Whether it is Guan Zhong’s technique or economic colonization, the routines are basically the same.
In the early stage, a large amount of cost must be invested to cultivate and support agents or interest groups, so as to unknowingly disintegrate the enemy and allow the enemy to follow his own design.
Just wait until the time is right before harvesting.
If you want to implement this routine, you must have a prerequisite.
That is, one's own strength must be strong enough, whether it is economic strength or military strength.
To put it more bluntly, you have to be tough to make iron.
If it is done halfway and cannot continue due to the weakening of its own strength, the investment in other countries in the early stage will really be like cutting meat to feed dogs.
Maybe it will be backlashed in the end.
Of course, if the enemy can be successfully harvested, the harvest will be huge.
Even if it cannot destroy the country, it can at least enslave other countries for its own use, or make the enemy country fall into chaos without fighting.
Fortunately, the current Han Dynasty is a powerful country for Wu.
The population, economy, and military are all superior to those of Wu.
More importantly, after regaining Guanzhong and Hedong, the war potential of the Han Dynasty will sooner or later be the highest among the Three Kingdoms.
War potential depends not only on who has more resources.
It also depends on who can conduct war mobilization better and who can use domestic resources more efficiently.
From this point of view, the Han Dynasty has already opened a considerable distance from Wu and Wei.
At least ten years ago, Governor Feng had already begun to try to restore the township pavilion system of the former Han Dynasty, or the former Qin Dynasty.
After more than ten years of military career and more than ten years of continuous promotion of schools in local areas, he has trained a large number of grassroots cadres.
Retired military veterans and students from local schools who failed to pass the Royal Academy are the nerve endings for the government to control the local area.
From Nanzhong to Longyou and then to Liangzhou, their presence is everywhere.
If we say that the two countries of Wei and Wu, which were completely controlled by powerful families, were like patients with malignant tumors.
Such a big man is a young man who has successfully undergone surgery and is recovering.
Fifteen years ago, in order to raise more food, the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty did not hesitate to recruit civilians to clean up Dujiangyan when the country was at its weakest.
Weir officers were even specially set up, leading thousands and two hundred soldiers to patrol the water conservancy.
This unprecedented move is also a helplessness.
After all, the economic lifeline of the Shu Han Dynasty at that time was in the hands of aristocratic families.
Without money and food, how can we talk about fighting in the north and south?
Who could have expected that fifteen years later, the Shu family would feel like crying as they looked at the increase in grain production every year and the tightly suppressed grain prices.
After so many years of training, the Shu family has become docile.
Farming and mulberry trees are the foundation of the country. In such a large area of cultivated land as the Shu plain, it has been stipulated long ago where food should be grown and where mulberry trees should be planted.
Anyone who dares to plant sugar cane, tea trees, etc. will have the government come to their door the next day.
As for such things as low prices hurting farmers, of course there is no such thing.
Because the government has a guaranteed minimum price for grain, Xinghanhui can even buy it for two to three cents, or even four to five cents, above the guaranteed minimum price.
Anyway, we definitely won’t let everyone farm at a loss.
Just tell me whether you want to sell it or not!
"If the price of your food is right, we will definitely sell it!"
The dock warehouse outside Jincheng is also the largest stronghold of the Xinghan Hui in Shu.
Today, this stronghold welcomed many guests: Li family, Zhang family, Zhao family, Huang family...
Every high-ranking family in Shu sends out a person who can make decisions.
Hearing Deng Liang sitting in the main seat, looking at the noise below, he smiled very respectfully:
"After so many years, who doesn't know that we in Xinghan can do things very authentically? In which year was the price of grain collected by us not higher than others?"
That’s because besides selling to the government, I can only sell to you, okay?!
Over the years, the government relied on the support of Xinghanhui's pastures and rented a large number of cattle to Mudlegs every year.
The legs of the eight-oxen plow are not useful, but the curved-shaft plow is most suitable for small households.
After so many years of war, it may be an exaggeration to say that the population has been reduced to 1 out of 10, but it is definitely true to say that it has dropped by 60 to 70%.
