Chapter 300: Pacificating Jiangdong and turning waste into treasure To be honest, after conquering Jiangdong, Qin Zhen was planning to return to Shouchun. Although Jiangdong is important, the war between Cao and Yuan in the north is a great opportunity to welcome back the emperor. Moreover, he has already settled down in Shouchun, and his family are all there, so returning to Shouchun will allow the family to be reunited. But unexpectedly, this Zhang Zibu who popped out from there suggested to Lao Liu that a military and political talent was needed to guard Jiangdong. There were actually quite a few military and political talents under Liu Bei's command, such as Liu Fu, Chen Deng, Yuan Huan, Lu Su and others. But after all the consideration, there is really no one more suitable than him to stay in Jiangdong to stabilize the situation. Because Liu Fu is only suitable for stabilizing local areas, he may not be able to guarantee effectiveness in the current complex situation in Jiangdong. Chen Deng, Yuan Huan, Lu Su and others, including Zhuge Liang and Liu Ye, did not have enough qualifications. Not to mention Lu Dai, Bu Zhi and others who had just joined Liu Bei's army, Liu Bei might not even know them.

In other words, Liu Bei proposed this matter to him after careful consideration. Giving him suggestions, not orders, is purely out of respect for him. So after Liu Bei proposed it, Qin Zhen was stunned for a while, then laughed dryly: "Mingsong's proposal is quite sudden. I was still thinking about hugging my son after returning to Shouchun!" "But whatever, since you have such intention, I will just stay in Jiangdong for a while!" Seeing that he agreed without hesitation, Liu Bei breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, before this, he was a little worried that Qin Zhen was unwilling to guard Jiangdong. Because in his impression, Qin Zhen had no ambition, and didn't even have much desire for power. Serving as a provincial governor may be a heavy responsibility for others, but it may be a burden for Qin Zhen! After all, who doesn't know that he, as a military advisor, is extremely good at governing the country? To put it bluntly, Jiangdong is now a mess. There are no industries and not much arable land. In contrast, there were many aristocratic families and wealthy people in Wujun and Kuaiji, as well as countless refugees and bandits. In addition, there are hundreds of thousands of Shanyue and millions of Baiyue people living together. Throw these to Qin Zhen, and they will be Qin Zhen's problems to deal with. If it is managed well, it will be icing on the cake for Qin Zhen. If it is not managed well, it will be a stain on Qin Zhen. Therefore, even if Qin Zhen refused or declined on the spot, Liu Bei would not be very surprised. Seeing Qin Zhen mention the child, Liu Bei immediately smiled and said: "If it's something else, it's fine. It's just that Zixuan wants to hold his son. It's a small matter!" "I know Zixuan loves his wife and children. After we go back, I will let Zhaoji take He'er south!" In this era, the young people from the outer town must be kept as hostages. Liu Bei said this, which clearly showed his extreme trust in Qin Zhen. However, Qin Zhen shook his head when he heard this: "There is no need to do this. Yunchang and his family are all in Shouchun. Can I be the only one to be treated as an exception?" "Besides, Jiangdong is not as convenient as Shouchun. It would be better for Zhaoji and He'er to stay in Shouchun!" "But you will stay in Jiangdong, my lord. What can you do for me?"

