Although Zhang Fei's opinion is most beneficial to the Han coalition, it is for Yuan Tan to surrender without a fight. After all the best land in Yuzhou is given away, Yuan Tan's power will completely lose its independence.
There are 300,000 troops, but like Zhang Xiu in history, he will become Liu Bei's guard dog!
Yuan Ji knew that Yuan Tan would not agree to such conditions, but Jian Yong, Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong and others around Liu Bei all agreed with Zhang Fei's opinion. After they saw it, they continued to send Jingzhou's elite to die in the Central Plains.
At that time, Jingzhou's strength was greatly reduced, and the Han Dynasty might not even be able to protect the land south of the Yangtze River!
Liu Bei thought for a long time and said: "Now is not the time to talk about this. The soldiers from Hebei have not yet attacked. If we rashly abandon the land of Yuzhou, maybe Lei Gong thinks that we are afraid of him. This will attract Lei Gong's army and rashly abandon Yuzhou."
, Cao Cao in Qingzhou will completely cut off contact with us. By then, Cao Cao will be hard to protect. Without these two pillars of the Han Dynasty, it will be difficult for us to defend Jiangnan alone! Let’s send more spies first and see what Lei Gong does.
Make plans for the next step! The imperial court will also send envoys to Yuzhou and Qingzhou to discuss the alliance again. Dealing with Lei Gong requires the strength of the entire Han Dynasty!"
But Liu Bei still said to Yuan Ji: "Brother Shiji, please contact Yuan Chaqi and ask him to concentrate his main force in the difficult terrain, so that when Lei Gong attacks Yuzhou, we in Jingzhou will have time to support him!"
Yuan Ji could only promise with a wry smile. He understood that Liu Bei was still influenced by Zhang Fei. In fact, regardless of his identity as the eldest son of Yuan, he also understood that this was the best way to deal with Hebei.
Yuan Tan should not have set his government in an undefeable place like Yuzhou, but in a dangerous place like Luoyang City. Unfortunately, Luoyang City has experienced several mutinies and three years of disasters.
The entire population of Sili is less than one million. It is very difficult for Sili to even support himself, but Yuzhou has 3 million people and is the richest territory of the Yuan family, so Yuan Tan is reluctant to give up Yuzhou!
Qingzhou, Beihai County!
As soon as Xu You saw Cao Cao, he saluted and shouted loudly: "Mengde, you are the only one who can save us now."
Cao Cao helped Xu You up and said: "With my relationship with Benchu, how could I not save Xiansi until death! Not to mention that Xiansi and I are now on a quarrel. If Yuzhou falls, how can I, Qingzhou, survive alone!"
But Cao Cao immediately smiled bitterly and said: "But I also have to have this ability. Now Lei Gong has established 4 camps in Jizhou. 200,000 troops are watching me. Lei Gong has 30,000 cavalry in Yanzhou, and these cavalry are concentrated in Pei State.
, as long as I make the slightest move, these 30,000 cavalry will definitely rush into Xuzhou, and I can't protect myself now!"
This is good news for Xu You. Although Cao Cao has not sent out troops yet, he has already contained Lei Gong's 230,000 troops, so the pressure on Yuzhou's direction will be less.
Xun You said solemnly: "The only one who can save us now is the general. We must form a coalition of princes again to resist Lei Gong, otherwise we will all be annexed by Lei Gong one by one!"
Cao Cao's current situation is not much better than theirs. The loss of Yanzhou has caused Cao Cao to completely lose his rear. As long as Xuzhou is captured, Cao Cao's situation will not be much better than theirs!
Xu You also nodded and said: "It is imperative to form a coalition of princes! My lord will definitely contact the court!"
Now they can only rely on Liu Bei for support!
"When forming the coalition, we have to choose a battlefield that is beneficial to us!" Guo Jia looked at Xu You and said, "The last battle in the Central Plains has told us that facing Daqian's superior cavalry, we will definitely lose in the battle between the Central Plains and Lei Gong. If we can choose a battlefield that is favorable to us, we may not have no chance of defeating Thunder Lord!"
Xu You thought for a moment and said: "You mean we fight Lei Gong in Sili?"
Guo Jia nodded solemnly and said: "We can launch a sheep attack on the Daqian army from Hanoi and Hedong! Attract the main force of Thunder God to Sili, relying on Sili's solid defense and favorable terrain, whether it is Luoyang City or Chang'an City They are the strongest cities of the Han Dynasty. If the Daqian army wants to conquer these two cities, they will definitely pay a huge price. If we can kill and injure 200,000 Daqian troops in Sili, Lei Gong will definitely be hit hard."
