Dahan: A 100-year-old veteran, I will build the strongest family

Chapter 82 Cao Cao: "Alas, I wish I hadn't sent Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan to the Li family."

After Li Hong got the plan from Jia Xu, he considered it carefully and went to the palace.

The Imperial Palace, the Palace of Eternal Longevity.

Sitting on the dragon throne, Liu Hong frowned.

Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong on the side looked at Li Hong strangely.

"Old General, do you want me to send some people to cooperate with you, to get hold of the handles of these noble families, and then exchange interests with them? Completely integrate the salt industry?"

After a long time, Liu Hong raised his head, looked at Li Hong with twinkling eyes, and asked.

When Li Hong heard Liu Hong's words, he immediately bowed and said:

"I dare not deceive your majesty. This is indeed what I came up with. The emergence of snow salt is destined to be incompatible with salt merchants from all over the country. These salt merchants will not give up in order to make a living, and the noble families behind them will not be willing to do so. Therefore, this matter needs to have a result, otherwise, it will be difficult to make money with snow salt."

"However, young and strong people from all over the country are coming to Luoyang in an endless stream to participate in the selection. The shortage of money and food is very large. If we don't expand the scale of snow salt sales as soon as possible, the money and food earned will definitely not be enough to build an army."

"So, I think, since we have to fight and break off with the noble families, why not make an exchange of interests and exchange the salt merchants and coarse salt in their hands for Han paper, so as to completely cut off the noble families' intention to get involved in the salt industry. Of course, the premise for doing so is that your majesty still needs to lend a helping hand!"

In the hall, Li Hong bowed to Liu Hong and told him the plan without reservation.

Li Hong had considered it carefully before coming to the palace.

It’s better to confront Liu Hong directly about this matter.

Don't hide it from Liu Hong.

In fact, it cannot be concealed.

Because the Li family would later unify the salt industry of the Han Dynasty, Liu Hong would also know about it. If Liu Hong knew about it at that time and realized that the Li family was hiding something and using him as a pawn, it would probably be a disaster for the Li family. Liu Hong would no longer trust him, and might even be on guard against the Li family, and even take action!

This is not nonsense.

Liu Hong is by no means a fool.

Therefore, it is best not to hide this matter and just talk about it openly.

Of course, Li Hong also has his own legitimate reasons for doing so.

That is, first, the emergence of Xueyan will sooner or later lead to endless wars with the aristocratic families, which must be resolved.

In addition, secondly, to build a 100,000-strong elite army and provide them with extremely generous treatment, a huge amount of money and food is needed, which cannot be solved by selling non-snow salt on a large scale.

Given these two reasons, Li Hong dared to lay his cards on the table and talk to Liu Hong.

Sitting on the dragon throne, Liu Hong's brows furrowed even more tightly as he listened to Li Hong's explanation.

Of course he understood what Li Hong meant.

In fact, logically speaking, if Li Hong did all this in order to build an elite army, he should support it.

But is it really so?

Liu Hong looked at Li Hong, and for the first time, a look of suspicion appeared in his eyes.

Li Hong wanted to send people from his place to trick the aristocratic families, get hold of the evidence against them, and then negotiate with them, but it was Liu Hong's people who got hurt.

But in the end, the Li family wanted to take over the Han salt merchants in one fell swoop.

This made Liu Hong feel suspicious.

This is because the salt merchants in the counties of the Thirteen States are a very powerful force.

This force, representing enormous wealth and military power, was dependent on the Li family. This gave Liu Hong a sense of instability.

Liu Hong looked at the gray-haired veteran who was over a hundred years old in front of him, and his mind was filled with a myriad of thoughts.

There was silence in the hall for a moment.

Li Hong's face remained calm, but his palms were slightly sweaty.

Finally, Liu Hong took a deep breath and said:

"Since the old general has a way to deal with these noble families withdrawing from the salt industry and expand the scale of snow salt sales, I naturally support it. How about this, Zhang asks you to send a group of eunuchs and guards in the palace to secretly protect the snow salt production."

Liu Hong still supported Li Hong because the large-scale sale of snow salt was needed for building the army and it was urgent.

When Zhang Rang heard Liu Hong's words, he immediately understood Liu Hong's decision and said in a flattering and respectful manner:

"Yes! Your Majesty, I will cooperate with General Li!"

After Zhang Rang finished speaking to Liu Hong, he turned his attention to Li Hong and said with a smile:

"General Li, let me congratulate the Li family for having the opportunity to clean up these noble families and integrate the salt merchants from various places. However, the salt merchants from various places are very powerful, and there are pros and cons to whether the integration is good or bad. If the integration is good, this force will be very large, and the money earned will be amazing. By then, there will be more than enough to support an army of 100,000 people. If the integration is not good, it may delay the process of building the army. Of course, General Li is working for His Majesty. You can come to His Majesty if you have any difficulties. Building the army is a national event. If any force dares to obstruct, His Majesty has the right to dispatch troops to suppress it and uproot it."

Inside the hall, Zhang Rang had a wide smile on his face, and the voices that were either reminders or indirect suggestions echoed throughout the hall.

Liu Hong, who was sitting on the dragon throne, felt relieved and his favorable impression of Zhang Rang, who had flexible eyelids, increased a lot.

Yes, Zhang Rang's criticism of Li Hong was exactly what Liu Hong wanted. Zhang Rang said what Liu Hong could not say.

Zhang Rang really did not let him down!
The salt market is too huge. In fact, Liu Hong wanted to take back the snow salt from the Li family. However, the snow salt was taken out by the Li family. It was the private property of the Li family. Li Hong had previously made it clear to him that it was the property of the Li family, so he could not move it. However, in general, Zhang Rang's attack was exactly what Liu Hong wanted.

