Chapter 280 Yandu Hailing
The idea of visiting Mi Zhu, proposed by Zhou Yu, surprised Zhang Yi, yet made him feel it was reasonable.
The reason why he was interested in Zhou Yu's suggestion to seize the position of Governor of Xuzhou was not only because it was a profitable decision for him, but also because it was something that Yangzhou was interested enough to take the risk for.
Pushing the battle line northward to the Huai River is in line with the principle of defending the Huai River as well as the Yangtze River.
Of course, there is no such statement at this time.
The reason why Xuzhou is a key point now is that during the reign of Emperor Xiaoming, Wang Jing was responsible for repairing the Yellow River. After restricting the southward invasion of the Yellow River, he built a dam on the Bian River, allowing the Bian River and the Si River to safely meet in the territory of Xuzhou, thus forming its important position as the "key to the north" and the "important town in the south".
Simply put, if Sun Ce and his men could help Zhang Yi gain a foothold in Xuzhou, which is located south of the Huai River, this would be of unparalleled value to the army in the direction of Yangzhou to move north to attack the Central Plains.
Since Yangzhou was not so kind as to give an unemployed old official like him a chance to return to work, but was doing it for their own interests, then this cooperation appears to be much more real and reliable.
The same logic applies to asking him to go talk to Mi Zhu.
As Xuzhou's most wealthy man, Mi Zhu had trade relations with all over the world, especially with the imperial court in Chang'an. He also had a very friendly relationship with the local government. He was also a local tyrant in Xuzhou and kept a group of talented retainers.
If he could be allowed to stand on Zhang Yi's side, it would be of great benefit to Zhang Yi's development here.
In addition, this is also beneficial to Yangzhou.
Sun Ce's foundation in Yangzhou was still too shallow. If he wanted to expand his military forces, he had to look to the faces of the Yangzhou families, especially those in Wujun, who often held him back because of his young age.
Under such circumstances, using financial resources to open the door to conscription became a way out for Yangzhou.
Mi Zhu's good relationship with the Chang'an court did not affect his status as a native of Xuzhou. He had to find corresponding support in Xuzhou to ensure his foundation here.
If he looked down on Tao Qian, was it possible for him to become an assistant to Sun Ce?
Even if they did not give all their support to Sun Ce, as long as they could let Mi Zhu gain greater benefits from the changes in Xuzhou and let him give something back, it would be a sure-win exchange of interests for Yangzhou.
Zhou Yu did not expect that Mi Zhu, although a native of Xuzhou, had already abandoned regional differences and officially placed his chips on Qiao Yan.
Just like, he did not expect that Mi Zhu would appear in Sheyang where Zhang Yi was, not to avoid Zuo Rong and watch the current war situation, but because of the arrangement made by Qiao Lan.
After all, he was still quite young, and faced with such a lucrative bait for Yangzhou, so after he used his reason to choose to cooperate with Zhang Yi, he could not help but feel that whether it was Tao Qian's sudden death at the hands of Zuo Rong or Mi Zhu's appearance here as an important force, it was actually a manifestation of his good luck after he took the risk to come to Xuzhou in person.
He must successfully instigate Zhang Yi to accomplish this!
Zhang Yi also clearly saw the common interests between them, so after thinking for a moment, he agreed to Zhou Yu's suggestion.
However, how to convince Mi Zhu to work for them is undoubtedly a big problem.
The Mi family's base is centered in Donghai County. From fishing ports in the East China Sea to mineral resources, they own a lot.
Although because the capital of Xuzhou is also in the East China Sea, Mi Zhu must develop under Tao Qian's nose and will be subject to some restrictions, but these restrictions are really very limited.
Why did he insist on supporting Zhang Yi, the loser who had been driven out of office?
This doesn't make sense logically.
As a businessman and the current leader of the Mi family, Mi Zhu is much better than most people at weighing interests.
This question was also asked by Zhang Yi to Zhou Yu before they came to him.
Zhou Yu replied: "Give him some of the power over Yandu."
Zhang Yi almost jumped up in shock when he heard Zhou Yu's response.
Where is Yandu?
As a county under the jurisdiction of Guangling County, this place is rich in sea salt. Due to the demand for iron officials in salt production, in the fourth year of Yuanshou, when Emperor Xiaowu established iron officials in the Han Dynasty, Yandu was among them.
It is one of the less than fifty iron offices in the country.
