Cao Qian came here mainly to discuss the specific cooperation between Yuzhou and Yueyang on behalf of the Marquis of Changxiang.
It is impossible for anyone to allow the Shu salt ship to pass through the Chu territory without restraint.
Generally speaking, the best place to bring Jingyan out of Sichuan is either Jingzhou, which is adjacent to Jiazhou, or choose Songzi on the south bank of Jingzhou, which used to be under the jurisdiction of Jingzhou and is now under the jurisdiction of Langzhou.
In the past, when the imperial court was still there, Sichuan Salt wanted to enter Chu, and the leading authority was the Salt and Iron Division in Jinling. If the local government dared to interfere in this matter, it would be treason. Even if the trading place was chosen in Jingzhou or Songzi, Langzhou, it would still be sent by the Salt and Iron Division. Officials came to set up a salt and iron courtyard or a salt and iron market to handle their affairs.
Now the Hunan Shangshu Province denounces Anning Palace and Prince Yang Yuanwo as parricide and traitors. Shen Yang and others naturally hope that after Sichuan salt comes out of Sichuan, they will send salt officials to Songzi City to receive it, and then market it to Hunan. Jingxiang, Jiangxi and other places.
However, even if Changxiang Hou Wang Yong and Cao Qian were willing to do this, they could not explain it to Wang Jian, the Lord of Shu.
Between military states, let alone the love between father-in-law and son-in-law, it is common for father and son to kill each other.
For Wang Jian, the leader of Shu, even if he was unable to send troops to capture Jingxiang at this time, he still had to ensure that the eastern front was safe. This did not mean fully supporting Yang Yuanpu, his son-in-law, and fully cooperating with the Hunan Shangshu Province.
If one day Yang Yuanpu takes over the power of Chu and aspires to take over the world, how can he not take over the land of Shu because of his relationship with the leader of Shu?
If Jingzhou and Xiangzhou can form mutual checks and balances with the Hunan Province, it would be best if the Chu State could always be fragmented and completely unable to pose a threat to the Shu State, which would be in the best interest of the Shu State.
At the beginning of the planning of the war to reduce the vassal state, the Shu Kingdom initially increased its troops to Xiazhou to contain Jingzhou. Zhang Pei could not lead his troops to cross the river to attack Langzhou. This was this strategy. Unfortunately, in the battle to reduce the vassal state, Han Qian and Zheng Hui had to The Zhou army attacked Buyou all the way along the Yuanshui River, too fiercely and too quickly. When Li Zhigao led his troops across Dongting Lake and entered the Yuanjiang River, the Ma family had been beaten to the point where they were unable to fight back, and the Shu Kingdom finally gave up on the Ma family.
The Lord of Shu, Wang Jian, is now even more worried that he will suffer the same disaster as the kings of Chu and Liang who were murdered. But if he can successfully eliminate the hidden dangers within Shu, why does he not have the ambition to unify the world at all?
Therefore, before Cao Qian came to Xuzhou on behalf of the Marquis of Changxiang and met Han Qian and Yang Yuanpu in Yueyang, the Lord of Shu, Wang Jian, had already agreed with his generals in the capital of Shu on the strategy of sending Sichuan salt out of Sichuan. First, Yuzhou was responsible for communicating with Jingzhou and Hunan. For the salt and iron trade in Shangshu Province, firstly, Liangzhou is responsible for the salt and iron trade with Xiangzhou.
Knowing that Yuzhou would not hand over all the well salt transported out of Sichuan via the Yangtze River waterway to Hunan Xingtai, and also sent people to contact Jingzhou, Yang Yuanpu summoned Shen Yang, Wang Lin, Feng Liao and others to ask for advice.
Since Hunan Xingtai did not have a special branch office or salt and iron transfer department, the financial statistics and branch adjustment, salt and iron sales department, etc. were all merged into the account department of Xingtai Xingtai.
Shen Yang serves as the left prime minister of Xingtai and also serves as the chief minister of the household department. He can be said to be the chief minister of Zhengshun, a small court in Xingtai, Hunan. Wang Lin and others, as the heads of the household department of Xingtai, are specifically in charge of land, money, grain, tribute, Discuss sales, expenses, warehousing and other matters.
