Zhong Yao lowered his face and his eyes were sharp. He was really angry. He came from Chang'an day and night, not because he was complaining about Xun Yu. If Xun Yu really gave up, he would not be interested in wasting time with Xun Yu.

Xun Yu felt Zhong Yao's anger and suddenly laughed. "Yuan Chang, have you seen the drought along the way?"

Zhong Yao nodded but said nothing. Of course, he saw the drought and the wheat was almost killed. If it didn't rain again, it would definitely be inadequate this year and it would even cause famine.

"This is true in Guanzhong, Luoyang will definitely be affected. Huang Wan's biggest problem faced by leaving Luoyang at this time is not how to fight the Sun father and son, but to solve the problem of military rations. The army cannot do without food. If he does not have enough food, he will not be able to send troops at all. If he barely moves, he will only suffer a great defeat."

Zhong Yao's eyes flashed and his expression relaxed a little. "After a severe drought, there will be a major epidemic, and there may even be a locust plague. If this is true, Shandong prefectures and counties will be unable to take care of themselves and are unable to start a war."

"Yes, Yuan Benchu ​​missed the best opportunity, and he will be punished soon." Xun Yu sighed faintly, with a deep sorrow between his eyebrows. He drooped his eyelids, raised his hand, and gently pinched his sore eyebrows. "Yanzhou and Yuzhou will be affected by disasters, but the impact on both sides is different. Sun Ce's focus has shifted to Yangzhou. The losses in Yuzhou can be supplemented by Yangzhou, and it will not hurt the root cause. Moreover, the three states will help each other, and no one will object. But Yuan Benchu ​​is different. If he allocated a large amount of grain from Jizhou to support Yanzhou, the people of Jizhou would not agree."

Zhong Yao shook his head. "Yuan Tan was defeated and captured. The current governor of Yanzhou is Cao Ang. Yuan Benchu ​​would not risk the public's anger to help Yanzhou."

"Will the people of Yanzhou still support him when he wants to send troops next year or the year after?"

Zhong Yao took a breath of air conditioning. He paused for a while. "Will Sun Ce take over Yanzhou?"

Xun Yu leaned back against the wall of the car and raised his head. "I don't know if he will, nor do I know what I should hope for him to do."

Zhong Yao didn't say anything. He understood Xun Yu's meaning. If a disaster occurred in Guandong, both Yan and Yu would be affected. If Yuan Shao did not take over Yanzhou, Yanzhou would have to rely on Sun Ce to help. If Sun Ce did not take action, a large number of people in Yanzhou would starve to death. Sun Ce would take action, and the people of Yanzhou would turn to Sun Ce. For the court, no matter which result was, they were not willing to see. The best way was to take over by Yuan Shao. But Zhong Yao also understood that even if Yuan Shao could see this, even if he was willing, he might not be able to influence the ideas of the Jizhou family.

The Jizhou family disagreed, so Yuan Shao had no food to use.

The two were relatively silent, and the atmosphere became very depressing. Only the sound of horse hooves, wheels and crisp whip sounded from time to time were heard. The sunlight outside was dazzling, but Zhong Yao's mood was dark. Xun Yu said that guarding Tongguan was probably not only to give up Luoyang, but to see Guandong prefectures and counties, but also to keep inseparable and prevent refugees from entering the pass. However, he thought too much. How many refugees who fled now would come to Guanzhong? Most of them went south, either to Jingzhou or Yangzhou. In short, few people were willing to go west to enter the pass. Except for the envoys of the prefectures and counties, ordinary people had gradually forgotten the court in their hearts.

The sage said: If you have enough food and enough soldiers, the people will believe it. Now the court wants to eat but no food, and if you want no soldiers, who will care about him?

"If this is the case, Sun Yuan is probably going to use the river as the boundary." Zhong Yao suddenly laughed, full of bitterness. "It's hard to believe that Sun Ce took so much effort to take down a corner of Shanyang, but now he can take over the entire Yanzhou without fighting."

"This is just a possibility, and it may not be possible. Besides, after the disaster in Yanzhou, it was deserted and had little impact. Without enough war horses, he could not cross the river. By the way, did you just say war horses?" Xun Yu suddenly woke up. "There has been no war in Guanzhong recently, and there is no shortage of horses. Where were so many war horses sent to, Yuzhou or Jizhou?"

