I am not an ant thief in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 463 Chapter 464, Cao Cao with no future for development
Liu Bei developed so rapidly in the south of the Yangtze River, copying the policy of the Dagan Army is indispensable. Lei Gong vigorously developed the wool textile industry, and Liu Bei vigorously developed the silk industry in the south of the Yangtze River. Although the scale and profits are not as good as Dagan, probably only Dagan One-tenth of the army, but because these are government-run factories, this brought Liu Bei a lot of wealth.

The biggest buyer of Liu Bei's silk industry is also Xu Wei. He buys millions of pieces of silk from Liu Bei every year. It was made into inner armor by Xu Wei to protect against swords and crossbow arrows pierced into soldiers' bodies.

There is also a very high demand for silk among the people who have become rich, and it is increasing every year, and now the silk producing areas of the Han Dynasty are all in the hands of Liu Bei, so silk naturally brought Liu Bei huge wealth.It can be said that the current Xiangyang imperial court cultivates grain to produce food, and the silk and textile industry provides money!

Of course, Xu Wei is not at a disadvantage. Jiangnan is also in short supply of Daqian wool cloth. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was in the Little Ice Age. Don’t look at the three-year drought in Dahan, but in fact, the temperature and rainfall are decreasing every year during this period. Jiangnan, where it doesn't snow, has also begun to snow heavily.It can even be said that it is precisely because of this climate that the development of Jiangnan has become possible.Rainfall has decreased, temperature has dropped, and the Yangtze River has even started to snow, changing the climate in the south of the Yangtze River from a tropical rainforest climate to a subtropical monsoon climate, which is more suitable for the lives of people in the farming era.

But also because of the lower temperature, the wool cloth market in Jiangnan has been expanding, and millions of pieces of wool cloth are consumed every year, and Xu Wei also monopolizes the production of the entire Dahan wool!So in the cloth market, the two sides are equal!
At the same time, drying salt is not a high technology. As long as it is well waterproofed and a few more layers of partitions are made, the snow-white salt can be exposed. The place where Guan Yu dried salt was the site of a very famous salt merchant in Yangzhou in later generations. Guan Yu made it In three years, the salt in Yangzhou is enough for tens of millions of people in the whole Han Dynasty, so in Liu Bei's view, salt is not a problem at all!

In the end, the problem of food is not a big problem. Not to mention that he has been vigorously reclaiming wasteland in Jingzhou and Yangzhou in the past few years, it is said that the well-dressed and well-dressed gentry scattered in Jingzhou and Yangzhou brought the advanced management technology and advanced farming of the Central Plains. Technology, these technologies, for the Nanman who are still in slash-and-burn farming, can be said to have increased productivity for thousands of years, and Liu Bei is now using the policy of dividing the land into acres, although the tax revenue is still not as high as Lei Gong's ten. Three, but it has also reached the level of one out of ten. Every year, the Xiangyang court can receive tens of millions of shi of grain!
So Liu Bei counted his belongings, and found that although there were not as many as Lei Gong, he also had all that Lei Gong had. Lei Gong could issue banknotes, why couldn't he issue banknotes!
Seeing Liu Bei who was so confident, Su Shuang thought for a while and gritted his teeth and said, "General, the successful issuance of banknotes requires the support of a large number of merchants, but Dong Zhuo massacred merchants and forced all the merchants in the world to Lei Gong's side. If the general learns Lei Gong's method rashly, it may be very difficult to succeed!"

Zhang Shiping also said: "The general also needs to consider whether Lei Gong will attack our banknotes. You must know that Lei Gong made the banknotes, so no one in the world understands banknotes better than Lei Gong. Lei Gong must mobilize a large number of commercial forces. It's impossible for us to stand against our banknotes!"

Now [-]% of the merchants in the world are on the big side, and all of these merchants hate the Han court, but they have no power to deal with the Han court, but if Liu Bei insists on issuing banknotes, I am afraid that these merchants who have hatred for the Han will enter This battlefield is coming to attack the imperial court of the Han Dynasty. Zhang Shiping and the others know the hatred of the imperial court from the business community, so they dare not let Liu Bei rashly follow Dagan to act.

Liu Bei was still not reconciled, but this awakened Yuan Ji, and he immediately objected: "Xuande forgot that Guan Zhong used light and heavy tactics against Lu and Chu to severely damage the two countries. His military ability is higher than his, you don't want our Jiangnan to face the situation of Lu and Chu back then!"

But Liu Bei said helplessly: "To make artillery, you must use copper mines, and we are running out of time. After Lei Gong captures the Central Plains, he will definitely invade Jiangnan. We don't have enough artillery to keep the world. What's the use! So we can solve this problem one day earlier, so we can prepare to deal with Lei Gong sooner!"