In addition, the Prime Minister has been vigorously building water conservancy projects, and over the years, foreign wars have been successful.
This allowed the government to control a large amount of wasteland, which could allocate land to mud-legged people on a large scale, and the taxes were not high.
The most important thing is that only families with registered residence can send their children to school.
This can be regarded as the greatest benevolent policy of the Han Emperor. As for whether anyone is gnashing their teeth secretly, who cares?
Wealthier farmers now even raise chickens and ducks.
With so much hope, who would want to be a hermit?
What’s the point of having more grain in a big house?
Thinking of the fact that many wealthy families went to Nanxiang to do grain business in recent years, but in the end their families were ruined, many people said "poof" in their hearts:
The government and businessmen collude and bully the officials. Do you still have the nerve to say that you are doing things honestly?
"It's because I knew Xinghan would do things honestly, so when I heard that we were preparing to collect grain in large quantities, I rushed over here in a hurry!"
Someone is laughing with you:
"I wonder how much grain you would like to collect?"
Deng Liang gave the other party a meaningful look and said slowly:
"Don't worry, this meeting is not to go to Nanxiang to list the listing, but to inform everyone directly. The meaning is very clear:
This time we will only collect grain from the families present and will not collect grain from grain merchants in other places."
"really?"
Most of the people present couldn't help but beam with joy after hearing this.
In other words, this time, everyone doesn’t have to go to the Nanxiang Exchange to compete with grain merchants from all over the place?
Then they saw Deng Liang extend a slap and continued:
"The old grain I bought this time can be 30% higher than the grain price at Nanxiang Exchange. If you are willing to write the deed now, next year's grain price can be 50% higher."
"hiss!"
Everyone took a breath of cold air, making the temperature in the room a little colder.
"really!"
This time, it was not just a few questions, but most people spoke in unison.
Seeing this, Deng Liang smiled slightly again, and then stretched out three fingers:
"Three copies of the deed, one for each party and one for the government."
In other words, is this thing true?
If you want to break the contract, you will destroy the reputation accumulated by the Xinghan Society and the government over the years.
Everyone looked at each other, none of them recovered from the shock.
Someone swallowed and asked carefully:
"I dare to ask Deng Langjun, does Feng...er, Feng Huishou know about this?"
Counting from the day Feng Guiwang came out of the mountain, I don't know how many people have written down this person's dark accounts in their notebooks.
However, over the years, everyone's morale has become shorter and shorter, and many people even suffer from "Ghost King Fear".
After so many years of suffering, and suddenly getting such a huge benefit, people can't believe it at first.
Of course, there are also people who have other ideas:
King Feng Gui has been isolated from news for most of the year. Even if it is possible to enter Chang'an now, considering the distance between Guanzhong and Jincheng, it is impossible for the news between the two places to spread so quickly.
In this case, unless this matter was discussed in advance, someone made the decision on his own without King Feng Gui's knowledge.
So... is it possible that there is a second leader of the Xinghan Society?
But Deng Liang said leisurely: "Don't worry, everyone, how could my brother not know about such a big thing?"
Well, I hope he doesn't know.
Huh?
wrong.
If this matter is really a decision made by King Feng Gui in advance.
Doesn't that mean that King Feng Gui had already decided on this matter at least a year ago, that is, before the expedition?
Thinking of King Feng Gui's foresight, more people became more hesitant:
What is Ghost King Feng planning?
Deng Liang was greatly surprised when everyone suddenly stopped talking:
Such a good thing, why do you behave like this?
"Deng Langjun, over the years, we have interacted not once or twice. Everyone here has some friendship."
"Can you tell everyone what this deal is all about?"
Isn't that right? Over the past few years, most of the grain harvested by everyone has been sold to the Xinghan Hui.
Old acquaintance!
After hearing this, Deng Liang finally vaguely guessed what these people were thinking.
