Lu Bu, God of War of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 335
"Don't we have anything to produce in Xiliang except horses? Is Xiliang so barren?" After hearing Zhou Jin's words, Lu Bu intuitively thought of a possibility that Xiliang was very barren. According to Lu Bu's original thinking , as long as he occupies a large piece of land in Xiliang, then this land will definitely become his source of wealth in the future, but according to Zhou Jin, things don't seem to be like this at all.So Lu Bu asked the question he was most concerned about.

"That's not true. In fact, Liangzhou's output is still very rich. Whether it's coal or iron ore, Xiliang has it all. We don't even lack gold and silver mines. It's just that due to the continuous war these years, these mines Either destroyed or abandoned, it will take time to restore production, and the investment in restoring production is not small. These things will be of great benefit in the future, but they will not help much to solve the immediate predicament. After all, whether it is conscription Still, all you need to buy grain is a lot of cash.” It turns out that Xiliang is not without resources, but even if it starts production now, there is no way to meet Lu Bu’s immediate needs.

"Is there no other way to solve it?" After listening to Zhou Jin's report, Lu Bu frowned. It takes a period of time to mine, and a lot of technical talents are needed from prospecting to mining. It is not enough to send people to dig casually. Yes, Lu Bu already had experience with this when he opened a coal mine in Bingzhou. Secondly, it is not easy to find miners. It must be that iron tools are valuable in this era, and the cost of mining with iron tools is not low, which led to the development of mines. The efficiency of mining is very low, and the safety of the miners is not guaranteed at all. Therefore, when Lu Bu was in Bingzhou, he used captives to mine. There is no need to worry about this. Anyway, the war with foreigners is about to start, and there will definitely be many captives in the future.However, the mining cycle is too long, and it is indeed not enough to deal with Lu Bu's immediate predicament.

"In fact, since ancient times, the profit of salt and iron has been the most in all businesses. This iron has many uses and is expensive. As for this salt, it is the daily necessities of everyone. Iron is mined endlessly, and transportation is even more inconvenient. Compared with The price of salt is expensive, the transportation is convenient, and more importantly, as long as the general is willing, there is an inexhaustible supply of salt that can be sold at any time." Seeing Lu Bu asking, Zhou Jin finally said what was deeply in his heart.

It turns out that although Zhou Jin has not been in business for a long time, she is quite attentive and often inquires about the production of various places. The benefits of salt and iron are well known in the world, and Zhou Jin naturally does not want to get involved. However, iron and salt in the world are in the hands of In the hands of big forces, how can a small person like Zhou Jin be able to get involved, but there is no absolute, after Zhou Jin's careful inquiry, but let him know that there are two salt producing areas, one is outside the Great Wall, on the side of the Western Regions, Zhou Jin once heard from businessmen in the past that wherever there are inexhaustible salt fields, you can get salt as long as you reach out. The salt there is like the sand in Xiliang, which is inexhaustible. One place is in the area under Xianbei's current control, a place called Yanchi. I heard that there is a salt lake there. Been to Yanba.Of course, Zhou Jin got this news in his early years, but since Lu Bu had just won Liangzhou, it was not easy to mercenary again, so Zhou Jin didn't intend to say it at first, but it's different now that Lu Bu has decided to fight against the surrounding foreigners. Of course, what Jin hopes most is to win one of these two places. With these inexhaustible salts, Zhou Jin's Heqi Chamber of Commerce will have a huge development.

"Oh? Are you telling the truth?" Hearing Zhou Jin's words, the first person who was surprised this time was not Zang Ba, but Gao Shun.As the saying goes, if you are not in charge of a family, you don’t know how expensive it is. These years, Lu Bujun’s military supplies have been handed over to Gao Shun. Gao Shun naturally saw the benefits of it at a glance, and was very excited about Zhou Jin’s news.

"Well, the Western Regions are indeed far away. It is really not easy to occupy the salt mines there, and our battle line will be too long, which will put a lot of pressure on us. But the salt pond you mentioned is a very good place. place, after you go down, check the specific location of this place carefully, and if you can find some guides, we will snatch him down first." This salt pond is no less attractive to Lu Bu than Zhou Jin, Zhou Jin needs this The financial source is to expand the Chamber of Commerce in his hands, and Lu Bu also needs this financial source to stabilize Xiliang's finances.So Lu Bu didn't procrastinate, and was ready to support him immediately.

"Don't worry, general, I'll take care of it now." Said Zhou Jin with an excited face and retreated.

