Yizhou Mansion.

Lu Ren's body has gradually recovered, and he has come to the government office to discuss political affairs with the officials as usual in the past few days. At lunchtime, the officials had their own places to rest and eat, and Lu Ren invited Xu Shu to a nearby restaurant for a few drinks and some thoughts.

When the meal was half full, after three rounds of wine, Xu Shu played with the exquisite porcelain cup in his hand and asked in a deep voice: "Brother invited Shu to drink alone, I'm afraid there is something important to ask, right?" ”

Lu Ren smiled, raised his glass to Xu Shu and said, "Yuan Zhi, after my disappearance this time, although there have been no mistakes in our major affairs here, have you paid attention to some of the shortcomings exposed in it?" ”

Xu Shu nodded and said, "Yes." ”

"Tell me about it."

Xu Shu analyzed: "The prosperity of Yizhou is not inferior to that of the Central Plains, thanks to my brother's tireless efforts over the years. It's just that I would like to forgive you for saying bluntly, is there too much trivial thing that my brother has handled before? It is certainly a good thing for the elder brother to be diligent in government affairs, and it really makes the concubine respectful, but there are too many trivial things, which are both annoying and hurtful, and the ministers under the account will also unconsciously produce an excessive dependence, which does not seem to be a good thing.

"Since the elder brother is the superior person, he should only make a general plan, and leave the trivial government affairs to the staff to do, and there is no need to ask about everything at all. If the elder brother is still so respectful in everything, not only will he damage his body in vain, but his staff will also lose his experience...... This time it was the elder brother who deliberately arranged it, but in case the elder brother really had an accident, the eldest son was still young, and it was difficult to convince the public even if he had a concubine by his side, and I am afraid that what kind of consequences would be caused afterwards was unpredictable. ”

Lu Ren played with the wine glass in his hand, and said in his heart, why did he seem to see these words somewhere? It seems that someone persuaded Zhuge Liang in the later period of the Three Kingdoms, but now it was thrown on his head by Xu Shu. Shaking his head and shaking off his distracting thoughts, Lu Ren sighed lightly: "What Yuan Zhi said is extremely true! To be honest, I've been aware of this for a long time. Haven't you noticed that I haven't asked too much about a lot of specific things in recent times?

"To tell you the truth, I just want my staff to gradually learn not to report to me everything, to try to do it themselves if they should make a decision, and not to do it if they don't really need to report to me...... But my idea seems a little too simplistic. ”

Xu Shu said: "Things in the world are like this, easier said than done. ”

Lu Ren said: "Yes, it's easier said than done. The first is that if I want to do this, it will be difficult to grasp a degree. If it is too loose, the staff may gradually become accustomed to being arbitrary; Grasping it tightly seems to be no different from me not letting go of my hands. I have put a lot of thought into arranging this time, and it can also be said that it is a test of how well I am doing now. Fortunately, I finally saw some results, but I also saw some shortcomings. I'll have to pay more attention in the future. ”

Xu Shu nodded slightly, poured himself a cup and drank it.

Lu Ren also drank a cup and asked again: "Yuan Zhi, since you officially came to Yizhou, you have been exposed to a lot of things that you haven't thought of before, right?" ”

Xu Shu said: "Not bad. What touched the Shu the most was the lord's emphasis on commerce and trade, and the discussion of craftsmen, and the extremely low tax on cultivators and the plan of not levying forced labor made Shu feel unbelievable at the beginning. It wasn't until the official brother Zuo Lizheng understood a little bit that these numbers could complement each other and promote each other so much. For example, in order to make the utensils that can be sold better, the craftsman will inevitably improve the craftsmanship at hand and make better utensils than others, and in turn, good tools can make the farming of farmers faster and more convenient; Merchants circulated in the middle, and most of the taxes came from merchants...... Alas, Shu Lu was dull, and he couldn't say anything for a while, but he just had some experience in his heart. ”

Lu Renxin said It's strange that you can explain it clearly now, I can't tell why I came here now. At the beginning of the trial, Lu Ren and they all worked hard to find the balance and some key points, and now everything is running normally in Yizhou, and it is getting richer and richer, which cannot but be said to be a rare success.

They laughed a few times, and the topic was put aside. After a few more cups, Xu Shu asked, "Brother, there are still some things that you have been exposed to in the past few days...... Since General Gan returned from his voyage, the fleet of ships sailing in Yizhou has become more frequent. Shu was curious for a while, and looked at his brother's chart, and while he was amazed at the size of the world, he also had some doubts about his brother's decision-making...... Brother, although the sea frontier is vast and has a lot of land to be mapped, most of it is wild and barren land. Brother Shuguan's plan is quite picturesque, is there some lack of care? ”

Lu Ren said: "Does Yuan Zhi want to say that I sent a lot of fleets to build cities and repair ports everywhere, distracting the forces that I don't have in my hands?" ”

"That's exactly what it means."

