The Three Kingdoms: The Cold Gate World

Chapter 302 Chain Reaction
Since Guo Jia entered Guanzhong, Han Suimateng began to restrict the outflow of strategic materials such as salt and iron war horses in their respective territories. There is a tacit understanding that they don't want Guo Jia to become stronger and stronger.

Today is different from the past. No matter how much strategic materials Han Sui and Ma Chao hoard, they can only see that they cannot be used. The population in the territory is so large. Taking Ma Chao as an example, the population under his rule is only in the early 20s, and he has [-] The rest of the army, in other words, has an average of less than ten people to support one soldier, which is a very heavy burden in an era when technological productivity is not high.

It has been more than ten years since Guo Jia took control of Yizhou until the end of the sixth year of Jian'an today. In the past ten years, generally speaking, the weather under his rule has been smooth and the people live and work in peace and contentment. The prosperous Chengdu has a population of more than 50. The registered population before the Battle of Guandu was close to 600 million. With such a population base, Guo Jia supported 30 soldiers, which is actually a limit number. He will conquer the south now, and swallow the entire northwest in the future. After another recuperation, The direct benefit of population growth is that Guo Jia has room to expand his army.

Liu Biao in Jingzhou originally only had 20 armored troops, a figure that Jingzhou could easily afford. However, in the face of Guo Jia's aggressiveness, Liu Biao had no choice but to expand his army to [-] troops, which was obviously more than The figures that Jingzhou can afford, but this kind of excessive military expenditure, the disadvantages are not immediate, and will be exposed as time goes by.

After Yuan Shao’s disastrous defeat in Guanzhong, he recruited 70 private soldiers in Hebei to make Hebei go from being prosperous to declining. In the situation of loss of food and grass.

This is also the reason why Guo Jia did not list Jiangdong as the number one enemy for the time being. The six counties of Jiangdong are neither big nor small, but their population base has never been compared with that of the north. Since Sun Ce swept Jiangdong However, the number of soldiers and horses in Jiangdong has never exceeded [-]. The reason is that they cannot afford to support more.

As for Cao Cao, who was based in the Central Plains, he was in a dying situation. If it weren't for the million yellow scarves in Qingzhou who were surrendered by him, thus gaining labor, and the nobles of the Central Plains who were in exile due to the war left countless fields, I am afraid that he will make it difficult for the princes to soar into the sky with the emperor.

Guo Jia has always been coveting the war horses in the northwest, but after he took over Guanzhong, both the Korean and the horse families respected him on the surface and secretly guarded against him, so Guo Jia could not expand the cavalry, and at most he would use Yin Ling every year. Flying riders made up for the shortfall and kept it at 1.

The famine in the Northwest came in a timely manner, which gave Guo Jia the opportunity to obtain war horses through trade.

At this time, no matter whether it is Ma Chao or Han Sui, it is obvious that they will no longer cling to strategic materials and ignore the importance of food. If there is no food, they will starve to death. You can't kill war horses for food and not exchange food, right?This price is also too high, a horse can exchange several people's rations for several months, but how many people can eat for a few days if a horse is killed?

Maybe Ma Chao has not yet reached the edge of the cliff, so he can still close the horse market to Guo Jia, but Han Sui has no choice.

The Yizhou caravan traveling to the northwest was not obstructed. As early as when Li Jue and Guo Si were in trouble in Chang’an, Guo Jia had made an agreement with the Han and Ma families, and explained their interests to each other. Buy and sell, you don’t have to sell or buy, but if you confiscate the caravan’s supplies without a word like Yuan Shang, then don’t blame Guo Jia for the confrontation.

Guo Jia couldn't go to Hebei to find Yuan Shang to reason with, and it would be easy to move his army westward.

The Yizhou caravan carrying grain went to the northwest and didn't want anything. They had to exchange grain for war horses, and they had to choose carefully. They didn't want any other Northwest specialties or handmade products.

The current business is a seller's market. It's not that I fell in love with your war horse first, but you begged me to sell you the grain.

How much to sell, I have the final say, whether to collect money or barter, is also my call.

Scattered war horses were transported back to Chang'an from the northwest, and these were directly transported into the Chang'an military camp. The arrival of each horse was recorded in the ledger and used to offset the taxes of the Yizhou Chamber of Commerce in Chang'an, which was at least as expensive as paying money and food. It was [-]% lower, so the Yizhou Chamber of Commerce happily acted as an intermediary for Guo Jia.

Before winter came, the training tasks in the Chang'an barracks were much more stringent than before.

Only the generals in the army will know about the battle within half a year, and ordinary soldiers will not know it. Now, step up the training and relax a little during the winter. After reorganization in the next spring, the combat power will be significantly improved.

Fa is counting the horses in the barracks. On average, nearly a thousand horses are sent to the barracks every month. He has to do a statistical work so that he can report them to Xu Shu, who will then directly negotiate with the representatives of the Yizhou Chamber of Commerce.

After the work was done, Fa Zheng, dressed in cool clothes in autumn, left the barracks steadily.

At dusk at sunset, after training, the lieutenant soldiers were preparing for dinner in an orderly manner, when Fazheng, who had just walked out of the barracks within a hundred steps, was suddenly stopped by someone.

"Master Fa, please stay."

Fazheng stopped and turned around, looked at the strong young man, showed a gentle smile and cupped his hands: "Young Master Ye, what's the matter?"

Guo Ye was shirtless, wiped the sweat off his body with the shirt he took off, and said a little embarrassedly: "Please forgive me, my lord. I am covered in sweat. I have something to ask you."

After careful calculation, Fazheng met Guo Ye on the first day he joined Guo Jia. After a few years, Guo Ye also grew up under the watchful eyes of civil servants and generals like them. Now he can still go to the military camp to practice hard. Commendable.