Xu You made a detailed analysis and prediction, and found that if they could really inflict heavy losses on Da Gan's army at Sili, they might be able to turn their defense into an offensive in the Central Plains battlefield. If they unite with Cao Cao, they might be able to drive Lei Gong out of Yanzhou and redefine the battle line. Push it to the front line of the Yellow River!
But he still smiled bitterly and said: "With the strength of the Daqian Army, even in Sili, we may not be able to defeat them!"
Guo Jia said, "That would be better than being massacred by Lei Gong's cavalry in the Central Plains. You know, we still had 30,000 cavalry last time, but now we in Shanfang no longer have an organized cavalry army."
"I will report it to the general of chariots and cavalry!" Xu You found that the best choice for them now was that the one whom Lei Gong attacked was Sili!
Guo Jia asked curiously: "What did you do in Yuzhou to trigger such a huge move by Lei Gong? Lei Gong has always been steady. According to his military habits, it is impossible to launch another war half a year after the Central Plains War ended?"
Xu You also smiled bitterly and said: "I also want to know. What we are doing in Yuzhou is just to protect ourselves, but we don't know why the Lei Gong made such a huge move after the summer harvest. Maybe it is because the Lei Gong feels that he has enough food in his hands. Attack us in advance!"
When Xu You and others asked for help, everyone in Yuzhou Sili, from the elite nobles to the ordinary people, felt that the rain was coming. They felt that the flames of war were inevitable in the land of Yuzhou Sili.
But brothers Yuan Tan and Yuan Xi waited fearfully for more than a month, from summer harvest to autumn harvest.
But they found that although Daqian's soldiers gathered together, they had no intention of starting a war! After the autumn harvest in Hebei, they discovered that most of the more than 500,000 troops in Daqian's military camp were actually helping the people harvest food in the fields.
Although this made the two of them breathe a sigh of relief, they were also shocked to find that Yuzhou and Sili were attacked in the military camp due to their large population, and they also recruited hundreds of thousands of civilians to build fortifications. It can be said that Yuzhou and Sili this year Even though there was a good harvest of grain, most of the fields were rotten because there was no one to harvest it!
After understanding all this, Yuan Tan said angrily: "Lei Gong is so vicious, he wants to kill us in this way!"
Yuan Tan's fiscal deficit is astonishingly high, and taxes on grain and grass account for 80% of Yuan Tan's fiscal revenue. It can be said that because of this, a large amount of grain rotted in the fields, and fiscal revenue was reduced. Not even half of it!
This year the whole world is having a good harvest, but this is equivalent to suffering a disaster for him!
Then Yuan Tan said happily: "Fortunately, after we issued banknotes, we can still bear this loss!"
This year he has issued more than 8 billion yuan in banknotes alone. Although he is distressed by the loss of more than one billion yuan in food income, it is not as unbearable as before. Most of them he will issue more than one billion yuan to make up for the loss of food!
But he didn't know that the exponential increase in the number of banknotes and the shortage of basic goods such as food would cause an astonishing inflation rate. And now the consequences have begun to show!
Yuan Tan used these currencies to buy billions of supplies, leaving the entire Yuzhou and Sili without a large amount of goods. However, in the first month because the war was about to break out, no one was in the mood to care about it. When all the soldiers of the Daqian Army had gone When the food was harvested, everyone relaxed and knew that there would be no war this year.
But at this time, Yuan Tan's soldiers were surprised to find that their monthly salary was suddenly no longer enough. Everything on the market was rising. Many goods even increased by more than ten times. Even food increased by five times. So these The soldiers' monthly salary could support their families, but now it is difficult for them to even support themselves!
As the news of reduced grain production spread throughout Sili and Yuzhou, grain prices in the two places continued to skyrocket! People in many places were no longer willing to use the banknotes issued by Yuan Tan to buy goods, and everyone was willing to barter. I don’t want to hold banknotes that will depreciate as soon as I get them!
The Sili clan in Yuzhou were the first to learn about the news. They first banned the use of banknotes to purchase goods in their stores, and then used all the banknotes in their hands to pay this year's taxes.
Yes, it’s not like Yuan Shao has done nothing in these years. At least he used Lei Gong to oppress the wealthy nobles under his rule. He can no longer evade taxes. The taxes that should be paid still have to be paid. That is because the wealthy nobles in the Central Plains pay taxes. , Yuan Shaocai raised an army of 300,000.
But now that the price of banknotes has depreciated more than 10 times, and there is no bottom line in sight, the wealthy nobles in Yuzhou naturally want to stop their losses. They buy the banknotes in their hands from the common people at very low prices, and then use these banknotes to hand over Tax, this saves 90% of the income!