Lu Ren shook his wine glass and said, "There are some things that I can't explain now, but I can tell you that these places will be of great use in the future." Maybe the usefulness of these places is not visible to our generation, but what about the next generation? What about the next generation? Well, don't talk about him from afar, let's talk about the near, and the main points in the charts are the shops that sell grain and cloth from Yizhou to the local aborigines, and then buy back all kinds of special products from the local area that can be sold to various places in the Central Plains for profit. What's more, I can plunder a large amount of labor in the area for me to drive. Why has Yizhou been able to develop so fast in the past two years? It was because I solved the problem of labor shortage with looted and purchased people. ”

Xu Shuqi said: "Just to build a shop? Then why didn't the brother take it? ”

Lu Ren shrugged his shoulders and said, "At the moment, I don't have so many scholars and officials to care!" Moreover, there must be a great number of casualties in the raids, and the inhabitants of the land are still savage, and if we really force them to conquer them by force, and force them to work and produce the utensils we need, they will surely arouse their discontent and rise up in revolt.

"We are not strong enough to hold back my insufficient military strength because of a momentary greed, and even if we are defeated, the ensuing resistance that will not give in will only bring boundless trouble. In case of that, let alone asking them to produce artifacts that can make a profit, I am afraid that it will be difficult to gain a foothold in these points.

So I chose this relatively moderate method, choosing a suitable place to build a port and a city, so as not to have conflicts with the local aborigines as much as possible, and to establish a relationship with them in the trade market. Even if we sell them the utensils they need and like, they will naturally exchange them with the utensils we need...... I might as well say something unkind here, I can actually use it without using force. In a little time, we will spread our culture to the past, believing that nature will make them willing to submit. These were all learned by Lu Ren from Zhuge Liang's political attitude towards Nanban, not original.

Xu Shu tilted his head and thought for a while, and somewhat understood Lu Ren's thoughts. Among other things, Yamagoe, who is currently dependent on Yizhou, is a prime example. Moreover, no matter how aggressive the aborigines of the Spice Islands in Southeast Asia are, they can't be like the northern aliens, as long as the northern aliens have horses, they can enter the pass, but in this vast sea, you don't have good navigation skills to back you up, and you can't threaten Lu Ren here at all. In other words, Lu Ren's method of using commercial relationships to conquer and exploit the island's indigenous people worked.

Next, he talked about some miscellaneous matters, such as Lu Cheng and Lu Xin's side has established a firm foothold in Zhuya, and the new city has been built smoothly, and there are many people in the Zhuya area who have defected to the new city because of poverty. In addition, the Zhuya Iron Mine, which Lu Ren has always been concerned about, has also been found, so not long ago, Lu Cheng took a telegraph and came over, hoping that Lu Ren could immediately dispatch a group of craftsmen and food to support. This is a good thing, in Lu Ren's plan, the Pearl Cliff Iron Mine is a very important prerequisite, so Lu Ren didn't say a word, and immediately asked someone to do it.

In addition, Xu Shu asked Lu Ren curiously, what was going on with people like Naha and Luzon. Lu Ren explained that the construction of a cunning rabbit cave there could be one of Lu Ren's retreats. It is said that if you are not afraid of 10,000 in everything, you are afraid of what happens, and Lu Ren naturally has his reasons for doing this. Similarly, Jeju Island is also under construction, and Lu Ren intends to use Jeju Island as a bridgehead for the northward invasion of Goguryeo and the eastward attack on the Japanese archipelago. Of course, these things cannot be rushed for a while.

After talking, the topic turned back to the Central Plains. Lu Ren stretched out his hand and patted Xu Shu's shoulder and said, "Yuan Zhi, you went to Quanzhou with me last time, so in your opinion, what does Quanzhou mean to us?" ”

Xu Shu said very seriously: "The strategic place, its north is Shanyue, which is good with us, its west is connected to Hong Kong and Macao, Zhuya, and to the east is our Yizhou." Such a place, once it falls into the hands of Sun Wu, the situation in Yizhou will be very dangerous. ”

Lu Ren nodded: "I have asked you to stay in Yizhou in the past few years, the purpose is to familiarize you with many things I have here. Now I think you're almost familiar with it, and I'm going to let you go to Quanzhou to guard it, do you have any opinions? ”

Xu Shu immediately felt a lot of pressure. It's just a person like Xu Shu, the more pressure there is, the more motivated he is, so he immediately bowed his hand to Lu Renyi and said, "The foolish brother will live up to the hope of his brother!" Just ......"

Lu Ren said: "I know, it is definitely not enough for you to go alone. And this time we are going to officially announce our occupation of Quanzhou, in a sense, we are arguing with Sun Quan, so if you don't have a few helpers around you, you can't do it. I think so, the first batch of cadets of our military academy has graduated, you can choose a few helpers to go to Quanzhou with you. ”

Xu Shu nodded happily: "That's very good!" ”

Lu Ren continued: "In addition, I transferred Deng Shizai back from Zhuya, you can take him with you." ”

Xu Shu said: "He!? ”

Lu Ren Zhengse said: "Yuan Zhi, don't think that he has a contemptuous heart when he is young. 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. To tell you the truth, although this apprentice of mine seems to be proficient in government affairs, he actually has the potential to lead the army! (To be continued.) )