My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 435: The General of Chariots and Cavalry has arrived, and the sky is clear
After receiving comprehensive advice from Zhuge Jin, Zhao Yun and Mi Zhu had a clear idea of what to do. They finally led their troops north to Ji County, took over the military and civil affairs of Youzhou, and handed over the work to Zhang Nan, a general under Yuan Tan who had been left in Ji County.

After helping Zhuge Jin send Mi Zhu and others away, Lu Su returned to Zhu County and reported the situation. Then he mentioned:
"Excuse me for being blunt, but Youzhou has just been under the jurisdiction of the lord, and there are many complicated things to do. Brother Ziyu, why don't you go north immediately? Are you worried that Langya can't handle it?

If there are any misunderstandings between Zilong, Zizhong and the old officials left by Yuan Tan, this place is still a full thousand miles away from Ji County, and it is not convenient to deal with it in time. "

Zhuge Jin smiled and patted Lu Su on the shoulder: "How can I not feel at ease with my brother in Langya? But I stayed in Langya because I have something important to do. First of all, I have to negotiate with Yuan Tan nearby.

Even if there was a misunderstanding between Zilong and Zhang Nan regarding the handover of defense, can my visit to Ji County resolve it? To Zhang Nan, we are outsiders after all, and he won't listen. In the end, Yuan Tan will have to give him orders. It's better for us to keep an eye on Yuan Tan and catch the big ones and let the small ones go.

Secondly, I discussed with Zi Zhong the day before yesterday that we should transfer our army's previous sea fishing technology, drift nets, etc. to Yuan Tan in exchange for Yuan Tan's promise to sell a portion of the Youzhou army's military rations at a low price every year. This matter should also be negotiated by sending people to Linzi. I stayed in Langya to facilitate the negotiation envoys to go back and forth for consultation.

Thirdly, my presence in Langya makes it convenient for me to carry out some tactical deceptions on Cao Cao nearby, at least to prevent him from having any disloyalty towards Youzhou, which our army has taken over this year. Although Cao Cao's army has chosen to cease fire and support the people this year, if they see that the northern front is weak and there is an opportunity for them to take advantage of, they may still take risks.

Especially when Cao Cao knew that Yuan Tan had ceded Youzhou to us and our lord had become the leader of the anti-rebellion alliance, for him, cutting off Youzhou was no longer just about taking over a remote and cold place, but also about destroying the prestige of our alliance and undermining our prestige in front of Liu Zhang, Liu Biao and Yuan Tan.

Originally, he was able to stop fighting and hold back because the benefits were not big enough. After the benefits increased several times, could he still hold back? Here, I need to be flexible and use benefits to guide them and use harm to threaten them. When I went to Ji County, the journey was long and the deception went wrong, and there was no time to adjust. "

Now, one or two months have passed since Liu Bei held an alliance with other rebellious princes across the world, and Zhang Song estimated that he would soon enter Sichuan.

However, Liu Bei only publicized this meeting internally, but did not actively publicize it to the outside world immediately. This was also the reason why the Zhuge brothers persuaded Liu Bei to do so. Because they knew very well that no matter how big the meeting was, its main purpose was to enhance Liu Bei's prestige within his own camp, and there was no need to rush to anger the enemy.

Therefore, the new manifesto written by Chen Lin in front of the new mausoleum of King Liang Xiao in Mangdang Mountain to condemn Cao Cao has not yet been circulated throughout the country, and related matters have not been publicized in Cao Cao's territory. It is enough to let nature take its course and let the news spread to Cao Cao's ears at a normal speed.

Because of this, Cao Cao still didn't know the extent of Yuan Tan's submission to Liu Bei, nor did he know that Yuan Tan was about to entrust the defense of Youzhou to Liu Bei's army. Zhuge Jin needed to take advantage of this time difference to allow his side to better prepare.

After listening to Zhuge Jin's full reasons, Lu Su realized that the envoy had already planned a very far-reaching plan, and it was definitely not a whim or laziness. He stopped trying to persuade him, but just listened to Zhuge Jin's teachings and did whatever he asked him to do.