But seeing him couldn't help but smile and said calmly:
"There is nothing hard to say about this matter. To put it bluntly, there is a shortage of food in Jingzhou, Wu State, and we have sent people to the imperial court for help many times."
"Everyone also knows what happened later. Because we had to prepare for the Battle of Guanzhong, this matter was postponed."
"However, the preparations have been done in advance. For example, the Yi Market was set up in Yong'an to make transactions with Wu more convenient."
Having said this, Deng Liang raised his cup and took a sip of tea before continuing:
"The current person in charge of Yong'an Yi City is Fei Gongju (Fei Shi). This man is from Shu. He is upright and outspoken. If you have any doubts, you may as well go and ask."
Fei Gongju?
Hmm, well, this...
First he wrote a letter against Liu Bei's premature proclaiming of emperor, and then he opposed Zhuge Liang's acceptance of Meng Da's surrender in person. Fei Gongju's character is quite worthy of recognition.
At least it's much better than a certain guy named Feng.
Everyone has heard about the fact that grain prices in Jingzhou are high and that the grain prices in the entire Wu Kingdom are much higher than those in Shu.
But transporting grain out of the country and selling it to other countries without permission is a beheading transaction.
Especially with the terrain of Shu, even if you have the courage to risk it, there is no way to transport a large amount of grain to Jingzhou without being discovered.
After searching for many years with no way out, I finally let go. If I say I'm not moved, it would be a lie.
"Deng Langjun, may I ask how much grain will be harvested this time?"
No one present is a fool. Judging from Deng Liang's current words, this matter is at least 70% to 80% true.
The atmosphere immediately became a little warmer:
"Deng Langjun, may I ask how much grain you plan to harvest this time?"
"Of course, the more the merrier, after all, the Xinghan Society will collect grain from Shu every year."
"Of course, high-priced grain will only be sold to Jingzhou, so there must be a quota. This depends on the food shortage situation in Jingzhou."
After learning that grain could be sold to Jingzhou, people with ulterior motives suddenly felt a chill in their hearts when they heard the word quota.
Doesn't that mean that selling grain to Jingzhou still needs to be controlled?
Doesn’t that mean that only a portion of the high-priced grain can be sold?
Doesn't that mean we can't transport grain to Jingzhou ourselves?
Enter his mother's!
Shameless thing!
There is collusion between government and businessmen all day long!
"Deng Langjun, you know that there is never a shortage of food in everyone's hands. So what exactly is the quota for this high-priced food? Can you tell me in detail?"
When Hall Master Deng of Jincheng Hall of Xinghanhui heard this, he smiled slightly:
"Well, of course there are regulations. To be honest, I have received news that the imperial court may open schools in various counties in Shu."
"It's just that everyone knows that the battle in Guanzhong has not yet been decided, and the imperial treasury may not be well-off..."
Before I finished speaking, my eyes reminded me: You understand!
Who doesn’t know that the Xinghan Society is actually the biggest white glove in the world?
It is not surprising at all that Hall Master Deng knew some inside information in advance.
What does it mean that the treasury is just not very rich?
Your grandson came here to make money, but you actually want me to pay for it?
But school... school?!
"Deng Langjun, are you saying that the imperial court finally plans to open a school in Jincheng?"
After the first examination class in Liangzhou ended a few years ago, some people were already advocating that they want to establish a school in Shu County.
After this proposal was sent to Hanzhong, the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty forwarded it to King Feng Gui and asked for his opinion.
The final answer given by King Feng Gui was: Nanxiang is too short of teachers and teaching materials and is temporarily unable to support the construction of schools in Shu County.
"Not only Jincheng, but also several counties around Shu County will establish schools. The money and food required will definitely be indispensable."
"The Xinghan Association is naturally involved in the school affairs, so the regulations on grain collection still have to fall on the school."
"This is a great good deed and a rare benevolent government!"
Someone suddenly became excited.
Isn’t that right?
Good people should be rewarded well. When it comes to schools, whoever pays more will naturally have more quotas for high-priced food.
However, this is something that the Shu family has long awaited.
