Choose Liu Bei at the start, I am the only one who knows the plot of the Three Kingdoms.

Chapter 424: Difficulties in Jiaozhou and Difficulties in Yangzhou

Jiaozhou, the seat of Jiaozhi County, Yinglou County, which is also the provincial capital of Jiaozhou, was originally a sparsely populated place. However, under Shi Xie's vigorous exchanges and communication with the southwestern barbarians, Jiaozhi County has now become a place where people can integrate with the southwestern barbarians.

After losing the battle against Gu Rubing in Cangwu County, Shi Xie led his army back to Jiaozhi County in disgrace. This battle was truly a major blow to Shi Xie. He originally thought that if he led 400 poisonous women and 150,000 troops to attack a small Cangwu County, wouldn't that be an easy task?

But the facts gave him a resounding slap in the face. Although Changxin City was taken, his Jiaozhou army could not get out of Cangwu County, let alone attack Guiyang County. They did not even see Guiyang County before Gu Rubing and his 100,000-strong army drove them back to Jiaozhou.

Moreover, the 400 Gu women he brought with him were forced to use their own Gu to force back Gu Rubing who was pursuing him, otherwise Shi Xie might have been chased all the way to Jiaozhi County. After returning to Jiaozhou, Shi Xie learned from his mistakes and started a devilish special training for his soldiers.

The heavy armored soldiers that Shi Xie had treasured so much were not so precious anymore. First, Huang Zhong broke hundreds of their armors with one arrow, and then shot and killed a deputy general of the heavy armored soldiers. The deputy general was only a second-rate general at the peak of his strength. He was wearing heavy armor and there were hundreds of heavy armors in front of him, but he was still penetrated by one arrow. This horrible lethality stunned Shi Xie.

He originally created the heavy armored soldiers because he thought that in this era of cold weapons, a group of heavy armored soldiers could easily dominate the world and destroy mountains and cities. The first battle after the heavy armored soldiers came into the world taught Gu Rubing a severe lesson. He knew that although this is an era of cold weapons, there are people who possess powerful attack power comparable to those immortal cultivators in martial arts novels.

This also means that the heavy armored soldiers he started to build since the beginning of the game were a complete joke. With the financial resources to build 50,000 heavy armored soldiers, he could have built a troop of 200,000 well-equipped soldiers, and even tens of thousands of cavalry. But he ended up spending a lot of effort to build a bunch of heavy armored soldiers. It can only be said that he lost due to information asymmetry. If he had known that his generals could grow to this level, he would have recruited more generals and trained them no matter what. There was no need to spend a lot of money to build a bunch of living targets.

But it is not too late now, there is still a chance to make amends. He is not without generals under his command. Shi Wu is a first-rate general. The strongest general under his command is also his cousin. Shi Yi and Shi are also his cousins. They served as prefects of various counties in Jiaozhou. Each of them is a first-rate general and the strongest in the south. His son Shi Xin is already a second-rate general at a young age. It can be said that he is better than his father.

Although he did not have many generals, they were elite. Moreover, he had been in Jiaozhi County for a long time, facing the southwestern barbarians. There was no need for too strong generals. A first-rate general was enough to defeat those foreign races. Shi Xie was able to trade with the southwestern barbarians mainly by suppressing them with iron-blooded means. This prevented the southwestern barbarians from invading and allowed them to conduct some good trade with him.

As for the Gu women who had long been used as Shi Xie's trump card, their performance in this battle was also outstanding. Shi Xie originally thought that as long as these Gu women joined the war, any enemy would be bewitched. But how could he have known that the genius doctor under Gu Rubing could prepare an anti-poison medicine in such a short time.

But in the end, it was all thanks to the Gu girls, who used the original Gu hidden in their bodies to save Shi Xie and the others' lives. What's more, he and these Gu girls were in a cooperative relationship, not a superior-subordinate relationship. Even though he was angry, he didn't dare to vent it on them.

At this moment, Shi Xie was discussing the next matters with the Gu women, because before inviting these Gu women to come out of the mountains, he had promised them that no matter what the outcome, he would provide them with a batch of new utensils. Now, the leader of the Gu women came to Shi Xie to get back what he had promised them.

"Lord."

