Chapter 191: Battle of Yuyang
The idea of mass-producing books based on the method of producing copper coins from money molds is not the same as the idea of woodblock printing?
The only difference is that the "mold" for casting copper coins is negative text while the copper coins are positive text. Woodblock printing uses positive text woodblocks to print books.
Whether Qiao Yan had such thoughts in mind when she was ensuring the technical quality of the coin casting molds was up to standard, perhaps only she herself knew.
After all, the clearer the word "Wu Zhu" on the copper coin is, the more accurate the strokes will be when the word "Wu Zhu" is replaced with other words in the future.
But what Qiao Yan did not expect was that she only agreed to let Cai Zhaoji visit the site where the Wuzhu coins were made and asked her to write down what she saw and heard so that she could convey Qiao Yan's ideas in the Leping Monthly Report, thereby stabilizing the economy and promoting the circulation and trading of coins. However, Zhaoji used her little brain and directly associated it with woodblock printing.
This may be the happy trouble that comes after owning more territory and manpower.
First, Zhuge Liang and Huang Yueying suddenly jumped into her pond and made a machine for separating cotton seeds. Then, Cai Zhaoji suddenly thought of the possibility of woodblock printing.
but……
"Did I say something wrong?"
When Zhao Ji saw Qiao Yan's gesture, she stopped talking. Seeing that she didn't seem angry and was just restricting her from continuing, she asked in a low voice.
Qiao Yan replied: "You are right, but it is not the right time."
It's too early.
It’s really too early!
Zhao Ji's brain and associative ability are not bad, and even her political acumen is much better than her father's because of following Qiao Yan's work. However, there are some problems that are obviously not something a child of her age can figure out, such as -
Why can we increase the number of books by relying on handwritten copies in academies, but cannot mass-produce books by printing?
Qiao Yan took out a five-zhu coin from his pouch.
On this Wuzhu coin produced from the three official coins of Bingzhou, both the patterns and words are completely standard template specifications.
She casually dipped the brush at hand into ink and smeared a layer on the coin, then placed it on the paper in front of her.
Ordinary ink is different from the ink used in actual woodblock printing, but it is enough to make the point at this point.
As the Wuzhu coin was moved away, the outline and text of the copper coin were left on the paper.
She looked at the printed words, her eyes seemed to be a little deep, "I know what you want to say, this is just two words "Wu Zhu". If this is not a Wu Zhu coin, but a plate engraved with the Analects, then in an instant, you can have countless copies of the Analects. In a few days, everyone in Bingzhou, from the elderly to children, can have a copy."
The possibilities described in these words are truly fascinating.
But Qiao Yan had already said at the beginning that it was not the right time.
"Zhao Ji, do you think that with Leping's current grain yield per mu, it would be difficult to expand the academy's enrollment scale so that the people have spare money?"
Cai Zhaoji shook her head.
If it were two years ago, just as the driver who drove the car for Ma Lun and Ren Hong said, it would still be a bit difficult for them to send their children to Leping Academy no matter how frugal they were.
But in the past two years, Bingzhou's economic level has been much more stable than other surrounding areas, and the per-acre grain yield has increased year by year with the optimization and adjustment of farming methods.
When the provincial government launched the war of Liang Province, they were not affected by the war. Instead, they had some spare money in their hands because the provincial government purchased grain from the people.
If the academy expands in size and lowers the admission threshold, some children from poor families may also have the opportunity to study.
But in fact, although there are some people in the academy with such background, their proportion in the entire academy is not high.
In Cai Zhaoji's opinion, the troubles that Qiao Yan faced in the process of governing Liangzhou were not as many as outsiders imagined, and she could take this matter into consideration.
But she chose not to do so.
This is definitely not something that can be explained by lack of energy.
She then heard Qiao Yan ask, "Why did I let the children of Bingzhou's noble families study at Leping Academy first, so that they would be attracted by your father's reputation and feel that they had benefited from it? And why did I give a lot of the auditorium quotas to the Liangzhou noble families after I brought Zheng Xuan to Bingzhou?"
