I seek economic hegemony in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 459: Using Cao Wei to Raise Troops to Attack Wei

"The Sima clan can't wait any longer," Lu Kang said. "If we don't take action now, Cao Wei will be torn apart."

This is a typical case of conflict transfer.

In the past few months, Luoyang has been issuing conscription orders frantically.

All those who could be levied and could not be levied before were levied now.

Not only were the able-bodied men brought here, but food was also brought here.

He knew that doing so might lead to an internal explosion, but if he didn't do so, Sima would have to step down within this year.

"Youjie is right." Wenqin added, "The Sima family is not worthy of their position, so they can only send troops south. They have no other choice."

"But the Wei army in Nanyang may not be the main force!" Guanqiu Jian said, "Sima Shi is the commander now. He is a difficult person to deal with."

"Zhong Gong's words make sense." Zhuge Ke took over the conversation, "Nanyang may not be the main force. It may also be a strategy of making a feint to the east and attacking in the west. However, it may also be true."

"What do you mean, Yuanxun?" Li Heng asked.

Zhuge Ke said: "If I were Sima Shi, my target this time would not be Hefei, but attack Xiangyang and then go straight to Jiangling."

"Yuan Xun's intention is that taking Hefei but not Ruxuwu is of little significance, but taking Jiangling can cut off the connection between Yizhou, Guanzhong and Yangzhou?" Lu Kang asked.

"Yes."

Everyone nodded, obviously agreeing with Zhuge Ke's statement.

Li Heng walked back and forth a few times and said, "So, Sima Zhao's troops in Nanyang are the main force?"

"There is no doubt about it!" said Zhuge Ke.

Li Heng looked at Wen Qin, and Wen Qin said, "I agree too."

"I don't think it's the main force." Lu Kang said suddenly.

"What do you mean by that, Youjie?"

Lu Kang said: "We also have a lot of troops in Xiangyang. Sima Shi will not fight us head-on. He will deploy troops on multiple lines and combine the real and the fake."

"Youjie means that Sima Shi will attack Hefei?"

"Yes."

"Doesn't that contradict what Yuanxun just said?" Wen Qin said.

"No objection." Lu Kang said, "We are attacking Hefei to divert the troops of Jingzhou to the east, but the elite troops are in Nanyang."

"Haha, that makes sense!" Zhuge Ke said, "Isn't this the strategy that the general used to take Hefei last year?"

"Yes, Master Sima wants to return it."

"Does Master Sima still have so many soldiers?" Zhuge Ke became puzzled.

Guanqiu Jian said: "Yes, Youzhou still has 30,000 cavalrymen, and they are all elite troops that have fought hard against the Hu people. Yangzhou itself has a lot of cavalrymen, and now they have double stirrups, so their combat power cannot be underestimated."

No one questioned this statement because Guanqiu Jian had stayed in Youzhou for several years before and was the governor of Youzhou in Cao Wei.

"How many troops will Sima Shi deploy on the eastern front?" Zhuge Ke asked.

"Not sure." Guanqiu Jian said.

"There is intelligence that Luoyang has recruited one million able-bodied men in the past six months," said Li Heng.

"It seems that Master Sima has really been driven crazy by us. If he doesn't succeed, he will die!"

After a moment of silence, Li Heng smiled and said, "If the enemy comes, I will stop him. If the enemy does not move, I will not move."

Afterwards, he wrote a letter to Guan Tong who was in Xiangyang.

Tell him to guard it well and not listen to Sima Zhao's nonsense.

In order to ensure that Guan Tong would not go to war rashly, he told Guan Tong that he was planning a strategy to destroy Wei, which would be implemented this year. Your Xiangyang would be the main force, and all the military merits for destroying Wei would be yours!

Do not worry!
Li Heng stayed in Jiangling for the entire month of March.

He squatted at the ferry every day and chatted with the merchants.

Especially salt and tea merchants.

Many teas that were encouraged to be planted in the south in previous years have matured, and the tea shipped to Jiangling this year is piled up like mountains.

The price of tea, which originally cost 50 guan per catty, has now plummeted to 1 guan per catty. Of course, 1 guan per catty is still a luxury item, and poor families are reluctant to buy it.

According to Li Heng's inference, it would take at least another ten years before the poor could really afford tea.

But the current number is sufficient.

Large quantities of tea were traded along the Yangtze River and quickly penetrated northward.

In fact, Li Heng vigorously developed tea not for the purpose of bribing high-ranking officials of Cao Wei nor for making money.

The main purpose is to efficiently deliver food to the front line.

Like salt permits, the sale of tea is currently monopolized by the government, and merchants must obtain tea permits before they can trade.

In order to issue a tea permit of equal amount, one had to exchange it for grain in Hefei or Xiangyang.

Tea also hides huge violence, making merchants earn a lot of money.

Therefore, countless grain merchants were willing to send large amounts of grain to several important military towns.

Especially Hefei.

After taking Hefei last year, Li Heng transferred 30,000 people from the surrounding areas of Jianye to develop Hefei.

This is not enough.

The battle line from Hefei to Jianye requires 200,000 soldiers.

The monthly consumption of grain is 100,000 shi, which means 1.2 million shi of grain per year.

It is equivalent to the annual harvest of 1.2 million acres of land.

One million and two hundred thousand acres of land require 24,000 households to cultivate the crops, and they would have to go without food or drink for a year to make the ends meet.

If every household were asked to hand over one-tenth of their grain, to collect 24 million shi, households would be needed.

This is equivalent to the population of more than 200 counties.

At its most powerful point, the Wu State had only 328 counties.

Therefore, the total military strength of the Wu State was just over 200,000.

This method of extracting commission from farmers to support the army is very inefficient.

It is the officials who take the initiative to collect grain from farmers, which lacks internal motivation.

If grain merchants were to collect grain and exchange it for tea tickets, the results would be completely different.

The profit margin of tea tickets is very large, so there is sufficient profit in this line from passing on the profit to grain merchants to farmers.

There is no need for grain traders to suppress grain prices, they have plenty of room.

After all, it takes time to lower grain prices. Instead of spending a lot of time talking to farmers one by one, it is better to collect more grain and transport it over to speed up the flow of grain in the same amount of time.

The marginal benefits here are very large.

In business, time is money!

Moreover, the consumers of tea are rich people, and the money is used to pay for military rations, businesses and farmers.

Near the end of March, Li Heng was still calculating the amount of tea.

According to Bu Zhigei, this year's tea production is the sum of the past five years.

"Merchants who want to get tea permits are going crazy now. I estimate that the food stored this year can feed Xiangyang City for five years!"

Huan Fan sat at the desk and spoke weakly.

Even though he looked weak and as if he was about to die at any moment, he just couldn't let go of his breath.

Not only did he not fall, but Huan Fan's brain was working very fast when he was doing the math.

"If we need to stockpile 150,000 soldiers from Hefei to Ruxukou before June, will this amount of food be enough?" Li Heng asked.

"It is possible to satisfy the demand for tea permits and salt permits in parallel. Yangzhou produces salt, but the profit from salt is not as great as that from tea. Now, it is not just the noble families in Jingzhou and Yangzhou who are willing to pay for tea. Noble families from all over the Central Plains are already lining up."

"They have paper money?"

(End of this chapter)