The Warriors of the Three Kingdoms

Liu Zheng didn't have much interest in chatting with Guo Tu, and his time was limited, so he asked Guo Tu straight to the point.

Guo Tu didn't expect that Liu Zheng would talk about business so quickly, he planned to come up to praise Liu Zheng first, to make Liu Zheng feel a little bit better, seeing that Liu Zheng didn't seem to be talking too much, so he had no choice but to talk about business up.

"I am ordered by my lord, General Yuan Shao, to come to Mr. Liu Zheng, and I have three things to do."

"three things?"

When Liu Zheng heard that Guo Tu called Yuan Shao General, he still sneered a little, but when he heard that he said that he had three things to discuss with Liu Zheng, he was taken aback. He never expected that Yuan Shao would find him. There are so many things to talk about.

A little bit of interest came, and he hurriedly asked Guo Tu a question.

"Those three things, let's talk and listen."

Chapter 532 Three Things

Guo Tu took a deep breath and took a step forward.

He spoke slowly to Liu Zheng and Yuan Zhou.

"Firstly, my general saw that Mr. Liu Zheng is powerful now, but he has never been awarded by the imperial court, so my lord, sent me to read out the imperial court's award."

"Master Liu Zheng, you conquered Yangzhou. My lord will present you to the emperor and canonize you as the governor of Yangzhou. In this way, you will truly own this world."

Guo Tu's first statement came out, which seemed to be a good thing, and made Yuan Zhou on the side smile, but it was not moved by Liu Zheng.

What Liu Zheng believes in is that there is nothing to be courteous about, if it is adultery or stealing, this guy Yuan Shao has nothing to do with Liu Zheng. There is no need to come to build a good relationship with Liu Zheng. Right now, Guo Tu is offering a gift as soon as he opens his mouth, for sure. I asked him for something.

Moreover, Yuan Shao's court was just a false emperor, not the orthodox Han Dynasty. He canonized himself as a general, and he still had the face to give Liu Zheng the canonization of Yangzhou governor.

Even if Liu Zheng wanted the governor of Yangzhou, the emperor of Luoyang had to give him the title, but it was a pity that the emperor of Luoyang was too late to kill him, so how could he be canonized as the governor of Yangzhou.

Once Liu Zheng accepted Yuan Shao's award, it was explained in a disguised form. Liu Zheng recognized Yuan Shao's emperor, and in a disguised form, he once again increased his hatred with the orthodoxy of the Han Dynasty in Luoyang.

Although Liu Zheng is not afraid of the orthodoxy of the Han Dynasty in Luoyang, but this will boost Yuan Shao's arrogance, Liu Zheng is still not willing to do it.

"Oh, let's talk about this later. Let's talk about other things first."

Guo Tu looked at Liu Zheng with a smile. He thought that Liu Zheng would be very happy to accept this award. After all, he has no real name. Once he gets the title of Governor of Yangzhou, then Liu Zheng will be famous for what he does in Yangzhou. point.

But what Guo Tu didn't expect was that Liu Zheng, a rascal, didn't need any title at all, and he didn't believe in any title. In Liu Zheng's eyes, the title of governor of Yangzhou had no effect at all. Yangzhou, who is the real governor of Yangzhou? What's the use of just being a canonized official position?

The bare commander is just playing house by himself.

Guo Tu originally thought this plan was good, but Liu Zheng ignored it and refused to agree, but he was stunned when he saw that Liu Zheng didn't print it out directly. After I don't catch a cold, I won't continue to argue with Liu here about this matter.

"The second thing is that my lord wants to form an alliance with the adults to deal with He Miao together."

Guo Tu's plan was actually very coherent. If Liu Zheng accepted the reward and took advantage of Yuan Shao, he would be embarrassed to refuse Yuan Shao's request for an alliance.

However, now that Liu Zheng didn't agree, Guo Tu felt a little anxious. He didn't understand what Liu Zheng thought about the alliance, and he didn't know whether it was an alliance or not.

In Guo Tu's heart, he still had some expectations for Liu Zheng. When he saw Liu Zheng, he didn't answer. He could only lower his head and wait for Liu Zheng to speak.

Liu Zheng is actually also thinking about the alliance that Guo Tu said.

At this point where Liu Zheng is now, his strength can still seriously attract the attention of the imperial court, so in order to fight against the imperial court, he has to find some allies.

The people who could serve as Liu Zheng's allies before were all small characters, such as Guo Shi, Yan Baihu and others.

Later, when his strength grew, Yuan Shu came to Liu Zheng.

Now, these people, Liu Zheng can't even look down on them. Their strength, even if they form an alliance, can't form an effective check on the imperial court. They must find some stronger allies.

Looking at the whole world, Yuan Shao is the only one with this strength.

Even the Yellow Turban Army in Qingzhou is barely half of them.

Liu Zheng didn't pay attention to the Yellow Turban Army at all. The reason why they were still active on the stage of history was entirely because the imperial court had stronger opponents to deal with, and there was no time to deal with those Yellow Turban Army.

