The Warriors of the Three Kingdoms

Even if Yuan Shao has already wooed the Karasuma people, it does not mean that those Karasuma people will give Yuan Shao war horses unconditionally. The Karasuma people also know that things like war horses are strategic materials, and they can be given in small quantities, but in large quantities. Yuan Shao, they are also afraid that they will not be able to contain Yuan Shao's rise.

So when Yuan Shao spoke to them, at most he gave Yuan Shao two or three thousand horses each time.

Yuan Shao himself did not have any cavalry, and all his cavalry were Karasuma cavalry.

I don't really need any war horses, but now Liu Zheng asks for tens of thousands of war horses, which can also cause Yuan Shao a headache.

"Is it high? It's not high at all. If it was that time last year, of course I could sell it to you at the same price as I sold it to Su Boyan, but it's different now. Now we don't have any food for ourselves. Save 20 shi of food and grass for you, this is 20 shi, not [-]."

"If you only want [-], you can also exchange it with [-] war horses."

Liu Zheng rejected Guo Tu's possibility of lowering the price without hesitation.

Guo Tu smashed his mouth and wanted to say something, but when he saw Liu Zheng like this, he knew it was useless to say anything. Since Liu Zheng made up his mind to speak loudly, he knew it wouldn't make sense.

"If that's the case, then I have no choice but to agree to my lord first, but whether this business can be done in the end depends on my lord's wishes."

Guo Tu didn't directly agree. Anyway, he wasn't the one who made the decision. He was just an envoy. Whether he could succeed in the end still depended on Yuan Shao's will.

"No problem. It just so happens that this boat will soon go to Youzhou to sell other goods. I asked people to load two boats of grain first. In the past, if you are willing to trade, you can accept the grain first, and then take me with you." When the needed war horses come back, we will transport 20 shi of grain and grass in three months."

"After all, it's 20 shi of grain and grass. The quantity is too much, and it's more troublesome to transport."

Although Liu Zheng's current caravan has grown, it is still impossible to transport 20 shi of grain and grass at one time.

Even if it was possible, Liu Zheng would not be so stupid as to transport the food and grass over there for the first time. In case Yuan Shao swallowed his food and grass, patted his ass and left, and Mao didn't give it to him, Liu Zheng could still fall. Soldiers killed in the past?

After Guo Tu understood that there was nothing to talk about, he didn't talk to Liu Zheng, and after a simple farewell, he went down.

A few days later, Guo Tu followed the merchant ship going north to Youzhou.

It only took half a month to go back and forth, and Liu Zheng transported [-] shi of grain and grass there for the first time when he went north. Yuan Shao would definitely buy the grain and grass to solve his urgent needs.

As for the follow-up food and grass, whether they want it or not depends on Yuan Shao's own opinion.

188, end of June.

Guo Tu, who had been away for a month, returned to Jizhou.

At this time, Yuan Shao was worrying about food and grass. The cavalry he had sent out to fight the autumn wind had gone south to sweep the villages and towns under Lu Zhi's men these days, but they found nothing.

The continuous looting for a month has made Lu Zhi's men smarter. They moved all the people from the villages outside the town to the city. Without the town, Yuan Shao's men would naturally not be able to rob food and grass. .

In this way, the food and grass crisis became more and more serious for Yuan Shao.

It just so happened that Guo Tu, who had gone south to look for Liu Zheng, came back at this time, which immediately excited Yuan Shao and hurriedly summoned Guo Tu.

At this time, in the palace hall of Jizhou.

Although it is the palace hall, it is actually just picking up a palace that Wang Fen left before. This palace was built when Wang Fen threatened the young emperor.

But it can be regarded as saving Yuan Shao's effort, and there is a ready-made palace that can be used.

Guo Tu soon came to the hall, and first saluted Liu Yu hypocritically. After all, Guo Tu also knew that Liu Yu was just a puppet emperor and didn't have much power.

The power was in Yuan Shao's hands, and after meeting Liu Yu with a salute, Guo Tu looked at Yuan Shao.

