I will be the master of Xuande

Chapter 781 The anticipated Kong Ming

Didn't Cao Cao think that Liu Jian would form a naval army in Xuzhou and Qingzhou and then dig out his ass from the sea?
Of course he had thought about it, and not only he had thought about it, but Zhou Yu, Cao Ren and others had also thought about it.

But even so, Cao Cao still established a port in the hinterland of Jiangdong to conduct trade with Liu Jian.

So why is this?

Because Cao Cao knew very well that even if he did not build a port in Jiangdong, Liu Jian's ships would be able to attack the hinterland of Jiangdong from the sea.

Whether he can build a port or not, and trade with the north are two different things.

By building a port, at least he can bring Jiangdong's trade to its highest peak through trade with the north and make Jiangdong prosperous.

Cao Cao actually really thought that if Liu Jian crossed the sea and entered from the hinterland of Jiangdong, then let him come.

The Jiangdong hinterland has no other advantage than its vast territory.

Jiangnan land has a great degree of shortcomings in terms of development.

Once Liu Jian's soldiers land, Cao Cao will let his soldiers in the hinterland of Jiangdong only defend but not attack, delaying the opponent.

The area of ​​Jiangdong is very large, and its area can even cover almost the entire north.

If Liu Jian's fleet attacks Jiangdong from the sea, then his soldiers must not have many horses.

From Liu Jian's point of view, he has already secured victory and now needs to prepare for the next steps.

While Liu Jian was leading his troops on the road, he was thinking about the future.

As an emperor and head of state, what he needs to think about is how to open up the living space of the Han Empire in the future, how to develop Jiangnan, how to colonize the Western Regions and Southern Xinjiang, and how to cross the sea and land on Japanese islands.

He began to design his own strategic concept for the unified Han Empire.

How to continue to suppress and consume the power of the powerful and nobles, how to strengthen centralization, how to improve productivity, and how to liberalize education.

Cao Cao did not believe that the barriers he had arranged in Jiangdong could not stop these soldiers who had no horses and no food and grass.

Before, it was a hegemony mentality, but now it is an emperor's mentality.

……

Once they enter the hinterland of Jiangdong without enough supplies, these soldiers will become fish on the sword.

At the same time, Liu Jian's army was advancing from Chengdu towards Jingzhou.

In order to prevent Liu Jian from crossing the sea to attack his hinterland, he built many fortresses and beacon towers near the ports in Jiangdong.

The most important of them is the development of Jiangnan.

At the same time, he moved his hoards of grain and grass to the main cities in the interior of Jiangdong, leaving only a little in Cang'ao in the coastal area.

The issues Liu Jian needs to consider now are different from before.

Without food, grass, and horses, Cao Cao didn't believe he could hold them back to death.

If they come across the sea, it will mean that they have cut off their own food supplies.

Moreover, due to limited ship transportation, they may not even be able to bring a lot of armor.

The Northern army without horses was nothing to fear.

For the Han Empire, the north was a big granary.

But if we want to dominate overseas, we must develop the south.

To develop Jiangnan, we need to first pacify Cao Cao and wipe out the powerful households in Jiangnan, and then implement the New Deal in Jiangnan, gradually develop from the Yangtze River Basin to the south, move the population southward, and develop the land in Jiangnan that can be harvested twice a year.

The next step is to develop the land in Lingnan, develop the land that can be harvested three times a year, continue to increase productivity, increase the output of food crops, and enhance national strength.

This is a thousand-year plan and a thousand-year national policy. It cannot be completed by one generation, and it may not even be completed by the Han Dynasty. It requires continuous development by several generations.

In the past, Liu Jian felt that based on the current productivity, the land of China could not support so many people, and the population would explode after reaching a certain peak.
But as he managed Hebei, cracked down on the powerful, opened up wasteland, and implemented farming, Liu Jian discovered that in fact, the productivity of China could still be improved, and it could be greatly improved.

Otherwise, how could he take the world by storm just by relying on more than ten years of development in Hebei?

The main reason for this is that originally, the powerful landlord class who owned the largest land would not cultivate wasteland.

They will only occupy the existing fertile land. As for the wasteland, they don't care. As long as they live a decent life, they don't care about the life and death of Li Shu. They only care about whether their land is fertile.

