Chapter 275 Six-party game...
When Mi Zhu arrived in Guangling County, it was already mid-to-late June.
A whole month has passed since the wine discussion meeting and the new road display in Chang'an City.
As poems and essays about the new road to Chang'an were sung in the form of ballads, the news was eventually spread to Xuzhou by traveling merchants.
The merchants from Shu named "Huang Yi" and "Huang Ting" may be the relatively wealthy ones among them, but they are by no means the only ones.
Following Jia Xu's advice to stay out of the situation, Qiao Lan only made a little noise on the first day of arriving in Sheyang, and then he was just like an ordinary businessman.
As for Qiao Ting, apart from visiting Chen Deng and conveying Chen Gui's greetings to his son, he simply sold Luoyang goods in Tan County.
This makes them even less noticeable.
As the number one money bag in Donghai, Mi Zhu must be very clear about the people in Donghai County who affect market price fluctuations.
However, as the two sisters deliberately kept a low profile, he did not expect that they were related to Qiao Yan and were her relatives.
Qiao Yan had considered not letting Mi Zhu directly join the intelligence department, and of course he would not let the identities of the two sisters be exposed to Mi Zhu.
So Mi Zhu and Bao Hong, who were heading towards Gaoyou at this time, only knew that -
Bao Hong felt that Zuo Rong's invitation to Mi Zhu was a bit suspicious, so he reported it to Qiao Yan. Her response was to ask Mi Zhu to pretend to agree to Zuo Rong so that she could fully understand the intention behind it.
Otherwise, she probably wouldn't be able to prescribe the right medicine even though they were so far apart.
"Although I am from Xuzhou, I haven't been to Guangling for several years." Mi Zhu rode his horse, looking around and spoke.
Before he officially entered Gaoyou, he had already discovered that the situation here was different from other places.
There are numerous Buddhist temples of all sizes in the suburbs of Gaoyou.
However, perhaps it was because he had a preconceived prejudice against Zuo Rong, but the sight of this foreign Buddhist invasion not only did not make people feel the sacredness of religion, but instead made them feel indescribably creepy.
As soon as Mi Zhu said this, he heard a commotion coming from the team behind him. He turned his head and saw a group of monks carrying a wooden frame. Because the road was not wide enough, the two teams were intertwined.
It is not difficult to see at first glance, even through the crowd, that there is a beautiful Buddha statue placed on the wooden frame.
The surface of this Buddha statue is golden and noble. With Mi Zhu's keen eyesight, he can tell at a glance that no matter what material the inside of the Buddha statue is made of, at least the outermost layer of gold is real!
Real gold.
Looking at the heavy footsteps of these people, the possibility that the inside of this Buddha statue is hollow is very low.
This can only be a solid copper Buddha statue, which is then coated with a thick layer of gold!
This thing is expensive...
Moreover, Mi Zhu didn't think that he would coincidentally encounter the situation where the only Buddha statue was completed and sent to Gaoyou.
He then asked Bao Hong: "How many Buddha statues like this have you seen before?"
Bao Hong thought for a moment: "It seems to be three?"
So including the one in front of us, there are at least four.
Mi Zhu couldn't help feeling a little frightened.
But don't think that making this kind of Buddha statue is an ordinary thing.
Bao Hong may be so careless as to think that this is just a show of extravagance, but Mi Zhu clearly remembers that when Emperor Ling of Han Dynasty made a bronze man in Luoyang, part of which was hollow, it had already been widely criticized and condemned.
Since the amount of copper that can be mined is limited, the creation of bronze men and bronze statues is often done by melting coins, which is tantamount to exploiting the people's wealth.
When we think about the gold besides the bronze statue, it would be an especially considerable expense.
When Mi Zhu thought of this, the team carrying the Buddha statue that was passing by had already walked in front of him after they deliberately avoided it, and it happened that the followers at the end of the team passed by him.
He clearly saw that it was a row of common people wearing simple clothes, some of which were even patched.
Fortunately, it is summer now, so a little airtightness in clothes is not a big problem.
But what frightened Mi Zhu was the expressions on these people's faces.
They seemed to have no idea that, given their circumstances, they did not have the extra capital to squander and follow the Buddha statue like pilgrims.
He immediately had one of them stopped and questioned, but the other person looked at him and asked why he was meddling in other people's business.
According to this man, he gave his family's remaining wealth to the Buddha's representative on earth, which not only allowed the Buddha to bless his family with peace and prosperity, but also exempted his entire family from corvée labor.
