In June, outside Xiangyang City, Hanshui Wharf.

"Two sirs, this is a little bit of a little bit of thought. I'll give it to the two sirs. Please don't refuse." Cao Chong smiled hypocritically and signaled backwards. The two ox carts were pulled in front of Fu De and Geng Ji. Cao Chong patted the lid of the cart, and the box made a dull sound, showing the heavy connotation inside: "A little local product in Xiangyang, please ask the two sirs to taste the new ones, which is not respectful or respectful."

Fu Dian's pedantic face that had been on the verge of more than ten days finally showed a smile. He was old-fashioned and deliberately said unhappy: "General, is this the name of Lord Geng and I in the school exam? Let's do our work for Your Majesty and come to see the new policy in Xiangyang. This is a matter of duty. Now seeing the people in Xiangyang live and work in peace and prosperity, and recreate the wealth of my great man, we have been very happy. After we go back, we will definitely report to Your Majesty truthfully. Now if you send us these two cars of things, it will be difficult for us to be a human being. General, let's take it back."

Cao Chong laughed in his heart, saying that you are hypocritical and you don't admit it. I really don't want to give it to you, but do you want to let it go? Don't think that you can be generous by taking the title of the best man. Your family's food and drink are all in those acres of land. Now the emperor is poor, and there is no reward at all. There is no extra money to get. Can you still be generous? The expo has been over for half a month. You two are not leaving in Xiangyang yet. Isn't it just waiting for me to express my feelings? I finally waited until I expressed my feelings, and you were still generous again.

Pretending to be noble, I really want to take it back, you may vomit blood. He bowed his hands and said, "Oh, Lord Fu, I feel ashamed of saying this. Although Xiangyang is not rich enough, I can still take this little local product. I have been grateful for the Lord these days. Just think it is Shu Xiu, who is my disciple. When I go back to pay homage to His Majesty after the war, I will ask Lord Fu to take some time out of my busy schedule and teach you."

Fu Dian laughed loudly, stroked the beard under his jaw and nodded repeatedly, and said with his chest: "Don't worry, General. This time Liu Bei invaded the place, and the general was unable to return to Beijing to report his duties as scheduled. Lord Geng and I will definitely explain it clearly to the general in front of His Majesty. Your Majesty will love the general and will definitely understand the loyalty of the general to protect the country and the people."

"Then I'll have two adults." Cao Chong smiled, "Sir, I should have kept the two of you in Xiangyang for a few more days, but the military situation is urgent. The two adults are anxious to go back to report their lives, so I won't leave them more. When I finish this battle, I will rush back to Kyoto immediately and apologize to the emperor. It's getting late, so I'll better get in the car, sir."

Fu Dian and Geng Ji looked at the long convoy on the naval warship with satisfaction, then looked at Cao Chong, and then said a few more words of humility, and got on the ship together. The warship slowly started. They took the tribute selected by Cao Chong to successfully complete the task of begging for the emperor and went back happily. Before entering the cabin, Fu Dian glanced at the two gasping cows that were pulling the cart and smiled with satisfaction.

Cao Chong stood on the shore with a smile on his face. He shook his hand from afar to Fu Dian, who was poking his head out of the cabin and waving his hand. It was not until the ship disappeared between the clear water and blue sky that he put down his hand, and the smile on his face disappeared.

"Zichu, I gave 500 million yuan at once, which really hurts me." Cao Chong took a cold breath and had a toothache. He accepted Xun Wenqian's suggestion and asked very strict requirements when selecting goods. However, he did not expect that there were so many things gathered this time and so exquisite. Even if he carefully selected the gifts to the emperor, the gifts he gave to the emperor were still more than 500 million yuan, which made him very upset. The emperor only had a few bird people in Xu County. Why do he need so much money?

Liu Ba was in a very good mood: "Young master, forget it, it's all given away, it's useless to regret it anyway. Anyway, we have made a lot of money this time. Look at the Cai family, the Pang family, the Kuai family, the Liu family, and the Han family, no one is smiling so hard that they can't close their mouths. I see that Governor Cai's hands have been a little unsatisfied these two days and are shaking."

