Sun Quan now really felt that Lu Xun was seriously joking for him.
How can this be?
Ten cents? Even the cost of asking someone to transport the coarse salt and sand from the sea to the city was more than ten cents. Wasn't Lu Xun deceiving himself or something?
It seemed that he had long expected that Sun Quan would cast doubtful eyes on him.
He just smiled, looked at the shocked people, and said slowly:
"My Lord doesn't seem to believe what I said, right?"
"Haha... Boyan, what are you talking about? You don't believe it? Aren't you planning to make us happy?"
Sun Quan said with a smile.
As a result, Lu Xun asked again:
"No, no, no, let's do this. I ask a question, and my lord, please answer me truthfully. How about that?"
Seeing the calm Lu Xun, Sun Quan felt a little frightened, but in order to keep his calm, he could only cough twice and responded.
Seeing Sun Quan agree, Lu Xun asked softly:
"Lord, can you tell me how long it has been since you left Jiangdong?"
"this……"
This was not a difficult question. Although Sun Quan was still a little confused, he didn't think too much about it, so he blurted out:
"Two years?"
"Well, it turns out it's been two years... So has my lord heard about the price of salt in areas other than Jiangdong in the past two years?"
"Of course, I know you may not care about this issue, but... there is one thing I believe you must have paid attention to -"
Lu Xun's words came gradually, which made Sun Quan really start to mutter.
"It's...what is it?"
Lu Xun shrugged and said calmly:
"Finance - or to be more specific, it is the profits from the production of various salts in Jiangdong."
Having said this, Sun Quan was suddenly shocked. He indeed recalled that one day someone reported to him the news about the sharp drop in profits in the salt industry.
And the key point is that the reason why this is weird is not only because the total amount of exported salt has decreased, but the sales or export volume of high-priced salts such as fine salt and green salt has dropped sharply, while coarse salt, etc., and even
Sales of the more original salt soup began to surge outside.
Sun Quan didn't understand the situation at all at that time and asked the people around him. Since Zhou Yu was not around, he could only ask Zhang Zhao, Gu Yong and others.
As a result, they didn't know what was going on and just laughed and fooled themselves, but Sun Quan didn't delve into it.
Finding that Sun Quan was a little dull, Lu Xun knew that Sun Quan must have remembered what he had told him.
At that time, I was not so clear about the surrounding situation, so I put the matter aside.
Later...he learned that during that time, there was a revolution in the salt industry that swept the entire north.
For the gentry, this was of course a catastrophic change:
"The fact is that during that time, the north was undergoing a revolution in the salt industry. The initial change only caused losses to the families who relied on the salt industry. But later, the northern nobles discovered that this matter was not useful at all.
Price changes can clarify the issue.”
"My lord... Now in the north, the cost of producing refined salt has been reduced to almost zero under the coordination of the workshops around Cao Cao."
"As long as the Yanshan Salt Field produces salt, the cost required is basically the cost of transportation - besides, under the control of Cao Cao, the north has built many new roads extending in all directions in recent years - the horses in the north have long been
All are equipped with that new style of horse equipment called horseshoes...which further reduces the cost of transportation."
When it comes to horseshoes, Sun Quan really knows it.
In the Battle of Hanzhong, the reason why Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang and others lost so miserably was because this little harness called horseshoe changed the balance of strength between the cavalry on both sides.
After that, although Liu Bei also suffered huge losses, it was said that they had already developed something similar with the help of horse gear taken from Cao's army, and the strength of the cavalry was no longer as weak as before.
Only they, Jiangdong, still know little about this thing called horseshoes.
"In short, with these blessings, the price of salt in the north can no longer rise. Moreover, although Cao Cao was violent, the reforms he carried out in the court were all beneficial to the people."
"My lord...Cao Cao is already too far ahead of you."
"Except for a few of the noble families in the north who can still maintain their own property and influence, the rest have basically become vassals of Cao Cao."
"As long as Cao Cao is willing, he can wipe out the northern gentry with just one order - I remember that the governor should have told you back then that Cao Cao was a man who wanted to change the world. What he wanted to change was the order of the old Han Dynasty. To this end,
Gentlemen like us have only one way to perish under his rule."
"You know the hearts of the people, but the hearts of the people in the north are now solid. There have been reports of various people in the north petitioning Cao Cao to proclaim himself king. These are not false at all, they are all facts!"
"This is all I can say about the salt industry. My lord...are you still deceiving yourself?"
——
Lu Xun's words dealt a huge blow to Sun Quan.
The fact is as Lu Xun said, what Cao Cao is doing now is no longer the same dimension as Sun Quan.
Sun Quan was still struggling to gain power, but Cao Cao was almost completing all preparations to centralize power.
No time to hesitate…
"Yes...yeah...what am I doing..."
Sun Quan suddenly covered his face and howled.
He woke up. He woke up instantly.
He didn't wake up from drinking, but woke up from the state of suspicion, jealousy and hesitation that he had fallen into a long time ago.
Even in the middle, Zhou Yu's death failed to wake him up, which was the most terrifying thing.
Sun Quan covered his face and cried loudly. He couldn't believe that he had been sinking for so long.
When I came back to my senses, the person I could trust the most and who believed in me the most was already gone.
Sun Quan's cry was extremely miserable. Lu Su, Pan Zhang, Zhou Tai and others had never heard such tragic cry in their lives.
Now Sun Quan is like a child. He can no longer hold back his pretense of maturity and vents all the sorrow and sorrow in his heart.
Lu Xun just looked at Sun Quan quietly, and then gently patted his shoulder.
"Congratulations, lord, for waking up..."
"To be honest, I actually can't guarantee that you will truly dominate the world. Even if the world is divided into two parts as the governor said, I am worried about whether I will be able to see that day."
"But...that's exactly what it is. The Lord can wake up before everything is irreversible, which means that everything can still be saved."
"So, next, please listen to me talk about my plan, how about it?"
This time, no one objected, and Lu Xun finally smiled.
