Chapter 60 Loss of 100,000 Stones of Grain and Grass
After Liu Cong finished making arrangements, Zhuge Liang raised his hand to Liu Cong and said, "Master Liu, I wonder if you can support my lord with some troops?"
Before Liu Cong could speak, Pang Tong said: "Kong Ming, my lord is already the shepherd of Jingzhou, you should call him Liu Jingzhou! Here, these soldiers and horses were transferred to Xiangyang from various places in Jingzhou and Xiangyang, and they still need to be integrated and trained.
How can I lend it to your master?"
Zhuge Liang shook his feather fan and smiled and said: "Hasn't the canonization from the imperial court not come down yet? Liang now calls Mr. Liu, which is in line with etiquette, isn't it? Shi Yuan?"
"You?" Pang Tong was a little angry when he heard this.
Liu Cong was sitting in the main seat, and he really couldn't figure out why Zhuge Liang wanted to provoke him, but it was really annoying to say so. He looked at Liu Bei and saw that he was concentrating with his eyes closed.
Only Zhuge Liang continued: "Mr. Liu, my lord is also a staunch anti-Cao faction, and he is also the uncle of Mr. Liu. We are both members of the same clan. I wonder if I can support you with some food, grass, ordnance?"
"Impossible!" Pang Tong continued to stare at him fiercely.
Zhuge Liang ignored him and said to Liu Cong: "We are both clan members and elders. Mr. Liu is so mean and ungrateful. Aren't you afraid of being laughed at by the world?"
Hearing this, Liu Cong couldn't bear it anymore and said with an ugly face: "What does Military Advisor Zhuge want?"
Zhuge Liang smiled and said: "Last time in Xinye, when Mr. Liu said goodbye to my lord, he promised to give my lord a hundred thousand stones of grain and grass and a thousand horses. So far, it has not been fulfilled. For the sake of Mr. Liu's reputation, Liang
That’s why I reminded you.”
Okay, let's wait here. We need troops first, then anger, and then let's talk about this matter. If Liu Cong falls out, it will really make the world laugh.
Last time in Xinye, he indeed promised to give Liu Bei one hundred thousand dan of grain and grass and one thousand war horses. He also wrote a letter to Liu Biao about this at that time.
Liu Biao's reply to him was only eight words: Be prepared for ambition and don't antagonize the enemy! So, the matter had to be left alone.
Pang Tong also remembered that he had come up with this idea for Liu Cong at the time. He wanted to treat Liu Bei well and put on a show to gain fame. Now it seems that it was a really bad idea.
His face turned green and white for a while, and he knew that he could no longer keep the food, grass, and war horses, so he said that he would pay for it.
Liu Cong suddenly smiled heartily: "Hahaha, uncle, you see, even if Zhuge Military Advisor didn't mention this matter, I would have forgotten about it. At that time, Jiangxia was in an urgent situation and the war was tense, so I later forgot about it."
"This is my nephew's fault. Don't worry, uncle. I will prepare these things later. When uncle returns to Xinye, he will take them with him."
Zhuge Liang stopped shaking his feather fan, raised his hands to Liu Cong and said, "Liang, thank you Liu Jingzhou for my lord."
Well, the stuff is about to arrive, and even the name has been changed.
Liu Bei also opened his eyes and said with gratitude, "Thank you so much, nephew."
Liu Cong could only continue to smile and said: "Uncle Huang and I are the same clan, so why bother saying thank you? Besides, this is what I promised, and it is appropriate to honor it today."
Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei were happy. One hundred thousand stones of grain and grass were enough for their army of more than ten thousand for another year. There were also one thousand horses, which could also be used to form cavalry!
After the discussion was over, everyone dispersed, and Pang Tong knelt before Liu Cong to plead guilty.
"Why is Shi Yuan doing this?" Liu Cong quickly helped Pang Tong up.
Pang Tong looked guilty and said: "My lord, if I hadn't suggested the plan at the beginning, I wouldn't have lost a hundred thousand stones of food and grass, and a thousand war horses today."
Liu Cong took Pang Tong and sat on the stone steps in front of the hall, and said sincerely: "Shiyuan, this is your first time as a military advisor, and this is my first time fighting for world hegemony. We will inevitably make mistakes, but that is not important. What is important is
What is important is that we dare to face our mistakes, find ways to remedy them, and find ways to correct them.”
"We will make mistakes in the future, but who can guarantee that we will never make mistakes in our lives? As long as our rulers and ministers are united, no difficulty can stop us."
"This is the most important thing. The king and his ministers are united! Isn't it just one hundred thousand stones of grain and grass and one thousand war horses? We will just get it back in the future."
As he spoke, Liu Cong stretched out his hand. Pang Tong understood and put his hands together, "Master, I will definitely defeat the Cao family and expand the territory for the Lord!"
