"He's awake?" Sun Shao hid comfortably on the recliner, swaying for a while, his expression was extremely lazy, and his image was even more unbearable.

Xiahou Hui didn't say anything, she was still thinking about Cao Zhang's tangled expression at that time, and she didn't mean that her eyes fell on Sun Shao's chest. Sun Shao waited for a long time without replying, turned his head and glanced at her gaze, raised his hand and knocked her forehead: "What do you look at, little girl?" It's useless to look at it again. ”

Xiahou Hui's face turned red, covered his forehead, and turned his face away shyly. Although she has been following Sun Shao for nearly half a year, she still can't adapt to Sun Shao's open-mouthedness. She vaguely knew from Guan Feng's mouth why Sun Shao still treats her as a child, not a concubine, but she can't understand Sun Shao's aesthetic standards, for her, the women's appearance mentioned in the book does not include this. She had heard from the nurse at home that a woman's butt could give birth, but she had never heard of anything like that.

But she said that she couldn't win Sun Shao, in Sun Shao's eyes, it was better to say that she was a little sister than a concubine, and the more serious she said, the more Sun Shao felt that she was a cola and didn't take it seriously at all.

"Alright, you tap." Guan Feng removed Xiahou Hui's hand in distress, carefully checked her forehead, and said angrily: "Do you know how heavy your hand is?" ”

Sun Shao rolled his eyes, and said in his heart that this woman is really kind enough, and she was deceived by such a child as Xiahou Hui, which is tragic.

"Thank you, sister, it's okay." Xiahou Hui held Guan Feng's hand and smiled innocently.

"Stay away from him." Guan Feng rubbed Xiahou Hui's head and said with a smile: "He's good when he's happy, but it's scary enough to be crazy, last time he almost kicked Changxu Gong (Sun Shao) to death with two feet, and even I was frightened." ”

"Hee-hee, without those legs, can you be so stable now?" Xiahou Hui smiled at Sun Deng and the others who were walking on the beach in the distance: "Can you be a princess now?" ”

"Alas-" Guan Feng sighed, let go of Xiahou Hui's hand, sat on the beach, hugged his legs, rested his chin on his knees, and looked at the waves in the distance: "Sometimes I would rather not be this princess, than not even see my son." ”

Sun Shao was silent, the smile on his face was gone, and his eyes became a little ruthless. Xiahou Hui also sighed, gently put his hand on Guan Feng's shoulder, and comforted: "Sister, don't worry, with his mother taking care of him, it will be fine." ”

Guan Feng lowered his head and said nothing. At that time, she was still a little annoyed at home every day with children, and the most painful thing was that she couldn't sleep peacefully, and what she hoped most was to send Ah Yu to the bridge and sleep beautifully, but now she can't see it, but she still can't sleep well, and often wakes up in the middle of the night, and her tears wet the pillow towel.

Xiahou Hui saw that Sun Shao's face was not good, and he didn't dare to say more, so he had to comfort Guan Feng silently, none of the three of them spoke, and the officials on duty in the distance felt a little strange, usually the king and the princess and the little lady always laughed constantly when they were together, why didn't they speak today?

"King, Youzhou Thorn Shi Cao Zhang asks to see."

"Oh, let him come." Sun Shao waved his hand listlessly, but still sat on the recliner and didn't get up. Guan Feng didn't want Cao Zhang to see the family affairs, so he pulled Xiahou Hui and left first. After a short time, Cao Zhang strode over, Sun Shao had already regained his usual smile, and waved his hand before Cao Zhang saluted: "Okay, I don't look like a king like this, so don't be polite." Shi Bao, bring a Mazha to Cao Envoy. ”

"Whoa." Shibao sent a maza over. Cao Zhang took Mazha and glanced at it awkwardly, feeling that it was really not good for such a big man to squat next to Sun Shao, so he simply put Mazha aside and sat on the beach.

"Are you alright?" Sun Shao didn't mind, turned his head to look at him, and shook comfortably.