"If Mr. Ye doesn't dislike it, why don't you go and have a light meal at Xiafu?"

Fazheng opened his hands to invite.

Guo Ye declined politely, "No, I'll go back to the barracks later, so I'll walk with you for a while, and I hope Master Fa can clear up my doubts."

Fazheng smiled slightly, took a step forward, his pace was a little slower, and asked, "What's your confusion, Mr. Ye?"

Guo Ye hung his sweat-soaked coat around his neck, and after the two of them walked a few steps beside Fazheng, he said, "A few days ago, my father asked me what to do when Han Sui and Ma Chao came to borrow food. You can answer whether you want to borrow or not, but my father just smiled and said nothing, I don’t know whether my answer is right or wrong, and I hope Master Fa will clarify my doubts for me.”

Guo Ye has been thinking about this question over and over in his mind recently. Jia Xu is not in Chang'an, so there are not many people he can ask for advice, and Fazheng is one of them.

Fazheng turned his head and gave Guo Ye a gentle look, then looked ahead, and said softly, "I would like to ask Mr. Ye first, do you think the lord can recruit Ma Chao and Han Sui?"

Surrender?

It is simply impossible to annex the other party without resorting to force, or to make the two families surrender.

Guo Ye blurted out: "Han Sui and Ma Chao will not surrender to their father."

Surrender or surrender requires a title.

Cao Cao's recruitment and rebellion were all under the banner of the Han court, and he was attached to him. At any rate, he followed the court's call to be a loyal and obedient minister.

But the princes took refuge in the princes for no reason, which is a bit unreasonable. Even Guo Jia, who is now a hussar general and Yizhou shepherd and governor of the Guanzhong military, is only a Han minister. Since he is a minister, what name does he have for a fellow Han The general appointed by the imperial court came to seek refuge?Isn't this tantamount to openly supporting Guo Jia's rebellion?
Guo Jia could fabricate Han Sui and Ma Chao’s disobedience as a slogan to crusade against them. On the surface, it was for the Han Dynasty to eliminate traitors, but in fact it was a conquest and expansion. However, Guo Jia could not directly order the other party to submit. .

Under the background of this position, Han Sui and Ma Chao can submit to Cao Cao openly, at least in name, he is still a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty. Cao Cao can also use the emperor to confer titles on them. In turn, Guo Jia cannot give them titles. Their fate is not necessarily optimistic. Guo Jia surrendered to the court, they are ministers, Guo Jia failed to compete in the Central Plains, they are a party of thieves, Guo Jia aspires to the world, they are certainly not the group that benefits the most, but following Cao Cao, Following the imperial court, even if the Han Dynasty eventually perished, at least they would not be left with a bad name in the history books.

Guo Ye's answer made Fazheng feel relieved. At least Guo Ye didn't blindly think that Guo Jia's powerful influence was the reason why Han Suimateng had to bow his head and surrender.

"Young Master Ye, if this is the case, if the Lord wants to conquer the Northwest, he must meet Han Sui and Ma Chao. So what is the most unfavorable situation?"

Fazheng walked forward slowly, with a soft tone.

Guo Ye also blurted out this time: "The two families unite to resist father."

"Then what's a little better than this situation?"

"The two families do not help each other, and the father breaks down one by one."

"What better situation?"

"There is internal strife between the two families, and my father is taking advantage of it."

Having said that, Guo Ye stopped, frowning and thinking.

Fazheng did not continue walking, but turned his head and stared at Guo Ye with a faint smile.

After a while, Guo Ye suddenly cupped his hands at Fazheng and said, "I have benefited a lot from talking with Master Fa. However, I want to know, if Ma Chao didn't withhold the food, wouldn't my father's plan have been miscalculated?"

Guo Ye said to Guo Jia that it doesn't matter if you borrow money or not.

If you don’t borrow, the two families will survive without food. They must unite to attack Guanzhong. This is a desperate fight. As long as Guo Jia blocks it, he can sit back and wait for the two families to perish. And the most unfavorable situation occurs.

If the grain is borrowed, the two families will be grateful, which will help Guo Jia defeat them one by one.

This is what Guo Ye thought of, but what he ignored was the best situation.

The two families killed each other, and Guo Jia reaped the benefits.

Fazheng said to Guo Ye meaningfully: "Young Master Ye, those who want to achieve great things, especially those who want to achieve great things, don't care too much about it. My lord doesn't even care about the gains and losses of a city or a place. Would you care about mere food and grass? Nothing is bad for you. Merchants, my lord uses borrowed food to set up a game, at least it will return a good or bad situation, and the best return is now that there is a gap between Ma Chao and Han Sui."

If you describe Guo Jia and Guo Ye's views on borrowing food, it is obvious that Guo Jia is the upper middle and Guo Ye is the lower middle.

Guo Ye nodded in agreement, as if he was taught, but he immediately asked again: "Master Fa said that Han Sui and Ma Chao had a rift. Could it be that the two are going to war?"

If no one told Guo Ye about military affairs, he would never know.

Fazheng smiled when he heard the words: "Although Han Sui got [-] stones of grain, it was not enough to support him through the crisis of famine. The people under him will go to other places to beg. After the population is lost, his harvest will be less in the coming year, and the army will have to be cut down. So if you don’t want to wait for defeat, you must start a war.”

Guo Ye nodded frequently, with a smile on his lips, saluted Fazheng, turned around and ran back to the barracks.

Fazheng watched his back gradually disappear from sight, and sighed inexplicably.

"It would be great if Young Master Ye was born ten or twenty years later."

(End of this chapter)