"Father! That Bai Tu is thousands of miles away from us, why should we be looked down upon for nothing? That guy Gan Ning dares to be so rude, why don't we..."
At this time, Gan Ning had just left the banquet, and Gongsun Du's eldest son, Gongsun Kang, immediately expressed his dissatisfaction to his father.
"Shut up, you act so impulsively, how can my father trust you and hand over Liaodong to you in the future?" Gongsun Du said dissatisfied.
During the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty, the Gongsun family of Liaodong always took "reliance on distance and disobedience" as their guiding ideology...
From Gongsun Du to Gongsun Kang, Gongsun Gong, and Gongsun Yuan, they have always been aloof from the northern regime. Whether they surrendered or rebelled, their ultimate goal was to rely on the geographical advantages of Liaodong to become their own local overlord.
After all, many plotters in the Central Plains have a serious lack of understanding of "Liaodong". They feel that this is a barren land with few people and cold weather.
However, in fact... Liaodong at this time was not just Liaodong County, but also the Seafood Peninsula to the west, the northeastern region... the territory of Goguryeo, Buyeo, and Samhan people all had room for intervention.
For example, Gongsun Kang, who will succeed to the throne in the future, can only beg for mercy from the northern overlords Yuan and Cao. However, Goguryeo, which has just experienced the first stage of expansion, suffered its first national defeat thanks to Gongsun Kang's gift and opened up its borders.
A land of one county...
At this time, Gongsun Du's body was already a little weak due to old age. However, when Gongsun Kang faced his father's scolding, he still bowed his head and said, "Father taught you that." But in fact, you don't know how much he actually listened to it.
Seeing this, Gongsun Du sighed: "Hey, now Yuan Shao is so powerful that Cao Cao is afraid that it will be difficult to stop him. When the Central Plains is completely occupied, Yuan Shao will come to us sooner or later to cause trouble. If our Gongsun family wants to become king in Liaodong, first of all, we must
For internal unity, the second is not to let the princes in the south attack us with all their strength, and the third... is to control the barbarians as much as possible!"
Although Gongsun Du's judgment on the battle between Yuan and Cao may seem ridiculous to later generations, it makes sense to people today.
Even among Cao Cao's men, some of them dared to pat their chests and say: We have a better chance of winning!
Historically, it was during the Battle of Yuan and Cao that Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao and then allowed several of Yuan Shao's sons to fight among themselves. As a result, the Central Plains and Hebei paid little attention to Liaodong in the past few years, giving Gongsun Kang the power to expand.
, an opportunity to consolidate one’s position.
"Father, according to what Gan Ning said, the General's Mansion has stationed troops in Huzhou, will it pose a threat to us?" Gongsun Du's second son Gongsun Gong said in a thin voice at this time.
The reason why the thin voice feels so awkward is not because of the period of voice change, but because Gongsun Gong was ill when he was young and his third leg was amputated...
Hearing the second son's words, Gongsun Du's eyes flashed with regret... and deep disgust - Gongsun Gong was originally quite smart when he was young, but now Gongsun Du no longer has to consider whether he is smart!
Especially later, Gongsun Gong's character was quite conservative, which in Gongsun Du's view was "weak", and he hated him even more for this reason.
"Second brother, don't worry, my father just had an exchange with him before! The Hu people in Zhou are not far from Sanhan, but if they want to come to Liaodong, it will take more than a month by boat, not to mention their small bodies from the south. They have to travel a long distance to meet us.
Fight? Give away your life?" Gongsun Kang said with a smile.
Gongsun Du nodded with satisfaction and said: "Yes, General Bai is far away from us. General Yuan is our trouble now. Since they can come from far away to trade, it is most important for us to take the opportunity to strengthen ourselves. The general's
A little arrogance can be tolerated...but it’s not worth making too big a concession!”
"Too big a concession" refers to Gan Ning's previous proposal to "assist" Lelang County in expanding Andongjin and stationing a fleet there.
