There are gentlemen in the Three Kingdoms

For Yuan Shu himself, it is only necessary to send some fleets to attack him a little symbolically.

The so-called self-respect of the bandits.

The strength in the hands of the pottery merchant is not enough, and now he can't take over so many places owned by Yuan Shu. If Yuan Shu is really here, the cheapest person in the first place is probably Liu Biao.

Although they are allies, if Liu Biao annexes Yuan Shu's territory after taking over Jingzhou, he will really become a tyrant in the southern sky.

Tao Shang is a pacifist. For an ally of Nantian Yiba's level... Tao Shang thinks it is better not to exist.

Chapter 241 Yangzhou's Power Vacuum

After the water battle on the Yangtze River ended, the potters captured Yuan Jun's defeated soldiers and were about to return to Ruxuwu. However, at this moment, soldiers from the school affairs office came to report, saying that Yuan Shu had already fled back to the camp. , Even the defeated soldiers under his command didn't care to gather them, they pulled out their camps and rushed to the west in a panic to evacuate quickly.

Tao Shang understood the reason why Yuan Hou withdrew, and the failure of the water battle was only a superficial phenomenon.

The important thing is that Liu Biao must have dispatched a large army to capture Nanyang County. Liu Biao took away Yuan Shu's foundation. Now let alone plotting Yangzhou, whether the grain road leading to the south of the Yangtze River can be kept unimpeded is still in doubt. .

But judging from Liu Biao's safe style of doing things, if he didn't make a move, he would be sure if he made a move. Even if Yuan Shu went back this time, he probably had little hope of regaining Nanyang County.

The largest county in the Eastern Han Dynasty with a population of more than 200 million was finally taken away from Yuan Shu.

The potter didn't know whether he should write a letter to express condolences to Yuan Shu.

It's all about thinking, but since the enemy has run away, our own side can't just sit and watch, at least we can't let Yuan Shu run so comfortably.

After the potters sent Xu Chu and Xu Huang each to lead an army to attack Yuan Shu, they gathered their troops and returned to Jinling City.

Although Yuan Shu was defeated in this battle, the Jinling Army suffered a lot of damage and needed a good rest.

However, after this battle, the Jinling Army gained rare experience in both land and water battles. The soldiers' combat capabilities began to mature, and their combat power reached a new level.

After returning to Jinling City, the potter summoned the water thief leaders who had made great contributions in this war.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the governors and county guards in many places greatly expanded their military strength, but due to their low official positions and status, even if they opened the government, they could not set more official positions and positions in the government.

But the end of the Han Dynasty was different from other periods. Because of the needs of the war, it was necessary to continuously expand the strength of the personnel under his command. In order to give these additional personnel corresponding official positions, there were many prefects in the local county government organizations in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. Set up a miscellaneous school lieutenant or miscellaneous general by himself.

Today, the pottery merchant assigned the names of miscellaneous school captains to these water thief leaders one by one.

The pottery merchant held a grand commendation meeting for the pirate leaders.

At the meeting, the pottery merchants gave these water thief leaders a mess, except that Zhou Tai was appointed as the captain of Pinglu, Gan Ning was appointed as the captain of Zhechong, and Jiang Qin was appointed as the captain of the West. Zhaizhu, Guanzhaizhu, and Wangzhaizhu were appointed one after another why Fengye Xiaowei, Zhengyi Xiaowei, Deputy Military Xiaowei, Miekou Xiaowei, Zhongyi Xiaowei, Xielu Xiaowei, miscellaneous things Both.

After the appointment of officials, the next most important thing is to let them lead their respective soldiers and horses to the counties and counties to station independently.

This was what the pottery merchant had promised them before the war, and Tao Ying did not intend to break the contract.

When the water thief leaders heard that the potter had really started to fulfill his promise, they couldn't help being overjoyed, and their noses burst out with joy.

Only Gan Ning, Zhou Tai, and Jiang Qin did not want to go to the county to become independent. The three of them expressed their willingness to belong to the official army system of Danyang County with the soldiers under their command, and to accept the deployment and appointment of the superiors.

Tao Shang expressed his great appreciation for Gan Ning, Zhou Tai, and Jiang Qin's open mindedness—they are indeed different from ordinary water thief leaders, and they are good generals who are truly worthy of trust and reuse.

As for the rest of the water pirates... Hehehe.

The potter took out a map and pointed out to the other water thieves that they needed to be stationed in the county seat. Most of the stationed places were concentrated in An County, Dantu, Qu'a, Piling, Wucheng, Fuchun, etc. Near the county seat.

The bandit leaders couldn't help being overjoyed when they saw this. They nodded and bowed to the potter one by one, thankful and thankful, and shouted long live the One Piece King.

