Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 446 Prime Minister, do you truly intend to launch a northern expedition?
The tavern was unusually quiet.

Prime Minister Zhuge Liang and Zhao Yun stared at Lin Dao in disbelief.

After a moment, Prime Minister Zhuge slowly shook his head, "Your Excellency is not joking."

"How could the entire army possibly have such fine food?"

In this era, instant noodles are undoubtedly made from refined grains.

As for canned meat, canned fish, and even expensive tea eggs, they are rare finds.

It's estimated that only officers of the rank of colonel or above are eligible to enjoy it.

Do all the soldiers eat this every day?
Even if the Han Dynasty sold off all its possessions, it still wouldn't be able to do it!

Upon hearing this, Lin Dao smiled and stood up. "I have prepared some things for the Prime Minister to see. Please wait a moment."

After saying that, he went to get a laptop.

Place it on the tidy desktop, connect the external power supply, and turn it on.

Select the old version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms that you downloaded earlier, select the episode featuring Prime Minister Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition, and click play.

He turned the laptop around so that the screen faced Prime Minister Zhuge and Zhao Yun.

He stood up again. "I understand what the Prime Minister wants to know. Just watch, all the answers are here."

'The mighty Yangtze River flows eastward...'

Prime Minister Zhuge Liang and Zhao Yun were stunned by the computer screen.

Lin Dao went into the back room and took out several bottles of Da Yao soda from the portable refrigerator.

Previously, there were instant noodles, Fuling pickled mustard tubers, canned goods, and tea eggs.

The large kiln soda he currently possesses was all prepared by Lin Dao for Prime Minister Zhuge's Northern Expeditionary Army.

For Prime Minister Zhuge, his most difficult opponent was not the Cao Wei army, but the long and arduous supply lines.

Without sufficient food, even Prime Minister Zhuge Liang could only return empty-handed time and time again.

To help the Prime Minister succeed in his northern expedition, the first thing to do is to solve the food problem.

The fried noodles from instant noodles, the packaged dehydrated vegetables, and the oil and salt in the seasoning packets were basically enough to meet the needs of the soldiers.

Fuling pickled mustard tuber is made to provide more salt.

Canned goods, on the other hand, provide meat.

As for tea eggs, they undoubtedly contain both eggs and tea leaves, both of which are rare and delicious ingredients.

As for the soda he was holding, it was to replenish his sugar levels.

He also considered a family bucket and Coke combo, but after some deliberation, he ultimately decided to support domestic brands.

"It seems that Prime Minister Zhuge Liang also prefers things from the Central Plains."

He came here with a very relaxed attitude to handle some business.

With Prime Minister Zhuge Liang around, there's no need for him to charge into battle.

Just provide the supplies.
Of course, the corresponding compensation will still be received.

Moreover, Lin Dao does not accept that 150-zhu coin.

During the Three Kingdoms period, the constant fighting across the country caused the already fragile economy to collapse completely.

In order to raise military funds, Liu Bei issued a new type of coin called Zhibai after entering Shu.

That is, a larger Wuzhu coin was valued by the government at the same rate as one hundred Wuzhu coins.

This is undoubtedly a form of economic exploitation.

By falsely inflating the value of goods, they forcibly extracted physical goods from the people, which in turn triggered inflation.

Don't you think Liu Bei went too far, oppressing the people like this?
Let's look at what his opponents did.

Sun Jierui looked down on Zhibai coins and directly produced Daquan Wubai coins.

That is, a single coin was forcibly valued at five hundred coins, which is five times more ruthless than Liu Da'erduo.

That wasn't all. Not satisfied with that, Sun Quan later created the Great Spring Thousand!
A forcibly issued Daquan Dangqian coin was worth a staggering one thousand coins!
However, this is not the limit for Sun Jierui.

After he tasted success, he issued two more large coins, Daquan Two Thousand and Daquan Five Thousand.
It is said that there is also a large daisen toman, but no physical evidence has been found.

This isn't just plundering economic value, this is downright brain-dead idiocy!
When Jin conquered Eastern Wu, the Wu army almost always collapsed at the first contact.

It's easy to understand. When you get paid, what use is a single coin worth 1,000 coins?

The government can forcibly purchase these items, but what can the soldiers buy with them?

Merchants and ordinary people aren't stupid; they'll naturally try to avoid it if they can.

As a result, serving as a soldier in Eastern Wu meant he couldn't even support his family.

Living under such economic conditions, who would still have the will to serve the Sun family of Eastern Wu?
In terms of monetary economy, Cao Wei actually did the best.

They did not manufacture such coins as the Zhibai coin, or even the Daquan Dangqian or Dangwuqian coins.

Instead, they continued to use the Wuzhu coin, thus maintaining the value of the currency.