Feng Liao accompanied Cao Gan to Yueyang to deliver the message, but was temporarily persuaded to stay in Yueyang by Yang Yuanpu. From time to time, he had the opportunity to participate in the planning of confidential matters.
Before coming to Yueyang, Cao Qian first went to Xuzhou to meet Han Qian. At this time, he learned that Yuzhou was superior in salt affairs, so he sent people to Jingzhou to see Zhang Wei. Yang Yuanpu also specially summoned Feng Liao and asked him Thoughts on this matter:
"Feng Liao, what do you think Zhang Wei's attitude will be?"
Feng Liao accompanied Cao Gan to Yueyang. Han Qian had once said that Hunan Xingtai would be at peace with all parties at present, so he determined that Zhang Wei would not be easily won over by this side, let alone lead the elite Zuowu Guards to join him. Hunan Xingtai is waiting for orders.
Feng Liao collected his thoughts and said: "Even if Zhang Wei has no intention of separatist rule, the annual salt profit of tens of thousands of dollars will probably make it difficult for him and his subordinates to leave..."
"Zhang Zhi should have brought his family and children to Jingzhou, but there are still many generals in the Zuowu Guards, and their families and children are trapped in Jinling. These people will advise Zhang Zhi to wait and see in Jingzhou, and at this time, the Shu Kingdom will use such a rich treasure for nothing. Salt and profit were given to them, and they had no reason not to give them up." Shen Yang said with a slight frown.
During the Jinling Incident, the relatives of the Longque Army who stayed in Jinling were divided into two groups. They escaped from Jinling with Li Pu, the Marquis of Xinchang, or with the troops from Lantingxiang, and evacuated to Qiuhu Mountain.
Although when Xinchang Hou Li Pu led his troops to withdraw from Qiuhu Shandong, tens of thousands of women and children were slow to move and were captured by Anning Palace and beheaded as rebels, but these were mainly the family members of ordinary soldiers.
The family members of the military attachés and generals at all levels of the Longque Army received special care and evacuated safely to Runzhou. Later, the family members of the core generals evacuated to Yueyang with the concubine Wang Chaner, Han Daoming, Zheng Chang and others.
During the Jinling Incident, the family members of people like Zhang Zhi and Du Chongtao who stayed in Jinling were quite sensitive when the situation was at its most tense. When they saw that the situation was not right, they all had the courage to escape from Jinling in time. However, there were also quite a number of generals. Before the little boy could react, the city gate was already closed.
Since then, Jinling City has been under the strict control of An Ning Palace and the Prince's army. It would be extremely difficult for these helpless family members, old, weak, sick and children, to escape from Jinling City.
Although Anning Palace was a little crazy when it came to the murder of Han Daoxun and Zhong Yuli, and did not directly imprison the families and dependents of these generals afterwards, it still successfully frightened many people into not daring to act rashly.
Therefore, whether Zhang Wei or Du Chongtao want to separate the local area and stand on their own, or surrender to King Tan or King Xin, they need to adjust the generals and officials who have families stranded in Jinling. Before that, they usually just choose to wait and see, or even They would also superficially accept the edicts and orders issued by Jinling.
The intelligence of the Shu army may not be so accurate and timely, but Wang Jian, the leader of Shu, is not without capable ministers and cadres. It is not difficult to analyze the current fragmented situation in Chu and use salt and profit methods to lure Zhang Wei to further maintain his independence. They are really There is no good way to resolve it.
Feng Liao added: "Wang Yong, the Marquis of Changxiang, currently intends to pass through Banan, and needs to join forces with Sizhou to attack the Wu Liao people. - By approaching Banan, in addition to cutting off the rebel financial resources of the Liao people in southern Sichuan, the Shu Lord Wang Jian was also able to support Wang Yong, the Marquis of Changxiang, before his eldest son Qingjiang Marquis. So from these two points, even if we cannot prevent Shu from transporting part of Sichuan salt to Jingzhou, we can still strive for more favorable conditions for us; in addition, Chongqing The state urgently wants to purchase a batch of war weapons from Xuzhou, and we still need His Highness’s permission to let them go.”
"This is easy to say," Yang Yuanpu looked at Shen Yang and said, "When discussing salt matters with Cao Qian, maybe Feng Liao can also participate?"
