Mi Fang thought about it for a long time, and finally plucked up the courage to say, "Envoy."
At this time, Yuan Xi happened to have something to say, and said to Mi Fang: "Master Fu."
Both of them were stunned for a moment, Mi Fang hurriedly said: "Please tell me first."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi did not refuse and said, "I came here this time mainly to ask the prefect if there has been any changes in the East China Sea recently."
"Something happened?" Mi Fang didn't react for a moment, "Everything is fine here. Liu Yuzhou's rule is generous and the people live in peace."
Jushou coughed and said, "Prefect, the envoy is referring to the area around Liu Yuzhou."
Only then did Mi Fang react. After a moment of hesitation, Yuan Xi understood, "Just tell me, Mr. Fu, I know that Mr. Fu and Yuan Qingzhou were unhappy some time ago, so I came over to see if there is any way to mediate."
Mi Fang thought that this was the purpose of Yuan Xilai. He was slightly disappointed, but he knew that Yuan Xi was indeed the most suitable mediator for him at the moment. He said honestly: "It is indeed a bit troublesome."
As the prefect of Donghai, Mi Fang was naturally very familiar with the situation in Langya County to the north, and said: "Since the Han Dynasty abolished the Langya Kingdom, Langya has experienced Cao Cao's massacre of the city, and its vitality has been severely damaged. Famines often occur, and people's livelihood is quite difficult."
"Under such circumstances, the Taishan bandits from Yanzhou often came out to harass Langya County, which gave Liu Yuzhou constant headaches."
"Later, Yuan Qingzhou took over Langya County and mobilized heavy troops to encircle and suppress the Taishan bandits so that they would not dare to leave the mountain easily. To be fair, this was very beneficial to the situation in Xuzhou counties."
"So in the beginning, Donghai and Langya were in peace, and the wells and rivers on both sides did not conflict with each other."
"But as Yuan Qingzhou invaded Mount Tai and incorporated a large number of Taishan bandits, the situation in the two counties began to change."
"The soldiers recruited by Yuan Qingzhou were mobilized to collect military rations in Langya. Their scope of operations gradually invaded the territory of Donghai County, and they often robbed the people."
"Of course, I heard that it not only robbed the people of Donghai, but also did the same to the people of Langya."
Yuan Xi's face became gloomy after hearing this. He had heard about this matter before. Only by governing the territory with benevolence and righteousness could the Yuan family win the hearts and minds of the people. However, Yuan Tan was eager for success and profit, and it was true that he went too far.
Yuan Shang also used this matter to attack Yuan Tan, but Yuan Tan excused it on the grounds that the soldiers were short of food and would easily cause unrest, and said that if Jizhou provided enough military food, he would work hard to restrain the soldiers.
Of course Yuan Shang did not agree. On the one hand, he was reorganizing his army to attack the Black Mountain Army, and of course he wanted the grain depots in Jizhou to give priority to protecting his soldiers.
On the other hand, he is not stupid. If he gives Yuan Tan food, Yuan Tan will not restrain his soldiers honestly, but will take the opportunity to expand his troops again. The lack of food is just an excuse!
From Yuan Shang's point of view, Yuan Tan's military strength expanded too fast and threatened him, so he simply pretended to be deaf and mute and turned a blind eye to Yuan Tan's actions.
Both sides had their own evil intentions. With Yuan Shang's tacit indulgence, Yuan Tan continued to plunder and expand his army, and the people of Qingzhou became increasingly dissatisfied.
In Yuan Xi's view, both Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang have problems, but it seems that Yuan Tan's problem is bigger.
On the one hand, he violated the principle of treating the people leniently and carried out troops and looting, which had already touched the bottom line of the Yuan family.
On the other hand, Yuan Tan's lack of food is his own fault, because his current expanded military strength is apparently 30,000, but according to the estimates of Yuan Xi's counselors, the actual number is at least twice that number!
A Qingzhou that has experienced wars and the ravages of the Yellow Turbans, plus a Langya County that had its city massacred, cannot possibly support such a large population. Anyone with a discerning eye knows that it will cause famine.
