Bu Zhao's guess was not wrong. Zhang Xi wanted to use Daquan to cause price fluctuations in Soochow, and then let the Jingzhou family purchase Soochow military rations through various channels.
Soochow has always been a grain-producing area. Therefore, slight changes in grain prices will not cause alarm in Soochow in the early days. After all, Soochow has been in good weather in recent years, and no one would think that it is a grain-producing area. The district meets to the point of food shortage.
Of course, this is only part of Zhang Xi's plan.
To be honest, relying only on this commercial method to achieve the purpose of plundering food is actually impossible to achieve the effect Zhang Xi needs. Sun Quan can completely use administrative means and issue an edict to prevent the outflow of food in Soochow.
After all, Shuhan and Soochow are nominally enemy countries, and it is completely reasonable for Soochow to issue an edict to control the outflow of grain.
In these days, no business method can compare to an imperial edict from the emperor.
Therefore, Zhang Xi had to add a layer of insurance to this plan, and this was also the reason why Xu Shu in Yanzhou had assembled an army of 200,000 people, but had been standing still for two months.
Xu Shu was also waiting, waiting for Daquan Dangqian's influence to expand, and waiting for Sun Quan to issue an edict to prevent the outflow of grain.
If in peaceful times, based on the rich heritage of Soochow's aristocratic families and the grain-producing areas occupied by Soochow, Sun Quan issued an edict prohibiting the outflow of grain, and then used the grain stored over the years to alleviate the food shortage among the people, then the impact of Daquan this time would be , will be reduced to a minimum.
But the problem is that if during wartime, the front line needs to use a large amount of food and grass to maintain combat effectiveness, then the impact of food shortage among the people will be great or small.
If the operation is good, nothing will happen. But if the operation is not good, Sun Quan will have to make a choice when faced with the army pressing forward and the shortage of food and grass in the rear - whether to ensure the supply of food and grass to the front, or to ensure the supply of food and grass to the rear. People's livelihood and stability.
Therefore, when Bu Zhi found that Jianye was starting to run out of food, he immediately went to the palace to discuss countermeasures with Sun Quan.
Of course, Sun Quan was not a fool. He knew the seriousness of the matter as soon as he heard it. But fortunately, Sun Quan felt that he still had a chance to remedy the situation.
As long as you are prepared in advance, the impact of food shortages can be minimized.
For example, Sun Quan felt that he could use the excuse that the war was about to start. In order to ensure the supply of military food, he would stop bulk grain transactions from now on, strictly control the borders between Han and Wu, and strictly investigate grain smuggling.
This will prevent Soochow grain from continuing to flow out.
As for the food gap that has been caused, Sun Quan feels that food can be transferred from other places to make up for it.
For example, Jiaozhou.
Jiaozhou is indeed not a big grain-producing area in this era, but the climate here is good, and rice can be harvested twice or even three times a year.
Even if the output in a single season is not as good as that of Jiangdong, it can still make up for this shortcoming with its quantitative advantage.
Moreover, during the nearly fifty years of chaos in the late Han Dynasty, Jiaozhou rarely maintained relative stability. Although wars have continued in recent years, it has not emptied Jiaozhou's food reserves.
Of course, the most important thing is that in Sun Quan's geopolitical concept, the core area of his rule should be in the Jianghuai generation and Jiaozhou. In fact, Sun Quan didn't care whether it was good or bad.
Therefore, Sun Quan did not hesitate at all when he transferred grain from Jiaozhou to fill the food gap in the Jianghuai region.
As for how Jiaozhou would be affected by this, Sun Quan didn't care at all.
And these are the countermeasures that Sun Quan thought of at the first moment. After carefully weighing them, he felt that they were the best solution to the current situation.
But, alas, just when Sun Quan was about to issue these two edicts, Lu Xun from Huainan sent a military report, and Xu Shu's soldiers were divided into three groups, sending troops to Xuzhou and Huainan.
If the Shu Han sent troops to attack Huainan this time, Xuzhou was within Sun Quan's expectation. Then Pan Jun sent troops from Lingling County and Huang Chong sent troops from Guiyang County. They were divided into two groups and attacked Cangwu County in Jiaozhou. It was beyond Sun Quan's expectation.
Cangwu County is not only close to the Jingzhou Governor's Department, but also Nanhai County to the east of it is also the border county between Yangzhou and Jiaozhou.
If the Shu soldiers attack Cangwu County, they can directly cut off the connection between Nanhai County and other counties in Jiaozhou, and prevent the outflow of grain in Jiaozhou. If this is not Zhang Xi's fault, Sun Quan will not be believed even if he is killed.
Moreover, the most terrible thing is that war has begun in Huainan and Xuzhou, and there is also a war in Jiaozhou. Guess, will Jiangling attack Jiangxia next? !
Sun Quan thought with his heels that it would only be a matter of time.
And once the war breaks out on the third front and Sun Quan orders to stop the outflow of military rations, the impact of this matter will be great.
Yes, there was a war, and Sun Quan's edict seemed more justified.
However, you can also think about things the other way around. As soon as the war started in the front, Jianye, who was in the capital behind, immediately issued an edict to prohibit the outflow of food. What do you want the people to think? !