Liu Bei was stunned when he heard this, because he kept Qin Zhen in Jiangdong only because Qin Zhen was suitable. But he had never thought carefully about what specific achievements Qin Zhen should make here. "I wonder what the military advisor thinks this place in Jiangdong can do?" After thinking for a moment, he passed the ball to Qin Zhen himself and asked, "What do you think you can accomplish in Jiangdong?" Qin Zhen became more alert when he heard this, and said with a smile: "Everyone thinks that the land of Jiangnan is barren, but I think this place is an important place for the country!" "Since the Shang and Zhou dynasties, this place has been inhabited by hundreds of people, and the land is vast and sparsely populated, so the princes did not take it seriously." "Don't you know that the land south of the Yangtze River is a land of fish and rice, with fertile soil for thousands of miles?" "If we cultivate this land well, we can produce millions of grains and grass." "Besides, this place is located along the Yangtze River, which is accessible to sea vessels, and many ports can be built along the coast." "The farther you go, the more you can reach the Western Regions, and even the Great Qin Kingdom in the west. The closer you go, the more you can reach Liaodong." "The silk, grain, rice, fish and shrimp here can all be transported north and exchanged for horses and money." "If we go to Daqin, we will gain twice as much as we do at home, and it will be within our reach." "Since this place is mountainous, there must be a lot of minerals. We just need to explore carefully and we may not be able to find much." "These are all unique to Jiangdong. Liaodong has no such benefits!" When Liu Bei heard this, his expression suddenly became interesting. Before Qin Zhen spoke, he only felt that Jiangdong was a barren land, not as good as Huainan. But now listening to Qin Zhen's words, Jiangdong seems to be a treasure land? Thinking of this, he grabbed Qin Zhen's hand and said with a smile: "Zixuan is a man of great talent. If it weren't for your words, I would have thought this place would be difficult to govern." "Now that Zixuan has spoken, I feel as if my mind has been opened." "If Zixuan had been so far-sighted earlier, Jiangdong would not be so poor!" The main reason why Jiangdong had such a poor foundation was that the rulers of the Han Dynasty had always focused on the north. I have never thought about carefully developing the land of Jiangdong. After all, with such a vast agricultural base in the Central Plains, it is not Jiangdong's turn to develop. But Qin Zhen was able to see the benefits of Jiangdong and look for ways to improve the situation. It can be seen that no land is completely wasteland, it just depends on whether people can manage it. "But I don't know what Zixuan should do in this situation?" Facing Liu Bei's question, Qin Zhen immediately sat up straight, clasped his hands and said solemnly: "If I were to govern here, my first priority would be to promote industry and commerce like Huainan did."

"Build factories, encourage farming, educate the people, and when the situation stabilizes, send troops to suppress bandits, build ships, and explore the coast." "Outside, we should wipe out all the bandits on the sea, and inside, we should win over the Shanyue people and divide them up and plot against them." "We should also send envoys into the mountains to trade with the Baiyue people in exchange for minerals and special products from the mountains." "In addition, Jiangdong is connected to Liu Biao in the west and Jiaozhou in the south, so there is a lot of potential for military expansion." "Liu Biao is not worth the effort yet, but Jiaozhou has been lost for a long time. Although there is Zhang Jin as the governor, he is not a talent for governing the country!" "So our army should plan for it early. I should make careful plans and bring this place under our command!" "Although the population here is sparse, the climate is pleasant and there are three seasons of rice to harvest. We should manage it well so that it can be used as a granary for our army's future campaigns." "Things like these are what I want to do. What do you think?" In fact, although Liu Bei took the initiative to ask about the things he was talking about now, in a sense, it was the plan he proposed to Liu Bei. Many of these things cannot be done in private, and if they are done, people will inevitably gossip. And now he is giving Lao Liu a direct shot of prevention, so that it will be justifiable to mobilize troops in the future. Otherwise, if he worked so hard in the South for a long time and then people thought he was going to rebel, that would be a big problem. Now he has taken the initiative to propose it. If Liu Bei is willing to do it, then he will do it. If Liu Bei did not have this intention, then it would have been better to bring it up as soon as possible, and he would not have done anything related to it. However, Qin Zhen obviously underestimated Liu Bei's magnanimity and overestimated Liu Bei's ability to govern the country. To Old Liu, his words were completely beyond his expectations. Old Liu thought to himself, I just wanted to stabilize the situation in Jiangdong, but you thought Jiangdong was too poor and wanted to develop the economy. He also felt that the Shanyue forces here were too powerful, so he was ready to completely control them. In addition to governing the country and governing the people, he also wanted to seize Jiaozhou in the south. As for a plan like this, let alone whether it can be done or not, as long as Qin Zhen is willing to do it, he has no reason to refuse. Thinking of this, Liu Bei waved his hand and directly said, let’s do it! I'm entrusting the entire Jiangdong to you. Do as much as you can and don't tire yourself out! As he said this, he still felt a little guilty and told Qin Zhen that they should send Cai Yan over. Military Advisor, I really can't bear to see you alone here. Having a wife around will at least help her understand you and make her more motivated, right? But Qin Zhen refused again, and his reason was very straightforward. He is only responsible for planning in Jiangdong and will not stay in Jiangdong forever. As long as Cai Yan is still in Shouchun, he can have someone take over after a year or two of planning. If you bring your family with you, you won't be able to leave for three to five years. It seems comfortable to make your own decisions when you are outside, but it is very troublesome to deal with miscellaneous matters. Don’t you see that Lao Liu, a military general, was so busy after gaining such a large territory that he had no time to have children?

