I am not an ant thief in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 505, Skyrocketing prices, Yuzhou collapses

Although Zhang Fei's opinion is most beneficial to the Han coalition forces, it is for Yuan Tan to surrender without a fight. After all the most elite land in Yuzhou is given up, Yuan Tan's forces will completely lose their independence. There are 30 troops, but like Zhang Xiu in history, he will become Liu Bei's watchdog!

Yuan Ji knew that it was impossible for Yuan Tan to agree to such a condition, but Jian Yong, Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong and others around Liu Bei all agreed with Zhang Fei's opinion. At that time, Jingzhou's strength was greatly reduced, maybe the big Han couldn't even keep the land in the south of the Yangtze River!

After thinking about it for a long time, Liu Bei said: "Now is not the time to talk about this. The soldiers from Hebei have not yet attacked, and they have to abandon the land of Yuzhou rashly. Maybe Lei Gong thinks we are afraid of him, which will attract Lei Gong's army and give up Yuzhou rashly. , Cao Cao in Qingzhou will completely cut off contact with us. At that time, Cao Cao will definitely be hard to protect. If the big man loses these two pillars, it will be difficult for us to defend Jiangnan! Let's send more spies first, and see what Lei Gong does. Make plans for the next step! The imperial court will also send envoys to Yuzhou and Qingzhou to discuss the alliance again, and it will take the strength of the entire Han Dynasty to deal with Lei Gong!"

But Liu Bei still said to Yuan Ji: "Brother Shiji, please contact Yuan Cheqi and ask him to concentrate his main force in dangerous places, so that when Lei Gong attacks Yuzhou, we Jingzhou will have time to support it!"

Yuan Ji could only promise with a wry smile, he understood that Liu Bei was still influenced by Zhang Fei.In fact, regardless of his status as Yuan's eldest son, he also understands that this is the best way to deal with Hebei.

Yuan Tan shouldn't have set the government in a place like Yuzhou where there is no danger to defend, but should have set it in a place with dangerous terrain like Luoyang City.It's a pity that Luoyang City has experienced several mutinies and three years of disasters. The population of the entire Sili is less than one million. It is very difficult for Sili to even support himself, but there are 300 million people in Yuzhou. The most affluent land, that's why Yuan Tan is reluctant to give up Yuzhou!
Qingzhou, Beihai County!

As soon as Xu You saw Cao Cao, he saluted and shouted, "Meng De, only you can save us now."

Cao Cao helped Xu You up and said, "Based on the relationship between me and Benchu, how could I not save Xiansi! Not to mention that Xiansi and I are now in a relationship with each other. If Yuzhou falls, how can I survive in Qingzhou!"

But Cao Cao immediately smiled bitterly and said: "But I also have to have this ability. Now Lei Gong has established 4 camps in Jizhou, and 20 troops are watching around me. In Yanzhou, Lei Gong has 3 cavalry, and these cavalry are concentrated in Peiguo. , as long as I move a little bit, these 3 cavalry will definitely enter Xuzhou, and I can't protect myself now!"

This is good news for Xu You. Although Cao Cao has not sent troops yet, he has already restrained Lei Gong's 23 troops, and the pressure on Yuzhou will be less.

Xun Yu said solemnly: "Now the only one who can save us is the general. We must once again form a coalition of princes to resist Lei Gong, or we will all be annexed by Lei Gong one by one!"

Cao Cao's current situation is not much better than theirs. The loss of Yanzhou made Cao Cao completely lose his rear. As long as Xuzhou is conquered, Cao Cao's situation will not be much better than theirs!
Xu You also nodded and said: "It is imperative to form a coalition of princes! My lord will definitely contact the court!"

Now they can only rely on Liu Bei's support!
"We have to choose a battlefield that is beneficial to us when the coalition forces are formed!" Guo Jia looked at Xu You and said, "The last Central Plains War has already told us that we will definitely lose in the Central Plains and Leigong War against the large cavalry. If we can choose a battlefield that is beneficial to us, we may not have no chance to defeat Lei Gong!"

Xu You thought for a moment and said, "You mean we are fighting Lei in Sili?"

Guo Jia nodded solemnly and said: "We can launch a feint attack on the Dagan army from Hanoi and Hedong! To attract the main force of Lei Gong to Dao Sili, relying on Sili's solid defense and favorable terrain, no matter it is Luoyang City or Chang'an City They are the strongest cities in the Han Dynasty, and the Dagan army will definitely pay a huge price if they want to conquer these two cities. If we can kill 20 Dagan troops in Sili, Lei Gong will definitely be severely injured."