Liu Hong was happy.

However, Li Hong, who had just been somewhat happy because of Liu Hong's agreement, was shocked when he heard Zhang Rang's words.

Li Hong's face immediately turned serious, and he bowed to Zhang Rang and said:

"Thank you for your reminder, Changshi Zhang. I will work hard to integrate the salt industry. If the integration of salt merchants can successfully obtain a huge amount of money, except for the money needed to build the army, the rest will be given to Your Majesty. If the Li family gets a small share, it will benefit greatly. I will stick to my words!"

Li Hong's statement brought a smile to Liu Hong's face as he sat on the dragon throne.

Faced with Li Hong's frank statement, Liu Hong believed it temporarily.

Because Li Hong has guarded the Han border for decades.

Because the Li family has not been greedy for money for decades.

Moreover, because Li Hong is already a 100-year-old veteran, his ambition seems to be to serve in the army and on the frontier, to establish meritorious services and bring honor to his family.

Liu Hong agreed to cooperate with Li Hong, and quickly sent out the eunuch guards from the inner palace, led by the eunuch Jian Shuo, who disguised themselves and entered the huge Wu Castle built by the Li family outside the city of Luoyang, disguising themselves as guards in public.

As Li Hong gave the order.

Thousands of recruited workers as well as workers in snow salt purification and Chinese paper manufacturing moved into Wu Castle.

Lijiawu Fort, which was as big as a small town, immediately became lively as a large number of people moved in.

Huang Zhong, Ji Ling, Yan Liang and others disguised themselves as ordinary workers and lurked in the dark.

Jian Shuo's people dress in Ming Dynasty.

Huang Zhong, Ji Ling, Yan Liang and others were in the dark.

Just waiting for the enemy to come.

In fact, it was just as Jia Xu expected.

As Li Hong built a huge Wu Fort outside Luoyang City and moved the snow salt purification and Han paper manufacturing around Luoyang into Wu Fort, snow salt and Han paper were produced in large quantities in full swing. The representatives of the aristocratic salt merchants headed by the Yuan, Cao, Yang, and Huang families could no longer sit still and immediately began to mobilize troops from all over the place.

……

This night.

The moonlight shines on the earth, like a layer of silver light.

Twenty miles south of Luoyang city.

The huge Lijiawu Fortress was like a giant beast crawling on the ground. At this moment, the Lijiawu Fortress was brightly lit, and several gates were wide open, with vehicles loaded with coarse salt and trees entering.

Another convoy of vehicles loaded with snow salt and Chinese paper set out.

Endless.

However, snow salt and Han paper were selling well and in short supply. Workers from the five families, Li, Zhen, Mi, Wei and Lu, worked day and night to produce and ship the goods.

On the city wall, the guards on guard at the city gate did not notice that a large number of armed men and horses had gathered outside Lijiawu Fort.

"It's almost midnight, and the Li Family Wubao is still producing snow salt and Chinese paper. It seems like they are making huge profits. If we can get the manufacturing methods of snow salt and Chinese paper, we will make a lot of money."

Yuan Shu, dressed in tight clothes, looked at the brightly lit Lijiawu Fortress and the constant stream of vehicles coming in and out from afar, and said greedily.

Not only Yuan Shu was greedy, but dozens of leaders including Yuan Shao, Yang Biao, Zhang Miao, Liu Dai, Qiao Mao, Zhang Chao, etc. also looked at the team pulling carts of snow salt and Han paper with flickering eyes.

Behind them were a large number of salt merchants from all over the country. Li Hong used snow salt directly, leaving no room for coarse salt and refined salt, which was actually taking advantage of their interests. After discussions with Yuan Feng, Yuan Kui, Yang Ci, Huang Wan, Cao Song and other top family representatives, although they more or less respected Li Hong, they had to stand against him.

What they need to do is to safeguard the family interests first.

At this time, even Cao Cao was dressed in black, with a sword on his waist, looking at the brightly lit Wu Castle with complicated eyes.

Originally, Li Hong cut off the thighs of Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan in public, and Cao Cao's hostility towards Li Hong reached its peak.

However, later, Li Hong led 40,000 Han troops to the north and successively defeated 100,000 invading foreign tribes. Then he broke through the Xianbei royal court and rescued hundreds of thousands of Han people. When the news of the shocking victory came back, Cao Cao's attitude towards Li Hong became complicated.

Because what Li Hong did was exactly what Cao Cao wanted to do in his life.

Li Hong cut off the thighs of Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan in public. Did Cao Cao hate Li Hong? Yes! After all, the two were his brothers. How could Cao Cao not hate them when they were crippled?

However, Li Hong punished the foreign races and rescued nearly one million Han people back to the Han Dynasty. Judging from the facts alone, he deserves Cao Cao's admiration!

Moreover, this time Li Hong took out the snow salt and Han paper technology from the Li family in order to earn money to build a powerful and elite army for the Han Dynasty, which made Cao Cao feel even more complicated.

It has to be said that everything Li Hong did were things that Cao Cao wanted to do but could not do!
"Alas, if I hadn't sent Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan to the Li family, I wouldn't have offended Li Hong, and my two brothers wouldn't have become disabled!"

"But now I have no choice but to stand against Li Hong for the sake of my family!" Cao Cao held his sword with complicated eyes as he muttered to himself. On the other hand, Cao Cao felt extremely helpless.

He found that it seemed that he and Li Hong were born incompatible?
It seems that we are always on the opposite side?

(End of this chapter)