Xiaoqi

Thinking of this, Pang Tong couldn't help feeling unhappy and quite annoyed, but seeing Cao Pi's simple and honest smile and that childish face, he restrained himself and did not attack on the spot.

After all, the other party is still a young man who has not reached the crown, strictly speaking, he is still a child; and Pang Tong is already in his twenties, and he is already an adult. How can adults be as knowledgeable as children?

What's more, the purpose of his trip is also to form an alliance with the Wei State, and to work together to send troops together.At this point, both parties have the willingness to form an alliance, and the goals are the same.

This is Pang Shiyuan's heart and tolerance.

Although he is resourceful, thoughtful and eloquent, he treats people with generosity. He usually looks at others' strengths and never exposes their shortcomings.He likes to evaluate people and cultivate the reputation of others, so the people he evaluates often exceed their actual talents.People felt very strange about this, so they asked Pang Tong.

He said: "The world is in chaos today, and the way of justice is gradually declining. There are few good people and many evil people. I want to raise such a custom to promote the righteous way. Therefore, we must spread good examples and improve the world. It will become less and less. If five out of ten people can improve five people, half of the matter can be completed, and then the goal of educating the world can be achieved, so that ambitious people can encourage themselves. Isn’t that good?” This is Pang Tong His concern for the country and the people is also his value.Use the words of the moment.All he does is deliver positive energy.

It can be seen that Pang Tong is a truly broad-minded person.Informal and generous.Magnificent.Conversely, if you don't have the capacity to tolerate others, how can you see the strengths of others and be willing to make others famous?Praising others is a virtue, and Pang Tong is undoubtedly the forerunner of this virtue, and it is unknown whether he is still the originator.Praising your own children is not one of them.

In this society that judges people by their appearance, he stands in a forgotten corner, the most inconspicuous existence among the crowd, even inferior to ordinary people.But he built a pure and powerful inner world for himself by his own efforts.His mind is far more glamorous than his appearance, wise and powerful, surpassing most of the good-looking people in the world.

But Pang Tong is by no means a bad guy, he has his own standards of life and a maverick style of doing things.In troubled times, all his talents were concentrated on military struggles, calm and calm, with a long-term vision, and possessed extremely keen insight and judgment.He is good at capturing opportunities and is decisive in killing. Once he seizes the opportunity, he will attack quickly without hesitation.

Soldiers who, deception also.Military struggle is a contest of life and death.There is no room for half-kindness and compassion, and it is what military strategists must do to maximize the limited force and resources to achieve twice the result with half the effort.Pang Tong is one of the best.

The mission to Chang'an this time.His name was not listed in the roster of the Southern Han Mission, but he used a pseudonym to hide among his followers.Get into Chang'an City.This is not only true of Pang Tong, but also of Cao Pi sitting opposite him.They did everything possible to come to Chang'an.Not only for the secret alliance, but also for the purpose of observing the situation in Xiliang and the strength of the defenders along the pass, so as to prepare for the joint attack that will be launched in the near future.

Only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you be invincible in a hundred battles.The wise men of the Northern Wei and Southern Han knew this very well, so they made the same move. Taking advantage of this opportunity to observe the enthronement ceremony, they sent the most capable people to Chang'an to spy on the defense forces of the pass and the strength of the Xiliang Army.How can you easily miss the double win?

While thinking secretly, Pang Tong waved lightly, and a burly man standing behind him immediately stepped forward, took out a roll of bright yellow imperial edict from his arms, and handed it to Cao Pi.Seeing this, Cao Pi also waved his hand to signal the followers behind him to come forward and handed the letter of the state of Wei to Pang Tong.

Pang Tong said in a low voice: "This is the letter of credence of the covenant that my lord gave to Emperor Wei. Ziheng might as well open it and have a look. If there is no objection, you and I can sign the covenant on behalf of the two lords." Opening the imperial edict in his hand, the font on the yellow letter is very large, which can be seen clearly under the moonlight.

However, Pang Tong and Cao Pisu had never met, and this was the first time they met. If there was a fraud or one of them was forging, then the mission of the other party would be in great trouble, and it was determined that they would not be able to get out of Chang'an City alive.For the sake of caution, the burly man standing behind Pang Tong and Cao Pi's followers lit up lanterns almost at the same time, holding up lanterns for the two of them to carefully examine the edict in their hands.

