A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 423 Yuan Liu stopped crossing Cao Sunguo, and his wealth turned into disaster.

March
After resting for two months, Cao Cao led an army of 50,000 to attack Anding County in Liangzhou. Yang Qiu surrendered and Anding County was restored.

After thinking about it, Cao Cao felt that it was completely meaningless to spend all his troops here. On the contrary, it was a waste of opportunities for Liu Bei and Yuan Shao to move in the past two years.

So Cao Cao ordered Xiahou Yuan to supervise the generals and lead 30,000 troops to continue the westward expedition. He led the rest of the army to prepare to attack Jingzhou.

Since they have been deploying troops abroad in the past two years without a break, the counties under Cao Cao's rule were very exhausted. Under Xun Yu's strong suggestion, Cao Cao gave up his plan to attack Liu Biao in the autumn and postponed it to March next year.

April
Just when the three great princes of the Central Plains had suspended their troops, Sun Quan from the south launched an attack on Jingzhou for the second time.

With Zhou Yu, the governor of Yangzhou, as his generals, he sent 10,000 naval troops and 30,000 infantry to attack Jiangxia County where Huang Zu was stationed.

Since the seventh year of Jian'an, when Sun Quan inherited his father's and brother's legacy, he has never stopped for a moment on his expedition.

First, Zhou Yu was ordered to set up a navy camp in Chaisang, organize and train the navy, and build warships to counter Jingzhou's naval superiority.

Then, while organizing and training the navy, he mobilized heavy troops and sent generals Lu Fan, Cheng Pu, Han Dang, Zhou Tai and others to continuously attack the Shanyue people southward who refused to pay taxes to Sun Quan's regime.

In the eighth year of Jian'an, Sun Quan successfully annihilated hundreds of thousands of Shanyue people who were rebellious in the south. The leaders of the Shanyue people were captured one by one, and other Shanyue people were treated differently:
Strong young people enrich the army, while the elderly and women are under unified management and engaged in agricultural production.

After putting down the Shanyue Rebellion in the south, Sun Quan finally turned his attention to Huang Zu, who had always been against him and had the hatred of killing his father.

In the seventh year of Jian'an, when Sun Quan first took power, he sent Zhou Yu to attack Jiangxia County. However, due to his weak navy and lack of troops, he was blocked from Jiangxia and was not allowed to enter.

Now that he has tens of thousands of Shanyue soldiers and hundreds of naval warships, the conditions are very ripe to attack Jiangxia.

Not only that, in order to raise military expenses, Sun Quan also strongly supported ocean-going commerce and opened up maritime trade routes to Jiaozhou, Yizhou, Nanyang, and Liaodong, which greatly improved the finances of Sun Quan's regime.

June
Although Zhou Yu used various strategies to lure Huang Zu into battle, Huang Zu was like a tortoise, refusing to move. With his own 40,000 men, it was impossible to defeat Jiangxia, which had 20,000 naval troops.

July
Sun Quan took the remaining 30,000 people from Jiangdong to support Zhou Yu, and stayed at Chaisang to supervise the battle, leaving full responsibility for the war to Zhou Yu.

Zhou Yu led 10,000 naval troops and 60,000 infantry to attack Huang Zuli's water and land camp in Zhu County, but could not conquer it in more than ten days.

Not only that, but Gan Ning, who came from Nanyang for support, led 5,000 navy troops and 20,000 Jiangxia navy troops, and returned with a heavy defeat.

Sun Quan's navy suffered huge damage, and all 30,000 infantrymen were wiped out by the Jingzhou army because they had no time to board the ship.

Sun Quan's vitality was severely weakened and he led his army to retreat to Chaisang.

Ten years of Jian'an
March
Cao Cao led 60,000 troops to attack Xinye, while Gan Ning led 40,000 troops to garrison. The two armies were in a stalemate.

Just as Cao Cao and Liu Biao were in a stalemate, many major events happened in Hebei.

First, the Wuhuan people who fled back to Youzhou were afraid that Yuan Shaoqiu would settle the score later, so they simply colluded with the Xianbei people and rebelled, leading tens of thousands of Hu people to wreak havoc in Youzhou.

Yuan Shao was furious, but he did not have the strength to quell the rebellion, so he had to appoint Yuan Tan as the governor of Youzhou, and ordered Yan Rou, the Wuhuan captain, and the Zhenbei Mansion to send troops to annihilate the Wuhuan rebels.

At the same time, in order to raise military expenses, Yuan Shao set his sights on the wealthy Zhen family of Zhongshan Kingdom, whom he had always looked down upon.

Forced Zhen to get engaged to her son Yuan Tan, and forced them to prepare an engagement dowry for her.

Zhen had no choice but to hand over one billion yuan to Yuan Shao as an engagement gift for Zhen's daughter. Only then did Yuan Shao give up targeting Zhen.

Yuan Tan is also very reluctant to marry the Zhen family. Not to mention that Zhen Mi is only twelve or thirteen years old. Even though she is as beautiful as a flower, she is still the daughter of a merchant. This proves that if he marries her, he will not be able to marry her. This directly eliminated the possibility of inheriting Yuan Shao's position.

However, the situation was stronger than the situation, and Yuan Tan could not resist the marriage at all, so he had to postpone it indefinitely on the grounds that Zhen's daughter was still young.

As long as Yuan Tan didn't refuse openly, Yuan Shao didn't care at all, because he had already received enough military expenses to send troops to Youzhou.

If there is still a shortage, then no matter how much Yuan Tan refuses, I will let him forcefully marry the Zhen family's daughter, because only in this way can I reasonably seize the Zhen family's billions of wealth.