The leader of the Gu women was still called Lord Shi Xie, walking back and forth in the room with graceful steps. Although her appearance could not be seen clearly because of the black veil, her tall figure and her voice like a silver bell made it easy for people to unconsciously give her a face that was stunningly beautiful. However, only Shi Xie knew clearly how terrifying this woman in front of him was. If he was deceived by her weak appearance, he would probably be close to death.

"Chief, the fifty men this time have been prepared for you."

Shi Xie was also unwilling to argue too much with the Gu girl. After all, he had annoyed her, and Shi Xie did not have anything to detoxify her. The clan leader stopped moving, sat opposite Shi Xie, and raised his jade hand lightly.

"My lord, we said we would help you in the battle, but in the end, we sacrificed our own people to save you and your useless soldiers from Liu Bei. Shouldn't my lord give us more?"

As the clan leader spoke, she tapped lightly on the table with her jade hands. The rhythmic thudding sounds echoed in the room. A drop of cold sweat slid down Shi Xie's forehead. Such close contact made him feel as if his life was no longer his own. Instead, he was held in the hands of the other party, like an ant that could be killed at any time. This feeling made Shi Xie feel particularly uncomfortable.

"We didn't prepare too many this time. We only have fifty. We'll make up for it for the clan leader next time."

"two hundred."

"What!?"

Upon hearing the patriarch's request, Shi Xie stood up immediately.

"Two hundred? Chief, you know that what you ask for is not something that can be found by just anyone on the street. I spent three months collecting these fifty."

"Two hundred, not a cent less. After this, we can help you three more times, but the two hundred must be paid next month."

The clan leader's voice was ethereal and his tone was calm, but it made Shi Xie break out in a cold sweat. Perhaps he had already been bewitched by the clan leader and his life depended on the clan leader's thoughts. Moreover, he had changed his words and no longer called Shi Xie "Lord". This situation had never happened before.

"Two hundred is fine, but it takes time. One month is not enough."

"There's only a month left."

The patriarch's voice became more resolute this time, and his tone became colder.

"During this month, we will be at your disposal."

As soon as he said this, Shi Xie fell into deep thought. Using two hundred people in exchange for a month's time, this exchange could only be considered as a huge profit for him. Originally, it would cost fifty to invite these Gu girls to come out of the mountains each time, but now, for a month, only two hundred were needed. It was obvious that they must have some unspeakable secrets. Thinking of this, Shi Xie clapped his hands.

"Okay, 200 people, send them to the clan leader right away!"

Hearing that Shi Xie agreed to his request, the clan leader returned to his usual cold and frosty appearance, stood up again and walked towards the door.

"Wait for good news from the lord."

As the clan leader walked away and disappeared from his sight, Shi Xie let out a long sigh, then knocked on something like a clock beside him. Just a few breaths after he finished knocking, a person appeared in the room. "My lord."

"Go get another 200 people and send them to the Gu Tribe."

The man hesitated after hearing Shi Xie's order.

"My lord, two hundred is not a small number. I'm afraid we won't be able to gather enough foreigners in a short period of time. As you know, there are really not enough people who can meet their requirements."

"Try to find as much as you can. As for the rest, please don't hesitate."

A cold light flashed in Shi Xie's eyes.

"Then let's go to Cangwu County to make up for it."

"promise!"

The man received the order and turned to leave, leaving Shi Xie still in deep thought. According to the rules he had set with the leader of the Gu tribe before, these people needed to be virgins and must be of age. Such people have sufficient yang energy, which can make up for the shortcoming of the Gu tribe's heavy yin energy, and would be more suitable to be used as vessels for raising Gu.

They must also be strong, because after the poisonous insect enters the human body, it needs to rely on the vessel to provide nutrients for the initial period of time, and this nutrients is naturally the vessel itself, so they must also be strong.

But in this age when most people can't even get enough food, where can so many young and strong people of marriageable age come from? Moreover, those with wealth will have child brides at an early age, and some will get married in their teens. They are no longer virgins before they reach adulthood, so it is so difficult to find such talents.

However, before, Shi Xie had always been looking for people who met the requirements among foreign tribes and had never targeted his own people. But this time the situation was urgent. In addition, although Cangwu County belonged to Jiaozhou, it was taken from others after all. It would take three days to enter the city, not to mention that they had taken over a state.