The only person who has the ability to become an ally came to him to form an alliance. Speaking of which, Liu Zheng could still consider forming an alliance with Yuan Shao.

It's just that forming an alliance with Yuan Shao will bring some benefits, but at the same time, there will be some troublesome things.

Yuan Shao's strength is now very strong, not to mention occupying the two major states and counties, the people of Karasuma have also completely surrendered to Yuan Shao, speaking, Yuan Shao is really capable of competing with the imperial court.

It is precisely because of this that Liu Zheng is also worried that if Yuan Shao is fed too fat, when Yuan Shao grows stronger, it will be difficult to deal with.

However, after Liu Zheng saw Guo Tu at a glance, he felt relieved. With the help of a capable person like Guo Tu, even if Yuan Shao developed, so what, he would not be defeated in the end.

Simply nodded.

"Yuan Benchu ​​and I don't have any enmity. It's not bad to form an alliance. We fight against the imperial court together, so we have the same enemy."

After pondering for a moment, Liu Zheng agreed to Guo Tu's words.

Guo Tu was waiting for Liu Zheng's answer at this time, and when he heard that Liu Zheng agreed to form an alliance, he immediately smiled.

"That's very good. If my lord knows that Mr. Liu Zheng is willing to form an alliance, he will definitely be very happy. When I came, the lord once told me that you and my two families have a good relationship. My lord said that we will destroy the Han court in the future." , your family and I are bounded by the Yellow River, the south is your property, and the north is the property of my lord."

Guo Tu spoke out the future that Yuan Shao imagined.Of course, Liu Zheng just listened to this kind of words and gave up.

To the south of the Yellow River, not to mention how big the territory is, but at that time, can one mountain accommodate two tigers?

Of course, the alliance broke up, and the stronger side took over the world.

It's just that now, both parties still have to pretend that I regard you as a brother.

"Then I would like to thank Yuan Benchu. Now that you are in Jizhou to deal with Lu Zhi's attack, it should be difficult."

Liu Zheng knew that Yuan Shao would not talk about alliances for no reason, and talking about alliances now must be requested of him.

"Lu Zhi is nothing. He doesn't have many soldiers and horses. It is impossible to fight my lord. It's just that my lord has encountered some troubles. He specially asked me to come to Yangzhou to find Mr. Liu Zheng for this matter. "

"Oh?"

"The third thing?"

"Well, my lord is short of food and grass, and this winter is not easy to survive, so we heard from Su Boyan that Mr. Liu Zheng once sent people to sell food in Youzhou, how about selling some food and grass to my lord?"

Chapter 533

After talking for a long time, Guo Tu finally got to the point.

As soon as Liu Zheng heard Guo Tu's words, he understood that this was the point of Guo Tu's coming to him.

What I said before was just a foreshadowing for the last matter. What rewards for official positions and requests for alliances are all preparations for the final request for food.

After being told by Guo Tu, Liu Zheng also began to think in his heart. Jizhou is actually not short of food. Jizhou has a large population and is also a big state.In the total population of the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty, excluding Yuzhou and Yizhou, the population of Jizhou was the largest, and even Jingzhou was only about the same as Jizhou.

However, after Jizhou experienced the torment of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the population loss was heavy. The Yellow Turban Army was known as an army of one million, and Jizhou was the hardest hit area. Not to mention a million people, at least 80 million people died in the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

Later, there was the rebellion of Wang Fen's false emperor, which caused the turbulent Jizhou to experience the baptism of war again, and the population dropped sharply again. The successive battles left Jizhou with no time to develop economy and agriculture.

As a result, after Yuan Shao took control of Jizhou, although he had a huge territory in Jizhou, the population of Jizhou directly lost from 600 million to only 300 million.

What's more, it's still a mess of business and agriculture. He needs to redeploy these things by himself.

One year is not enough for him to feed so many soldiers, let alone the hundreds of thousands of Karasuma people waiting to be fed. If the Karasuma people are not given food, these Karasuma people may be the ones who will rebel in the next second .

So Yuan Shao himself was also worried.

After having no choice but to think of Liu Zheng who occupies Yangzhou.

After all, Yangzhou has not experienced the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and the Yellow Turban Rebellion had little impact on Yangzhou. In addition, here is a land of fish and rice, with abundant rain and developed agriculture.

Food is the most important thing. As long as Liu Zheng can help Yuan Shao overcome this difficulty, Yuan Shao is confident that he will reclaim wasteland next year and solve the problem of food.

But how could Liu Zheng readily agree to such a thing?

"Mr. Guo Tu, if you came here for other things, I can really help you, but you came here for food. I'm afraid I'm a little helpless."

Liu Zheng immediately put on a bitter face and looked at Guo Tu, a little embarrassed.

"My lord, why is this? You can sell food and grass to Su Boyan, why don't you want to sell some food and grass to my lord?"

Guo Tu was also taken aback. Although he knew that Liu Zheng must have a reason to refuse, he still didn't understand what difficulties Liu Zheng had.

Liu Zheng sighed, and began to explain to Guo Tu. Although it was an explanation, it was just an excuse.

Liu Zheng's men have a lot of grain in storage, and they can still survive without planting grain for two years.

