On the tenth day of the sixth month, Pang Tong left Zhou Yu, Lu Su, Huo Jun and other talents behind, and then led 60,000 troops to Xiangyang to lead the army.
At this point, Liu Cong completely occupied Huainan, and then established Yangzhou. Counting Jing, Gui, Jiang, An, Zhejiang, Su, and Jiao, Liu Cong had conquered eight states.
"In addition to the 100,000 people captured by Zhou Yu in Huainan, there are now more than 670,000. I have made a lot of money." In the study, Liu Cong looked at the memorial about the people's livelihood of Huainan sent by Lu Su, and looked a little excited.
Counting the three prefectures of Jingchu and the six counties of Jiangdong, the population controlled by the government is nearly five million!
If the New Deal is implemented in Jiangdong, Liu Cong thinks that this number can be increased by at least 1.5 million. Add in Jiaozhou, with a population of 8 million, which is enough!
The territory spans thousands of miles, with a population of eight million and hundreds of thousands of people with armor! At this moment, Liu Cong has no problem at all in proclaiming himself emperor, let alone king.
And more importantly, he does not have the same political baggage as Cao Cao. Jingchu is completely ruled by Liu Cong alone!
"We must go according to the original plan and recruit 500,000 soldiers and horses, and there are 200,000 reserves. If we recruit more soldiers, Ma Liang will definitely not agree. If I don't tell him first, he will have no choice but to wait until the rice is cooked."
Thinking about it, Liu Cong smiled bitterly, "Since when did Gu actually use this method of killing his ministers first and then reporting them later?"
However, if the country has dissatisfied ministers, the country will not be destroyed. This is a good thing.
Jingchu now has more than 300,000 soldiers and horses. It sounds sufficient, but if you want to realize the strategy of marching into the north from Wancheng and Huainan, you have to expand the army.
"Lord, Cao Cao's envoy Sima Yi is here!"
Outside the door, Xing Daorong's voice came.
Liu Cong cleared his throat and said, "Bring him in."
"Literature sent Sima Yi to pay homage to the Marquis of Chu."
"The messenger is safe."
Sima Yi stood up holding Jie Zhan, and after seeing Liu Cong's appearance clearly, he froze in place!
Liu Cong smiled and said, "I have heard of Zhongda's reputation for a long time. Why do you behave like this today?"
Only then did Sima Yi realize that he had been staring at Liu Cong, which was a bit rude. He lowered his head and cupped his hands and said, "I am shocked by the appearance of the Marquis of Chu."
"What does Lone look like?"
"I never thought that the Marquis of Chu could be so young."
Liu Cong smiled and didn't mind Sima Yi's rudeness, "How is Prime Minister Cao doing lately?"
"Prime Minister, each day is better than the other, and each year is better than the next."
"The purpose of Zhongda's visit is also clear to Gu. He wants to release Zhang Liao and Li Dian. The price Gu wants is the family members of all the captured Cao soldiers."
In the Battle of Wancheng, nearly 20,000 Cao's troops were captured. In the Huainan War, nearly 20,000 Cao's troops were captured. The families of these 40,000 people totaled a population of nearly 100,000.
Sima Yi shook his head directly and said, "Chu Hou, this is impossible. Your army captured 100,000 people in Xuzhou and went south. Now you want more people. The prime minister will not agree."
After years of war, the north has long been dilapidated. Cao Cao wrote in "A Journey to the Grass": White bones are exposed in the wild, and there are no roosters crowing for thousands of miles.
It can be seen from this that the population of the north has declined to such an extent. In troubled times, when fighting for hegemony, the most direct manifestation of national power is population. Cao Cao will not tolerate another hundred thousand people flowing into Jingchu.
Even Zhang Liao and Li Dian are not worthy of these 100,000 people.
Liu Cong smiled and said, "Soon, I will use my troops against Shanyue. I can exchange 50,000 Shanyue slaves for their families."
Sima Yi still shook his head, "No, at least 90,000!"
"Sixty thousand."
"Eighty thousand!"
"Seventy thousand, that's it. Zhongda, you don't have to argue with Gu anymore. How about we each take a step back and accept it as soon as we get along?"
