Yizhou, or in other words, Shu, was always the last step in Yi Xiaotian's plans.
There is a poem later that goes: Hush, hush, how dangerous it is! The road to Shu is as difficult as climbing to the blue sky!
For all dynasties, Shu has always been a place that is easy to defend but difficult to attack.
Even the closest neighbor, Qin, has only a few often-blocked roads winding into the valley—if the gods are not kind to it, Shu will be completely isolated from the outside world.
This is the same when it comes to doing business.
Before transportation has been completely revolutionized, there are all kinds of risks whether you are walking along the Qinchuan River or going up the river.
To establish a feasible and stable trade route between Shu in the Central Plains is definitely no less difficult than leading troops to attack directly.
Otherwise, even if Cao Cao won the tough battle in Hanzhong, he would not be in the mood to command the army to continue southward, because Cao Cao also understood that without the troops at the time of the Battle of Chibi, it would be nonsense to win over Shu.
The reason why Yi Xiaotian fell in love with Shu was because besides his desire to spread Youjian Villas all over the world, there was another reason...
"Shu Brocade, everyone must have heard of it, right?"
"Ah... If nothing else, if it's Shu brocade, when I was still in Chang'an, I was quite fond of the Shu brocade from Linlangfang——"
Cai Zhaoji is very good at spinning and embroidery. The tight-fitting, hot and refreshing tights that Ma Yunlu is wearing now were sewn by Cai Zhaoji herself.
When she mentioned Shu Brocade, even though she was always calm, there was a hint of girlish joy in her eyes.
"Sichuan brocade not only has a wide variety of designs and colors, but is also of high quality and flexible. The price is also very reasonable."
"It's a pity... things are rare and expensive. I heard that it's not that Shu brocade itself is expensive. If it is in Chengdu, the price of Shu brocade is affordable even for ordinary people. It's just because the price of manpower has to be transported out of Shu. In disguise, the price of Shu brocade has increased.
The cost of selling Shu Brocade elsewhere.”
"Every time the Shu Brocade in Linlangfang comes on sale, it will be sold out within two days."
"Hey, I've said too much, sir...are you planning to start with Sichuan Brocade?"
Seeing Cai Zhaoji's excitement, Yi Xiaotian just smiled and obeyed without interrupting.
Hearing Cai Zhaoji's question, Yi Xiaocai nodded:
"If it were other aspects of business, perhaps Liu Zhang would still be on guard, but in Hanzhong, Gongyan wrote to me before that even Liu Zhang would not refuse any merchant who was willing to communicate with them about Shu brocade business - especially since it was originally
businessman."
Yes, others may not know what Liu Zhang relied on to stay in Yizhou for so many years - in fact, the Shu brocade business was the largest source of support for their military expenditures.
Even in another time and space, after Liu Bei entered Sichuan, Zhuge Liang did not completely deny Liu Zhang's previous actions.
Because of the existence of Shu brocade, Zhuge Liang directly placed the silkworm breeding industry as the most important part of the agricultural and forestry strategies.
Today, the people are poor and the country is weak, and the only way to defeat the enemy is to rely on Jin Er. This is Zhuge Liang's exact words.
Of course, Zhuge Liang and others are still stuck in Jingnan, in a dilemma. On the contrary, Cao Cao is the one who has more hope of gaining Yizhou.
Therefore, for the sake of the near future, making arrangements for Shu Brocade business in advance is definitely a link that cannot be ignored.
"In the past few years, Liu Zhang was not in a hurry, because there were several big businessmen who had maintained long-term relationships with him, whether in Chang'an or in the Central Plains region—"
"Most of the Shu brocade that sells well in various places was shipped to various places through these large merchants."
Yi Xiaotian explained the current situation in Yizhou to everyone, and everyone listened very carefully.
"But because the world structure has undergone considerable changes in recent years, for example, Jingzhou is still divided into two - the north belongs to Cao Cao, and Jiangxia and Jingnan belong to Liu Bei."
"Zhuge Liang probably also knew the importance of Liu Zhang after Shu Brocade, so he sent a heavy army to stay near Yong'an, completely killing the possibility of Liu Zhang selling Shu Brocade through the Central Plains merchants - after all, they had to transport Shu Brocade, so they could only
It relies on river water - otherwise the cost would be too high if it were based on manpower alone."
"I see... I said that during the time I stayed in Xiangyang, I didn't see any fabrics like Shu Brocade. It turns out it was because of this."
Zhen Luo said thoughtfully that after parting with Yi Xiaotian in the past two years, she was usually either in Yecheng or Xiangyang, because the salt field in Xiangyang was destroyed by the war. For a period of time, Zhen Luo personally handled the matter.
Responsible for reconstruction.
Either way, everyone has grown up a lot in the past two years, and Zhen Luo now has Yi Xiaotian's neat demeanor in handling things. She is no longer the girl who just followed Yi Xiaotian and went with the flow.
Yi Xiaotian smiled and continued:
"The east side is not feasible, so Liu Zhang can only do business with Hanzhong and Chang'an. To pass Jiang Wan, Liu Zhang must show enough sincerity."
Speaking of Jiang Wan, Yi Xiaotian is quite satisfied with his little fanboy.
From his humble beginnings in the Battle of Hanzhong, he went into battle in person and defeated the cavalry commanded by Zhuge Liang head-on with a formation of chariots, thus becoming famous in the first battle.
Now, as the prefect of Hanzhong appointed by Cao Cao personally, he oversees the military in Shangyong New City. It can be said that Cao Cao has handed over most of the military power on the western front to Jiang Wan.
Not to mention, there are brothers Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan who trust him very much behind him and are always ready to help. In just two years, Jiang Wan has grown from an ordinary scholar in Lingling Xiangxiang to another confidant under Cao Cao.
It's not in vain that Yi Xiaotian was optimistic about him from the beginning.
At that time, Jiang Wan was still called Little Zhuge Liang, but now people in Hanzhong laugh at him. Zhuge Liang should be called Little Jiang Wan.
No matter what, Jiang Wan was extremely friendly to Yi Xiaotian when he was in Hanzhong.
"Controlling the sales of Liu Zhang's Shu brocade in the north is something I told Jiang Wan before. Now after several years, it's already time to close the net."
Yi Xiaotian spread his hands, and everyone suddenly realized that everything was Yi Xiaotian's instruction.
"It turns out that it was all under the instructions of the master. It is Liu Zhang's misfortune that he took care of him. I'm afraid Liu Zhang is starving now, right? Hahahaha..."
Ma Dai said with a smile, "Everyone heard that he was hungry once, and they just felt very vivid."
Yes, Yi Xiaotian did this just to "hungry" Liu Zhang.
Ever since Xing Daorong personally exposed the inner ghost around Liu Zhang, Liu Zhang had focused all his attention on maintaining the army.
Not only did he need to increase his troops at the pass of Yizhou, but Liu Zhang also had no intention of neglecting it in the city of Chengdu.
But the consequences of such an aggressive military campaign can be imagined - without an important source of income, Liu Zhang himself lived a much more cautious life.
