Follow General Cao to mix the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 117

Even if it’s expensive in Xuzhou, Chen Deng’s meal is full, soft fried river prawns, soft fried pork ribs, fried Yellow River carp fish with bones removed, hot kohlrabi without chili, and even scrambled eggs with leeks Empty, fifteen plates for ten people, I can't guess what I just ate.

Nestled on the back of the high and comfortable chair, thinking about a belly that could soon catch up with Cao Hongjie, Chen Deng hummed gracefully the last second that this trip was worthwhile!In the next second, he suddenly lost his nerve, and when Zhao Yun stared straight at him, he suddenly grabbed Wang Hou's neck.

"Wang Tuqiu, you harmed me!"

"Brother Yuanlong, why did you say that?"

"After eating this delicious and sweet food, all the rough and bloated food in the world will be dull, how will you let Brother Yu live next?"

Being pulled by the collar, looking at Chen Deng's round eyes pretending to be ferocious, Wang Hou pushed him back to sit back, dumbfounded: "Brother Yuanlong, some cooking tricks are just your first time eating stir-fried vegetables." And fried food, I find it novel, in the future..., don't stare, I will ask Qi Ling to write the recipe for you in a while, brother, can you?"

That's pretty much it!Chen Deng, a high-ranking scholar, sat back rubbing his stomach contentedly after playing the rogue, but immediately gave Wang Hou benefits again, and waved his hand at the strong man beside him who had been eating all the time.

"Zang Ai, the second son of Langya Prime Minister Zang Ba, Tu begged you to scold Lu Bu downstairs in the black door, but the scolding got to Zang Guoxiang's heart, this time I specially sent the second son of my family over here, and follow Tu beg you to learn, my brother will not be unreasonable Give me this face!"

No wonder he came with more than 100 men with big arms and round waists. At first, Wang Hou thought they were the bodyguards brought by Chen Deng, but they turned out to be the soldiers of the Taishan bandits. What kind of shame is there, not to mention that Wang Hou has few major generals now. The great help of adding talents is only to be able to build a relationship with Zang Ba, the local tyrant king of Qingzhou and Xuzhou. He must also accept the funeral love family from the Zang family. Laughing, Wang Hou is a high-ranking official again. go out.

"There is a vacancy in one of my subordinates. Wang has had a headache for this position for a long time. Brother Yuanlong, you are a gift from heaven! Zang Xiaoyou, just feel wronged and be a captain of a certain department under Wang's command!"

"The last general thanked the Lord!"

This Zang Ba’s family education is good. After eating a plump and round Zang Ai, he didn’t dare to take it too seriously. He immediately lowered the etiquette, stood up and bowed respectfully to Wang Hou, and put it down. Wang Hou, who had a bad face, couldn't help but look at him again.

The charm of cooking is not only that Chen Deng is full of food, but even the Xuzhou merchants who followed Chen Deng downstairs are full of food. Wang Hou kept his word and directly sent his servants to lead the big bellies. The other side was given to Chen Deng with four small shops in the best locations. When building the building, Wang Hou had considered the issue of accommodation. There were a bunch of small rooms of two to three square meters on the second and third floors, and each building could accommodate a hundred people. It's not a problem, and people in this era are not picky. You can sleep when you put down your luggage, but you don't sleep in the open air.

After a full meal, Chen Deng couldn't wait to go to the back kitchen to ask Lu Ji how to cook the meal. The first night passed so peacefully.

But the next day, Puyang, which had been quiet for several years, became lively. There are so many commercials in later generations, even if you watch a video, there will be more than [-] seconds of commercials. Wang Hou knows the importance of commercials too well. Before the construction of the house was completed, I used paper to write down the big rewards in the Puyang business district, how cheap the salt was, and the merchants from Xuzhou brought a wealth of seaside specialties. All major families voted at each mansion, and as soon as the major families whose "Clan History" was registered along the way were sent off, it took a day or two to arrive at the ferry on the south bank of the Yellow River in the early morning. Scan the goods.

The society of the Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty are actually completely different. From the heroes of the late Qin Dynasty and the early Han Dynasty, Liu Bang, the great ancestor of the Han Dynasty, saw the power of the local aristocratic families. In order to completely disintegrate the old forces of the Seven Kingdoms, Liu Bang and his successor Wendi Jingdi paid special attention to Crack down on tyrants, and even force them to separate their clans and families. In the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, they even appointed cruel officials to attack and frame tyrants from all over the world.