Reclaiming wasteland requires investment, both in terms of people and materials, and it takes several years to reap the benefits. Such a process is unacceptable to the powerful landlord class.

All they could accept was to take the ready-made land cultivated by Li Shu as their own. The common people were forced to leave their own land, and the only way left for them was to cultivate other wasteland.

However, the reclamation of wasteland itself requires the investment of food and organization. Ancient dynasties rarely had strong grassroots organizational capabilities. Imperial power did not go to the countryside. Who among the powerful landowners in the countryside would be willing to use their own money to do such a thing?

The common people who lost their land did not have more food to support the harvest in the wasteland. In the process, they either starved to death or rebelled.

A large amount of wasteland could not wait to be cultivated. The dynasty would perish, people would almost die, and a new reincarnation would begin.

Therefore, from the development of the Yellow River Basin to the Yangtze River Basin and then to the Pearl River Basin, no one developed or cared about the fertile land that could be harvested three times a year.

Without organizational power, the imperial power did not go to the countryside, and private individuals would not be willing to pay such costs to carry out construction. Whatever they were willing to do could be done. In these two thousand years, there was only the country and the king.

It is a pity that there are too few qualified kings in the Han Dynasty.

Until the so-called Yiguinan Crossing, four hundred years of Han Dynasty, there was no powerful emperor who could truly expand the living space of the entire nation.

The development of the most fertile areas is ridiculous because the Central Plains regime was forced to cross south several times and was forced to develop Jiangnan and Lingnan in order to survive.

They were forced by the northern nomads.

What a sad piece of pioneering work.

The development of Jiangnan is imperative, and this is what Liu Jian is determined to achieve.

If Jiangnan is not developed, China will not make a qualitative leap forward.

But fortunately, the current situation in Jiangnan is not that bad.

After Cao Cao arrived in Yangzhou, although he did not fully implement the northern policy, he continued to learn from himself.

Many powerful people in Jiangnan have been suppressed by Cao Cao, and Cao Cao has established large-scale farming in Jiangnan, which will help him take over Jiangnan from him in the future.

Moreover, letting Taishi Ci lead a large fleet to attack the inland of Jiangnan from Cao Cao's rear is the fastest way to solve Jiangnan.

However, the supplies carried by the fleet are limited after all, and food and horses may not be available.

Once the lone army goes deep, it is very likely that it will be trapped and die in Jiangnan.

But Zhuge Liang had already paved the way for this.

Zhuge Liang reached an agreement with Cao Cao to conduct trade with Jiangnan, and at the same time asked Cao Cao to open a port on the shore of Jiangnan to trade with the north.

In order to reach this agreement at that time, Zhuge Liang even made very big concessions.

What for? Just for today.

The trade between the ports was not for Taishi Ci's fleet to land.

But to strengthen the connection between Jiangnan and the north.

Export more goods from the north to Jiangnan.

Exporting more goods from the north to the south of the Yangtze River through trade will not only make the south of the Yangtze River rich, but what else will it create?
That is to create one chain of interests after another.

Nowadays, there are many great noble families and powerful men in the six counties of Jiangdong. After they were gradually suppressed by Cao Cao, their families relied on trade with the north to support them.

They are the middlemen when products from the north are exported to the south of the Yangtze River.

The benefits allowed them to maintain a top-notch life in Jiangnan.

What does this create?
What has happened is that once the trade exports from the north to the south of the Yangtze River are cut off, these top powers will immediately fall from the top of the pyramid.

In other words, in a sense, these people have been tied up by the Hebei Chamber of Commerce and Trade.

If Taishi Ci once landed in the south of the Yangtze River...then through the benefit transfer of the Northern Trade Association, these powerful people and noble families would have to compromise and secretly fund Taishi Ci's food, grass, and even weapons and population.

This can ensure Taishi Ci's logistical support in Jiangnan.

Thinking of this, Liu Jian couldn't help but smile a little.

Wait until the world is at peace.

It was time to transfer Zhuge Liang to the center of the court.

Let Prime Minister Zhuge in history concentrate on governing the country and no longer worry about the Northern Expedition. What will Zhuge Liang look like in the end?

It’s really exciting.

(End of this chapter)