Hearing Situ Liang say this, Zhao Xiong, the general of the tenth town of the town army stationed in Dongyongzhou and who was also withdrawn from Xiyongzhou not long ago, couldn't help but say: "Having said that, if we ignore it, this Hanzhong will be occupied by the Shu army." If the Shu army did not waste much effort to occupy Hanzhong, it would be equivalent to us changing from a weak enemy to a strong enemy in the south. This is a big obstacle for us to move south in the future. ”

Situ Liang frowned and said with a wry smile: "Now, the King of Hanzhong has indeed given us a trouble. If we don't care, the Han army is only afraid that it will really evacuate, and we can't ignore it when the northern checkpoint is opened. If the Shu army is allowed to occupy this place, we will be helpless against Hanzhong. ”

Liu Wenqi turned to ask Lin Shucheng on the side: "Lord Lin, with your understanding of Situ Fei, will he really withdraw his troops to the east and give up the land of Hanzhong to the Shu army?" ”

Lin Shucheng pondered for a moment and said: "I'm afraid that it won't be given to the Shu army, at least, the Han army will also keep the three counties in the eastern part of Hanzhong." Otherwise, the king of Hanzhong would not be able to continue to command the Han army. However, the main western part of the land of Hanzhong fell into the hands of the Shu army. After occupying Hanzhong, it will be much more difficult for us to go south from the east, and it will almost be difficult to break through the possibility of going south to Yizhou from Xiyongzhou. Even Wenshan Mansion and Yinping Mansion in the north of Yizhou, with the support of Hanzhong, a side place, will not be as easy to enter as before. ”

Hearing Lin Shucheng say this, Liu Wenqi had no choice, rubbed his eyebrows, and said in a muffled voice: "Do you really want our army to go south?" Participating in the Hanzhong competition? But it's not the best time. ”

Zhao Xun looked at the map and said in a deep voice: "According to the intelligence, the Han army is not defeated by the Shu army, in addition to the soldiers themselves being defeated by the other party, it is more because the Han army has insufficient armor and equipment. Otherwise, the Han army would be able to recruit more soldiers on the spot at any time. In addition, there are many squires in Hanzhong, and they all have private soldiers, as long as they are given armor and equipment, and with a little training, they are all qualified soldiers. What if we traded with the Han army and provided them with armor and equipment? With us providing them with the armor and equipment that they need now and are also lacking, do you say, will the Han army continue to fight the Shu army? ”

Lin Shucheng took the lead and said: "If it is possible, the king of Hanzhong will naturally not give up the land of Hanzhong, after all, this place is of too great significance to him, and he is not willing to be defeated by the Shu army." However, the handover of our army's armor and equipment to the Han army was also detrimental to our future southward march. ”

Zhao Xun said with a smile: "Of course, we will not trade our army's existing standard equipment to the Han army, in the battle of Dongyongzhou, our army has captured more than 100,000 Han army soldiers armor equipment. These armor and equipment are useless for our army, and there is no other use for them except to take them back to the furnace and recast. That is, trade it to the Han army. ”

In the battle of Xiyongzhou, not only the armor equipment used by more than 100,000 Han soldiers was captured, but also a large number of armor equipment was hoarded in the treasury of various places. You must know that the land of Xiyongzhou is the front line of the Han army's resistance to the Zhao army, and half of the Han army's armor and equipment and grain and grass materials are hoarded here.

Situ nodded and said: "This is feasible, as long as it is not our army's standard plate armor, bed crossbow, repeating crossbow and other sharp weapons, the rest will not pose much threat to us." In addition, no matter how good the armor is, there will be wear and tear, so as long as they can't build the same thing as us, we don't have to worry too much. ”

"In addition, in addition to the captured armor and equipment of the Han army, a batch of sharp weapons such as bed crossbows used to defend and siege cities can also be given to allow them to suppress the brave men of the Shu army. There are also war horses, after we occupied a large area of the northern steppe and the Turks surrendered, war horses were no longer a scarce material. ”

"Many people who have migrated to the northern steppe region have begun to raise livestock, and their war horses are not only sold to our army, but also lack of sales, so we can also provide a trade channel for the people, so that the people in the northern region also benefit. And even if the Han army gets the war horse, they will be invincible in the face of us in the future. In addition, as long as we cut off trade, even if their horses are cut off, the threat to us is not very great. ”

