Zhang Ying walked out of the east gate and walked less than ten miles, when he suddenly heard a gong sound, and countless people and horses were killed from both sides, and the first one was holding a three-pointed and two-edged knife, which was Ji Ling, the general under Yuan Shu. Zhang Ying knew that he was not Ji Ling's opponent, so he didn't dare to meet him head-on, so he ran away. Ji Ling led the army to kill from behind for a while, and then collected his troops and went back to Yinling to celebrate.

Three days later, Ji Ling led the army to appear under Shouchun City. However, Shouchun is far from being comparable to Yinling, the city wall is nearly half higher than Yinling, and the defenders in the city also have 20,000 people, as well as many people recruited from the surrounding counties. And this is Liu Miao's last fortress, he will not give up easily, even if he adopts the method of besieging the city without one, it is impossible for Liu Miao to abandon the city.

Ji Ling, Lei Bo, Chen Lan and Liu Bei surrounded Shouchun City and attacked four gates. This battle was much more difficult than the attack on Yinling, and the repeated impact that lasted for half a month day and night lost tens of thousands of horses, and Shouchun City still stood still.

Spring is in full bloom, the wind is beautiful, and it is a good time for outings. On the vast Taihu Lake, a huge building boat floated slowly on the lake, without any destination, just floating casually. In the cabin on the top floor of the ship, Liu Xin was lying on a special wooden chair, smiling, admiring the brisk dance in front of him, and beating the beat in his hand from time to time, as leisurely as the ship he was on.

Liu Xin does have this leisurely qualification. Although he is in a troubled era, he now has a lot of talents, and he only needs to set a general strategy and direction for everything, and there are a lot of civil and military affairs to deal with specific affairs.

Zhang Liao and Gao Shun sat in the two counties of Xiapi and Guangling in Xuzhou, and neither Cao Cao nor Yuan Shu dared to act rashly. And with a large amount of money and grain seized from the big families in Xuzhou City, and through the smelting of the masters of Chen Qi and his son, the people's hearts in these two counties have been completely stabilized. The battle of Danyang County had long since subsided, and Gan Ning and Zhou Tai each led a fleet to block the Yangzhou naval army in that water village. Liu Miao only had a lonely city of Wanling left in Danyang, although Zhang He besieged but did not attack, but Yu Lu still did not even dare to open the city gate. Everything seems to be in Liu Xin's hands.

At this time, the dance in the middle of the cabin had ended, and the dancing little man jumped happily in front of Liu Xin and asked with a smile: "Godfather, how is Ling'er dancing?" ”

Liu Xin touched Lu Qiling's little head, and praised her chin: "Yes, it is really a famous teacher and a high apprentice, in time, your dancing skills may surpass your master." ”

Lu Qiling was praised by Liu Xin, and couldn't help but laugh all over her face. As a master, Minchan was also full of joy, and when she turned her head, she saw Liu Xin's brows frowning slightly, a trace of melancholy flashed in her eyes, and she couldn't help asking, "Master, what is on your mind?" ”

Liu Xin smiled and said, "It's nothing, it's a little stuffy in this cabin, you sit here, I'll go for a walk outside." ”

As Liu Xin's pillow person, Minchan can clearly feel that Liu Xin has been a little worried recently, and he often silently goes out of his mind when he lies in bed in the middle of the night, and he must have encountered something difficult to decide in military and political affairs. But Minchan understands that even Ma Yun has begun to stay away from military and political affairs, intentionally or unintentionally, and these things are not something she can ask about. Therefore, hearing Liu Xin's prevarication, Minchan no longer asked, but motioned to Lanier to offer Liu Xin a cup of tea.

Minchan had heard Liu Xin say that tea can dispel fire and dryness, refresh and refresh the mind, which seems to be right for Liu Xin's current situation. And the fragrant tea brewed by Lanier is the new tea that Yu Flip fried according to the method taught by Liu Xin, and it is fragrant in her mouth when she drinks it, and even Minchan herself likes to drink it.

Liu Xin took the tea bowl offered by Laniel, and knew that she was a little unbreathable in the past few days, and her mind was seen by Minchan, and she couldn't help but be moved by Minchan's carefulness and thoughtfulness. Liu Xin waved her hand and asked Lanier to retreat, standing on the deck alone and looking at the hazy Gusu Mountain in the distance, her mood slowly relaxed. However, when he opened the lid of the bowl and smelled the fragrant fragrance, his thick eyebrows gradually tightened again.

It has been more than two months since he left Xiangyang, and according to the latest news, the ice and snow in the north have begun to melt, and the road to the Western Regions, which was blocked by heavy snowfall, has gradually become unblocked, but he is still dragged in the south of the Yangtze River and cannot move. Of course, no one had to stay here, not to leave. However, Liu Xin knew very well that his real enemies so far were the two powerful princes Cao Cao and Yuan Shao. As long as the Cao and Yuan families did not go to war, he could not handle the affairs of the Western Regions with confidence. Although the Western Regions are far away, they are related to Liu Xin's money bag, and if the Silk Road is not opened, then the silk, porcelain, and tea produced in large quantities in the future will not be able to exchange for a large amount of real money, silver and even grain from the West.

