I seek economic hegemony in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 176 Cao Rui can’t solve the problem

"And Sun Wu sent an envoy to Luoyang." Ma Yong continued, "Meet the Lord of Wei."

Li Heng asked: "Did we discuss the paper business?"

"According to the detailed response from the front line, this matter is not a secret. It has spread in Luoyang City." Ma Yong replied, "The voice of support is very loud."

Lu Zhi said: "This year Cao Wei has sent an envoy to Jiankang once, and now Wu envoy has come to Luoyang again. I'm afraid it's not just about buying paper."

"Of course it's not just about buying paper." Li Heng said, "My king's division and the Wei army have been fighting on the Western Front for more than two years. What Wei is most afraid of at this time is that Sun Quan suddenly goes north. Wei will definitely promise Sun Quan more Benefit."

"Why didn't Sun Quan take the opportunity to go north?" Ma Yong couldn't figure it out. "Such a great opportunity."

"You don't understand, Sun Quan wants more."

During the Battle of Yiling that year, the relationship between Sun Quan and Liu Bei deteriorated greatly.

Cao Pi immediately eased relations with Sun Quan.

Why didn't Cao Pi attack Sun Quan while Sun Quan and Liu Bei were fighting?

Because Cao Pi wanted to sit on a mountain and watch the tiger fight.

This is the subtlety of the three countries' mutual constraints.

When Zhuge Liang was on his Northern Expedition, Sun Quan sent troops to the north, but he fought very conservatively because he wanted to wait for Zhuge Liang to expand the war situation on the western front and have a favorable situation on his side.

Now, when the war situation on the Western Front has expanded, Sun Quan wants both sides to continue to invest troops, and he is waiting for a better opportunity.

There must be a better time, because both Han and Wei continue to invest resources, and the scale of the war will only get bigger and bigger.

After all, the Han army claimed to have 500,000 troops, and Cao Wei claimed to invest 500,000 troops.

For Sun Quan, when is the best time to send troops?

The Battle of Guanzhong between Han and Wei began in full swing.

As soon as a fight breaks out, it's the best time to send troops.

Whether it is in the process of beating or has finished.

"What should we do now?" Zhao Xiang became a little anxious. "Sun Wu has mastered the paper and will inevitably produce it in large quantities. Cao Wei's demand for us will decrease. On the surface, this will affect the business, but it may affect the prestige of Taifu Temple."

What Zhao Xiang means is that if sales decline, the interests of major franchisees will be harmed.

Now Li Heng only uses high-pressure policies to recruit people in Chengdu. The reason why the situation does not collapse is because he has ceded his interests to a considerable number of local aristocratic families in Yizhou.

If this profit margin gradually decreases, Li Heng's status in their hearts will naturally decline.

"If Sun Wu wants to create large-scale paper, he needs to establish multiple industrial clusters, which will take at least a year or so." Li Heng said calmly, "And Cao Wei will need to accept Sun Wu's paper on a large scale. For most of the year, that is to say, within two years, our paper trade with Cao Wei will not be too seriously affected, and this volume will slowly decline within two years."

Lu Zhi said: "When two years have passed, the states in Cao and Wei have already rushed to buy our salt?"

"Yes, and in the past two years, our currency has entered Cao Wei and Sun Wu on a large scale. When the time comes, we will only need to mint money to buy their supplies."

"Master Wei and Master Wu will probably order the abolition of coins again and exchange things for things."

"Our money is bound to our new salt, can Cao Wei and Sun Wu leave our salt?"

Lu Zhi was silent.

This is a shocking conspiracy.

Even if Cao Rui is the emperor, he cannot give an order to stop everyone from eating Shu salt.

Cao Rui is an emperor, but he is also a human being. His decree cannot even leave Luoyang City.

Even if they go out, the majority of Cao Wei people will still eat Shu salt.

There is no way for power to completely eliminate economic behavior.

And there is another rule in ancient times: when power begins to forcibly interfere with economic behavior, economic behavior will not disappear, but will shift.

"Cao Rui just wanted to use the paper trade to sow discord between us and Sun Quan by rebuilding the old relationship with Sun Wu. If Sun Wu masters papermaking, there will definitely be a group of people in the court who want to hate Sun Quan, and there will even be some nefarious people who stir up the old feud. Hate." "Lang Jun means that Cao Rui's purpose is to sow discord between us and Jiangdong and intensify the conflict?"

Li Heng said: "Cao Rui adopted Qi Wan and Lu Jin's strategy, encouraged Cao Shuang to go south, and flirted with Sun Quan. These three behaviors were all to understand the situation in Guanzhong."

"Then this is dangerous." Lu Zhi said, "If there is really a group of people in the court who openly hate Sun Wu and even incite troops to attack Sun Wu, then Cao Wei only needs to go to Wuchang to find Lu Xun, I'm afraid..."

"Sun Quan won't attack us, right?" Zhao Xiang said, "Sun Quan should be a person who understands the overall situation."

"But now that the prime minister is in Guanzhong, and the main military forces of the imperial court are also in Guanzhong, Sun Quan won't do it. It doesn't mean that Lu Xun won't send people to persuade Sun Quan."

When Zhao Xiang heard this, he suddenly broke into a cold sweat from behind.

According to this posture, wouldn't Wu and Wei be united to conquer Yizhou?

His eyes naturally fell on Li Heng unnaturally, and he said: "Salt may not only be unable to solve the problem of military force, but because the money from Shu has entered Sun Wu, it has strengthened Sun Quan's determination to send troops to Yizhou. Should we postpone the expedition to Sun?" Wu sells new salt?”

"You are overthinking." Li Heng said with a smile.

"What if Sun Quan really sends troops here..."

"Isn't this just what I want?" Li Heng said, "I'm just waiting for Sun Quan to send troops. If he dares to tear that face apart, he will have to pay ten times the price!"

Li Heng is a time traveler.

What is the biggest advantage of a time traveler?

You know history!

In history, did Sun Wu send troops to attack Yizhou?

Of course I did!

The invasion by water took advantage of Liu Chan's surrender and the people in Yizhou were in chaos.

As a result, he was blocked by Yang Zong.

It was still very difficult for ships of this era to attack upstream along the river.

Does Sun Wu know how difficult it is?

of course I know!

But they have no idea how difficult it is.

So they might try.

After all, Zhuge Liang was not in Yizhou at this time, and the main force of the Han army was not in Yizhou either.

This does look tempting.

Zhao Xiang and Lu Zhi looked at each other, wondering where Li Heng had the confidence.

The news that Ambassador Wu went to Luoyang to discuss paper trading soon spread in Chengdu.

Now Chengdu is exploding.

The fact that Wu Guo mastered the art of papermaking was like a meteorite falling from the sky, hitting the already unstable lake, and rolling up thousands of huge waves.

In August, Chengdu began to be turbulent.

For a time, many voices appeared in Chengdu.

A group of officials who had been dormant for a long time began to spread the news that Taifu Temple had leaked the news.

But some people say that the Tan Cheng case was leaked.

Others say that an important official in the DPRK had an affair with Sun Wu.

Li Heng, who was already on the cusp of the storm, was once again pushed even higher.

No matter how the news is spread, it still remains at the level of news.

But Sun Wu's stealing of papermaking technology indeed caused public outrage in Chengdu.

(End of this chapter)