Zhongshan Kingdom, Wuji County

Wuji County is a subordinate county of Zhongshan State. It is adjacent to Zishui in the south. Through Zishui, it can reach all the way to Zhangshui. It is the only river in Zhongshan State that can connect to the counties in the south. Therefore, its population ranks first in Zhongshan State.

Among them, Zhen Mansion is the largest building complex in Wuji County. The extremely wealthy Zhen family is located in it. Zhen Mansion occupies about one-fifth of Wuji County and can be called the local hegemon. Passing through the luxurious Waiyi Gate, the entire Zhen Mansion is filled with majestic green, which is very rare for Zhongshan Kingdom, which is located in a desolate and mountainous country.

In the lobby of the Zhen Mansion, Zhen Yi, the current head of the Zhen family, was sitting at the front seat with an unhappy look on his face. All the Zhen family's children in the hall also had sad faces, as if something big had happened to them.

"Father, our Zhen family has already given one billion yuan to Mr. Yuan. Mr. Yuan should not attack us again, right? And hasn't the second brother been released?
In addition, the fifth sister is now engaged to Mr. Yuan Tan. After all, we are a family. We will not let our family be ruined. "

The third son Zhen Yao comforted Zhen Yi and persuaded him.

Zhen Yi still frowned and explained: "It's not that simple. Yuan Shao is a disciple of an aristocratic family. In fact, my family is just a powerful man in a county. If it weren't for the wealth and business all over the world, how could it have caused such a disaster? .

The head of the Mi family is still smart. He relied on Liu Bei early on. Now he has settled down and no longer worries about money wolves coveting his family wealth. "

Seeing Zhen Yao's still puzzled expression, Zhen Yi sighed: "These billions of family wealth are the source of this disaster.

In the past, we did business with the Bai family and took advantage of the Bai family. No one dared to touch us. Even the Wuji Order gave us three points.

Now that Yuan Shao has defeated Anye, all his food, grass and baggage have been wiped out. He is like a hungry wolf, and I, Zhen, are just a piece of fat in his eyes.

Although the Bai family is on good terms with us, they are still too far away. How can we offend the Lord of Hebei because of our family?

Fortunately, Yuan Shao still cared about his reputation as the fourth generation and the third prince, so he did not commit robbery. Instead, he used his marriage to the fifth daughter to absorb our family assets.

But with Yuan Shao's current situation, I'm afraid it won't be long before the billion dollars we gave him will be squandered by him. At that time, he will still look for reasons to make us spend money until I, the Zhen family, can't squeeze out any more. A little bit of oil and water. "

"Then what should we do? Is it just Yuan Shao who wants to be so arrogant? Even if I, the Zhen family, have as much property as the Bai family, I can't stop such a huge crocodile."

The more Zhen Yi thought about it, the angrier she became. She slapped the table and said angrily: "In the final analysis, I, the Zhen family, still don't have the power to protect myself. If I had the reputation of the Bai family and thousands of troops, how dare Yuan Shao dare to in this way?"

Zhen Yao was also very angry, but had no choice but to ask again: "Father, do we really want to marry the fifth sister to Yuan Tan? I heard rumors among the people that Yuan Shao has lost his temper in Hebei now that he has defeated An Ye. Luck is already a withered bone in the grave.

The next lord of Hebei will fall on Liu Bei. Moreover, I heard from the letter sent back from Yecheng by the second brother that Liu Bei was also assisted by the Bai family. The Bai family, Taihang Bai, and Luoyang Bai all appeared under Liu Bei's command.

If we marry our fifth sister to Yuan Tan, wouldn’t we be tied to the Yuan family? Wouldn't it be that we would be buried with them then? "

"Oh, who says it's not the case?" Zhen Yi was also anxious, but suffered from the fact that she had no solution.

At this time, a thirteen-year-old girl walked in from outside the lobby. Although she was still very young, she could still be seen as a beauty. Her skin was as white as the bright moon, her hair was as smooth as willows, and she was wearing a brocade fur coat. , looks very cute.

"Father, I have a way!"

Zhen Yi turned around and saw the fifth daughter Zhen Mi, and said angrily: "What nonsense, father and brother are discussing important matters here, what are you doing here? Why don't you go back to study."

Zhen Mi showed dissatisfaction and blamed Zhen Yi: "Father is so unreasonable. You are discussing marrying me to that Yuan here, but you don't allow me, the master, to express my opinion. Isn't it too overbearing?

Although I am a woman, I also understand poetry, etiquette, and important affairs of my family and country. Daughters of the Bai family can participate in the decision-making of their own lives and even the affairs of the Bai country. Can't I? "

Zhen Yi pointed at Zhen Mi and wanted to say something, but in the end it was reduced to a sigh.

He had only three sons and five daughters. The eldest son died young, and the second son Zhen Yan once served as a general. Now he is serving in Yecheng and cannot take charge of the family business.

Although the third son Zhenyao also promoted Xiaolian, his ability was limited and he could not take on the family affairs. Therefore, the Zhen family's large business relied entirely on his eldest daughter Zhenjiang, second daughter Zhentuo, and third daughter Zhendao. .

And because they mostly do business with the Bai Kingdom, the family does not have the concept of treating women as goods like other families.

Even the second and third daughters were both surrogate sons-in-law, and the eldest daughter was married to a descendant of the Bai Kingdom named Bai. She was the head of a Bai Kingdom trading house and had many business dealings with the Zhen family.

Zhen Mi felt very sad when she saw her father like this, but she really had a way.

Zhen Yao asked Zhen Mi to sit next to him and touched her head sympathetically. Zhen Mi hit him with her hand to show that she didn't like others touching her head.

Zhen Yao didn't care. He looked at his father, then turned around and asked, "Tell me, what can you do?"

(End of this chapter)