"It's fine." Cao Zhang was still a little unconvinced and said: "The king sailor dominates the world, and it really lives up to its reputation. ”

Sun Shao couldn't help but laugh: "Do you want to say that except for water battles, you can have the upper hand?" ”

Cao Zhang pursed his lips and said nothing. Sun Shao smiled: "If you are still not convinced, I can give you another chance." You pick a hundred parts, I also pick a hundred langguan, let's fight again, how about it? ”

"Why doesn't the king fight on horseback?"

"Riding a war, I don't have a horse, I can't compare." Sun Shao sat up and looked at Cao Zhang: "Otherwise, you wait for me to go to Liaodong to buy a horse, and then give me two months, we will each send two thousand fine horsemen, and attack Xianbei together, to see who has won more." ”

Cao Zhang looked at Sun Shao with some suspicion, and Sun Shao's confidence made him feel bottomless. Can you train 2,000 elite riders in two months? He wouldn't be buying horses in the name of competition, right? This is not good, Cao Pi has already gone back to report that Sun Shao's purchase of horses is mainly to sell to Sun Quan. Although it is said that Sun Quan cannot be stronger than them even if he has cavalry, but if this advantage can be maintained for one more day, of course, it must be maintained for one more day.

"Still don't believe me, huh?" Sun Shao didn't explain, lay down again, suddenly sighed, and said with a lack of interest: "Don't talk about this, what is the matter with you coming to me?" ”

"Dare to ask where the king's inspection of the sea frontier will end this time?"

Sun Shao thought for a moment: "What do you think?" ”

"King, Youzhou is not as good as Qingxu, not as good as Jizhou, the livelihood of Youzhou is difficult, and the population is small, if you want to supply the king with these 20,000 sailors, I'm afraid ...... It's not easy. Cao Zhang carefully chose the words and phrases and controlled his tone, not only to make himself appear very sincere, so that Sun Shao would not see the flaws, but also to express his meaning clearly, so as to achieve the goal of preventing Sun Shao from continuing to go north. At the speed of the king, it will take two or three months to return, otherwise...... I'm afraid I'm going to spend the New Year in the ice and snow. It's going to snow in the first month of the northern frontier, and the wind is also very strong, cutting people like knives, and the minister is worried that the king's sailors are mainly from the south, and I'm afraid I can't stand this weather. ”

"Hu, it's snowing in August." Sun Shao nodded and said with deep sympathy: "When you say this, you remind me that it is only right that you have to prepare winter clothes early." ”

Cao Zhanggang showed a little smile, and then was stopped by Sun Shao's words behind, prepare winter clothes? It seems that Sun Shao has long wanted to spend the winter in Youzhou. He scratched his head a little, thought for a while, and said, "It's not just winter clothes to prepare, but also a lot of food." 20,000 sailors, 40,000 stone of grain will be consumed every month, which is not a small amount. Moreover, after being away from home for a long time, homesickness will be heavy, isn't the king worried about the instability of his subordinates? ”

Sun Shao touched his nose and nodded frequently, but he didn't say whether he was going back or moving forward. Cao Zhang can't figure out his details, and it's not easy to persuade him, anyway, he has said ugly things in front, and it is impossible for you to imagine that it is impossible to ask for local military rations in Qingzhou and Xuzhou, and when the time comes, I won't sell your grain, don't say that I won't give face. If you don't want to be hungry, please dispel the idea of going to Youzhou and Liaodong, Liaodong is mine, you don't have any ideas.

"The king went to Liaodong, is it really to buy a horse?" Cao Zhang asked again without giving up.

"I want to buy a horse." Sun Shaopi grinned without smiling, he could roughly guess seven or eight points about the reason why Cao Zhang dissuaded him from going north, but he was not someone who could be easily frightened. If he can't finish a small Bohai Bay, then he still wants to go down the Atlantic Ocean to Rome? However, if you can make this Cao Zhang nervous, he has no objection.

"If the king doesn't ask much, the minister can help the king buy some war horses." Cao Zhang gritted his teeth, and finally threw out a very tempting condition. Rather than letting Sun Shao go to Liaodong to buy horses, it is better to be a middleman by himself, and make a difference in the second, the most important thing is that he can control the quantity and quality of war horses, and indirectly control the growth of Jiangdong's strength.

"You want to do business too?" Sun Shao smiled, the corners of his mouth crooked, and he thought it was very funny.

