Overlord!

The book "Sun Tzu's Art of War" has been studied over and over again by countless military strategists and politicians since ancient times, and the words "war with caution" can be read between the lines.

The three armies mobilized troops and mobilized troops in one fell swoop, which meant wasting people and money and causing countless losses.

This is because the Central Plains has basically occupied all the elite and wealthy land it can occupy, while all the barbarians can occupy are the poor mountains and rivers, such as the desert in the north of Saibei and the camphor forest in the south.

Either the climate is bitterly cold or there are many mosquito diseases.

Therefore, the gains outweighed the losses by attacking them in the Central Plains. Anyway, the Central Plains had silks, porcelain and other wealth weapons in their hands. By maintaining peace, they could earn back their money.

Why do we need to mobilize troops to conquer a group of Kuhaha?

But in the 5000 years of the Central Plains, not every dynasty gained nothing from its foreign wars.

The most significant of these was undoubtedly the early Tang Dynasty. When the Tang army fought in the early days, a few thousand people could often bring back a large number of slaves, oxen and horses, and they collected tens of thousands.

Therefore, in the Tang Dynasty, there were the most Orpheus, Silla maids, Bodhisattvas, Kunlun slaves, etc.

The professional soldiers gained a lot from their foreign campaigns and gained a lot of wealth. As a result, the people became prosperous rapidly.The civil and military achievements of the Zhenguan period certainly contributed to this aspect.

It is precisely because of this that the Tang Dynasty became the dynasty that destroyed the most countries.Because he destroyed the country, he could really gain a lot of benefits from it.Both wealth and men and women were brought back to the Central Plains, and all kinds of slaves flourished.

Sun Ce is undoubtedly a traditional politician. He has always been reluctant to mobilize troops to colonize and plunder small countries outside the region. If small countries outside the region are willing to surrender and pay tribute, he will definitely be happy to establish a tribute order and will not send troops to destroy them.

This is because under his governance, Jiangdong's agriculture developed, which provided great assistance to the development of industry and commerce.

Jiangdong's brocade, white porcelain, silk, shipbuilding, pottery, bamboo ware, jade, pearls, and jade are all unparalleled in the world.

With these harvesting tools, as long as Jiangdong mints coins, he can use copper coins to exchange for a large amount of gold and silver tortoiseshells, beautiful warriors, famous swords and horses from outside the territory.

A small country outside the region, or even a tribe of Hu chieftains, would have to produce cattle, sheep and leather for several years in order to exchange dozens of pieces of brocade, hundreds of sets of porcelain, or thousands of pieces of ordinary silk from Sun Ce, thus improving the situation. The living conditions of their tribe allow the children in the tribe to have shoes to wear, and prevent a family from passing down a pair of pants for three generations. After the older brother wears it, the younger brother wears it, and the younger brother wears it before the younger sister wears it.

Don't think this situation is shocking. In fact, even when China was first founded, generations of people have been doing this.

That was still an era when industrialization was in full swing on this land, and the people had initially solved the problem of food and clothing.

In modern times, let alone food and clothing, if people can have clothes to keep out the cold and a pair of shoes that can be worn for several years, so as not to run around barefoot in spring, summer, autumn and winter, that is the emperor's kindness, which benefits the world.

Especially for the barbarians living in the mountains, it is common for them to walk barefoot.

The industrial output in Sun Ce's hands is completely a weapon to harvest them. Why does he need to mobilize troops to conquer them?
But Lu Meng's war against Wuling Man made him see a new situation.

After all, the Central Plains is unwilling to go to war, but it does not mean that other foreign races are not willing to go to the Central Plains to plunder.

Therefore, if we can plow through holes and gain a lot of wealth during the counterattack, it will be of great benefit to the stability of Jiangdong's rule and long-term peace and stability.

Lu Meng then introduced to Sun Ce: "As the general said, the Jingnan treasury is indeed full of supplies. In addition to the more than [-] cattle, sheep and other livestock collected from the Wuling barbarian tribe, the most important thing is that the major tribes buy them from Junzhong Market Prisoners of war.”