"Guo Tu, tell me quickly, how did you go to Yangzhou this time?"

Yuan Shao is also eager to know the result.

Guo Tu smiled obsequiously, and first told Yuan Shao a piece of good news.

"My lord, then Liu Zheng is willing to trade with us and give us 20 shi of grain!"

"Okay! Hahaha, then Liu Zheng really has so much food and grass. God has helped me. With this 20 shi of grain, our food crisis can be alleviated."

As soon as Yuan Shao heard Guo Tu's words, he called out a good word before he could speak.

Seeing this, Ju Shou on the side frowned. He knew that things must not be that simple.

"My lord, Guo Tu hasn't finished talking yet, let him continue."

"Guo Tu, tell me, does Liu Zheng have any additional conditions?"

There was a smug look on Guo Tu's face, this was his little trick, to say the good news first, and then when the bad news came, Yuan Shao would automatically ignore the good news, so he would only remember how bad Liu Zheng was.

"My lord, this time I went south, I really suffered a lot of humiliation. Then Liu Zheng doesn't think much of us."

Guo Tu immediately changed his face, almost crying.

Chapter 535

Guo Tu put on a sad face, and began to describe his trip to Yangzhou this time to add fuel to Yuan Shao.

Talk about how Liu Zheng neglected him, didn't meet him for several days, and then asked for a lot of money, saying that 20 stones of grain and grass would be exchanged for [-] horses, otherwise there would be no discussion.

He also said that Liu Zheng rejected his reward, and did not mention Liu Zheng's promise to the alliance to fight against the court together.

Originally, this incident was experienced by Guo Tu himself, but he added more embellishments, but he interpreted it very realistically, which made Yuan Shao, a small-minded person, explode on the spot.

Snapped!

Yuan Shao slapped one hand on the pillar beside him abruptly, and a soft sound echoed in the hall. The civil and military officials in the hall immediately lowered their heads, not daring to speak.Everyone knew that Yuan Shao was angry.

"It's unreasonable! It's unreasonable! Kid Liu Zheng, you're too deceitful!"

Yuan Shao originally looked down on Liu Zheng. After all, Liu Zheng's identity and his Yuan Shao's identity are thousands of miles away. A small half of the world ah.

After all, he is also a nobleman among the nobles, but what is Liu Zheng?A person from the remnant Yellow Turban Party is already lucky to occupy Jiaozhou and Yangzhou. Yuan Shao can put Liu Zheng on the same level as himself, which is already giving Liu Zheng a lot of face.

Now that Liu Zheng looks down on him so much, Yuan Shao is very annoyed.

If he hadn't been fighting Lu Zhi himself, Yuan Shao, who was so humiliated by Liu Zheng, couldn't help but lead his troops and go straight to Yangzhou to ask Liu Zheng for an explanation.

He and Liu Zheng had met once. When Liu Zheng led his troops to Luoyang, Yuan Shao was a frequent visitor to the General's Mansion and was in charge of the defense of Luoyang's capital.

At that time, Yuan Shao and Liu Zheng had some unhappiness, but Yuan Shao didn't take it seriously. After all, in Yuan Shao's eyes, Liu Zheng at that time was just a street mouse, and he didn't take Liu Zheng seriously at all.

Although Liu Zheng's strength became stronger and stronger later, Yuan Shao never faced up to Liu Zheng and his group.

Until now, after Liu Zheng was sitting in Yangzhou and possessed food and grass that Yuan Shao did not have, Yuan Shao remembered that there was such a number one person as Liu Zheng. Originally, Yuan Shao thought that he would use his name as a great general to reward Liu Zheng. It could only be kneeling and licking, but it never occurred to Liu Zheng to ignore him at all.

He also humiliated his envoy, how could Yuan Shao swallow this tone.

However, while Yuan Shao was furious, there were still a few smart people in this hall.

Tian Feng and Ju Shou are one of them.

Jushou was the first to stand up against Guo Tu's opinion.

