Johime Three Kingdoms

Chapter 523 What is the intention
"The Kingdom of Chu is a superior state, and the king of Chu is the hope of the princes. How could he break the contract so lightly?" Zheng Du "questioned" Deng Zhi after entertaining him at the banquet.

The question was naturally about the Chu army's failure to evacuate according to the agreed time.

It's just that... this had already been held at a banquet, so this "questioning" seemed very weak.

What shocked Deng Zhi even more was actually sitting on his knees - he had been sitting on a chair in Chu for several years. Whether in formal occasions or in private, it was almost impossible to see him sitting on his knees anymore. He had long been used to it, and suddenly he knelt and sat up again. It was really... Some legs are numb!

Deng Zhi moved his posture cryptically and said calmly: "It's not that Chu broke the contract, but we have sufficient evidence to prove that Shu hired pirates to plunder slaves, and during this period, it invaded Chu's overseas territories. Repeatedly violated and even attacked our navy of Chu."

Deng Zhi didn't even blink when he spoke, just as the people of Chu had vowed that Liu Zhang would first pacify Hanzhong and then destroy Jingchu.

"This is absolutely not the case! My Lord is also a benevolent and righteous person, how could he act like this? What's more, the pirates are all from Wei, and they are separated by mountains and rivers from Yizhou. How can they trade slaves? This is obviously what the Wei State said!" Du completely refused to admit it and pointed at Wei.

On the other side, Liu Zhang, who had been told to leave it to Zheng Du to deal with it, did not speak at this time, but pretended to be unfathomable and sat in the first place, occasionally looking at Zhang Song on the other side.

"Oh? So the Marquis of Shu has finally decided to abolish the system of slavery and prostitution?" Deng Zhi said in surprise.

Zheng Du was taken aback when he heard the words, and thought to himself: You are too good at climbing. I just said that my master has no reason to instruct others to "catch slaves". How come you want to abolish slavery and sell yourself?
There are so many noble families in Xichuan, which family doesn't have countless renouncements?
although……

It cannot be regarded as a "slave", and even most of the farmers may not see the master's fangs with a contract for the rest of his life, but the slavery system, or the habit of raising a large number of households, is deeply embedded in the blood of the gentry of.

In essence, this is not only for exploitation, but also for competing with the "court".

After all, if a noble family has one more anonymous household, Cheng Ji's household registration will mean one less person. From then on, they only need to pay tribute to the nobles and do not need to pay taxes to the court. Even over time, they only know that there is a master's family and not a court.

When the Chu State wanted to abolish the lifelong contract, how many ups and downs did it go through and how much preparation did it make?
It is best to proceed step by step and with a sufficiently large profit margin to "rush" out this bad habit.

The biggest difference between the Chu State's ten-year contract and the previous household registration was that for individuals, it reduced enslavement, but for the court, it truly included every Chu citizen in the household registration.

It's not that after being hired, to the court, it is equivalent to not having this person...

But now that it was suddenly raised here by the Marquis of Shu, was it because he was afraid that the Marquis of Shu would not perish quickly enough?
The Chu State only took advantage of the trend to "rush" with profits, rather than fully developing the productivity to this point. The Chu State's system has always been slightly ahead of the productivity.

For example, the Wei State now wants to learn from the Chu State in terms of technology, but it is still rampant in prostitution. Not only does it enslave foreigners, but most of the craftsmen in the workshops are "hidden households" of the nobles - the Chu State's workshop system and technology , was promoted by the imperial court, and naturally took the opportunity to replace the benefits of anonymity, and completely sealed it with the "Laws of Chu". The workshops and technology of the Wei State were learned from the Chu State, and they would not give them in vain. "Hidden account".

As for the Kingdom of Shu...

After all, King Cao Cao of Wei had the ability to suppress the nobles. If Liu Zhang, the Marquis of Shu, dared to do so, civil strife would break out in Yizhou in minutes.

What?When the Chu Kingdom comes, there can no longer be any hiding place?

That means following the King of Chu has a better future than following Liu Zhang!

If Bai Tu really lets go and is willing to give the Yizhou gentry no less privileges than they have now, I'm afraid they can't wait to invite the Chu army in, not just one family or two families...

Zheng Du just moved his mouth, but before he could say anything, Deng Zhi continued: "If the prince of Shu really has such righteousness, the King of Chu and all his colleagues in Chu will be happy. From now on, Shu will be one of the brothers of Chu." China, even warships are willing to be traded...or even given as gifts!" Deng Zhi looked very open-minded about me.

Theoretically, these feudal princes who were granted Jiuxi can also be regarded as having their own princely states, such as the Yan Kingdom.

It's just that the other princes who assisted the Han Dynasty will not shine in their own "states", but it is not a problem to talk about the Kingdom of Shu.

When Zheng Du heard Deng Zhi's words, his face became angry - what do we need a battleship for?Driving in a mountain stream?

"Ahem, Master Deng misunderstood. The existence of servants in Xichuan has its own reason..."

"So the Marquis of Shu really hopes to have more slaves?" Hearing this, Deng Zhi immediately looked suspicious.

Zheng Du also saw that Deng Zhi was completely messing around, so he no longer passively begged for mercy, but raised his eyes and said: "I, the Marquis of Shu, have never done such a thing. If the Chu State really wants to punish him with this, attack If we attack the clan members of the Han Dynasty, our Shuhou Mansion will never sit back and wait for death. Considering the dangerous terrain and bad mountains and rivers of Xichuan, if we make up our minds to move the people into the city and build strong walls to clear the wilderness, how many years and how much grain and grass will the Chu Kingdom be prepared to use to conquer the enemy? state?