Silk has been an important commodity of China's foreign trade since ancient times, and now Liu Xin has vigorously promoted the cultivation of mulberry and silkworms in the three counties in the south of the Yangtze River, and the output of silk will definitely increase exponentially this year. Since last winter, the porcelain production base in the western suburbs of Xiangyang has gradually moved to Yuzhang. There are more expensive and more suitable raw materials for porcelain making, which can produce more, cheaper, and better quality porcelain. Silk and porcelain are two commodities that must find a better way out this year.

Because of the limited production, there is no need to rush the sale of tea, and the tea that Liu Xin drinks now is harvested from wild tea trees in the high mountains. Although Yu Tuo has built a large number of tea gardens in some areas suitable for the growth of tea trees in the south of the Yangtze River according to Liu Xin's arrangement, it is foreseeable that the tea output this year and next year will not be too much. However, in another two or three years, the situation will be very different. Everything must be prepared for a rainy day, Liu Xin wanted to advertise tea as soon as possible, just like he did with the Huns, and sell tea to the West before it was produced in large quantities.

To market these products to the West, it was necessary to pass through the Silk Road, and the Western Regions was an important node on the Silk Road. As early as the Western Han Dynasty, the imperial court set up the Western Regions Protectorate, but it was abandoned for hundreds of years, and until a few years ago, the Western Regions Protectorate had existed in name only. The two great powers of the Western Regions, Wusun and Dawan, completely broke away from the Western Regions Protectorate two hundred years ago, and recently their influence has extended to other small countries in the Western Regions, making it more difficult than ever for the Han Dynasty to rebuild the Western Regions Protectorate.

In order to ensure that the goods of the Han Dynasty could be sold smoothly to the West, Liu Xin, the protector of the Western Regions, must be rebuilt. However, in the process of rebuilding the Western Regions Protectorate, there will inevitably be some conflicts between the Han Dynasty and other forces in the Western Regions, and even a war of medium scale or above is very likely. Today, the Han Dynasty itself is still in a state of division and separation, and at this time, the rebuilding of the Western Regions Protectorate naturally requires a stable and stable rear.

Originally, Liu Xin's plan was to force Yuan Shu to expand northward and have a fierce war with Cao Cao. In this case, Yuan Shao would definitely think that he had an opportunity, so he waved his army south and attacked Cao Cao's rear. With Cao Cao's strength, Yuan Shu must not be pleased, and it is very likely that he will be eaten by Cao Cao in turn, and at this time, a protracted war between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao will be inevitable, and Liu Xin can take advantage of the hot fight between the two of them to let go and solve the problems of the Western Regions.

"The soldiers and horses have not moved, and the grain and grass go first." Everyone knows this sentence, but no one understands it more deeply than Liu Xin. In Liu Xin's eyes, the grain and grass here not only refers to the grain, forage, clothing, equipment, and other military supplies directly used in the war, but also includes the large sums of money and food needed for relief and reconstruction after the war. In other words, in the final analysis, the war is still fought with money.

After solving the problem of the Western Regions and opening up the Silk Road, Liu Xin can obtain a stable source of wealth. With money, it will be easy to go back and clean up Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, who have lost both sides.

But what Liu Xin didn't expect was that a small Jiujiang, Yuan Shu would not be able to attack it for a long time. Now Yuan Shu's army is being dragged to the death under Shouchun City, and it is in a dilemma. If this war continues, even if Yuan Shu can conquer Jiujiang, his vitality will be greatly damaged, and he will not be able to challenge Cao Cao in a short time. And Cao Cao and Yuan Shao have many wise men under them, and they will not let Cao Cao and Yuan Shao easily make the mistake of "the snipe and the clam fight, and the fisherman profits".

Although Liu Xin had a two-year peace agreement with Cao Cao, and he himself would try to abide by it, he did not believe that Cao Cao would abide by it. If his progress in the Western Regions is not going well, he may be tied hand and foot, and who can guarantee that Cao Cao will not put on another good show like the last sneak attack on Xiangyang? In particular, the two counties of Xiapi and Guangling are isolated in a corner, which is just convenient for Cao Cao. But letting Liu Xin take the initiative to cede these two counties, shrink the defense line to the south of the Yangtze River, and use the Yangtze River as a natural defense line is not Liu Xin's style of life. Because of this, Liu Xin frowned.

Suddenly, there was a rush of footsteps on the gangway, and Fu Zhi came over, and said with a joyful face: "Lord Qiqi, there is news from the front. ”

Liu Xin was also overjoyed and said, "What? Yuan Shu broke Shouchun? ”

Frustrated for a moment, he immediately shook his head and said, "It's not the news of Shouchun, it's the surrender of the entire naval army in Yangzhou." ”

This is good news, but not surprising. The Yangzhou Navy was huddled in the water village, and the warships of the Han Navy patrolled day and night on the river, and the shore was cut off by Zhang Ren's department. In such a situation, they can't even get provisions, how can they hold on? After so many days, it was not easy for the soldiers of the Yangzhou Navy to raise the flag and surrender.

Liu Xin was a little disappointed, and said lightly: "It is no longer in the way of the overall situation for them to surrender or not, pass on the order, let them all be disarmed and return to the field." ”

Fu Zhu understood what Liu Xin was struggling with now, he was also racking his brains for this matter in the past few days, thinking hard and meditating, seeing Liu Xin frowning, he couldn't help but arch his hand and said: "Lord, it's really not good, just let our people lurking in Shouchun help." ”