Chapter 740 Meat Grinder
Lu Songli only stayed in Qingzhou for five days and left on the sixth day.
Before leaving, she received a secret message saying that the plan had been successfully implemented.
Qin Sheng protected her all the way.
Before boarding the ship to leave, she took a last look at the sky of Qingzhou and silently said in her heart, "Kindness cannot command an army, and goodness cannot educate the people."
The three states of Qing, Yan and Xu were destined to become her meat grinder to deal with Dali and Xianbei.
The creation of Qingzhou District was a natural consequence of Dali and Xianbei's initial moves, and it was also something she intended to do.
Because gamblers are inhumane, just like the slogan she had written above the casino: Cherish life, stay away from gambling. How many people turn a blind eye to this?
When people lose their minds in gambling, many of them will drag their friends and relatives into the game just for that little bit of money.
Therefore, when it came to taking care of these gamblers, Lu Songli showed no mercy.
This land needs to be unified. It's said that a triangle is one of the most stable structures. While this three-legged tripod seems stable, as long as this land isn't unified, war could break out at any moment.
The total population of the Han people is now about 16 million, and they can no longer withstand the massive consumption of war.
Therefore, next, we should use economic warfare if possible, and resolve the issue diplomatically if possible. At the same time, we should infiltrate the enemy and buy them off if possible, and not start a war easily.
Qingzhou District is the battlefield where she fights the economic war. For the people of Dali, being temporarily harvested is not so difficult to accept compared to losing their lives in the war.
The boat started to move slowly, and the cool sea breeze blew on Lu Songli's face.
At this time, a young man in military uniform came over and said, "Second Aunt, Second Uncle, the room on the boat is ready. Do you need to rest now?"
Fifteen-year-old Xu Rong showed his white teeth and greeted Lu Songli and Qin Sheng with a smile.
Xu Rong is the child of her eldest brother-in-law's family, the Xu family. The boy back then has grown into a tall and thin teenager. Now wearing a military uniform, he looks like a young poplar.
The younger generation of the Xu family has more boys than girls, and because the old lady of the Xu family has a feminine appearance, the grandsons are all tall and strong, so the grown-up boys have successively joined the army for training.
On the Qin family's side, among the third generation, Qin Han, Qin Jia and others have gradually grown up. Now they have all left the academy and have either joined the army or entered the various departments in Pingzhou for training.
Qin Jia was quite talented in mathematics, and Lu Xiao was also very smart, so Lu Songli brought Lu Xiao and Qin Jia with her.
Qin Sheng lowered his head and asked her, "Lili, the wind is strong, let's go back to the cabin?"
Lu Songli nodded. She looked at the half-grown boy in front of her and warned him, "It's windy on the boat, remember to put on more clothes."
Xu Rong patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, Second Aunt, I'm in good health. I'm dressed warmly, so I'm not cold at all."
Lu Songli nodded and said nothing more, then let Qin Sheng protect her as she walked towards the cabin.
In the south, in the main tent of the Southern Expedition Army
Xie Zhan and Fan Yang sat opposite each other, with a letter in front of them. The letter mainly contained news about the Qing, Yan and Xu free trade zones, with the focus naturally being on the opening of the Qingzhou zone.
Fan Yang thought to himself that the head of the family was right. The reason why Dali and Xianbei were able to make rapid progress in the free trade zone was because Pingzhou had not yet taken action.
"Qingzhou District's gambling methods alone are so novel. As expected of Lu Songli, it's okay to be unconventional."
Xie Zhan nodded, but did not feel any appreciation for the confirmation of his previous guess.
Seeing Xie Zhan's serious expression, Fan Yang comforted him, "Master, there's no need to worry too much."
Faced with this situation, Dali and Xianbei had no choice but to follow suit. If they didn't, Yanzhou and Xuzhou would be ruined.
"Wang Yun is the heir carefully cultivated by the Wang family of Langya. He must know how to do it."
"There's no point in following." Xie Zhan was not optimistic about Wang Yun's response.
He had imitated Pingzhou's products many times before, but every time he thought he had caught up, it was either a trap or Pingzhou had upgraded its products and left his hard-earned products far behind.
