Ancient economic warfare, without bloodshed, can you conquer Mobei? 1/4
"Of course it's true.
Guan Zhong from the Spring and Autumn Warring States Period was a veteran of this Dao.
He bought deer from Chu, equipment from Hengshan, foxes from Dai…
It seemed like they were squandering money, but in fact, they had caused the surrounding countries to suffer.
The reason why the Qi Kingdom could establish its dominance in one fell swoop was largely because of Guan Zhong's tactics, not because of the benefits of war.
Unfortunately, the world was ignorant. They only knew that Duke Qi Heng was a hero and Guan Zhong was talented and famous.
But I can't see through the essence of it."
When Zhao Xuan mentioned this, he shook his head repeatedly with a regretful expression.
Hearing his words, Ying Zheng was stunned.
Only then did he remember the story of Guan Zhong buying a deer.
At that time, the Qi Kingdom was not considered powerful, and there was a strong enemy like the Chu Kingdom eyeing it covetously. If they wanted to rise, they had to first subdue the Chu Kingdom.
Therefore, Guan Zhong suggested to Qi Henggong that he go to the Chu Country and buy the deer at a price that was nearly ten times higher than the market price.
The more they caught, the higher the reward.
The highest reward was a thousand gold.
Upon hearing this news, the King of Chu was overjoyed and ordered the people to quickly catch deer to exchange for money in Qi.
For a time, the entire Chu Country was in an uproar. The commoners all put down their farm work and went all over the mountains to catch live deer.
Just as the people of Chu were crazily catching live deer to sell for money.
Duke Heng of Qi and Guan Zhong began to secretly purchase food from the commoners of Qi and Chu, as well as hoarding food.
After such a series of operations, although the Chu Country relied on selling deer to earn a large amount of money.
However, the amount of grain that the Qi Kingdom had hoarded was even more terrifying.
In addition, due to the crazy buying of deer in Chu, farming time was delayed.
When Duke Huan of Qi ordered the border to be sealed.
In an instant, it caused the price of rice in the Chu Country to skyrocket, causing it to be in dire straits.
This caused a large number of refugees to appear in the Chu Kingdom.
At this point, they were no longer able to stop the rise of Qi State.
……
Ying Zheng had read this story countless times before.
However, due to the limitations of his thinking, every time he looked at it, he would laugh at the foolishness of the King of Chu and the Prime Minister.
However, he did not expect the economic war.
Therefore, he came back to his senses this time.
His eyes lit up as he looked at Zhao Xuan and asked.
"Zhao Xuan, you mean…we can use this method to deal with our enemies?”
Zhao Xuan nodded. When he mentioned this, there was a hint of regret in his eyes. Moreover, his methods could be even more high-end and stealthy than this.
It's a pity that our emperor doesn't have much time left. Otherwise, if we offer this plan, I guarantee that in a few years, the Xiongnu alliance in the north will collapse.”
F * ck, you brat.
He cursed his father to die.
Hearing this, Ying Zheng ridiculed in his heart again.
But now, he didn't have the time to be angry.
Because at this moment, all his attention was drawn to the second half of Zhao Xuan's sentence.
He was already like this.
His eyes were instantly filled with a fiery light.
He grabbed Zhao Xuan's shoulder and asked excitedly.
"What did you say? You have a plan to plot against Mobei?”
" Is what you said true?!"
After saying that, he grabbed Zhao Xuan's arm and shook it.
Zhao Xuan was shaken by him, and his head was a little dizzy. He could only open his mouth and say again.
"Yes, yes, yes. But I say, Old Li, can you stop shaking me? I'm about to faint from your shaking.”
He came back to his senses and realized that he had lost his composure.
He immediately laughed dryly and apologized.
"Uh…I'm sorry, I seem to have overreacted.”
Zhao Xuan moved his arms, but he didn't mind. He was just a little curious, so he asked," It's not that extreme. But why is your strength as shocking as Old Wang's?"”
Dun Ruo laughed dryly and hurriedly replied," Hehe, these days, if you're a butler, how can you control your subordinates without some ability?"”
"That's true. What you said makes sense.”Zhao Xuan thought about it and felt that it made sense.
Dun Ruo continued to ask," Alright, let's not talk about this for now. Let's continue the topic from before. Zhao Xuan, you just said that you have a plan to plot against Mobei, is it true or false?”
"Don't tell me you want to imitate Guan Zhong and buy the horses or other items from the Xiongnu at a high price to cause them to fight over them?
This…shouldn't be very effective.”
Zhao Xuan replied," Of course, the effect isn't great. I dare to say that if we really do this, it'll be like beating a dog with a meat bun. There's no return."
After all, the Xiongnu were used to burning, killing, and pillaging. They did not need to farm, so they copied Guan Zhong's tactics against the Chu Country. The damage to them was almost zero.”
He sounded so confident.
Meanwhile, Ying Zheng and Dunruo were getting more and more confused.
He couldn't help but ask," Um, then what's the use of opening a trade route with such a person?”
Zhao Xuan: " Of course it's useful. Every time it's time for the autumn harvest, those Xiongnu people will come to our Central Plains to plunder wantonly.
Other than his despicable nature, the most important thing was that he lacked resources, such as tea leaves, silk, and cloth.
In the grasslands, these things were the targets of all the Xiongnu nobles.”
After hearing this, Ying Zheng frowned and asked again,"You mean to say that we should take the initiative to open a trade route with the Xiongnu and satisfy their needs, so that we can reduce the large-scale invasion of the Xiongnu in the north?”
"That's naturally impossible."
Zhao Xuan laughed confidently.
"If I were the one doing it, I would definitely set up a few fully disguised smuggling squads in private and enter Mobei. At the same time, I would conduct private smuggling transactions with the Xiongnu nobles to gather intelligence. On the other hand, they exchanged for the slaves and horses of the Xiongnu to bring back to the Central Plains. The horses of the grasslands were the best warhorses. As for the slaves, they could be used as coolies to build the Great Wall.
While accumulating wealth, he would also use this opportunity to incite their internal conflicts and form alliances.
For example, if a Khagan was about to die, Great Qin's smugglers could secretly sell Great Qin's exquisite armor to the other party's son and use this opportunity to support a weak or ambitious son to become the leader of the entire tribe.
If this went on for a long time, Mobei would definitely become a plate of loose sand.”
Zhao Xuan said confidently.
As soon as he finished speaking.
On the other side, Ying Zheng's face changed again.
"What? Apart from tea leaves, you want to sell Great Qin's armor?”
Especially on Dunrou's side, he shook his head like a rattle-drum and said.
"How can this be!"
"Great Qin's armor and sabers are important equipment for the Qin army to conquer the world and defend against foreign races. If this kind of item is traded for a long time, if the Xiongnu wear the same armor as us, what would happen? It would be even more difficult for the Northern Territory to be at peace.”
"Zhao Xuan, your thinking is too short-sighted.”
"Short sighted?"
Hearing him say this,
Zhao Xuan also smiled.
"Hehe, Old Li, you're the one who's short-sighted.”
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