"This,,, [-] war horses, isn't it too many?" Cao Pi agreed before, but now he was shocked when he saw the number on the covenant, and looked at Pang Tong suspiciously, asking him to give a reasonable explanation.Obviously, in Cao Pi's view, the covenant submitted by the Southern Han Dynasty is no different from a lion's mouth, asking for prices, asking for [-] horses at every turn. Did you think that Wei Guo was a horse racer?You must know that although Wei Guo captured tens of thousands of war horses in the Battle of Jizhou, the number was still limited after all. Most of the war horses had already formed an army, and there were no war horses left.The most important thing is that Wei State itself has no pastures and cannot breed war horses. Except for the seized proceeds, the rest of the existing war horses are all purchased at high prices from caravans that privately sell war horses.

For the two vassal states of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Southern Han Dynasty, war horses were the most scarce war resources as early as five years ago. There was no market for them.Nowadays, all the counties and grasslands that are rich in war horses are under the control of the Xiliang army, and they are strictly controlled, and war horses are not allowed to flow into the territory of the Northern Wei or Southern Han; It affects the wives, children, and family, and the three clans are implicated.

In terms of controlling war horses, Xiliang's laws are extremely cruel and impersonal, and all caravans or military and government officials who dare to sell war horses are severely punished.Therefore, all war horses in Xiliang are subject to military control, and all horse farms and pastoral areas are under the general's mansion, under the unified jurisdiction of Li Li's shogunate. war horse.

It is precisely because of the strict control of the flow of war horses into other vassal states in Xiliang that the price of war horses has continued to rise. Even so, there is still a price but no market, and the supply exceeds demand.In addition to war horses, there is no shortage of pony and rough horses in the Northern Wei and Southern Han Dynasties, and the price is low. Generally, the gentry or wealthy families have dozens of rough horses, but war horses are extremely rare, and they are only used by the army or famous families. The family simply cannot afford a high-quality horse that costs thousands of gold.

Seeing Cao Pi's complexion changed drastically, Pang Tong was not surprised, and said calmly, "Ziheng don't need to be impatient, let me explain carefully. Ziheng must have seen this way. There are so many war horses in Xiliang, and the officials along the way War horses can be seen everywhere on the road, and there are many high-quality war horses among them. There are even hundreds of war horses in the roadside post station, which can be rented at will, and the price is low. As long as you plan properly, it is not difficult to raise thousands or even tens of thousands of war horses. Most The most important thing is that Xiliang is adjacent to Wei State, so as long as they are willing to pay, they will definitely be able to buy war horses.

What's more, as far as I know, Li Li from Xiliang trades horses for food from Wei State every year, which is often a transaction of tens of thousands of war horses.So don't lie to me, Ziheng, your country of Wei has no shortage of war horses, and my Southern Han Dynasty itself does not have high-quality war horses, so there is an urgent shortage of war horses.In the Northern Expedition soon after, if there were not a large number of cavalry charging into the battle, it would definitely not be the enemy of the Xiliang Iron Cavalry.Now that you and I are joining forces to fight against the Xiliang army, with love and reason, Wei Guo should support some of the horses.After all, my Southern Han army is strong, which is beneficial to both you and me; and vice versa. "

Speaking of this, Pang Tong paused, and said with a smile: "Besides, I don't want war horses in vain this time in the Southern Han Dynasty. Ziheng might as well continue to look down. My lord is willing to pay [-] gold, plus [-] shi for food and grass to buy these things." War horse. I heard that there was a severe drought in Yanzhou last year, and the flood of locusts in Qingzhou. These grains and grasses are the supplies that Wei State urgently needs. As an ally of the Southern Han Dynasty, I can't just sit idly by. We should do our best to support a part of Wei State's grain grass. When we are about to use troops against Xiliang, as the so-called soldiers and horses go before they use food and grass, isn’t it reasonable to exchange food and grass for war horses? In this way, you and I can get the best of both worlds, does Ziheng need to hesitate?” True kindness People who argue are always thinking of others in what they say, and look at issues from the perspective of the other party, so that they are convincing.What Pang Tong said was justified and well-founded, and it was obviously unreasonable. After he said it like this, it became a relief of some food and grass for the Wei State, as if the Wei State had taken advantage of the Southern Han Dynasty.

