That's four years. In the earliest days, Zhang Qiang could not bring enough monetary profits by means of business, but on the contrary, he also needed Zhang Chao's help. It's just that Zhang Zhiyuan didn't say anything about this, and he gave whatever you wanted.

In this way, it lasted for about a year, and after a year, Zhang Qiang no longer asked him for money, or rarely asked for it. And in the third year, the proper ones finally started to give back, and although the amount was not very large, it was better than what was first claimed.

In February 199, twenty carriages came to Jinyang City through Youzhou, and there were 5,000 vanguard cavalry along the way to protect them. When the carriage came to the city, to the side of the general's mansion, the moment the lid of the box was opened, countless gold and silver were revealed, and the eyes of the escort soldiers were dazzled.

This is the result of Zhang Qiang's four years as a business ambassador, and finally a large number of returns have been sent back. It is not difficult to do so, he also wrote a letter saying that opium 0 is in vogue, and there is a shortage of demand, and he asks the lord to continue to ship.

Looking at the twenty fully loaded gold and silver carriages, Zhang Chao's face showed a hint of satisfaction. This also made Guo Jia and Lu Su, who heard the news, show admiration in their eyes.

From the production to the transportation of opium, a lot of manpower and material resources were used, but it did not reap a single profit, on the contrary, it did attract many people's doubts. If it weren't for Zhang Chao's personal power being too strong, I'm afraid some people would have spoken out against it.

Despite this, there are still people who talk about this matter in private, and some people even point the finger at Zhang Qiang himself, saying that he has consumed all the money and food of the state army, and if the army is defeated, then he is the culprit.

Such rumors can't escape the eyes and ears of the Tianyan organization, and they naturally reported to Zhang Chao. It's just that he didn't pay attention to any of this, but instead supported it as much as he could. Finally, in the fourth year, the payoff came.

This return was earlier than Zhang Chao expected, he thought that going to a foreign country to open a business route would be very complicated, maybe it would take five or seven or eight years, but now it seems that he still underestimated the ability of opium 0.

Even if the opium 0 is so good, Zhang Chao also called Tian Feng when he ordered the expansion of the production line, and issued a strict order in the way of the law, that is, the people of Bingzhou must not touch the opium 0, otherwise they will be dealt with strictly.

Zhang Chao knows the danger of something like opium, and it is okay to use it on foreign races, but it is absolutely not okay to say that it is used on his own people.

Zhang Chao is such a character, he can use various means to achieve the goal, and he can even be cruel and ruthless to the enemy sometimes. But when it comes to his own people, he is indeed well cared for and very merciful.

Opium 0 brought such a high profit, so that more people began to be curious about this thing, but because Tian Feng's law came out, everyone's curiosity was immediately extinguished, and the role of the court was fully displayed at this time.

A large amount of gold and silver was transported to Jinyang, and a large amount of opium was loaded and sent away. Under the virtuous circle, the treasury of Zhang Chao Group began to become full.

Zhang Chao was not a miser, he ordered Lu Su, who was in charge of the treasury, to take out all the money and start creating and expanding the army.

When the Dragon and Tiger Army and the Vanguard Army were replaced with a batch of new equipment, effectively improving their combat effectiveness, Zhang Chao began to create the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Army Corps.

The current Zhang Chao permanent army is 50,000 Dragon and Tiger Army and 50,000 Pioneer Army cavalry. In addition, the 50,000 First Army Corps stationed in Jinyang City, the 2nd Huang Zhong Army Corps guarding Yanmen, and the 3rd Tai Shi Ci Army (50,000 local soldiers in Sanhan led by General Jia Ni, a total of 100,000), and 50,000 Xiongnu cavalry corps (all led by General Huang Zhong) made a total of 350,000 people.

In some cases, Zhang He, who guarded Hanoi, had 50,000 soldiers, Xu Huang, who guarded Huguan, had 30,000 soldiers, and Xu Rong, who guarded Hedong, had 30,000 soldiers, totaling 110,000 people.

A total of 460,000 people are all Class A troops, which are strong troops that can be attacked and defended. With the improvement of the economy and the expansion of territory, these armies can no longer meet Zhang Chao's needs. After this was given by him, the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Armies totaled 100,000 and a half regular first-class armies.

The main generals of the new legion were Zhang He (100,000 soldiers) of the Fourth Army, Xu Huang (80,000 soldiers) of the Fifth Army Corps, and General Xu Rong (80,000 soldiers) of the Sixth Army Corps. This made the strength of Zhang Chao's group break through the 600,000 mark for a time. This is not counting the Xianbei cavalry led by Zhang Liao.

In this way, Zhang Chao's current actual strength can reach 700,000 meters.

The more troops there are, the more expenses will naturally be greater, but fortunately, Zhang Qiang's business road has been opened up, and the pressure on money is not very great. With spare strength, Zhang Chao also decided to establish a sailor corps, and his vision began to take a long-term view.

