Zhang Hong smiled bitterly. His experience of studying in Luoyang made him well aware of the consequences of forming a clique. He also knew that Sun Ce was very sensitive to this, so he tried to avoid recommending fellow villagers to key positions. Chen Jiao was in the same county as him, and he had been silent before, and suddenly promoted, which easily made people think that he was selfish.

"Master, Chen Jiao has some ability, but he and Mi Fang are both from Xuzhou, so they are not suitable."

Sun Ce knew Zhang Hong's concerns and smiled and said, "Don't worry about Zhang Xiang. I will let Xu Kun be the recommended candidate. You can review Chen Jiao's resume over the years according to the regulations." He paused and said, "All things are created, and it depends on Zhang Xiang and the ministers. You should have some concerns, but you can't give up because of the choke. You urge Mr. Huang and ask him to come up with the official test method as soon as possible, even if it is a draft, choose the one that can be done. If there are any shortcomings, it will be changed depending on the implementation situation. It is unrealistic to expect to be perfect as soon as possible."

Zhang Hong was very grateful and bowed to the order. He was trusted by Sun Ce, became the prime minister, and was in charge of the government affairs of Wu, but he had little practical experience. Except for the years in charge of Nanyang, he had no experience in governing before, and some things were not easy to grasp. If someone wanted to cause trouble for him, it was easy to find a handle, so he was extra cautious and sometimes even a little conservative. Sun Ce took this into consideration and took the responsibility, and Xu Kun recommended Chen Jiao. In this way, even if someone wanted to talk about this, he had to consider whether he could afford Xu Kun.

Sun Ce's trust and love for him made him deeply happy to meet the wise ruler, and he was also glad for accepting Sun Ce's invitation. When Sun Ce sent Jiang Gan to invite him, what he was most worried about was that Sun Ce was the same as Xiang Yu. Now it seems that this worry is not necessary at all.

"The king, I think that it is better to transport rice in Jiaozhou than to be late. In order to form an army sooner, some soldiers can be transferred from Mi Zhu as backbone."

Sun Ce was a little puzzled and signaled Zhang Hong to continue.

Mi Zhu is Mi Fang's brother. He has always been responsible for specific matters related to maritime business, but his jurisdiction is in Youzhou and Cai Mao's Jingxiang merchants in Jiaozhou. However, Jingxiang merchants are too strong. They not only control the business in Jiaozhou, but also account for a large share of the business in Bashu. Cai Mao supports Huang Yueying to test the production of new ships in order to seize the application of new technologies. Once he uses this new sea ship in large quantities, his proportion in the entire commercial system of Wu will exceed 80%, which will inevitably break the balance.

It is precisely because of this that he considered building another Central Navy naval division to share part of the business in Jiaozhou. No matter how brave Cai Mao was, he would not dare to compete with the Central Army for business. But if Mi Zhu sent his subordinates to support Mi Fang, the nature would be different. Cai Mao and the Jingxiang faction would think that this was the Mi brothers who wanted to compete for interests from them. With Zhang Hong's wisdom, such a problem would not be impossible. He naturally had to do so because he reminded him like this.

"King, Yuan Tan commanded 200,000 troops and was stranded in Yanzhou. The emperor shook the elite troops from Guanzhong and stationed in Hanoi without going beyond Henan. All signs indicate that they knew that they were not the enemy of the king, and did not dare to advance rashly, and wanted to defend instead of attacking. King Yuan Tan may not be able to say anything, but the emperor thought so, it was not a blessing for the world."

Sun Ce thought something. Zhang Hong reminded him correctly that there is no danger to defend Jizhou, and Yuan Tan is not worth fearing, but the emperor is different. Guanzhong is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and it is related to the Central Plains. If the emperor stays in seclusion, it will be more troublesome. If the emperor looks at the problem from a development perspective, the emperor's progress in recent years is impressive. He is still young and has 30,000 elite soldiers. Therefore, he is in sight, but he can control his vanity and stay in Hanoi without entering. This tolerance is definitely not something that ordinary people can do.

It can be said that if it weren't for the comparison of him as a time traveler, the emperor would be the standard of a young hero. In history, he struggled to support Cao Cao for more than 20 years and was unable to turn the world back, so he could only give up. Now that the wheel of history has changed direction, he took advantage of the situation. If we look at the problem from a development perspective, the emperor would soon surpass Yuan Tan and become his strong competitor, and may even be more dangerous than Cao Cao who occupied Yizhou.

Of course he can defeat the emperor, but the time will be longer than he expected and the price will be paid more.

"Zhang Xiang is saying... looking for a decisive battle with the emperor?"

Zhang Hong said, "If you have such an opportunity, you cannot let it go. Be prepared for any trouble. The king should be prepared for a decisive battle. In recent years, the household registration in Jiangdong has increased day by day, and the land has been reclaimed more, but the consumption is also large. The surplus grain accumulated is not much. The confrontation may be surplus, but the attack is inevitable. If the war cannot be delayed, it may be a loss-making situation."

Sun Ce let out a sigh. He understood Zhang Hong's concerns. Jiangdong has developed rapidly in recent years. When the population of other states was declining, Jiangdong was rising and rapidly rising. Because of good policies, a large number of people moved south from Sizhou, Yanzhou and Qingzhou, and finally enriched in Jiangdong. In a few years, the population of Jiangdong almost doubled, and the speed of land reclamation in Jiangdong could not keep up with the increase in household registration. In addition, there were too many people eating, especially after Lidu Jianye, the families of civil and military officials moved one after another, and the large number of people living in the food supply caused a tightening of Jiangdong's food supply.

