Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 333 Conditions
"Xu Du and Xuzhou will be fine in the future!" Bai Tu came over and said while holding Jian Yong's hand.
After hearing this, Jian Yong had a look on his face as if he had eaten the essence of a farmer.
However, when Bai Tu held his hand, Jian Yong adjusted his state almost instinctively, and said with a smile: "Thank you for your concern, Mr. Bai, but Xudu and Xuzhou are protected by the Emperor of the Han Dynasty. It's just that because of the rebellion before, the glory is temporarily dimmed. There is nothing wrong with it..."
Unfortunately, no one listened to what he said at that time. There was immediately a recorder nearby who recorded this scene - seeing Bai Gong giving a speech at the Protection of the People Sacrifice, the envoy of Xuzhou Prefecture, Jian Yong, burst into tears, and Bai Gong comforted him, saying "it will be fine".
A clever official from the Ministry of Rites stepped forward and patted Jian Yong on the shoulder after Bai Tu left, saying, "It will be fine! Thank you for your hard work!"
It seemed that the people of the Central Plains were all in dire straits.
The people around did witness this scene, and it is foreseeable that the news will spread from one to ten, and from ten to a hundred.
The only important condition that Jian Yong overlooked, and also the most important condition for Yangzhou's renewal, was the prosperity of the people, or the improvement of productivity, which made the people feel the changes and peace of mind... Otherwise, relying on simple and empty propaganda, what is fake will never become true.
Without this crucial basic condition, what is the point of imitating Yangzhou's opera troupes and civilian gazettes?
How many people among you can read? Do you have time to watch a play?
After the Protection of the People Sacrifice was over, Jian Yong finally couldn't help it and formally asked to see Bai Tu before the New Year.
Originally, because the war situation of the General's Mansion was not going well this year, Jian Yong wanted to keep quiet and wait for Bai Tu to take the initiative to meet him. However, after the Protection of the People Sacrifice, Jian Yong's confidence was reduced a lot.
"Xianhe is here? Have you calmed down?" Bai Tu asked with concern when he saw Jian Yong coming in, as if he really believed that Jian Yong was moved to tears at the Protection of the People Sacrifice.
"Yong just thought of his lord working hard for the Han Dynasty every day, so he behaved strangely, and made Bai Gong laugh." Jian Yong specially emphasized that my tears are not shed for you.
"Hahaha, has Xianhe been having a comfortable time in Jinling these days? Jinling has changed so much recently that even Master Cao Pi and others who came here two years ago are finding it hard to adapt." Bai Tu smiled at Jian Yong's explanation and turned to ask about the past few days.
It was not known whether he was "blaming" Jian Yong for not coming to see him the first time, or... secretly reminding Jian Yong to look forward to the changes in Jinling - even if Xuzhou really wanted to turn against it and form a group with the Prime Minister's Mansion, the General's Mansion had the confidence to face all challenges!
Jian Yong pretended not to understand and replied calmly, "Jinling is indeed prosperous, just like Chang'an in the former Han Dynasty and Luoyang in the latter Han Dynasty."
It sounds like a compliment, but between the lines, there is a hint of accusation against Bai Tu of being disloyal and a reminder that "the Han Dynasty also had such a prosperous era."
Jian Yong also deliberately teased Bai Tu, wanting to see how Bai Tu would respond, in order to judge Bai Tu 's "intentions".
Will he praise the Han Dynasty or will he get angry?
However, Bai Tu didn't do anything, he just smiled and said, "It will be better. Xianhe is welcome to come often in the future."
There was no arrogance, no shame, and no excuses. He only had infinite confidence as to whether Jinling had surpassed Luoyang and Chang'an at their peak.
It was this kind of answer that made Jian Yong most uncomfortable...
People are no longer willing to compare themselves with the current Han Dynasty. Even when faced with the Han Dynasty at its peak, the answer is "it will be better"... How can we continue the conversation on this topic?
"Xuzhou will also be better...but this time, the Xuzhou army, under the imperial order to march to Qingzhou, encountered the uninformed navy of the General's Mansion, and has not yet withdrawn from Qingzhou. What do you think, Lord Bai?" Jian Yong brought up the business directly.
"Mr. Liu, you are being too formal! We are all here to support the Han Dynasty, so why should we distinguish who goes to the battlefield? If something happens in Xuzhou, will my general's office just sit there and watch? Governor Gan's attitude is the attitude of my general's office... We will never let our allies fight alone." Bai Tu said righteously, as if he had really helped a lot and the Xuzhou government was being "polite".
However, Jian Yong could tell that the rest were nonsense, and only "Will the General's Mansion sit idly by" was clearly reminding him - don't forget who is supporting them now that Cao Cao has not unified the Central Plains first.
And "Governor Gan's attitude is the attitude of our General's Office" - this is what he really wants to say!
As expected, this guy has no intention of returning to Donglai County and wants to stay in Qingzhou!
"The General's Mansion now spans four states and has opened up new states overseas. I'm afraid it's unable to supervise Qingzhou. If there are any bandits attacking and the main force of the navy happens to be away, wouldn't that be terrible? Of course... Although the navy of the General's Mansion only came by chance this time, my lord is willing to send them a generous gift so as not to disappoint them." Jian Yong said as he took out the gift list.
The so-called "spanning four states" means that in addition to the native Yangzhou, the general's office also includes Guangling County in Xuzhou, several counties in Runan County in Yuzhou, the three counties in Jingnan, most of Nanyang County, and several counties in Jiangxia.
