12dz Chapter 325: Fight but not break!
Chapter 325: Fight but not break!
Huangfu Lin frowned: "Jiangdong and we are enemies, why did you send an envoy to see us?"
"General Huangfu, you must remember that among the vassal states, there are no eternal enemies, nor eternal friends."
Ye Kun chuckled and said, "It's like the young wise king of the Xiongnu. He was our enemy at first, but now he is our brother, sending us cattle, sheep and horses continuously."
Huangfu Lin frowned: "Could it be that Xiao Dequan from Jiangdong wants to reconcile with us?"
"It's normal for him to come and ask for peace. We defeated Xiahou Chang and shocked China. Wherever our troops pointed, the young Xiongnu king surrendered. Jiangdong knows how powerful we are, so it's not surprising that they asked for peace in order to protect themselves."
"Lord Ye, from what you said, will you accept Jiangdong's request for peace?"
"Fight without defeat."
Ye Kun smiled faintly: "Eventually, I will annex Jiangdong. But for now, I can accept their request for peace."
"But if we agree to sue for peace, can we still kill Xiao Dequan and avenge Lord Shangguan in the future?"
"As long as Jiangdong is annexed, I have ten thousand ways to kill Xiao Dequan. Are you afraid that I can't avenge my fourth brother?"
"Lord Ye is right!" Huangfu Lin laughed.
Ye Kun left the water stronghold and met the envoy from Jiangdong.
The envoy was Yan Ju, a wealthy man from Jiangdong and an important adviser to Xiao Dequan from Jiangdong, who was very good at debate.
After entering the hall of the prefectural government, Yan Ju bowed to Ye Kun, neither humble nor arrogant.
Ye Kun looked at Yan Ju, who was in his forties and had an extraordinary bearing, so he stood up to return the greeting, invited Yan Ju to sit down, and then said with a smile:
"Mr. Yan is a famous scholar from Jiangdong. I have come here today after traveling through mountains and rivers. What advice do you have for me?"
Yan Ju bowed and saluted: "I came here on the orders of my lord Xiao Dequan, to make peace with the King of Hanzhong and turn hostility into friendship."
Ye Kun shook his head: "Jiangdong colluded with Xiahou Chang to seize my seven counties in Jingzhou, and now they are asking for peace. Don't they think I am a fool?"
Jingzhou originally had eight counties, but now, Huangfu Lin and Yan Liuhai have occupied a part of it.
There are still about seven counties in the hands of Xiahou Chang and Jiangdong respectively.
Yan Ju waved his hand and said, "The eight counties of Jingzhou are all Dading territory. My lord, the Marquis of Wu, now occupies part of them, which is also the grace of the emperor."
"Everyone says that Mr. Yan is a wise man, why are you lying with your eyes open? You clearly stole it from the eldest son Wei Ning!"
"Lord Ye, if that's the case, then you also seized Yizhou, as well as Yong and Liangzhou, right?"
"Yes, I stole it. I don't deny it."
"Well, I also admit that we took the four southern counties of Jingzhou."
Yan Ju smiled faintly, clasped his fists and said, "What our Wu Hou meant is that the current territory should be the final word, everyone should stop fighting, and make peace. Open up trade routes, develop commerce, and benefit the people."
Zhuge Feng smiled and said, "We have everything in Yizhou, so we don't seem to need anything from Jiangdong, right?"
Indeed, Ye Kun now has the Chengdu Plain, the Hanzhong Plain, and the oasis of the Hexi Corridor, which can be regarded as a land of fish and rice.
They were self-sufficient in food and had a surplus, which they could trade with the Huns for cattle, sheep, and horses.
What good things are there in Jiangdong?
There is a papermaking technique, but unfortunately, the current papermaking technology in Jiangdong is not as good as that of the paper mill in Yizhou!
Shipbuilding? Iron smelting?
These techniques were left behind by Ye Kun!
Yan Ju chuckled and said, "Master Zhuge, you are wrong. We in Jiangdong have a lot of marine fish and seafood. Do you have any?"
