This era is, after all, an era of small-scale peasant economy. Although Liu Ba has certain economic concepts, in practice, the methods he can use are still the same.
In addition, it was Liu Ba's first time to operate this kind of economic warfare, and he was not very sure, so the method he adopted was actually quite simple and crude.
In the early days, Liu Ba consciously flowed a large amount of five-baht money into Guanzhong to "smuggle" grain and other materials in Guanzhong. But at this time, Liu Ba deliberately exported a large amount of Shu brocade, using Shu brocade to exchange all the five-baht money in Shuzhong. Come back.
This in and out, Liu Ba successfully caused the shortage of five baht coins in Shuzhong, Guanzhong area, and artificially created some price fluctuations.
There is less money on the market, and Cao Wei's five-baht coins cannot be exchanged for the Shu brocade, salt, paper and other items needed by the aristocratic families. In order to plunder the five-baht coins in Shu that are still scattered among the people, the aristocratic families will definitely use them in any way. Extremely.
Even at this time, some aristocratic families have begun to privately resmelt Cao Wei's five-baht coins and make privately-made five-baht coins according to the standard of Sichuan five-baht coins.
Indeed, this is a crime that will cost you your head, but this is the family of this era, there are few things they dare not do.
At this critical moment, Liu Ba also knew that this economic warfare experiment was about to enter its final stage. If he did not come to Hanzhong to preside over it personally, he would definitely be uneasy.
When Liu Ba arrived in Hanzhong and began to preside over the closing of the economic war in the Guanzhong area, he inevitably had to discuss it with Zhuge Liang.
As for Zhuge Liang, he also knew that Zhang Xi had many clever ideas, so he dragged Zhang Xi to participate in the discussion with Liu Ba.
In this way, during the day, Zhuge Liang and Zhang Xi had to discuss with Pang Tong, Fa Zheng, and Huang Quan to formulate the strategy for the Northern Expedition, and at night they had to discuss with Liu Ba the closing of the economic war. It was quite busy.
There is no need to ask about the strategy of the Northern Expedition. This itself involves all aspects. Rather than arguing, everyone is looking through various intelligences, broadening each other's ideas, and working together to formulate a reasonable and stable strategy.
As for the economic war, Zhang Xi originally thought it would be simpler. After all, Liu Ba had done many things in the early stage. Now it is just about closing the network. How difficult can it be? !
But in fact, after Zhang Xi really participated in the discussion between Zhuge Liang and Liu Ba, Zhang Xi discovered that this economic war seemed to be different from what he thought.
The economic war that Zhang Xi thinks is a purely economic issue. He uses his own advantage in making money to mint money crazily to converge the wealth in Guanzhong and trigger inflation in Guanzhong. But what Zhang Xi thinks seems to be a little too simple.
What Zhuge Liang and Liu Ba were discussing was no longer just economic issues. In other words, these two people actually didn't pay too much attention to economic issues. They paid more attention to the people's livelihood, political, military and other aspects of issues caused by economic problems in Guanzhong.
The small-scale peasant economy these days is very fragile. Once there is a problem in one link, it will give rise to a lot of social problems, and these social problems will inevitably affect people's livelihood, politics, military and other aspects.
Not to mention anything else, Liu Ba took the opportunity of arranging economic warfare and used five baht money to open a road in Shuzhong, and established a large network of relationships in Guanzhong. Once the Northern Expedition occurs, these relationships will immediately become a useful intelligence network. .
A lot of the information Zhuge Liang had was actually passed on by Liu Ba through this network.
Coupled with the current Guanzhong area, Cao Wei's main strategy is to focus on military.
After all, Liu Bei has occupied Longshan Road, and Guanzhong is facing a real threat. If the military is not the main focus, it is impossible to stop Liu Bei's attack that may be launched at any time.
Originally, the Guanzhong area was still in the hinterland, with Yongzhou, Liangzhou and the Qinling Mountains blocking the front, so there was no need to worry about war.
At that time, Chang'an was still guarded by capable officials like Zhong Yao, Zhang Ji, and Wen Hui, who could help Guanzhong resume production and develop people's livelihood. From the perspective of these people, it might not be that easy for Liu Ba to launch an economic war through smuggling. .
In the past two years, the main general in Guanzhong was either Cao Ren or Cao Zhen. Wen Hui had died of illness, Zhong Yao was transferred to Yecheng by Cao Pi, and Zhang Ji was also transferred by Cao Pi to take charge of Yanzhou's war preparations. Can you expect Cao Ren or Cao Zhen to have this idea? and ability to develop people’s livelihood? !
That is to say, Liu Ba's time in Guanzhong was too short. If Liu Ba was given another year, Liu Ba would have been able to instigate a rebellion led by the Guanzhong family.
But even so, Zhuge Liang was already very satisfied.
People these days do not have the concept of profit or loss when engaging in economic warfare. In the eyes of Zhuge Liang and Liu Ba, as long as political or military goals can be achieved, economic warfare must be carried out even if it is a loss.
What's more, Liu Ba's coming and going is almost equivalent to exchanging Shu brocade for military rations. Even if he loses a little, he won't lose too much.
Not to mention there is so much intelligence and the established intelligence network, which cannot be exchanged for ten thousand dollars.