But he forgot that the covenant in Cao Pi's hand did record [-] stones of grain and grass, but these grains and grass were not exchanged for war horses, but for [-] sets of cavalry equipment.In other words, this time, Liu Biao of Jingzhou planned to use [-] gold to buy [-] war horses from Wei State, and then exchange [-] stones of grain and grass for [-] sets of cavalry armor and equipment.It is the real lion who opens his mouth. Taking advantage of the fire is not enough to describe this covenant, it is simply robbing!

What can [-] gold do?At most, they could buy [-] nauseous horses or pony horses, not even [-] war horses, but the Southern Han Dynasty used this money to buy [-] war horses from the state of Wei.What is this if it's not robbery?As for the exchange of [-] stones of food and grass for [-] sets of cavalry equipment, it is barely reasonable. After all, Wei Guo captured a lot of incomplete armor and cavalry equipment from the Battle of Jizhou.What's more, Yuan Shao in Jizhou stored a lot of armor and ordnance during his lifetime, and there are many iron mines in Jizhou, so there is no shortage of armor and equipment.

Compared with the certificate of covenant submitted by the Southern Han Dynasty, Wei's covenant did not have excessive requirements. The only requirement was to urge the Southern Han to send troops as soon as possible. Taking advantage of the unstable foundation of Xiliang when the country was founded, the two countries joined forces to give Li Li a head-on blow , In order to disrupt the position of the Xiliang army, and then seek victory in the chaos, carve up Yuzhou, Xuzhou and Yangzhou under Li Li's rule, and completely drive the Xiliang army out of the Central Plains.

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Chapter 214 Not giving an inch

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It is not difficult to see from these two covenants that Liu Biao of the Southern Han Dynasty was sure that Wei Guo would definitely sign the covenant this time, and Wei Guo was determined.

This is the obvious fact.Because after the founding of Xiliang, the situation of the Northern Wei Dynasty will become more and more severe, surrounded by the Xiliang army on three sides, and will face a large-scale attack by the Xiliang army at any time.Therefore, Wei State urgently needs a strong ally now, so as to restrain the Xiliang army from acting rashly, so forming an alliance with Nanhan is his only choice.

Other than that, there is no other way.

Due to the current situation, Wei Guo repeatedly urged the Southern Han Dynasty to dispatch troops as soon as possible in the covenant.The joint attack on Jianghuai is the core issue of the two alliances.

Only by capturing the Jiangbei prefectures and counties under the jurisdiction of Yuzhou, Xuzhou, and Yangzhou, the two major states of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Southern Han Dynasty could truly gain a firm foothold, occupy half of the country, and then fight against the Xiliang Army.If not, both of them will be under the oppression of the Xiliang Army for a long time, separating the two places, unable to form a trend of shining north and south, strategically at a disadvantage, and in a very passive position.

Only by acting first, can we turn passive into active, and the battle situation will be beneficial to the two vassal states, so as to gradually erode the territory under Li Li's rule, strengthen our own power, and have the strength to compete with the Xiliang army as soon as possible.

In addition to urging the Southern Han to send troops, the Wei State Covenant also mentioned food and grass.However, Wei Guo did not ask Liu Biao for food and grass, but was willing to pay for it.Based on the market price, how much grain Liu Biao is willing to sell.Cao Cao bought as much as he could, the more the better.It can be seen from this.What Pang Tong said just now was not just talking about it, but he knew that Wei State was short of food, so he did what he liked, and repeatedly mentioned [-] shi of grain and grass.The purpose is to divert Cao Pi's attention, and tell him euphemistically that this deal is not a loss for Wei Guo, as long as he has the [-] shi of grain and grass, he can solve the urgent need and help Wei Guo get out of the predicament, and there will be no danger of food shortage.

However, is Wei Guo really short of food?To know.Jizhou is one of the few wealthy states and counties in the world. In the past, Yuan Shao could raise 40 soldiers with just one state, and he fought against the Xiliang army alone for three years.Why is there a shortage of food when it is Cao Cao's turn to take charge of Jizhou?Obviously, the answer is no.

