After Zheng Pu bowed and thanked Wu Guoliu Zuoyi who came to see him off, he softly said to Chen Zhi beside him, "The war horse transaction and many other subsequent matters will be done for the clan."
"This is my responsibility, Zijin can rest assured."
Hearing this, Chen just smiled and agreed.
Yes, Zheng Pu is heading back now, because the war horse deal has been roughly settled, and other trivial matters will be taken care of by Chen Zhi.
Three days ago, I came to the Wu court as an envoy to submit my credentials and so on. It was just a ceremonial occasion.
Business matters are always negotiated privately.
That day, after sitting at the same table with Sun Quan at the hunting ground and talking, Zhang Cheng discussed the war horse trade with Zheng Pu again on the pretext of bringing the big beads and other gifts he had given.
The state of Wu will purchase 500 horses in batches at a time, and will purchase 2,500 horses within half a year.
The price remains unchanged, but the Han Dynasty needs to exchange prisoners of war with Wu.
Wu State will exchange multiple Shanyue prisoners for more than a hundred Xiguan from the Hexi Corridor to herd and care for the war horses.
Zheng Pu is fine with this.
However, after everything was settled, Zhang Cheng came to visit again the night before Zheng Pu returned. He spoke very toughly and lowered the price of the war horses by 200 hu of grain each.
The reason made Zheng Pu a little bit dumbfounded.
After Zhuge Rong got Zheng Puru's promise to promote the sale of war horses and Jiangdong by the Badi clan, he couldn't wait to inform his close friends and discuss together to make this plan come true.
It was inevitable that this matter was reported to Sun Quan.
Later, they used the threat that grain and fodder were a national strategic material and that private trade was not allowed at the pass to drive down the price of war horses.
Of course, Zhang Cheng was not so straightforward.
They found the reason why there were rebellions in many places in Jiangdong last year, the people's power was damaged, and it was unfavorable for the army to move out of Qingxu Prefecture.
Such reasons naturally cannot withstand scrutiny.
For example, in quelling rebellions in various counties, in accordance with Jiangdong's consistent style, all the family assets of those who rebelled after the war were confiscated into the government, and the strong were selected to join the army and the weak were demoted to farm workers. The people were indeed harmed, but Jiangdong's war heritage was actually stronger. Already.
As for the unfavorable military deployment, it is even more nonsense.
Yes, although Sun Wu was busy quelling rebellions in various counties last year, he also sent out troops to disturb Wei.
After Quan Cong and Zhu Huan returned from the previous campaign, plundering property and population, the major wealthy families in Jiangdong sought Sun Quan's acquiescence and ordered their sons to lead their private troops to plunder Qingxu Prefecture by waterway.
Quan should be not only disrupting the livelihood of Wei people, but also training his future generals.
At first, this strategy was quite effective.
But after Cao Rui transferred Tian Yu and Zang Ai to serve as governors of Qingxu Prefecture, things changed.
Tian Yu reasoned that Xuzhou was close to the sea and had too much water to stop the boats from the east of the Yangtze River. He ordered the counties and counties to build beacon towers and find places where the waterways were narrow and build iron chains across the river. When the descendants of the wealthy families from the east of the Yangtze River came to disturb them, they would use beacon fire to send messages. The garrison troops from various counties were recruited to gather at the iron chain across the river to resist, so that they could return without gaining anything.
Although Tian Yu has now been transferred to the governor of Bingzhou, this defensive method has continued, making the banditry in Jiangdong gradually disappear.
However, there will be no loss to Jiangdong if we can't repeat the raid!
After Zheng Pu heard this, he felt indignant at this kind of blackmail, but he finally agreed.
There was no other way. If he didn't agree, Sun Quan would block the pass and prohibit the private trade of war horses. The Han Dynasty would lose more than two hundred grains and fodder.
Alas, that’s all!
At that time, the price of the war horse will be sold to the Jiangdong wealthy family, and the price will be increased by two hundred dendrobium as compensation.
Anyway, a big man can't suffer.
As for Sun Quan's suggestions to Jiangdong, it has not yet been decided whether he will implement them.
He claimed that he needed to discuss the war with his officials before deciding on a war involving the entire country, but it was decided to send troops to Jingxiang to ease the difficulties of the Han Dynasty's defense at Longyou.
As early as when the great victory of the Han Dynasty in regaining Liangzhou came to Jiangdong, Sun Quan had the idea of sending troops.
It's just that the strategic purpose at that time was just to wait for an opportunity to plunder the Li people and return. There wouldn't be too many troops and they wouldn't necessarily be Jingxiang.
In other words, the purpose of Zheng Pu's mission has been achieved.