Zhu Yuanzhang had to sleep later than a dog and get up earlier than a chicken when he was reviewing memorials? Although he is still in his prime, he has not yet reached the level of Zhuge Liang who personally handles everything. Or wait until he has made his plans, and then wait for Zhuge Liang to go south to take over. By then, he had some free time and Zhuge Liang had the opportunity to gild his reputation, which was simply the best of both worlds. Liu Bei certainly didn't know Qin Zhen's little tricks, and seeing him so righteous, he praised him: "Zixuan is so devoted to the public that he is truly unmatched by the ancient sages!" "Well, since Zixuan is like this, I won't try to persuade him any further!" “But I don’t know what Zixuan can do to help here? He thought that Qin Zhen had already expressed his position, and it would be unreasonable for him not to give some help. But when Qin Zhen saw it, he only made two requests to Lao Liu! First, core members such as Zhang Zhao, Wu Jing, and Zhu Zhi can be taken away, but people like Yu Fan, Gu Yong, and Lu Dai and Bu Zhi under Zhang Fei must stay with him! Second, leave Zhao Yun, Xu Sheng, Gao Shun and Zhou Yu to him. According to him, governing the country and the people is impossible without people, and if big things are to be done, a large number of talents are needed. He doesn't want other talents, Zhao Yun and others are his old subordinates. Gu Yong, Yu Fan, Lu Dai, Bu Zhi and others were all talented. These people will have no chance of development if they are taken to the north, so it is better for them to stay in Jiangdong and work for him. When Liu Bei heard that Qin Zhen only wanted people, he immediately laughed. If he couldn't give money, he could still transfer manpower. After all, he lacks everything now, but the talent is no longer what it used to be. Even if Qin Zhen didn't say it, he had to keep these people for Qin Zhen. Not only did he agree to all of them, but he also kept Wei Yan and Zu Lang with Qin Zhen. But regarding Qin Zhen's request to keep Zhou Yu, Old Liu was puzzled: "I think Zhou Yu has lost his mind and is not fit for important tasks. What's the point of keeping him here, Advisor?" It’s not that he doubted Qin Zhen’s purpose, but Zhou Yu seemed to have lost his soul now. Not to mention persuading him to surrender, he probably didn't even want to be an official. If Zhou Yu hadn't posed such a great threat, Liu Bei would have even wanted to let Zhou Yu go. Why would Qin Zhen want to keep such a useless person in Jiangdong? Qin Zhen's explanation to Liu Bei was also very simple. In his words: "Although Zhou Yu was heartbroken, he was a man of great generosity and ambition." "There may be a chance for him to rise again in the future. You are bringing him north to be placed under house arrest."

"Why not leave him in Jiangdong and try to persuade him? If we can convince him to follow our army, it will be a good thing." "If you really can't convince me, you can rest assured in the north with me taking care of you!" To be honest, he still feels a little sorry for Zhou Yu's talent. It is obvious that this person is a first-class naval general. If he were in other dynasties, he might be able to expand the territory. It's a pity that he was born in this chaotic era, and was devoted to assisting Sun Ce, so it was difficult for him to display all his talents. So he still wanted to try. If he could persuade Zhou Yu to come out of seclusion, even if he didn't have to fight a civil war in the future, it would be nice to go out and fight pirates and live a simple life! Otherwise, it would be a shame to waste the life of such a good talent. When Liu Bei heard this, he nodded in agreement. He was well aware of Zhou Yu's talents. The only regret is that Zhou Yu probably has some resentment towards him and cannot be used by him. If Qin Zhen could really convince Zhou Yu, it would be like turning waste into treasure. Having made up his mind, he said no more and directly agreed to Qin Zhen's request. (End of this chapter)