Cao Chong burst out laughing. Cai Mao made a fortune this time. The new restaurant he opened had become a dream paradise for scholars because of his own name "Wenchang Pavilion" and Liang Hu's inscription. Scholars who came to Xiangyang were proud to be able to live in Wenchang Pavilion and to drink papers in Wenchang Pavilion as the most elegant thing. Even if they were not scholars, they would be willing to go to Wenchang Pavilion to pretend to be elegant and add some literary spirit. In the past month, there has been no day that has not been filled with new walls, and those who drink after drinking.

The crazy literati and scholars wrote new poems and had to repaint them in two or three days. Cai Mao compiled all the outstanding new poems into poetry collections, and distributed one every few days, and was snatched away by scholars as soon as they came out. In addition to restaurants and bookstores, the production tasks of new farm tools have been booked next year, and all the school buildings that have just started in the academy have been booked. In addition, I recently married a young and beautiful concubine. After only two months, the concubine was so happy that she really woke up from sleeping.

"Zichu, Xiangyang's business will soon have a big increase. Taking advantage of their good mood, they will formulate new tax laws. If they really have to wait for them to receive the money in their pockets and order them, they will be anxious again." Cao Chong said slowly as he walked back: "In short, the more money he earns, the greater the tax ratio. No one can dominate the company, especially military supplies, must not let them control it."

"Don't worry, young master, we are already preparing." Liu Ba nodded and said with a slight smug smile: "The most accurate data is in our hands. Our standards are aimed at the scale in two years. For the time being, no one would think that they would pay so much tax in the future, so they would sign it out without taking it seriously."

Cao Chong smiled. He was somewhat underestimated about the impact of this Xiangyang Expo. He did not expect that so many merchants would come to do business after the war. He did not expect that the local products in Yizhou, the rare objects that came from Tianzhu and Daqin were so expensive, and people would buy them. It seems that the poor are the people, and the families of the rich will never be short of money. Not to mention anything else, in the past month, Xiangyang has collected hundreds of millions of taxes in those entertainment and consumption places, and the goods sold by various workshops did not have time to collect taxes. It was an astonishing amount. After estimation, he and Liu Ba and Yang Yi decided to impose heavy taxes on the potential profiteering in the future. On the one hand, they were more taxed, and more to prevent merchants from having big money, which would have a negative impact on the entire economy. He didn't want to find a way to make these people rich, and then they were stuck in the neck by these people.

"I feel relieved when I have Zichu here." Cao Chong raised his head and looked at the dark clouds in the sky: "It's just Xu County, I'm not very relieved. Your Majesty's appetite is too big. I'm afraid that Xiangyang can't carry it or Jingzhou can't carry it."

Liu Ba sighed and was speechless. He was silent for a while before saying, "Young Master, don't worry, let's get upset about this matter. You should pacify Jiangnan first. You will talk about it. In the past few years, you will probably not take too much after the war has been fought. Anyway, the Young Master has merged with the Dameng Order. In the past, the royal family embezzled the country's property. Now the Prime Minister's Mansion is in great shape. If the emperor wants money, he has to look at the Prime Minister's Mansion's expression. By the way, what are you going to do with the Prime Minister's Mansion?"

Cao Chong laughed helplessly. He was not actually worried about His Majesty's edict. What he was worried about was the Prime Minister's Mansion. Although Cao Cao's words were not harsh, he knew that this might be more terrifying than harsh words. He wanted to take time to go back to Yecheng to explain, but he didn't know that two days ago, Pang Tong sent a message that Liu Bei had entered the Ji Ke County and had now reached the vassal state of Jianwei. He suggested that he immediately send troops to the south to prevent Liu Bei from turmoiling Nanzhong and causing commotion in Nanzhong. He would definitely let him stand still. This matter would be in trouble. But in this case, if you want to go back to Yecheng before the war, time would be too tight.

"Let's send someone to report a letter first, and let Zijian and Prime Minister explain carefully. After the war, I will go back to Yecheng immediately." Cao Chong thought for a long time, but he still didn't dare to take Liu Bei lightly. He had received information that Zhuge Liang was in Lingling's farming, and the effect was very good. Now Sun Quan married Guan Yu again. There was no danger in the Changsha area for the time being. Guan Yu was transferred to the prefect of Yulin, and Liao Li, a native of Wuling, was transferred to Changsha as prefect. Liu Ba told him that Liao Li was very talented, basically on the same level as Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong.