"Mr. Guo Tu didn't know that there was a tsunami in Jiaozhou earlier this year. After the tsunami ended, drought came again. The coastal areas suffered from famine. There was still enough food, but this year there was no harvest."

"Now the people under our command are eating last year's stored grain, so how can there be grain to sell to you?"

Liu Zheng's remarks were naturally just an excuse. Although there were indeed some tsunamis in Jiaozhou and Yangzhou this year, they did not particularly affect the growth of food.

He still has a lot of food and grass under his command, which is more than enough to support Yuan Shao, but business is like this, rare goods are available, you have to make your things rare, so that the other party can pay a high price.

Although Guo Tu's strategy is not very good, he is not a fool.

He could still see Liu Zheng's excuses.

He knew in his heart that Liu Zheng was trying to shirk and increase the value of the food in his hands.

However, he quickly followed Liu Zheng's words and continued to ask questions.

"Master Liu Zheng, although you don't have a lot of surplus food, my lord is even more short of food, so you can take some out, otherwise I won't be able to go back to do business, and you sold some food to my lord for your own good. If my lord can't survive this winter, the war with the imperial court will be restricted everywhere, and if something happens to my lord, you will have to face the imperial court's troops alone, and the pressure will be great."

Guo Tu was still able to clearly express what the result would be if Liu Zheng didn't sell grain to Yuan Shao.

Although there is no food for Liu Zheng, Yuan Shao will definitely not be in decline, but the battle with the court is definitely not as aggressive as it is now. It must be to shrink the troops and focus on defense at the same time.

If there is food, it will be different, and without any worries, Yuan Shao can fight Lu Zhi with all his might.

"Hearing what you said, it seems to be the same thing."

Liu Zheng nodded, and followed Guo Tu's words, and continued. Guo Tu gave a concession, and Liu Zheng also wanted to climb up.

"Then maybe I really want to tighten my belt and squeeze out some food for Yuan Benchu, but you also know that although the food can be given, the cost of going back and forth is not cheap."

Liu Zheng continued to ask for the price.

Why would Guo Tu refuse? Now, as long as there is food, how dare you ask for a price? When there is a severe shortage, there is no market, and even if you have money, you may not be able to buy food.

"Don't worry, my lord has already said that we will pay for all the expenses, and we are willing to buy food and grass from you at a price that is [-]% higher than the market price!"

"Buy it with money? I'm afraid it won't work."

When Liu Zheng heard this, he immediately shook his head.

Guo Tu frowned. He didn't know what kind of plans Liu Zheng had in mind. Guo Tu, who already had a bad impression of Liu Zheng, cursed inwardly that Liu Zheng was really a shameless person, but he still had to ask carefully. Liu Zheng.

"Then I don't know how Master Liu Zheng wants to sell these grains and grass?"

"Don't worry, you must have what I want. You also know that there is no shortage of food in my Jiaozhou area of ​​Yangzhou, but there is a shortage of war horses. Although I got some war horses from Su Boyan and others before, it is still far away." It is far from enough, so if you want food, I don't need your money, you can exchange it with war horses."

"Your lord, Yuan Shao, has taken in so many Karasuma people, and there will definitely be no shortage of war horses under his command, so it shouldn't be too much to exchange war horses for food."

"I have already thought out the price for you. At the beginning, Su Puyan exchanged 20 war horses for our [-] shi of grain. I am willing to take out [-] shi of grain and grass to sell to you, but you need to give me [-] war horses! "

Liu Zheng breathed out his request, and after telling Guo Tu, Guo Tu's face turned green after hearing it.

Chapter 534 The Lion's Big Opening

When he heard Liu Zheng said that he was willing to sell grain, Guo Tu was still a little happy in his heart.

After all, as long as Liu Zheng is willing to sell grain, Yuan Shao's crisis can be resolved.

But after hearing Liu Zheng's lion speak loudly, Guo Tu's expression became quite ugly.

20 shi of grain in exchange for [-] war horses.

This is simply impossible.

At the normal price, a war horse can be exchanged for fifty shi of grain.

Of course, the price proposed by Liu Zheng must not be regarded as a normal price. After all, it is not Liu Zheng who sells grain, but Yuan Shao who comes to sell it, so the price is naturally different.

From the perspective of being an enemy, it is impossible for Liu Zheng to sell the grain to Yuan Shao at the usual price.

The reason why he sold it to the Karasuma man at a low price was because he valued that the Karasuma man could bring him horses. Now that his horses were not particularly scarce, the price would naturally increase.

But Liu Zheng more than doubled the price in one go, and Guo Tu still couldn't accept it.

He looked at Liu Zheng with a solemn expression, and in his heart he was already cursing Liu Zheng for being shameless and raising prices while others were in danger.

But he didn't dare to get angry, after all, if he had money elsewhere, he might not be able to buy it.

"My lord, isn't your price too high?"

Guo Tu couldn't help but asked again, wanting to discuss it with Liu Zheng. After all, even if he reported the number of tens of thousands of horses to Yuan Shao, it would be difficult to satisfy him.