But the officials under Yuan Tan were in a dilemma. The taxes paid by the nobles and nobles were the face value of the paper currency. If they wrote this string, they would treat it as one string and hand it over. But now the situation in Yuzhou is that one string of paper money is connected with 100 yuan. It's not even worth it. The taxes in their hands are suddenly reduced by 90%. This amount of tax is not even enough to cover the cost of paying the tax.
However, these wealthy noble families had high positions and even came from wealthy noble families. How could they embarrass their elders? They could only hold their noses and approve these paper money taxes.
But when ordinary people wanted to use these banknotes to pay taxes, they immediately turned their backs and asked these people to either use the copper coins or hand over the grain directly, and they dared to use the banknotes to beat them with sticks!
"I didn't say that banknotes can be deducted from taxes. How could you keep your word?" The people were unconvinced!
But the official said disdainfully: "The original banknotes were valuable, but now the banknotes are not worth ten, and they are still depreciating. Today, one min of banknotes can only be exchanged for 90 yuan. If we collect these devalued banknotes, you will take advantage of it."
It’s 90% cheaper, how can such a good thing happen in the world!”
The farmer cried: "When I exchanged these banknotes, I exchanged them one for each. How could you not accept them!"
The official said disdainfully: "It was then, and now, I tell you that you either have to hand over the grain or the copper coins, or I will send soldiers to demolish your house and use all your valuables.
Tax deduction! If you don’t want to pay tax, don’t even think about it.”
This kind of thing is happening not only in one place, but in the entire Yuzhou and Sili! And because Yuzhou officials refused to accept banknotes, the banknotes plummeted even faster. It can be said that the price is one per day, which is much higher than that of the Celestial Dynasty.
The stock market fell at a very fast speed! And there was no sign of a low. This naturally caused panic throughout Yuzhou. For a while, everyone sold their banknotes and exchanged them for copper coins or grain.
But such behavior has led to a decrease in goods on the market and an increase in banknotes, and the price of banknotes has accelerated!
After Feng Ji found out about this, he immediately reported it to Yuan Tan!
Yuan Tan was even more shocked and said: "The current price of banknotes is only one-tenth of the original price? How could it drop so fast?"
Yuan Tan also wanted to print 10 billion more coins, but now even if he printed 10 billion coins, he could only use them as 1 billion coins. After thinking about it, Yuan Tan decided to just print 100 billion coins. At the worst, he would add tens of thousands to the banknotes to make the unit.
, this might save you some paper.
Feng Ji smiled bitterly and said, "We took away too many goods in Yuzhou. Now the market is full of banknotes. If there are too many banknotes, they will naturally become less valuable! Now if we want to restore the credit of the banknotes, we can only take back the banknotes on the market.
, and ordered the officials in Yuzhou and Sili to strictly prohibit accepting banknotes, so that the price of banknotes will rise!"
But Yuan Tan said: "How can we get billions of money now? Even with so much money, I still want to recruit another 100,000 troops! How can it be used to exchange for this useless white paper! Below
The people are doing the right thing. We can no longer accept these banknotes from now on. People have to use grain and copper coins to pay taxes!"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! After finishing speaking, Yuan Tan also wrote a special notice to inform the officials below that all taxes should be collected in copper coins and grains. Violators will be severely punished!
Yuan Tan never wanted to recycle the banknotes from the beginning. When it comes to money, there is no need to look down on any emperor. Even the founding emperor like Zhu Yuanzhang never thought of recycling the banknotes he found, because he
In my heart, I also admit that this thing of treasure money is a scam!
Feng Ji saw the notice written by Yuan Tan and said: "But if we really do this, our banknotes will become white paper during the First World War!"
But Yuan Tan said firmly: "As long as we stipulate that transactions in Yuzhou must be done with paper money, and anyone who dares to trade with gold, silver, and copper coins will be arrested and their goods confiscated, then the paper money we issue will not collapse!"
Fengji doesn't know what to say, you really think you are the emperor. Didn't the imperial court do such a thing back then? Moreover, the imperial court did not use white paper, but copper coins, but the quality was a little worse and a little more lead was used.
, but it caused the prices of the entire Han Dynasty to skyrocket. And now that they can't even see money, grain, or copper, he can no longer imagine what the prices of Yuzhou will become!
"What should we do with our soldiers? Now the banknotes we issue are less than one-tenth of the original, and the soldiers can no longer support themselves. If this continues, the morale of our army will plummet!"
Yuan Tan then paid more attention to it, thought for a while and said: "Now is a war period. We still have to rely on soldiers to resist thunder. We cannot affect the morale and morale of the army because of the banknotes. So starting today, we will pay 20 times the monthly salary. We
The salary of soldiers has been improved so much, I think they will be diligent in their duties."