigers released by Yuan Shu occupy Jiangdong. Why should the lord mind it?"
Indeed, Bai Tu’s recent actions would make people who don’t know him think that Jiangdong has no ambition to make progress.
Even Xun Yu, a talented person who could assist the king, was dazzled by Bai Tu's operation - after all, Xun Yu could not have predicted Yuan Shu's declaration of emperorship, nor could he have predicted the severe drought in Huainan!
In this case, Xun Yu misjudged Bai Tu's behavior as "no ambition", and could only say "what to do", Xun Yu was also desperate...
Even within the governor's office, some people had long advised Bai Tu that he should not be so conservative. It was only because his true confidants, such as Lu Su and Chen Gong, all knew about the jade seal and had some expectations of Yuan Shu's enthronement that he was able to barely suppress these criticisms.
This is also the reason why Xun Yu respectfully addressed him as "Bai Gong". If he had identified Bai Tu and really wanted to compete with Cao Cao, even if he respected him, he would not still use such a respectful title.
After being led by Xun Yu's confidence, Cao Cao thought about it and felt that it made sense. Although the fact that he recognized Lu Bu as his adoptive father made Cao Cao extremely wary of Bai Tu, but... looking at his actions after arriving in Jiangdong, he really didn't seem like an ambitious person?
At this moment, a burst of intense golden light suddenly burst out from the sky above the newly built imperial palace in Xudu. In a trance, it seemed as if there was a slow but joyful roar of a dragon, and at the same time, purple air came from the south for three thousand miles...
Is this... the sign of a saint being born?
In the Sikong Mansion, it was hard not to notice such a dramatic phenomenon!
Cao Cao and his colleagues were stunned for a moment, and then they saw Guo Jia, who had not participated before, suddenly changed color and said, "My lord! Jia... the charcoal fire at home is not extinguished yet, I must go back and check!"
"Feng Xiao..."
After saying this, he stood up and left without waiting for Cao Cao to finish his words.
Cao Cao curled his lips as he looked at his back - he was used to Guo Jia's antics and recognized Guo Jia's talents. He simply shook his head at Guo Jia's unreasonable behavior.
"What's wrong with Fengxiao..." Cao Cao muttered.
But he didn't know that Guo Jia was in a hurry to go back and watch Zhicai perform!
By coincidence in his early years, Xi Zhicai obtained "The Book of Heaven Volume Two: Luck", which could mobilize the fortune of the dynasty. Later, he found that Guo Jia also had a sense of the book of luck, so he shared it with him.
After welcoming back the emperor, Xi Zhicai used the method of luck grafting to transfer the remaining luck of the Han Dynasty to Cao Cao, hoping to accomplish Cao Cao's great cause.
Because this matter was extremely taboo, even Cao Cao himself did not have the firm idea of replacing the Han Dynasty and establishing his own regime, so only Xi Zhicai and Guo Jia knew about this matter.
However, this method of grafting luck is the most life-consuming. Previously, when Bai Tu presented the Four Elementary Books and the improved papermaking technique, the luck of the Han Dynasty increased out of thin air, causing Xi Zhicai to suffer backlash, and the grafting of luck was interrupted.
Xi Zhicai, who was recuperating from illness before, mentioned to Guo Jia that he would try again recently to graft the fortune of the Han Dynasty!
Seeing this, how could Guo Jia not be afraid? He hurried to find Xi Zhicai.
But I saw Xi Zhicai sitting on the couch, sweating all over his face, with a very conflicted expression...
"Zhicai! Are you okay?" Guo Jia asked hurriedly.
"I was just trying to re-graft my luck... and I was just half a bowl of porridge away from dying on the spot!" Xi Zhicai said helplessly.
If he had eaten lunch faster just now, he might have started this round of grafting, and he would definitely die from this round of backlash!
Upon hearing this, Guo Jia finally breathed a sigh of relief - indeed, chewing slowly can prolong life!
"What happened this time?" Xi Zhicai asked with a bad look on his face. After all, he almost lost his life just now.
"I don't know. I saw a strange vision just now and rushed here immediately." Guo Jia rolled his eyes.
"Nan Fang...could it be him again?" Xi Zhicai said with some difficulty.
"It shouldn't be, right? The scale of this vision seems to be even bigger than the last time. I don't know what's going on." Guo Jia said.
At this moment, the lame old servant who had been taking care of Xi Zhicai and was the only one in his house, hurried into the house and said, "Master, Master... It's amazing! It's amazing! The Shennong in the Shennong Temple has appeared ..."
Shennong?
Guo Jia and Xi Zhicai's expressions became more serious.
