I am not an ant thief in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 628, Gold Business Road

Although the guides of the Qiang people said that the swamp was so dangerous, Ma Chao still did not retreat just like this. They still wanted to try to see if they could go deep into the grassland. Albert, can be famous in history!

Ma Chao couldn't refuse such a temptation, so he asked his subordinates to camp here, and then cut some weeds suitable for weaving straw ropes, and weaved a lot of straw ropes.Send another 100 people deep into the swamp, trying to find a way out of the swamp,
Ma Chao's 100 subordinates were divided into 10 groups, with 10 people in each group tied with straw ropes.In this way, even if a person falls, other people can pull this person up.Then the 100 people formed a fan shape and continued to go deep into the swamp.

But they couldn't return after walking less than 30 miles, and then reported to Ma Chaohui.This swamp is too difficult to walk, and some dry places can be found on the periphery, but after 10 miles deep, there are very few such places, and many places can submerge half of the body. This kind of place is not suitable for the army at all, and the weather is cold , The soldier who was soaked all over his body couldn't bear it anymore, so he could only retreat back!

Ma Chao was not willing to continue to send people to explore, but he continued to work here for more than ten days.They went deep into the swamp for 100 miles, but they still couldn't find the edge of the swamp, and their food and grass were almost exhausted, and even ten soldiers were swallowed by the swamp, and the morale of the soldiers plummeted.

Ma Chao had no choice but to take the 1000 soldiers into two groups, one way to the north and the other way to the south, to see if he could go around the swamp.

But the size of the swamp exceeded Ma Chao's expectations. The two armies and new troops failed to find the edge of the swamp for several days. Instead, the mountains and rivers along the way kept blocking them from continuing to explore.There was no other way, Ma Chao could only return to Wudu County the same way.Then he told Xu Wei the results of his investigation.

Xu Wei was also taken aback when he received Ma Chao's investigation. He only knew that there would be mountains and rivers blocking it, but he didn't expect that there would be an endless swamp blocking the plateau.There are swamps on the plateau, so how did the army get there?
The books only mentioned the snow-capped mountains and meadows, but they didn't say there were swamps either!For a moment Xu Wei suspected that his geography teacher was taught by a history teacher.Otherwise, how could there be such a vast swamp inexplicably on the plateau?
But Xu Wei thought about it and felt that this made sense.In this era, the power of the Qiang people in Xiliang was extremely large, even surpassing that of the Tubo people in history, but they had never heard of them invading Yizhou.There is only one possibility that Yizhou was a blessing in disguise, because this vast swamp blocked the way for the Qiang people to invade Yizhou from the plateau, which saved the peace of Yizhou for hundreds of years!

Seeing that Xu Wei's conspiracy failed.

Zhang Baiqi said: "In power, let's find a way to defeat Liu Bei's army head-on. Liu Bei has also become a humble and shameless villain. Not only does he dare not fight us head-on, but he also wants to cut off our food supply." Way to beat us!"

During this period of time, Zhang Baiqi was annoyed by Liu Bei's methods.Liu Bei knew that he couldn't win the big army on the frontal battlefield, so he thought of a way to cut off the food road. Logically speaking, this is a normal military strategy. Zhang Baiqi shouldn't be so annoyed, but Liu Bei's method is too wretched. .

With a small army of hundreds of people constantly harassing Dagan's food and grass transport troops, Zhang Baiqi led troops to encircle and suppress the Han army, Liu Bei let these small troops run up the mountain, and mountain climbing and Dagan are not as good as these Nanman living in the mountains. And even if Zhang Baiqi captured one or two Han troops, the loss of a few hundred people was nothing to Liu Bei's hundreds of thousands of people, so Zhang Baiqi was so angry with Liu Bei!
Hanzhong is surrounded by high mountains, which gives Liu Bei room to use his tactics, especially the Yizhou army he leads is mostly Nanban people. These people can be said to be the mountain infantry of this era, although Zhang Baiqi does not want to admit it , but I have to admit that in the mountains, the strength is still possible.

And Liu Bei used these mountain soldiers to shuttle constantly among the mountains in Hanzhong.Attack the food road of the Dagan army.Even if the Dagan's food road cannot be cut off, the Dagan army must be disgusted, and for Zhang Baiqi and the others who want to fight head-on, Liu Bei is strictly guarded, but he refuses to go down the mountain. If he is capable, he will attack his camp on the mountain. The hundreds of miles of mountains in Hanzhong are his defense lines.

