I seek economic hegemony in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 24 Paper Trade in Han and Wei Dynasties
"Paper?"

"Yes, it should be paper."

Paper existed in this era, but it was not widespread.

Official documents are generally recorded using bamboo slips.

Cao Cao himself used bamboo slips to write his military books. This shows that during the Three Kingdoms period, it was not a question of whether paper was expensive or not, but that the material was not up to standard for writing, so even the nobles did not use it.

"What did the Shu army do with paper?" Sima Yi asked casually.

Zhang Hu was in a state of confusion. He was a military commander and didn't know much about clerical matters.

At first, some papers were intercepted and there were some records on them, but Zhang Hu didn't take them seriously.

But after listening to what Sima Yi said just now, he immediately realized something, and then he stood up.

"I seem to have brought some back. I asked someone to bring the paper over to the Governor to have a look."

"Okay, go and bring it to me."

After a while, Zhang Hu came back and presented some light yellow paper.

Sima Yi took it, his face was slightly startled, and he said in surprise: "This is really paper!"

Everyone looked curiously.

Sima Yi flipped through the two pages and was stunned when he saw the text.

Because the text turned out to be related to grain distribution. It was recorded by an official, recording that their team transported two thousand dan of grain.

Sima Yi's hand trembled slightly and continued to read.

The more he read, the uglier his face became.

"Grand Governor..." Sima Zhao called out.

Sima Yi looked at Zhang Hu and asked sternly: "How many Shu troops have this kind of paper?"

"This... this... I will forgive you, the general, I will never know!"

"Where did Zhuge Liang get this kind of paper!" Sima Yi felt an ominous premonition in his heart, "Sir!"

Sima Zhao responded: "Yes!"

"Send someone to secretly investigate whether this kind of paper is commonly used by the Shu army. Go immediately!"

"Here!"

The news that the grain transport team at the Xiegu exit was raided by the Wei army that day was sent back to Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang did not criticize him harshly, but simply dispatched a group of troops from Wuzhangyuan to Xiegu to supplement the defense.

"Prime Minister, I am afraid that the Wei army intercepted some paper at the entrance of Xiegu. Sima Yi will definitely trace the source of the paper. We should strengthen the defense of the papermaking factory."

"How are the canals around the paper mill going?"

"Everything goes well, we can move at the end of this month."

"Just keep an eye on this matter." Zhuge Liang said while looking at the document, "By the way, is there any news from Sun Quan?"

"Same as last time, Lord Wu divided his army into three groups, attacking Hefei and Guangling on the east and Xiangyang on the west."

Zhuge Liang nodded and said no more.

In May of the 12th year of Jianxing, just when the war situation in Guanzhong entered a protracted state, Sun Quan's main force suddenly arrived at the mouth of Chaohu, pointing his sword at Hefei.

For a time, the counties and counties on the eastern front of Wei State were shaken.

At the same time, Sun Shao and Zhang Cheng, the generals of Soochow, entered Huaihe and advanced towards Guangling and Huaiyin with great momentum.

After the defeat of Chibi, Cao Cao was unable to move south. After that, Ji Han and Soochow successively established a foothold.

Cao Cao knew that it was impossible to unify China in his lifetime, so he set up three strategic defense lines in the south.

The far west is Qishan Mountain in Guanzhong, which is to prevent Ji Han.

In the middle is the Xiangyang Defense Line, which serves as a defense in the direction of Jingzhou to prevent Dongwu Jingzhou soldiers and horses.

The eastern defense is Hefei, which serves as the defense in the direction of Yangzhou to prevent troops from Jiangdong.

At the beginning of this year, before the Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang wrote to Sun Quan, hoping that Sun Quan would send troops to jointly attack Wei.

Sun Quan sent troops as scheduled. Not only did he send two armies on the eastern front, but Lu Xun and Zhuge Jin commanded the army on the middle line. After crossing Jiangxia, they quickly approached Xiangyang, Cao Wei's important town in Jingzhou.

On May [-]th, amidst the wanton noise of tens of thousands of Wu troops, the Wei army's defense at the mouth of Chaohu was broken.

