The Three Kingdoms: Zhaolie, the strategist, and the rise of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 51 Zang Ba: "Liu Bei has a master to help him!"

When Zhao Yun and Tian Yu returned, Cao Bao had just presented the 4,000 Danyang troops.

Adhering to the principle of making the best use of everything and people, and also in order to win over the hearts of the people, at the suggestion of Li Yi, Liu Bei divided the 4,000 Danyang soldiers into two parts.

They were led by Zhao Yun and Tian Yu, each with 2,000 men.

After everything was ready, Liu Bei assembled his troops.

Including the troops of Xia Pi County, Liu Bei's own troops, the servants sent by Mi Zhu and Lu Su, and the surrender of Cao Bao.

Then he would leave some people to guard Xia Pi and go north to attack Zang Ba, and he would be able to gather a force of nearly 20,000 people.

This is not a small number, at least twice the number of people in Taishan Gang.

With the advantage in numbers and a legitimate reason for his expedition, Liu Bei was still very confident about this expedition.

The army marched northward, passing through Ju County and heading towards Qingxu territory, preparing to welcome Kong Rong into the country.

Then according to the original plan, Liu Bei, as the governor of Xuzhou, issued a military order to Zang Ba, asking him to meet in Ju County and serve in front of the tent.

When this military order was delivered to Zang Ba's camp, Zang Ba immediately summoned the brothers of the Taishan Gang and held an emergency meeting.

In history, Zang Ba was able to rule Qingxu for more than 20 years under Cao Cao's nose. Naturally, he was no easy task.

It is true that Yuan Shao is now trying to get his hands on Qingzhou, but he is mainly focusing on dealing with Tian Kai, so Kong Rong's Beihai is not under much threat.

At least for now, Liu Bei would not mobilize so many troops and would not rush to send out troops when Xuzhou has not yet been stabilized.

Then there is only one possibility -

Liu Bei's real intention was not to drink, but to control the Taishan Gang.

This made Zang Ba a little worried.

In name, Zang Ba was Liu Bei's subordinate. If he openly disobeyed orders, he would be likely to be attacked militarily by Liu Bei.

Of course, he was not afraid of Tao Qian and Cao Cao, so naturally he had no reason to be afraid of Liu Bei.

However, we recently received news that a large amount of grain was flowing out of the people of Langya.

After asking around, I found out that there was a new kind of refined salt on the market.

This salt tastes saltier and fresher than their original coarse salt, and is very cheap.

The most important thing is that this kind of government-run salt was actually traded on a large scale among the people.

Everyone knew that this salt would bring huge profits once it came out, so they all flocked to it.

These salt merchants came well prepared, fully armed, and demanded only barter, exchanging food for goods.

Driven by huge profits, a large number of people in Langya began to exchange grain for refined salt, and even went from house to house to borrow grain.

When there was not enough food, they exchanged the livestock at home.

Their thinking was very simple: as long as they had money, they could buy food anywhere.

In this way, a large amount of grain flowed out from the people of Langya.

By the time Zang Ba realized it, it was too late, even though he had issued an order to immediately ban people from trading and then investigate and arrest these mysterious salt merchants.

However, these salt merchants had already boarded their ships and returned to the East China Sea with large loads of grain.

"These merchants can actually exchange salt for grain right under my nose. They are definitely not ordinary salt merchants!"

Zang was so angry that he was shaking all over, and there was a box of snow salt in front of him.

Sun Guan came over, licked the salt, and then sighed:
"This salt is much saltier and more delicious than coarse salt, and the price is fair. It is hard for ordinary people to resist the temptation."

"Now I only have enough food for one month in Kaiyang. If Liu Bei attacks at this time, what should I do?"

Zang Ba frowned. When he discovered that grain was flowing out, his first reaction was of course to go to other counties to purchase grain immediately.

As a result, Liu Bei issued an order that the four counties of Xia Pi, Donghai, Guangling and Pengcheng were all prohibited from selling grain to foreign countries.

He also cut off the trade route with Langya and prohibited merchants from entering or leaving.

Zang Ba had no choice but to seek help from other directions.

Kong Rong in the north was a good friend of Liu Bei and also rejected Zang Ba's proposal to purchase grain.

"I understand. Mi Zhu must be the one behind this."

"I investigated yesterday. Many of the Mi family's shops in Langya have been closed and moved away. He must have conspired with Liu Bei to take away our food!" Wu Dun said indignantly, very emotional.

Sun Guan nodded repeatedly and responded:

"It must be Mi Zizhong's doing. His family's trade routes are all over Xuzhou. Only they can trade grain under our noses without anyone noticing."

"We found out too late!"

Zang Ba's eyebrows were filled with dismay, and he sighed in a deep voice:

"Buying a deer to defeat Chu, and using a pretext to destroy Guo, these two punches caught Zang off guard."

"...Liu Bei actually has such ability."

Sun Guan hurriedly said:

"I heard that Liu Da'er recently got a new military advisor, his surname is Li, his name is Yi, and his courtesy name is Ziyu. This person is very good at planning and has the talent to help the world."

"Could it be that Liu Bei's dispatch of troops this time was his doing?"

Wu Dun also chimed in:

"Yes, the arrival of this refined salt is strange. If we can link it with Liu Bei's dispatch of troops, then it makes sense!"

This guy can also invent refined salt?
Zang Ba folded his hands across his chest, with a bitter look on his face and a confused heart.

"I have no grudge against Liu Bei, why did he treat me like this?"

Zang Ba couldn't understand it, because when Liu Bei took over Xuzhou, he had sent someone to congratulate him.

After that, the two families lived in peace and did not interfere with each other.

Why did you suddenly turn against me?
"Brother, the Liu family is the most disloyal, we can never trust Liu Bei."

"This time he transferred us to Ju County to serve, which clearly shows that he wants to take away our military power."

"We absolutely cannot go there!"

Sun Guan said loudly.

Another Taishan general, Yin Li, was also very excited and said loudly:
"That's right! This is the Hongmen Banquet."

"We brothers have been occupying Langya, and we have been living in peace with Liu Bei. But he wants us brothers to serve him. It's too good to be true."

"In my opinion, none of us should go, no one should go!"

Just as everyone was arguing and arguing, a rough voice came from outside the tent.

"This is a matter of life and death for our Taishan Army, but you are acting on impulse and selfishness instead of considering the overall situation!"

The Taishan generals are not politicians, and they are even more like bandits.

So when someone dares to say such slanderous words to their faces, they either have to be very brave or have a very strong fist.

Everyone looked back and saw that it was Chang Xi, the general of Mount Tai.

His sphere of influence was mainly in the northern part of the East China Sea. Liu Bei's expedition to the north this time was a matter of life and death for the Taishan Army.

Chang Xi also led his troops to Kaiyang to meet with the generals.

In the entire Taishan army, Zang Ba is the number one decision-maker, and Chang Xi is the second in command.

He does have the strength to say such things.

"Brother Chang, why are you so late?"

Zang Ba still greeted Chang Xi politely.

Chang Xi did not say much, but went straight to the point:

"Everyone, we originally served Lord Tao as our leader. Now that Lord Tao is dead, Liu Xuande has taken over Xuzhou."

"We should obey the orders of Envoy Liu. If we don't, it will be blatant disobedience."

"Liu Bei's army is now stationed in Ju County. If they take advantage of the situation to attack us, how can we resist them?"

……

　Brothers, tomorrow is Tuesday and we will be doing three rounds. I implore you to take some time to read this. Thank you very much!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)