Chapter 655: War on Dali
In the palace hall
The ministers could see that the emperor was in a good mood.
The ministers from the noble families exchanged glances, and then one stepped out, "Your Majesty, I have received news that our Grand Commander-in-Chief, Lord Xie Zhan, is currently in Zhuozhou."
"I know." Song Mo said lazily, "He went to Zhuozhou to clean up the mess."
The ministers who came from aristocratic families were all shrewd people, and they realized that something was wrong when they heard this.
They originally wanted to report Xie Zhan, but Xie Zhan had dealt with the people who were selling affordable grain in Zhuozhou. Almost everyone in this line was wiped out by him, including several of their people.
But now it was clear that the emperor had long known about Xie Zhan's survival. Even everything Xie Zhan did in Zhuozhou had the emperor's permission.
Several ministers who wanted to stir up trouble recalled that when the emperor dealt with Prince Cheng and Prince Jin, he also did it with Xie Zhan, one openly and one covertly. This pair of emperor and minister had always worked very closely together, and it was unknown why the emperor trusted Xie Zhan so much.
Forget it, they can just consider themselves unlucky this time.
Zhuozhou
Xie Zhan's successive actions have stabilized the recent chaos in Zhuozhou caused by the drop in donkey prices.
Xie Zhan did not try to bid for the donkey from the common people's home, because he knew that if he did, whether it was five or six taels of silver, Pingzhou would buy it.
Jiang Boya finished his work and said with a hint of worry, "Grand Commander, now that Zhuozhou has been stabilized thanks to your comfort, I wonder what Pingzhou will do next?"
Pingzhou had set up such a grand scheme, almost thinking Zhuozhou was in their pocket, right? How could they allow Zhuozhou to be lost?
Kong Tan said nonchalantly, "Pingzhou's moves are old, what else can they do?"
Xie Zhan didn't say anything, but he had a deeper worry. He thought of a possibility...
He thought to himself, Lu Songli, you'd better not move. If you move, you'll be in a situation where the mantis stalks the cicada, while the oriole waits behind.
Yanmen
The Xianbei royal court also noticed the chaos in Zhuozhou caused by the falling donkey prices.
They watched silently without making any unnecessary movements, for fear of disturbing the two groups who were fighting to the death.
Fight, fight!
As long as Dali and Pingzhou fight to the death, the Xianbei will have a chance.
In addition, the Xianbei also had ideas about the donkeys in Zhuozhou, and they were envious of them.
The donkeys in Zhuozhou are really cheap.
They have money and want to buy it.
Unfortunately, the people of Zhuozhou seem to be afraid of hunger and are now only willing to exchange grain for donkeys.
You could buy it with silver before, but not anymore.
Juyang, evening
"Let's go, our mission is completed." It's time for the next wave of people to come on stage.
Taking advantage of the twilight, Ji Wuyin, Wu Ren, Gu Huaisheng and their group slowly retreated.
Pingzhou, Changli
Lu Songli and Lu Desheng were discussing the school arrangements for children including Lu Xiao, Qin Han and Qin Jia in the side hall.
The subordinate came to report, "Governor, Xie Zhan is indeed not dead, and he is currently in Zhuozhou to stabilize the situation."
Lu Songli said "oh", not surprised.
"But Zhao Minglou and Zhao Song are both dead."
Hearing this, Lu Desheng shook his head. Zhao Minglou had been struggling to hold on, thinking that he could wait for a glimmer of hope, but he didn't expect that what he waited for was the death of the King of Hell.
The subordinates also reported on the various measures Xie Zhan had taken after arriving in Zhuozhou.
Xie Zhan promised to exempt the people of Zhuozhou from taxes for three years?
Lu Desheng curled his lips. "Shameless! Does he think Zhuozhou will still belong to Dali in the future? How dare he bring up Zhuozhou's taxes for the next three years?"
Lu Songli raised an eyebrow and smiled, "He's used to using this trick of getting something for nothing."
In addition, he directly converted the low-priced grain into disaster relief grain and distributed it to the people of Zhuozhou for free.
