"Peace without war? I say, Kongming, did you take medicine today? "Liu Mang asked Zhuge Liang.
"Medicine? Milord, Liang is not sick. " As soon as Zhuge Liang finished speaking, he saw Xu Shu's smile and immediately reacted. This lord was saying that he was sick. Zhuge Liang was simply angry and amused at the same time. You say you are angry, but this idiot lord actually said that his subordinate, the Minister of Justice, is sick. What kind of mentality is this?
This smile made Zhuge Liang feel that this lord was real and was one of his own people. He was not as polite as the others, which made him feel a kind of hypocrisy.
"Milord! Originally, Liang advocated for Milord to attack Jiangdong because he had the support of the people of Jiangdong. With the soldiers of Jiangdong, our Yangzhou Army would have another elite force. But now, Jiangdong, haha! You have lost the support of the people and are in dire straits. Milord, do you really want Jiangdong to be like this? " Zhuge Liang smiled at Liu Mang. The people of Jiangdong hated the Yangzhou Army. Seven or eight villages were massacred. If it was only a village, then it would not be a big deal. But because of the chaos, the Yangzhou Army's brutality spread throughout Jiangdong.
It was just like how the big-eared Liu spread rumors about Liu Mang in Yuzhou. He made the Yangzhou Army into a butcher. If the people dared to surrender, they would naturally fight to the death.
Now that Jiangdong is like this, the common people basically do not have a good impression of the Yangzhou Army. Now that the Yangzhou Army is going to attack Jiangdong, it will consume a lot of manpower and resources. Governance will also be a problem. They can't be like Sun Ce and station 30,000 elite troops near Kuaiji. The cost and benefits are not proportional at all. That's why no one will go.
"Do you want Jiangdong to slowly recover?" Liu Mang was dissatisfied. It was not easy to beat Jiangdong's Sun Ce. If Sun Ce was given more time, Sun Ce's Jiangdong Army would recover and it would be a disaster.
"Haha, Milord, if we do not attack Jiangdong, there will naturally be people who will help us deal with our Little Overlord." Zhuge Liang's eyes lit up.
"Huh?" Liu Mang frowned. There will be people who will help them deal with Jiangdong's Sun Ce? Jiangdong's Sun Ce's enemies were him and Jingzhou's Liu Biao. Although they had a blood feud, it was Liu Biao who killed Sun Ce's father. It was not Sun Ce who killed Liu Biao's father. If Liu Biao did not lose his strength or if his strength increased greatly, it would be possible for him to annex Sun Ce. But now, Jingzhou could not even protect itself, who would he attack?
"It is not Jingzhou's Liu Biao. The one who helped us deal with our Little Overlord is in Jiangdong." Zhuge Liang said with a smile. "This person is our Little Overlord's younger brother, Jiangdong's Second Young Master, Sun Quan, Sun Zhongmou." Zhuge Liang said to Liu Mang.
"Sun Quan, Sun Zhongmou? Wasn't he locked up?! How can he help us? " Liu Mang did not understand. This Sun Quan, the second son of Jiangdong, had completely failed in his coup. Now, he was imprisoned by his brother Sun Ce. He could not even protect himself. How can he help Yangzhou to deal with Jiangdong?
"Haha, he can still come out even if he is imprisoned." Zhuge Liang said to Liu Mang.
"What can he do even if he comes out? Alone? How can our Second Young Master deal with his brother alone? "Liu Mang asked Zhuge Liang.
"Our Second Young Master Sun isn't alone." Zhuge Liang said to Liu Mang. "On the contrary, the power behind our Second Young Master is even greater than our Jiangdong's Lord."
There is someone in Jiangdong who is stronger than Sun Ce? Wasn't this a joke? Liu Mang was ready to scold Zhuge Liang and ask him to go back and take medicine. However, Xu Shu on the side spoke first.