In fact, not only was Jizhou not short of grain, but it had bumper harvests for three consecutive years, the treasury was full, and many people even had surplus grain in their homes.In such a situation, how could there be a shortage of food?This is because Jizhou has a good harvest every year.It does not mean that the other two states and counties are also harvest years.

Nowadays, the entire Wei country is indeed short of food, and every year, it has been short of food for three consecutive years.As Pang Tong said.In the past three years, the world has been peaceful and no large-scale wars have broken out, but Yanzhou and Qingzhou under Cao Cao's rule have not been harvested year after year.It was either a drought or a plague of locusts, which made the livelihood of the people difficult.Serious food shortage.And the reason why these two states and counties have been in constant disasters is all because the Yellow Turban thieves made too much trouble in the early years.Bandits abounded, and years of wars resulted in many people being unable to farm, dragging their families along to avoid the scourge of war.

This situation directly led to the barrenness of large areas of land, and the living standards of the people dropped to freezing point. When they finally stabilized, the first problem the people faced was famine.Since there is no savings, the people are forced to eat the seeds distributed by the government as food. If the seeds are not enough, the harvest will naturally be bad. Coupled with the locust plague and continuous drought, the food production can be imagined, and food shortages are inevitable.There was a shortage of food in the first year, and there was definitely a shortage of food in the second year after paying the tax. It was so backward and unable to keep up, that three years later, the Wei State still could not get rid of the plight of food shortage.

Therefore, the food in one state of Jizhou alone cannot alleviate the famine in the two states and counties.What's more, the so-called bumper harvest in Jizhou, strictly speaking, is that the great families and powerful gentry have achieved a bumper harvest, because there are too many princes, generals, and noble families in Jizhou, and nearly [-]% of the land is privately owned by them , and exempt from taxation.In contrast, the people of Jizhou can only provide food and clothing after paying taxes. The so-called surplus food is saved from the teeth, and the amount is extremely limited, and it will not be sold.This is the life-saving food they have saved themselves, lest there will be another war or the harvest will not be good in the coming year, and they will go hungry.

Don't panic if you have food at home. People who have experienced the baptism of war know that the troubled times are not over, and there may be a war one day. To be on the safe side, every household saves some food for emergencies.Common people in troubled times never expect the government to help them. They clearly know that if they want to survive, they have to rely on themselves. If they want their families not to starve to death, they have to save more food.

The common people did not sell grain, and the aristocratic families and powerful gentry did not pay taxes. The grain in the treasury of Wei Guofu had just been filled, and it was distributed in a blink of an eye.It is worth mentioning that not all of these grains were used to relieve disaster victims, supply the existing army, and distribute the salaries of hundreds of officials. About [-]% of them were used to recruit troops and further expand the army.

Since then, the food shortage in Wei State has not been alleviated at all, but has become more and more serious.Therefore, the State of Wei tried every means to raise food every year, and purchased food from the merchants and Jingzhou under Li Li's rule through various channels, every year without exception.

However, the peace time of more than three years is definitely not in vain.Although the state of Wei has been short of food, it has stored a large amount of war materials, including food and grass for the army to fight.These strategic materials can at least supply hundreds of thousands of troops for a year or even longer.This is the unspoken rule of fighting for hegemony in troubled times. The three major vassal states have their own material reserves to deal with wars that may come at any time.

From this point of view, Wei Guoguo's statement of buying grain from the Southern Han Dynasty for the war is purely an excuse, just to be polite.The state of Wei did not expect Liu Biao of Jingzhou to sell grain at all, but deliberately raised it to show weakness to the Southern Han regime and express the sincerity of the alliance; the implication is: I have told you my weaknesses, which is enough to show that we Sincerely form an alliance with you Nanhan.

However, when Cao Cao wrote the letter of credence, he never thought that the Southern Han Dynasty would ask for a lot of money.Taking the opportunity to blackmail, he actually asked for [-] war horses and [-] sets of cavalry equipment.

so.At this moment, Cao Pi, who was negotiating on behalf of Cao Cao, was completely frightened by the numbers on the Southern Han Covenant, and was absent-minded for a while.I was speechless.

