The Warriors of the Three Kingdoms

It is logical to gain a foothold under Liu Zheng's sphere of influence, which is of great benefit to their family.

So that's why he asked Yuan Shang for instructions, came to Liu Zheng on his own initiative, and said to Liu Zheng that he would make a deal.

As soon as Zhang Shiping mentioned this matter to Yuan Shang, he immediately got Yuan Shang's agreement, because Yuan Shang also knew that Liu Zheng was very short of war horses recently, if people like Zhang Shiping could reach a deal with Liu Zheng.

That would definitely help Liu Zheng.In this way, Yuan Shang, the recommender, can also gain some favor in front of Liu Zheng.

This can be regarded as Yuan Shang's return to Liu Zheng, and recently dispatched Xu Huang, Tai Shici and others to help him fight Yuan Xi in Jizhou.

"Master Zhang, can you really buy a large number of war horses from the north?"

When Liu Zheng heard Zhang Shiping's words, he already believed more than half of them, but he still wanted to know more about the deal Zhang Shiping said, so he asked Zhang Shiping again.

Hearing Liu Zheng's words, Zhang Shiping's nervous expression was gradually relieved at this time.

This is what he wants to achieve.

As long as Liu Zheng is interested in this matter, Zhang Shiping has already taken the initiative.

Then he began to gradually describe the initial plan in his heart to Liu Zheng, how he went north to contact the Xianbei people and how he grasped the current situation of the Xianbei people.

Zhang Shiping told Liu Zheng that it was difficult for the Xianbei people to survive this winter and lack of food, which greatly convinced Liu Zheng that people like Zhang Shiping really couldn't transport horses from the north.

In this way, Liu Zheng became even more excited.

If it is really possible to bring back a batch of war horses from the north, Liu Zheng can strengthen his troops and horses again. When facing Liu Bei, it will become easier. In Mobei, all the nomadic people were brought under the rule.

"Okay, if Master Zhang can really bring me back a batch of war horses, then I will do this business. What conditions do you need? You can open it."

"Your Majesty is really smart. Now the Xianbei family is short of food and grass, and our Jizhou's food and grass have been looted as early as when the Yuan brothers were fighting. Our Zhang family and even other business families in Jizhou, Although they all want to make deals with the Xianbei people, they don't have enough food."

At this time, Zhang Shiping finally began to talk about his predicament.

During the struggle for power among the three brothers of the Yuan family, Jizhou had already plundered almost all of Jizhou's food and grass, especially when Yuan Xi withdrew, and ransacked it again, so that some other families in Jizhou, even if they still had some food and grass, would not be able to afford it. Definitely not more.

It is quite difficult to take out enough food and grass to do business with the Xianbei people.

And Zhang Shiping didn't want to let go of this great opportunity to make money, so he could only use this idea on Liu Zheng.

After all, Yangzhou under the jurisdiction of Liu Zheng was originally a land of fish and rice, with the most food and grass, and there was never a shortage, so Liu Zheng's subordinates had enough food and grass.

What Liu Zheng lacks is a middleman, which is precisely what Zhang Shiping is good at, so if Zhang Shiping and Liu Zheng cooperate, it will be two people with shortcomings who gather together to learn from each other.

"You mean, you don't have enough food and grass, you want food and grass, and then you use the food and grass to exchange for war horses from the Xianbei people?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, now is a very good opportunity. Only at this time, the people of the Xianbei tribe will be willing to sell their war horses. Otherwise, at other times, if they want to buy war horses from them, it will be too late." It's not easy, they would rather sell cattle and sheep than war horses."

Zhang Shiping emphasized it again.

This is indeed the case. For nomadic people, cattle, horses and sheep are just rations, and the role of horses is slightly greater, and they can also become weapons of war, so horses are also the most expensive.

Usually, the cattle and sheep are sold first, and then the horses are sold.

It is winter now, so I choose to sell horses. This opportunity is really rare.

Liu Zheng had already experienced this truth from Su Puyan when he went to Youzhou.

"Yes, as long as you can really bring me some war horses, this business is really good. In addition, now that we have conquered Qingzhou again, the route from Yangzhou to Qingzhou has also been fully opened up, and the route to the north has also become easier. It's getting closer, and this matter really needs to be put on the agenda."

After Liu Zheng thought about it carefully, he still felt that what Zhang Shiping said was more attractive. He really needed war horses urgently. If he had the opportunity to get some war horses from the north, how could he refuse?

"In this case, that would be great. With His Majesty's sea route, the transportation of this commercial trade will become much easier."

When Zhang Shiping was in Jizhou, he had also heard of shipping, but they did not have such a geographical environment in Jizhou. Although they had heard of it, they had never experienced it. Now Liu Zheng can use shipping to help him sell horses, but for Zhang Shiping In other words, nature is also excellent.

"Since that's the case, then this matter is settled like this, but I have a request."

"Your Majesty, just ask for any invitation, as long as we can do well, we will never refuse."