"It is a great honor to serve the king." Cao Zhang patted his chest and said with a forced smile: "I still have some ways among the Hu people, and the war horses I can buy will be cheaper than those bought by the king." If the king is at ease, he may as well leave this matter to me, lest those nonsense people deceive the king. ”

"How many can you get?" Sun Shao became interested, raised his head and looked at Cao Zhang: "I want a lot, at least two thousand horses." ”

"Two thousand?" Cao Zhang was taken aback, Sun Shao's ambition was not small, and as soon as he opened his mouth, it was two thousand horses. Cao Ying has only a few thousand cavalry for so many years? Not counting the scattered cavalry in the hands of the generals, there are less than 10,000 cavalry in the real formation, including Cao Ying's personal guard tiger and leopard cavalry, and the maximum number of cavalry deployed on the Jianghuai line is 2,000, does Sun Shao want to help Sun Quan form a cavalry that can compete with the Wei army on the Jianghuai defense line? He rolled his eyes, and then smiled quietly: "Does the king know the price of war horses?" ”

"Roughly know." Sun Shao said with great certainty: "The best horse is about 500,000 yuan, and the ordinary war horse is less than 10,000 yuan, this market should be right?" ”

Cao Zhang smiled and shook his head: "It sounds right, but in fact, there is a big gap." ”

"I want to hear about it." Sun Shao became interested, sat up straight, and motioned for Cao Zhang to take melons and fruits to quench his thirst. Cao Zhang talked eloquently, and said the market of war horses in northern Xinjiang in a virtual and real way, to the effect that the market you understand is not completely accurate, the first-class war horses are not sold by the Hu people, and they are not stupid, they will not sell the best war horses to you, and even if they are willing to sell, the price is sky-high, the Hu people have no property, horses, cattle and sheep are their greatest wealth, and good horses are hard-to-find treasures. The horses they trade are usually ordinary war horses, and even horses that can't go to the battlefield at all, and people who don't know how to do it, these horses look fat and strong, but they can't run at all, and they are barely used to pull carts.

Sun Shao nodded again and again when he heard this, and Cao Zhang secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that he had finally been convinced. Unexpectedly, Sun Shao finally said something that made him almost angry: "It seems that the Hu people are not honest, and it is better to do business with them directly." ”

Cao Zhangyu choked, and said with a wry smile for a long time: "King, do you want to chase Hu Ren with the sailor?" ”

Sun Shao laughed, took the topic away, and threw the biggest question to Cao Zhang. When it comes to business and, even Cao Pi is not Sun Shao's opponent, let alone Cao Zhang, who was covered by Sun Shao's clouds and mountains for a while, Cao Zhang finally didn't understand how Sun Shao wanted to rob Hu Ren, and in the end he could only decide that he was just talking casually, which was impossible at all.

However, Cao Zhang did not come in vain, Sun Shao readily agreed to sell him 300 new war knives. After the battle with Cui Qian, he was very envious of the sharpness of the Yue Guo war knife, the bear-pattern ring head knife in his hand was not an ordinary thing, it was a hundred refining knife that Cao Ying specially ordered people to build for three years, and there was meteoric iron mixed in the middle, and the ordinary thirty refining and fifty refining ring first knife were not opponents at all. Cao Zhang began to think that this was a general like Cui Qian who had such a sharp combat knife, and later learned from Xiahou Hui that this kind of knife was the standard configuration of the Yue State Destroying Battalion.

Cao Zhang was pleased with this kind of sharp sword, and if his subordinates were all equipped with such weapons, it would be easier to deal with the Hu people. He made a request to Sun Shao, Sun Shao readily agreed, but there is one, before selling 300 to Zang Ba, and then Sun Guan asked for another 200, your brother Cao Pi bought another 200, this time only 300 of the 1,000 brought out, all sold to you, if you still want, give a part of the deposit first, I will let the merchant ship send it to you within half a year.

Cao Zhang was not very accustomed to this way of paying a deposit for a while, he only bought three hundred existing war knives, which already gave him a toothache, and Sun Shao offered a sky-high price of two thousand yuan for each war knife, which was ten times higher than ordinary high-quality knives, Cao Zhang's flesh hurt, but Sun Shao didn't think so, and said very, you don't want to bargain, if it weren't for the sake of you to beat Hu people, I wouldn't want to sell it to you.