Zhuge Liang was quite satisfied. When discussing the ending with Liu Ba, he also asked Liu Ba to pay attention to protecting these intelligence networks in Guanzhong. God knows what the outcome of this Northern Expedition will be. These intelligence networks may be of great use in the future. .
Therefore, Zhuge Liang can be said to have great praise for Liu Ba. At the same time, he also asked Liu Ba to pay attention to various intelligence in Mei County, Wugong County and other places, and whether it was possible to instigate the Mei County defender and the family.
When Zhuge Liang asked Liu Ba this question, Zhang Xi was a little dumbfounded. Didn't he say "Zhuge Liang is only cautious in his life"? !
If Pang Tong asked this, Zhang Xi would still understand. After all, Pang Tong was obsessed with his strange plan. The biggest problem was that he was stuck in conquering Mei County.
If Mei County cannot be conquered in a short time, all Pang Tong's plans will be in vain.
But if he could instigate a rebellion against the Mei County garrison and the family, then Pang Tong's plan would only have one obstacle left to conquer Chencang Road.
And Chencangdao guard Xiahou Mao will probably turn this obstacle into an obstacle no longer.
Therefore, if Pang Tong came to ask Liu Ba this question, Zhang Xi thought it was understandable. But why Zhuge Liang? !
You, Zhuge Yutou, aren't you always opposed to using strange tactics? !
In fact, Zhang Xi had long wanted to ask the question of whether he could instigate rebellion against the Mei County garrison.
But considering that Zhuge Liang was present, this dead fish head was famously cautious in history. Zhang Xi was worried that Zhuge Liang would directly and sternly object if he asked such a question. Zhang Xi was not very good at not worrying about Zhuge Liang's face, so Zhang Xi planned to go private for a while. I'll ask Liu Ba for advice again.
But he didn't expect Zhuge Liang to take the initiative to ask. This was a bit hard for Zhang Xi to understand.
What made Zhang Xi even more incomprehensible was that after Zhuge Liang asked Liu Ba what he said, he turned around and comforted Zhang Xi with a smile, saying, "Yuan, please be patient and don't be impatient. Listen to brother Zichu before making a decision." .”
These words feel awkward no matter how you listen to them - it suits your meaning. Are you afraid that I will object? !
Actually, that's what Zhuge Liang really meant.
Zhang Xi is sometimes influenced by some inherent concepts of later generations. Among them, the biggest disaster area is Zhuge Liang.
Zhuge Liang in history was only cautious in his life. That was because he was fighting against nine states with one state and could not afford to lose, so he had to be cautious.
And even so, Zhuge Liang in history was not without his unconstrained use of troops, especially in the battle of Lucheng with Sima Yi. Zhuge Liang's use of troops was simply magical.
Not only did Sima Yi use his soldiers to be completely led by the nose, and won the victory of "Three Thousand Firsts", but later when he retreated, he also defeated Zhang He, leaving the famous saying "An arrow hit the knee" "!
In this battle, Zhuge Liang did not fight with the so-called "cautious" style at all.
Now Zhuge Liang is not in a position where he cannot afford to lose.
The Han Dynasty owns the four states of Jing, Yi, Yong, and Liang. He can also directly enter Bingguanzhong to peek into the Central Plains. What can he not afford to lose? !
On the contrary, in Zhuge Liang's heart, Zhang Xi is the truly "cautious" person.
In Zhuge Liang's view, Zhang Xi was good at everything, capable of both literary and military skills, and had many clever ideas. However, he was too cautious in using troops, which sometimes led to missed opportunities.
During the last Northern Expedition, if Zhang Xi's troops could be more decisive and occupy the east bank of the Wei River, then even if Liu Bei chose to retreat in the end and the east bank of the Wei River had to be given up, the dispersal of the customs at the Longshan Pass might be in the hands of his own family. As for the current situation, once you leave Longshan Road, you will face the obstruction of Xiongguan.
But this time, when formulating the strategy, Pang Tong's strategy cannot be said to be bad, but it is too risky and a bit unreliable. But if the two problems of Chencang Road and Meixian can be solved, this strategy can be decided in one battle. Guanzhong strategy.
Zhuge Liang objected only because Pang Tong's strategy was not complete enough. But Zhuge Liang really thought that with Zhang Xi's cautious character, he sincerely felt that this strategy was too risky, so he firmly opposed it.
That's why Zhuge Liang asked Zhang Xi not to worry and first heard about the possibility of instigating rebellion after asking Liu Ba.
If so, Zhuge Liang will have a good talk with Zhang Xi and ask Zhang Xi not to seek stability in everything. Although there is no big mistake, he will miss the opportunity.
If not, just pretend that Zhuge Liang didn't ask and continue to formulate strategies together according to the original plan.
Liu Ba, on the other hand, hesitated for a moment and nodded.
As for the rest, there’s no need to ask.
Without waiting for Zhuge Liang to persuade Zhang Xi, Zhang Xi directly called his entourage and asked him to quickly invite Huang Quan, Fazheng, and Pang Tong.
The strategic plan for the Northern Expedition needs to be revised again! ! !
Zhuge Liang was also slightly stunned, then smiled bitterly and said nothing.
Although Zhang Xi was a little anxious, it was already dark now, and maybe those three people had already fallen asleep. Since Zhang Xi took the initiative to accept the feasibility of this strategy, he would have saved himself a lot of time.
This is also a good thing.
(End of chapter)