Is this really just to allow himself to hold a group of hostages from aristocratic families in his hands?
Obviously not!
This is also about reaching an alliance and making concessions.
Before Cai Zhaoji could reply, Qiao Yan continued: "The aristocratic families are proud of the number of volumes of books they own. The knowledge they possess is far from that of the common people in this era."
"This is the guarantee for them to continuously cultivate high-quality talents, and also the guarantee for them to rely on these talents to maintain the family's status. They need to let these children who have an advantage over ordinary people in knowledge take up official positions and become the towering trees that protect the family in turn. What do you think would happen if I made books something that was easily available?"
Cai Zhaoji thought about what Qiao Yan said and realized that she had stayed in Leping Academy, a place that taught knowledge, for too long that she subconsciously forgot the class differences.
If she really did that, it would be tantamount to digging up the foundation for the family's development and growth.
What a dangerous move!
Among those who originally have no conditions to learn to read, is it really true that there are no ones who can become talented through reading and writing?
Not necessarily.
Xu Shu under Junhou's command is a typical example.
Therefore, it is not impossible to obtain potential talents by expanding the scale of education.
But if you do something like this at this time, you are actually standing against all the families.
In the current situation where controlling two states still requires the support of aristocratic families, this is a path that will lead to internal chaos and disaster!
With the authority of Bingzhou Mu and the mineral resources of Bingzhou, coupled with the production scale of Lepinghou paper, it is not difficult to produce enough books.
But there needs to be an evolutionary process from books to talents.
Before that, the angry family was able to use the power in their hands to cause irreversible damage to her.
Even if she had a strong enough army, it would not change the result.
The complex connections of the aristocratic families are not even limited to the counties of one state, so the counterattacks that will be triggered will definitely not be limited to the forces within these two states.
We should also not forget that many of Qiao Yan's subordinates, who have been entrusted with important tasks, come from aristocratic families.
This decision, which affects the entire body, no matter how wonderful the future may be for scholars, is also a deadly poison at this moment.
When Cai Zhaoji walked out of Qiao Yan's study, she looked a little dazed.
This trance was not because her suggestion was rejected, but because after she figured it out, she heard Qiao Yan say, "We have to eat one bite at a time and walk slowly. We have to make sure we won't make a wrong decision before making a decision."
"But I can give you an accurate response. One day, I will make sure that everyone in Bingzhou, or in the territory under my jurisdiction, has the opportunity to read."
Just like when she said that she would make every subordinate wear a cotton coat, in her serious and clear eyes, no one would doubt the truthfulness of her words.
This solemn promise made Cai Zhaoji believe:
Even if the class conflict between the aristocratic families, the poor and the common people is difficult to eliminate in the short term, she will definitely do it.
Qiao Yan also said that what she is doing now is no longer a path that ordinary people would choose, so she doesn't mind being more unorthodox.
What is heresy?
Cai Zhaoji couldn't help but think of her sister.
After she came to Leping and taught in the academy, her whole person seemed to have transformed from gloomy to lively. Is this considered heresy?
In the process of teaching her students, she gave more of her emotions to these children than to her husband and children.
There are many people like my sister in this world who are forced to give up things that belong to them in the face of turmoil, disasters and poverty in the world.
They sisters can still rely on the knowledge taught by their father and the appreciation of the prince to take a completely different path from the previous one, but what about others?
If she wanted more people to have this opportunity to change their destiny, she should support Junhou to continue.
It is indeed not possible to mass-produce paper books now, so let's use the pen as a sword and let Leping Monthly further serve as the mouthpiece of the prince, expanding its influence little by little.
Until the steps in front of them had been trampled firmly!
Qiao Yan looked out of the window and saw the young girl, who was still only in her teens, straightened her back and chest. She looked like she was going to the battlefield. It was obvious that she had figured out her goal, and a smile appeared on the corner of her lips.