Xu You made a careful analysis and prediction, and found that if it is true that the main army can be severely damaged in Sili, they might be able to turn from defense to offense in the Central Plains battlefield. Push to the front line of the Yellow River!
But he still smiled wryly: "With the strength of the Dagan army, even in Sili, we may not be able to defeat them!"

Guo Jia said, "That's better than being massacred by Lei Gong's cavalry in the Central Plains. Last time we had 3 cavalry, but now we don't have an organized cavalry army in Shanfang."

"I'll report to General Cheqi!" Xu You realized that the best choice for them now is that Lei Gong is attacking Sili!

Guo Jia asked curiously: "What did you guys do in Yuzhou to induce such a huge move by Lei Gong? Lei Gong has always been a steady man. According to his habit of using troops, it is impossible to launch a war in the Central Plains half a year after the end of the war in the Central Plains?"

Xu You also smiled wryly: "I also want to know that what we did in Yuzhou was just to protect ourselves, but I don't know why Lei Gong made such a huge move after the summer harvest. It may be that Lei Gong felt that he had enough food in his hands and wanted to eat it." Start with us in advance!"

When Xu You and the others asked for help, the Yuzhou Sili at this time felt that the mountains and rains were about to come, and the wind was overwhelming.I feel that it is inevitable that the flames of war will burn on the land of Sili in Yuzhou.

However, the two brothers Yuan Tan and Yuan Xi waited in fear for more than a month, from the summer harvest to the autumn harvest.

However, it was discovered that although the soldiers of Dagan were gathered, they had no intention of launching a war at all!After the autumn harvest in Hebei, they discovered that most of the more than 50 troops in the Dagan Barracks were actually helping the people harvest food in the fields.

Although this made the two of them breathe a sigh of relief, they were also shocked to find that Yuzhou and Sili were hit in the barracks because of the large population, and they also recruited hundreds of thousands of civilians to build fortifications. It can be said that this year Yuzhou and Sili Even though the slaves had a good harvest of grain, most of the rotten land died because no one came to harvest it!

After knowing all this, Yuan Tan said angrily: "Lei Gong is too vicious, he wants to consume us to death in this way!"

Yuan Tan's financial deficit is astonishingly high, and Yuan Tan's grain and grass taxes account for [-]% of his financial income. It can be said that a large amount of food in Yuan Tan's place has rotted in the field and his financial revenue has decreased. More than half!

This year the whole world is enjoying a bumper harvest, but his behavior is equivalent to suffering a disaster!

Then Yuan Tan said fortunately: "Fortunately, after we issue banknotes, this loss can still be borne!"

He has issued more than 80 billion yuan in banknotes alone this year. Although he feels sorry for the loss of more than one billion yuan in food income, it is not as unbearable as before. Mostly he will issue more than one billion yuan to make up for the loss of food!
But he didn't know that the multiplied increase in the number of banknotes and the lack of basic goods such as food would cause an astonishing inflation rate.And now the consequences are beginning to show!

Yuan Tan used these currencies to buy billions of dollars in supplies, leaving Yuzhou and Sili short of a lot of goods, but in the first month, because the war was about to break out, no one was in the mood to care about this.When the soldiers of the Dagan Army went to harvest food, everyone relaxed, knowing that it was impossible to break out of war this year.

But at this time, Yuan Tan's soldiers were surprised to find that their monthly salary was suddenly useless. Everything in the market was rising, and even many goods had skyrocketed by more than ten times, even food had skyrocketed by 5 times. A soldier's monthly salary could have supported a family, but now it has become difficult for them to even support themselves!
And as the news of the reduction in grain production spread throughout Sili and Yuzhou, the grain prices in the two places continued to soar!People in many places are no longer willing to buy goods with paper money issued by Yuan Tan. They would rather barter than hold paper money that will depreciate as soon as they get it!

The gentry of the Sili family in Yuzhou was the first to know the news. They first banned the use of banknotes to buy goods in their stores, and then used all the banknotes in their hands to pay their own taxes this year.

Yes, Yuan Shao has not done nothing these years. At least he used Thunder to oppress the nobles under his rule. He can no longer evade taxes. , Yuan Shao was able to raise an army of 30.

But now the price of banknotes has depreciated by more than 10 times, and the bottom line is not even seen. Naturally, the elites in Yuzhou have to stop their losses. Taxes, this saves [-]% of the income!
But the officials under Yuan Tan felt embarrassed. The taxes handed in by the powerful and noble families were the face value of the banknotes. It's not worth it, and the tax in their hands has been reduced by 100% at once. This tax is not even enough to pay the tax.

