The night banquet was dispersed, and Meng Shu and other patriarchs had also left, but these people under Lu Ren stayed behind to hold another small banquet. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Dangling a glass of wine in his hand, Lu Ren looked at his own group of people in the banquet...... In fact, only Huang Zhong, Guo Yi, Deng Ai, and Shi Tao were staying in the hall at this time, and even Sun Shangxiang went back to rest because of his special identity. And Liu Ye, who can be regarded as Lu Ren's chief of staff, stayed in Yizhou at this time to help Shirley sit in Yizhou, and did not follow Lu Ren's side.

After admiring the grape wine with a charming color in the wine glass, Lu Ren smiled and asked Guo Yi and Deng Ai, "Boyi, Shizai, do you know why you want to fight Jianning County as a teacher?" ”

Guo Yi and Deng Ai glanced at each other, and shook their heads at Lu Ren together, while Guo Yi said, "Although there are some guesses, there are still some things that I can't figure out. ”

Lu Ren still smiled: "What's there you can't figure out?" Say it and explain it to you. ”

Guo Yi muttered: "Master, although Nanzhong is rich in products, after all, it is too far away from us, and there is a Jiaozhou barrier from the Shijia family in the middle, once things change, I am afraid it will be difficult to clean up. Since there is such a problem, why does the master still try to plot against Jianning, which is far away in Yizhou? ”

Lu Ren said with a smile: "Far is indeed far, and it is also far on land, and the road is also difficult to walk, not as convenient as our maritime trade route." But have you two ever wondered what kind of place Jianning County is further north? ”

Deng Ai and Guo Yi were stunned together, and Shi Tao said thoughtfully: "The lord's intention is in Shudi? ”

Lu Ren nodded: "Almost." But let's make it clear, my 'intention' is by no means to send troops to fight and occupy Shu, to put it mildly, we don't have the corresponding military strength to do this kind of thing, so my purpose is to establish the Shu land trade road. ”

Saying that, Lu Ren spread out the map he had brought with him on the floor in the hall, Huang Zhong and the others also came over, and Lu Ren pointed to the map and explained: "You see, the thirteen states of our Han Dynasty, and then counting the Yizhou that I incorporated into the Han Dynasty, a total of fourteen states. Among these fourteen states, the north is basically in the hands of Lao Cao, and we have always had close business contacts with Lao Cao, so there is no need for me to do much in the north;

"The southeast region is Sun Quan's territory, and we have been doing business for many years. Although we only fought a battle with Sun Quan not long ago, I knew early on that it was a battle that must be fought, and only after this battle could we truly stabilize. Now that the war has been fought, and we have won it beautifully, then the next thing is to do business with the Jiangdong region safely and steadily, and further expand trade exchanges, so the Jiangdong region does not have to worry about anything;

"Then there was Jingzhou. Jingzhou is also our old customer, and the business between me and Jingzhou has also been done very early. However, after the Battle of Chibi, it was too risky for our merchant ships to take the Yangtze River waterway, so I would spend a lot of effort to open up this trade route between Guangzhou and Guiyang, so as to ensure our connection with the inland areas of China. ”

Saying that, Lu Ren nodded a few times in the western region: "Now the north, east, and central have been completed, and the rest is the western region." If it is said that it is a peaceful and prosperous era now, I can actually not do it like now, and just go up the Yangtze River waterway, but the problem is that Jingzhou is now divided by the three families of Cao, Liu and Sun, and there is a small fight between each other in three days and a big fight in five days, where can our caravan go from the Yangtze River waterway? Therefore, I want to open up another trade route to Shudi. ”

Guo Yi nodded, but he was still a little puzzled and said, "Master, can't we use Guiyang Business Road to send goods to Shuzhong?" ”

Lu Ren waved his hand and said, "No!" Taking the Guiyang line is actually taking the long waterway, and the Yangtze River waterway goes up the river, and the pass into Shuzhong is sealed by Liu Zhang, and our goods can't be sent in at all. And this is still secondary, the key problem is that although Liu Bei and Sun Quan have formed an alliance, these two goods are not good birds, and sooner or later they will fall out because of the ownership of Jingzhou.

"In contrast, our Guiyang is east of Xiangshui, close to Sun Quan's territory, and it is easy to be swallowed up by Sun Quan, and it will be difficult for Liu Bei to maintain the existing contact with us. Of course, with Sun Quan's current situation, I believe he won't dare to get into too much trouble with us, and it's still okay for our Guiyang goods to be sent to Jingzhou, but they will definitely be subject to corresponding restrictions. And with this or that restriction, isn't it even more difficult for our goods to be sent to Shuzhong? To put it another way, the goods we sent to Guiyang are not enough for Jingzhou to digest, so how can there be excess goods to be transferred to Shuzhong? ”

When he said this, several people present smiled knowingly. The goods produced or resold in Yizhou are in high demand everywhere, and the existing trade points hope that Luren can increase the supply here. And it is normal to have such a situation, not to mention the excellent quality of the items produced in Yizhou, and a very key problem is that the world has been in turmoil for many years, and the productivity of various places has been seriously damaged, so the demand for many things is very high and very eager, and this situation is most prominent in Lao Cao's northern region, so Lu Ren is definitely picking up a big bargain at this point.