"Kongming, are you talking about the nobles of Jiangdong?" Xu Shu understood more than Liu Mang. In a province, the nobles were the only ones who had more influence than the Lord. Of course, it was impossible for one or two nobles to go against the Lord of a province. But what if there were five, ten, or even twenty nobles?
The nobles had never stopped since the beginning of the feudal society. These nobles could even decide the life and death of a dynasty. Wasn't the establishment of the Li Tang Dynasty because of the nobles?
In Jingzhou, the three nobles of the Huang, Cai, and Jian clans could send Liu Biao back to his hometown.
In Jiangdong, the Jiangdong nobles were quite powerful.
"Kongming, how do you know that the Second Young Master can escape? How do you know that the nobles of Jiangdong will support the Second Young Master?" Liu Mang had a lot of questions. This Zhuge Liang's information was even more detailed than his Lord's.
"Haha! My Lord, all of this was told to me by my elder brother. " Zhuge Liang smiled and said to Liu Mang.
"Your elder brother? Zhuge Liang? " Liu Mang was surprised. Although Liu Mang did not know much about Zhuge Liang, he knew that Zhuge Liang was a trustworthy person. He was not a loyal person but as long as his Lord was still alive, he would not betray him.
"Could it be that Zhuge Liang also wants to rely on my Yangzhou? If so, I will certainly welcome you." Liu Mang also thought that Zhuge Liang was able to become an official in Yangzhou. Not to mention Zhuge Liang's ability, he was Zhuge Liang's elder brother. With Zhuge Liang's help, Zhuge Liang would not be able to show off.
"My Lord, you have misunderstood. My elder brother is still loyal to our Lord Marquis Wu. At least for now!" Zhuge Liang shook his head and said to Liu Mang. The reason why Zhuge Liang and Zhuge Liang parted ways was not only because their political views were different, but also because these nobles knew that eggs would not be placed in the same basket. If Zhuge Liang lost, then at most Zhuge Liang's bloodline would be destroyed. It would definitely not implicate Zhuge Liang. Similarly, if Zhuge Liang was destroyed, then Zhuge Liang would only cry. This way, the Zhuge family would continue to be passed down.
"Then Kongming, how did you know?" Liu Mang felt even more strange. You said that it was your brother who told you. You also said that your brother was loyal to Marquis Wu. What is going on here?
"My Lord, please take a look at my elder brother's letter." Zhuge Liang said as he took out the letter that Zhuge Liang gave him.
Liu Mang looked at it. There was nothing in it. Other than greetings, there were some instructions. At most, it said that his elder brother was busy recently and that Zhuge Liang had been promoted.
"What can this prove?" Liu Mang did not understand. Isn't this just an ordinary letter? Everyone knows how to write.
"Hehe. My Lord, this letter tells us too much. At least I can tell that Zhou Yu and Sun Ce do not have the intention to conquer Yangzhou. I can tell from my elder brother's letter." Zhuge Liang said to Liu Mang.
"Hehe!" Liu Mang was a little embarrassed when this matter was mentioned. Indeed, if Liu Mang had listened to Zhuge Liang's words, then he would not have ended up like this. However, there was no way to save him now. Therefore, Liu Mang could only grit his teeth and accept it.
"My Lord, please take a look. My elder brother told me that he is busy recently and does not have the time!"
"From this, you can tell that Zhou Yu and Sun Ce do not have the intention to surrender?" Liu Mang asked doubtfully.
"My Lord, think about it. If the Lord of a state surrenders, once he surrenders, everything will have nothing to do with him. Do you think that Jiangdong will still be busy?" Zhuge Liang said to Liu Mang.
Liu Mang thought about it and agreed. If a company was to be completely taken over by someone else, then everything in the company would have nothing to do with the former boss. How could the former boss help the new boss?
"But what if Zhuge Liang is a strict person?" Liu Mang said to Zhuge Liang. People with a deep sense of responsibility. Even if they were to leave a position, they would still do everything well. Even if it was a day before or a minute before, they would still do their best.