However, these noble families have high status and power, and even they themselves were born into noble families, how could they embarrass their own elders, they can only pinch their noses and approve the taxation of these banknotes.

But when ordinary people want to use these banknotes to pay taxes, they immediately turn their faces, telling these people whether to use copper coins, or to hand in grain directly, dare to use banknotes to beat them with sticks!
"Didn't you say that banknotes can be used to deduct taxes, how can you keep your words!" The people were not convinced!
But the official said disdainfully: "The banknotes were valuable at the beginning, but now the banknotes are worth less than one tenth, and they are still depreciating. Today, a roll of banknotes can only be exchanged for 90 yuan. If we accept these depreciated banknotes, you will take advantage of them." 9% cheaper, there will be such a good thing in the world!"

The farmer cried: "When I exchanged these banknotes, I exchanged them for one for one. How could you not accept them!"

The official said disdainfully: "It was then, and now is now. I told you whether to hand over the food or the copper money, or I will send soldiers to demolish your house and use all your valuables for Tax credit! If you don’t want to pay taxes, don’t even think about it.”

This kind of thing is happening not only in one place, but in the whole Yuzhou and Sili!And because Yuzhou officials refused to accept banknotes, the banknotes plummeted even faster. It can be said that the price fell at a rate of one day, faster than the stock market of the Celestial Dynasty!And it was completely invisible, which naturally caused panic in the whole Yuzhou. For a while, everyone sold the banknotes in their hands and exchanged them for copper coins or grain.

But such behavior has led to a decrease in goods on the market and an increase in banknotes, and the price of banknotes has accelerated to fall!
After Feng Ji knew about this, he immediately reported it to Yuan Tan!
Yuan Tan was even more taken aback and said, "Now the banknotes are only one-tenth of the original price? How could they fall so fast?"

Yuan Tan still wants to print 100 billion more money, but now even if 100 billion is printed, it can only be used as 10 billion. After thinking about it, Yuan Tan thinks that printing 1000 billion is a big deal, adding [-] to the banknotes as a unit , In this way, maybe you can spend less paper.

Feng Ji smiled wryly and said, "We have taken too many goods in Yuzhou. Now the market is full of banknotes. If there are too many banknotes, they will be worthless! Now we want to restore the credit of the banknotes, we can only take back the banknotes on the market , and ordered the officials of Yuzhou and Sili to strictly forbid refusing to accept banknotes, so that the price of banknotes will rise!"

But Yuan Tan said: "Where can we get billions of dollars now? Even with so much money, I still want to recruit another 10 troops! How can we use it for such useless blank paper! Below The people who did it were right, we will not be able to accept these banknotes in the future, and the common people will use food and copper coins to pay their taxes!"

After speaking, Yuan Tan also wrote a special notice, informing the officials below that all taxes and taxes will be collected before using copper coins and grain. Violators will be severely fined!
Yuan Tan never wanted to recycle the banknotes from the very beginning. As for money, you don’t need to think highly of any emperor. Even the founding emperor like Zhu Yuanzhang never thought about recycling the banknotes he found, because he In my heart, I also agree that Baochao is a deceptive thing!
Feng Ji saw the notice written by Yuan Tan and said: "But if we really do this, our banknotes will become blank paper of World War I!"

But Yuan Tan firmly said: "As long as we stipulate that paper money must be used for transactions in Yuzhou, and those who dare to trade with gold, silver and copper coins will be seized and confiscated. In this way, the paper money we issue will not collapse!"

Feng Ji doesn't know what to say, you really think of yourself as the emperor.Did the imperial court do such a thing back then, and the imperial court did not use white paper, but copper coins, but the quality was poorer and a little more lead was used, but it caused the price of the whole big man to skyrocket.But now that they couldn't even see the money, food and copper, he couldn't imagine what the prices in Yuzhou would be like!

"What about our soldiers? Now the banknotes we issue are less than one-tenth of what they used to be, and the soldiers can't support themselves. If this continues, the morale of our army will plummet!"

Yuan Tan then paid more attention to it, thought for a while and said: "Now is the time of war, and we still have to rely on soldiers to resist Lei Gong, and the morale of the army should not be affected by the issue of banknotes. In this way, we will pay 20 times the monthly salary starting today. With so many benefits for the promotion of soldiers, I think they will work diligently."

(End of this chapter)