Can I get to the other side?.

Chapter 168 Listen to the Dragon’s Roar
"Manager Mi, how is Xuande these days?"

Gongsun Zan first exchanged pleasantries with the Mi family's steward, building a relationship with him, and then asked about Liu Bei's recent situation.

The last time he heard from Liu Bei was when he persuaded Zhang Xiu to surrender and made great contributions in capturing the false emperor, but was targeted by Yuan Shao and was only appointed as the governor of Jingzhou.

At that time, he was still indignant for Liu Bei.

The Mi family steward said: "In accordance with the emperor's order, the governor of Jingzhou is currently in Yangzhou, accompanying Duke Wen to fight against Sun Ce of Jiangdong, who covets the land of Yangzhou, and Cao, the thief who pretended to be the emperor."

"Although Cao Cao has retreated, Sun Ce has a strong army and horses, and Duke Wen can no longer continue. Therefore, the governor of Jingzhou asked us to come to the north to purchase war horses and form cavalry to suppress Sun Cao."

At this point, the Mi family steward said to Gongsun Zan with gratitude: "It is not easy to purchase war horses. Now that we have the help of Youzhou Mu, we are very lucky!"

"Ah! Manager Mi, what you said is wrong!"

Gongsun Zan said righteously, "Yangzhou belongs to the Han Dynasty. How can it fall into the hands of Sun and Cao? Xuande and I were classmates. Now that I have been ordered to fight against the rebels, how can I not help him?"

"By the way...how many war horses do you need?"

The previous ones were just polite words, the last question was what Gongsun Zan wanted to ask. If the Mi family only wanted a few hundred or a thousand horses, then it would be meaningless.

He also hoped to sell some horses for military use.

If the quantity is small, it won't work.

"not many."

The Mi family's steward looked embarrassed and said hesitantly, "About... 5,000 horses. Would the Youzhou governor think that's too few?"

"How many? Five thousand?"

This number left Gongsun Zan stunned.

Isn’t that called a lot?

Seeing Gongsun Zan's eyes widened in dissatisfaction, the Mi family's steward quickly added: "Five thousand horses are only what we need now. We will definitely continue to purchase more in the future. Within a year, the number will definitely increase to ten thousand horses."

Gongsun Zan was silent.

Originally, he felt that Liu Bei was being targeted by Yuan Shao and was having a miserable time following Lu Bu, and he felt a little sympathy for him.

But now he was left with only sourness.

How did you get to rely on the Mi family?
You really get to eat this free meal!

He just asked for 510,000 war horses. How rich and powerful must one be to be able to say that!
Damn big-eared thief!

Even he couldn't produce so many war horses at once!

Gongsun Zan took a deep breath, suppressed his jealousy, and said stubbornly: "This number is barely enough, but this general is now following the order to attack the Yuan thief, and war horses are in short supply at the moment. I can't provide 5,000 war horses at once."

"Well, I will give you 3,000 horses first, and the remaining horses must be delivered within six months."

Gongsun Zan could actually provide 5,000 war horses.

But the prerequisite is that he does not reserve spare horses for his cavalry, which is obviously impossible.

Assuming that his own army had enough war horses, he could only take out about 3,000 horses at a time.

After all, raising horses requires money, and he wouldn't hoard so many war horses for no reason.

It would be better to put them in the hands of the foreigners outside the Great Wall, let them raise them, and then send people to rob them when they are short of horses.

The Mi family’s steward nodded repeatedly and said, “That’s enough, that’s enough. We originally planned to buy them in batches. If we buy too much at once, it will be inconvenient to transport them.”

"I wonder what price Youzhou Mu plans to sell it for?"

Talking about the price, Gongsun Zan hesitated for a while, and after thinking for a while, he asked tentatively: "How about 10% cheaper than the price you bought from the foreign tribes?"

The price he offered was a bit unscrupulous.

Although there were many horses in the north, Bingzhou and Jizhou were occupied by Yuan Shao, so he had no way to sell the horses to the Central Plains. Big customers like the Mi family were rare.