"Hehe. My elder brother does have this possibility! But my Lord, don't forget that if my elder brother wants to be busy, he also needs to have something to do. It is not easy for a newly appointed ambassador to be busy. " Jiangdong can be said to be basically abandoned. Some small things can be handled by the grassroots officials. There is no need for Zhuge Liang to do it.
"So the only thing he can be busy with is the big things. My Lord, what is the most lacking thing in Jiangdong now?" Zhuge Liang asked Liu Mang.
"The most lacking thing?" Liu Mang frowned. "The most lacking thing should be the army!" Liu Mang said to Zhuge Liang.
Zhuge Liang nodded. "That's right. The most lacking thing in Jiangdong now is the army. If we want to build an army, we must have money and food. My elder brother should be busy with money and food. As for where the money and food will come from, hehe. "Zhuge Liang smiled and did not speak.
"Jiangdong is already destitute. The only rich people are the nobles!" If Sun Ce and Zhou Yu want to get money and food, they must suck the blood of the nobles. There is also the pension of the soldiers who died in the war. These are all money.
This amount is certainly not in the little tree. So these nobles are out of luck.
If these nobles do not want to be sucked dry by Sun Ce, there is only one way and that is to change their lord.
In the past, these nobles may not dare to do so. But now, it is different. In the past, Sun Ce had 100,000 soldiers under him. But now, Sun Ce only has 10,000 soldiers. If they want to suck the blood of these nobles, it will depend on whether these nobles are willing or not.
This is because these nobles have the capital to fight with their lord. Moreover, do not forget that there is another piece of news. That is, who was the original Jiangdong Envoy? It was Zhang Zhao. He was the head of the nobles in Jiangdong. However, Sun Ce removed him from his position and sent him back to Xu Du. This is equivalent to the Zhang family giving up everything in Xu Du and starting anew.
Moreover, Wu Hou was introduced by Sun Ce. If you go to Xu Du, you will be branded as someone from Jiangdong. Everyone will think that you are Sun Ce's spy.
"Little Overlord Sun Ce wants money and food to build an army! Jiangdong is destitute and can only ask for money from the nobles. Those nobles are not willing. They do not want to be sucked dry by Sun Ce. So, they have only one way to go! Change their lord! "Liu Mang suddenly understood.
"But if they want to change their lord, why don't they consider our Yangzhou?" Liu Mang said with a bit of depression. If Sun Ce is not good, then you can come to Yangzhou. Yangzhou is also a good place. Liu Mang is also a good lord.
"Haha, Milord, you may be a wise lord, but in the eyes of the nobles, you are not a good person." Zhuge Liang teased Liu Mang.
"Humph!" Liu Mang coldly snorted. He naturally knew that in the eyes of the nobles, he was a butcher, a greedy butcher. His image was even worse than Sun Ce's image in the eyes of the nobles. This was because Liu Mang had killed more than a dozen nobles in Wancheng city. He even killed the families of the nobles' private soldiers.
Later, Liu Mang implemented a policy of land ownership in Yangzhou. All the land can only be sold to the government. This scared the nobles even more.
Each and every one of them had quite a lot of land, tens of thousands of mu of land. If you were to take away all of this land, how would they be able to earn money? One must know that this land accounted for more than half of their assets.
In troubled times, food is even more valuable. This is their iron rice bowl. If you destroy their rice bowl, they will certainly not be polite.
So for the Jiangdong nobles, although Sun Ce is a blood-sucker, at least he can give them a way to survive. But Liu Mang's wine is different. He directly cut off their source of wealth. It would be strange if they do not want to fight with him.
"Okay, okay! It is not like I did not compensate them. I used money to buy the land! " Liu Mang said to his subordinates. His subordinates rolled their eyes. You used money to buy the land?