Therefore, this is also the salt and iron center of Guangling!
Giving this place to Mi Zhu was equivalent to giving part of the government's power to merchants.
But when Zhang Yi calmed down and thought about it, he felt that what Zhou Yu said made sense.
For a businessman who has developed his family fortune to this point, only those rights that were originally out of his reach have a more direct appeal to him.
Zhang Yi sighed, "It is said that you can only gain something if you sacrifice something, but when people hear about this sacrifice, they still hesitate. But think about it again, if you are not willing to make this sacrifice, then what else can you talk about?"
Zhou Yu replied, "Grandmaster Zhang sees it clearly."
Zhang Yi agreed to do so, saving Zhou Yu a lot of trouble.
Letting Mi Zhu occupy part of the salt and iron share of Yandu was just a matter of words for him, but for Zhang Yi it was a real loss. Even if he succeeded in taking the position, this concession would weaken his authority as the governor of the state.
This is exactly what Zhou Yu wanted to see.
As for whether letting Mi Zhu occupy Yandu and transfer the family businesses here will have any impact on the interests of Yangzhou, at least it is not visible at the moment.
There is one interesting thing though.
In the first year of Xiping reign of Emperor Ling, Sun Ce's father, Sun Jian, was appointed as the Chancellor of Yandu for his meritorious service in suppressing the rebellion in Xuchang, Kuaiji. During the more than four years he governed here, he left a deep-rooted influence here. Sun Ce was also born here.
If this place could be connected with the territory of Yangzhou, it would also be a good story.
Zhang Yi didn't know that Zhou Yu had made such a thought at this time, and just replied: "This is not clear at all. I used to think highly of myself, but now I look at things from a normal perspective."
He stood up and said, "I'm going to visit Mi Zizhong. This should be done as soon as possible."
In order to seize the advantage in the northward offensive, Zuo Rong would try to advance as fast as possible no matter how much the water network in the south slowed him down.
If he really controlled public opinion and won a victory first, recruiting too many people, then even if they could use Zhang Yi's remaining influence in Guangling to recruit soldiers and launch an attack from behind with the assistance of Yangzhou, the threat they could pose to Zuo Rong would be limited.
There is no guarantee that Zuo Rong will not turn around and swallow it up first.
Zhou Yu was very satisfied with Zhang Yi's efficiency. He said, "Okay, I'll go with you."
Although this exposed his presence in Xuzhou, for the purpose of establishing a connection with the Mi family of Donghai, this exposure was not a problem at the moment.
When dealing with a smart person like Mi Zhu, there is no need to play any hidden tricks.
It would be better to lay everything out in front of him to show their sincerity.
At the same time, Zhou Yu's intervention was undoubtedly also telling Mi Zhu that even if Zhang Yi would become the nominal governor of Xuzhou later, Jiangdong would still be the one that truly held the dominant power, so he should not misunderstand this point.
Perhaps it was because of this honesty, or perhaps it was because giving merchants some salt and iron power was also attractive to the Mi family of Donghai, during Zhang Yi's visit, although Mi Zhu did not directly give a positive response, he also showed some interest.
Before leaving, Zhou Yu said, "Mr. Zi Zhong may not have much time to hesitate."
This is by no means an alarmist statement.
The speed with which Zuo Rong launched his attack to the north far exceeded what the scholars in Xuzhou could have imagined.
There was indeed no reasonable explanation given for Tao Qian's death at the first time, and even Tao Qian's two sons did not stand up in time to support the situation, so that the blame he put on Chen Gui and Chen Deng was actually regarded as a fact by some people in Xuzhou.
Many people from Xuzhou who had received Tao Qian's favor surrendered to him, and among them were Zu Lang and Yan Baihu's former subordinates. So when Zuo Rong's advance troops crossed the Huai River and fought against the defenders of Donghai County, they actually gained the upper hand.
Zhao Yu hurriedly headed north to Langya County in Xuzhou to look for Zang Ba and others to send troops.
Wang Lang led his troops south, intending to remove the thorn that prevented Zuo Rong from crossing the river.
This rapidly erupting confrontation has made it clear that Xuzhou had the drawbacks of separating civil and military officials.
If the camp north of the Huai River cannot obtain sufficient military support as soon as possible, it will inevitably be defeated by the unreasonable religious group like Zuo Rong.
Mi Zhu might have said that he could still choose to return to Donghai County at this time and use the power of the Donghai Mi family to support the Huaibei camp.