"After all, this matter is of great importance. Just letting your Zhang family be responsible may not be able to get busy. How about this? I am familiar with the Zhen family, so I will let the Zhen family cooperate with you, and your Zhang family will be in charge of everything. The Xianbei people transported the horses to Jizhou, then the people from the Zhen family transported them from Jizhou to Qingzhou, and then my people transported them back to Yangzhou, how about it?"

In fact, Liu Zheng doesn't need to transport the cavalry to Yangzhou now. He has already set up horse farms in Xuzhou and Qingzhou. The south is still not suitable for raising horses, only these two places are slightly better.

And in order to guard against the situation in the north, it is necessary to leave some cavalry in Qingzhou and Xuzhou, and it happens that Xu Huang is there, so just hand over the horses to Xu Huang.

Chapter 941 It's Winter

Liu Zheng proposed to let the Zhen family participate, firstly because of his trust in the Zhen family, and secondly because of his distrust of the Zhang family.

It is not impossible to entrust the Zhang family with full power to transport and buy horses from the north, but if the Zhang family is fully responsible, it will definitely breed and monopolize.

If there is a monopoly in an industry, it is not very good for its prosperity.

Moreover, the Zhang family has always been recommended by Yuan Shang, and their relationship with Liu Zheng is not good. Taking full responsibility for this matter cannot make Liu Zheng fully trust, and the participation of the Zhen family will reassure Liu Zheng many.

Regarding this point, how could Zhang Shiping, an old and mature guy, not know.

After Liu Zheng raised this point, he immediately agreed.

"Your Majesty, there is no problem. Anyway, this matter is of great importance. Our mere Zhang family can't control it. If people from the Zhen family participate, we can ensure the success of this matter even more."

After all, this matter is of great importance, and it is impossible for the Zhang family to eat this cake alone.

According to Liu Zheng's order, let a few more family members participate.

It can also do this thing better.

This is beneficial to both parties.

Zhang Shiping naturally would not refuse.

At this time, Liu Zheng nodded when he heard Zhang Shiping's agreement, and confirmed the matter like this.

"Okay, since the matter is settled like this, then Master Zhang, you can go down and contact my finance minister, Mi Fang. Just tell him how much initial start-up funds you need, and he will contact you instead of me. The specific matters will be handled by you." He calls the shots."

There is no need for Liu Zheng to take care of the rest. Naturally, other people will go to dock with Zhang Shiping.

What Liu Zheng needs to worry about is whether the first batch of war horses transported by Zhang Shiping and others from the north in the near future meet his requirements.

After the matter was settled, Liu Zheng met Mi Fang again.

When I met Mi Fang, I wanted to talk to Mi Fang about the matter of cooperating with Zhang Shiping to trade war horses, let Mi Fang serve snacks, and arranged for people from the Mi family to take charge.At the same time, let Liu Zheng's second disciple, Mi Wei, start to gradually learn some things about the Mi family.

Secondly, to meet with Mi Fang, and to discuss with Mi Fang about the bank.

The money bank has been implemented for more than a year.

Of course, the bank's response over the past year or so has been good. At least the people under Liu Zheng's command have accepted the existence of the bank, and at the same time they are more cognizant of the banknotes.

Each county under his command has a bank branch, although it is not easy to manage.But in the end, it can continue to operate. At least Liu Zheng relies on the bank to continuously absorb private wealth. In a short period of time, he does not worry about money, and the economy is thriving.

It has been silent for more than half a year. Now that Liu Zheng has recovered economically and has strong military strength, it is time to launch a battle against Liu Bei and others.

Mi Fang reported some recent incidents in the bank to Liu Zheng, and there was basically no trouble, because after Xu You's incident last time, there has been no misappropriation of money.

Everything was going on in an orderly manner, so Liu Zheng didn't ask too much, and asked Mi Fang to go to work.

For a long period of time that followed, Liu Zheng lived a very leisurely life without war disturbances.

All he needs to do on weekdays is to deal with the government affairs during the day, and spend time with his family at night.

Now that his children are considered old, Liu Zheng is also satisfied with being able to surround him and call him father, and he likes this kind of life quite a lot.

A month later.

The news came back from the north that Huang Zhong and Gan Ning led their troops to attack Shangyong and successfully captured Shangyong City. , but still stopped the pace of attack.

Although Hanzhong has a large population, the number of troops that can be formed will not be too many, at most 5.

These 5 people had to be stationed in different places by Zhang Lu in batches. Apart from the army, there were also some believers of the Five Dou Rice Sect.

There are about 8 of these people in various places, but after being distributed to various towns, Shangyong City is the top of the sky, which is only 3 people.

With only 3 or [-] soldiers and horses, the two generals Huang Zhong and Gan Ning must be able to capture it with their hands. Liu Zheng knew this from the beginning, and it was only a matter of time before Shangyong was defeated.

Now that it took a month to conquer Shangyong City, Liu Zheng still feels a little slow.

But fortunately, after he heard the news of Liu Bei's situation from his subordinates, he didn't think it was a big deal. As long as Liu Bei hadn't completely captured Hanzhong, there was still time for everything.

Liu Bei personally led his five tiger generals to attack Hanzhong, but they traveled a long distance from the vicinity of Chang'an City to transport troops and horses to the Hanzhong area. After Anning set up the village, the journey took more than half a month.