"Among them, there are ten strings for strong men, six strings for strong women, two strings for farming oxen, and forty strings for craftsmen who are skilled in medicine, smelting, forging and other arts."

"Jingnan's treasury was filled with money and 16 yuan was obtained."

The regular price of farm cattle in the Han Dynasty was between 1800 and 2000 qian. Even at the most expensive time, it did not exceed 15000 qian.

The direct price of a strong man is only ten cents, which is already 10000 yuan!

To say it was a robbery would be an understatement.

The income of 16 yuan can greatly enrich the Jiankang treasury.

Sun Ce asked: "Do you think this is normal, or is it an accident in bad years?"

Lu Meng immediately replied: "I think this will become the norm in the future. If one acre of paddy field is opened in the south of the Yangtze River and the weather is good, the yield per acre can be as high as ten shi, which can be worth more than [-] yuan. Just thirty acres of good land can produce enough in one year. The money you get is more than ten thousand, which is worth the cost of a strong man. Even after deducting taxes and consumption, you can still make a profit in two years."

"As far as I know, the land in Jingyang is now vast and sparsely populated. It is common for a family to have dozens of acres of land. It is common for large families to have hundreds of acres of fertile land."

"I think large households will be short of tenants and customers for a long time."

Sun Ce nodded slightly, it was indeed as Lu Meng said.

He may not be able to see the situation clearly, but there is a very clear contrast between this figure and Sun Ce.

According to the equal land system, the able-bodied men and women of a household can still get more than 120 acres of fertile land.

What the feudal literati longed for was the pastoral life of one man and five people managing hundreds of acres of land.

Even if this is the case under the equalized land system, let alone if we do not establish the land system, the number of acres of land and the newly opened wasteland every year will inevitably far exceed the equalized land.

Therefore, as long as there are enough foreign slaves, these powerful families and landowners in Jiangnan will inevitably open up new fields.

This made Sun Ce couldn't help but think of the Civil War between Emperor Mi and Emperor Ming.

The southern part of the Empire was also sparsely populated, so large plantation owners needed a large number of slaves to open plantations.

The same is true in Jiangnan today. The terrain is vast and the climate is mild. Even if there are some camphor forests, they are not everywhere.

The Han Dynasty can support 6000 million people in the Central Plains, but he does not ask for that much. In the entire south of the Yangtze River, it is not too much to support 3000 million people from Yizhou, Jingzhou, Yangzhou, and Jiaozhou, right?
After all, the population of the four states of Han Dynasty is already 820 million. Counting the hidden households, there must be more than 2000 million people.

It is not difficult to increase the population by 1000 million if we vigorously develop Jiangnan, especially the land of plenty in the Suhu area.

No matter how difficult it is, it will not be difficult to restore the population to the 2000 million it was when the Han Dynasty was in the Han Dynasty.

Today, the population under Jiangdong's rule is only 600 million, which means that there are a lot of wasteland that can be developed everywhere, and a large number of people are needed to restore production.

These wealthy families in Jiangdong, and even small landowners and military nobles with only a few hundred acres of land at home, will always need troops to conquer the barbarians.

Sun Ce asked Lu Meng: "How much did you spend on this expedition?" Lu Meng immediately said with great enthusiasm: "This time I sent troops, I only consumed about ten thousand shi of food and grass. This all depends on the army being brave and good at fighting, otherwise it would not be possible for the moon in winter to change the sky and the earth. Yan Ning, can I take ten months' worth of food for my lone army, enter an extremely difficult place, jump thousands of miles across, beat several troops with drums, attack and capture again, come back and attack again, achieve three victories in one day, and triumph with a thunderous sound that shakes the sky?"

It only consumes more than ten thousand stones of food and grass!

Even if we include the casualties of other chariots, horses, arrows, cattle and horses, the cost of this battle is only a few thousand coins, and will never reach ten thousand coins.