And after everyone laughed, Lu Ren pointed to Jianning on the map and said: "So, we need another trade road to Shudi, and it is in our own hands, so I chose Jianning." Jianning is indeed far away, but the relationship between us and the Jiaozhou Shijia is good, which means that when our caravan goes to Jianning, there are towns in Shixie on the way to stop and rest, which is a lot more convenient.

"And why did I vigorously support and help Meng Shu in the first place? That's because I know very well that there are many tribes in the Nanzhong region, and if we only send troops to dig a passage by ourselves, it will be unrealistic at all, and it is easy to form hatred with the large and small tribes in the Nanzhong region, so it will be impossible to open up this trade route.

"So in contrast, it is more laborious and reliable to use the strife between the southern and central tribes to help us create a safe trade route. Taking 10,000 steps back, even if this thing doesn't work out, we will just lose some money and food, and we can afford it. We may not be able to do anything else in Yizhou, but he just has a lot of money! ”

The last sentence provoked a burst of snickers from several people present, and after laughing, Deng Ai's eyes flashed and said, "Master, I probably understand what you mean." It turns out that according to the master's assumption, we can't compete for the land of the southern and central tribes, but we must have a suitable place to set up our site, and this Jianning County is more suitable.

"And this Jianning County must be a place where the southern and central tribes are willing to accept us. This time, we have eliminated one of the Abu clans in Nanzhong, and we must shift the attention of the Nanzhong clans to other people as soon as possible, otherwise it will be difficult for us to stand up in Nanzhong if we are misreported. So the master asked Meng to do it, and we followed behind the scenes as good people. ”

Lu Ren nodded and smiled: "That's right, that's it." El, you've been in Nanzhong for so long, you should know a lot of things, right? As far as I know, these southern and central tribes basically eat soft rather than hard, and if they blindly use only force to deal with it, then it will only become more and more troublesome. But what if you use a soft knife and treat them better and let them taste enough sweetness? ”

Deng Ai also smiled: "Why does the master ask knowingly? ”

Lu Ren smiled again, turned back to the table to drink, and let Huang Zhong and the others say a word to the map. Don't look at what Lu Ren said so much before, but in fact, Lu Ren still has a lot to say, and it is impossible to say it to Huang Zhong and the others.

For example, the problem in Shuzhong is ostensibly to open up relations with Liu Zhang, but in fact, the potential targets in Lu Ren's heart are Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang. Others don't know Zhuge Liang's "Longzhong Pair", can Lu Ren not know? Therefore, Lu Ren knows very well that as long as there is no major deviation from the current trend, Liu Bei's entry into Shu will be a sure thing. And there was no contact between Lu Ren and Liu Zhang, and it may not be so easy to sell the goods into Shuzhong, but it is another matter to replace them with old acquaintances like Liu Bei or Zhuge Liang. As long as the goods enter Shuzhong, there will be many things that will be very convenient in the future.

In addition, Lu Ren also has a very bold idea, that is, after the conditions of Meng Huo and Liu Bei are ripe, Meng Huo will open up the passage from Yunnan to the southwest, that is, the direction to the coastal area of Myanmar. To be more precise, Lu Ren wanted to reorganize the Sichuan-Yunnan-Burma Highway in later generations.

During the Anti-Japanese War, the Sichuan-Yunnan-Burma Highway was a major artery of the Anti-Japanese War, and its strategic significance was self-evident. In the current era, although this arterial line does not have the meaning of later generations, Lu Ren believes that it still has a great role.

Let's put it this way, Lu Ren wants to build a transit base in the Bay of Bengal, where the Yizhou maritime trade route can rest and replenish, and then go further to India and the Persian Gulf region. And such a base must be supported by corresponding military forces, but it is impossible for Lu Ren to send troops to do this within a few years, so he has to find a way to mobilize other military forces to do this, and Meng Shu, who is in the Yunnan region, is very suitable.

If we can go one step further on this basis, that is, after Liu Bei enters Shu, he keeps in touch with Jianning, which is controlled by Lu Ren, then many specialties in the central Shu region can also be directly sent to the transit base through this arterial line, and then trafficked to the target location by sea from the transit base. Speaking of which, in the summer of that era, foreign trade was the most profitable? Isn't it silk, porcelain, and tea? At that time, the Shu brocade in Shu and the tea produced in Yunnan were absolutely of special quality, and the profits from selling overseas were also difficult to calculate...... (To be continued.) )