The reason why Yuan Xi controlled the number of soldiers under his command to less than 10,000 was because of this consideration. The soldiers were short of food and either rebelled or robbed. The existence that was supposed to protect the people has turned into a rebel army that poisoned the people. So what is the purpose of expanding the army?
Therefore, Yuan Xi is very suspicious of Yuan Tanbao's intention of having so many troops. What does the other party want to do?
Does he still want to beat Liu Bei?
After discussing with the counselors, Yuan Xi initially rejected the idea. After all, Yuan Tan's Xiaolian was recommended by Liu Bei. Not long after the two parties joined forces, Yuan Tan would really risk his reputation for several counties in Xuzhou and fall out with Liu Bei.
?
Except Yuan Shao agrees!
But according to Yuan Xi's judgment, Yuan Shao still focused on wooing Liu Bei. After all, there were not many people in the world who could beat Liu Bei.
Mi Fang continued: "When the Taishan bandits were at their peak, they were rampant not only on the ground, but also on the sea. The ships of our Mi family caravan going north were repeatedly attacked, resulting in heavy casualties and were forced to stop sailing for a long time."
"My little sister was in charge of the foreign affairs of the Mi family's caravan, which was quite a blow. She was depressed for a long time."
"Fortunately, you have wiped out the pirates in Qingzhou and restored peace to the sea. Please thank you on behalf of my little sister!"
After saying this, Mi Fang raised the wine in the wine cup and drank it all in one gulp.
When Yuan Xi saw Mi Fang bringing the topic to Mi Zhen, he smiled and said, "Pirates are unscrupulous and murderous. Everyone can kill them."
"Now that the three families in Xuzhou have joined forces, all parties have the responsibility to maintain the stability. I am not dealing with the individual, and no matter who is behind the pirates, I will try my best to uphold justice."
Mi Fang saw that Yuan Xi had quietly diverted the topic away with a few words, so she could only smile and said: "What the envoy said is true, but after this incident, no one dares to go north to Youzhou and Liaodong."
"Yangzhou has been occupied by Sun Ce, the fierce tiger from the east of the Yangtze River. He is also a difficult person to talk to. It is also difficult to do business now."
Yuan Xi's heart moved, "I heard that there are islands to the east of the East China Sea, with hundreds of tribes on the islands. Why don't the governor look east?"
Mi Fang thought for a moment and asked, "What you are talking about are the Japanese people that Emperor Wu met when he was still alive?"
"It is short in stature, and occasionally crosses the sea and ends up here in the East China Sea. However, according to its status, its island is extremely barren and there are no good goods."
"During the Guangwu period, although it became a vassal state of the Han Dynasty, I heard that the tribute tribute was far less than that of the Han Dynasty."
"The tribute they paid was actually their female slave, which is really beyond words."
"Book of the Later Han Dynasty" records: "In the second year of Jianwu Zhongyuan (AD 57), the Japanese Nu Kingdom sent tribute and congratulations, and made people call themselves doctors. The southern boundary of the Japanese Kingdom was also the southern boundary of the Japanese Kingdom. Guangwu gave a seal and ribbon. In the first year of Emperor An's Yongchu
(A.D. 107), the Japanese king Shuai Sheng and others offered their lives to a hundred and sixty people, and would like to see him."
The so-called shengkou is the name for slaves. The Han Dynasty allowed the sale of shengkou. A strong and powerful place often had thousands of births. This was also an important source of private soldiers for the tribe. The same was true for the Mi family's domestic slaves.
At that time, the Japanese country was a loose alliance composed of hundreds of tribes and had no leader. Yuan Xi judged that the people who came were just sent by one of the big tribes and were still in a slave society, so they sacrificed female slaves.
They are similar to the Kunlun slaves, Silla maids, and Bodhisattvas of the later Tang Dynasty. They are all slave-like existences.
Although China had entered a feudal society at this time, many foreign tribes around it still retained their tribal characteristics. Among them, the private property of the nobles was their own slaves, who could be bought and sold at will.
During the Han Dynasty, this situation was normal, and with the chaos in the world at the end of the Han Dynasty, the slave trade became more and more intense starting from Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty. The Wei State in later generations became even more powerful. Even Chen Qun, who was in charge of law and order, and his son bought and sold slaves of the Southern Xiongnu on a large scale.