The gap in strength and geographical factors made Xuzhou Prefecture somewhat weak when facing the General's Prefecture. However, as long as it did not involve core interests, they could still give in.
But even so, Jian Yong also had a subtle threat in mind - if you are too greedy, your navy will be prepared to hold on for a long time and never leave!
Indeed, Qingzhou is not in Yangzhou after all. Instead, it is across from Xuzhou, Liu Bei's base camp. Unless you are really determined to go to war with Xuzhou, you will not only be afraid of thieves stealing, but also be afraid of thieves thinking about it...
"That's too polite. Governor Gan and his men just happened to run into your attack on Qingzhou after they were doing business with Liaodong. How can you accept a gift?" Bai Tu looked helpless. He took the gift list, looked at it, and then put it aside, muttering, "Oh, by the way, because Xuzhou Prefecture couldn't reach an agreement on that big order, we opened a trading channel with Liaodong. I haven't even said 'sorry' for not leaving any goods for you!"
Jian Yong paused when he heard this...
If the General's Mansion was at a disadvantage in the war this year, it was Jian Yong's bargaining chip. Then... the General's Mansion opened up a sea trade route to Liaodong, which was the General's Mansion's bargaining chip!
In the previous year, the Prime Minister's Office and Xuzhou Prefecture did not have much trading power with the General's Office.
On the one hand, the price asked by the General's Mansion is too high, and on the other hand... they all want to exchange for ore and good horses - so you use the obsolete second-tier equipment to collect supplies, and then continue to manufacture more first-tier equipment?
Although according to the thinking of the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the cycle of major innovation and replacement of weapons and armor is very long, but... it does not affect Cao Cao and Liu Bei, who see that such a deal will make Bai Tu expand for nothing.
More importantly, Yuan Shao’s weapons and equipment are the same as those of Cao Cao and Liu Bei. Even if they do not trade with the General’s Mansion, they will not fall behind.
Moreover, the Prime Minister's Office and Xuzhou Prefecture had both determined that Bai Tu could only trade with them now, otherwise he couldn't trade with Jingzhou Prefecture, right? Aiding the enemy?
As for the Shi family in Jiaozhou... they are just landowners, and there is nothing that can attract Bai Tu.
However, now Bai Tu has really opened up a maritime trade route. Judging from Bai Tu's tone, it seems that the trading volume with Gongsun family is not small!
This forced Jian Yong to be more thoughtful, otherwise... maybe it wouldn't be necessary now, but who knows if Bai Tu would be so desperate as to trade weapons and armor with Yuan Shao from Liaodong if Yuan Shao continued to be suppressed by Cao and Liu?
"Oh? But I heard... Governor Gan didn't seem to bring any goods to Qingzhou? Ahem... Of course, I'm not questioning Lord Bai, I just thought that if there are any specialties from Liaodong, maybe my Xuzhou would be willing to trade with Lord Bai." Jian Yong indirectly raised the question.
In fact, there was some element of "fraud" in the white map. After all, the Xuzhou government was not so sure whether Gan Ning's fleet brought any goods!
"I didn't bring any goods. I just gave some unused weapons and armor to General Gongsun who was fighting against the northern barbarians. After all, the court is in disarray now, and my general's office cannot let the frontier soldiers feel disappointed..."
Bai Tu spoke so beautifully that those who didn't know would think he was really providing the supplies to Liaodong for free.
However, to Jian Yong, this sounded particularly harsh, as if it was saying... The Han Dynasty can no longer take care of the border, and still needs my General's Mansion to take care of it. Tsk tsk... Then why not hand over more important missions in the future to the General's Mansion!
Jian Yong hesitated for a moment and said, "Could it be that Liaodong will submit to the General's Mansion? Ahem, I mean, could it be that Liaodong will be included in the General's Mansion's war zone?"
The word "submission" cannot be said casually, but Jian Yong obviously made a deliberate "slip of the tongue".
Bai Tu pretended not to care and continued, "It's too much to say 'submission', it's just to strengthen communication! In order for Yangzhou to have more contact and communication with Liaodong in the future, General Gongsun specially reserved a port for garrisoning and public land in several counties for our navy."
Well, in terms of area, the later Lushunkou and Dalian... which is now the "Da Shi" area, is nominally a county, but because it is located in the sparsely populated Liaodong, this place is also more sparsely populated, so it is the size of "several counties" in the Central Plains!
But Bai Tu's words didn't seem like he was giving the navy a base, but rather like he was giving him half of Liaodong.
Jian Yong could certainly understand that there was some ambiguity in this rhetoric, but... it was not difficult to judge the "nature" of Bai Tu's words!
The Gongsun clan of Liaodong, is trying to gain trading rights at the cost of allowing the General's Navy to be stationed there?
Without waiting for Jian Yong to think further, Bai Tu continued, "It just so happens that Governor Gan has defeated Yuan Tan and recovered the coastal areas of Donglai. In the future, as long as ports are built in Dongmou County and Huang County, it will not only be more convenient for Yangzhou and Qingzhou to trade, but it can also be included in the trading circle between the General's Mansion and Liaodong and the Three Han!"
Filtering out the rubbish like Governor Gan defeating Yuan Tan, Jian Yong also understood what Bai Tu meant.
It seems... the land part can be negotiated, but the coastal area must be used as a garrison for the general's office, otherwise all previous transactions will be canceled!
However, at the same time, if Xuzhou Prefecture agrees, not only the weapons and equipment from Yangzhou, but also the horses from Liaodong can flow into Qingzhou from the port of the General's Mansion.
As a result, Jian Yong was somewhat hesitant...
