Zhao Yun and Zhao Yun's team were transferred back to Youzhou, but Tai Shici, who came from the change of guard, only brought two thousand guards, which was enough to make many people ponder the deep meaning of it.

Among them, the most energetic one is naturally Liu Bei.

"Ziyu, I always feel that the meaning of my eldest brother's move is not simple, tell me, what does he want to do?"

Zhuge Jin pinched his chin and pondered for a long time, then looked at Sun Qian and Chen Zhen on the side, and said slowly: "My subordinates can't guess for sure, but now that Fang Zhiwen is fighting against the enemy of the other world in the extreme north, I'm afraid he also has plans to shrink his forces." Looking at his overall strategic layout, not to mention Youzhou, Qingzhou has also ceased war, and the war is shifting to Chengyang, Langya, and the East China Sea, and the intensity of the war is also decreasing. Therefore, the reduction of garrisons in the Jingxiang area should also be in line with the above strategy. ”

Liu Bei nodded, his eyes turned to Sun Gan, who was frowning, Sun Gan had no choice but to open his voice: "Xiangyang's own combat power is not strong, and the previous lord allowed Cai Mao to become bigger, all because Fang Zhiwen supported him behind his back, so why did Fang Zhiwen support Cai Mao behind his back?" ”

"yes, why?" Liu Bei frowned.

Chen Zhen said in a deep voice: "I'm afraid that the lord will become bigger quickly, if the lord can unify Jingzhou when he goes south to Jingzhou, then there are no strong princes around at that time, and the lord should annex Runan and Huainan, and expand his power all the way to the Jianghuai region, and even the Jiangdong region, if that is the case, it will be an extremely dangerous situation for Fang Zhiwen, so Fang Zhiwen used Cai Mao to block the lord's progress at a critical moment." ”

"How so!?" Liu Bei said in surprise: "This is impossible. Big brother wouldn't hurt me like this, even if he really planned to do so, it must be because he was afraid that my strength would expand too quickly and suffer from it. ”

The three advisors glanced at each other, and they all took it to heart but did not declare it.

Liu Bei said to himself: "So, what about now? ”

"Now my Jingzhou is surrounded by strong enemies. One more Jing Xiang doesn't necessarily make it much stronger. And without Jing Xiang's buffer in the middle, we may not necessarily fight with Sun Ce, Cao Cao, and Zhang Liang, so Jing Xiang's role is no longer big. Speaking of which, apart from the trade value along the Yangtze River waterway, the Jingxiang area is no longer of much value to Fang Zhiwen. Even if the lord was in control of Jingxiang, would Fang Zhiwen's fleet be forbidden to trade in Jingxiang? ”

"Of course not, it's too late to welcome.1 For Zhuge Jin's question. Liu Bei replied almost without thinking about it.

Zhuge Jin smiled and said: "That's right, so for Fang Zhiwen, Jingxiang has become a military burden, and this change of defense can reflect Fang Zhiwen's true intentions." ”

"But, wouldn't the Jingxiang clan be disappointed in this way?" Liu Bei's words literally felt a little sorry for Fang Zhiwen, but he couldn't hide a trace of excitement and expectation in his tone.

Sun Qian shook his head lightly: "Not necessarily, the Jingxiang clan has had extremely close economic and trade exchanges with Miyun over the years, and many Jingxiang clans have also sent their clansmen north to operate the industries in Youzhou, although we don't know the specific situation. But Fang Zhiwen dared to make such a move, presumably he must have a certain certainty. ”

"What Gongyou means is that the Jingxiang clan will migrate to Youzhou in a big way?"

"It's a big migration, but the question of whether they will leave a foundation in Jingxiang depends on external factors."

"Outside factors?"

"The attitude of the new master of Jingxiang towards these clans will also affect the final choice of the Jingxiang clan, in fact, if the princess is in charge of Jingxiang. Do you want to have a family or do you want to have no family? ”

Sun Qian's words are very interesting, this proposition is a problem that every superior must face. Now the clan is undoubtedly an indispensable force, and in the traditional concept, the growth of the family is also the ideal of every Han person, so it is foolish to completely reject the clan.

However, relying too much on the world weakens the power of centralized power, especially the power of imperial power, which is a contradiction, so the flash of the idea of the golden mean is also reflected, everything must have a degree, and mastering this degree is the core of the mean.

Liu Bei hesitated, but Zhuge Jin was smiling slightly, Liu Bei's non-statement was actually a statement, his ambivalence shows that in the treatment of the world, Liu Bei is looking for this 'degree', as long as he has this understanding, then he has not deviated from the right direction, at least, it is the right direction that Zhuge Jin thinks.

"Use it, but don't indulge it." Chen Zhen's words are principles, but it is actually extremely difficult to do it, Liu Bei nodded, and shook his head with a bitter face.

"Let's not talk about it, Gongyou means that my eldest brother deliberately withdrew his hand from Jingxiang?"

"Exactly! This matter is not only because Fang Zhiwen has to fight with foreign races that come across the border, but more importantly, from the beginning of the Battle of Lujiang, Cao Cao, Zhang Bao, Yuan Shao, and even Liu Yu and other princes showed strong hostility towards Fang Zhiwen, which made Fang Zhiwen, who stretched out his hand everywhere and wantonly interfered, be alert, so from that time on, they should have shown signs of shrinking their military power and strengthening economic control. ”

Sun Gan's words were like a giant hand, driving away the heavy fog in front of Liu Bei's eyes, Liu Bei's gentle eyes began to shine with a strange brilliance, and the wrinkles on his face seemed to have expanded a lot.