Sun Quan's elite troops advanced all the way to Hefei New City.

On May 23, Wu troops approached Hefei City.

Sun Quan claimed to have an army of one hundred thousand.

On May 24, Wu Jun launched an attack on Hefei New City.Dozens of ladders advanced towards the city wall, war drums sounded, and the shouts of killing shook the sky and the earth.

The first day of June, Luoyang.

Cao Rui received a memorial from Man Chong, the guard of the old city of Hefei.

"Man Chong wants to send troops to support the new city." Cao Rui put down the memorial and said calmly.

"I think it's unnecessary." Liu Shao, the regular servant of Sanqi, said.

"Why?"

Liu Shao said: "The city of Hefei is strong. Sun Quan's intention to send troops this time is not really to take Hefei to the death. He is just responding to Zhuge Liang. His real purpose is to let the Shu army fight us in Guanzhong, while Sun Quan sits on the mountain and watches the tiger fight."

"It makes sense. Send an order to Tian Yu to refute Man Chong's request to send troops, and not to retreat to Shouchun!"

"Here."

Cao Rui suddenly asked: "How is the situation in Guanzhong now?"

At this moment, the chamberlain suddenly came in and said: "Your Majesty, I have requested an audience with you."

"Xuan."

Sun Zi walked in quickly.

"I see you, Your Majesty."

"What's the matter, Sun Qing?"

Sun Zi presented Sima Yi's memorial and said, "Zhongda sent a memorial from the front."

Cao Rui was curious about how the battlefield on the Western Front was going when he unexpectedly received a memorial from Sima Yi.

He opened it and read it, sighed, and said: "The Shu army provokes every day, but Sima Yi avoids it. Over time, the generals have raised objections. Sima Yi's memorial is a request to send troops."

Sun Zi said: "Why don't your Majesty send a military advisor to Guanzhong to control Sima Zhongda in name?"

"Actually, in my name, the generals are prevented from going to war?"

"Exactly!"

"Who to send?"

"Weiwei Xinpi is very suitable."

"As you said," Cao Rui said, "Go and do it immediately."

"Your Majesty, I have one more thing." After saying that, Sun Zi took out ten pieces of paper from his sleeves. "Your Majesty, please take a look."

"This is?"

"It's paper."

Cao Rui was startled, and Liu Shao on the side was also a little surprised.

Cao Rui quickly took it, touched it with his hands, and immediately sighed: "There is such a delicate paper in the world."

"Your Majesty, look at what's written on it."

Only then did Cao Rui notice that some of the pictures had words on them. After reading them, he was shocked: "This is a record of the Shu army transporting grain."

"Yes, it's a record of the Shu army's grain transportation." Sun Zi's tone became a little strange, "Paper is a very rare thing, and the documents for grain transportation are extremely complicated. The Shu army actually used paper to record the grain transportation. This Is it a rare coincidence, or is it extremely common among the Shu army?"

The three fell silent at the same time.

After a while, Liu Shao said: "It must be no coincidence that it can be used in military affairs. It shows that there is a lot of paper in the Shu army."

Cao Rui immediately took a deep breath.

Cao Rui is the emperor of Wei, Sun Zi is the Secretary of the Central Committee, and Liu Shao is the regular servant of the Sanqi. What they usually face most are bureaucratic administration, local memorials, tax reports, and border intelligence.

For monarchs and ministers who have to think of ways to govern a big country every day, they have an extremely keen sense of smell for the paper in front of them.

"Liu Qing means that Shu has a lot of this kind of paper?"

"By no means in the minority!"

"Send someone to find out! We must find out clearly! If the Shu Kingdom has it, I, the Wei Dynasty, must have it!"

"Here!"

The sun in June was even more scorching, but seeing that the papermaking factory in Chencang County had been established, Li Heng wiped his sweat and felt very satisfied.

He knew that next, he would use paper to build a trade line between Han and Wei.

Especially those princes and nobles in Luoyang, who can refuse such delicate paper?

The paper trade is just the beginning.

(End of this chapter)