However, the Gongsun family in Liaodong was obviously not comparable to a small primitive country like Tamluo. Even if Gan Ning used the excuse of "supporting the Yuan thieves at any time when they invade", it was not attractive to Gongsun Du.
Although Gongsun Du said on the surface that he would consider it, he never thought about letting Gan Ning get his wish.
Gongsun Kang was relieved when he heard what his father said. The other confidants and generals in the tent also had arrogant smiles on their faces.
There was only one person whose face was slightly frowning. After Gongsun Du noticed it, his expression froze and he asked angrily: "Does Bo Fang have any great ideas? Why don't you tell them and share them with us?"
Bo Fang is the cousin of Liang Mao, who is also the nominal governor of Lelang.
The governor of Lelang was not granted the title by Gongsun Du, but was appointed by the imperial court. However, when passing through Liaodong, Liang Mao was detained by Gongsun Du.
The relationship between the two can be said to be close to each other. Gongsun Du did not force him too much, and Liang Mao did not dare to provoke Gongsun Du too much. Although he did not call him "lord", he usually helped Gongsun Du.
"The land of Liaodong is sparsely populated and the people are small. The reason why General Gongsun has today's prestige is because he conquered Xianbei in the north, fought against Goguryeo in the east, and pacified Fuyu in the south... He pacified these foreign tribes. The general's office occupied Zhouhu, and he was unable to expedition to Liaodong.
It's true, but if the General's Mansion is really determined to use Zhou Hu as a fortress to conquer the Three Koreas...
When the time comes, how can Baekje or Silla be the enemy of the General's Office? If the three Koreans are in peace, then Goguryeo and Buyeo will only be in the pocket of the General's Office. Will it matter whether General Gongsun can securely sit in Liaodong?"
Liang Mao chuckled slightly.
The tone was kept at a level that would not make Gongsun Du angry, but could still truly feel his ridicule!
Gongsun Du and Gongsun Kang, father and son, couldn't help but change their expressions after hearing this...
That's right, the basis for their "resistance and disobedience" is not Liaodong County or Liaoxi County.
In the entire Youzhou, only the old counties of Guangyang, Zhuojun, Shanggu, and Yuyang to the west, which were part of China in the pre-Qin period, have a larger population. However, these are Yuan Shao's territories and have nothing to do with the Gongsun family.
Next is Lelang in the northern part of the Fried Seafood Peninsula, which barely has 50,000 households.
As for western Liaoning and eastern Liaoning, the registered population is only 16,000 households, and the combined population is just over 30,000. The number of Xuantu County in western Liaoning and the northeastern end of Liaoning is less than 10,000 households - the larger counties in the Central Plains region have 10,000 households!
However, population and resources are not the focus of Liaodong, the most important thing is its "location".
During the Battle of Chibi, Gongsun Kang claimed to have more than 100,000 troops, which was almost half of the registered population of the four counties of Han Dynasty! Because a large part of them were foreign troops who were coerced and followed to fight, which shows its potential.
It was not until Gongsun Yuan blatantly opposed Wei and established himself that the Liaodong regime was destroyed by Sima Yi's troops.
Because Liaodong and Western Liaoning can be said to be the Central Plains dynasty, the bridgehead that controls the Seafood Peninsula and the Northeast region.
The Gongsun family was inconspicuous among the Han princes, but after occupying Liaodong, Liaoxi, Xuantu, and Lelang as its foundation, it was able to spread its influence.
Especially during the Gongsun Kang period, it was equivalent to occupying half of Liao Province, but controlling half of Northeast Asia...
On the one hand, it was the territory of the Han Dynasty, which had reached the limit of the transportation methods at that time; on the other hand, it was also the difference between working for the public and starting a business for yourself - during the Three Kingdoms period, when China was in war, Chinese civilization was in the Northeast, and the seafood peninsula was
On the contrary, the influence has been greatly improved, which is precisely due to the "contracting by princes".