After all, it is winter now, and it is extremely difficult to march in heavy snow. With the war together, all kinds of things are very difficult.

Originally, this winter, people like Liu Bei were not very good at marching. After running to the border of Hanzhong, half of the food and grass were lost, and there was a shortage of food in winter. If Hanzhong was not captured in a short time, then Liu Bei's people would be in trouble. The cautious Liu Bei finally chose to postpone his plan to attack Hanzhong.

It can only be returned to Chang'an first, and another small group of troops is stationed near Hanzhong to open up the road along the way, and at the same time clear a road for the army to pass.

After hearing the news, Liu Zheng laughed. He thought that Liu Bei would win Hanzhong with lightning speed, but who knew that Liu Bei gave up, which ruined the plan he had prepared at the beginning.

Perhaps, it was also because of Liu Zheng's early action that he dispatched Huang Zhong, Gan Ning and others to attack Shangyong, which made Liu Bei, who was originally ambitious, shrink back a little.

Liu Zheng on the side stared at him covetously. Even if Liu Bei had ambitions, he would not dare to do anything in front of Liu Zheng. Otherwise, Liu Zheng would become a fisherman, which Liu Bei would not like to see.

However, although Liu Bei gave up, Liu Zheng did not give up completely, and the plan to attack Hanzhong was gradually brewing.However, it will have to wait until next year.

Another two months passed, and the long winter ushered in spring when the rain and snow melted.

XNUM X Year X NUM X Month.

Although the rain and snow in early spring have melted away, the weather is still cold.

Two or three months have passed. During these two or three months, Zhang Lu in Hanzhong and Liu Bei in Luoyang have had a bad time, but Liu Zheng has been extremely happy.

Chapter 942 Elite Cavalry

Both Liu Bei and Zhang Lu were very sad during this time.

Liu Bei has many soldiers and horses, but there is not enough food and grass. Although his men do not have to worry about food and grass, they have already consumed a lot of food and grass in the previous battle with the Xiliang army. Although it is not a problem to survive this winter.

But in order to attack Zhang Lu, Liu Bei prepared a lot of food and grass, but in the end he failed.

For a while, there was no meritorious service, but a lot of food and grass wasted, and it took a temporary truce to recover.

And Zhang Lu is located in the middle of the two overlords Liu Bei and Liu Zheng, struggling to survive.

Perhaps Zhang Lu didn't need to worry about it before, because at that time Zhang Lu was not worried that Liu Zheng or Liu Bei would attack him, but now, Liu Zheng has captured Shangyong, and Liu Bei has stationed troops in Hanzhong.

No matter how you look at it, there are two tigers sleeping on the side of the couch.

This winter, Zhang Lu had trouble sleeping and eating. In desperation, he had no choice but to seek help from Liu Yan in Yizhou.

Compared with these two people, Liu Zheng is relatively leisurely.

Liu Zheng's territory is relatively large, and it can be regarded as a sparsely populated area. There are many fields under his command, and there is no shortage of food at all.

Not only is he not short of food and grass, he even has enough food and grass that he can take it out to buy war horses in the north.

So compared to Liu Bei, Liu Zheng is too much fun.

What makes him happy is that Zhang Shiping came to talk to him about the trade of war horses in the past two months.

Zhang Shiping took the initiative to come to Jianye with the purpose of buying horses in the north. After obtaining Liu Zheng's consent, he had people, money, and whatever he wanted, so he went to the Xianbei people in the north to snap up horses.

So after everything was ready, Zhang Shiping personally led the team and went directly to the territory of the Xianbei people.

It took a month to come and go.

Although it is not too far from the territory of the Xianbei to Jizhou, but Zhang Shiping started from Jianye, and there will be some delay on the way. After all, it is winter, and there is no way to hurry when the snow is blowing heavily.

In terms of time, it took a few more days, but even so, Liu Zheng can understand.

For the first time, Zhang Shiping brought back [-] horses from the territory of the Xianbei tribe.

Five thousand horses, you know, Liu Zheng had only a few thousand cavalry under his command.

There were originally 8000 cavalry, but after years of continuous consumption, there were only [-] to [-] cavalry left recently.

Later, although the Mi family and the Zhen family successively collected some war horses for Liu Zheng, they could only barely maintain the wear and tear of the horses, and could not increase the manpower of the cavalry.

Therefore, the number of cavalry under Liu Zheng has not exceeded [-] recently.

The war horses that Zhang Shiping brought back to him this time can greatly alleviate Liu Zheng's need for war horses.

Although there are thousands of horses, Liu Zheng has no plans to expand the cavalry.

After fighting for so many days, Liu Zheng deeply realized the importance of cavalry, but the importance of cavalry does not depend on the number. ,

Soldiers are more expensive than fine, not many.

Liu Zheng is going to take the elite route, so it is naturally impossible to win by numbers.

He wants to gradually improve his cavalry, one person with two horses, one pair of armor, bow and arrow, short sword, long spear, all must be equipped.

It is the real awe and prestige that such soldiers come out.