Liu Wenqi said in a deep voice: "How to contact the King of Hanzhong?" Sending an envoy directly is only afraid that it will not be appropriate. No matter how you say it, the king of Hanzhong should also be afraid of the existence of the king of Luoyang and the king of Qi. They are all preparing to resist our army's southward march in Jingzhou, and if they know that the King of Hanzhong has contacted us, I am afraid that the King of Hanzhong will also have to consider the troubles. ”

Zhao Xun said in a deep voice: "Send a businessman to contact him, as long as it is not someone from my officer's mansion." In addition, the mere trade would certainly make the king of Hanzhong suspect that we had other intentions. Therefore, when he sent people to trade with them, he also secretly sent people to negotiate with the king of Hanzhong about the conditions. Nothing else is needed, only the king of Hanzhong needs to agree, and in the future, our army will go south to attack the Shu army or the Qi army, and the Han army will not interfere. ”

Zhao Xiong shook his head and said: "I'm afraid that the king of Hanzhong will not agree, even if he agrees now, he will not abide by the agreement in the future." ”

Zhao Xun said with a smile: "This king doesn't need him to abide by the agreement and put forward conditions, just to appease the other thoughts in the heart of the king of Hanzhong, and also let him make a decision as soon as possible, so that he can continue to fight against the Shu army." ”

The king of Hanzhong transferred the defenders of the various checkpoints in the north of Hanzhong to defend against the Zhao army, and the news that all of them moved eastward also came to the ears of the king of Shu. Situ Che, the king of Shu, was stunned when he heard the news, and he didn't react for a long time. After repeated inquiries, Situ Che was sure that the Han army had really given up the northern defensive line.

"Situ Fei, what does he want to do? He wants to let Zhao Jun in? Damn it! Situ Che's face was gloomy and he roared angrily. How he did not know the consequences of the king of Hanzhong's actions. Didn't the resistance of the Jingzhou coalition army just to block the Zhao army in the north, but now, the king of Hanzhong actually took the initiative to let go of the gap.

After sobering up, Situ Che realized that he was now unable to advance or retreat. If the Zhao army really went south, his Shu army would be on the front line of the Zhao army.

Upon hearing this news, many important ministers of the Shu army advised Situ Che to stop his actions against the Han army, talk to the king of Hanzhong, and not let the Zhao army go south. Otherwise, even if the Shu army has achieved good results now, it will be difficult to resist the attack of the Zhao army. This Hanzhong is not Jingzhou, and there will be assistance from the Luo army, the Han army, and the Qi army. Here is the greatest threat to the Shu army, followed by the Han army and the Luo army. And this is the king of Hanzhong who took the initiative to give way, and the Han army and the Luo army are afraid that they will not send troops to help.

In the end, it was Lin Shiwen who admonished and continued to attack. If the Han army gives way, even if he goes to peace talks now, he must first give up the land of Hanzhong, and the Han army will rearrange the northern defense line. But after a month of hard work, will our army give up like this?

In addition, it is still two to say whether Zhao Jun will go south. After all, Zhao Jun is now busy with internal engineering construction, and it is unlikely that he will go south. Besides, the Han army gave up the northern defense line, but it didn't just withdraw, could Zhao Junyan not worry about the Han army watching from the sidelines? And Hanzhong does not fall into the hands of the Shu army, and sooner or later it will fall into the hands of the Zhao army. Once Hanzhong falls into the hands of the Zhao army, it will have a fatal threat to Yizhou, and it is better to use Hanzhong to confront the Zhao army now.

Situ Che, who was unwilling to stop there, listened to Lin Shiwen's advice this time and ordered the army to continue to be attacked by the Han army.

…………

Since then, Zhao Jun encouraged trade and maritime trade, and the fleet of ships traveling from south to north in the eastern sea has increased day by day. Not only under the rule of Zhao, but also merchants in Yangzhou, Jiangzhou, and Jiaozhou, there were also many merchants who built sea ships, organized sea trade fleets, and traded from south to north. In this regard, as long as they do not violate the ban, do not evade commercial taxes, and inspect the entire eastern sea area, the Zhao naval fleet will not intercept these ships because they are not under the rule of Zhao. Even if these sea ships went to Xuzhou, Qingzhou, Youzhou and other places in the north to trade, the Zhao government would not deliberately make it difficult.

In this way, it also led to many large clans and large landowners under the rule of the Qi army to participate in the maritime trade industry. Because the Qi army could also obtain commercial taxes because of this, the king of Qi did not prohibit the merchants under his rule from trading with the Zhao state.