But Xu Wei didn't want to let the elite of Daqian fight in the mountains of Hanzhong, and Xu Wei also felt that the large army in history had passed by, his soldiers were much stronger in logistics, and there was no strong enemy chasing behind. It just takes a little longer.Be sure to find your way into Yizhou!

So he said to Zhang Baiqi: "The current battle situation is in our favor. Liu Bei's food has to go through the mountains to the battlefield. It is impossible for him to have more food than us, and everyone knows that the people in the whole Yizhou are now I'm helping Liu Bei transport food and grass. If he can carry it through this year, what will Liu Bei's army eat next year?"

"So time is on our side. As long as we continue to wait like this, victory will be ours sooner or later."

"At the same time, we also need to give Ma Chao some time. Although Ma Chao has encountered a swamp now, as long as he goes deeper and explores, he will definitely find a way through the swamp. By then, our surprise soldiers will be able to reach Chengdu directly, and the whole of Yizhou will be destroyed." We broke through. This difficulty is nothing compared to the fruits we will reap in the future."

At the same time, Xu Wei also began to instruct Ma Chao to make some equipment for entering the swamp.For example, military boots are definitely needed for walking on the grass. There is a lack of everything in Wudu, but there is no shortage of cowhide used for boots, especially Xu Wei also made a jumpsuit that wraps most of the body. Xu Wei remembers these things when he was a child. Pingren wears this kind of waterproof jumpsuit, so soldiers don't have to worry about being frozen.Then you can use the boots that increase the area like a tennis racket to walk in muddy swamps.A small flat-bottomed boat that can walk in the swamp,

Xu Wei even wrote to Ma Chao: "As long as the thinking does not slip, there are always more ways than difficulties."

Encourage him to use his brain more and find ways to solve the problems encountered in the swamp.

After Ma Chao got these equipment blueprints from Xu Wei, he also got an encouraging letter from Xu Wei. He wrote back to Xu Wei and said that he would not go to the plateau unless the road to Yizhou was opened!

So after a month of preparation, Ma Chao made enough tools to deal with the swamp, and brought 1000 people to the swamp again. Ma Chao and the others first established a stable camp, and at the same time opened up the connection with Wudu County. , Let them transport food and grass to this camp.

Then Ma Chao personally led the scouting horses, and started to go deep into the swamp from the periphery little by little.This time it took more than a month to go deep for more than 100 miles, and I also found some slightly dry areas, which can barely allow a small army to camp here to rest, but the food and supplies need to be prepared in advance, otherwise, in this kind of Every day should not be called a place where the earth is ineffective. If there is not enough supplies, it is really possible to die here.But this is a good start, Ma Chao continues to go deep into the swamp with full of hope!
The story is divided into two parts. After Lu Bu got the help of Yang Biao and Wang Yun, he also resigned from office and took Zhang Liao and Gao Shun to go south to Jiaozhou.
As soon as they arrived in Jiaozhi County, Lu Bu found that Jiaozhi was much more lively than he had imagined. The bustle and bustle was not inferior to that in the mainland of Dahan. Lu Bu estimated that there were about a hundred thousand people in this city.

After entering the city, Lu Bugai said with emotion to Zhang Liao and the others: "I never imagined that such a desolate place like Jiaozhou would have such a populous city!"

But Zhang Liao said: "Jiaozhi County has been established for hundreds of years, so it is reasonable to have such a large population."

But he still said suspiciously: "But the number of merchants here is a bit exaggerated. Logically speaking, there shouldn't be so many merchants in such a remote place."

Along the way Zhang Liao could see carriages full of goods driving in the city. Those who didn't know it thought they had come to the northern Xinjiang with a lot of livestock!

Lu Bu thought for a while and said: "This is a reasonable thing. You don't know how strong the demand for savages has been among the big men these years. The development of Jiangnan requires bloodshed. How could those children of the powerful and noble families sacrifice themselves?

And the barbarians with a high degree of Sinicization, such as the Nanman, were protected by Liu Bei, a hypocrite.Who can these nobles rely on if they want to reclaim the land?That can only catch these savages.