Zhuge Jin didn't bother to be polite with him and directly instructed him on a few things: "Zi Jing, you don't need to worry about Cao Cao's deception, but you need to trouble Zi Jing to arrange the fishery and grain trade negotiations with Yuan Tan first."

……

Zhuge Jin is a man of action and he arranges tasks in a swift and decisive manner.

In the following days, Lu Su helped to draft the document overnight, calculated the pros and cons, revised it three times, and finally came up with a "treaty" to exchange fishing technology for grain trade quotas with Yuan Tan's army. Then he asked Xin Pi, who was stationed in various counties by Yuan Tan, to take it back to Linzi immediately for Yuan Tan to make the final decision.

It was only after Yuan Tan heard that Zhuge Jin had personally gone north to station in the counties of Langya and coordinate the affairs of the three northern states that he sent Xin Pi to stay there permanently and await orders.

This practice is somewhat similar to the later practice of sending permanent consuls and ministers to other people's territories.

After Xin Pi received Zhuge Jin's conditions, he roughly asked about the implementation details. After figuring out how to tell Yuan Tan, he left without stopping.

Four days later, Yuan Tan, who was in Linzi, received the document sent by Xin Pi.

"What on earth does Zhuge Ziyu mean by this? George, you should just speak directly. This document looks so long, who would be patient enough to read it carefully?"

Yuan Tan took a look at the overly detailed clauses and felt a bit overwhelmed, so he asked Xin Pi to talk about the key points directly.

Anyway, he has given up now and has been mentally prepared for Uncle Liu to gradually take over the border defense within a year or two.

This can be regarded as a change of mindset. Once your mentality changes, many things will become easier.

Who in the future has ever seen a boss of a large group personally read the contract line by line? They always ask the legal department to help interpret it.

Xin Pi quickly helped to interpret: "Mr. Ziyu means that he is willing to transfer the drift trawling fishing method that the Xuzhou Army and Yangzhou Army have used for several years, as well as some other technologies for transforming fishing boats used by coastal fishermen, to our army.

They are responsible for sending craftsmen and accountants from Langya to help us coordinate the planning of the transformation and teach our craftsmen step by step. If this can be successfully promoted, the coastal areas of Qingzhou will be able to support tens of thousands of additional fishermen and save food for tens of thousands of households.

Mr. Ziyu did not ask for the extra food we saved for nothing. He only asked our army to promise to sell them 30,000 households of food at a guaranteed price every year. They would send sand ships to the ports along the coast of Donglai and Beihai to transport the food and pay us the agreed price, which could be settled in copper coins, silk, porcelain, or tea.

Yuan Tan originally thought that Zhuge Jin wanted to give him a one-time technology and then take grain from him for free every year, which would make him feel bad. But after Xin Pi's explanation, he realized that Zhuge Jin was not asking for free, but for a long-term guarantee that the price would not increase every year and that there would be sufficient supply of grain at a reasonable price, which was relatively acceptable.

Yuan Tan didn't waste any words and asked directly: "What is the price written in his terms?"

Xin Pi had memorized these key data many times during the journey, and immediately responded: "The current price is 200 coins per stone... It is lower than normal years. However, if it is a good year, the price of grain will be low and farmers will suffer, and it will not sell for more than 200 coins per stone."

Before the great chaos in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the price of grain in a normal year fluctuated between 200 and 400 coins per stone, with 200 being a relatively cheap price.

In years when grain prices were extremely low and farmers were hurt, the price could fall below 100 coins, but that would have to happen when there had been bumper harvests across the country for several consecutive years, which was very rare.

Since the chaos in the late Han Dynasty, grain has never been as cheap as 200 yuan. Zhuge Jin kept it relatively low, so Yuan Tan must have subsidized him a little. But Zhuge Jin gave him new technology, and there will be other cooperation in the future, which is mutually beneficial, so Yuan Tan can only accept it.