He also vaguely knew some of Liao Li's name, for fear that he, like Zhuge Liang, would start farming in Changsha. If he had to do it for two years, Zhuge Liang and Liao Li would definitely be valued under Liu Bei and show his strength. By then, Liu Bei's wings became more and more prosperous and his relationship with Sun Quan would be hard to deal with. Now Liu Bei was marching rashly and went deep into Nanzhong. It was a good time to get tired of him. If he missed the opportunity, he would not know when he would be able to seize his troops and be defeated in dispersed future.

"Then let Liu Ziming go. His mission to Xu County this time was completed very well." Liu Ba suggested.

"Well, I'll send him there." Cao Chong stopped and looked at Liu Ba: "I'll leave Xiangyang to you. I'll take away two thousand infantrymen from Lei Tong's troops, and two thousand cavalrymen from Pang Deyan. You only have two thousand Shi Su's men to defend Xiangyang. Is it enough?"

Liu Baha laughed: "What's wrong with it? There is no danger around Xiangyang now. There are Man Fenwei in the south, Huang Hansheng and Wei Wenchang, Wen Zhongye in the east, Le Wenqian in the west, and Chen Shuzhi in the north. I am the safest here. I was worried about bandits. Now the mountain people in the mountains respect the prince as gods. In the past two years, many people have left the mountain to settle down. Even if some illegal people want to get something for nothing, not to mention that there are still two thousand soldiers in Xiangyang, even those big clans can raise one or two thousand people. They are all very wealthy now, and who is not afraid of bandits? After breaking through the city of Xiangyang, the most unlucky one is them. They will definitely fight to the death. There are many settled mountain people around Xiangyang. I have the prince's handwriting in my hand. With a command, it's no use to build another Jingshan army. There are 6,000 people guarding Xiangyang. What else is there to be afraid of? "

Cao Chong smiled and looked at Liu Ba who was confident and grinned. Liu Zichu was indeed a strong man. He had indeed taken him over to get a big advantage. Without his help, he could only sigh at the huge business opportunity. Without Liu Ba's perverted computing power, economic thinking and skillful administrative ability, he would definitely make things mess up.

"Since that's the case, I will set off immediately and rush to Jiangling. You will arrange the matter of Liu Ziming's trip to Yecheng. All the things I prepared are at the wife's place. Just ask him to get them." Cao Chong flew on the horse, and the famous Wuwan horse was niggling, turning a few circles, and trying to move. Cao Chong tied the reins of the horse and turned around and said to Liu Ba: "Mr. Zichu, let's leave now, take care of it."

Liu Ba bowed and said goodbye. Cao Chong whistled and rushed away with Sun Shangxiang, Deng Ai and two hundred tiger soldiers. In the south of the city, Hao Zhao brought the 800 Iron Armored Army, Pang De and Yan Ming, and had been waiting for a long time. When he saw Cao Chong coming, he immediately stepped forward to salute.

"Ling Ming, Yan Ming, I have been in Xiangyang for so long and haven't lost my skills, right?" Cao Chong smiled as soon as he saw Pang De and Yan Xing.

These two cavalry generals have been in Xiangyang for two years because of Ma Chao and Han Sui's rebellion. Yan Xing doesn't care. He has a grudge with Han Sui anyway. Han Sui rebelled. Because he was protected by Cao Chong, he was not implicated. He was hoping that Cao Pi could kill Han Sui in Guanzhong. Although he regretted not killing Han Sui with his own hands, he had revenge in any case. But Pang De is different. He has a superior and subordinate relationship with Ma Chao and had a good relationship before. He heard that Ma Chao rebelled, Ma Teng and Ma Xiu, and Ma Tie were imprisoned for this and almost beheaded.

