"Don't think that he was contemptuous at a young age. Although my precious apprentice is still only a young man who has not yet reached the crown, and he usually seems to be relatively taciturn, his intelligence in his chest has gradually revealed. On the surface, it seems that he is only good at government affairs, but in fact he has the potential to lead the army. ”

Saying that, Lu Ren paused, and then smiled: "But he is still young now, so he has to let him learn more and experience more." Before, I asked him to follow Ziliang (Lu Cheng) and Zizhen (Lu Xin) to Zhuya to build a mine, just because I wanted to polish him. This kid didn't disappoint me either, everything was done beautifully. Oh yes, Yuan Zhi, this time you go to Quanzhou to expand the city and take care of the city defense, Shizai already has a lot of experience in this area, can help you a lot.

"Again, I hope that Yuan Zhi can give him more guidance when you are in the middle, because it is not my forte to march and fight, and to make plans and plans, I can't teach him anything, so I can only rely on Yuan Zhi you. Hey, speaking of which, Shi Zai was also from a poor family before following me, but he was still tireless in learning, and his mother was also filial, which is quite similar to Yuan Zhiyou. I think you'll get along just fine. ”

Xu Shu smiled, thought for a while and asked, "When is my brother going to let me leave?" ”

Lu Ren said: "Not so fast. Not to mention that you still have to go to the academy to select people, I have to ask General Gao to help you select two thousand soldiers so that you can take them to Quanzhou. But Yuanzhi, don't blame me for being stingy, I can only give you 2,000 troops in terms of troops. ”

Xu Shu was slightly stunned: "Two thousand people from General Gao?" Brother, don't you keep more people here in Yizhou? ”

Let's be clear. Yizhou's population base has always been a shortcoming, and the registered population is only 200,000 until now. According to the seven-to-three ratio of women to men in Yizhou, the number of men in Yizhou is about 60,000. Moreover, these 60,000 men still have to get rid of the elderly and minors, so there are only about 50,000 young and strong men with corresponding abilities.

With such hardware limitations, of course, there are not many regular troops in Lu Ren's hands, and until now there are only 7,000 people, but even if it is 7,000 people, this number is already beyond the limit of normal circumstances in inland areas. You think, in that era, the regular work basically had to rely on young men to carry out, and Lu Ren still needed a large number of manpower in terms of sea power, so there were actually only about 30,000 young and strong men who produced here in Yizhou.

According to the general situation at that time, it was equivalent to these 30,000 people having to feed 200,000 people, and they also had to bear a lot of expenditures. This is also in Yizhou, if the general area is to be changed, the economic system is afraid that it will collapse long ago. Why did Lu Ren desperately encourage women to come out to work and consume in Yizhou? In a sense, it is not forced by the population problem. And with such a prerequisite, coupled with the fact that women have gone out of the house, it is normal for Yizhou women to open up.

It's far away, and it is only said that these 7,000 people are elite army forces, and the sea power is not counted in this. In other words, these seven thousand people are the ultimate defense force in Lu Ren's hands. And Xu Shu stayed in Yizhou for not a day or two, of course Xu Shu knew these things very well. Originally, Xu Shu planned to just go over like this, and wait until he arrived in Quanzhou to recruit and reorganize the army. But I heard that Lu Ren would directly dispatch 2,000 elites to him, and Xu Shu was already quite surprised. In other words, how much trust did Lu Ren give Xu Shu?

As soon as he thought of this, Xu Shu persuaded: "Brother, you still have to stay ...... these two thousand people."

Lu Ren waved his hand: "I understand your thoughts." However, Yuan Zhi, the town guard of Quanzhou is not joking, and it may be a mistake to recruit and reorganize after you pass, so you have to have a little foundational strength. In addition, these troops of ours have been trained for a long time, and they should be properly allowed to go out and learn a long time, otherwise if they just practice but don't let them see some blood, I'm afraid the same will be useless. ”

Xu Shu nodded: "Since that's the case, I won't shirk." ”

The meaning of Lu Ren's words Xu Shu understands that going to Quanzhou to officially establish a government this time will inevitably touch the sensitive nerves of some people. Sun Quan didn't say it first, there will be some tribes on Shanyue's side that are not very different from Lu Ren, and it is inevitable that there will be some fights at that time. Although the scale will not be large, it is just right for these long-trained soldiers to see the blood properly.

After a few more discussions, and after the business was finished, Xu Shu raised his glass and smiled at Lu Ren: "Since the foolish brother hasn't left for Quanzhou so soon, then he should be able to catch up with your brother's wedding wine." ”

Lu Ren had a bit of a headache when he mentioned this, so he just laughed twice in response.

Xu Shu smiled again: "The wood is already in the boat, but I don't know when my brother is going to marry Miss Zhen?" It's just that why hasn't my brother gone to meet with Miss Zhen in the past few days? Speaking of which, Miss Zhen has been coming to work these days. ”

Lu Ren smiled bitterly: "How can it be so simple? If something like this happens, unless everyone has the same skin as thick as the city wall, if you don't save face for a few days, no matter who you are, you can't say it, right? ”

Xu Shu smiled and nodded: "That's it!" The girl's face is always thinner, and if she doesn't hide for three or five days, it won't be easy for others to talk about it. ”

Lu Ren sighed and said with a strange smile: "Yuan Zhi, do you know how I describe this matter?" ”

"How?"