She then asked the system, "Speaking of which, if a cross-era product like woodblock printing really appears in my hands and is promoted, and can also smooth out the negative impact it brings, it should be beneficial to any lord. It should be counted as a counselor point, right?"
"Furthermore, if the emergency remedy can be promoted, the people who are saved can support the development of our forces. As the one who proposed this suggestion, shouldn't I also be considered to have fulfilled my duty as a counselor?"
The system was suddenly asked by her and couldn't help but complain: [...When it comes to grabbing system rewards, you really don't forget your original intention. 】
But having said that, since its host no longer intends to be a good strategist, the system can only follow her line of thought.
[Yes, you can, provided that you can do both of these. 】
Introducing cotton from the Silk Road to keep people warm during the winter did not conform to the judgement of the advisers.
However, the planning of the book on emergency preparedness and the reconciliation between the emergence of printing and the counterattack of the aristocratic families were in line with what the counselors did.
After receiving the affirmative answer from the system, although Qiao Yan did not necessarily expect to get this reward, his expression still became a little more cheerful.
However, Zhao Ji's behavior reminded her of something.
Next, in addition to paying more attention to the list of names on the Leping Academy list, she also had to pay more attention to the creative ideas of her subordinates.
If he is like Ma Jun who focuses on people's livelihood development and weapons improvement, it would be fine. But if someone has the same idea as Zhaoji, or even figures out gunpowder, he still has to get a clear pass from her first.
After all, besides Zhang Yang, Lu Bu, and Zhang Niu Jiao, who are all stupid, she has many smart people under her command...
It's really a headache.
But if the other princes knew what was bothering her, they would probably be tempted to send her regards.
The series of inspections and appointments completed by Qiao Yan in June were all in order.
In order to rationally allocate manpower in Liangzhou and Bingzhou, and also to cope with the upcoming campaign against Dong Zhuo in Chang'an, she made a series of arrangements, including transferring Chu Yan back from Liangzhou and placing him in Shangjun, and placing Lu Bu in Hanyang County of Liangzhou.
After verifying all the tax data of Bingzhou, he began to negotiate with his subordinates on the next tax amounts to meet the needs of the operation.
Even though military operations were being carried out in Liangzhou and Youzhou at the same time, Bingzhou's granaries were still full due to the increase in tax revenue caused by the relatively high overall grain yield per mu in Bingzhou, and the additional supplement from the Baidaochuan military settlement.
In another two or three months, the Liangzhou military settlements and Bingzhou areas will be able to have another good harvest.
But some people's lives are not so comfortable, for example, Sun Ce.
He frowned as he looked at the account book in front of him.
The military progress made in driving Yuan Shu out of Jiujiang County could not offset the troubles he was facing at this time.
Lack of food.
When Sun Jian was still alive, Sun Ce didn't need to consider such a problem at all, but now this huge problem must be placed before him.
He had several sources of food.
One was Changsha County, where Sun Jian previously served as prefect.
This place is still under the control of their own people. If they want to transport grain from Changsha County to Lujiang County, they can take the Yangtze River waterway and go east along the river. Liu Biao does not have the ability to intercept the grain across the river.
But you have to know that they sent troops after the autumn harvest last year, and almost all the stored grain in Changsha County had been used as military rations for this operation, and was also used for Sun Ce's subsequent transfer to Yangzhou.
The remaining grain reserves are now needed to cover the expenses of Zhu Jun's troops, in order to deal with Liu Biao's intention to take over Jingzhou after defeating Sun Jian.
If more military rations were withdrawn from Changsha County, it would be tantamount to giving this place to Liu Biao.
To Sun Ce, this place is actually a bit useless.
But when he thought that the prefect of Changsha was his father's position during his lifetime, he held his breath and did not want to give it up.
Then we can only consider the grain reserves in the three counties of Lujiang, Danyang and Jiujiang.
However, the reply he got was that the three counties did not have much grain stored.