Xie Zhan is not at a loss.
What about the proceeds from the previously sold grain at fair prices? And what about the proceeds from the punishment of those corrupt officials? Xie Zhan didn't distribute any of this to the people of Zhuozhou.
Xie Zhan had these spoils sent to Song Mo. These spoils were enough to offset the loss of the grain that was converted from affordable grain to disaster relief grain, which was one of the reasons why Song Mo allowed him to do what he wanted.
As the father and daughter were talking, the guard came to report, "Governor, Lord Xue, Military Advisor Guo and others have arrived at the meeting room."
"Okay." Lu Songli then said to Lu Desheng, "Dad, you can come with us."
"OK."
So, Lu Songli and Lu Desheng moved to the conference room.
The people present looked at each other and found that everyone had come in good order, both civil and military officials.
Xue Xu and Guo Chong looked straight ahead, while Dong Jichuan looked here and there, as if he had realized something, and a smile flashed in his eyes.
"Governor, what happened?"
Lu Songli told the story about the breach of contract by Qingzhou Anhe Pharmacy and other parties.
"…First, Zhao Minglou of Zhuozhou colluded with Lu Xiujie and others to raise the price and break the contract. Then, Anhe Pharmacy of Leling County in Qingzhou and others used excuses to not fulfill the contract. Leling County Magistrate Yao Guangsheng and other officials listened to their side of the story and protected them."
"I summoned you here to tell you an important decision."
Xue Xu, Guo Chong, Dong Jichuan, Qin Heng, Le Guicai and others all held their breath and waited.
Lu Songli looked forward, "This governor has decided to declare war on Dali!"
As he spoke, Lu Songli stood up, resting his hands on the table, leaning forward slightly. "We in Pingzhou cannot let such a thing go on. If I cannot even speak for the people of Pingzhou in terms of justice, I'm afraid that other people in Dali will follow my example. How can the people of Pingzhou navigate Dali? I'm afraid even a small official or merchant could bully and humiliate them!"
The generals and officials below looked at each other and saw eagerness in each other's eyes.
Xue Xu immediately expressed his opinion: "The governor is absolutely right. This can only happen once, not twice. Dali is really going too far!"
Guo Chong followed closely behind, "The governor is right, this battle must be fought! Otherwise, Pingzhou's prestige will not leave Pingzhou."
Dong Jichuan was not willing to be outdone. "Since we are doing business honestly and they don't like it, then we will beat them until they submit."
Lu Songli nodded. As I said before, rules are meant to protect the weak. Some weak people, believing themselves to be strong, willfully break the rules and cross the moral barrier for the slightest benefit.
Little did they know that at this time, they had already voluntarily left the protected area of the rules and became the prey of the strong.
Qin Heng stepped out and said, "Governor, I suggest that we deploy our troops in three directions. In addition, we must be on guard against the Xianbei."
Everyone present was very emotional. Since the uprising, Pingzhou had always been in a passive position when fighting with Dali.
Now, they finally took the initiative!
From this moment on, their offense and defense in Pingzhou and Dali changed.
Lu Desheng standing by thought that his daughter had a dark heart. If he didn't know that all of this was planned by his daughter, he would have almost believed that everyone in Pingzhou was innocent.
Also, these people are a bunch of drama queens.
When Gu Huaisheng first proposed the strategy of buying deer to defeat Chu in his plan for Zhuozhou, Lu Songli perfected the plan and added patches such as the bullwhip effect and long-term knock-on.
Long-term trading was originally designed for Pingzhou to control and transfer risks.
When the imperial court realized that Pingzhou had taken action against Zhuozhou, it did not take any action.
So, these two contracts have another use.
Under Pingzhou's control, it became a win-win situation.
However, the second parties such as Zhuozhou and Qingzhou were too greedy and were unwilling to let Pingzhou make money.
Okay then, let’s change the track in Pingzhou.
Under Pingzhou's intentional or unintentional guidance, all the other parties that traded with him breached the contract.
Pingzhou now has a legitimate reason to declare war.
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