"Two words...... Sentimental! ”

――――――――――――――――――――

The Yizhou dock was busy, because Mi Zhen was going to lead the fleet to set off in a few hours. Unlike in the past, the main destination of the fleet this time was Jiangxia, not Chaisang. Although the two places are just across the river, the meaning is completely different.

In the small teahouse, Lu Ren was talking with Mi Zhen before leaving.

"Don't think I'm wordy, when you arrive in Jiangxia, you will make it clear to Brother Ling that since the Lu and Mi clans have been married, I will definitely fully support Brother Ling's career. There are more than 2,000 swords, guns, weapons, 1,000 bows and crossbows, and 1,000 sets of armor in the fleet this time. ”

Mi Zhen leisurely picked up the teacup and said, "I know, and at the same time, I will make it clear to Uncle Liu Huang that you are helping my eldest brother, not him...... Yoshiho, is that so? ”

Lu Ren also took a sip of the teacup, nodded and said, "That's right, that's the case." That's the way it is, there is no difference between me helping your eldest brother and helping Liu Bei, but in the eyes of others, they will be two different things. I am not related to Liu Bei, if I directly do business with Liu Bei, we will not talk about him in Liu Biao, and Sun Quan will definitely have problems.

"In other words, I, the suzerain of the Lu clan, sold the munitions staff directly to Liu Bei, who was an enemy of Sun Quan, which was equivalent to giving Sun Quan an excuse for 'the Lu clan of Wu County fornicating with the enemy country', and it was not good that Sun Quan would take advantage of this to directly attack the Lu clan of Wu County. And now that our two clans are married, with your eldest brother as an intermediary in it, Sun Quan can't find any reasonable excuse, even if he wants to attack my Lu family, he has to act in secret, and he doesn't dare to make trouble in the open.

"To put it bluntly, I sell things to my brother-in-law, since it's my in-laws, I don't help him, who will help? This truth can be said anywhere, if Sun Quan dares to act indiscriminately, it is tantamount to violating human common sense, and the people will scold him...... Those clans, large and small, will also be in danger because of this, how many of the current clans have not married with other clans for profit? ”

Mi Zhen smiled and leaned against the wall and said, "Do you want to let out some more wind, if something happens to the Lu clan of Wujun, they will come directly to you?" It should be a vague warning to Sun Quan, since the Lu and Mi clans are married, they rely on each other, and he can't destroy them if he wants to. Moreover, the current Wu County Lu clan has such a rich industry and great influence, if Sun Quan can't lay the foundation of Yizhou to get rid of the current Lu clan, and the Wu County Lu clan has you where you can avoid disasters and can't be destroyed, it will be endless troubles for him. ”

Lu Ren said: "You can do it, I'll leave it to you anyway." Also, if you can, you can find a way to get in touch with Zhou Yu and tell Zhou Yu and Sun Quan tactfully, as long as Sun Quan doesn't come to mess with me, I will also do business with them. ”

Speaking of which, Lu Ren had another headache. Mi Zhu came to him to ask for support, of course he wanted to mean it here, otherwise he wouldn't be able to say anything about it when he turned back to Liu Bei. Considering some messy problems, this time I could only send Mi Zhen over, because there were some things that could only be relieved by letting Mi Zhen say Lu Ren.

As for Sun Quan, for the time being, he should not be embarrassed by Mi Zhen, after all, although the two sides fought a battle in Quanzhou last time, the scale was small, and the two sides had not yet torn their faces, and Sun Quan knew that he was about to face Cao Cao's army, and he would never make enemies with Lu Ren at this time.

But Lu Ren also knew that this battle between him and Sun Quan would definitely be fought. And if this battle can't beat Sun Quan back beautifully, or even be afraid, he, Lu Ren, wants to talk about business with Sun Quan is simply empty talk. Force is a nuisance, but it's indispensable.

Speaking of this, Lu Rentou felt a burst of pain again. Recall that in China's modern history, China's country, which had been closed for hundreds of years, was opened by the European powers by force. In fact, not only China, but also countless regions in the world that have been forcibly opened to trade routes by force. Although Lu Ren did not want to be an enemy of others, he also knew that without the backing of strong force, nothing would be empty words. In the period of warlord scuffle, whoever has a hard fist has the final say, and if he wants to destroy you, he will destroy you, no matter how rich you are, no matter how extensive your business routes are, and no matter how influential you are, it will be redundant.

But how did Mi Zhen know about the thoughts that popped up in Lu Ren's head? Just smiled and said, "Don't look like that, okay?" Don't worry, I'll do what you told me anyway. ”

Lu Ren also smiled: "You do things, I don't worry." (To be continued.) )