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It is not difficult to see from these two alliances that Liu Biao of Southern Han was sure that Wei would definitely sign the alliance and defeat Wei.

This is a fact on the surface. Because after the founding of Xiliang, the situation of the Northern Wei Kingdom would become increasingly severe, and it was surrounded by the Xiliang army on all sides, and it would face the large-scale attack of the Xiliang army at any time. Therefore, Wei Kingdom now urgently needs a powerful ally, so it is his only choice to restrain the Xiliang army from acting rashly, so forming an alliance with the Southern Han was his only choice.

There is no other way.

It is precisely because of the current situation that Wei State repeatedly urged the Southern Han to send troops as soon as possible in the alliance. The most urgent task is to open up the cooperation channels between each other, which is the prerequisite for mutual alliance. Joining forces to conquer the Jianghuai River is the core issue of the alliance between the two families.

Only by capturing the Jiangbei counties under Yuzhou, Xuzhou and Yangzhou, the two major vassal states, the Northern Wei and Southern Han, have truly gained a foothold, and have actually occupied half of the country, and then competed with the Xiliang Army. Otherwise, both families would be under the suppression of the Xiliang Army for a long time, separated the two places, and could not form a trend of glorious north and south, and be strategically disadvantaged, and are in a very passive situation.

Only by taking the initiative first can we turn passive into initiative, and the situation of war will be beneficial to these two major vassal states, thereby gradually eroding the territory under Li Li's rule, strengthening its own power, and having the strength to compete with the Western Liang Army as soon as possible.

In addition to urging the Southern Han to send troops, the Wei State also mentioned food and grass in the alliance. However, the Wei State did not ask Liu Biao for food and grass, but was willing to pay for it. Based on the market price, the amount of food Liu Biao was willing to sell. Cao Cao would buy as much as Cao Cao would. From this we can see that what Pang Tong said was not just a word, but had known that Wei State was short of food, so he took what he liked and repeatedly mentioned 100,000 stones of food and grass. The purpose was to divert Cao Pi's attention and told him tactfully that the Wei State was not a loss. As long as he had the 100,000 stones of food and grass, he could solve the urgent problem and help Wei State get out of the predicament and would not be in danger of food shortage.

However, is the Wei State really short of food? You should know that Jizhou is one of the few rich prefectures among the states in the world. In the past, Yuan Shao could raise 400,000 troops with the land of one state, and fought against the Xiliang army for three years. Why did it take Cao Cao's turn to take charge of Jizhou and see a shortage of food? Obviously, the answer is no.

In fact, not only does Jizhou have no shortage of food, but has a bumper harvest for three consecutive years, with a full treasury, and many people even have surplus grain at home. In this case, how can there be a shortage of food? This is because Jizhou has a bumper harvest every year. It does not mean that the other two prefectures and counties are also a bumper harvest year.

Nowadays, the entire Wei Kingdom is indeed short of food, and every year, and has been short of food for three consecutive years. As Pang Tong said, the world has been peaceful in the past three years, and no large-scale wars have broken out, but Yanzhou and Qingzhou under Cao Cao have been in short supply for many years. Either drought or locust plagues, causing people to suffer from livelihoods and have severe food shortages. The reason why these two prefectures and counties have been in constant disasters is because the Yellow Turban thieves were too terrible in the early years. The bandits were full of troubles and fought for years, which made many people unable to farm and drag their families to avoid the disasters of war.

This situation directly leads to a large area of ​​land being desolate, and the living standards of the people drop to freezing point. When they finally settle down, the first problem that the people face is famine. Because they have no savings, they are forced to eat the seeds distributed by the government as food. If the seeds are not enough, the harvest will naturally be bad. In addition, locust plagues and droughts are constantly, and the grain output can be imagined, and food shortages cannot be avoided. In the first year, food shortages will definitely be short of food in the second year after paying taxes. Such a step behind and cannot keep up with it step by step, so three years later, the Wei State still cannot get rid of the dilemma of food shortage.

Therefore, the grain in Jizhou alone cannot alleviate the famine in the two prefectures and counties. What's more, the so-called bumper harvest in Jizhou is strictly speaking, the major families and powerful gentry have achieved a bumper harvest, because there are too many dukes, generals and families in Jizhou, and nearly 60% of the land is private property under their names and is exempt from taxes. In comparison, the people of Jizhou can only solve the problem of food and clothing after paying taxes. The so-called surplus grain is saved from the gaps between the teeth, not to mention the amount, and will not be sold. This is the life-saving food they saved by themselves, because they are afraid that the war will start again or the harvest will not be good next year and they will be hungry.

If you have food at home, you are not panicked. These people who have experienced the baptism of war know that the troubled times are not over. Maybe they will fight one day. To be on the safe side, every household will save some food in case of emergencies. The common people in the troubled times never expect the government to help them. They clearly know that if they want to survive, they have to rely on themselves. If they want the family to not starve to death, they have to save more food.

The people did not sell food, the aristocratic families and powerful gentry did not pay taxes, and the grain in the Wei State treasury was just filled up and was distributed in a blink of an eye. It is worth mentioning that not all of these foods were used to help disaster victims, to provide the existing army and to pay salaries from all officials, about 30% of which were used to recruit soldiers and further expand the army.

As a result, the food shortage in Wei State could not be alleviated at all, but instead showed an increasingly fierce trend. Therefore, Wei State would try every year to raise grain and buy grain from merchants and travelers under Li Li's rule and Jingzhou through various channels. This is true every year, without exception.

