Chapter 1440: Eight Great Granaries

The land of Jianghuai, that is, the north and south of the Huai River, and the area north of the Yangtze River, most of which belong to Yangzhou, and the small part belongs to Xuzhou.

In addition, the land of Jianghuai is fertile and rich in products, so it has been the land of fish and rice since ancient times, and it is rich in grain.

Since Qin Hao popularized the new grain varieties, after these years of cultivation and cultivation, the major princes have enough grain varieties, and they have all popularized the new grain varieties under their rule, and then ushered in a doubling of grain production.

At this time, the major princes finally understood that Dong Zhuo wanted to occupy Nanyang at all costs, and if he could monopolize such a sharp weapon as new grain seeds, who else in the world could be an opponent?

Due to the doubling of the overall grain production, the food crisis in various places has been greatly reduced, and the major princes have surplus grain in their hands, so they are naturally willing to use grain to relieve disasters, so as to even the praise and good reputation of the people.

After analysis in later generations, the population of the states has been declining since the Yellow Turban Uprising, and the decline is very fast, but when the high-yield grain is promoted, this trend of population collapse has slowly stopped.

Although the overall decline is still increasing, the rate of decline is already very slow, and there is a population rebound in some regions, which is definitely a miracle.

The promotion of new grain varieties has led to a sharp increase in grain production, and the famous experts have selected eight granaries in the world according to the amount of grain produced, namely: Shuzhong, Jiangdong, Jingxiang, Jianghuai, Hetao, Shandong, Heluo, and Liaodong.

These eight granaries account for four in the north and south, and any one of them can reach one state or even many states with a grain crop, so there is also a rumor that 'those who get the eight granaries will win the world'.

After all, in the troubled times, grain and grass are the most important, and getting any of these eight granaries means that the strength has increased greatly, and naturally they also have the qualifications to dominate the world.

Therefore, this sentence should actually be reversed, not the one who gets the eight granaries to win the world, but the eight granaries that must be the first if you want to win the world.

At present, five of the eight granaries have owners:

Hetao and Heluo belong to Qin Hao

Jiangdong returned to Sun Jian

Jianghuai returned to Yuan Shu

Liaodong returned to Nurhachi

Jingxiang, that is, Jingzhou, was divided among Qin Hao, Huang Zu, and Liu Xiu;

Shandong, that is, parts of Qingzhou and Jizhou, was divided by Yuan Shao, Han Fu, Li Jing, Song Jiang, and Zhu Tianpeng;

Shuzhong, that is, Yizhou in the land of abundance, was divided among Liu Ji, Liu Yu, and Li Shimin;

If you want to win the world, you must first get one of the eight major grain depots, but the place without the lord is too chaotic, and the area with the lord, no matter which one is not a soft persimmon.

Among the eight major grain depots, Qin Hao alone accounted for two, but no one paid attention to him, because Qin Hao was the overlord of the princes, and no one could snatch it from him alone.

Qing Emperor Nurhachi, Jiangdong Tiger Sun Jian, are also not easy to mess with.

Of course, there is only one exception to this, and that is Yuan Shu, who occupies Jianghuai.

After losing Yuzhou, although Yuan Shu's strength dropped greatly, he still had Jianghuai, one of the eight major grain depots, and he naturally became fat in the eyes of the surrounding princes.

The eight major grain depots, who doesn't want to occupy them, and although Yuan Shu is not weak, in the eyes of Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhao Kuangyin, and Sun Jian, it is undoubtedly the easiest soft persimmon to eat.

In fact, Cao Cao also wanted Jianghuai, but he hadn't even solved it with Li Zicheng, and before the problem of Yanzhou was completely solved, he was naturally not qualified to compete with the other three for Jianghuai.

In addition to Cao Cao, among the three families of Zhu Zhao and Sun, Sun Jian has already started a war with Liu Xiu, so naturally he can't be distracted from Jianghuai, so Sun Jian is also out.

At present, only Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhao Kuangyin can compete for Jianghuai, and Zhao Kuangyin has not been able to win Yuzhou for a long time, and the background is not enough, so Zhu Yuanzhang is more likely to win.

In addition, regarding the competition for Jianghuai, Zhu Yuanzhang also has an advantage that Zhao Kuangyin does not have.

At the beginning, the remnants of the Ming Dynasty fled into the Three Mountains, and Zhu Yuanzhang retreated into the Dabie Mountains, part of which belonged to Jianghuai.

When Zhu Yuanzhang conquered Xuzhou, he moved the population out of the mountains, but also left some people in the Dabie Mountain base.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang still has a little foundation in Jianghuai, but Zhao Kuangyin has no foundation at all, so naturally Zhu Yuanzhang is more likely to be born.

Knowing that Sun Jian raised troops to attack Liu Xiu, Zhu Yuanzhang did not hesitate and immediately sent Xu Shiji to lead 80,000 troops to attack Yuan Shu.

After Zhao Kuangyin learned about it, he wanted to fight with Zhu Yuanzhang for Jianghuai, but his adviser Zhao Pu advised him not to act rashly, Yuan Shu was not without the power to defend it, let Zhu Yuanzhang fight with him first, and it would be easier to send troops to receive Jianghuai.

Zhao Kuangyin suddenly woke up to the fact that Yuan Shu had Lian Po under him, and he knew that Lian Po was powerful, as long as Lian Po was there, Zhu Yuanzhang might not be able to please him.

In the first battle of Yuzhou, Yuan Shu fell into Zhao Kuangyin's counter-plot and misunderstood Lian Po, but he lost the entire Yuzhou, and Yuan Shu would regret it.

The tempers of the Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao brothers are very similar, they are the kind of characters who know their mistakes and correct them but do not admit their mistakes.

In the battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao did not stop Tian Feng's words, but after losing, he killed Tian Feng.

Yuan Shu is actually similar, after losing Yuzhou, he also had murderous intentions towards Lian Po, and Zhao Kuangyin also took advantage of this to add fuel to the fire, and used Yuan Shu's hand to get rid of Lian Po, a big enemy, but was stopped by Yan Xiang.

Under the persuasion of Yan Xiang, Yuan Shu realized his situation, if there was no Lian Po, he would not even be able to hold Jianghuai, and only by relying on Lian Po could he recapture Yuzhou, so Yuan Shu knew his mistakes and admitted his mistakes, and paid more attention to Lian Po.

Zhao Kuangyin did not send troops to interfere, but sat back and watched Zhu Yuanzhang attack Jianghuai.

Yuan Shu saw that Zhao Kuangyin did not send troops, and his heart was immediately relieved, and immediately ordered Lian Po to lead the country's troops to resist Xu Shiji, who was attacking.

In this way, on the battlefield of Jianghuai, Xu Shiji and Lian Po faced each other again.

At the same time, on the battlefield of Yanzhou, Cao Cao also captured a once-in-a-lifetime fighter.

Li Zicheng took Tai's Shanming army, which belonged to him, and had a stalemate with Cao Cao in Yanzhou for nearly three years.

Seeing that the forces in all directions were gradually stabilizing, and Zhu Yuanzhang was planning Jianghuai after unifying Xuzhou, only he was tepid on the Yanzhou side, Li Zicheng couldn't help but feel impatient in his heart.

Li Zicheng, who was impatient, wanted to defeat Cao Cao and unify Yanzhou as soon as possible, so he took risks, but the plan failed, but Cao Cao saw through it, and set up an ambush.

Cao Cao took all the elite soldiers and strong generals under his command and fought a decisive battle with Li Zicheng, not only defeating Li Zicheng's main force in one fell swoop, but even Li Zicheng was killed by Xiahou Yuan's arrow.