Seeing Yuan Shao's angry look, he hurriedly spoke to dissuade Yuan Shao.

"My lord, what Guo Tu said is strange."

Because of Jushou's talent, Yuan Shao still has a lot of trust in his heart, at least the current Yuan Shao trusts Jushou very much.

As soon as Yuan Shao heard Jushou speak, his angry look was also suppressed a bit, and after calming himself down, he looked at Jushou.

"Gong and Ju give Biaozi, what do you mean by these words?"

Yuan Shao looked at Jushou, frowned and asked.

"My lord, what Guo Tu said is contradictory. If Liu Zheng refused to accept our reward and humiliated the lord, why would he make a deal with the lord and sell us food?"

Jushou hit the nail on the head and directly talked about the pain point.

As soon as this sentence was said, everyone present was shocked, and they all nodded in agreement.

"That's right, isn't it self-contradictory for Liu Zheng to do this and sell us food?"

Guo Tu was also shocked, and secretly scolded himself that even a lie would not be perfect, so he hurriedly came out to explain.

"My lord, then Liu Zheng sold us grain, but the price was twice as high as usual. Isn't this humiliating us!"

What Guo Tu said made sense. After all, the high-priced lions opened their mouths, and Liu Zheng was not at a loss. He didn't want to talk about business with sincerity.

But Jushou immediately asked again.

"At this time, there is famine everywhere, and everyone is short of food. Let alone double the price, even if it is three times or four times the price, we will pay for it. If Liu Zheng can sell us food, we owe him a How can it be regarded as a humiliation if you have a favor, is it true that it is good for him to give it to us?"

"As far as I know, Liu Zheng should have sent a caravan to come with us this time. The accompanying fleet seems to have brought a lot of food. If Liu Zheng didn't have the sincerity to do business with us, how could he send us food first? Where is the food delivered?"

Thinking about it carefully, Yuan Shao’s food shortage is almost at its limit, and food cannot be obtained in other places. Although the first two months were when the people harvested the crops, Yuan Shao’s Sending troops and horses out to sweep up and grab some food.

But now, the people have been moved to the city by Lu Zhi, so Yuan Shao sent troops to grab them and returned empty-handed. If they couldn't get food, they might have to kill horses to serve as army food.

If this is the case, it is better to sell the war horse to Liu Zheng, at least Liu Zheng is the only one who can deliver food to them at this time.

Although the asking price is high, at this stage, food and grass are priceless.

"After Gongyu said that, Liu Zheng really doesn't seem to be that annoying anymore. At least the food he sent us is enough for us to alleviate the food shortage and get the crisis."

After Yuan Shao figured it out, he didn't seem to be so angry anymore, but what Guo Tu said, that Liu Zheng underestimated him, he still kept in mind, after all, he himself didn't have a good impression of Liu Zheng.

With the food transported by Liu Zhengxian as a temptation, even if Yuan Shao had any complaints against Liu Zheng, for the sake of food and grass, he could only admit it for the time being, and then agreed to Liu Zheng's proposal to use the war horse to buy food with him.

The [-] stones of grain and grass that were delivered first greatly relieved Yuan Shao's pressure. At the same time, the envoy sent over was naturally Yuan Zhou. On behalf of Liu Zheng, Yuan Zhou and Yuan Shao agreed to form an alliance to deal with the court.

In Yuan Shao's place, Yuan Zhou was treated courteously. After all, they belonged to the Yuan family in Runan. Regardless of Liu Zheng's face, but Yuan Zhou's ancestor Yuan Jing's face, Yuan Shao had to call him uncle.

The horse that Yuan Shao promised was also in full swing.

Just when Liu Zheng and Yuan Shao were forming an alliance and negotiating business transactions, Ding Yuan of Bingzhou finally finished his army and began to lead the [-] troops of Bingzhou to gradually go south to Nanjun.

Chapter 536 It's All About You

At the beginning of December, Liu Zheng's spies also received information from Bingzhou.