Because only by opening a school can we truly have a channel to enter the Royal Academy, instead of having to go through twists and turns to find the way like now.
There are even times when I can't even find a way out.
Someone couldn't help but said loudly:
"Deng Langjun doesn't have to worry about the school's money and food. As Shu people, if we sit back and ignore it, we will be stabbed in the back by the villagers!"
Many people have finally figured out that this so-called high price of food is simply an excuse.
In fact, someone wanted to use Deng Liang's mouth to test everyone's opinions on the school. Of course, high-priced grains still have to be sold, and they can make a little profit.
But, why did Zhuge Villager and Feng Guiwang suddenly show kindness?
Are you giving money to everyone and easing the official career of the children in Shu?
With this question in mind, Qiao Zhou secretly went to visit Du Qiong, a famous scholar in Shu County.
At this time, Qin Mi had passed away, and Du Qiong, the general of Zuo Zhonglang, became one of the most virtuous and respected local officials in Shu.
Du Qiong was usually taciturn and rarely saw outsiders, but this time he had a rare meeting with Qiao Zhou.
"The Battle of Guanzhong was not only a great change for the world, but also a great change for the Han Dynasty."
He looked at the peach forest outside. At this time, all the peach leaves had fallen, leaving only bare branches.
The current Han Dynasty is not the same as it was more than ten years ago, when it was only supported by Shu.
However, it is already sitting in the most beautiful place in the world, and there is potential for revival.
The changes in the past ten years or so have been earth-shaking.
"The emperor is a wise king, the prime minister is a wise prime minister, and there are many knowledgeable people in the court. How can they fail to see the changes in the situation of the Han Dynasty? If you know the changes and adapt to them, you can become an outstanding person?"
Qiao Zhou didn't understand, so he asked humbly:
"Sir, please explain in detail."
Du Qiong asked:
"Back then, the prime minister and Feng Junhou mistreated the aristocratic family in the middle of Shu. Do you know why?"
Qiao Zhou opened his mouth, but did not dare to say anything.
Du Qiong seemed to have anticipated Qiao Zhou's attitude and continued speaking to himself:
"Most of the actions of the powerful people in Shu were to prevent the Han Dynasty from returning to the old capital. Today's situation can be said to be self-inflicted. But are all the powerful people in Liangzhou innocent?"
"In the Battle of Guanzhong, the Han Dynasty not only recovered Guanzhong, but also took control of Bingzhou, Hedong and other places. Do all the aristocratic families in the north hope that the Han Dynasty will revive?"
Who would believe that the pretender Wei usurped the Han Dynasty without the support of the noble families in the north?
Qiao Zhou seemed to have caught something. His eyes widened and he asked in disbelief:
"Sir, what you are saying is that the imperial court wants to practice the art of balance?"
Du Qiong looked at Taolin again and said slowly:
"In the past, the imperial court used the help of Liangzhou's wealthy families to suppress the aristocratic families in central Shu. Now even if the target of suppression is changed, it is just the same old plan. Is it strange?"
Hedong is a place with many aristocratic families, so Qiao Zhou naturally understands this.
It's just that the imperial court has always attached great importance to Liangzhou and despised Shuzhong. Even if it wants to suppress the Central Plains families, why not just continue to rely on the powerful families of Liangzhou?
When Qiao Zhou thought of this, his heart trembled. He lowered his voice and asked quietly:
"Sir, if this is really the imperial court's balancing act, doesn't it mean that Liangzhou is also possible..."
"That's not what you and I have to worry about." Du Qiong glanced at Qiao Zhou indifferently, "Look, it's winter right now, and the peach tree seems to be dead."
"But after one month, it will grow flower bones, bloom, and be beautiful."
Du Qiong said in a deep tone:
"The children of Shu have lost their best opportunity. Over the years, they have been like the peach trees outside the window, suffering from the cold."
"This time, it can be said that we have experienced a cold winter and ushered in a warm spring. If it does not sprout buds and bloom, it will really be cut down as a dead branch and used as firewood."