Chen Deng was the person who accompanied the pottery merchants to distribute the land for these thieves.

When Chen Yuanlong saw the area where the pottery merchants entrusted the bandit leaders to station, his heart moved slightly, and he couldn't help but sigh secretly.

None of the county towns where the pottery merchants stationed troops for these pirate chiefs was within the territory of Danyang County!

These counties are all under the jurisdiction of Wu County, Lin County of Danyang County!

What kind of situation is this?

After all the water thieves retreated gratefully, Chen Deng hurriedly asked the pottery merchant.

"Mr. Tao Fu, none of the counties you pointed out to those water thieves belong to our Danyang County, and all of them are subordinate counties of Wu County. If you do this, how can Sheng Xian, the prefect of Wu County, give up? Besides, you are only Danyang Prefect, in terms of official position and Sheng Xian, they are only on the same level... If you act like this, if Sheng Xian goes to the court and spreads the word, it will be detrimental to the reputation of the Fu Jun."

The pottery merchant smiled slightly, tapped the table with his hands lightly, and said: "In the past, Tao's actions were arrogance, but after the water battle between Ruxuwu and the Yangtze River, Tao and Liu Biao fought back Yuan Shushi Thousands of people have already stood out from all the county guards in the world, and they have some prestige...Yangzhou governor Chen Wen was killed by Yuan Shu, and now the position of Yangzhou governor is vacant, and Tao defeated Yuan Shu, which is equivalent to I avenged my blood for Chen Wen, the governor of Yangzhou. To put it bluntly, based on my achievements in defeating Yuan Shu this time, I can be called the number one county in Yangzhou in Danyang, Lujiang, Kuaiji, Wujun, Yuzhang and other places. Keep it, the limelight is in full swing. With my current military achievements and prestige, I will replace the temporarily vacant governor of Yangzhou and send people to various counties. Which of them can compare to Yuan Shu in strength? Who would dare to make a mistake?"

Chen Deng is a smart person, and the pottery merchant has talked to this point, how can he not understand the pottery merchant's thoughts at this moment?

Yuan Shu killed Chen Wen, and Yangzhou's governor was vacant. Now it was a period of power vacuum and a period of independent government. The potters took advantage of this time period to reap benefits in Yangzhou, and it was considered the right time.

This young man wanted to take advantage of this victory over Yuan Shu to expand his hand from Danyang County to the surrounding area.

His desire is bigger than before.

Now, like Yuan Shu... he also wants to control Yangzhou.

But what is more clever than Yuan Shu is that Yuan Shu controls Yangzhou by force, while the pottery merchants want to be justified.

A gentleman does things differently than a tyrant.

Among the counties in Yangzhou, although Zhuge Xuan, the prefect of Yuzhang, was close to Yuan Shu, but this time Yuan Shu was defeated and his power was shrinking, Zhuge Xuan was not a fool. Shang is the teacher and apprentice in name.

Regardless of whether it was because of Yangzhou's political trend or because of his relatives, Zhuge Xuan would definitely not and would not dare to oppose what the potters did in Yangzhou even if they did not support it;

And Wang Lang, the prefect of Kuaiji, was originally a gentry who went out from Xuzhou. In name, he and Tao Qian of Xuzhou were broken bones and tendons. .

For the time being, Lujiang County and Jiujiang County are still in Yuan Shu's hands, let alone.

Then only Wu Jun is left as an unknown.

From this point of view, the pottery merchants first used the water thief leaders as a test and sent them to the county town of Wu County to station independently. On the surface, it was an indulgence to the bandit leaders, but in fact they were starting to attack Sheng Xian's layout.

This is a good move.

The potter's idea was exactly what Chen Deng thought, but he had other ideas when he sent the water thieves to the county under the jurisdiction of Wu County.

Since ancient times, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces have been an indispensable whole and economic and cultural belt in the south. Jiangsu and Zhejiang cover an area of ​​more than [-] square kilometers, and they are both typical plain river network areas. There are also river beach wetlands. Tens of thousands of rivers of different sizes criss-cross, which can be called a natural moat.

According to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, it is equivalent to controlling the entire waterway of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

In this era, the regions of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces are basically included in the two counties of Danyang County and Wu County. Danyang County contains most of Jiangsu Province in later generations. At this moment, it is firmly in the hands of potters, and It is actually Wu County in Zhejiang Province, and potters will naturally not let it go.

As long as the areas belonging to Wu County and Danyang County are taken, and Xuzhou is added, Tao's power will not be as powerful as Yuan Shao who will dominate the four states of Hebei in the future, but at least it can be attacked and defended, and it is not easy to be bullied.

Right now is a good opportunity.

However, Chen Deng raised a concern for the potters.

"The so-called name is not right, and the words are not right."