Mi Zhu's forehead jumped when he heard this, "Zao Rong is not the governor of Guangling, how can he exempt these people from corvée labor directly?"
The reason why Tao Qian still felt that Zuo Rong's actions were only somewhat special in the way he settled the refugees, and he still respected him, was nothing more than because -
When Zuo Rong sent the people from the three counties who were in charge of transporting military supplies to the East China Sea, there was no problem with the number of people.
He did not openly oppose Tao Qian!
But if Buddhists can receive such treatment, does it mean that people in Guangling County who do not follow this belief may have to perform double the number of corvee labor?
Bao Hong finally realized that something was wrong from Mi Zhu's tone.
He asked tentatively, "According to what you said, sir, this Zuo Rong is forcing people who do not believe in Buddhism to show their approval of his beliefs by doubling their labor service, until he has converted the entire Guangling County into his followers, and then he will extort wealth from them to provide for his own show and enjoyment?"
Mi Zhu looked at Bao Hong helplessly, thinking that in a sense, he was really too careless.
It is not easy for him to realize this only now, as he has been in Guangling for quite some time.
Perhaps the only thing worthy of praise about him was that he was a little sensitive about his stance when Zuo Rong approached him.
No wonder Cao Cao, who was also one of the Eight Commanders of Xiyuan, had risen to the position of Governor of Yanzhou, but Bao Hong was not given any important position by Qiao Yan.
But thinking that he might not have any ambition to strive for the top and was quite satisfied with his current "exile" life, Mi Zhu felt that there was no need for him to say more.
He replied: "It may not be for show or pleasure, it may also be to collect a lot of military funds through this method."
Theoretically, these four bronze and gold Buddha statues are just the facade of Buddhism, but brass can also be called "gold" nowadays and is a hard currency in trade.
Zuo Rong was not a stupid person. At least he did not really turn all his wealth into something that could be eaten.
But that probably doesn't change the unusualness of his behavior.
If he did not have to play nice with Zuo Rong now, Mi Zhu felt that he might not be able to calmly ask this "Buddhist Master" about the Buddha statue when he met him.
There was no rule against eating meat set by Emperor Wu of Liang during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and Zuo Rong was a pretty good eater. In addition, he practiced martial arts to strengthen his body, so he had a rosy and plump face, and even looked somewhat friendly because of his round face. 1
Especially when he lowered his eyes, there was actually a hint of compassion in his expression.
Perhaps it is precisely because of this appearance behind the scenes of his greed that people never think of him as a bad executioner.
Hearing Mi Zhu's question, Zuo Rong replied: "This is a gift to the gods and Buddhas. The Mi family of Donghai is rich, and my four Buddha statues are just a humiliation."
Mi Zhu remained silent and did not respond.
He knew whether he was making a fool of himself or not.
Even though the Mi family of Donghai was rich, they had never thought of doing the same thing as him.
Zuo Rong's words really make people wonder how to respond.
However, Zuo Rong had his own way of understanding Mi Zhu's silence at this moment.
He couldn't help but think of Mi Zhu's rejection of his invitation. He thought it would be better to let the other party let down his guard this time, so he said, "Sir, it is an honor for you to come from Donghai County to participate in this Buddha Bathing Ceremony. Please go in and rest for a while. I will take you around here tomorrow."
Mi Zhu readily accepted Zuo Rong's suggestion, but when he walked around Gaoyou County with Zuo Rong the next day, he had to work hard to suppress the look of surprise on his face.
The Buddhist temple built by Zuo Rong here is shaped like a pile of copper plates, with exactly nine floors, and various towers and pavilions built underneath.
In front of Chonglou Buddhist Temple is a spacious square. According to Zuo Rong himself, it can accommodate 3,000 people chanting scriptures at the same time.
And every time there is a celebration, the banquets set up would extend from here to both sides, filling the streets with wine and food. It was truly a scene of great friends.
Zuo Rong said to Mi Zhu with a sense of pride: "Although this place is not as rich in products and crowded with merchants as Donghai County, it can be said that people live in harmony and the people are devoted to Buddhism. I heard that there is a new road in Chang'an City, which is highly praised for its invulnerability to swords and knives. But I see that the Golden Light Road in front of the pagoda has saved countless lives by providing porridge and food, which makes people do good deeds. I think it is not much worse than Chang'an."