Could it be that Wu was really short of food to a certain extent, forcing the Emperor of Wu to use administrative measures to prevent the outflow of food? !
After all, there has never been such a precedent for Wu to go to war in the past.
Therefore, before the war broke out, Sun Quan issued an edict prohibiting the outflow of food. Although there was criticism, it did not affect people's hearts. But if the war breaks out, Sun Quan cannot do this. Continuing to do so will cause Jianye's people to become disorganized, which will further affect the morale and morale of the soldiers on the front line.
After all, no matter what era it is, whether there is a shortage of food and grass in the rear will have a decisive impact on the fighting will of the frontline soldiers.
Therefore, when the war between Huainan and Jiaozhou broke out, Sun Quan was a bit defensive and could not use simple and crude methods to prevent the outflow of food.
As for the transfer of grain from Jiaozhou to fill the food gap in Jiangdong, as the Shu Han sent troops to Jiaozhou and turned Jiaozhou into a war zone, the efficiency of grain adjustment would also be seriously affected.
After all, they have to pass through the war zone of Cangwu County.
What's even more troublesome is that because of the dispute between the two palaces last year, Sun Quan transferred back Lu Dai, a great hero who helped quell the rebellion in Jiaozhou twice. As a result, there are no important ministers guarding Jiaozhou now.
Now that Jiaozhou is once again in the flames of war, if there are not enough important officials to take care of repelling the Shu thieves and ensuring the northward transfer of grain, it will not be so easy for Jiaozhou's grain to be sent to Jianye.
The first batch of countermeasures made by Sun Quan completely failed.
Moreover, now Sun Quan must make a second response in the shortest possible time.
For this reason, Sun Quan discussed repeatedly with Bu Zhi, Gu Yong, Lu Dai, Quan Cong and others, and finally made a second set of response plans.
Regarding food shortages, Sun Quan will personally discuss with the Jiangdong aristocratic families. Now they are the only ones with some grain reserves. Sun Quan needs to persuade these aristocratic families to stop smuggling grain out of the country, stop driving up the price of grain, and use the stored grains to fill their needs for movement and maintain the food supply. If you live in Soochow, try not to affect frontline operations due to fluctuations in food prices.
This is something Sun Quan needs to compromise with the Jiangdong family.
As for Jiaozhou, Sun Quan could only send Lu Dai from Jianye to Jiaozhou again, asking him to take charge of the overall situation there, repel the invading Shu troops as soon as possible, and ensure that the food in Jiaozhou could be transported north as soon as possible.
Both Bu Zhi and Gu Yong had calculated that as long as Sun Quan could complete these things within three months and temporarily plug the hole in the food shortage, it would not affect the frontline operations.
After three months, Jiangdong's grain will be mature. Once the new grain is put into the warehouse, no matter how many rumors there are about Jiangdong's food shortage, it will not impress the people of Soochow.
It has to be said that with the current capabilities of Soochow's political team, as long as Sun Quan does not suddenly become insane, there is a high probability that Soochow will not have any big problems.
And Sun Quan obviously also knows when he can do things with his eyes closed and when he should stand up. Now is obviously not the time for internal fighting.
Therefore, Sun Quan implemented the plan as quickly as possible. Lu Dai even left Jianye the day after the decision was made and was ordered to go south to command the battle of Jiaozhou.
However, Lu Dai had only left for less than ten days when Sun Quan received two extremely bad news in succession.
One came from Huainan.
Lu Xun and Zhu Ju blocked the joint attack of Xu Shu and Guan Qiujian on the Huainan front line, while Zhuge Dan, who was stationed in Shanyang County, also blocked the attack of Hu Zun of Jiyin County. It looked like another stalemate. The birth of the situation.
But at this time, Wen Qin of Yanzhou East County suddenly detoured to Taishan County and invaded Langya County from Taishan County.
Zhuge Jin, the general of Eastern Wu who was on guard in Langya County, lost consecutive battles and was forced to retreat to Langya County, the county seat of Langya County.
Once Langya County is lost, Wen Qin can take advantage of the situation and enter Xiapi County, cutting off Zhuge Dan's retreat, and also cutting off the connection between Xuzhou and Huainan.
Now, Lu Xun has assigned troops to Sun Shao, asking him to go north along the Sishui River as soon as possible, enter Xiapi County, and rush to the aid of Zhuge Jin.
The second bad news comes from Jiangxia.
As for the navy, Zhong Limu of the Xiangyang navy led 20,000 troops down the Han River and confronted Zhang Cheng, the commander of the Jiangxia navy, at Hanjinkou.
The commander of the Jiangling navy, Yang Xi, and the commander of the Yizhou navy, Wang Jun, together led a navy of 50,000 to attack Lukou and faced off against Zhu Ran, the defender of Lukou, and 30,000 Dongwu navy.
On the army side, Zhang Xi led 50,000 troops and marched out from Jiangling to attack Zhangling, Jiangxia County.
Five days later, Zhang Ling fell, and Zhang Xi led the army to confront Xue Ti of Xiakou across the river.
The war in Jiangxia has begun.
(End of chapter)