Western Liaoning and Eastern Liaoning play a greater role as corridors leading to Northeast China and the Seafood Peninsula.
Without this corridor, no matter how nice the house is, you won’t be able to get in...
At the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, when the Central Plains was in chaos, Goguryeo first took over Liaodong and western Liaoning, directly turning Lelang, Daifang and other counties on the Seafood Peninsula into enclaves, and the climate was quickly annexed by Goguryeo.
However, Liang Mao pointed out another point at this time - if the General's Mansion is provoked, people will change their minds and no longer focus on Liaodong, but switch to frying the seafood peninsula... Then will Liaodong
Is there any difference in being strong?
It is equivalent to someone setting the house on fire. He still wants to sell the "shared area" separately?
Zhouhu is far away from Liaodong, but... it is very close to Sanhan.
"Would the General's Mansion leave the Central Plains untouched and miss this bitter cold land instead?" Gongsun Du questioned.
Although it is the black land of later generations, Beidacang, for the Eastern Han people, it is okay to say that the Northeast is a bitterly cold place. Even western Liaoning and eastern Liaoning are already much colder than other places.
In terms of pure dimensions, the Northeast is actually pretty good, and London and Chicago are also at similar dimensions, but... the small wind from Siberia happens to blow against this area in winter, making its temperature lower than that of areas at the same latitude.
More than ten degrees.
It was better in the Western Han Dynasty, but now it is a cold period. In the absence of cheap means of keeping out the cold, this place is not very popular among farming civilizations.
And it was far from the coldest period. By the time of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, almost the entire Bohai Bay was frozen, and you could walk on the sea from Qinhuangdao to Yingkou...
Regarding Gongsun Du’s self-defeating question, Liang Mao just said without accepting it: "I am not Mr. Bai. I don’t know what Mr. Bai wants. Maybe he knows it, maybe he doesn’t. But one thing can be known... Mr. Bai and ordinary people
The princes are different, otherwise they would not have found Yizhou before, let alone come to Liaodong by sea.
Moreover, Governor Gan Ning seems to have the power to mobilize the navy, and his personality is... weird. I can only say that it would not be surprising if they really start from Three Koreas."
Gongsun Du and Gongsun Kang, father and son, were silent for a while after hearing this.
They naturally knew that Liang Mao was not of the same mind as them, but... these words did not sound unreasonable.
"What does Bo Fang think we should do?" Gongsun Du said, staring at Liang Mao with burning eyes.
Seeing Gongsun Du's eyes, Liang Mao's scalp felt a little numb, and he calmed down a little and said: "An Dongjin is far away in Lelang, and if they are allowed to station thousands of people, it is impossible for them to sneak attack Liaodong. Instead, the people in the General's Mansion are in the position of General Gongsun."
Under his surveillance, if Gan Ning gets An Dongjin, he will probably no longer think highly of Sanhan."
Liangmao and the Gongsun family were never of the same mind. Historically, in the early stages of the Battle of Chibi, Gongsun Kang wanted to take the opportunity to attack Yecheng, but was stopped by Liangmao. He even claimed that opposing Cao was opposing the Han, reminding Gongsun Kang that he had more than 100,000 soldiers.
It is safe for the army and Liaodong to take advantage of the chaos in the Central Plains and wait for a price, but to use these hundreds of thousands of troops and Liaodong to march towards Hebei and the Central Plains will be self-destruction.
In the end Gongsun Kang gave up the idea...
Regarding the relationship between Liangmao and Gongsun, Taishi Ci, Bing Yuan and others all knew something about it, so they naturally told Gan Ning.
In fact, Gan Ning and Liang Mao had a private meeting before...
Hearing this, Gongsun Du stared at Liang Mao for a while and then said with a smile: "Haha, Bo Fang, the real Lelang Prefect, agrees, so how can I stop him?"
When Gongsun Du mentioned "Prefect Lelang", not only did Liang Mao feel embarrassed, but the atmosphere in the tent also became cold for a moment...