Mi Zhu: “…”
How dare Zuo Rong say such a thing!
The various wonders of this Buddhist temple, pagoda and statue have lured the local people into becoming the walking corpses they have been deceived by him.
If we only talk about people's livelihood, Leping in the fourth year of Zhongping is far better than this place!
But he saw that when Zuo Rong said this, he seemed to really think so.
But Mi Zhu soon realized that Zuo Rong's comparison of the pagoda and the road to Chang'an did not seem to be an ordinary signal.
If Gaoyou in Guangling can be compared with Chang'an in his opinion, then what about Tan County in Donghai?
Could it be that Zuo Rong put himself above Tao Qian?
Mi Zhu didn't quite believe that Zuo Rong, who used such means to govern Guangling, would actually have such further thoughts and showed them so bluntly in front of people who visited Guangling.
But perhaps it was because of the tacit approval of Zuo Rong's governance achievements by this wealthy man from Donghai, or perhaps it was because of the generous praise from those who fled from Wujun to join him, that Zuo Rong made a bolder decision.
Of course, there was no such thing as alcohol restrictions in Xuzhou, so it did make sense in theory for Zuo Rong to invite Mi Zhu to discuss Buddhist principles while drinking.
But after three rounds of drinking, Zuo Rong saw that Mi Zhu seemed to be half drunk, and suddenly spoke out to test him.
He said to Mi Zhu, "If you ask me, at this moment, there is gain only when there is sacrifice. Tao Gongzu should give you some of the profits from the East China Sea Salt Field. This is the way for him to stay in Xuzhou for a long time."
As soon as these words were spoken, Mi Zhu sobered up immediately!
He wasn't drunk in the first place.
After tasting the high-purity liquor brewed by distillation in Bingzhou, the liquor that Zuo Rong asked him to drink was not much different from plain water.
He was often out and about, so he had to be on guard against situations where he agreed to contracts while drunk.
Even so, Zuo Rong's words completely eliminated the little bit of alcohol left in his mind.
Mi Zhu would definitely understand the meaning of Zuo Rong's words.
What he wanted to say was that if he were in Tao Qian's position, he would definitely give Mi Zhu more concessions.
But how could he be in Tao Qian's position?
The only option is to seize the throne.
Not only did he want to make all the people in Guangling County believers of the Buddhism he preached, he also coveted Tao Qian's position as governor.
Moreover, he had already come to test Mi Zhu, so it was obvious that this was not a sudden idea of his.
Mi Zhu's heart suddenly tightened, and he was afraid that Xuzhou would be in chaos because of this!
No wonder Qiao Yan specifically mentioned in the letter that he should keep one principle in mind after the appointment, that is, there is gain in loss.
Once Xuzhou is in chaos, the Mi clan of Donghai will also be caught up in the turmoil.
Fortunately, he now has a backer, so if the situation gets bad, he can just retreat to Bingzhou. Now that we know it in advance, there is always room for maneuver.
However, the situation is not yet at its most troublesome point. Zuo Rong is a man who always has high aspirations but poor skills, so even if he can really cause any trouble, it will be very limited.
Countless thoughts flashed through Mi Zhu's mind, but it seemed that he was just slow due to drunkenness and failed to react to what Zuo Rong said in the first place. After he understood vaguely, he said, "It is a common practice for the salt and iron industry to be run by the government. Even if we want to make money, there is no reason to interfere in this matter. I still prefer to make money by trading in fashion."
Zuo Rong smiled and said, "That's right, Mr. Mi is a big businessman, so this is not a big deal for him."
This temptation is over.
Zuo Rong was not too surprised that he did not hear a response from Mi Zhu, but he was certainly not depressed either.
After all, this wealthy man from the East China Sea is already here, so we might as well wait until after the Buddha's Bathing Festival to formally question him.
Since Zuo Rong dared to compare his territory with Chang'an today, he naturally felt that it could be comparable in other aspects.
For example, after Qiao Yan’s display on Chang’an Road, he held a wine discussion party, which made all the wealthy and powerful families bow down to him and even gave away something as lucrative as wine.
So if he shows Guangling's unity in belief during the Buddha's Bathing Festival, and also demonstrates his strong military force, will that make Mi Zhu more inclined to choose him?
Zuo Rong had no idea how much planning and exchanges went behind Qiao Yan's success, and he fell asleep with a sweet dream in his mind.