Yangzhou was originally an ownerless land. It was occupied by you. Lujiang had a master, but you killed them all. Xinye, Yuzhou, and other lands were all moved away because they were afraid of you, the King Of Shu. There is no land that you, the King Of Shu, bought. "
Liu Mang seemed to know that he said something wrong, but it did not matter. Over the years, Liu Mang had developed a thick-skinned habit.
"Then according to Kongming, what should we do now?" Liu Mang asked Zhuge Liang who was next to him.
"There is nothing else. We just need to wait." Zhuge Liang said to Liu Mang.
"Do nothing?" Liu Mang frowned. Doing nothing and waiting here was not Liu Mang's style.
"If Milord really wants to do something, you can also send an envoy to Jiangdong to make peace." Liu Mang realized that he was tricked by Zhuge Liang. What do you mean by I really want to do something? You are the one who dug the hole for me to jump into.
"Approved!" Liu Mang nodded and prepared to send an envoy to Jiangdong to make peace with Sun Ce.
"Milord, don't forget to bring 10,000 shi of provisions!" Zhuge Liang continued to say to Liu Mang.
"Bring provisions?" Liu Mang frowned. "What for?" Making peace with Jiangdong already made Liu Mang very unhappy. If he gave provisions to Jiangdong, wouldn't he be funding the enemy? One must know that what Sun Ce lacked the most was provisions.
"Milord, don't you want your Minister of Personnel anymore?" Zhuge Liang asked Liu Mang with a smile.
Only then did Liu Mang remember that Lu Sulu, the Minister of Personnel and our good man, is still in Jiangdong.
"Sun Ce dares to detain Zijing?" Liu Mang frowned and asked. When two countries were at war, they would not kill the envoys. This Sun Ce was his enemy, but he could not detain Liu Mang's envoy.
"Milord, what do you think of Zijing's talent?" Zhuge Liang asked Liu Mang.
"I have Zijing. Great things can be expected." Liu Mang said to Zhuge Liang. Of course, these words were too much. Although Lu Sulu was a talent, he was not to the point that Liu Mang had to have him. This was Liu Mang's praise for Lu Sulu. Lu Sulu's talent might be a little difficult to govern a country, but it was more than enough to govern a province. Zijing could run the Ministry of Personnel like a fish in water.
"Milord, you can see Zijing's talent. Do you think that Zhou Yu cannot see it?" Zhuge Liang said to Liu Mang. Although Zhuge Liang's words were not pleasant to hear, what did he mean by you can see it? It felt like Liu Mang was worse than others.
"Didn't he not see it at first?" Liu Mang said unconvinced.
"At first, it was because Zhou Yu was busy with Jiang Xia's matter." Sun Ce went south to attack Lujiang and took away tens of thousands of elites. Zhou Yu only had 40,000 people under him. But he had to suppress the 70,000 people of the Jiangxia Navy. This pressure was not small. Naturally, he could not take care of Lu Sulu.
Later, Lu Sulu was defeated. Zhou Yu could not speak for Lu Sulu. Later, our Second Young Master Sun brought Lu Sulu to Yangzhou. This allowed our King Of Shu, Liu Mang, to take advantage of Lu Sulu.
But now, it was different. Jiangdong was very bleak. Zhou Yu would not let go of Lu Sulu's talent. If Lu Sulu joined Jiangdong, Jiangdong's strength would not be small.
Zhou Yu and Sun Ce would not kill Lu Sulu. But there was no way to make Lu Sulu stay.
"Ten thousand provisions? Will Sun Ce let him go?" Liu Mang frowned. In Liu Mang's mind, Lu Sulu was worth one million. Ten thousand provisions? Do you think he is a beggar? In times of peace, ten thousand provisions were only worth four to five hundred gold.
"Haha, Milord, this food is not to your taste but when you are hungry, it is really delicious. Even if Zhou Yu is not willing, Sun Ce will happily give it back to us!" "Haha, Milord, this food is not to your taste but when you are hungry, it is really delicious. Even if Zhou Yu is not willing, Sun Ce will happily give it to us! Zhuge Liang sneered. "Moreover, Milord, these ten thousand provisions are not just to redeem Zijing."