That makes sense. Last year, Lujiang had no choice but to be trapped under Yuan Shu's attack and was unable to engage in farming in a normal way.
Jiujiang was in a state where consumption was greater than output due to Yuan Shu's own lack of coordination.
As for Danyang...
There were Shanyue people living in Danyang, the most famous of them was named Zulang.
Even though Zhou Yu's uncle Zhou Shang was the prefect of Danyang, he really didn't have much to do with Zu Lang.
Zu Lang was entrenched in Jing County of Danyang County. Although he was not called a bandit in name, he gave himself the nickname "Marshal of Jing County".
Therefore, even if Sun Ce gained Danyang County at this moment, the powerful people in Danyang would only wait and see because Sun Ce attacked Wu County first, and they were still in a relatively independent state.
If I were to say that I was somewhat submissive to him, I'm afraid I wasn't.
Under such circumstances, it was inevitable that Sun Ce would run out of food.
After all, what Qiao Yan funded him with were only tools for farming, not food.
“As long as we can hold on until the autumn harvest…” Sun Ce felt helpless.
Among all the counties in Yangzhou, Wu County ranks last in terms of area, but it is this small Wu County that is really a tough nut to crack!
Yan Baihu alone has more than 10,000 people under his command. These people know the terrain of Wujun very well and are flexible in their actions. Even though Sun Ce has led his troops to attack Zhenze, they continue to create trouble for him.
If his army's rations are difficult to replenish, he will be forced to withdraw his troops!
But how could he be willing to accept this?
As long as he can take Wu County, he will be able to gather all the four Yangzhou counties north of Kuaiji and Yuzhang counties into his own hands, and then begin to quell the internal cancer. By next year, he will have enough confidence to take Kuaiji with his appointment as the prefect of Kuaiji, and then it will not be difficult to take Yuzhang.
At that time, even if he did not hold the position of Mu of Yangzhou, in essence, he would not be much different from the Mu of Yangzhou.
But now we have reached the first hurdle.
Since he took command of the army, he has imposed many restrictions on his soldiers and generals, forcing them not to offend the people. However, this did not seem to have brought him many benefits. Instead, it caused him to suffer the most unfortunate battle so far in Wu County.
It wasn't just Yan Baihu who caused him trouble.
He attacked Wujun from Danyang, first defeating Xu Gong and Yan Baihu in Wucheng. At this time, he was on the way from Wucheng to Wuxian, the capital of Wujun.
However, in the latest battle report that reached him, Zou Ta, Qian Tong, Wang Sheng and others responded to Xu Gong's call and regrouped in Wucheng. Each of them led thousands of soldiers and directly cut off Sun Ce's grain transportation route, forcing him to retreat to Youquan.
Sun Ce was furious.
Wang Sheng had served as the prefect of Hepu in his early years. After retiring and returning to his hometown, he became quite famous locally. Relying on this reputation, he caused quite a lot of trouble for Sun Ce.
But this is not what Sun Ce was angry about.
"I'm angry because he once went to court with my father, so they are old friends. I am taking Yangzhou first to have the confidence to fight against Liu Biao. Why is he stopping me?"
Zhang Zhao looked at Sun Ce's young and energetic face and replied in a deep voice: "To him, the general is breaking the rules. If you go to Kuaiji first, he will never have any intention of resisting. But the general does not have the title of Yangzhou Mu, so he has no right to enter Wujun."
Sun Ce snorted coldly.
If he took Kuaiji first, the people in Wujun would not think that he would give up on this place.
If the troops stationed in Wujun were to attack him from behind, it would be even more difficult than it is now.
However, it may not be a bad thing for these people to rebel against him.
"Mr. Zibu, if we turn around and attack Wucheng right now, and use the grain stored in the government warehouses of the Zou, Qian, and Wang clans as military pay, can we survive until this year's autumn harvest?"
It is really not Sun Ce's fault that he still decided to attack under such circumstances instead of withdrawing his troops back to Danyang County.