Cheng Jiang, a big businessman in Yangzhou. Because he saw that many merchants had benefited greatly from trading with the north, this time, he was ruthless, spent a large sum of money to buy three sea ships, transported a batch of goods, and prepared to go north.

Unfortunately, he didn't seem to be very lucky, this time, not long after he sailed north, he encountered a typhoon in the east of the junction of Xu Yang.

Entering the sea, Cheng Jiang can also be regarded as seeing the scenery of the sea, the blue waves, the blue, and the occasional seabirds flying by, adding a touch of unique scenery to the blue.

Subsequently, Cheng Jiang understood the unpredictable changes in the sea. It was still blue just now, and in the blink of an eye, the sky darkened, and the black clouds approached in the distance, and a storm was coming.

Warned by the old sailor, Cheng Jiang approached the coast before the storm came. After all, even if there is an accident, it is easy to be rescued if you are close to land. Cheng Jiang's fleet had just approached the eastern coast of Xuzhou, and the rain was pouring down. Cheng Jiang could even see that the beach along the western coast was gradually submerged by the sea, and the heavy rain curtain on the vast sea surface made the field of vision white and gray, and then he could not see the distant scene on the shore. The storm raged, setting off huge waves nearly ten feet high.

If it weren't for the coastal area, Cheng Jiang believed, he was afraid that the big ship would have been swept away by the waves and didn't know where it went. With the desperate efforts of the sailors, five large ships were also forced to choose a small river estuary along the eastern coast of Jiangdu Prefecture in Xuzhou to burrow into it to avoid the wind and waves.

The three 3,000-stone sea boats all lowered their sails and stopped in the estuary, and although the wind and waves in the estuary were not small, they were much stronger than outside. At this moment, Cheng Jiang was already soaking wet and his face was pale. From the horror of just listening to others say that the sea changed its face, this time, he understood it. That's because he sailed not far from the coast, and if he was in the open sea, he didn't know what would have happened.

Cheng Jiang, whose face was pale, sat in the cabin, as if he was frightened by this situation. The wind was howling, and waves were constantly hitting the deck. The veteran sailors on the ship were soaked in short shirts, but they still led people to reinforce the deck attachments to prevent the wind and waves from blowing them out of the water. Put on a mast several feet high and stretch out into the air, giving the wind a whistling sound.

The rain was a little lighter, the wind was not weak, and it was not yet possible to set sail, and the sailors who put on it, after checking the condition of the dressing, withdrew into the cabin, drank ginger soup, and waited for the heavy rain to stop.

"Boss, this is the case above the sea, we hide quickly, and we are no longer in the place where the typhoon will affect the most. Otherwise, I don't know what it would have been. Fortunately, there are some goods on it, otherwise, I am afraid that I will not even be able to stand up for fear of shaking, let alone boiling ginger water. The old sailor saw that Cheng Jiang's face was pale, and he was sitting at the door of the cabin weakly, and he didn't even have the strength to stand firm, so he said with a smile.

"Typhoon?" Cheng Jiang was surprised.

"Well, according to the pamphlet printed by Zhao Guo, this kind of weather has always been a natural disaster with great destructive power to the coastal zone." The old sailor said with a smile.

Cheng Jiang knew that this old sailor had lived at sea and in the northern Zhao Kingdom with the fleet for a short time, and he was also very familiar with some of the situation in the Zhao Kingdom.

Cheng Jiang looked at the shore not far away, the large reeds on both sides of the inland river were blown and broken, and two big trees were blown down in the water, revealing the intertwined roots, there were many houses on the bank, the roofs were torn off, and there were no people in the rain, so I didn't know where to take refuge.

"Then aren't these people ......" Cheng Jiang looked at the houses with half of the walls and roofless, and couldn't help but sigh, the houses are like this, and the people inside are naturally ......

The old sailor said with a smile: "I'm afraid that the people here have already taken refuge, and the local government of Zhao State is responsible for this kind of natural disaster." Houses like these, which are not very sturdy, have already been notified by the government to take refuge. ”

"Lao Li, tell me about the situation in the northern Zhao Kingdom!" Cheng Jiang suddenly felt that he wanted to know about the situation of Zhao Guo, so he said to the old sailor.