Zhong Yao glanced at Xun Yu. "You finally realized it. If you were sent to Jizhou, do you need to pass through Guanzhong and under the emperor's nose? These war horses should be sent to Yuzhou. There are not many, but they are all good horses."

"Han Sui, Ma Teng made a lot of money? He is very good at everything, this feeling must be very good." Xun Yu smiled bitterly. "Are they not afraid that Yuan Benchu ​​will find out, and they will not let them go?"

"The problem is that now it seems that Yuan Benchu ​​may not be the final winner. Han Sui and Ma Teng may not hope that he can win. Since Sun Ce is willing to rush forward and challenge Yuan Benchu, they will sell more horses and provide indirect support. What's wrong with it? Wen Ruo, it was a fool to arrange for Ma Chao and Yan Xing to go to Nanyang at the beginning."

Xun Yu grinned, speechless. The spirit that he had just cheered up from meeting Zhong Yao disappeared without realizing it, and his whole body was covered with a strong sense of powerlessness, as if he was trapped in the mountains, with cliffs in front, back, left and right, and didn't know where was the way out.

"Wenruo, don't worry. As far as I know, this is just the first batch of horses transported by Han Sui and Ma Teng, and it may not be sold to Sun Ce, so it is not impossible to keep them for use by themselves. It is impossible to make a conclusion before these horses leave Wu Pass. After returning to Chang'an, we find ways to convince them, or... pay a high price to cut off these horses."

"Where did the money come from?"

"Let Yuan Benchu ​​come out, or..." Zhong Yao paused for a long time. "Exchange the silk trade rights."

Xun Yu sneered, without commenting, obviously not interested in Zhong Yao's words. It is a bit possible to ask Yuan Shao to pay for money. After all, there are still many people in Chang'an who are supporters of Yuan Shao. As long as it is beneficial to Yuan Shao, they can spend some blood. It is impossible to exchange silk trade rights. This is one of the few sources of wealth in the imperial court. How could it be used to exchange war horses and reduce the burden on Yuan Shao? The emperor would never agree.

Zhong Yao coughed twice, pulled out a roll of paper from his sleeve and handed it over. Xun Yu looked at Zhong Yao in confusion. Zhong Yao didn't say anything, but handed the roll of paper to Xun Yu. Xun Yu took it and opened it and saw a message: Sun Ce found some Taoist priests and gathered in Chenliu's dye workshop, not knowing what he was busy with. Judging from Sun Ce's style of conduct, it should be to improve dyes.

Xun Yu's heart moved, pondered for a moment, and smiled and said, "Isn't this a good thing? The more silk produced in Jingzhou and Yuzhou, the more we make profits from it." As he said that, he handed the roll back the paper. "This is one of the few good news I have heard in the past few months."

"Is that right?" Zhong Yao put away the paper roll. "Do you think Sun Ce doesn't know if we make profits from it, or do you think Sun Ce will willingly give us the benefits?"

Xun Yu laughed even happier, and even laughed out loud. "So what if he doesn't want to? The silk sold in the Western Regions is the most profitable, and the business road in Guanzhong is the safest recently. Although Jia Xu has always wanted to get a piece of the pie, he has no profit before he repels the Huns and takes all the land in Henan. The advantage will only be taken away by the Huns..."

"What if Sun Ce took the sea route?" Zhong Yao said lightly. "Wujun Wood School is improving the building ship. Sun Ce also arranged for a man named Bu Zhi to study the history of water war. This person had been investigating the sea trade routes in the Qingxu area a few months ago. Once Sun Ce had the ability to sail at sea, it would never be used only in the north. Wenruo, by then, the land silk trade would not have the current scale. A building ship could carry at least 500 stones, which was far from comparable to a camel horse."

The smile on Xun Yu's face gradually froze, and even the blood disappeared, pale. After a long time, he sighed: "Seeing it in front, suddenly it is behind. Even though he wants to follow it, it is already. Yuan Chang, is there really no hope?"
Chapter completed!