After all, it was clearly written in the military newspaper that Lu Meng did not impose corvees in this battle. He only had more than [-] soldiers and more than [-] chariots. With ten months of food, they went deep into the desperate situation and fought for more than [-] miles, and then finally defeated them in the final battle. enemy.

This income is dozens of times!
Sun Ce was immediately overjoyed and said: "Good! Good! You are indeed worthy of being a solitary general. With you alone in charge of the troops, you will conquer the army day by day. In the end, you should conquer the enemy's territory and behead the thieves and captives, so as to build a prosperous society!"

"The beauty you presented to me will be rewarded to you! Then I will make you the general who fights against rebellion, and I will grant you the title of Marquis of Anting! I will tell Jiankang about this victory, and I will celebrate with you!"

Great victories are not uncommon nowadays. After all, Sun Ce's ability to conquer such a large territory was the result of countless great victories.

But a victory like Lu Meng's, who defeated the enemy with a small number, penetrated deep into a desperate situation, defeated the enemy's army, and gained nearly a hundred times the profit, is rare in the world.

In the atmosphere of warm celebrations, the people of Jiankang all admired Lü Meng's genius. If every great victory in the world was like this, with little consumption and heavy gains, then why worry about the world suffering from military service and resorting to militarism?
The civil and military heroes in Jiankang City were also inspired by this battle and wrote letters to Sun Ce to express their opinions.

Some people praised the great victory of this battle, while others asked Jiankang to continue sending troops to collect wealth from all directions.

The most typical one is Zhuge Liang's letter "Shangshu Please Select Jiaozhou Governor".

Zhuge Liang said: "The former Emperor Shun visited the south and died in Cangwu. Qin established Guilin, Nanhai, and Xiangjun, but within the four kingdoms, there were also subordinates."

"Zhao Tuo rose from Panyu to serve as the king of Baiyue, which is south of Zhuguan. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty executed Lu Jia, opened nine counties, and appointed Jiaozhi Governor to supervise them."

"The mountains and rivers are long and the customs are uneven. The words are similar and different, and the heavy (chóng) translation is the same. The people are like animals, old and young. The vertebrae are knotted and bare, and the head is connected to the left fold. Although the appointment of long-term officials is there, it seems that there is no such thing. .”

"Since then, many Chinese sinners have migrated to live among them. They have learned a little bit about books, have a rough understanding of language, used post offices to travel, and observed etiquette. Later, Xiguang became the post office, and Ren Yan was appointed as the prefect of Jiuzhen, and taught him how to plow. He made them wear hats and shoes; he set up matchmakers and knew how to recruit and marry; he established a school to teach the scriptures and meanings. From then on, the following four hundred years were quite similar."

"However, since the late Han Dynasty, when people gathered to get married in the Zhuya area, men and women were compatible with each other and became husband and wife, and parents could not stop it."

"Every brother's brother's wife and his sister-in-law are dead in the place where they meet. It is a common custom in the world. The elders listen to them as they please and cannot restrain them."

"Men and women in Rinan County are not ashamed to be naked. From this point of view, they can be called insects with faces, eyes and ears."

"However, the land is vast and the people are dangerous and poisonous. It is easy to cause chaos and difficult to control. The county magistrate restrains the Mi and gives orders to subdue him. The tenants' rents and gifts are cut off for identification, and valuable pearls, famous pearls, fragrant medicines, Ivory, rhinoceros horn, tortoise shell, coral, glass, parrot, jade, peacock, and other rare objects are all treasures to play with, and there is no need to rely on them to be given to China, so as to benefit China."

"However, outside Jiudian, the selection of chief officials was not precise. In the Han Dynasty, the law was lenient and many people were free to do whatever they wanted, so they violated the law. The abolishment of Zhuya started when the chief officials saw that he was good at hair, and Kun thought he was good at hair."

