Zhou Yu mainly stated three reasons:

First of all, the world has been chaotic for a long time, and the people's minds have been settled. Since the conflict between the masses, natural disasters and man-made disasters have followed one after another, the people in the southeast have changed, and the Qiang in the northwest have not been stable for a day. Since the Yellow Turban Rebellion in the first year of Zhongping, the world has been in chaos for more than ten years, with the people being displaced, the fertile land is deserted, and new tombs are built. Everyone yearns for peace and morale is available.

Secondly, the court moved westward and established its capital in Guanzhong, occupying favorable terrain, which was difficult to capture. Yizhou not only occupies the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, but also has a high position, but also a country of Tianfu. The court occupied the advantage of relevant Zhongzhong and received the grain from Yizhou, which was like the situation of the Qin and Guandong countries back then. Taking Yizhou was like cutting off the right arm of Guanzhong and robbing its granary, which could cut off the vitality of the court.

Finally, Cao Cao followed Sun Ce and implemented the new policy in Yizhou. With time, the foundation was stable and it was even more difficult to attack. When his foothold was not stable and the results of the new policy were not proven, he took the initiative to attack Yizhou to avoid causing trouble.

After Zhou Yu finished speaking the reasons, he bowed to Sun Ce. "General, will I explain the proposed strategy?"

Sun Ce looked at everyone, especially the two chief ministers. Zhang Hong was silent. Seeing this, Yu Fan bowed and said, "General, listen to him and make a decision."

Sun Ce looked at the others again, and Du Ji also said that he could listen to Zhou Yu talk about the strategy they planned first. Guo Jia and Pang Tong did not object. Seeing this, Sun Ce signaled Zhou Yu to continue. Zhou Yu raised his hand and pointed in Hanzhong.

"There are mainly two roads from Jingzhou to Yizhou: from Jingzhou to go up the Yangtze River in the south, and you can go directly to the heart of Yizhou; from the north, you can go up the Han River and enter directly into Hanzhong. The Three Gorges are difficult and dangerous, easy to retreat and difficult to advance. If you forcefully attack, you will inevitably be blocked in the river and lose troops and generals. Although Hanzhong has a thousand miles of journey and mountains are heavy and waters are repeated, it is less difficult than the Yangtze River. Moreover, there are four favorable conditions to take Hanzhong."

Zhou Yu explained four reasons to fight Hanzhong first.

First, when Sun Ce was conquering Guandu, Wu Yi sent troops to harass Xiangyang and support Yuan Shao. Now that he attacked Hanzhong, his troops were famous and would not be able to give him a handle. Secondly, Hanzhong is not only the key to Guanzhong's connection with Yizhou, but also a place for grain production, and can transport grain to Guanzhong. Seizing Hanzhong can not only cut off the connection between Guanzhong and Yizhou, but also take the grain from Hanzhong for its own use. In the future, troops stationed in Hanzhong do not need to transport grain from Jingzhou, so they can stand firm; secondly, Hanzhong can go straight to Wudu and enter Liangzhou to capture Hanzhong. If Hanzhong can be captured, the horses of Liangzhou can go down along the Han River; finally, although Hanzhong is connected with Guanzhong and Yizhou, there are Qinling Mountains in the north and Bashan Mountains in the south. It is not easy to reinforce from any direction. The advantages and disadvantages of both sides are not as obvious as those of the Yangtze River in terms of geographical advantages.

After hearing this, Sun Ce was a little moved. It was indeed difficult to capture Hanzhong and gained a lot. Not only could he use Hanzhong's grain to defend himself, but he could also contact Wudu. Ma Chao had already returned to Guanzhong, so he could only seek to control Wudu, run to Hanzhong, and contact Ma Chao. The problem of shortage of horse resources could be alleviated. It can be seen that Zhou Yu, Xun You, and Xinpi were not the source of their efforts. They had carefully planned and argued from all aspects. Although it was difficult, it was definitely not without hope of success.

In short, this is a feasible strategy.

However, Sun Ce did not make a statement immediately. Yu Fan reminded him that no matter how close he had to the generals before, from now on, he must distinguish between high and low. It is not that he has the strength and can show off his character, but that he needs to worry about other people's ideas. Zhou Yu can be with him, so can Shen You? Can Lu Su?

Rules are still needed, public and private must be clearly distinguished, otherwise nothing will be done. He can maintain respect and care for his subordinates, but everything is appropriate. Too much is not enough, and being too casual will harm them. It has never been uncommon in history to be arrogant because of favor. Now he must adapt to this change in his identity and cannot be as casual as before.

As a superior, his responsibility is not to express his opinions, but to comprehensively consider other people's opinions, combine his own judgment, and finally make a decision as reasonable as possible. If he is eager to express his opinions and has the final say in everything, then he still needs a counselor, what are his subordinates doing?

This is what the real overlord Xiang Yu did. His ending has proved that this is not possible. No matter how smart a person is, he cannot manage thousands of people with one person's strength. Listening to other people's opinions is as important and indispensable as having his own decisions.

"You guys, if you have any opinions or questions, please ask." Sun Ce raised his hand, knocked on the desk lightly, and stated again. "Do not talk about the matter at the same time." As he said, his eyes glanced at Yu intentionally or unintentionally. This guy's mouth is too poisonous, so he would like to remind him in particular.

Yu Fan grinned and disagreed, but turned his eyes to Zhang Hong. Sun Ce understood and turned his head to look at Zhang Hong. In terms of age and identity, Zhang Hong should speak first. Although he already knew Zhang Hong's tendency, he had to express his attitude in public on such occasions.

Zhang Hong was also very self-conscious. He stroked his beard and bowed slightly to Sun Ce. "General, I think it's inappropriate."