Then Liu Bei said: "You two are the people who know business affairs best in my big man. I recommend you two as Zhongzang Lingcheng and Neizhi Lingcheng. I will leave the business of hairpin banknotes to you two. If this The matter can be successful, the two are the heroes of my great man, and I will definitely report the merits of the two to the imperial court, so as to ensure that the two can be named princes and ministers, and the glory of the ancestors!"

Liu Bei's words surprised the two of them. The two of them were small businessmen on the border of the Han Dynasty, but they successfully invested in Liu Bei once, making them one of the largest businessmen in the Han Dynasty, and even became the subordinates of the General.

But precisely because of their background as merchants, the two of them had a low status among the subordinates of the General's Mansion, and they were rejected with blind eyes, but now Liu Bei actually offered them a reward as a marquis, so what else is there to say, the two are excited Arching his hands and saluting: "The subordinates and others must do their best to help the general issue banknotes that belong to me!"

After talking about this matter, everyone left the General's Mansion.

Liu Bei sighed, looking at the bright moon in the sky, he thought of Guan Yu who was still in Changyi!The third brother has already escaped from birth, I hope the second brother can escape! "

The battle in the Central Plains caused heavy losses to the Xiangyang court. The 20 troops that Liu Bei brought to the south of the Yangtze River were almost wiped out. Now almost every family in the south of the Yangtze River wears mourning, which is also a huge blow to Liu Bei's prestige!

Liu Bei now has no hope that the Yangzhou Army can escape. He only hopes that Guan Yu and other experienced generals can escape. After the defeat of the war, in order to counter Lei Gong, Jiangnan needs to rebuild a stronger army The help of experienced generals is indispensable. Now Liu Bei really hopes that Guan Yu can bring back all Jiangdong Titans!

And at this time the battlefield in Changyi!
The situation of Guan Yu and the others was not good. After Sun Qing and Fan Xian brought thousands of cannons to the battlefield, the situation on the Changyi battlefield completely turned to the side of the main army.

Wang Yong waited until Sun Qing and Fan Xian, the artillery reinforcements, were overjoyed, and directly set aside thousands of artillery pieces, and directly flooded the Sishuiwu Fort blocking him with artillery. Small, almost the whole city was covered by the artillery of the Dagan Army. After Guan Yu resisted for three days, a large number of soldiers were injured by artillery, and had to retreat to the main city of Changyi!And Wang Yong occupied Sishuiwu Fort, and now the army has passed through Sishui and surrounded the entire Changyi!
But Huang Long led an army of 5 to support Yang Feng. The two armies merged into one and their strength increased greatly. The two decided to start a counterattack.But Yang Feng once again led the army to kill the gutter water, and once again launched an attack on the two cities of Yuanwu and Yangwu. At this time, Yuan Shao's defenders already knew that Yanzhou was defeated and Yuan Shao was captured. The morale of the army plummeted. The attack of nearly 10 troops was beaten back steadily, and a large number of cities were captured by the large army. Huang Long and Yang Feng pushed the battle line directly to the Rongyang City.

On the Central Plains battlefield, Duan Peng even killed Yuan Tan and retreated steadily. Liang Guo, Chen Guo, and Pei Guo had a large number of Wubao captured by Duan Peng, and a large number of cities were captured by Duan Peng. Yuzhou is too suitable for cavalry to gallop. Under the attack, the whole Yuzhou was already in flames.

Cao Cao in Qingzhou learned that the front line was defeated, Dingtao's 12 troops were wiped out, and Yuan Shao was captured. He couldn't accept the news for a while, and was stunned.

He thought that the worst outcome of the Central Plains War would be that the main force of the coalition forces in Yanzhou would be wiped out, but Liu Bei and Yuan Shao could severely damage Lei Gong, but judging from the information he has now, the main force of the coalition forces in Dingtao is annihilating. But he was able to attack from all directions immediately, obviously he didn't suffer too much damage!
Even Xun Yu, who knew the news, was stupefied, and after a long time he muttered to himself: "The coalition forces were defeated in the Central Plains. I am afraid that it will be impossible for me, a big man, to defeat Lei Gong. The world is going to be taken by this reckless Lei Gong ,How is this going?"

The rise of Lei Gong simply violated the three views of Xun Yu and other noble families. Whether it is in the history books or in their impressions, there is no one who offended them like Lei Gong and can still seize the world. Thought Lei Gong would be defeated quickly.