Don’t even mention a 10% lower price, even a 30% or 50% lower price is fine!
Anyway, he will make money no matter what!

But who knew that after hearing the price, the Mi family's steward had no intention of bargaining at all, and agreed with a wave of his hand: "No problem, this price!"

Such heroism shocked Gongsun Zan again.

They bought five thousand war horses immediately, and later increased the number to ten thousand. They didn't even bargain for such a huge quantity. Could this be the foundation of the Xuzhou nobles?
“You’re really rich.”

Gongsun Zan sighed in his heart and became more jealous of Liu Bei.

I thought he was having a hard time and wanted to help him.

How could he have known that he was living so well? This made Gongsun Zan feel very uncomfortable.

In the following time, he discussed the specific delivery date and settlement method with the manager of the Mi family.

In the end, both parties got a satisfactory result.

After finishing the business, Gongsun Zan wanted to invite Manager Mi to stay and give him a good treat, but Manager Mi declined on the grounds that the caravan had other things to do.

So he asked Gongsun Xu to send the person back respectfully, and even sent soldiers to protect the Mi family caravan, for fear that something might happen to this God of Wealth.

After seeing off the Mi family's steward, Gongsun Zan felt much better, his face was full of smiles, and there was no trace of his previous depression.

"Now we don't have to worry about not having money to fight Yuan Shao!" Gongsun Zan said to Jia Xu excitedly.

He had always been worried about money and food before, but now that he has a business deal with the Mi family by selling horses, why would he have to worry about these things?

You have to know that he can sell more than just horses to the Mi family. He can sell all kinds of other things. He will go outside the Great Wall to rob whatever the Mi family wants. It is simply a profitable business!

Jia Xu laughed and said, "As the saying goes, those who are righteous have many supporters, while those who are unrighteous have few supporters. The emperor is righteous, and the general is fighting against the enemy for the emperor, so God is helping the general!"

"What you said is absolutely right, sir." Gongsun Zan was very pleased with Jia Xu's words.

Scholars speak differently, they have their own theories and they are well-founded.

"Sir, please do as you please. I will quickly send people to the outer border to seize the horses. This is our first business with the Mi family, so there must be no mistakes."

After saying this, Gongsun Zan left in a hurry.

Jia Xu took a sip of tea, his smile widened, and he waved his feather fan leisurely as he left the prefect's mansion and came to the inn where the Mi family caravan was staying.

"Guanglu Xun."

In one of the side rooms, the Mi family had been waiting for a long time.

As soon as he saw Jia Xu, he immediately bowed respectfully.

Jia Xu frowned and shook his head, saying: "You acted a little too deliberately this time. Gongsun Zan was just too excited, so he didn't notice the flaw."

In his opinion, the acting of the steward of the Mi family just now in the prefect's mansion was extremely poor and full of loopholes.

As a businessman, he doesn't even bargain with others when doing business. Where in the world can you find such a businessman?
Although he wanted to secretly help Gongsun Zan resist Yuan Shao, he couldn't be so obvious as it would easily arouse suspicion.

Compared with Your Majesty, this acting skill is not even worthy of being a shoe carrier.

"This...is a small oversight."

The manager of the Mi family felt a little bitter. He was just a businessman and was not good at these things.

It is too difficult to satisfy Gongsun Zan without letting him notice.

"That's all." Jia Xu didn't blame him too much. As long as the goal was achieved, it would be fine. "After you get the warhorse, send it to Yangzhou as soon as possible and give it to Lord Wen."

"Now is the critical time for Duke Wen and Sun Ce to fight for Yangzhou. We must not miss the opportunity."

"Understood!" The Mi family's steward nodded repeatedly and then asked, "Do you want me to sell those obsolete new weapons and equipment, as well as stirrups and horseshoes, to the Youzhou governor now?"

"Not for the time being." Jia Xu shook his head, his eyes deep as he said, "Just wait for my news on when to sell it, and don't reveal it before then."

