Chapter Five Hundred and Twenty Two The Middleman's Dilemma in Yizhou
"This is unreasonable, the Chu thief humiliated me too much!" Liu Zhang was so angry that he slapped the low case in front of him.
All the officials were silent at this time - after all, Liu Zhang had just politely sent the Chu envoy away, and now he just turned around and got angry. How could everyone persuade him?
In fact, Liu Zhang didn't quite understand what happened. After all, it was news from the Bohai Sea. Without a special intelligence network, it would take more than half a year for the news to reach Xichuan...at least!
This is because, after the recovery of the commodity economy, caravans from various places are circulating, and at the same time, along with commodities, "news" is also circulating.
Otherwise, Liu Zhang did not set up a special intelligence network, and he was afraid that he would not get any news in a year or two...
The first time I heard about this was from the mouth of an envoy from Chu State - You, Chu State, suffered a loss in the Bohai Sea, so you came to vent your anger on me?
But at this time, it can be seen that Liu Zhang is more "experienced" than Liu Xie!
Liu Xie still needed others to give him a step, such as advice from his ministers, before he could make a decision, but Liu Zhang did not hesitate when he was cowarded.
But afterward, Liu Zhang, like Liu Xie, could not help but curse and complain.
After Zhang Song hesitated again and again, he said: "My lord, I have a plan to curb the arrogance of Chu State."
When Liu Zhang heard this, he was not excited. Instead, he said in a wan tone: "But what I said before is the so-called strategy of building ships to threaten Chu?"
"Yes, this is a fundamental solution." Obviously this is not the first time Zhang Song mentioned it.
He suggested that Liu Zhang supervise the construction of warships in Jiangzhou, the kind that could go down the river at any time and "directly attack" Jingchu if necessary!
It doesn’t matter whether you have the courage or not, whether the attack can really be successful, the important thing is "can" - as long as there is such a warship, it may never be used, but it can make the Shuhou Mansion, when facing the Chu State,
Have the confidence to “talk”.
Instead of taking and asking for everything like now.
However, Liu Zhang was not interested in this suggestion. After all, a warship cannot be built overnight, nor can it be "made out of nothing" by issuing a few instructions.
Today, Liu Zhang is no longer as naive as he was when he first reached the position of Yizhou Mu. He thinks that he can control the major and minor affairs of Yizhou in Yizhou Mansion...
Reality taught Liu Zhang that even Yizhou Mu was ultimately a "role-playing" rather than a "real-time strategy".
Building warships in Jiangzhou?
What to make?
Not to mention that after the Chu State discovered it, it would definitely exert further pressure. The cost of building warships alone was not easy to come up with.
Although the princes of Shu did make a lot of money from their business with the Chu State, most of them found other tribes, so they were not able to bear the cost of building large-scale warships on their own.
If the nobles were to bear this cost, then the nobles would inevitably become disloyal. They might not even need the help of the Chu State to take the credit for Xianzhou. As for the common people to bear the burden... then the nobles would inevitably provoke the common people, and even if they did not rebel immediately, they would inevitably cause a rebellion.
The people in various places have different sentiments and do not want to be in the city.
As for the reason why the princes of Shu are still stable now, it is simply because the control of the princes of Shu is even smaller - except for the Chu State, no princes have the courage to completely reform the commercial tax, especially the princes of Shu.
Not moving...
And they also understand that if Yizhou joins the Chu State now, they may become the "big fish eating the small fish".
At that time, Yizhou's market and manpower needs will be divided up by Chu's existing workshop groups. Perhaps the common people can enjoy the various benefits and security of Chu people, but for the Yizhou gentry who are accustomed to living in the ruling class, this
Obviously unacceptable...at least not willing to accept it!
Liu Zhang looked at it. After Zhang Song finished speaking, many other truly powerful ministers, including Wu Yi, were sitting upright and silent. He knew that this matter would not be accomplished.
"I heard... that it was 'civilian' forces that caused the Wei State to sink the Chu State's main ship this time?" Liu Zhang said thoughtfully.
If it was possible to lift some of the restrictions on the nobles and gain enough strength to fight against the Chu State, or at least to protect themselves, Liu Zhang also thought it was a good deal.
Unfortunately, Zhang Song did not need to look at other people this time to dissuade him: "Yizhou is not close to the sea, and the benefits of sailing and food are limited. No one among the 'folks'... should be interested in fighting against the tyrants."
Wu Yi and others nodded silently at this time - if it was really profitable, why wait for Liu Zhang to "untie" it?
You, Liu Zhang, didn’t tie anything down to begin with, okay?
Indeed, the reason why the Wei pirates dared to risk their lives against Chu was because they saw the endless manpower of Sanhan and Baekje, and the money of the ships in Danzhou...
Chu's navy could no longer deter their greed.
And what about in Yizhou?
Build ships and sail out of the river...and then plunder the Chu State?
Risking one's life is a means, not an end, okay?
Even if they really want to grab manpower, for Yizhou, the most convenient thing is the hundreds of tribes in Nanzhong, which are the so-called Nanman.
But now... Yizhou has been invaded by the Southern Barbarians, which has caused physical and mental exhaustion. Not to mention robbing people, even defending their offensive is a bit of a "loss".
The reason for this situation is also because Yizhou’s industrialization has almost no development!
It is said that in terms of industrialization, Chu State is the absolute leader. Although Wei State is much inferior, it can be considered second in theory. After that, Qi Hou, who controls the Qilu area, follows Qi Hou, and Zheng Hou is also assisted by "virtuous ministers".
Paying great attention to it, Zhang Lu, Marquis of Hanning, is also improving his teachings and striving to be more suitable for the industrialization era...
Although the other three princes of Yong, Zhai and Sai did not pay much attention to it, they all followed the development of "joining in the fun".
But Nishikawa has become an exception!
When the King of Wei and the Marquis of Qi were chasing after him, Liu Zhang directly closed the border to protect himself. Although Shu Jin and Jing Yan in Yizhou escaped temporarily, they missed the best opportunity to start.
While the Han Ninghou and other Han princes were passively "joining in the fun", Yizhou was targeted by Chu State again. An agreement with the Shu princes directly gave Yizhou hope that in the era of industrialization,
The two pillar industries that demonstrated competitiveness collapsed...
It's not like the Wei State, which has the principle of "fighting dogs rather than wolves" - if it wants to plunder overseas, in the north, Wei State can secretly provide support and help, but if it wants to be an agent of Chu State... it will be cut off in half.
City warning!
After all, the Guanzhong gentry are still thinking about industrial upgrading, but now most of the Yizhou gentry are pursuing cooperation with Chu State and acting as middlemen between Chu State and Yizhou.
The biggest middleman among them is Liu Zhang.
This kind of middleman had another name in later modern times - comprador.
A slow start is a minor problem, but comprador rule is the big cancer of industrialization. Naturally, the situation in Yizhou is different from that of other princes.
This is also the "fundamental reason" why the Wei State is always in the face of the powerful Xianbei and Wuhuan tribes in the north, but Yizhou has a headache with the Southern Barbarians who "come to their doorstep".
As for the north, which is more suitable for plate armored cavalry, the combat effectiveness has improved dramatically after importing plate armor from the Chu State. However, Yizhou's horse breeds and terrain have limited the combat capabilities of plate armored cavalry... This can only be regarded as a superficial reason.