Xie Zhan didn't know that Pingzhou's move fully demonstrated the meaning of "what others don't have, I have; what others have, I am better than; what others are good at, I am specialized; what others are specialized, I can turn around."
Fan Yang was puzzled, "How could it be useless?"
With so many people in the Sanzhou Free Trade Zone, it would be difficult for Qingzhou District to swallow them all, right? After catching up, at worst, Qingzhou District would eat the meat, while Yanzhou District and Xuzhou District would just drink the soup.
Xie Zhan shook his head, "You don't understand. If Lu Songli dares to bring it out, he's not afraid of others following suit."
Lu Songli's methods are by no means singular; she is accustomed to coordinating other measures to implement her plans. She wants to kill two birds with one stone, three birds with one stone...
Now, I just don’t know what she is planning.
Fan Yang was puzzled. "Isn't it just a gambling trick? What else can it be?"
Xie Zhan frowned, "Mr. Fan, you must remember one thing: it's never too much to be on guard against Lu Songli."
Fan Yang: Isn’t that a bit too exaggerated?
At the same time, a battle was taking place in Shajiaba.
Before the Lunar New Year, the Li people harvested sugarcane. After several years of cultivation and breeding, the Li people's sugarcane planting area has reached a large scale, so this harvest is unprecedented.
After the sugarcane is harvested, it is processed into finished products on site instead of being transported directly.
It took two or three months to process all the sugarcane, and the next step was to send the finished products back to Pingzhou.
The southern Li people already had a garrison in Pingzhou.
Pingzhou also dispatched another army to escort this batch of sugar supplies.
"The governor has instructed us that this batch of supplies is very important and must not be lost."
Ever since the former General Wei Kuang of the Southern Expedition Army was captured and General Xie Haoran was killed, the Southern Expedition Army was disbanded. It was not until the arrival of the new general that it was reorganized into an army.
Zhu Dazhuang, who was recently stationed in the South, said, "General Yue, based on my thirty years of experience in butchering pigs, the Southern Expedition Army has been hiding, and I'm afraid they are planning something bad."
Yue Shu nodded and said, "Don't worry, we will be careful."
Halfway through, they discovered an ambush, with the main road being guarded by bandits disguised as members of the Southern Expedition Army.
Upon hearing the news, all the young generals under Yue Shu were excited, "General, fuck him!"
"That's right, kill them! How dare these people disguise themselves as bandits and start trouble? What a joke! Don't they know that we are the best at dealing with bandits?"
Xie Zhan, who is currently stationed in the south, also knows that sugar cane is a good thing. Xie Zhan plans to take advantage of the situation and rob the supplies that the Li people are planning to transport to Pingzhou.
After he arrived in the South, he did not organize the army to fight again, but chose to reorganize the Southern Expedition Army and lie dormant for a while.
Based on the spies' reports and the movements of the Li people, Xie Zhan guessed that this batch of supplies should be delivered to the ship soon.
So, he made some arrangements, and now everything is ready, just waiting for the east wind.
However, Xie Zhan was a little puzzled as he had been waiting for no good news for a long time.
At this moment, the army ambushed at Shaga Dam sent someone back to deliver the message.
Xie Zhan stood up abruptly when he heard the news from the soldier. "You said Pingzhou sent Yue Shu with troops to escort this batch of supplies back to Pingzhou?"
Fan Yang was also surprised to hear this. Did Lü Songli take it so seriously? Sugarcane was indeed a good thing, but after having the protection of the garrison, it was not necessary to send another army to escort it, right?
Xie Zhan sensed something was wrong and said, "Hurry up and pass on my order to reinforce Shajiaba!"
The subordinates took the order and said, "Yes!"
Seeing Xie Zhan's serious expression, Fan Yang couldn't help but ask, "Master, what's wrong?"
"Something is wrong!" Based on his understanding of Lu Songli, this batch of sugarcane must be very important to Pingzhou.
"Indeed." Fan Yang also felt so at this time.
Unfortunately, Xie Zhan realized it too late, and when he wanted to send reinforcements, it was already too late.
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