"I believe you, you can do it!"
After Pang Tong left, Liu Cong found the Ma brothers.
"Meet my lord." Ma Liang and Ma Di came inside and paid homage to Liu Cong.
Liu Cong waved his hand to help him and said, "Ji Chang, you Chang don't need to be polite. Today, I have called you two here because I have an important thing to entrust you with."
"My lord, please speak."
"Ji Chang, You Chang, I have to ask you to go as envoys to Jiangdong first, and then cross the sea by boat to Liaodong!"
Crossing the sea, no one in this era has the idea of crossing the sea. In the eyes of people in this era, the ocean is a forbidden land that cannot be explored!
Ma Liang didn't care about the danger of crossing the sea, and said with a smile: "My lord, do you want me to persuade Sun Quan and Gongsun Kang to form an alliance against Cao Cao?"
"Exactly, besides that, you went to Jiangdong and asked Sun Quan to buy pig iron. It doesn't matter if the price is higher."
Liu Cong's armor-making plan was temporarily halted due to the lack of pig iron. But Liu Cong did not intend to give up. He could build it just like Sun Quan did by buying pig iron. Once Cao Cao was defeated, he would step up the mining of Jingxiang's iron ore.
.
Ma Liang nodded and asked with ambition to make great achievements: "Lord, is there anything else you can do?"
Liu Cong took out another sachet and handed it to Ma Liang, saying: "Give this to Marquis Wu and ask him to transfer it to Sun Shangxiang for me."
"promise."
"Youchang, after you go to Jiangdong and settle the matter, come back and resume your life."
"promise."
After Liu Cong finished explaining, he stood up and took Ma Liang's hand and said: "Ji Chang, the journey here is long and dangerous. I am not worried about ordinary people going there. You go, with your own safety first, I will send Duan Kun and
Xing Daorong, lead 500 people to escort you, and try to walk as close to the coastline as possible. If something happens, you can log in to Cao Cao's territory. I will never blame Ji Chang!"
After logging into Cao Cao's territory, there is only one way to go to Cao Cao.
"Don't worry, my lord, I will act like the ancestors Zhang Qian and Su Wu of the Han Dynasty, overcome difficulties and live up to their mission!" Ma Liang bowed deeply to Liu Cong.
"When we set out, I will personally see Ji Chang off!"
"Thank you, Lord!"
After arranging the general matters, Liu Cong felt deeply tired. In his eyes, Jingzhou's resistance was already very strong and the army was well deployed. However, he was not sure whether Jingxiang's army could really block Cao's army.
.
To put it bluntly, he was still unsure of himself, but he could not show such emotions to anyone. As a leader, if he was not firm, how could his subordinates be convinced?
In the backyard of the Zhou Mu Mansion, Liu Biao's health improved somewhat under Zhang Zhongjing's care, and he and Mrs. Cai were lying on the edge of the pond in the backyard fishing.
"Father, mother." Liu Cong walked to Liu Biao and Mrs. Cai and bowed.
"Cong'er is here." Mrs. Cai seemed to have forgotten that Liu Cong had killed Cai Zhong and Cai He, and nodded to him with a smile.
Liu Biao stared at the fishing rod in his hand and said without looking back: "Sit down."
"promise."
"I heard that De Gui (Cai Mao) said that Liu Bei cheated you out of a hundred thousand stones of grain and grass and a thousand war horses?"
Liu Cong looked a little embarrassed. He made such a mistake in his first meeting in charge of Jingxiang.
Seeing Liu Cong's ugly face, Mrs. Cai said: "Husband, Cong'er has been tired for a whole day, why did you blame him when he came back? You just lost a hundred thousand stones of food and grass. It's not like Jingzhou is short of that little food."
If your war horse is gone, you can buy another."
Faced with Mrs. Cai's barrage of words, Liu Biao smiled bitterly and said: "Madam, I don't want to blame Cong'er. Please let me finish talking to Cong'er first."
After hearing this, Mrs. Cai stopped talking.
Liu Biao continued: "Cong'er, you have had a smooth life since childhood and have not suffered any setbacks. In my opinion, this is a good thing. Your mother is right. Although one hundred thousand stones of food and grass is not a small amount, to me, Jingzhou,
It’s not too much.”
"The important thing is that you must understand from this matter that as a master, you cannot promise anything at will. Every word and deed is related to the life and death of all people, the distribution of power, the hearts of the people under your command, and many, many things...
"
"Thank you father for your teaching. My child has learned a lesson." Liu Cong paid his respects to Liu Biao.
This time, he was really convinced. Liu Biao had been in charge of Jingxiang for nearly twenty years, and his experience was much more sophisticated than his.
While Liu Cong was still thinking, Liu Biao continued to murmur: "Liu Bei..."