"As I see it, it is advisable to send the army to the south for a campaign. On the day of peace, replace the chief officials and envoy Zhang Ming Wang Gang. The power will reach thousands of miles, and the big and small will bear the wind."

"From this point of view, we can choose generals, care for the descendants of the Sui border, be appointed as shepherds, and inspect the eight counties. Therefore, I dare to use my foolish feelings to widen the thoughts of the princes."

This is a very typical letter written by scholar-bureaucrats in the Central Plains to criticize the people and punish the people.

It's not that I want to beat you, but you are a bunch of insects, you have no sense of etiquette and shame, you just have a face, mouth and nose, and look like a human being.

Therefore, I, the king's army, went on an expedition to punish the people, spread the king's culture, and appease the descendants of Sui border!Then Zhang Ming Wang Gang, powerful and powerful.

Of course, while spreading the royal culture, they also took the rent from local farmers to benefit China.

After reading this letter, Sun Ce immediately called Zhang Zhao, the chief historian, and handed the document to him and asked him to read it carefully.

Then he asked: "What does Chang Shi think of this statement?"

After reading this, Zhang Zhao immediately understood what Zhuge Liang was thinking, and said with a smile: "Is Zhuge Liang trying to imitate Lu Meng? He can use a partial army to travel thousands of miles?"

Sun Ce nodded with a smile and said, "Obviously Kong Ming is determined to win. He wants to lead his army into the southern barbarian land and ping Jiaozhou in one fell swoop."

Jiaozhou has a population of 200 million, and Hu and Han people live together, so rebels abound.

As long as the elite soldiers break it and recruit the men and women, I am afraid that all the aristocratic families and powerful landlords in Jiangdong will plunder the population and open up wasteland.

The Central Plains has been in turmoil for so long, and population is the most precious resource!

Jiangnan scholar-officials were not completely war-weary, they just hated the kind of war that harmed their interests.

Just like the Northern Expedition to strengthen the feudal vassal, Cao Cao's subordinates suffered a tragic life, and nine of the ten houses were empty. In this case, if the Jiangdong scholar-bureaucrats were asked to contribute people and mobilize more than [-] troops to attack Cao Cao, they would definitely resist, and there would not be much gain from the attack.

But if they don't have to spend a lot of money, they can expand thousands of miles of land and recruit tens of thousands of men and women, doubling their fertile land, and they will definitely support it completely.

Jiangdong is currently recuperating. Even if it wants to attack Jiaozhou, it is impossible to mobilize a large number of troops. It can only dispatch thousands of strong troops to quickly defeat the enemy's army with elite soldiers and strong generals, thereby commanding thousands of miles.

Sun Ce asked Zhang Zhao: "Chang Shi, do you think what Zhuge Liang said is feasible? If we march in with partial troops, can we make Jiaozhou surrender?"

Zhang Zhao said decisively: "I think this plan is feasible!"

"The border areas of Jiaozhou are not as powerful as those of the Central Plains. Even if their princes and heroes support their own interests, they only number in the thousands."

"The general raised an army of [-] to compete with the princes of the Central Plains, and he moved forward in an unstoppable manner, which shocked the world."

"Send your troops to the south. As long as grace and power are balanced, Jiaozhi will surely surrender!"

Sun Ce raised his eyebrows and asked: "The army entering Jiaozhou is no better than the Central Plains. It is impossible to mobilize a large number of troops. The maximum number of troops sent is thousands. Do you think you can conquer the nine counties with thousands of troops?"

If thousands of troops could be used to make Jiaozhou surrender, then Sun Ce would naturally send troops without hesitation.

Although Jiangdong was recuperating, Sun Ce could still easily produce tens of thousands of stones of food and more than a thousand chariots and horses for thousands of troops.

A war of this level does not require large-scale corvee levies and will not have much impact on the situation in Jiangdong.

Zhang Zhao immediately said: "In my humble opinion, General Wang Shi does not need to attack the entire Jiaozhou. He only needs to be able to kill one prince and shock Jiaozhou, and then the counties can be established." (End of this chapter)