"Eh? Ten thousand provisions is worth so much? "Lu Sulu was worth one million. Zhuge Liang meant that he could exchange it for other things.
"Milord, if Sun Ce has money and formed an army, who do you think will be the biggest threat?"
Yangzhou was naturally impossible. If it was a big threat to Yangzhou, Zhuge Liang would not send it. The biggest threat would naturally be Second Young Master Sun and the nobles behind him. Once Sun Ce's army was formed, they would not be able to play. They would quickly return to where they came from. Therefore, Liu Mang's ten thousand provisions to Sun Ce was not increasing Jiangdong's strength but increasing the internal friction.
"Haha, if that is the case, I will give Sun Ce twenty thousand provisions." "Liu Mang is very generous. He doubled the price to twenty thousand shi in one go. This will make Second Young Master Sun even more anxious.
"Milord, there is no need for that." Zhuge Liang shook his head. Ten thousand provisions? Hehe, giving it to commoners would naturally make them rich. But to put it in an army, it was like a cup of water on a burning cart of firewood. Ten thousand provisions could make Sun Ce, Bofu Sun drool. At the same time, it could also make Sun Ce, Bofu Sun hungry and weak. If Zhuge Liang gave too much, the disparity in strength between the two brothers would be too great.
"Good, if that is the case, where is Yang Hong?" Liu Mang nodded and began to give orders to the Yangzhou Civil and Military Officials.
"This old minister is here." Yang Hong stepped forward and cupped his fist to Liu Mang.
"Yang Hong, tell your Ministry of Foreign Affairs to send an emissary to Jiangdong and have a good talk with Marquis Sun Ce. Bring ten thousand provisions and bring Zijing back smoothly. "Liu Mang said to Yang Hong.
"Milord, there is no need to send anyone. This old minister will go personally." Yang Hong said to Liu Mang.
"Uncle Hong, you want to go personally?" Liu Mang frowned because Yang Hong was not young. He was much older than Chen Gong. His body was not very good. If he fell sick on the journey to Jiangdong, it would not be good.
For Yang Hong, Liu Mang still treated him as a family member. Because Yuan Fang's father, Liu Mang's father, Yuan Shu, died early, Yang Hong became Yuan Fang's only family member. Yuan Fang treated Yang Hong as her second father. Liu Mang naturally had a good relationship with Yang Hong and called him Uncle Hong.
"Milord, my son is still in Jiangdong. As his father, I am worried. "Yang Hong said to Liu Mang.
"Yang Chen?" Liu Mang seemed to know this name.
"Yes, my son followed Minister Lu to protect Minister Lu's safety." Yang Hong said. "But he did not complete the task and was trapped in Jiangdong."
"Uncle Hong, when Yang Chen comes back, let him come to me and listen to my orders." Liu Mang said to Yang Hong. Although Liu Mang did not give him any official position, this sentence was already priceless. Even if he was by Liu Mang's side as a guard, his future was boundless. For example, Guan Hai and Zhou Cang, although they did not command troops, their status in the army was not inferior to anyone.
"This old minister thanks Milord on behalf of my son. But Milord, my son is used to being wild and may not be used to staying by Milord's side."
"En?" Yang Hong refused. Liu Mang did not understand. This was giving your son a good future. Many people wanted it but could not get it.
"Haha! Old Milord is Old Milord. A strict father produces talented people. " Xu Shu's words made Liu Mang understand. Yang Hong did not want Yang Chen to go to Liu Mang's side, but Yang Hong thought that his son's ability was not enough. If he went to the Lord's side, he would only be a vase. It was better for him to go out and gain experience. With talent, he could return to Liu Mang's side and listen to his orders.
"In that case, everything is up to you!" Liu Mang also smiled and shook his head.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