"Tightening economic control?" Zhuge Jin noticed a more dangerous smell in Sun Qian's words.

"Yes, strengthen economic control, if Ziyu sees the latest economic data at my disposal, he will find that our army's territory is expanding, the population is increasing, and the arable land is also increasing, but the wealth of the government treasury is decreasing."

"Why is that?" Liu Bei also asked in surprise.

"My subordinates have also asked some strangers, according to them, because of the rise in prices and labor costs, first of all, our market is flooded with a large number of goods from other places, and wealth has flowed out; The second is that in order to retain the hired peasants and hired workers, the employers must improve their salaries, and throughout the Han Dynasty, the further north they go, the higher the salaries of hired workers and hired peasants. The subordinates have also studied that the large expenditure of our army is the purchase of ordnance, military materials and military horses, and these things. Most of them are from Miyun. ”

Liu Bei's face smiled bitterly, Fang Zhiwen has always dared to be different, and Liu Bei knows that Fang Zhiwen has a confidante who is a stranger, and her existence affects Fang Zhiwen's external and internal economic policies. Therefore, it is not uncommon to prevent the adoption of new economic theories and policies. It's just that he always runs behind, and it's really constrained to be a step slow!

On the other hand, Liu Bei also had to admire Fang Zhiwen, who was also the master of one party. Liu Bei seems to be tired and tired of being full of problems and difficulties, while Fang Zhiwen is fighting all day long, but the interior is thriving, this is really more popular than people!

"I also knew what Gongyou said. The problem is that these things cannot be accomplished overnight, if nothing else, let's talk about swords, guns, arrows, crossbows, and other things, we can also produce some, but neither the output nor the quality is inferior, and the price is slightly more expensive, and more importantly, the enemy's heavy crossbow has a range of 250 steps, but ours can only shoot 230 steps. These twenty steps are enough to determine the outcome of a war. Therefore, even if you know that you can't give up your own weapon manufacturing, but you throw money into it in vain, you can only follow other people's butts, and this is the situation now! What can I do? ”

None of these people know what industrialization is. If they know, they will understand that a product is an industrial chain, and it is self-evident what happens when you use a workshop to confront an industrial chain, and perhaps many princes do not understand the doorway. But Fang Zhiwen understands that this may be the key point for him to emerge.

Zhuge Jin cried and laughed: "This matter is not in a hurry. We can only slowly improve the technology and production capacity of our army, and there must be no investment left in this area."

Liu Bei nodded, it can't be saved! The problem is that there is no hope of a complete solution to the problem, and it is a bad feeling to keep throwing money into this bottomless pit.

"Ziyu is right, this matter should be considered in the long run, and it can even rely on merchants and families appropriately, the Zhen family in Miyun is an important weapon manufacturer, and the Huang family and the Cai family in Jingxiang are also manufacturers of weapons and warships."

Sun Gan turned everyone's attention back to Jingxiang's affairs, and the hint in Sun Gan's words was already obvious, combined with his previous arguments, it was obvious that Sun Gan's idea was to attack Jingxiang and pressure the Jingxiang clan to surrender to Liu Bei.

Liu Bei wouldn't be able to hear it, but habitually, Liu Bei would hesitate, and then surrender his gaze to Zhuge Jin and Chen Zhen.

"The subordinates also feel that this is a good time, and if we don't move, Sun Ce may also move, they won't fail to see the change in Fang Zhiwen's attitude, if Sun Ce first said that Cai Mao was moved, it would be difficult to do1

"What does Ziyu mean to salute first and then soldier?"

"No, my subordinates feel that it is right to fight first and then salute, so as to persecute and oppress the Jingxiang clan to choose sides."

Chen Zhen frowned: "Can't you bypass Xiangyang and attack the relatively empty Jiangxia first, if our army launches an attack in Jiangxia, Sun Ce will inevitably attack Huang Zu in Jichun County, and then Xiangyang has no way to retreat, so naturally he can only choose to surrender." ”

"If that's the case, Xiaoyi Fang Zhiwen's army will immediately wave its army up the Yangtze River and cooperate with the Xiangyang army to annihilate my troops entering Jiangxia.

Chen Zhen thought about Zhuge Jin's words, nodded, and didn't say anything more.

Liu Bei frowned and said, "Could it be that if we advance and attack step by step from the direction of Xinye, Jiangling, and Xincheng, won't we provoke my eldest brother's big interference?" ”

"Lord, Fang Zhiwen's intention is to force the Jingxiang clan to choose a side, but it is not easy to say it clearly, so the opportunity to replace Zhao Yun with Tai Shi Ci has reduced the garrison, and our army is pressing step by step, and even fought a few battles with Tai Shi Ci to prove that we can defeat them, and these Jing Xiang clan will honestly cooperate with the choice of sides. It is estimated that in the end, Jing Xiang may not fight, but change his banner after consultation between the two sides. ”

Sun Qian also nodded slowly: "Another copy of Xuzhou." ”

"Yes, but Xuzhou is a violent split, and Jingxiang had better be carved up peacefully."

Liu Bei sighed suddenly: "The ultimate goal of my eldest brother is still the population.1 To be continued...