"Good! Since the owner wants to understand, then the old decay will tell you about it. However, the old decay doesn't know much, it's just some of what he has seen and heard. ”

The rain was pouring down and the wind was howling, so Cheng Jiang and the old sailor hid by the window on the upper floor of the cabin, looking at the situation outside, while discussing the situation in the northern Zhao Kingdom. Soon, a merchant ship floated on the river at the mouth of the river.

This merchant ship was even worse luck than Cheng Jiang's three, after all, not all places could be docked and avoided. Among the three masts of this sea ship, one of the upper half of the mast did not know where to break, and the remaining half of the mast was less than two feet high, which should have been broken by the strong wind, and the sail did not know where to blow, and there were cracks on the side of the ship that were struck everywhere. The hull of the ship is even more seriously tilted, and it looks like it is flooding. The sailors on board barely managed to get the ship into the mouth of the river with the tattered sails under them.

However, this section of the estuary is not narrow, and the inflow of seawater makes the river dozens of miles wide, and the wind and waves in the center of the river are even greater, and the tattered sails cannot play their due role at all, but let the sea boats turn back and forth on the water. Looking at the big boat with a crooked body, Cheng Jiang even wondered if he would sink into the water.

The man on the boat saw a big boat on the bank of the river sheltering from the wind and waves, and waved his hand in this direction and shouted for help. Although the wind and rain were too strong, Cheng Jiang and the old sailors knew that the other side was asking for help from them.

"Lao Li, I don't understand this ship, what do you think?" Although Cheng Jiang also wanted to rescue, it was a matter of his own safety, and he didn't know how to rescue, so he could only ask the old sailor.

In the end, it was the old sailor who sent the cable over with a piece of wood and tied the cargo ship, and here he used manpower to assist the sails on the opposite side and pull the cargo ship over.

Pull the cargo ship to the river beach and cut the shallow, the owner of the cargo ship is a middle-aged man, change into a long shirt wet to the rain and take a small boat to the Cheng Jiang boat to thank him, the long shirt is wet and sticky to the body, it is very inconvenient to move with a package, the whole person is also exhausted, climb the rope ladder to the deck to slip and fall, the package is scattered, and a few gold and silver bills are scattered on the deck.

Watching the middle-aged man pick up the gold and silver bills and wrap them up and hand them over, Cheng Jiang frowned and said, "What does this mean?" It is a moral duty to help the rivers and lakes in distress, and besides, we are just a gesture. I did not save you today for your money, but I am also a maritime merchant. "Of course, Cheng Jiang's family is also a big family in Yangzhou, otherwise he wouldn't have bought three big ships, so naturally he wouldn't care about these small money. Of course, Cheng Jiang didn't know about Zhao Guo's situation, and he also wanted to ask from this person about something he didn't know.

After inquiry, Cheng Jiang learned that the other party originally had two sea boats sailing together, one had been swallowed by the waves, and this was the remaining one. But now, it doesn't look like it will last long.

"Your cargo ship has suffered a lot of losses...... Seeing that the other party's two sea ships were basically damaged, Cheng Jiang didn't know how to say it.

The middle-aged man said bitterly: "Who knew the weather would be like this!" It doesn't matter if the ship is damaged, the government will naturally compensate for the damage, and the loss is not unacceptable. At most, I can borrow a sum of money from Dazhao Bank, and I can buy two new ships, but those sailors ......"

"What? Can you still be compensated for the damage to your boat? Cheng Jiang was taken aback. In his opinion, it is not bad for businessmen not to be blackmailed by the government, and it is simply impossible to compensate them for things.

The middle-aged man said: "The benefactor is from the south, and he must not know anything about us in the north, otherwise, he would not be so surprised." All the businesses in the north have a commercial insurance association led by the Royal Firm and participated by Dazhao Bank. As long as you are a member, as long as you pay the membership fee every year, as long as your goods are not caused by your own people. Any loss or damage will be compensated in a certain percentage. ”

"So that's the case, Liu Yuanwai, I'm tired of telling me about the situation of the merchants of Zhao State, and this is the first time I've gone north to trade." Cheng Jiang felt more and more the attraction of the Northern Zhao State to him.

The middle-aged man smiled and said: "What's the matter, since the benefactor is willing to listen, Liu will talk to the benefactor about things related to businessmen in our Zhao Kingdom." Come to think of it, after listening to it, the benefactor will definitely be willing to trade with Zhao Guo. Many southern businessmen began to quietly move their family businesses to the rule of my Zhao because of the different business systems of my Zhao State. ”