He was angry and anxious, but he had no choice but to stay in Xiangyang honestly, and life and death were determined by fate. Although Cao Chong had no expression, and even did not deduct their supply at all, they all felt that before the Ma Chao rebellion was quelled, they probably wouldn't have the chance to follow Cao Chong to the battlefield to make contributions. Unexpectedly, after two years of rest, Cao Chong appointed them again and appointed him as his personal guard cavalry, called the Dragon Cavalry. This made Pang De and Yan Ming overjoyed. As soon as they heard the news, they immediately pulled two thousand iron cavalry out of the camp and followed Cao Chong south.

"Thank you for your care. We have been doing very well in Xiangyang, just a few kilograms of fat. I'm afraid I can't keep up with the young master's pace." Pang De smiled heartily, and could tell that he was in a good mood.

"Well, I'm a little fat, but I'm in good spirits. After running for two days, I can get back to normal." Cao Chong smiled and pointed the young player behind Pang De with a horse whip: "Is this your son Pang Hui?"

Pang De pulled Pang Hui to Cao Chong's horse, raised his hand and knocked Pang Hui's helmet with a horse whip and scolded: "Zhu Zi, don't you know how to salute the young master, are you stupid?"

Pang Hui shrank his head, laughed, bowed and shouted: "Pang Hui has met the young master."

Seeing that Pang Hui was loud and burly, he seemed to have a mold from the same mold as Pang De, and he liked him. He had long heard that Pang Hui had good martial arts and excellent riding skills, and was well-known to Yan Ming's mentality of using cavalry. Not only that, he also kidnapped Yan Xing's daughter. Compared to Pang De, he was a little more cunning and a good material for generals. Cao Chong had long wanted to recruit him, and now it was a great time, so he smiled and said, "Ling Ming, let the son follow me, how about?"

Pang De was shocked and responded quickly: "It is his blessing to be able to follow the young master, and there is no reason why Pang De would not agree." He turned around and knocked the helmet of Pang Hui, who was a little stupid: "I have never thanked you yet."

Pang Hui was surprised and knelt down on the ground with a pounce: "Pang Hui is willing to follow the young master's saddle and the horse behind him, and only the young master's horse's head is the one who follows him."

Cao Chong leaned over and smiled, "Okay, get up quickly, go to the army to pick a hundred warriors and follow me to fight on the battlefield."

"No!" Pang Hui roared, stood up and looked at Pang De. Yan Xing laughed and said, "Aweng, father-in-law, give me your personal guards?"

"Give it!" Pang De and Yan Xing looked at each other and said in unison. Pang Hui smiled happily, rushed into the cavalry formation and shouted. Immediately, a hundred cavalry rushed out of the queue and lined up in two rows alone. The Qiang soldier Cao Shan was inexplicably ranked first.

"Let's go--" Cao Chong turned his horse's head and rushed to the official road first, and then the three thousand knights followed closely.

This time Cao Chong went to beat Liu Bei, so she didn't bring big and small pairs with her. Sun Shangxiang took her twenty female guards with her. However, Sun Shangxiang was obviously not a qualified candidate for a housewife. Her biggest interest was to take her female guards to the front and occasionally bending her bow to shoot a stupid rabbit that was frightened and rushed to the official road, rather than staying honestly by Cao Chong. It was not until she marches for a day that she remembered her duties and brought the female guards back to the big tent. Cao Chong had already taken a bath in the river, and was discussing affairs with Hao Zhao, Pang De and others with his hair loose. When he saw Sun Shangxiang carrying a rabbit in one hand and coming back with dusty face, he couldn't help laughing and waved his hand: "Look at you being dirty like a mud monkey, hurry up and wash in the pool behind. It's quite secluded and the water is clean."

Sun Shangxiang looked at Cao Chong embarrassedly, stuck out her tongue, and hurried to the pool with Sun Pin and others. She wanted to take her casually, but in the reflection of the water, she saw her dark face, and changed her mind, and people looked around and jumped into the cool water to bathe naked. When she finished the washing and returned to the tent, Cao Chong had already finished discussing and was leaning against the desk to read the book.

"I've finished washing?" Cao Chong glanced at Sun Shangxiang, asked casually, and pushed a basin of meat on the table to Sun Shangxiang: "This is the rabbit you beat, roasted with spices from the Western Regions. If you try it, it tastes very good. With some wine, it is simply a delicious food in the world. What a pity, there is no beer. If you have two glasses of draft beer, it would be a pleasure."