Wujun was his hometown, and even his mother, Mrs. Wu, was from Wu County, Wujun. However, this situation that was almost like returning home was met with such fierce resistance, which made Sun Ce, who had been in a high-pressure marching state since the death of his father, even more angry.
He can't retreat!
Once you retreat, you will be completely relieved, and it will be difficult to fight back.
Half a month ago, he was considering winning over the famous scholars of Wu County to improve his reputation.
As it happened, he found a very suitable candidate.
Gao Dai, a famous scholar in Wu County, could no longer stay in Wu County because he had offended Xu Gong. He had to go south and retreat to the border between Wu County and Kuaiji County, not far from Youquan where Sun Ce was.
This person has a high reputation in Wujun and happens to have a grudge against Xu Gong. In Sun Ce's view, there is no one more suitable to win over and serve as a benchmark than this person.
Since he wanted to show goodwill to this person, Sun Ce was not reluctant to show his attitude to the other party.
Hearing that Gao Dai was particularly fond of "Zuo Zhuan", Sun Ce pinched his nose and forced himself to read a few more pages before asking Gao Dai to come.
As a result, when the person came, Sun Ce talked to him about "Zuo Zhuan", but Gao Dai repeatedly said that he did not understand it.
Sun Ce thought that Gao Dai was disgusted with him because he was more brave than talented, so he threw Gao Dai into Youquan Prison.
This resulted in Gao Dai's relatives and friends staging a sit-in protest outside Youquan's government office.
When Sun Ce asked Zhang Zhao for advice on the march, the voices of pleading outside the government office continued to drill into his head.
Before Zhang Zhao could give a suggestion to slow down the attack, Sun Ce covered his throbbing forehead and said, "Forget it. Regardless of whether we can harvest enough military rations this time, I have made up my mind. I will attack that old bastard Wang Sheng first!"
What Zhang Zhao did not expect was that Sun Ce resolutely killed Gao Dai before sending out his troops, and then led his troops to attack the one led by Wang Sheng. 1
Zhou Yu, who was guarding the defense line of Jiujiang County for Sun Ce, did not expect that Sun Ce would make such a hasty decision.
Their situation at this point was actually not too bad.
These Yangzhou families who had lived in the south for a long time, especially the four famous families of Jiangdong, Gu, Lu, Zhu and Zhang, actually did not like the presence of a young general who wanted to destroy Yangzhou and take control of it in his own hands.
Sun Ce first lifted the siege of Shu County and rescued Lu Kang, which was an exceptionally good start between him and these four surnames.
So they stood by and watched at this time, on the one hand they were raising their own status, and on the other hand they were watching Sun Ce's attitude.
They were quite satisfied with Sun Ce's performance in repelling Yuan Shu from the country and keeping his soldiers under good control.
Zhou Yu has also planned to talk to them again after the autumn harvest this year to see if he can get all the help.
But just when he was thinking about this, Sun Ce first killed Gao Dai, and then relied on his excellent ability to command troops to defeat several forces entrenched in Wucheng one after another, and then -
He raised the butcher knife against Wang Sheng's clan.
If Liu Bei knew about Sun Ce's situation, he might feel that what he was facing was not a problem at all.
After defeating Dong Zhuo, he was transferred from the original position of Qinghe County Magistrate to the Prime Minister of Jinan.
It's not a bad location.
He had some friendship with Ying Shao, the governor of the neighboring Taishan County, during the campaign against Dong Zhuo, and Cao Cao of Dong County to the west was also an old acquaintance.
As for the domestic affairs of Jinan, the previous King of Jinan, Liu Kang, was canonized by Emperor Ling of Han in the third year of Xiping.
Because he re-established the Jinan State after it had been closed for twenty years, he had always maintained a cautious style.
After being passed to his son Liu Sai, it remained in this state.
Seven years ago, Cao Cao served as prime minister here and carried out drastic reforms.
Although Cao Cao served as the Prime Minister of Jinan for only one year before resigning and returning home, the various impacts of the conflict between him and the local tyrants in Jinan still remained until Liu Bei took over.