"We just need to make sure Gongsun Zan has enough strength to fight Yuan Shao. We can't let him lose, nor can we let him become strong enough to defeat Yuan Shao." "Only when the two sides are deadlocked and Yuan Shao is restrained, can General Wenyuan gradually erode Jizhou and return Jizhou to the Han Dynasty."

The double stirrups, horseshoes, and the first generation of sophisticated preparations made with the new iron smelting technology are all trump cards that can be sold to Gongsun Zan, but they must be sold when he is about to give up, so as to force him to improve his strength and prolong his life.

In this plan, the main purpose was to consume the power of both Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan at the same time.

Zhang Liao's 10,000-strong army that entered Yecheng took the opportunity to capture all the major counties in Jizhou.

"Little one understands."

The steward of the Mi family nodded in agreement. As Mi Zhu's cousin, he was actually quite capable of observing people's expressions and analyzing the situation.

After Jia Xu gave instructions to the steward of the Mi family, he slowly walked to the window, leaned on the windowsill and looked at the street scenery outside, his mind gradually drifting away.

"I hope Kong Rong can successfully raise his army. As long as Zhang Liao's army can enter Jizhou, the situation will be in your favor."

"In this way, we only need to wipe out Yuan Shao and take control of the entire Jizhou, and Gongsun Zan will naturally surrender."

"By then, we will have unified the four northern states, our foundation will be solid, and we can conquer the world."

……

Yecheng, Imperial Palace.

Zhang He was reporting to Liu Xie on the latest progress in his formation of a city defense army.

"Your Majesty, I have successfully recruited 4,000 city defense troops, divided into five battalions. The commander of each battalion is a trusted member of my Imperial Guards."

"Now the defense of Yecheng has been completely controlled!"

In order to complete Liu Xie's order, he and Gao Lan have used all means to reorganize the city defense army during this period of time.

This matter is not that simple.

First of all, it is definitely not possible to directly recruit young and strong people from the people in the city. The soldiers of the city defense army do not have to be as elite as the imperial guards, but they must not be worse. Otherwise, their combat effectiveness is too weak to bear the important responsibility of city defense. Recruiting young and strong people requires training first, which takes too long.

Therefore, in order to ensure the combat effectiveness of the city defense army, he and Gao Lan directly drew guards from the major aristocratic families in the city and even in the surrounding counties.

Most of the guards of these big families are veteran soldiers who have fought in the battlefield, and there are many strong warriors with extraordinary martial arts skills among them.

They have a good foundation and they also have good food and drink on a daily basis, so they are naturally elite soldiers.

And to be on the safe side, he disorganized all these people and then reorganized them, and let his trusted subordinates lead the camps and take turns guarding the four city gates to eliminate all hidden dangers.

"good."

Liu Xie nodded slightly, shifted his gaze from the military strategies in his hand, and looked at Zhang He and Gao Lan.

"I have spoken my word. Your achievements this time can make up for the crime of borrowing the Imperial Guard without authorization last time."

"But I don't want this to happen again. Otherwise, no matter what your reasons are, I will punish you severely!"

Zhang He and Gao Lan were overjoyed. They immediately clasped their fists and bowed their heads, saying, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace! We will keep this in mind and never commit the same mistake again!"

"Go back."

"promise!"

After the two left, Liu Xie smiled to Guo Jia beside him and said, "Now that I have control over the city defense, I can finally sleep peacefully. Now I just need to wait for Zhang Liao to lead the army to arrive."

"Is there any movement in Beihai County, Qingzhou?"

He sent an imperial edict to Kong Rong, ordering him to start a rebellion and attract Yuan Tan's attention, so that Zhang Liao would have the opportunity to lead a large army.

I don't know whether Kong Rong followed his orders.

"Your Majesty, I just received news today that Kong Rong raised an army in Beihai ten days ago, with Taishi Ci as his general. Taishi Ci is also a rare and fierce general. With only 5,000 troops, he was unstoppable and captured three cities in a short period of time."

