Chapter 462

Wiping out Liu Bei is more important than wiping out the Jiangdong aristocratic families!

No matter what, it is impossible to let him escape to other places to continue making trouble.

Yuzhang Commandery is located at the southernmost end of the six commanderies of Jiangdong.

As everyone knows, among the six commanderies of Jiangdong, due to different degrees of development, the further north, the more prosperous.

Yuzhang, as the southernmost commandery, although its economic level is not high.

But its territory is the largest.

Like half a rag, it tightly wraps around the southernmost end of the six commanderies of Jiangdong.

If Yuzhang is occupied.

Coupled with occupying Niuzhu.

Gu Yi will form an inescapable encirclement around Liu Bei.

At that time.

Even if Liu Bei's ability to escape is strong again.

In the end, he will still be unable to fly away.

Subsequently, Gu Yi explained this reasoning to his three fierce strategists.

After listening, all three showed expressions of sudden realization.

However.

Chen Gong discovered the blind spot in time and asked Gu Yi:

"Prime Minister, although this strategy will greatly increase the probability of capturing Liu Xuande."

"But how should Wu Jun be handled?"

"According to the foundation of the Jiangdong aristocratic families."

"I'm afraid the number of soldiers in Wu Jun will show a rapid growth trend in the next period of time."

"If we ignore it, will it affect our army's attack on Yuzhang?"

Regarding the question raised by Chen Gong, Gu Yi answered:

"Gongtai, do you still remember the scene inside Yanzhou when you supported Zhang Miao to resist Cao Mengde in Yanzhou?"

Being asked this by Gu Yi, Chen Gong was slightly stunned, and then sighed:

"At first, nearly two-thirds of the cities inside Yanzhou were occupied by our people."

"But soon, with the return of Cao Mengde, our situation deteriorated rapidly."

"Under the bewitchment of Cao Mengde and Xun Wenruo, many of our original people rebelled."

"Especially the retainers."

"They defected in groups and joined the side of Cao Mengde and Xun Wenruo."

"In the end, we only had a few supporters left."

"And Mengzhuo (Zhang Miao) was also captured and killed by that scoundrel Cao Mengde after the defeat."

Hearing this, Gu Yi suddenly interrupted Chen Gong and interjected:

"Gongtai, are you still wondering until now why those retainers suddenly betrayed you?"

Chen Gong nodded painfully.

Logically speaking, people who could be chosen as retainers were generally people who had served aristocratic families for three generations, or even five or ten generations.

You know.

The retainers of this era were not the same as those in the TV dramas of later generations.

Retainers, to put it nicely, have the word "family" in them; to put it bluntly, they are servants and slaves.

The contracts between them and the master's family, especially the retainer contracts of aristocratic families, were all passed down from several generations ago.

"Father dies, son succeeds"—this is absolutely not a joke.

And this was also the reason for the appearance of many "hidden households."

Retainers under the "father dies, son succeeds" model all had no official household registration.

Naturally, they couldn't be counted in the population census of the Han imperial court.

In such a situation.

Retainers only had one option: "loyalty to the master's family."

And this was the reason why Chen Gong couldn't understand why the retainers who should have been loyal defected to Cao Cao and Seeing Xun Yu's side.

"Gongtai, Cao Mengde was very short of troops at that time."

"You know, in order to gather troops, he adapted most of the original Qingzhou Yellow Turbans into soldiers under his command."

"And those retainers who should have served your Yanzhou aristocratic families, if they suddenly received Cao Mengde's promise to allow them to be re-enlisted in the army after the war."

"Tell me, would they choose to betray you?"

"Bang!"

Like a bolt of lightning, it struck Chen Gong's mind.

A leaf blinds the eye, and one does not see Mount Tai.

Although Chen Gong was also a wise man who could be ranked among the top of the age.

But he was born into a top aristocratic family in Yanzhou since he was a child.

Even if he wasn't born with a gold spoon in his mouth, he was born with a silver spoon.

In his life experience, he often thought that "retainers should have sold their lives for the master's family for generations."

This feeling had the same effect as some experts in later generations.

For example, they thought that every household should have two houses, two cars, and five million in savings—it's the same principle.

To be honest, it couldn't be blamed on the experts for being too pit-digging; it was really that they had absolutely no chance to deal with the commoner class.

In their eyes, "why don't they eat meat porridge" became a matter of course.

But in reality?

Where there is oppression, there will be resistance.

And before the Tang Dynasty, except for the military registration for border defense, the remaining soldiers were basically not hereditary.

That is to say, if the father died, the son didn't need to continue to fill his shift.

It's not to say how good this system was.

But compared to "being a slave for generations."

Defecting to become a soldier under Cao Cao.

At least it could ensure that those retainers' descendants could obtain commoner household registration.

Suffering for one generation and suffering for several generations.

They still understood this principle.

Therefore.

Many of the original retainers of the Yanzhou aristocratic families defected and joined the Cao Cao camp at the critical moment.

Of course, there were also some people who thought that being a retainer at least meant having no worries about food and clothing, not having to worry about making a living, and only needing to serve the master's family wholeheartedly.

Therefore, this part of the people would still choose to follow the Yanzhou aristocratic families headed by Chen Gong and Zhang Miao.

But even so.

The status of retainers in this era was still pitifully low.

Cao Cao and Seeing Xun Yu's strategy of "changing retainers into soldiers" was ultimately a fatal blow to Zhang Miao and Chen Gong!

Now.

Facing the Jiangdong aristocratic families.

Gu Yi came up with a method that could make more than ninety-five percent of the hidden households under the Jiangdong aristocratic families defect completely.

And this strategy, compared to Cao Cao and Seeing Xun Yu's strategy, was even more unsolvable and fatal!

It could even be called "completely cutting off the roots of the Jiangdong aristocratic families"!

……. ===== CHAPTER 463 =====