This allowed Liu Bei to move from being the second-in-command of a county to being the first-in-command, reducing a lot of trouble in adapting.
For him, this is indeed a good place to learn how to eliminate evil and govern the people's livelihood.
What he didn't expect was that when the time turned to the third year of Zhaoning (the third year of Guangxi), his neighbor Cao Cao took the lead in attacking two neighboring counties and forced the surrender of another one, and took the position of Yanzhou Mu in one fell swoop, becoming his legitimate superior.
However, not long after, he was appointed as the General of Suppressing Bandits, responsible for leading troops to fight against the traitor Yuan Shu.
Liu Bei was a little confused.
But that didn't stop him from making a decision quickly.
Sending troops is an inevitable move that is set in stone!
Regardless of which court he was considering, Yuan Shu's actions were worthy of the word "usurpation and rebellion", and it was imperative to send troops to attack him.
In addition, according to the imperial edict sent to him, this expedition to Yuzhou would not consume the military rations of Jinan State under his jurisdiction, but would be supplied by Cao Cao.
In a sense, this also gave him an opportunity to explore his relationship with his boss.
Although he felt that he seemed to be arranged completely by others and did not seem to have any autonomy, the title of general with a miscellaneous title and the position of Prime Minister of Jinan that he still held could not be described as unlucky for Liu Bei, who was just over 30 years old.
Apart from……
The military rations provided by Cao Cao seemed to be a little less.
But Liu Bei thought again. After the Luoyang Rebellion, Yanzhou Dongjun took in many households that moved out of Luoyang, and the food supply was not very sufficient. The governors and prime ministers in places like Chenliu, Jiyin and Dongping were not of high standard, and not much grain was accumulated last year.
This is explainable.
Cao Cao also specifically asked someone to say that his father returned to his hometown in Qiao County after being dismissed from the position of Grand Marshal. During the previous campaign against Dong Zhuo, he was worried about chaos in Yanzhou, so he fled to Xuzhou.
However, part of the family business is still there. When Liu Bei leads his army passing by, he can get a supply of military rations from Cao's fortress.
It's a very generous performance.
As a result, the only thing Liu Bei had left in his mind was the belief that he could lead his troops to victory in the battle against Yuan Shu, which would enhance his reputation.
Not to mention Liu Bei, Zhang Fei was also very happy to have the opportunity to send troops again, and to fight against Yuan Shu, who was shameless but had a very high family background.
He held the spear with a newly sharpened tip, looking eager to try.
After they recruited soldiers in Jinan, they passed through the counties of Yanzhou and went straight into Pei State in Yuzhou at the end of June.
After resting in Pei County for half a day, the army continued to move south until they encountered a team sent by Yuan Shu to intercept them when they were crossing the Wei River.
This was the first confrontation between them and Yuan Shu.
After all, Liu Bei started commanding troops during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and he also experienced several battles in Chenggao when he was fighting against Dong Zhuo.
He had already assigned Zhang Fei as the vanguard to guard against this kind of situation where the enemy was attacked halfway across the river.
Zhang Fei was even more determined to make a good start in the attack on Yuzhou, and immediately rushed towards the opposing general.
Although they came from afar, the team led by Zhang Fei had followed Liu Bei since two years ago, so they must be considered elite troops.
Zhang Fei rode on horseback, holding a spear, and looked fierce and unmatched.
After this fierce battle, the team sent by Yuan Shu was defeated by Zhang Fei, and the rest of the troops either fled in panic or surrendered immediately.
However, when Liu Bei led the rear army across the river and asked about the identity of the enemy general, he saw Zhang Fei looking as if he had done something wrong.
"What's wrong? Is there something wrong with this person's identity?"
Facing Liu Bei's probing gaze, he stammered, "His name is Qiao Rui, and he is... a member of the same clan as Qiao Yeshu, the governor of Bingzhou."
"Direct relatives."
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