After a long silence, Cao Pi's expression gradually returned to normal, and the silly smile on his face disappeared. He asked Pang Tong in a calm tone, "This covenant must have been made by Mr."

Pang Tong was surprised when he heard the sound, a flash of light flashed in his eyes, but his expression remained the same, he smiled and said, "Why do you see it? Why does Ziheng have such an idea? You must know that this letter of credence will be placed in front of Emperor Wei soon, your lord You can definitely recognize that this is my lord's own handwriting."

Cao Pi smiled lightly.Putting the covenant in his hands together on the table showed that he did not intend to sign the covenant, at least not now, and everything was still to be discussed.After seeing this, Pang Tong remained as calm as before. He also rolled up Wei Guoguo's book and put it on the table with the Nanhan Covenant. He looked at Cao Pi with a smile and looked confident.Seems like a winning ticket.

Obviously, this midnight negotiation has only officially entered the substantive stage at this moment, and the most critical moment has arrived.Although each other has the willingness to form an alliance, it is related to their own interests.No one will easily agree to the conditions proposed by the other party, let alone make concessions easily, not a single bit.Every bit counts, and strives for the greatest benefit for one's own side as much as possible.

Cao Pi also did not respond to Pang Tong's actions.There was a calmness and calmness on his face that didn't match his age, which was quite different from his simple and honest expression before.After a little thought.He said calmly: "As far as I know, Uncle Liu Huang of Jingzhou is tolerant, kind, knowledgeable, loyal and pure, and has the air of an elder. But the words and lines of this covenant are full of aggressiveness and sharpness. I can't see any benevolence or generosity at all, so I have to suspect that this covenant should be drafted by Mr. Liu, but Uncle Liu just embellished the pen, signed and stamped it on his behalf. Do you think so?"

Pang Tong smiled slightly, with a noncommittal expression on his face, he did not give a positive answer, and answered the wrong question: "It doesn't matter who made the covenant, what matters is how Ziheng treats this covenant. The sincerity of my lord's alliance with Wei Guo Undoubtedly, the war horses and equipment mentioned in the covenant are indeed problems that our Jingchu army needs to solve urgently." Obviously he acquiesced, and this covenant was indeed his handwriting.

"Although Ziheng is young, he has seen a lot. How can he not know that our Jingzhou soldiers are good at water warfare but not land warfare? In fact, it is not that our Jingzhou and Jiangdong armies are not good at land warfare, but that we lack cavalry capable of fighting. , does not have the ability to run long distances, so its combat effectiveness is greatly reduced. It can only rule the roost in water battles, but it cannot face the Xiliang cavalry head-on.

In comparison, your soldiers and horses of the State of Wei are quite powerful, the infantry is particularly elite, and the war cavalry can also confront Xiliang iron cavalry head-on.The most rare thing is that the Wei State won a complete victory in the Battle of Jizhou, and captured countless horses, weapons, and ordnance, and is fully capable of supporting our Southern Han Dynasty to form a cavalry battalion.However, for the sake of fairness, my Southern Han Dynasty will not ask for horses and cavalry equipment for no reason, and I am willing to provide a lot of money and food as compensation.This is a fair deal, both parties get what they want, I think there is no problem.If Ziheng still has doubts about this, then I have to doubt the sincerity of your alliance with Wei Guo. "The self-explosion is short, but it is soft and hard, not without the meaning of threat.

Speaking of this, Cao Pi did not intend to go around in circles with Pang Tong, and said directly: "The number is indeed too large. In recent years, our country Wei has formed a large number of cavalry, and we have long since lacked so many horses and equipment. If the master can make full decisions If the money and food remain the same, but the amount is halved, I can reluctantly sign the covenant on behalf of my father. Otherwise, with all due respect, not only I dare not sign such a large amount, but even if my father is here, I will definitely not agree. This is a sincere statement, Sir, please consider carefully, you must take the future and destiny of our two families into consideration, and you must not ruin the Southern Han Dynasty because of your own thoughts." On the surface, he showed weakness, but in fact he retreated as an advance; at the end, he retaliated with a tooth, In turn threatened Pang Tong.He really deserves to be the son of Cao Cao, and he is quite like a father.

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Chapter 215

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"No!"