As far as I know, there are many caravans of big families here to capture wildlings, and this has even become the main business of many families.At this time, the business in Savage is very hot.It is said that a strong savage is worth 5 yuan, which is more than twice as expensive as when the big man was the most expensive. You must know that this is a troubled time.Back then we could get a servant with just a few catties of grain in Bingzhou, but now it costs 5 yuan, which is worth nearly a few hundred shi of grain.It has increased hundreds of times. "

Gao Shun said: "General, food is worthless now. But there is a shortage of labor force to cultivate the land, so slaves are naturally valuable."

Lu Bu and the others have also used this kind of thing, and they also have a manor in Dahan.So they bought some servants to cultivate the land, and they got used to it.This kind of thing is difficult even for Liu Bei to stop.Because the development of Jiangnan will inevitably involve bloodshed and sacrifice, he does not want to bleed the southern barbarians who have been Sinicized in Jiangnan.And the nobles and nobles don't want to shed blood and sacrifice, so they can only sacrifice the savages outside the territory of the Han Dynasty.Liu Bei can only do things like this out of sight.

At this time, Lu Bu and the others found that many people were running to the beach.Lu Bu curiously stopped a person and asked, "But what are you doing? What happened by the sea?"

The person who was stopped was a little annoyed, but seeing that Lu Bu was so tall and powerful, he didn't dare to offend him, so he could only whisper: "The overseas fleet is coming, everyone is going to buy spices from overseas, even if you can't afford it, Long-term experience is also good!
Lu Bu asked strangely, "Where do you get the spices from Jiaozhou?"

The man who was stopped said: "Why is there no spices in Jiaozhou? Hasn't this strong man heard of such a big thing about spices? The Spice Island discovered by Daqian is famous all over the world!"

Zhang Liao was surprised and said, "You are talking about spices from Dagan. Could it be the caravan from Dagan?"

It's no wonder that Zhang Liao was so surprised. Jiaozhi County here is the deepest hinterland of the big man.Now the merchant ships of Dagan have actually come here, even the merchant ships have come here. If one day the navy of Dagan attacks Dahan, it will not be the merchant ships transporting spices that come here, but one after another with cannons. battleship.

Lu Bu didn't care, he had no loyalty to the big man. Even if Jiaozhou was occupied by the big man, he didn't think it was a pity. Instead, he wondered why the big man's merchant ships came to this place?Shouldn't it be the site where it will be done directly?

So he said to the two, "Let's take a look together!"

So the three of them came to the seaside wharf together. At this time, Jiaozhou's wharf was already crowded with countless businessmen gathered here, and the giant ocean-going ship not far from overseas slowly docked on the horse's head.

When the big businessmen transported the spices, people here almost went crazy when they smelled this smell.

At this time, a businessman shouted: "I have 100 slaves here, how much spice can the shopkeeper change?"

The shopkeeper of Dagan heard this and shouted: "This old man is a fair trader. I will give you as much spice as your savage weighs. A strong man alone is worthless."

The shopkeeper also smiled and said: "Don't worry, I understand the rules of your big business. This time, you directly captured a tribe of savages. Not to mention his wife and children, even his patriarch is here. It can completely satisfy the shopkeeper. The request is that I don't know how many spices you brought over this time, the shopkeeper?"

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "How much cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg do you want?"

After finishing speaking, the shopkeeper's subordinates came over with a huge balance.Then Lu Bu saw an unprecedented scene. The shopkeeper asked a few wild men to go to the scale, and then directly threw the spices in sacks on the other side.One bag is lost as soon as the two parties are in balance, and the two parties start trading.

He saw Han merchants exchanged 100 savages for 100 packets of spices.The sacks were not opened, but anyone standing next to them could smell the spices.

Lu Bu felt a pity for a while. The big-time merchants simply don’t know how to do business. It’s okay for the strong men and savages to exchange spices. Those old and weak women and children are not worth much at all. How valuable is a big man.

Rare exotic spices were introduced to China in the early Han Dynasty, but the royal family of the Han Dynasty did not use spices lightly because of their advocacy of simplicity. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, due to trade with the Western Regions, spices were spread eastward on a large scale. The journey is quite long and difficult, and the amount of spices that can be carried is extremely limited, so the spices are extremely expensive, usually several thousand dollars a catty, and even tens of thousands of dollars, which is already the price of gold.

So for Lu Bu, those 100 bags of spices are 100 bags of gold.As a result, only 100 slaves were exchanged, and the Dagan people simply couldn't do business.

(End of this chapter)