Mi Zhu looked for an opportunity to send out this ambitious letter to Zuo Rong that night.
Zuo Rong's subordinates kept a close eye on the actions of Mi Zhu and his followers to prevent Zuo Rong's slightly inappropriate inquiries from being reported directly to Tao Qian by Mi Zhu. However, they never expected that the one who sent the message out was just a bird that seemed to have suddenly jumped onto the window eaves to eat grain.
The subordinates who were with Qiao Lan in Guangling were always on the lookout for any carrier pigeons flying out. They happened to catch the release of the pigeons and informed Qiao Lan of the incident.
"It seems that the judgment you made earlier was not wrong." She pondered in her heart, and then said, "Send this message to Tan County and inform Ating, and also send the information you have found out before."
Zuo Rong recruited Yan Baihu's subordinates and invited Zu Lang here as well, which did not escape Qiao Lan's detection.
Anyone who has seen it will have to say that it is like a gathering of all kinds of monsters and demons.
This is certainly not a good thing for Xuzhou, which was originally in a calm state, but for Qiao Lan and Qiao Ting, the more chaotic it is, the better.
So these people came at the right time!
In addition, Zuo Rong might not have realized one thing, but Qiao Lan was taught by Jia Xu after all, so he would not fail to see the other unstable factor involved.
If we judge from an outsider's perspective, is it possible that the successive movements of Yan Baihu's former subordinates and Zu Lang did not cause any reaction from Yangzhou at all?
impossible!
At least if Qiao Lan were in Zhou Yu's position, she would not turn a blind eye to it.
As for Yangzhou, would it be more beneficial for Tao Qian to quickly suppress Zuo Rong's rebellion and for Lu Su to take over as the prefect of Guangling?
Or... let Xuzhou fall into further chaos, so that they will have no time to consider the situation in Yangzhou in the short term?
Probably the latter.
After all, Xuzhou and Yangzhou have different positions on which imperial court to respect, so hoping that the other side will also fall into chaos is not a dirty idea.
In his early years, Tao Qian employed Sun Guan, Zang Ba and others, and turned a blind eye to Zuo Rong's actions. It was his choice that brought him into trouble today.
After receiving Qiao Lan's letter, Qiao Ting, who was in Donghai County, made the same guess.
At this moment, there was a piece of white paper in front of her, with names written on it.
Just like when Li Ru led her to analyze the situation in Yizhou, she first listed all the forces surrounding the Xuzhou dispute.
Then, he crossed out those who were unlikely to have a fundamental impact on the current situation, such as Sun Guan and others who were used by Tao Qian to deal with the Yellow Turbans in Xuzhou.
These people did not have the geographical advantage of independence like Zuo Rong, nor did they have the means of preaching like Zuo Rong, so at best they could only be regarded as Tao Qian's thugs.
The real players on this chessboard at this moment are——
Tao Qian, the governor of Xuzhou, was surrounded by a group of soldiers, Xuzhou scholars represented by Chen Deng and Zhao Yu, and Xuzhou local tyrants represented by Lu Su.
Zuo Rong, the master of Buddhist missionary work, his followers, his old subordinates Yan Baihu who took refuge with him, and people like Zu Lang who came to eat and drink for free could all be considered as the personnel he could deploy.
Zhang Yi, the former Guangling prefect who has been dismissed, actually still holds the support of some people in Sheyang according to Qiao Lan's investigation, so he cannot be regarded as a completely lonely man.
Sun Ce, Zhou Yu and others in Yangzhou should be considered to be watching from the sidelines and might even add fuel to the flames.
Qiao Yan, who was hiding in the dark, was the last party. She sent out the two sisters Qiao Lan and Qiao Ting, as well as Mi Zhu who had worked for her before, and Bao Hong who acted as a conversation medium in Xuzhou.
After Qiao Ting listed the five parties, he held his chin and pondered for a long time, then added another name, which could be regarded as the sixth force that appeared in this good show.
When she was chatting with Chen Deng and praising his ability in farming, Chen Deng mentioned his name.
He said that the other party did not make attacking Yuan Shu as their top priority, but instead first considered the people's livelihood issues in Pei State, Yuzhou, and stopped to govern. This could be described as selfless sacrifice, and that person was more worthy of admiration.
And now, it seems that this person really has a chance to enter.
That is——
Liu Bei.
Liu Bei is only one step away from Xuzhou!
So within this small city of Xuzhou, there can actually be considered a six-party game!
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