"It's finished washing." Sun Shangxiang leaned over to Cao Chong, looked at the book in Cao Chong's hand, and laughed: "What kind of wine is beer?"

"Uh--" Cao Chong was stunned, and then he realized that he had said the wrong thing casually. There was no beer in the Three Kingdoms: "It's... a very delicious wine, but unfortunately I can't remember where I drank it."

"And." Sun Shangxiang wrinkled her nose: "If you don't tell me if there is something delicious, you are angry because I didn't serve you well, right?"

"Angry?" Cao Chong sneered: "If you want to be angry with you, I'm already angry. Come and go to bed quickly. I've been wild for a day and I'll have to hurry up tomorrow."

"Hehe, you should go to bed too." Sun Shangxiang pounced on Cao Chong's back and snatched the book from Cao Chong's hand: "Stop reading it, go to bed."

Cao Chong enjoyed the tenderness behind him, snatched the book with one hand, and hugged Sun Shangxiang with the other, and hugged it horizontally on his legs: "Don't make trouble, this is Zijian's new work of Tongquetai Fu. My father praised it himself. It was written so well. I'll read it to you."

"What do you want to listen to? Isn't it just a silly person? I don't want to listen to you. I want to listen to you singing." Sun Shangxiang smirked and pounced on Cao Chong's crotch, pouted his lips and blew out the lampstand next to him...

Two days later, Cao Chong and his party arrived in Jiangling, and Huang Zhong went out of the city to greet him. Wei Yan and Wei Wenchang also came. With some uncontrollable excitement, he bowed to Cao Chong and said, "Young Master, Wei Yan hasn't seen the young master for two years, and I miss him so much."

Cao Chong looked at Wei Yan with a smile: "Wen Chang, the battle in Yiling is good. When Xi Su mentioned it, you praised it. Zhang Yide on the opposite side now knows your interests, right?"

Wei Yan touched his head and smiled, "Young Master, that battle of one or two thousand people is really meaningless. I just hope to fight a big battle with you later. It would be better for a big battle of 40,000 or 50,000 people like Xiling to be interesting. I'm going to tell you, this period of time has made me and Xuan Yu feel bad."

Cao Chong laughed: "Okay, okay, I know you're itchy. I didn't say it last time I saw me, but I finally said it today. Let's go into the city, tell me how well the preparations are there."

Wei Yan was overjoyed, jumped on his horse and followed Cao Chong, and told Cao Chong softly about the information coming from the upstream. Under the leadership of veteran Yan Yan, the Yizhou navy had already arrived at Baidi and Lejin to meet. With just a command, he drove to Yiling and carried Cao's army in Jiangbei across the river to fight. Although there were many naval ships in Yizhou, the soldiers had not fought for a long time, and they might not be the opponents of Liu Bei's naval army and Jiangdong naval army when they fought, but they were still more than enough to transport people and food.

"Your exhausted military plan has been used for so long, it should have confused Zhang Yide, right?" Cao Chong laughed softly as he walked.

"Of course." Wei Yan smiled with a little smug smile: "The scout replied that he was quite nervous at the beginning and strengthened his defense along the river. Later, he had done more times. He knew that all I had collected were fishing boats, so he didn't take it seriously. Recently, the war in Fuling was in a tight spot, and he had transferred most of his troops there. It seemed that he wanted to take all of Fuling and didn't want to make a small fuss anymore. Young Master, this is our opportunity."

"Of course, otherwise I would have basically transferred all the troops from Xiangyang and Yizhou here?"

"That's good, that's good." Wei Yan rubbed his hands excitedly: "Don't let me defend the city again this time. I want to follow the young master to Jiangnan."

Cao Chong glanced at Wei Yan with his eyes squinted, without a smile on his face. Wei Yan was stunned, and the smile on his face immediately froze: "Young Master... I'll ask me to guard Yiling?"

"Don't worry, I have my own arrangements." Cao Chong said in a deep voice: "You just need to listen to the orders."
Chapter completed!