Shen Yang nodded. Feng Liao came on behalf of Xuzhou. They would not allow Feng Liao to participate in the salt discussion. Feng Liao would also have private discussions with Cao Gan. Wang Yong, the Marquis of Changxiang, was so eager to make contributions that Yuzhou was interested in what Xuzhou produced. The more urgent the need for war weapons, the more beneficial it is to them. Even if Zheng Yu and others knew about this, there was no reason to isolate Feng Liao.
Feng Liao looked at Shen Yang, and Wang Lin cupped her hands and said, "Feng Liao is young and has little knowledge, so he still wants to ask Mr. Shen, Prime Minister, to take care of him."
Coming from Xuzhou, Feng Liao spent four days on the boat with Cao Qian day and night, and almost figured out the limits of Yuzhou. Shu planned to transport Sichuan salt from Yuzhou to Chu via Wushan Changxia about fifteen times a year. With about 10,000 shi, they can get 100,000 to 120,000 shi of Sichuan salt to be unloaded at Songzi, under the control of Hunan Province Sizhou will also spread to the old county in central Guizhou via Xuzhou, which will not damage the salt interests in the areas east and north of Xuzhou), leaving 30,000 to 50,000 stones to be transported to Jingzhou and handed over to Zhang Wei for disposal.
In addition to these, there will also be 50,000 shichuan salt in the direction of Hanzhong in Liangzhou, which will flow into Xiangzhou via the Han River and be handed over to Du Chongtao.
In this way, by adding a salt tax of 200 yuan for every dou of salt, the Hunan Province will be able to obtain a net tax source of 200,000 yuan from the salt business every year.
Of course, Cao Gan and Feng Liao knew that they needed war weapons produced in Xuzhou now. Among them, the scorpion cannon and bed crossbow that could be placed on warships for long-range attacks were most urgently needed.
There are cliffs on both sides of the Qianjiang River, and most of the Wuyuan people's villages are built on the cliffs near the river.
Although the waterways in the middle and lower reaches of the Qianjiang River are relatively wide, and the Yuzhou warships can enter the waterways in the middle and lower reaches of the Qianjiang River unobstructed, it is difficult to even find a foothold along the coast where they can spread their troops, let alone attack the Wuyuan people built on the river cliffs. The stronghold is dangerous.
For example, the Scorpion Cannon can be placed on the deck of a warship, and even five or six people can carry it after landing ashore. The Crossbow has become a weapon for attacking these dangerous strongholds.
Although Han Qian gave the designs of the Cyclone Cannon and the Scorpion Cannon to the Shu Kingdom as a wedding gift, when the craftsmen of the Shu Kingdom actually started to make them, they found that the large and heavy Cyclone Cannon was easy to copy, and the Scorpion Cannon required too many materials. High, they imitated more than a dozen scorpion crossbows, but their range and projection power were not as good as those originally produced in Xuzhou.
In addition to these, Yuzhou also wants to purchase eight double-decker warships from Xuzhou.
When Han Qian fled Shu, two 4,000-stone war sailing ships were unable to be evacuated in time because their targets were too large. Although they were scuttled in the Tuojiang River, one war sailing ship sunk in the river in a relatively shallow place and was salvaged and towed to the shoal by the Shu army. superior.
It is obvious that the warships produced in Xuzhou, in addition to the pointed nose and pointed bottom ship shape and the overall multi-slot watertight cabin structure, also use a large number of refined iron components, and their structural strength and ship speed are stronger than those produced in Shu. Take out a big chunk.
Although the Shu army could imitate new warships based on the ruined ships, it would take time.
As for the Marquis of Changxiang at this time, he urgently needed to establish meritorious deeds and cultivate his own direct troops and forces, but what he lacked was precisely time.
After negotiating many things, Cao Gan hurried back to Yuzhou without waiting for the marriage between Princess Qingyang and Yang Yuanpu. He also had to wait for the first batch of Sichuan salt from Yuzhou to be transported into Songzi, and the war equipment produced in Xuzhou, The warship will be handed over to the troops from Yuzhou to take back.
If Yuzhou wants to use troops against the Wuyuan people before the end of May, time is still very tight.