"Gao Shun, although Zhou Jin is a talented person this time, I still have to leave the mining business to you. From now on, you will be in charge of the coal mines and iron mines in Xiliang. If there is a shortage of people, I will go to my father-in-law. Although he They have a bad temper, but those students are pretty good, and it will be of great help if you make good use of them. As for the miners? With more mouths, it will be more difficult for us to get food." Lu Bu still prefers to let Gao Shun do the mining work, although Gao Shun's task is very heavy now, but in Lu Bu's view, his chassis will definitely not be cold in the future. Gao Shun will come out to preside over the operation of Liangzhou in the future, so Lu Bu will hand over many things to Gao Shun from now on, hoping that he can grow up quickly.

"General, you can rest assured that your subordinates will take care of these things. As for the matter of food, this subordinate thinks that we can allow soldiers to stockpile food. Although there will be many wars in the future, we will not use many troops in each battle. The subordinates feel that the elite troops can be organized into a standing army, which is dedicated to fighting, and the other troops can be organized into grain storage troops. First, they can be used as supplements for soldiers and receive training. Second, they can grow grain and ensure the supply of food and grass for our army." Lu Bu The style of combat is to use cavalry for long-range raids, and the chances of infantry fighting are not high. Even if there is a need to attack the city, Lu Bu is always used to minimizing the possibility of attacking the city, which led to the fact that the infantry in Lu Bu's army It is rarely used in combat. In view of this fact, Gao Shun felt that it would be better to use the characteristics of infantry stationed in various places, let them store food on the spot, and at the same time train them as reserve soldiers of combat troops. This is a bit like the practice of various ethnic groups in the grassland.

"Hehe, this idea is very good, what do you guys think?" Lu Bu smiled and turned to ask other generals.Although I was asking for their opinions, Lu Bu has already said that it is very good. Even if the other generals are not willing to lead troops to work in agriculture, it is not easy to come out to object at this time. Fortunately, Lu Bu's generals are not rich, and they will not really rush They went to stockpile food.

"General, when will my war against foreign races start?" Zang Ba asked again seeing that Lu Bu's photos of the Central Plains were almost wide open.Seeing that Lu Bu was about to start fighting abroad, Zang Ba naturally wanted to train his newly formed cavalry. Although they were all rookies, an army that had not been baptized by war would always be rookies, so Zang Ba preferred to let them grow in actual combat .

"Hehe, if you are ready, you can start attacking at any time. The wolf cavalry will stay in Xiliang for this period of time. We must have won Xiliang. We can't withdraw until this side stabilizes, but your men and horses can start to move first. , I don’t want the Xianbei people to be idle.” Now that Liangzhou is waiting for prosperity, what Liangzhou needs is stability. Once the Xianbei people start to invade Liangzhou, it will be a great hidden danger to the construction of Liangzhou. In this regard, Lu Bu's approach was to send people to harass Xianbei.In this way, the initiative is in your own hands.However, the wolf cavalry really cannot move. The wolf cavalry is the elite in Lu Bu's hands, and it is also the foundation of Liangzhou's stability.

"General, what shall we do?" Seeing that Zang Ba could make a big splash at this time, Wei Xu and the others became a little anxious.

"Hey, Xiliang only has Zang Ba and the 1000 cavalry is indeed a little short. How about this? Hou Cheng, I will allow you to build a cavalry, but at the moment I can only give you 1000 posts. No matter how many soldiers and horses we have now I really can’t afford it. When you recruit 5000 men, you can also go to Xianbei’s territory to thresh grain. Of course, if you get good results, I can increase the quota for you.” The [-]-man cavalry is indeed It’s nothing, so when Wei Xu heard this number, he was a little disappointed. Zang Ba must have brought [-] people there, but what Lu Bu said later did give Wei Xu hope, that is to say, everything depends on future results.

"Thank you, General. The young one will definitely live up to the General's expectations." Wei Xu was about to leave, and the reason for his rush was because he was not like Zang Ba's 5000 men, who had already become an establishment. Wei Xu's [-] cavalry were still Need to be called up.

"Wait, don't worry." Just as Wei Xu was about to go out, he was stopped by Lu Bu. "This time you are going to fight, you need to support the battle with war. Although the military supply side will not deduct your supplies, I hope you can be self-sufficient. If you get any excess, you can bring it back and let the military supply give it to you. I have been born and died for so many years, and your official positions should be promoted." It turned out that Lu Bu sent Wei Xu and Zang Ba this time to harass Xianbei, but he wanted to try the method of supporting war with war. The biggest trouble for the Xiongnu was that when the Huns entered the Central Plains, they could support the war by fighting, while the Han people could only supply long-distance supplies when they attacked the grasslands, which limited the effectiveness of the Han people's combat. This time, Lu Bu hoped that they would fight against the Xianbei people. Zang Ba and Wei Xuneng made an attempt in this regard.

"Don't worry, general, we will never lose the reputation of general." Zang Ba was not worried about Lu Bu's support for war, because the last time Lu Bu led the wolf cavalry to attack Xianbei, he got a lot of supplies. From this point of view It is still feasible to support war with war.

(End of this chapter)