Because this is a real timely help, and perhaps it can also gain him a lot of benefits.
But according to Zhou Yu, even if Mi Zhu did this, who would be the governor of Xuzhou in the end? Under his command, could Mi Zhu's status surpass that of Chen Deng, Lu Su and others?
If not, why didn't he choose Zhang Yi who was even more in need of people?
Anyway, this is also a timely help.
However, what Zhou Yu probably did not expect was that the situation in Huaibei at this time was even more complicated than he thought.
While Zhao Yu went north, Wang Lang went south, Lu Su was stationed in Tan County, and Chen Gui returned to garrison Xia Pi, because Tao Shang and Tao Ying were still unwilling to take up the position of Xuzhou Mu, Chen Deng persuaded the others and headed straight west with a group of followers.
He traveled day and night just to go to Pei State and ask Liu Bei to lead his troops to Xuzhou and take over the position of Mu of Xuzhou!
They had no room for hesitation.
Even if a governor of Xuzhou was invited from outside, it would definitely be much better than allowing Zuo Rong to occupy the entire territory of Xuzhou and bring about a devastating disaster to the Xuzhou gentry!
"Liu Bei is lucky." Due to the changes in the situation caused by the conflicting forces in Xuzhou, Qiao Yan received quite a few letters from Xuzhou in the past two days.
Even though Qiao Lan and Qiao Ting were both in Xuzhou, their intelligence was still summarized separately in order to reduce the time spent crossing the Huai River.
If Qiao Yan had not asked the messenger to bring some more carrier pigeons raised in Guanzhong to Xuzhou when he issued instructions to Xuzhou last time, the company would probably be running out of carrier pigeons now.
The piece of news she held in her hand at the moment was that Chen Deng was heading towards Yuzhou.
Considering that in history it was also Chen Deng who strongly advocated and supported Liu Bei to become the governor of Xuzhou, there is no need to say more about what he is going to do now.
There is no doubt as to whether Liu Bei would agree to enter Xuzhou.
He might refuse to enter Xuzhou for reasons of seniority and etiquette, and take advantage of others' misfortune to ascend to the position of Xuzhou governor, but he would not reject Chen Deng's suggestion because of this fact.
Allowing someone like Zuo Rong to dominate Xuzhou would be almost a fatal disaster for most of the people in Xuzhou.
Whether people say that Chen Deng was being morally blackmailed or that Liu Bei's luck had come, he had to go to Xuzhou whether he wanted to or not.
Yuan Shao might be dissatisfied with Liu Bei's withdrawal from Yuzhou, but he was more afraid that even Xuzhou would no longer be named after the court of Yecheng, so he would definitely ask Liu Bian to issue an edict to appoint Liu Bei as the governor or governor of Xuzhou.
But how could Qiao Yan let him be so relaxed?
In terms of morality, she had no objection to Liu Bei, and even had some respect for him, but in terms of stance, since they were enemies, she couldn't be blamed for doing something to cause trouble for others.
Rather than letting Liu Bei occupy Xuzhou and fight against Yangzhou to weaken each other's strength, Qiao Yan would rather see the various forces in the south in a fragmented state.
Sun Ce had not yet completely occupied Yangzhou, and Huang Zu, the prefect of Yuzhang County in Yangzhou, was still in vengeance against him for having murdered his father.
Xuzhou can't be too complete.
The situation of dividing the Huai River and governing it separately, which was promoted by Qiao Lan and Qiao Ting, is the most beneficial to Qiao Yan.
In this way, there will be at least four forces within the territories of Yangzhou and Xuzhou.
Qiao Yan picked up the message sent by Mi Zhu again. In the letter, he mentioned the attempts by Zhou Yu and Zhang Yi to win him over and asked whether he should agree.
"Yandu..." Qiao Yan looked at the map of Xuzhou counties in front of him and swept his eyes over the names of the coastal counties in Guangling County. "Even if they don't mention Yandu, I plan to let Mi Zhu take control of it. It would be better if they could save some time talking about it now."
But in fact, Yandu was not the port that Qiao Yan required the Qiao sisters to take in the task assigned to them.
This port, which needs to play the role of sea shipping's advancement, being in Mi Zhu's hands is not the same as being directly in her hands.
Considering the importance of the salt and iron business to Xuzhou itself, Qiao Yan felt that even if this port would give up some of its power, or interests, to Mi Zhu, the number of garrisons would definitely not be small.