However, the peace period of more than three years will never be given in vain. Although the Wei State has always lacked food, it has reserved a large amount of war materials, including the supply of food and grass for the army to conquer. These strategic materials can be supplied to hundreds of thousands of troops for at least one year, or even longer. This is the unspoken rule for fighting for hegemony in troubled times. The three vassal states have their own material reserves to deal with wars that may come at any time.

From this point of view, the purchase of grain from the Southern Han Dynasty in the letter of Wei State for the purpose of a war was purely an excuse, just a little polite. Wei State did not expect Liu Biao from Jingzhou to sell grain, but he deliberately proposed it to show weakness to the Southern Han regime and express his sincerity to form an alliance. The implication is: I have told you all my weaknesses, which is enough to show that our Wei State is sincerely forming an alliance with you in the Southern Han Dynasty.

However, when Cao Cao wrote the letter of the country, he never expected that the Southern Han Dynasty would ask for a huge price. He took the opportunity to blackmail and even spoke out 20,000 war horses and 20,000 sets of cavalry equipment.

Therefore, Cao Pi, who represented Cao Cao in negotiations at this moment, was completely scared by the numbers on the Southern Han Alliance Covenant and lost his mind for a while. He couldn't speak.

After a long silence, Cao Pi's expression gradually returned to normal, the silly smile on his face disappeared, and he asked Pang Tong in a calm tone: "I guess this covenant was made by the gentleman, right?"

Pang Tong was surprised when he heard the sound, a bright light flashed in his eyes, but his face remained unchanged, and he smiled and said, "How can I see it? Why did Ziheng have this idea? It is important to know that this letter of nationality will be placed in front of Emperor Wei soon, and Ling Zun will definitely recognize that this is my lord's handwritten handwritten letter."

Cao Pi smiled faintly. He put the alliance in his hand on the table, showing that he did not intend to sign this alliance, at least he would not sign it now, and everything remains to be discussed. After seeing this, Pang Tong's face remained calm as before, and he also rolled up the books of Wei and placed it on the table, put it together with the Southern Han alliance, and looked at Cao Pi with a smile, looking confident. He seemed to be sure of winning.

It is obvious that the midnight negotiation has officially entered the substantive stage, and the most critical moment has come. Although they all have the intention to form an alliance, it is related to their own interests. No one will easily agree to the conditions proposed by the other party, and will not easily make concessions. They must fight for every little thing and strive for the greatest benefit for their own party as much as possible.

Cao Pi also did not respond to Pang Tong's actions. His face showed a calmness and calmness that was completely inconsistent with his age, which was very different from his previous honest and simple expression. After a little thought, he said calmly: "As far as I know, Liu Huangshu of Jingzhou is generous and kind, kind, knowledgeable, knowledgeable, loyal and pure, and has the style of an elder. The words and lines show aggressiveness, and the sharpness is revealed, and there is no mercy or politeness at all. Therefore, I have to suspect that this covenant should have been drafted by Mr. Liu. Uncle Liu was just a sign and stamped on behalf of him. Do you agree?"

Pang Tong smiled slightly, with an undeniable expression on his face. He did not respond positively, and answered the question irresponsible: "It doesn't matter who the covenant came from, what is important is how Ziheng treats this covenant. There is no doubt about the sincerity of my lord's alliance with the State of Wei. The war horses and equipment mentioned in the covenant are indeed problems that my Jingchu army needs to solve urgently." Obviously he agreed that this covenant was indeed his work.

"Although Ziheng was young, he was knowledgeable. How could he not know that our Jingzhou soldiers and horses were good at water battles but were not good at land battles? In fact, our Jingzhou and Jiangdong Army were not good at land battles, but lacked cavalry that was good at fighting and did not have the ability to run long distances. As a result, their combat effectiveness was greatly reduced. They could only dominate the water battles, but could not fight head-on with the Western Liang Iron Cavalry.

In comparison, your Wei State has strong combat power, especially the infantry, and the war cavalry can also confront the Western Liang Iron Cavalry. The most rare thing is that in the Battle of Jizhou, Wei State won a complete victory, seized countless war horses, weapons and weapons, and was fully capable of supporting our Nanhan to form a war cavalry camp. However, for fairness, our Nanhan would not ask for war horses and cavalry equipment for no reason, and would be willing to provide a large amount of money and grain as compensation. This is a fair transaction, and both sides will take their needs, and I don’t think there is any problem. If Ziheng still has doubts about this, then I have to doubt your Wei State’s sincerity in forming an alliance." It is a weakness, but it is soft and hard, and it is not without threat.

Speaking of this, Cao Pi did not intend to go around in circles with Pang Tong, and said directly: "The number is indeed too large. In recent years, our Wei State has formed a large number of cavalry, and there are no more war horses and equipment. If the gentleman can make full decisions, the money and food will not change, and the amount will be halfway, I can reluctantly sign a covenant on behalf of my father. Otherwise, I would like to say frankly, not only did I dare not sign such a large number, but even my father would definitely not agree. This is my heartfelt opinion. Please consider it carefully and must take the future and destiny of your and my families as yours and must not ruin the Southern Han Dynasty because of one's own thoughts." On the surface, it is said that it is weak, but in fact it is retreating as advance; when it comes to the end, it is also tooth for tooth, and in turn threatens Pang Tong. It is truly worthy of being Cao Cao's son, and it is quite like being a father.

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Chapter completed!