Compared with Zhang Chao's rapid development in the past two years, Yuan Shao, who is close to him, has also developed.

was disturbed by Zhang Chao two years ago, and Yuan Shao, who was a little injured, also experienced two years of peace.

In the past two years, Yuan Shao was recruiting army rations, and he was also busy expanding the army. After the defection of his brother Yuan Shu, his army once expanded to 300,000 people, and he had the capital to conquer the world.

Yecheng Yuan Mansion.

In front of Yuan Shao stood a short and fat man, who was talking endlessly, foaming at the mouth.

Yuan Shao's heart is not broad-minded, usually few people dare to be so presumptuous in front of him, and this person dares to indicate that this person's identity is also not simple.

Yes, this person does have some background, he is Yuan Shu, speaking of which is Yuan Shao's younger brother, but for various reasons, Yuan Shao was passed on to his uncle, which made them cousins in the eyes of outsiders.

"Brother, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it's also the best time to retake Hanoi, you don't need to think about anything yet." Yuan Shu stood in front of Yuan Shao and said generously.

Just now, the envoys sent by Dong Zhuo were sent away in the Yuan Mansion, and they came to the alliance.

After Dong Zhuo was defeated and fled in Chang'an, it took several years to finally recover some vitality, which made him start to take a long-term view. And Hedong became his first place to conquer.

Hedong is rich in iron and salt, which is a well-known thing in the world. For this reason, Zhang Chao also benefited a lot, and more than seventy percent of the weapons of his soldiers came from here. Seeing that the occupied Zhang Chao became stronger day by day, Dong Zhuo gave birth to the heart of forcible occupation. It's just that he also knows that the strength of Zhang Chao's group is not weak, so he wants to join forces with Yuan Shao to do it, and when the time comes, one will raise troops in the west and the other in the south, once it succeeds, Hedong and Hanoi will be occupied separately.

To say, Dong Zhuo's idea is good, he sent 150,000 troops, including 50,000 cavalry to attack Hedong; Yuan Shao sent troops to attack Hanoi, how could it be impossible at that time?

The idea was good, but when it came to Yuan Shao, he became a little hesitant again.

It's not the first time I've dealt with Zhang Chao, but think about it, which time did you take advantage of it?

Soon after occupying Youzhou, he was taken away by Zhang Chao, and the next Hanoi he occupied changed hands again, and even his own territory was made a fuss by others, Yuan Shao was a little scared in his heart. For this reason, seeing his younger brother saying this in front of him, he still didn't make this decision.

"Brother, what are you hesitating about? Dong Zhuo said, we will take the subjugation of the division as the reason, take advantage of Hanoi and ourselves, at that time, Dong Zhuo's army also sank troops in Hedong on the grounds of protection, at that time we echoed each other, we can kill the other party by surprise, such an opportunity must not be missed. is saying that Zhang Zhiyuan is now expanding the army and training the new army, once he completes this matter, then they will come over without waiting for us to fight them, and they will be more passive at that time. ”

Yuan Shu tried his best to persuade Yuan Shao, the so-called laying out the facts, reasoning, and saying it was a big deal. Finally, Yuan Shao's face began to change.

He had also heard about Zhang Chao's army expansion. As his brother said, once he succeeds in expanding his army, at that time, I am afraid that the soldiers will point to him, if that is the case, the big war will be a matter of time, even so, it is better to strike first.

Instigated by Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao finally made up his mind, that is, to send an army of 150,000 led by Yuan Shu to capture Hanoi, expand the territory at the same time, but also stifle the development of the Zhang Chao group in the north.

Yuan Shao finally agreed, and Yuan Shu immediately went down to start preparations. At the same time, the envoys also headed for Hanoi.

In the Great General's Mansion in Jinyang City, above Zhang Chao's bookcase, there were two letters at the same time. One was sent by Yuan Shao, and the other was sent by Dong Zhuo. It is worth mentioning that what they are talking about is one thing, that is, the dispute over the division and subordination.

The Sili area, which was burned by a fire in the early years, was not even more than 20% of the prosperity of the past, and the emperor was not there, so it can be said that the value is not much, but now the two armies do want to raise 300,000 troops to fight for a big war there. Looking at this news, the corners of Zhang Chao's mouth were raised high, and his face showed disdain.

Beside Zhang Chao, there were two top advisers, Guo Jia and Lu Su.

The two of them also read the letters, and then thought about them.

"Two military advisors, what are your plans after reading this letter, you can say it bluntly." Zhang Chao asked out loud after deliberately waiting for a cup of tea.

Lu Su was quick to speak, and replied: "Lord, I think this is a drunkard's intention not to drink." ”

"Not bad." Guo Jia on the side also said: "This is likely to be a good thing to discuss, it seems that some people are thinking about the rich Hedong and Hanoi." ”

"yes." Seeing that the two military advisors agreed with this opinion, Zhang Chao smiled and said: "Some people just remember what they eat and don't remember, even if that's the case, then I don't mind teaching him a lesson." In this way, Feng Xiao wrote a letter and informed Lu Bu and Zhao Yun that they could withdraw from Youzhou. ”