I seek economic hegemony in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 359 A long talk with the Prime Minister
War is the most grueling thing.

Zhuge Liang couldn't help but sigh when he saw that the handsome and gentle young man back then had the vicissitudes of life etched on his face now.

"Prime Minister, when I passed through Chongqing, I brought some tea specially for you."

"Oh, Jian brought it. I have to taste it."

Zhuge Liang took Li Heng to the back garden with a smile on his face, and his whole person was relaxed and happy.

Not long after, the two were sitting in the backyard, and Li Heng personally made a cup of tea for Zhuge Liang.

Speaking of which, when Zhuge Liang sent troops to Nanzhong, he taught the people there to grow tea.

Until a thousand years later, people there still regarded Zhuge Liang as the ancestor of tea.

In this era, tea was also called tea and was a kind of medicine.

Zhuge Liang himself was also proficient in medicine. He taught the people there to grow tea, which actually helped the people's livelihood there.

"We must capture Jianye within three years. At the same time, we must be prepared for Sima Yi to use troops against Xiangyang when Wu is destroyed."

"I'm afraid not, so the next issue of troop sources will be a big problem for Jingzhou."

Zhuge Liang asked: "How many troops are needed to destroy Wu?"

Zhuge Liang thought about it, was silent for a moment, and then asked: "How many soldiers and horses are there in Jingzhou now?"

"Two hundred thousand!"

Zhuge Liang nodded and said: "With 70,000 households exempted from tax, is Jingzhou's affairs sufficient?"

"It started this year, we have been trying it last year, and this year we have a complete production line."

"Why?"

"No, it's because the production process is different. This tea uses a fermentation process."

Zhuge Liang didn't speak, just nodded.

"Fermentation?"

"Can there be 200,000 households in Jingzhou?" Zhuge Liang asked.

Li Heng replied: "There are 100,000 people. The Yizhou soldiers who followed me to Jingzhou returned 70,000, and I added 70,000 in Jingzhou."

After Li Heng finished introducing the process, Zhuge Liang couldn't help but said: "Okay, this method is excellent. Is it already being used in Chongqing?"

"Aren't there ten thousand men in heavy armor?" Zhuge Liang asked, "Do you plan to use troops against Jianye in the next three years?"

"The Prime Minister is wise, I do have this plan."

"The profits from paper are already very small. We now rely on salt and silk to purchase part of the food from the State of Wu. The military supplies are temporarily sufficient, but we still need to add another 10,000 iron armors and 30,000 leather armors."

"Although we took back Guanzhong, Cao Wei still controls a large population and vast land. With Sima Yi's ability, given him a few years, he can eliminate the opposition within Cao Wei, and Sima Yi will definitely join forces with Sun Quan to deal with us. "

"Xiangyang wants 50,000, Wuchang wants 50,000, and Jianye wants 100,000."

"This tea tastes milder, more fragrant, and has an endless aftertaste than the tea I have drunk in the past two years." Zhuge Liang smiled and said, "Is it because the place of origin is different?"

Zhuge Liang said: "Then tell me your overall plan for the future."

"Not only is Jingzhou facing a troop source problem, Guanzhong is also facing a troop source problem." Zhuge Liang said, "I have the same idea as you. The soldiers brought from Yizhou have been fighting abroad all year round and are homesick. If we continue to let them stay Not only can we not continue to fight here, but there will also be big problems internally.”

Zhuge Liang had a very profound understanding of the ideological construction of the army.

In official history, Jiang Wei's aggressive military campaign exhausted the people's strength. The so-called people's power also includes the mental state of the people.

Human emotions cannot be ignored. The professional term in the military is morale.

Any general who does not respect morale will die miserably.

Zhuge Liang continued: "In the past few years, I have sent 30,000 Yizhou soldiers back one after another, and the rest have taken turns to visit relatives. This time, the number of people killed in the battle reached 20,000, and there were as many as 30,000 injured, and the pensions were We need as much as 20,000 yuan, but we only have 30,000 available troops."

Li Heng's heart trembled when he heard this. He didn't expect that Guanzhong's losses would be so great this time.

This shouldn't be!
The Han army in Guanzhong was elite, and even if Guo Huai deployed all his troops, it would not be possible to cause such huge losses.

Li Heng thought about it. It seemed that the prime minister's serious illness had a serious impact on morale.

"You also know that the number of people in Longyou is not very large. A group of people have been recruited in the past few years. If we recruit from Longyou again, the generals in Longyou will be short of people."

What Zhuge Liang said sounded difficult, but his tone was smooth and calm.

From this point, Li Heng inferred that the prime minister probably had a strategy to quickly restore the people's power in Guanzhong.

The prime minister is naturally a famous general in the world, but in terms of official administration, he ranks second, and I am afraid no one dares to rank first.

Zhuge Liang said, "After this experience, I realized a very serious problem."

"What's the problem?" Li Heng asked curiously.

"My body is no longer strong enough to support the army." At this point, Zhuge Liang sighed, sadness appeared in his tone, and his eyes changed, "If I hadn't suddenly fallen ill, the Wei army would not have taken advantage of it. There won’t be so many good men killed in battle.”

"Prime Minister, please don't say that. Your hard work will be seen by the whole army."

"We all know that if there is a problem, we should face it head-on." Zhuge Liang said, "My body is indeed unable to support me. If I just try to be strong, not only will it not solve the problem, but it will create many problems out of thin air."

Zhuge Liang glanced at Li Heng, and he said sincerely: "I really hope you can take over the affairs of Guanzhong, but there are just as many affairs in Jingzhou, and even because of the upcoming situation, Jingzhou is more urgent and important than Guanzhong."

"Uncle Jiang is very talented," Li Heng said.

"Bo Yue's talent lies in the military, not in the administration of officials." Zhuge Liang said, "What about Fei Wenwei?"

Fei Yi, who had been silent all the time, immediately said: "Prime Minister, how can I be so virtuous and capable as a subordinate?"

Li Heng smiled and said: "Fei Sima acts calmly and calmly, he can do it."

"I think so too, but Wen Wei's talent is biased toward execution. He is always good at handling relations between all parties. Now is the time to change the situation. He can be the governor of Yongzhou. The next strategic plan of Yongzhou still needs you. I made an agreement with him.”

Zhuge Liang's emotional intelligence can be said to be very high. As a leader, he will not criticize his subordinates face to face.

What he means is that Fei Yi's talent lies in execution, he is good at handling interpersonal relationships, and he is good at managing people.

But the current situation is a crisis, and the people's livelihood in Guanzhong is declining. The problem cannot be solved by managing people.

Executable strategies remain the top priority.

This is Fei Yi's shortcoming.

In the end, he was very considerate of Fei Yi and said that the current strategy needed to be discussed by the three of them.

Li Heng was curious, where is Yang Yi?
It seems that the prime minister has no intention of promoting Yang Yi to be the governor.

As in official history, the prime minister did not regard Yang Yi as his successor.

In fact, Yang Yi's talent in official administration is no worse than Fei Yi's. Yang Yi is mainly proficient in settling accounts, arranging and following up on specific affairs.

(End of this chapter)