Shi Xie crossed his hands, with his thumbs constantly turning and intertwining with each other, and his brows slightly frowned. Before this, he did not have a clear understanding of the gap in strength between himself and the other princes. It was not until this time when Gu Rubing slapped him in the face that he realized how big the gap between the two sides was.

The other side had ways to break through the heavy-armored soldiers and poison girls that he had previously regarded as treasures, and it was no problem for him to defeat the larger force with a small force. It can be said that Shi Xie received a solid slap from Gu Rubing, and this slap also awakened Shi Xie's dream of dominating the world.

Shi Xie looked up, pondered for a while, then suddenly stood up and walked outside.

Yangzhou, Wu County.

Sun Jian almost threw his entire army into the battles one after another, but he seemed to be in a state of panic. No matter what, no matter how big the victory was, it would eventually turn into a disastrous defeat. Sun Jian was so troubled that he almost wanted to ask someone to exorcise the evil spirit for him to see if he had done something wrong recently or touched something unclean.

Two major battles in which the entire army was mobilized left Sun Jian seriously injured. In one battle, he lost half of Yuzhang County and suffered a loss of hundreds of thousands of troops. This time, he led his entire army to attack Jingzhou, but suffered heavy losses again, and even failed to take back his Yuzhang County.

Even if his family was wealthy and powerful, he couldn't withstand such consumption. What's more, he was already so poor that he couldn't even make ends meet. After several major wars, he needed money to move the army, transport food and fodder, and most importantly, compensation for the soldiers who died in the war. The two wars had a total of more than 200,000 casualties, which, if converted into a subsidy for each soldier, would be more than 2 million taels of silver. The Sun family had long been short of funds, and now there was such a huge gap. Sun Jian had been worried for some time.

Moreover, he will have to continue recruiting soldiers, which will be another considerable expense. If you calculate it this way, even if he sells everything he has, it will not be enough. He is now wondering where Liu Bei and Cao Cao get the money from. They are still recruiting soldiers. Sun Jian is almost having a headache because of money.

Jiangdong is a land of fish and rice, and also the location of many weaving bureaus. In peacetime, it is indeed a prosperous place, but in this era of war, things like weaving bureaus are certainly not doing well. However, Yangzhou, which has always been supported by the land of fish and rice, did make a lot of money. However, due to the protracted war, their food reserves are not much, and many young and strong people have enlisted in the army. The number of people cultivating land has gradually decreased, and the grain output has gradually decreased. It can barely guarantee the supply of Yangzhou. There is no other extra grain to sell to others.

This also led to Sun Jian and his men being unable to make ends meet. They were all the people of Jiangdong, and he had no way to force taxes on them, so he could only muddle through. Now, finally, the problem has erupted, and they simply can't afford to pay the soldiers.

How could he know that Cao Cao had the General of the Fa Qiu and the Captain of the Mojin Army who collected gold, silver and treasures for him. In addition, he had plundered all the treasures of the five major regimes on Mount Nalanda in the Western Regions. Now he was extremely rich. Even if he shared the treasures of the five major regimes with Liu Zhang, it would still be a considerable income.

As for Gu Rubing, he owned a fine salt shop and had a firm grasp on the most basic needs of the people. The fine salt shops were opened throughout the Thirteen States of the Han Dynasty. Even Cao Cao, who already knew that the fine salt shop was responsible for delivering messages to Gu Rubing, did not demolish the fine salt shop. This shows that people who already knew the deliciousness of fine salt could not live without fine salt at all. Even Cao Cao was like this, let alone others.

Even Shi Xie made a fortune by selling some special things. Although his fighting ability was not strong and the area he was in was very remote, he was rich.

It can be said that among the five major princes, although Sun Jian can rank third with his unprecedented strength, his current financial resources are ranked last among the five. Let alone continuing to recruit, he can't even afford to support the current soldiers. If he continues to waste time like this, then what awaits him is only destruction.

After thinking for a long time, Sun Jian stood up, and Sun Ce, who had been sitting next to him, quickly stood up.

"Father."

"Bofu, go call Xingba over, let's go to Jiaozhi County."

"Cochin County?"

Sun Ce came to Sun Jian today to ask for money because he was out of money. Why did he suddenly want to go to Shi Xie?
However, although Sun Ce was confused, he still obeyed Sun Jian's order and turned away.

(End of this chapter)