Of course, there was also an anomaly in the Han Dynasty.
Wang Mang.
He forced his son to commit suicide because he beat a slave to death. Although he was suspected of seeking fame, he banned the slave trade after usurping the Han Dynasty and establishing a new dynasty.
This ultimately violated the interests of the big landowners and noble families. Of course, what Wang Mang wanted most was to prevent the land annexation of the big landowners and return all the land in the world to the court, which was called Wang Tian.
After all kinds of actions that looked like suicide, the Xin Dynasty was finally strangled by the nobles united.
Yuan Xi didn't know if Wang Mang had traveled through time, but his approach was obviously incompatible with this era. This was also a warning to Yuan Xi. If he wanted to achieve his goal, he should not be too impatient, otherwise he would become the enemy of everyone in the world.
.
In this era, the gentry can only make appropriate bribes and compromises, otherwise they will end up like Wang Mang, who had empty ideals, but died and the clan was destroyed, and ultimately failed to achieve his goal.
Yuan Xi knew that the reason why Mi Fang looked down on the Japanese country was because the number of slaves it donated was too small. When the population of the Han Dynasty reached 50 million, there were nearly 10 million slaves. In comparison, the Japanese country was indeed unseen.
He smiled and said: "The Japanese country is indeed not good at this time, but it is just backward. But it is not necessarily true that there are no good things."
"As far as I know, there are many silver mines in the area, and they are all close to the ground and easy to obtain. However, the local area cannot even smelt iron, so it cannot be mined."
Mi Fang's eyes lit up, "If that's true, you can try it!"
"I will discuss with my little sister when I get back and send a sea ship to explore the Japanese country first."
At that time, there were very few silver mines in China and silverware was extremely valuable. No wonder Mi Fang was moved.
Yuan Xi said: "The ocean currents to Japan are changeable, so please be careful."
"And iron smelting technology is extremely critical, so remember not to leak it out."
Seeing Mi Fang nodding, Yuan Xi felt relieved, but he always felt a little uneasy, as if he had missed something, so he asked aloud: "Besides Qingzhou, is there any news from Yanzhou recently?"
"Where is Cao Cao?" Mi Fang thought for a long time, "There seems to be no movement."
"Although Cao Cao has always coveted Xuzhou, after the three families joined forces, Cao Cao's army never approached the border of Xuzhou."
"After all, half of Xuzhou today is in the hands of the Yuan family, so there is nothing he can do about it, right?"
Speaking of this, Mi Fang couldn't help but blush.
Yuan Xi turned around and looked at Jushu Lu Xun. Lu Xun seemed to have something to say, so he asked, "Bo Yan, do you have any questions?"
Lu Xun hesitated and said, "I heard that General Guan trained a navy army. Who is it used to deal with?"
Mi Fang didn't understand Lu Xun and was a little unhappy, saying, "General Guan is Liu Yuzhou's general. I have no right to comment on his actions."
"It was originally designed to deal with the Qingzhou pirates. Although the pirates were destroyed, the navy couldn't be disbanded, right?"
"But I can guarantee that it will not be used against the envoy."
Lu Xun shook his head and said, "That's not what I meant."
He thought about it for a while and asked, "Does the prefect feel that General Guan knows something that the prefect does not know?"
Mi Fang was even more dissatisfied, "General Guan is Liu Shijun's brother, so naturally I am one level behind him."
Yuan Xi and Ju Shou were thoughtful. Lu Xun didn't understand what he said, but he couldn't explain it clearly. He had a purpose in asking questions at this time, but Mi Fang didn't understand.
Guan Yu did not come here today, but continued to train the navy, which is abnormal enough in itself.
You must know that although Guan Yu despised the nobles, Yuan Xi also saved his life. Logically speaking, Guan Yu would never be so rude.
Does Guan Yu know something?
Mi Zhen was sitting in front of the window of the small building. In the hall in the distance, there was a faint sound of people drinking wine. She picked up the bamboo tube, unconsciously put it in front of her eyes, and then slowly put it down.