Cao Zhang, who was poured two bellies of seawater by Cui Qian and didn't admit defeat, had no choice, pulled down his son and bargained with Sun Shao, and finally moved his wife Sun out, we are relatives, how much can you let the price go. Sun Shao was so entangled by him that he couldn't help it, and finally said, the price can't be lowered, if you lower the price for you, others will have opinions, so let's do it, I will personally give you ten mouths and don't charge money. However, since I am a relative, you want to help me buy a horse, and I don't want you to pay for it, as long as you let me go ashore to trade.

Cao Zhang agreed, to be honest, he was also curious about how Sun Shao was going to rob the Hu people. However, he also said ugly things in front, I can help you buy horses, and you can solve the grain yourself, Youzhou has to rely on Jizhou's support in the past few years, and there is no surplus grain to sell to you. Sun Shao agreed, so refreshing that Cao Zhang became more and more curious. 20,000 people is not 200 people, and if he doesn't buy food from the nearest land, how can he supply the army? If it is transported from Yangzhou by ship, how much manpower and material resources will it take? Qingxu is close, but it is difficult for Xuzhou to supply itself, although Qingzhou is a little better, but Yecheng is relatively tightly controlled, and the number that Sun Guan can use is limited.

Cao Zhang, Tian Yu and others thought about it, but they still couldn't think of how Sun Shao would solve his military food problem.

The more curious Cao Zhang was, the more Sun Shao kept it secret, and he didn't say anything about it. Cao Zhang could only go on the road with a stomach full of questions, he traveled by land, Sun Shao from the sea road, and traveled north. At the beginning of August, Sun Shao arrived in the sea area of Liaoxi County, stopped at a place called Qinhuangdao, and did not leave. Cao Zhang received the news and was very curious, he thought that Sun Shao had decided to give up and continue to go north because of food, so he rushed to Qinhuangdao with people. When he arrived at Qinhuangdao, he felt that his guess was correct, Sun Shao's sailor was fishing.

Yes, fishing, Sun Shao set up camp on Qinhuangdao, and then sent a fleet to go to sea every day to fish, went out every morning, and dragged hundreds of big fish back every night. When Cao Zhang heard the report, he didn't believe it at all, he rushed to the island to check it out in person, and when he saw those giant fish that were much bigger than cattle and horses, he was so shocked that his jaw almost dropped.

"So big?"

"What is this, this is medium in the sea." In the face of Cao Zhang's surprise, Sun Shao, who was patrolling the crowd of loot, disagreed, and casually pointed to those large and small sea fish and said: "The small ones are dozens of catties (one Han catty is equivalent to half a catty today), and the big ones are one or two thousand catties." These fish alone can supply half of my sailor's daily ration, and if it weren't for the fact that these guys are too stubborn and uncomfortable not to eat some food every day, I am ready to let them make more food. In fact, if you want me to say, it's better to eat fish, not only will you not get fat, but it can also make people smarter. That's right......" Sun Shao seemed to suddenly remember something, and patted his head: "Has Cao Gong been flustered and depressed recently?" ”

"Yes." Cao Zhang was suddenly confused by Sun Shao's leaping thinking, this is talking about military rations, how can it talk about his father's body again?

"I got some good things two days ago, and I specially left them for Cao Gong." Sun Shao pulled Cao Zhang back to the big tent, asked Xiahou Hui to take out a closed crystal bottle and handed it to Cao Zhang, and said proudly: "This is a good thing, it is the best for Cao Gong's age." ”

"What is this?" Cao Zhang looked at the pale yellow liquid in the crystal bottle, and he didn't know why. He looked at Sun Shao suspiciously, not that he was worried that Sun Shao would harm Cao Ying-if he wanted to harm Cao Ying, he would not chase the wind and disperse - he really didn't understand what the use of this was.