This makes it inappropriate for some relatively secret matters to be carried out here.
So she needs to choose another place.
Coincidentally, she really has the opportunity to choose this.
"If Liu Bei brought the order from the Yecheng court into Xuzhou, no, even if Liu Bei didn't do this, Zhou Gongjin would have to persuade Zhang Zitai to send an envoy to Chang'an to ask for a title to officially take over Xuzhou and fight against Zuo Rong. Yi Fengxiao thinks, what if I say I want to station troops in Hailing in exchange for the Chang'an court giving me this position?"
Station troops in Hailing!
Hailing is located north of the Yangtze River and in the south of Guangling County, where the Yangtze River flows into the sea.
This garrison application...
Guo Jia replied: "If I were Zhou Yu, my first reaction at this moment would definitely be that you want to use this garrison application to threaten Yangzhou."
"Doesn't he need to be warned?" Qiao Yan asked back.
Don’t say that Zhou Yu came to Xuzhou to investigate Zu Lang’s movements. He even interfered with the position of governor in Xuzhou. We can’t allow him to act presumptuously just because he had a deal with Chang’an.
It was reasonable for Qiao Yan to warn him.
Guo Jia said: "Of course, but Yuan Shao may have a different understanding of this matter. This means that the prince has given the most direct support to Zhang Yi. Although he has not directly intervened in the battle for the Huai River, it is also a manifestation of support."
Qiao Yan smiled and said, "But these two things are not what we need to achieve most at the moment."
Her real intention of needing a port has been revealed in the composition assignment given to the students of Leping Academy.
In order to further weaken this second goal, she will also let Qiao Lan and Qiao Ting strengthen public opinion for the first two goals in Xuzhou.
In short, now she is not only behind the scenes, but also in the most advantageous position between advancing and retreating.
Guo Jia bowed to Qiao Yan and expressed his deep admiration for her ability to release Qiao Lan and Qiao Ting and achieve her goal with such a skillful means. "Your Excellency, you only need to first inform Mi Zhu to agree to Zhang Yi, and then wait for Zhang Yi's envoy to arrive in Chang'an, that's enough."
“Maybe…” Guo Jia thought about the old grudge between Qiao Yan and Zhang Yi, and added, “Maybe the prince can show a selfless attitude in the court again.”
"Too much filial piety is as bad as too little," Qiao Yan said jokingly.
This is purely a byproduct of this incident. Whether or not to use this incident to deepen other people's impression of her is completely optional.
Rather than thinking about this matter, Qiao Yan would rather do two other things.
"Now, send two messages to Bingzhou."
"First, order the General Zhengdong to make a move to mobilize troops at the Taihang Mountain Pass."
She knew that she had no plans to send troops for the time being, but Yuan Shao didn't know that!
Last year, troops were dispatched to Guanzhong before the autumn harvest. This year, with sufficient troops and food, it is not impossible to directly attack Jizhou.
In short, since Qu Yi made the move to send troops, Yuan Shao had to focus more on defending the Taihang Mountains and had no chance to personally intervene in the battle in Xuzhou.
This not only provided another help for Liu Bei to enter Xuzhou, but also reduced some of the pressure on Zhang Yi's opponents.
Or perhaps, this is also interfering with the mental state of the Yecheng court?
She continued, "Second, tell the two people in Shangjun everything my two nieces did in Xuzhou."
Qiao Lan dug Zhang Yi out of the chaos in Xuzhou, and brought Mi Zhu to Zhang Yi and Zhou Yu at the right time. Qiao Ting came up with the idea of using Kongming lanterns to build momentum for Zuo Rong, and created public opinion in Guangling County for the idea of personally worshiping Buddha, which contributed to Tao Qian's death. In Qiao Yan's view, these were all remarkable performances, and it was difficult to tell which one was better.
But if she remembered correctly, there was a duel between Li Ru and Jia Xu with their apprentices, right?
"Let the two of them decide the winner. The loser will come to Chang'an. If they can't convince each other and come to a conclusion, then they can come together."
Qiao Yan paused for a moment, "Wait, I forgot... I told Mr. Wenhe before that he should come to Chang'an after the autumn harvest. So no matter if he wins or loses, he has to come."
The autumn harvest is approaching, and the affairs of Chang'an need to be divided and promoted in detail.
These two people have hands, feet and brains, so why should they continue to rest in Shangjun?
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