Xudu, Sikong Manor.
"Yuan Shao has already withdrawn his troops from Hanoi. This time, Yuan Shao returned without any achievements and failed to take down Hanoi's Zhang Yang, which is a good thing for us.”
Cao Cao said from the main seat.
"My lord, there will definitely be a battle between you and Yuan Shao. When Yuan Shao completely destroys Gongsun Zan and Zhang Yang, Ji, Qing, You, and the other four prefectures will fall into Yuan Shao's hands.
If Yuan Shao wanted to continue expanding his strength, going south was his only choice.”
Xun You analyzed.
"That's right. Tell me, what's our next step?”
Cao Cao asked his strategists.
"My lord, I suggest sending troops to Xuzhou!”
Xun You said in a deep voice.
"I agree!"
"I agree!"
"I agree!"
Guo Jia, Cheng Yu, Xun Yu, and the others also agreed.
They were really afraid that Cao Cao would attack Wan City again. They had already lost twice. This place was a little strange. They should take Xuzhou first.
Cao Cao saw that his strategists were in agreement and knew what they meant.
"Alright, I'll listen to you. After the autumn harvest, it's time to send troops to Xuzhou and settle scores with that thief Lu Bu!”
Cao Cao was filled with hatred when Lu Bu was mentioned.
Back then, he had been messed with by Lu Bu and Chen Gong. Cao Cao had almost given up and had almost gone to Jizhou to join Yuan Shao.
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Xu Prefecture.
"I didn't expect that Yuan Shu's side would actually seize Pill Sun County. This time, Yuan Shu can finally breathe a sigh of relief.”
Chen Gong sighed when he heard the news.
He had thought that Yuan Shu only had two counties left and it would be difficult for him to make a comeback. He did not expect that there would be signs of him rising again.
"So be it. Anyway, we are still temporary allies. Isn't it good for us if Yuan Shu is stronger?”
Lu Bu said indifferently.
Overall, Lu Bu felt that Yuan Shu was a good ally. No matter what, he could not have obtained the entire Xu Prefecture without Yuan Shu's help.
"Haha."
Chen Gong shook his head and laughed. However, he did not say anything and changed the topic.
"Now that Sun Ce has been heavily injured by Yuan Shu and Liu Biao, he definitely won't be able to spy on Guangling Prefecture. We should focus on the north. Cao Cao has been eyeing Xu Prefecture covetously.”
"What do you mean, sir?"
Lu Bu perked up. Although he was arrogant, he had suffered a great loss at Cao Cao's hands and did not dare to underestimate him.
"Recruit soldiers and horses, hurry up and train the new army! On the one hand, we will continue to befriend Yuan Shu. Our family will definitely not be able to resist Cao Cao's army. We need someone to help us share the pressure.”
Chen Gong said without hesitation.
Liu Bei had already been driven away. The situation in Xu Prefecture was very simple and clear. As long as they could stop Cao Cao, everything would be fine.
"It's easy to get the soldiers and horses, and there's no problem with training them. But how do we befriend Yuan Shu? I've already married my daughter off, what else do you want?”
A boorish man like Lu Bu was naturally very good at war and training, but he knew nothing about other things.
"Isn't Yuan Shu supporting merchants? In the future, when merchants from Shouchun come to Xuzhou to do business, we will not collect customs duties and road taxes. Shouchun doesn't have any big merchants, so we don't have much money.”
Lu Bu immediately agreed.
Although he might be able to collect less five baht, it was not a big deal. In times of war, food was the hard currency.
Five baht might not be enough to buy armor or warhorses, but if there was enough food, it could definitely be exchanged for these two things.
.................................
Shouchun County, East Palace.
"Greetings, Your Highness."
Lu Bu's messenger bowed to Yuan Yao.
Ever since he suffered a huge loss last time, this fellow saw that Yuan Yao was much more well-behaved.
"Why did Lu Bu send you here?”
Yuan Yao's mind was racing, not knowing what Lu Bu was doing.
"Your Highness, my lord has heard that Your Highness is opening up a trade route. As Your Highness 'ally, my lord naturally has to support you.
My master has already ordered that in the future, as long as they are merchants under your rule, they will not be charged any road taxes when they go to Xuzhou to do business.”
Yuan Yao was not happy, but shocked, and he quickly thought about Lu Bu's intentions.
'Could it be that Lu Bu and Chen Gong also saw that reducing customs duties and road taxes could prosper commerce? If the other dukes were also aware of this, Shouchun would have no advantage.'
Yuan Yao's mind spun rapidly as he thought of how to deal with this matter.
"Hehe, you are too polite. This will cost us a lot of business tax!”
Yuan Yao probed.
"How can some ordinary things compare to the friendship between the two families?”
The messenger said in a dignified manner.
"Speak human language! Are you being arrogant again?"
Seeing that he couldn't get anything out of her, Yuan Yao decided to threaten her directly.
"Uh... Please forgive me, Your Highness."
"Why would Lu Bu be friendly with me for no reason? If you don't tell me, I'll tell Lu Bu directly that you've rudely ruined the relationship between the two families. Even if Lu Bu trusts you, for the sake of the overall situation of the two families, he'll probably ask you to die.”
The messenger revealed a panicked and troubled expression when he heard this. Yuan Yao knew that the other party had already wavered.
"This isn't a secret, and it wouldn't cause any losses to Lu Bu, right? Let alone betray him!"
Yuan Yao said patiently.
"It's Mister Gongtai's intention. He hopes to be on good terms with you and fight against Cao Cao in the future.”
The emissary still told the truth.
Yuan Yao heaved a sigh of relief when he heard this. So it was a lucky hit to curry favor with him. Then there was no problem. The other party would definitely not pay too much attention to merchants.
"Very good, go down and receive the reward money! After that, you can go back and report."
Yuan Yao waved his hand, signaling for the other party to leave.
"Your Highness seems to attach great importance to the way of doing business.”
After the messenger left, Lu Xun spoke up.
"Of course, being a merchant is very useful!”
Yuan Yao said firmly.
"Boyan, those aristocratic families in River East have probably been massacred. You should come out and settle these people in Shouchun.”
"Here."
Lu Xun was currently Yuan Yao's Crown Prince, and he was an official in the Eastern Palace. He was directly under Yuan Yao's jurisdiction.
"Duke Yang, how is the business development of Shouchun?”
Yuan Yao asked Yang Hong.
"Your Highness, after this period of time, Shouchun's open policy has spread all over the world. All kinds of wealthy merchants have come to Shouchun to operate and set up branches in the commercial street in the city, especially the Mi family in Xu Prefecture. They directly rented half of the commercial street to run their family business.
Now, the monthly business tax collected is more than a year's worth. Your Highness is far-sighted and this old minister admires you.”
After Yang Hong reported the situation, he didn't forget to flatter her.
"Your Highness, there's one more thing I need you to ask.”
Yang Hong spoke again.
"What is it, Duke Yang?”
"It's the problem with the arsenal in the city. The arrows produced by the arsenal have already piled up like a mountain. They won't be used up in a few years.
However, this old minister did not dare to let these people stop. Once the factory was closed, a large number of people would have nothing to do.”
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