But in the Eastern Han Dynasty, first of all, Liu Xiu was born in a powerful family, and people are divided into groups. The reason why he was able to calm down the troubled times so quickly and win the world is that most of his generals Yuntai 28 also came from powerful families. Landlords have made great strides. Politically, eunuchs representing the imperial power are wrestling with foreign relatives. Economically, a large number of self-cultivating farmers have gone bankrupt, aristocratic families have swallowed up land, and even entire villages and clans are now serving as tenants and servants for the powerful. The self-sufficient feudal manors of aristocratic families severed the relationship between the people and the market, so the economy of the Eastern Han Dynasty could not surpass the Western Han Dynasty even at its peak.

This situation has actually caused some troubles for Wang Hou. There are only dozens or hundreds of companies that can do business. Fortunately, rare things are more expensive, and when things are ready, you don’t have to worry about selling them. The eight companies that have opened now The shops are overcrowded, and the managers and purchases of each big family basically line up from the first shop to the last shop.

It is also because there are not as many purchasing needs from the citizens as in the West Market in the Tang Dynasty or the Song and Ming Dynasties, and there is no need to worry about too many things. Wang Hou also has time to accompany Chen Deng to visit his three-acre land. The first stop is When I went to his Pudong Salt Farm, I watched the big iron pot that had just been replaced for more than an hour, and under the burning coals, the white well salt was burned out. Chen Deng's eyes were shining, and he breathed An order of five thousand big black pots was thrown out.

Originally, I wanted to start the salt drying method in the salt field with him, but the profiteer Wang Hou, Balabala, calculated the profit with his fingers, and swallowed the words again.

After visiting Yanchi, Chen Deng followed Wang Houshi to inspect the [-]-head giant pig farm that is under construction on the barren land of Dongpu. He is waiting for such a large pig farm to be built and use pig manure to ferment to produce biogas. , The fuel demand of the well salt field can be reduced by more than half, and these things that can be eaten and pulled can also supply less than half of the fertilizer in the East County. Wang Hou said with joy, and Chen Deng was deeply convinced.

The last one left, and the least interesting one, is the Yongye Field beside Puyang City. Among the lush green wheat fields, it can be regarded as someone who has been caught. Wang Houshi talked about his plan endlessly. A number of hydraulic mills were built on the banks of the Yellow River, and they strived to harvest at least 100 million shi of flour this autumn. However, Chen Deng, who was following him and thoughtful at the same time, finally stopped him, full of deep thoughts, and his brows were furrowed. asked.

"Tuqiu, how do you keep everything in front of you?"

Seeing Wang Hou turning his head in astonishment, Chen Deng shook his head with a stern expression.

"Ming people don't talk dark words. It is well known that Prime Minister Cao of Xudu and Yuan Jizhou of Hebei are incompatible. This year's autumn at the earliest, and next spring at the latest, this big battle is inevitable! I beg you, Puyang Right at the place where the two armies meet, if Brother Yu says something you don’t like to hear, once the army arrives, your Puyang will disappear like a flower in a moon mirror in the water, disappearing into nothingness.”

"You are a talent for governing the world. It is impossible for you to fail to see the situation in front of you. Then why are you laying such a large place? With your mere five thousand Puyang soldiers, can you keep it?"

Indeed, regardless of the distance, Yan Liang's [-] soldiers and horses who are close together are not something Wang Hou can compete with. These are troubled times. Worried, Wang Hou clasped his fists heavily with a smile, and bowed to Chen Deng.

"That's why this time, brother Yu invited my brother Yuanlong to come no matter what. With all this in Puyang, brother Yu still wants to ask brother Yuanlong to help me!"

This sentence almost killed Chen Deng. At first he thought that I, Wang Hou, had some secret weapon or a killer plan, but after a long time of trouble, he turned his mind on himself and shook his head speechlessly, but Chen Deng still hummed in distress.

"Prime Minister Cao, say hello. I can support you with five thousand Xuzhou soldiers! Including two thousand Danyang soldiers! If you have a good relationship with Zang Ba on the Taishan thief side, it should be five or six thousand soldiers. It’s not a problem, this brother can only help you with these things, for the rest, you have to hurry up and repair the city walls and fortresses, and fill in more of your return guns!”

"be quick!"

Chen Deng is a good friend. With his old-fashioned and warm-hearted character, when Liu Bei took refuge in Liu Biao, even if he offended Liu Biao's relative Xu Si, he would still speak for him. Looking at Wang Hou, he shook his head heavily.

"If you really want to defend, let alone more than [-] troops, even if there are [-] troops, in a big battle, all of these will be destroyed by fire, so Brother Yu has no intention of defending with soldiers at all!"

"Brother Yu wants to ask brother Yuanlong for help, just to revise a few books. I heard that brother Yuanlong studied in Jizhou and had friendship with Duke Ju Shou, and Lord Guo Tuguo also had some friendship with you!"

Hearing the names Wang Hou said, Chen Deng raised his brows again, but after thinking about it again and again, Chen Deng still shook his head helplessly.