If I don’t find a reason to leave now, I won’t wait until when.
What is surprising is that Sun Quan actually asked a navy with about two thousand soldiers to "drop in" to escort him back. Such a grand and courteous treatment, not to mention him, even Zhuge Rong who came to see him off was shocked.
Endless.
According to common sense, even if Wei Guo carefully detects the time of his return, there will be no time to deliver the news and arrange the interception, so why bother to go to all the trouble?
Zheng Pu was puzzled, but remained calm.
Perhaps, Sun Quan deliberately showed off the elite Jiangdong navy?
Now that it's here, let's make peace with it, why bother worrying about it.
But what everyone didn't know was that Sun Quan was so cautious and really worried that he would be intercepted and killed.
It's not about the Wei State, it's about being intercepted and killed by Jiangdong's meritorious family!
He just sighed with emotion that day, and Gu Li then made a cryptic suggestion, claiming that he could send more than a hundred soldiers and horses to lurk in the Jiangxia waterway, pretending to be Wei patrolling the navy or water thieves to kill Zheng Pu.
This also reminded Sun Quan.
Thanks to the saying "Could it be that the battle of Xiangfan was the first to open up new territory?", there are many meritorious disciples in Jiangdong who want to get rid of Zheng Pu quickly. These people are at a young, energetic and daring age, and
There are private soldiers in each family, and it is easy to gather hundreds of people. If several families conspire to carry out the crime, it may not be impossible to abandon Zheng Pu's body and sink it into the river.
Likewise, this would destroy the mutual alliance between Han and Wu.
Although covenants are meant to be broken, and there are many precedents in Jiangdong, it is not in Jiangdong's interest to turn against Bashu at this time. It can be avoided if it can avoid unnecessary complications.
The whole journey was silent.
When the navy arrived in Wuchang, they diverted to the police station without stopping.
Lu Xun disdains to see me?
Uncontrollably, Zheng Pu felt angry.
During the previous journey, because they had not met Sun Quan, Lu Xun and other governors could not meet with the envoys without authorization, so they did not stop. But why now?
Perhaps seeing his surprise, the Jiangdong civil servant accompanying Wu came forward and explained with a smile, "Your Majesty, the General has been summoned to return to Jianye, so the General has hosted a banquet in his stead."
Well.
It turned out that he returned to Wu.
After a moment of relief, Zheng Pu smiled and nodded in thanks.
Immediately, he said in his heart that it was a good thing, and he was glad that he left Jianye in a hurry.
You don't need to think too much to know why Sun Quan urgently summoned Lu Xun to return to build his industry - it was just to discuss his suggestions!
Don't look at the passionate speech he made to Sun Quan that day, saying that after destroying Hefei, Shouchun is in sight, and seizing Jingxiang is like picking up something from a bag. It seems that he is practicing the mutual alliance between the two countries and doing his best to plan the rise of Wu State.
But in fact, even he who made the plan didn't believe in such a grand plan.
It’s not that he had ulterior motives and was hiding hidden dangers during the planning.
Rather, he felt that given Jiangdong's military structure and long-standing partial peace, it would be difficult to make progress with all his strength.
If it were the same enemy of the Han army, Wei Guo Huaiyou really had an opportunity to attack in secret, and the chance of success of this plan might be six to seven.
But if it were Jiangdong, Zheng Pu felt that if everything went as planned, Hefei New City might be able to break it, but Shouchun City could not be thought about. The subsequent sweep of Qingxu and others was just a dream! The navy ruled the roost.
Jiangdong, if you want to conquer the city on land, it will take a long time to change.
As for knowing this, Zheng Pu still said it with certainty?
Whether Jiangdong can conquer Hefei and Shouchun, what does it have to do with him? What does it have to do with the Han Dynasty!
People make plans, and God makes things happen.
If the plan succeeds, the person who planned it must be successful; but if it fails, it depends on the right time, place, and people, the general's preparation before the battle, the morale of the soldiers, and the supply of food and fodder. As a planner, there is no reason to shirk responsibility.
!
Furthermore, even if Sun Quan was angry with him afterwards, what could he do?
It’s unlikely that they would betray the alliance again and raise troops to attack Badong County, or send dead soldiers to assassinate him! And by that time, Jiangdong would have already allocated Wei’s troops to the Han Dynasty!
Ha~~
Know yourself and the enemy and you can fight a hundred battles without danger.
Sun Quan knew the enemy but not necessarily himself, and he repeatedly lost troops after fighting in Hefei, so he dared to talk and talk, showing his wisdom and deception; but if Lu Xun were to sit down with him, he would not be able to talk!