But the result is that Lei Gong has become more and more prosperous, even so prosperous that the power of the entire Han clan can't defeat him. You must know that the [-] army is almost the most prosperous period of the Han Dynasty, even the most prosperous period of the Former Han Dynasty. It is also difficult to gather such a large army, but even though their military strength is so strong, they still lost to Lei Gong, which is simply not in harmony with Dao!
Guo Jia also muttered to himself: "The Central Plains has been conquered, and Lei Gong has cut off our development direction. If he captures Xuzhou, we will be completely surrounded by Lei Gong. With the strength of our Qingzhou, being surrounded by Lei Gong can only be a dead end. !
The hundreds of thousands of coalition forces are no match for Lei Gong, and now the Qingzhou Army is surrounded by the Dagan on three sides and has no future at all. Just wait for Lei Gong to change the direction of attack, Cao Cao and the Qingzhou Army may be destroyed by Lei Gong's artillery .He has struggled for more than ten years, just to die in Lei Gong's hands!
Facing such a future, Cao Cao became disheartened for a while and lost the confidence and courage to fight for supremacy in the world. What else was he fighting for? When Lei Gong attacked Qingzhou, he surrendered to Lei Gong, so that he could save his family's life!

Cheng Yu saw everyone lost their minds and said angrily, "You all want to surrender to Lei Gong like this?"

Cao Cao smiled wryly and said: "What can we do in this situation? We and Liu Bei were not the opponent of Lei Gong at the beginning. Now that Ben Chu is defeated and the Central Plains was captured by Lei Gong, we are isolated from the court. We can only resist Lei Gong alone. But how can Qingzhou and half of Xuzhou in our hands be able to resist Leigong? Let’s see that Leigong dispatched 20 troops from Jizhou this time, but Zhang Baiqi can also mobilize [-] troops from Jizhou to threaten our Qingzhou south. Jizhou alone His power is stronger than ours, now let’s not say that we can’t beat Lei Gong, even Lei Gong’s men we can’t beat!”

"After fighting for so many years, not only have we not narrowed the gap with Lei Gong, but we have become farther and farther away. Now we can't even beat one of Lei Gong's subordinates! How can we say that we are fighting for the big man!"

Cheng Yu said angrily: "This is not the Minggong I know. Everyone is worried that they will be surrounded by the army. Why don't you occupy the remaining half of Xuzhou immediately? As long as Xuzhou is in our hands, our connection with the imperial court will still be there. It doesn't count as being surrounded by a large army!

Xun You said: "The remaining half of Xuzhou is Yuan Shao's territory. Now that Yuan Shao has just been captured, if we occupy his territory like this, I'm afraid we will be ridiculed by the world!"

Cheng Yu said, "There's nothing to be ashamed of. If we don't occupy Xuzhou now, the big army will occupy Xuzhou. We are helping the imperial court. Even the three princes and nine ministers of the imperial court would like Xuzhou to be in our hands!"

Xun Yu said firmly: "Brother Zhongde is right. Duke Ming quickly ordered to occupy Xuzhou. If Xuzhou is captured by the army later, we will really have no way out!"

But Cao Cao couldn't help but said: "Occupy Xuzhou, so what? Xuzhou is flat and flat, suitable for cavalry. Even if we occupy Xuzhou, if Lei Gong sends cavalry to attack Xuzhou, we will not be able to defend Xuzhou! If we fight against the cavalry of the Dagan Army in Xuzhou, we will be looking for a dead end, and sooner or later we will run out of troops and flee back to Qingzhou! Now even if we occupy Xuzhou, it doesn't make much sense!"

Guo Jia hurriedly persuaded, "Minggong, although Yuan Shao was captured, the general Liu Bei returned to Jingzhou. Given the strength of the imperial court in the south of the Yangtze River, it will soon restore its troops. Judging from the direction of Lei Gong's use of troops, Lei Gong will definitely attack Si in the next step. Slave, this will give us time to recover our strength.

However, there are many passes in Sili, and the cavalry of the Dagan Army can no longer gallop in Pingyang like this battle of Yanzhou. The big Han may not be unable to hold the front line relying on the strong cities of Chang'an and Luoyang. At worst, the Central Plains will be given to Lei Gong, and we will rely on the geographical advantages of the big Han to hold In the land of Sili and Qingxu in the south of the Yangtze River, half of the big men are still in our hands. As long as we continue to persevere, there may not be no chance of turning defeat into victory! "

Xun Yu also followed up and said: "This time the coalition fought against Lei Gong, we recruited more than 60 troops to the front line, and Lei Gong successively mobilized more than 60 troops, and fought for more than 3 months. The army must be exhausted, so this offensive is their last madness. The subordinates thought that as long as Lei Gong's subordinates saw us guarding Xuzhou, they would definitely give up attacking Xuzhou. After all, the front of the Dagan army has also arrived It is impossible for them to continue fighting!"

(End of this chapter)