This is not a problem for one person, but a problem for everyone. He and his team do not have enough governance experience and lack of foreseeing the imbalance caused by the rapid development. This is also the reason why he hopes to promote Sumai as soon as possible. Sumai is a dry crop that can use a large amount of mountain land to relieve food tension. His ultimate goal is to achieve rice and wheat rotation, which will ripen twice a year, but there are still some troubles that cannot be solved within at least one or two years.

The current grain storage in Jiangdong is not enough to support large-scale and long-term wars. If the emperor, Yuan Tan does not take the initiative to attack and choose to confront and consume, he has an absolute advantage over the long term. As long as he can survive these two years and solve the problem of rice and wheat rotation, he will not have to worry about shortage of food, but the life of these two years will not be easy. If there are any other major changes, it will inevitably be difficult.

He would hurry up and transport rice from Jiaozhou, be well prepared, or fight with the emperor or confront him, he would be much more relaxed. If he had the opportunity to fight to the decisive battle, he would not have to look forward to it, worried that there would be insufficient food and it would be difficult to sustain. In order to achieve this goal, it would become the key to make the Central Navy's army army army army army as soon as possible, so naturally he would not care what Cai Mao and others would think.

"Zhang Xiang, please take a break from the money and see how big the gap we have and whether the funds are enough." Sun Ce scratched his hair. "If the gap is relatively large, just give a part of the quota to the Jingxiang Group. If it doesn't give some benefits, they will not be able to block their mouths."

Zhang Hong agreed with Sun Ce's opinion. Cai Mao was greedy for money. If he didn't give him any benefits, he would definitely have an opinion. He dare not say it openly, and it is inevitable that he would be negative in secret. The commercial tax of the Jingzhou system is very important to the economic balance of the Wu Kingdom. At such a critical moment, he would rather spend more than unnecessary fluctuations.

After Zhang Hong retreated, Sun Ce called Yang Yi and asked him to connect with Zhang Hong, to figure out the family's background as soon as possible, and to make a plan. He called Gu Hui and asked him to write an article, transferred Gu Yong to Jianye, and wrote a letter to Xu Kun, asking him to recommend Chen Jiao.

Li Ru walked down the river and rushed to Jianye. Sun Ce waited for two days and met Li Ru after the Dragon Boat Festival.

Li Ru was in a bad state. He was tired from the hardships of boats and car trips for many days. The climate in Jiangnan was stuffy and he was not very adaptable. He couldn't sleep well at night and got sick. Sun Ce sent the doctors in the palace to see a doctor and arranged two nurses who were steady in their work. Li Ru improved a little, but he looked a little sluggish.

Seeing that Old Li Ru's face turned yellow, Sun Ce felt a little embarrassed. "Thank you for your hard work."

Li Ruqiang sat up and returned the favor to Sun Ce. "Don't say that to the king. If it weren't for the king, Ru would have been buried long ago."

Sun Ce smiled and picked up the medicinal food prepared by Yuan Quan, fed Li Ru and his own hands, then handed it to the nurse beside him, watching the nurse feed Li Ru. Li Ru was very grateful, knelt on the bed, worshiped Sun Ce, and worshiped him in the direction of Taichu Palace, expressing his gratitude to Yuan Quan, and then ate a large bowl of porridge with tears.

"The king asked, and everything Confucians know and speak without saying anything."

"Shit, sir, sir." Sun Ce pressed Li Ru's shoulder and asked him to sit down, don't be too excited. Li Ru is a person who longs for respect. As long as he is respectful, he will be willing to pay attention to everything. In this regard, he and Jia Xu have both similarities and great differences. "Shit is wise, I must know what I want to ask."

Li Ru smiled. "The king must be a little confused about Jia Wenhe's actions over the past six months."

"Yes, I really don't understand. I hope the sir can solve my doubts."

"I don't know what Jia Wenhe is thinking, but I don't really understand one thing, but I can be sure of one thing. He is a smart person and will never do stupid things and be enemies with the king."

Sun Ce smiled but said nothing. He didn't dare to be so sure. No one knew better than him who Jia Xu was. If he was an enemy of him, he could get greater benefits. Jia Xu would not refuse. The previous friendship was not important at all. Of course, he did not need to expose Li Ru's thoughts. Li Ru and Jia Xu were one, and it was reasonable for him to excuse Jia Xu.

"The Confucians are presumptuous and dare to ask the king, what does the king think of the hundred-year-old Qiang chaos?"

Sun Ce stroked the wrinkles on his knees and did not rush to answer Li Ru's question. Li Ru looked at Sun Ce with a bright look, unable to hide the tension in his expression. "Is it a stopgap solution for wartime, or will it be like this in the future?"

Sun Ce smiled. "Sir, is Jia Wenhe, as a native of Liangzhou, wants to win a development opportunity for Liangzhou?"

"Confucians are foolish and speculated, so they should be like this. The king also knew that since Emperor Guangwu moved the capital to Luoyang and used the classics to obtain scholars, Guandong suppressed Guanxi for a hundred years. Not to mention Liangzhou, in the eyes of the people of Guandong, except for a few aristocratic families, they are all barbarians. If Zi moved the capital to Guanzhong today, he would also lead Liangzhou people to Guanzhong, and the household registration was insufficient. For Guanzhong and Liangzhou people, it was an opportunity that was not seen in a century."
Chapter completed!