Nowadays, conflicts between Wei and Gui have broken out frequently at sea, and the Marquises of Qi and Zheng are also at war. If Yizhou can hold back a hundred thousand troops of Chu, it will be considered a worthy death! "Zheng Du seemed very excited.

Zheng Du dared to break the jar because Zhang Song and Liu Zhang were present...

If Deng Zhi really refused to accept this trick, Zhang Song would give Liu Zhang a wink, and then Liu Zhang would just scold Zheng Du and ask him to leave first, and then he could change the subject.

As for the reason for the reprimand?
Just say that you don't want the people to suffer. It also reflects the benevolence and righteousness of the Lord of Shu. It will be more beneficial to the reputation of the Lord of Shu if word spreads in the future.

Of course, the real reason is that the princes of Shu do not have that much binding force on Yizhou. After all... they are princes who have not completely transformed even the warlords!

Really throughout Xichuan, the army and civilians were integrated, and everything was aimed at holding back the Chu State, even at the "price" of the people and nobles of Yizhou... I was afraid that someone would abandon Shu and surrender to Chu on the spot.

Even if you control a part of it temporarily, you will continue to have "distinctive thoughts" in the future.

If Liu Zhang surrenders to the Chu State, he will at least have a restful life, but if he dies in civil strife, he will have to be buried in the Shu Hou Mansion...

In the history without the White Rabbit Effect, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang joined together. When they reached the final stage of conquering Xichuan, Zheng Du suggested to Liu Zhang to move the people on a large scale to places that were easy to defend and difficult to attack, and to burn all the granaries that could not be controlled from the outside. , dragged until Liu Bei couldn't hold it anymore and retreated naturally...

Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang were also covered in cold sweat when they heard this move.

After all, let alone whether Liu Zhang can do it or not, if he wants to gamble, the Jingzhou Army may not be able to hold on first!
However, Liu Zhang did not dare to gamble at all, but surrendered directly.

Deng Zhi also saw Zheng Du's stern expression and internal confusion. He did not look surprised or fearful like Zheng Du imagined a fooling young man. Instead, he calmly said to the Marquis of Shu: "The Marquis of Shu is a benevolent and righteous prince. How could he act like this? If such an unjust act was really done, how could our great army of Chu spare food and grass..."

Zheng Du punched the air, while Liu Zhang looked at Zhang Song frequently, as if he wanted to know whether he wanted to speak.

But at this time, Zhang Song spoke first: "The current enemy of Chu State is in the north and not in the west. What is the intention of King Chu rashly sending troops to Xichuan again? Mr. Deng, can you tell me?"

Zhang Song also saw that the Chu State was still not prepared to destroy Shu, otherwise...if Liu Zhang was stronger, the Chu State would be trapped here with at least [-]% of its troops. By then, the Chu State would be the one that all the princes in the world looked forward to - the one with evil intentions. kind.

It's just that Zhang Song couldn't guess what Chu was going to do without important information...

after all……

The Chu State just wanted to wait for another two or three years, wait until the time was right, and "complete the battle" at sea, and in one fell swoop make the Wei State languish and shock the Northland. Now... just to make people look less suspicious, take Shu It was just a matter of venting anger - how could Zhang Song guess such a thing?
From the perspective of Zhang Song and the people of the world, the balance of the Bohai Sea that was originally completely on the side of the Chu State is gradually tilting towards the Wei State, right?
Even the situation in the entire world is gradually turning towards the good of Wei, right?
Zhang Song suspects that several "masters" in the Han Dynasty are trying to induce Chu and Wei to fight directly...

After all, "everyone can see" now that the reason why the state of Chu is in some decline is mainly because it is separated from the state of Wei by the Han princes, and the direct conflicts with the state of Wei are all in the waters closer to the state of Wei.

The aggressiveness shown by the Wei State even made the Han Dynasty no longer want to passively defend its vassal...

Because they did not understand Chu State, especially Chu State's layout in Yizhou and Danzhou, they still underestimated Chu State's national power too much.

It is no exaggeration to say that even if the Chu State did not have artillery and air ships, and both sides really used the same warships, it would not be possible for them to lose to the Wei State...

After all, the sinking of a main ship by the Wei Navy was a serious injury. The sinking of a main ship by the Shijia family basically meant that they would withdraw from the competition for maritime interests. The sinking of a main ship by the Chu State...the casualties of the soldiers were tragic. But from the perspective of battleships alone, this can be regarded as boosting domestic demand!

If there is a full-scale war, without destroying the ecology of any domestic workshops, Chu will be able to launch new warships all the time—the kind that are faster than being sunk in battle.

Even if the fleet is replaced by two, a year later it will be the Wei State that squeezes out a lot of people in the country and destroys their families, while the Chu State... is still happily completing new orders.

This is also a potential benefit after industrialization - war will not leave its "comfort zone" until it reaches a certain scale. Unlike agricultural civilization, as long as the knife is used, it will basically leave the comfort zone...

Unless Wei can attack Chu in one fell swoop, how can it be that Chu, which has the highest production efficiency and also has the support of "the whole world", can hold back?
It is even difficult to force the Chu State out of the comfort zone of "war losses are still within the range of stimulating domestic demand" and enter the stage where war damages national strength...

Unless, as Zhang Song thinks, 1% of the Chu State's national strength is really dragged down in Yizhou, then all the princes will definitely see the opportunity, causing the Chu State to fall into a bitter state of overdrafting the national strength! [-]
(End of this chapter)