Although at the end of September, the imperial court had already sent people to send news to Bingzhou, asking Ding Yuan to lead the army and go south to Nanjun to support Liu Biao.

But it's not that Ding Yuan wants to leave, so he can leave directly. This Bingzhou needs to defend against the attacks of the Hu people, especially when winter is approaching. The Hu people, like the Xianbei Karasuma people, will be dishonest in winter, and the market will come to Yanmenguan and other places. , Harassing the people of the big man.

Ding Yuan needs to send troops to various places to defend against the attacks of the Hu people. After completing these things, he can lead the rest of the troops to Jingzhou.

As a result, the time has been delayed until November.

By the time Ding Yuan's troops arrived in Jingzhou, it was almost December.

So when Liu Zheng got the news, it was naturally a little later.

"My lord, the imperial court has taken a new move, and this time it is aimed at us."

Because Yuan Zhou went to Youzhou, Liu Zheng has mostly relied on Xu You recently. Yuan Zhou can't handle the intelligence work alone. Most of the time, he is also handed over to Xu You. This aspect of things is relatively good.

So in these years, Xu You seldom made suggestions by Liu Zheng's side. Most of them did some more urgent things for Liu Zheng, such as lobbying Yan Baihu and other important tasks.

Although Yuan Zhou is Liu Zheng's most important military adviser, Xu You's status in Liu Zheng's army is not low. After all, he is someone who knew Liu Zheng's generals earlier, especially Zhou Cang, Xu Huang, etc. Waiting for others, and Xu You can get along well.

It's just that Xu You is proud of his talents, always relying on his own talents and Liu Zheng's trust, he looks down on others, such as Zu Lang, Jiang Qin and others who joined Liu Zheng later, he doesn't like him.

Liu Zheng is also aware of these issues. After all, Xu You in history was such a fearless person who dared to scold Cao Cao, but was beheaded by Xu Chu in the street.

It was also bad luck.

Of course, Liu Zheng would not see such a thing happen, so he had already reminded Xu You not to be too arrogant, to be careful in everything, and to be careful when sailing for thousands of years.

How much Xu You could listen to, Liu Zheng didn't know. Anyway, during this period of time, I haven't heard that Xu You had any conflicts with any general.

What makes Liu Zheng happy is that not long ago, Xu Huang's concubine gave birth to a son for him.

After Liu Zheng got the news, he sent an order to Xu Huang to let Xu Huang take a few days off and go back to spend time with his son.

Most of these generals under Liu Zheng's account have already taken wives, and some have given birth to children, or even more than one.

However, Liu Zheng doesn't interfere with these people's private life. As long as they don't do things like robbing civilian women, disturbing public order, or bullying others, Liu Zheng generally won't intervene.

Among these people, Huang Zhong is the oldest. After all, Huang Zhong's son, Huang Xu, is almost an adult. Although he has been studying medicine under Zhang Zhongjing, Liu Zheng still attaches great importance to him, and he was sealed early. Although he is only a medical officer, many military doctors in the army are all created by him.

Except for Huang Zhong, Xu Huang, Zhou Cang and others are actually about the same age, not much different from Liu Zheng. They are all in their 20s. Everyone is a remnant of the Yellow Turban. How can there be such a thing as a wife.

But it's different now, Liu Zheng and they both have status, and many people want to marry their daughters to them, so they all got married one after another.

Zhou Cang's daughter is three years old, but when they got married, it was not as grand as Liu Zheng's. They just had a simple meal.

"The imperial court will definitely take action against us. After all, we have occupied more than half of Jingzhou and have already paid attention to it. It would be strange if the imperial court did not take precautions against us."

"Tell me, this time, what does the court want to do?"

Liu Zheng asked Xu You, Xu You hurriedly spoke, and told Liu Zheng the news from Xizuo.

"Ding Yuan, governor of Bingzhou, led [-] soldiers and horses from Bingzhou to the south a month ago. Now he has arrived in Nanjun and joined forces with Liu Biao of Nanjun."

"Ding Yuan?"