After all, Zhao Yun was helping Yuan Tan defend the territory that he could no longer defend on his own.

"Well... I can tolerate this price, so let's just accept it." Yuan Tan sighed.

Xin Pi hurriedly helped to explain, analyzing: "My lord, don't worry too much. Since Mr. Zhuge has promised to buy so much grain every year, the price, sales and time are all fixed. Our army can learn from the method of setting up a price stabilization warehouse during the time of Sang Hongyang in the early Han Dynasty and reserve and adjust in advance.

In this way, we shouldn't lose too much. The technology provided by Mr. Zhuge can benefit the people along the coast. In the future, he may even teach us a better way to make sea salt."

After hearing this, Yuan Tan felt better and ordered that all related grain trade and fishery development work be handed over to Cui Yan, the prefect of Beihai.

Xin Pi accomplished his mission and hurried back to Langya to report and finalize the results of the negotiations between the two parties.

Zhuge Jin quickly asked Lu Su to connect with Cui Yan and submit all the technical information that should be given. The technical instructors and clerks responsible for management work were also sent.

Beihai and Donglai counties in Qingzhou have long coastlines. From that day on, the government began to take the lead in transformation, improving existing fishing boats, weaving new nets, and raising surplus grain to establish Changping warehouses in preparation for Mi Zhu to send people to trade.

……

The words are divided into two parts.

While Zhuge Jin was in Langya, further negotiating and cooperating with Yuan Tan, Zhao Yun and Mi Zhu also soon arrived in Ji County and began to actually take over the administrative power of various counties in Youzhou and the command of military border defense.

Zhang Nan, the general who obeyed Yuan Tan, had worked with Zhou Yu and Taishi Ci for a year or two before, and had a good impression of Liu Bei's military generals.

Although he had never met Zhao Yun, he was quite attentive when Zhao Yun came to receive him. When passing by the newly built Tianjin City, he specially invited Zhou Yu to come with him to Ji County to act as a middleman to introduce them.

With Zhou Yu mediating, the handover between Zhang Nan and Zhao Yun went very smoothly. There was no friction in defense.

In terms of civil affairs, Mi Zhu also quickly grasped the financial and grain situation of the major counties in Youzhou. The whole process took no more than one or two months.

After taking over the money and grain and finding out the details, Mi Zhu organized a trade fleet to transport money to the treasury in Jixian and Tianjin, while at the same time transporting grain and fodder from Yuan Tan via the Bohai Sea route.

Then, Mi Zhu also followed Zhuge Jin's instructions before coming and devoted some energy to discovering and winning over local opposition talents in Youzhou.

Most of the talented people in Youzhou had previously worked for Gongsun Zan, and were later won over by Yuan Shao. Most of those who had some ability went out to work, and there were very few "talented people left in the wild".

However, it cannot be said that there were none at all. For example, in Youbeiping County, Xuwu County and other counties, some people built forts in Yanshan Mountain to defend themselves, and there were many wise men in the opposition who presided over them.

The most famous among them is Tian Chou from Xuwu County. He was originally the deputy driver of Liu Yu, the governor of Youzhou. Eleven years ago, when he was sent by Liu Yu to the court in Chang'an to meet the emperor, his former master Liu Yu was killed by Gongsun Zan halfway on the way.

Tian Chou was unable to fulfill his mission, so he had to come back and collect Liu Yu's body despite the threat of Gongsun Zan. He then retreated to the Xuwu Yanshan Mountain and lived in seclusion, leading the people of several surrounding counties to break away from government rule and become self-sufficient. After Yuan Shao defeated Gongsun Zan, he asked Tian Chou to serve as an official, but Tian Chou refused to go and has been self-governing ever since.

Now that Youzhou was under Liu Bei's rule, he naturally would not allow several counties in Youbeiping County to break away from the government's rule and govern themselves. So Zhuge Jin gave Mi Zhu a task, asking him to contact and unite these people after he took office and bring them back under Liu Bei's rule.

(End of this chapter)