Zhuge Feng smiled and said, "Sea fish are bitter and fishy, we don't eat them. Hanzhong Plain and Chengdu Plain are both lands of fish and rice. There are countless rivers and streams in Yizhou, and we can't even eat all the fish we have!"
"So, what about steel?"
Yan Ju was clearly well prepared: "As far as I know, Yizhou has been looking for iron ore everywhere and developing it vigorously, but there is still not enough steel, right?"
Ye Kun laughed: "Mr. Yan, it seems that you are very familiar with the mineral resources in Yizhou. Yes, I am short of iron."
This year, Yizhou manufactured iron pots and muskets, and created new armor, using a large amount of iron!
In order to resume production, a large number of iron farm tools are needed.
Despite vigorous mining, there was still not enough steel.
Yan Ju smiled and said, "Wu Yue has always produced iron...but they can't make the iron pots you have in Yizhou. So..."
Ye Kun smiled and said, "So, you plan to use the crude iron to exchange for our iron pot?"
"Yes, that's what I mean. Of course, we also want your Shu brocade, scented oil, porcelain and glass."
"Sure, as long as the price is right, we can negotiate." Ye Kun was very generous.
"Then, can you please ask the King of Hanzhong to set a price?"
"Then I'll be frank. Making an iron pot wastes a lot of iron, consumes a lot of coal and charcoal, and countless labor. Especially for forging an iron pot, twenty pounds of raw iron can produce one pound of potsticker iron. Add in charcoal and labor, and it's thirty to one."
"30 jin of crude iron for one jin of pot iron?" Yan Ju thought about it and agreed immediately:
"Deal. We'll give you 100,000 kilograms of crude iron first, in exchange for a batch of iron pots. We'll send merchants to discuss other trade products."
so generous?
Ye Kun nodded and smiled, but he was thinking in his heart, could it be that Xiao Dequan from Jiangdong was deliberately showing weakness and secretly planning to cross the river in plain clothes?
You know, once the two sides have large-scale trade transactions, the number of ships and merchants traveling back and forth will increase significantly.
In order to facilitate trade, inspections at border checkpoints will be relaxed.
The other party sent out a group of suicide squads, pretending to be merchants to launch a sneak attack, so there is plenty of room for maneuver!
The two sides finalized the trade intention, Yan Ju took his leave and returned to the inn to rest.
Ye Kun called Zhuge Feng, Guan Yafu and others and asked, "My Lords, do you think Xiao Dequan is sincere in his request for peace and trade?"
Xie Tong is a businessman, and considers from a businessman's perspective:
"I think Xiao Dequan is sincere, because at this price, they can still make a lot of profit after exchanging the iron pots."
Zhuge Feng asked Ye Kun in return: "Does Lord Ye think there is some conspiracy here?"
Ye Kun thought for a moment and said with a smile: "Let me tell you a story about a man in white crossing the river."
Crossing the River in White Clothes is the story of the Eastern Wu's surprise attack on Jingzhou in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and it is also the story of Lu Meng's surprise attack on Guan Yu.
Ye Kun blurs the historical background to tell this story.
Huangfu Lin was so frightened after hearing this that he broke out in a cold sweat and whispered:
"Lord Ye reminded me, I think this is Jiangdong's conspiracy. They know that we are building new warships for naval battles with Jiangdong, so how could they send us such a large amount of steel?"
Guan Yafu also woke up and said in deep thought:
"It's very likely that they will show weakness first and pretend to trade with us to reassure us. Then they will take advantage of our relaxed defense to launch a surprise attack on our water fort!"
Huangfu Lin said: "I have also thought about sending a surprise force to attack Jiangdong Water Fort and burn their warships. Now it seems that they are also thinking of this!"
Zhuge Feng smiled and said, "If that's the case, we can use their trick against them. First we can earn Jiangdong's steel, and then kill their death squad."
Ye Kun nodded: "General Huangfu, we will go back to deploy defenses tomorrow. We will be relaxed on the outside and tight on the inside, and use their tactics to defeat them. We will pretend to be ignorant and do business with Yan Ju seriously to see what tricks they have."