Sima Yi thought for a while and concluded that it was still worthwhile to exchange 30,000 people for Zhang Liao and Li Dian. He raised his hand and said, "Thank you so much, Marquis of Chu."
Liu Cong smiled with satisfaction. The Shanyue barbarians were unruly. Even if they were captured, they still had to be polished. However, the people under Cao Cao's rule were all honest farmers. Whether they were farming or otherwise, they were much better than the Shanyue barbarians.
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Besides, he didn't feel bad about exchanging the family members of the Shanyue barbarians for the surrendered soldiers. Xing Daorong stood aside to write for Liu Cong, and Liu Cong quickly wrote two delivery documents.
Sima Yi took the document from Xing Daorong and handed it over to Liu Cong again, "Now that the matter has been finalized, I would like to ask the Marquis of Chu to hand over Zhang Liao and Li Dian to the foreign minister first, so that the foreign minister can take them back and report to the Prime Minister.
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"Why should Zhongda leave in such a hurry?"
Liu Cong's words immediately caused Sima Yi's expression to change drastically, "What does the Marquis of Chu mean?"
Liu Cong stood up with a smile, "Don't worry, Gu has no intention of detaining you. When the two countries are at war, it is an ancient rule not to kill the envoys. Gu will not deliberately break the rules."
"I just want to ask you, how is Prime Minister Cao's diet?"
Why are you asking this? Sima Yi couldn't figure it out, but he still replied, "The Prime Minister is in good health and his diet is normal."
Liu Cong paced and said, "Although I have fought with the Prime Minister several times, I still admire the Prime Minister's ability. If it were not for him, the north would have gone through war for how long."
"If it were not for him in the world, I don't know how many people would be emperors and kings. To be honest, the prime minister can be regarded as a wise master. Whether it is political skills, military ability, tactics, knowledge of people, poetry, etc., he is considered to be first-rate."
"Although I am hostile to the Prime Minister, I have been on good terms with him for a long time. I even often think that if I can sit down and talk with the Prime Minister, it will be a great pleasure in life."
Seeing that Liu Cong didn't look pretentious, Sima Yi replied, "The Prime Minister also admires the Marquis of Chu very much, and even said many times that he should have a son like Liu Xiye. Thinking about it, the Prime Minister also wants to meet the Marquis of Chu."
Liu Cong laughed, not expecting that Cao Cao's high praise for Sun Quan in history was given to him.
After finishing laughing, Liu Cong walked up to Sima Yi in a few steps and said, "Zhongda, I heard that you have a hawk-like attitude, but when I saw you today, there seems to be nothing wrong with you?"
Sima Yi lowered his head and replied, "Those are just rumors spread by the world. Don't believe them easily."
"Oh, then you can go back and recover. I will ask Xing Daorong to take you to get someone."
"Thank you very much, Marquis Chu. I'll take my leave." Sima Yi breathed a sigh of relief, bowed to Liu Cong, and then slowly walked outside the study.
"Bang!"
Liu Cong slapped his palm on the table. Sima Yi was startled by the loud noise and turned around to look over.
A normal person's head can turn about 90 degrees, but after Sima Yi turned his head, his entire face was almost completely right.
His shoulders blocked his chin, his two slender eyebrows were wrinkled together, and his nose appeared more raised due to the frown.
A pair of eyes full of scrutiny, suspicion, and a bit of cruelty!
Sima Yi realized that something was wrong, put away the cruelty in his eyes, turned around and bowed to Liu Cong again, "Foreign ministers have offended the Marquis of Chu, please forgive me."
"Hahaha……"
"The Prime Minister has found someone, Zhongda. Go back and resume your duties."
"Thank you, Lord Chu."
In the past, Liu Cong simply did not believe that there would be anyone in the world who was born to watch the eagle and watch the wolf.
The word "eagle eyes, wolf eyes" describes a person's sharp gaze and describes the person as ruthless and ruthless.
The ones that really fit are often those who have high positions in history and have been killed for a long time. Because of their character and experience, their demeanor and character often give people the feeling of "the hawk watching the wolf".
To put it bluntly, this gives people a feeling that they are not easy to get along with, but also have a very majestic feeling. Only after seeing Sima Yi today did Liu Cong know what it means to have no smoke without fire. There is a certain truth to what people in the world say.