"This is an oil refined from the body of a sea fish, which is good for the old man's body." Xiahou Hui said with a smile: "This is gold extracted from the sea, it is Ge Xianweng's secret technique, and ordinary people can't buy it if they want to." ”

"Ge Xian Weng? Is it Ge Xuan, a disciple of Zuo Ci Lao Dao? "Zuo Ci is Cao Ying's attendant, and Cao Zhang also knows a little about his disciple Ge Xuan, but he didn't expect this person to be in Sun Shao's mansion.

"That's him, you should believe that, right? If you still don't believe it, you can give this to Zuo Ci to try first. Sun Shao smiled: "However, I don't guarantee that this will be given to you next time, and I don't guarantee that Zuo Ci will return it to you after trying it himself." ”

"So good?" Cao Zhang didn't believe it at all, he felt that Sun Shao was fooling him again.

"It's true." Xiahou Hui said with a smile: "Ge Xianweng himself eats a little bit every day, and now he is refreshed and rejuvenated." ”

"Believe it or not?" Sun Shao shrugged his shoulders with a habitual surname: "Kindness is regarded as a donkey's liver and lungs, you Cao Ziwen is really not a thing." ”

Cao Zhang was really a little skeptical, Sun Shao gave him too many surprises, and used fishing to solve the problem of military rations, which was a method that Cao Zhang had never thought of before, but Sun Shao did it. Although only half of the ration problem can be solved at present, this is already shocking, not to mention anything else, even those unheard of big fish have already surprised Cao Zhang.

"You call it sitting in a well and watching the sky." Sun Shao said with a sarcastic smile: "You are used to seeing small fish and shrimp in the pond, you wouldn't have thought that there were such big fish in the sea, right?" I also tell you that there are many bigger fish in the sea, and there are fish bigger than my boat, believe it or not? ”

"And-" Even though Cao Zhang already admired Sun Shao very much, when he heard this, he still stretched his voice to express his disdain. A fish bigger than a boat, is this still a fish? You simply said that it was Kun that was said in Zhuangzi's getaway.

"I knew you were going to have this on the face. The bird's ambition is to talk about people like you. A pair of eyes are always staring at that square inch of land, but they ignore the bigger world, what else will you do except fight in the nest? "Sun Shao's face was full of sorrow and hatred, just like a parent's heartache when he saw his unfilial offspring." I originally thought that you Cao Ziwen was a character, and it was your duty to conquer the Hu people, but I didn't expect you, like those people, to be short-sighted, and it was really in vain for me to work hard. ”

Cao Zhang was speechless by Sun Shao, he actually very much hopes to cross the desert north as Sun Shao said, sweeping the crazy Hu, his greatest wish is to become a famous general like Wei Qing and Huo Quzhi, and build his merits on the basis of expanding the territory. He has never valued Sun Shao like others, because he thinks that Sun Shao's battle to conquer Zhuya sounds good, but it is actually not worth mentioning: Is Cui Qian a foreigner? He is also a Han Chinese, and he is now Sun Shao's subordinate, and what he says about expanding his territory is at best just recovering lost territory. He defeated the Karasuma people and made the fierce Karasuma people submit to the Han Chinese again, which is the real foreigner.

However, regardless of whether he looked at Sun Shao or not, now he did feel ashamed that he was indeed guarding against Sun Shao and trying his best to prevent Sun Shao from going north, and Sun Shao did not have any actions against him from beginning to end. Sun Shao patrolled the sea, that was clearly written in the edict of the Son of Heaven, ten miles away from the coast was the territory of his Yue country, as the king of Yue, it was justified for him to come to inspect.

However, even though Cao Zhang was ashamed, he didn't want to be reprimanded by Sun Shao like this, he sneered: "Your Highness, everyone will say that your territory is in the sea, except for some pirates in the sea, how can there be any foreign races worth fighting for?" If you really have such ambitions, you will go on an expedition to Goguryeo and Buyeo, although I, Cao Zhang, am not talented, I am willing to cooperate with His Royal Highness to advance by sea and land and expand the territory. ”

"Are you true or false?" Sun Shao turned his head and looked him up and down: "If you tell the truth, let's sit down and discuss, if it's angry, I'm not interested, I'm very busy, I don't have time to fight with you." ”

Cao Zhang was stunned, he was indeed angry, but listening to Sun Shao's meaning, he seemed to really have this plan?

(To be continued)