Zhou Yu's eyes flashed, as if he didn't expect Zhang Hong to have such a clear attitude and was not vague at all.

Sun Ce also felt a little surprised. "Sir, let me say it in detail."

Zhang Hong turned around and nodded to Zhou Yu again. Zhou Yu had already returned to his seat and bowed to the salute. "Please give me advice from Mr. Zigang."

"I dare not give advice, but I have a few opinions for the general's reference." Zhang Hong was not too slow. "First of all, as far as the army is famous, it is true that Wu Yi sent troops to harass Xiangyang, but on the one hand, it is small in scale, and on the other hand, it is difficult to confirm that it was Wu Yi himself instructed. Therefore, it is difficult to convince the public in attacking Hanzhong, and it is inevitable that people will feel that they want to add words. Secondly, it is precisely because Hanzhong produces grain, even if Wu Yi does not need the support of Guanzhong and Yizhou, he can persist for a long enough time. For us, the possibility of quick victory is extremely small. Secondly, Liangzhou does have horses, but the road to Wudu enters Hanzhong is rugged and difficult to walk, and the cost is too high. Finally, the general may not be familiar with the actual situation of Jingzhou and overestimate our strength. Although Jingzhou has been stable in recent years and the new policy has achieved certain results, its reserves are far less than what the general hopes, and it cannot support the protracted war."

Zhang Hong turned around and bowed to Sun Cegong. "General, please let me talk about the situation in Jingzhou."

"Mr.

Zhang Hong took out a piece of paper from his arms and spread it on the table. He started to recite it slowly. This is the income and expenditure of Jingzhou in recent years. After the autumn harvest, the plans of each county were delivered one after another. These numbers were compiled by Zhang Hong.

There are two major income items:

First, land rent mainly refers to grain. Jingzhou has not had major wars in recent years, farming is normal, and grain is relatively sufficient. The output has been rising. Especially after the military farming has achieved results, grain income has increased rapidly in the past two years, increasing by more than 10% per year.

The second is municipal taxation, including large cities in various counties and various small cities scattered. Because the new policy emphasizes people's livelihood, people's lives are stable, workshops are opened in various places, people's income is increasing, and people's income is willing to spend money, so the markets in various places are prosperous, and the growth of municipal taxation is very gratifying, and it has achieved high growth one after another. This year, due to the victory of the Guandu War, municipal taxation has achieved explosive growth, which doubled compared with last year in just three months.

The income is very gratifying, but the expenses are also amazing. The most important ones are two:

One is the salary of officials. This includes the salary of newly opened martial arts halls, wooden school and other institutions. Sun Ce paid business and paid sacrificial wine to the halls. The salary of craftsmen was very high. The salary of these people was almost equivalent to the salary of officials in Jingzhou. In other words, establishing the halls almost doubled the expense of the salaries of officials.

The second is military expenditure. Jingzhou currently has many troops stationed, with more than 10,000 troops directly under Zhou Yu alone. Nanyang has Huang Zhong, Deng Zhan, Lou Gui tribes, Nanjun Li Tong, Jiangxia Wenpin, Xiangyang Sun Fu and Xu Huang. There are military farm soldiers in each military farm area. In addition, Du Ji directly led 2,000 troops, with a total force of more than 57,000 people, and the annual money and grain consumed more than the salaries of officials.

These two items alone consume more than 70% of Jingzhou's income. The remaining funds for county schools, tuition exemptions, and provide lunch, pens and ink for kindergarten children, normal expenses for Xiangyang Academy, daily consumption of post offices in various places, and resettlement of newly arrived refugees. In addition, Sun Ce's previous debts were also time to pay back, which was also a large amount of money, and his annual income was not enough.

Zhang Hong finished reading these data, raised his head, and looked solemn. "Jingzhou has developed well in recent years, but its expenses are also very large and its reserves are limited. Of course, the difficulties are only temporary. In a few years, these difficulties can be solved easily. But there is a premise that no major war can occur, especially the deadlock cannot be reached. You must have heard that the reason why Jingzhou owes so much debt is precisely because of the Guandu Battle not long ago. The Guandu Battle lasted only half a year from the beginning of the first month to the great victory in June. The military force was only 50,000, and the military expenditure consumed exceeded one billion. If the two armies confront each other, how much will it consume?"

Zhang Hong turned around Zhou Yu and said seriously: "Gongjin, how many troops do you need to dispatch? 20,000 or 30,000? How long are you sure to win? One year or two years? Two thousand miles of expedition, and mountain roads. Transportation alone is a huge expense. Once the war begins, the three counties of Jingzhou are not enough to support it. They must transport grain from Jiangnan or Yuzhou, and the consumption will be greater. As far as I have mastered, even if we gather the power of Jingzhou and Yuzhou, we can only provide up to 3 billion military expenditures every year, which is only a year's consumption of 30,000 troops."

Zhang Hong paused and reminded again: "I must remind you again: This is when there is no war in other departments."

I don’t know, but I was shocked when I calculated. Sun Ce had heard some data one after another, but it was not so comprehensive. After listening to Zhang Hong’s introduction, he only had one emotion: If you don’t take charge of your family, you don’t know that the food and rice are expensive. Jingzhou seems to have a lot of income, but it’s more expensive, and it’s not enough to afford the war. Although the country is big, it’s really not a joke to say that it will perish if you fight.

Sun Ce looked at Zhou Yu and smiled bitterly, "Gongjin, what do you think of the Changshi's opinion?"

Just as Zhou Yu was about to get up, Xinpi pulled the corner of his clothes. After so long, Xinpi had calmed down and could no longer let Zhou Yu rush forward. Zhou Yu went back to sit down, Xinpi stood up and bowed to Sun Ce and Zhang Hong. "General, Chief Secretary, I have a few words to say."
Chapter completed!