"Now Yuan Tan has sent troops to suppress it." Guo Jia replied with a smile on his face. As long as Zhang Liao's army arrives, the whole world will be able to hear the dragon roar of the emperor who has been dormant for a long time.

When Liu Xie heard this, he was both surprised and happy.

This time Kong Rong did not choose to remain neutral, but instead raised an army to help him, which shows that deep in his heart he had already recognized him as the emperor.

This is undoubtedly great news!
With Taishi Ci around, Yuan Tan would not be able to suppress the rebellion for a while and could not stop Zhang Liao's army.

In addition, since Kong Rong recognized him, Qingzhou was no longer Yuan Tan's Qingzhou, but would soon become Liu Xie's Qingzhou.

Liu Xie began to think about it in his mind. He felt that the current situation was very good. Once Yuan Shao left, he would have a lot of freedom and everything he did would go smoothly.

However, when talking about Yuan Shao, he couldn't help but think of Yuan Xi.

"What is Yuan Xi doing recently?"

Guo Jia heard this and said, "He followed Xu Ziyuan's advice and spent all his family wealth to recruit volunteers, but because of his bad reputation, not many people were willing to follow him, and he could only barely recruit 3,000 soldiers."

"In addition to this, he also purged the remnants of Yuan Shao in the city, slaughtering all those who were loyal to Yuan Shao and their forces. Now, all the big families in the city are terrified when they hear the name Yuan Shao, and they regard him like a tiger."

"It seems that he wants to show his loyalty to His Majesty in this way."

Guo Jia could see through Yuan Xi's thoughts at a glance. He was simply using this behavior to prove to the emperor that he and Yuan Shao were irreconcilable.

The purpose, of course, is to gain the trust and reuse of the emperor.

"Let him be."

Liu Xie smiled faintly. He would never use Yuan Xi. He just wanted to keep him hanging. He could be a knife for him to deal with the remnants of Yuan Shao and recruit soldiers for him. He was a perfect tool.

Putting Yuan Xi, the tool man, out of his mind, Liu Xie continued to ask: "What is the situation with Ziyuan? Does Yuan Shao suspect him?"

When mentioning this, Guo Jia's expression became a little serious, and he said: "Yuan Shao did not doubt your majesty and Ziyuan, but Ju Shou became suspicious for some reason, and even suspected Generals Zhang He and Gao Lan."

"Ziyuan believes that if Ju Su is not removed, he will pose too great a threat to Your Majesty, so he plans to kill him."

During this period, Guo Jia was responsible for handling information from all parties, and then organizing and analyzing them one by one and reporting them to the emperor.

He knew the situation on Xu You's side very well.

On this matter, his idea was the same as Xu You's - Ju Shou must die!

"Ziyuan is right..."

Liu Xie's eyes were deep, with a cold look in them.

Guo Jia didn't know why Ju Shou suspected him and the Imperial Guards, but as a person involved, he knew it very well.

Apart from Cao Cao, only Yuan Shao and Ju Shou knew his identity.

Yuan Shao was arrogant and looked down on him as a refugee from the bottom of his heart; but Ju Su was different. He was careful and cautious and had been wary of him since the first time he showed his superb acting skills.

Now that so many unexpected events have occurred, it's hard not to suspect him.

Of course, he never thought that he could keep it a secret from Ju Shou forever.

The other party is a smart man, as long as he moves more, it will be impossible for him not to notice.

But...what can we do even if we can see it?
Even if Yuan Shao knew that he was unwilling to be a puppet, or even a fake emperor, what could he do to him?
Even if Yuan Shao gambles everything, the worst that can happen to him is to run to Xuzhou!
By then, he would only lose Jizhou, while Yuan Shao would be attacked by all the princes.

Liu Xie sneered in his heart and said to Guo Jia expressionlessly: "Tell Xu You that no matter what means he uses, he must kill Ju Shou first!"

"I don't want him to live."

At this point, it's time to start eliminating those who know his identity.

From Ju Su to Yuan Shao, to Cao Cao and even...Emperor Xian of Han!

He wants to be the real emperor!

(End of this chapter)