"I'll go back later, you say I'll write, Chen will have to see what medicine you sell in Wang Tuqiu's gourd!"

"Thank you, Brother Yuanlong!"

After Chen Deng was dealt with, Wang Hou also got rid of a heartache, full of excitement, he bowed heavily with his fists in his hands.

Carried by the Chen family, several letters bypassed Yan Liang's camp from the northeast of Hua County, and went straight to Jizhou. However, even though the settlement of Chen Deng was an important part of Wang Hou's plan, it was not the whole thing. Immediately afterwards, he wrote letters like flying again, and sent them to Xu Du, Yang Xiu, Xun You, and even Cao Cao's father-in-law. Through this network of connections, more letters were sent from the Central Plains to Jizhou, Hebei. , There were as many as dozens of letters back and forth.

In July, Wang Hou's Puyang City also continued to heat up. Just a few days after Xuzhou's merchants went upstream, another mighty fleet of ships sailed down the Yellow River. Zhong Yao Guanzhong Merchant Group.

There are hot springs in Mount Hua, and sulfur is also a specialty. This spring, Cao Cao ordered to use sulfur as an important tribute, asking for thousands of stones. Now the Cao Cao clan has wiped out Li Jue. You have to give Prime Minister Cao a bit of face, and the brimstone was quickly collected.

However, it is rare to gather the official shipowners to go. In the past few years, Guanzhong has experienced the chaos of the ten permanent servants, and it has been violently extorted by Dong Zhuo for so many years, and then experienced a warlord scuffle. The warlords of each family have long been impoverished. , a group of warlord families also gathered a batch of Guanzhong specialties, followed the official ship southward, and also wanted to do some small business to supplement the family.

This scale is larger than the scale of the business group that Chen Deng brought from Xuzhou, Qingzhou. There are more than 80 large and small sailboats. The funerary objects of the nobles are full of special products from Guanzhong.

These western goods stimulated the aristocratic families in the Central Plains even more. Many merchants brought by Chen Deng didn't even have enough goods, so they returned to Xuzhou in a hurry, and brought the goods again. With a large number of goods, they frantically crowded across the Yellow River and came to exchange.

In just one month, Wang Hou took advantage of the geographical advantages to forcibly build his Puyang into a commercial center city! More than 2 people gathered in the small city of Puyang.

Among the commodities gathered from all walks of life, one of them is very precious, and that is food!
In the past few months, Wang Houdong moved a piece of military rations to do this, and moved a piece of military rations to the west to do that. Puyang's military rations were once hovering on the verge of starvation, which made Cao Hongjie, Zhao Yun, Wang Congge and the others keep mentioning this to their throats every day. Yan'er, but now, these guys can finally put their hearts back in their stomachs!
The Central Plains is full of plains, and the biggest thing that can be sold is grain. In one month, nearly 30 shi of grain gathered in Puyang, as well as dried fish and shrimp brought by Chen Deng. Taking the opportunity, Wang Hou stockpiled the goods fiercely. The granary in Puyang was completely bulging. He collected as much as 17 shi of corn and wheat covered with straw and exuding the fragrance of grain. He piled up several large granaries in the backyard of the prefect's mansion to the brim. outside.

Leading Cao Hongjie, who had already rounded his stomach into a big ball, and Zhao Yun, who was the second-in-command in Puyang City's military, pointed to the pile of grain, and Wang Hou patted his chest triumphantly.

"I just said, what's the point of worrying! If you follow me, can you still starve?"

Cao Hongjie rolled his eyes beautifully again, but after Zhao Yun has been with Wang Hou for so long, he has finally grown a little bit, and the old handsome guy also clasped his fists with a smile, and slapped him with a big flattery: "My lord has a clever plan, We are absolutely inferior!"

"Cut, you'd better transport the grain to the south of the Yellow River as soon as possible, so that the thieves in the province will worry about it!"

Most disliked Wang Hou's smug look, rubbing his increasingly heavy stomach, Cao Hongjie splashed cold water on him angrily, but unfortunately, Wang Hou still had the same complacent look, and hummed indifferently.

"I knew it earlier!"

But when these leaders were bragging and bragging, Zang Ai, the captain of the other department who had just taken office, suddenly rushed in anxiously.

"Report! My lord! Report from the scouts! There is a team of Yuan Jun from Hua County, and they drove straight to Puyang!!!"

"Yan Liang!!!"

Startled, his little face tweeted, Cao Hongjie shouted solemnly, but on the other end, Wang Hou, who got the news, reacted completely differently. Instead of being anxious, he slapped his thigh suddenly, but he raised his head excitedly Laughed loudly and let out a sigh of relief.

"It can be regarded as his mother's arrival!"

(End of this chapter)