Of course, they've also done foolish things.

For a period of time, the Wuzhu coin was abolished, and a primitive economic method of barter was adopted.

Fortunately, after suffering a backlash, he quickly realized his mistake and started using the Wuzhu coin again.

It can only be said that no one is perfect.

Liu Da'erduo did not possess the high moral character depicted in the novel, but he did not massacre any cities and treated the people relatively well.

The Cao Wei dynasty did a decent job with its currency.

But it is true that they massacred cities and killed surrendered soldiers everywhere, and captured civilians to make meat jerky.

As for Sun Jierui~
Too lazy to comment.

Lin Daohui communicated with Prime Minister Zhuge in many ways, and currency was one of them.

Abolishing this method of economic exploitation is one of the conditions for Lin Dao's support.

When Lin Dao returned to the hall, Prime Minister Zhuge was completely stunned.

A small glass mirror contained an entire world!
Undoubtedly, this was beyond the knowledge of the well-read prime minister.

The Buddhist saying goes: "A flower is a world, a leaf is a Buddha, a grain of sand is paradise, a place is a pure land, a smile is a karmic connection, a thought is a moment of tranquility."

Prime Minister Zhuge sighed, "I never imagined it was true." "Don't believe it."

Lin Dao walked over and placed the Dayao soda on the table.

He joked, "Don't believe a single word those bald guys say."

"The real bald guy is the one who holds a girl while chanting Buddhist scriptures, 'Neither betraying Buddha nor betraying you.' I sigh at the hardships of monks' lives, while monks laugh at me for not owning a Land Rover. The Buddhist temple is supposed to be a pure place, where the cheapest car I drive is a Ferrari. I make a wish before the Buddha, and I pray that the monks will grant it all."

These words were too plain, and Prime Minister Zhuge frowned slightly.

He quickly realized that the person in front of him had a strong prejudice against Buddhism.

"If you had the chance to see for yourself how enviable the lives of those abbots and presiding monks are, you would look down on them."

Lin Dao sat down and reached out to open the bottle cap.

"Don't mention them, it ruins your mood."

"Try this~"

No need for a screwdriver, just grab the bottle cap and pry it open.

With my body constantly strengthened to this point, this little thing is now something I can do with ease.

"A glass bottle~"

Upon receiving the large bottle of soda from Lin Dao, Prime Minister Zhuge was once again deeply impressed.

If he could remain calm and collected when listening to storytelling before...

From Lin Dao treating me to dinner, to seeing the futuristic computer screen, and now to the orange water in the glass bottle...
The prime minister had already lost his composure.

He looked at Lin Dao and said, "Your Excellency..."

"There's no need for that," Lin Dao waved his hand to interrupt. "My surname is Lin, my given name is Dao, and my courtesy name is Zihou. You may simply call me Zihou, Prime Minister."

"Very well." Prime Minister Zhuge nodded. "May I ask, Zihou, what are your intentions?"

"Before informing the Prime Minister."

Lin Dao gestured to the computer screen, "Please have the Prime Minister read this first."

The Northern Expedition from Qishan caught the Wei Kingdom off guard, leaving them in a precarious position. Prime Minister Zhuge Liang, who had seized strategic offensive power, quickly expanded the victory.

The Shu army almost completely conquered all of Longyou, and also gained the surrender of Jiang Wei, Liang Xu, Yin Shang and others.

In film and television dramas, Jiang Wei says, "Old general, do you know Jiang Boyue of Tianshui?"

Upon seeing this, Zhao Yun stroked his beard and smiled, and Prime Minister Zhuge nodded in satisfaction.

He is clearly a young man skilled in both literature and martial arts; having him under one's command would surely bring joy.

Furthermore, we also saw that in the Battle of Jigu, Zhao Yun single-handedly wiped out the entire family of five, including Han De and his son.

Prime Minister Zhuge was also very pleased and praised him on the spot.

"Zilong's skill remains undiminished!"

Needless to say, Zhao Yun was also very happy.

Although the fighting speed displayed in this magical glass mirror was too slow, and the moves were chaotic and without any rules, like a fight between village children, at least the Northern Expedition was winning one victory after another.

Zhao Yun prioritized the overall situation over personal honor and disgrace. As long as the Northern Expedition succeeded, whether he personally killed generals was not that important.

Then, we witnessed the Battle of Jieting.

Prime Minister Zhuge Liang, who was always able to control his emotions well, was shocked to see that Ma Su had disobeyed his orders and had actually led his troops up the mountain.

He suddenly stood up, incredulous.

"how come?!"

"Youchang, how could you have lost your mind like this?!"

Ma Su was a representative figure of the Jingzhou faction, and he played an important role in balancing the Jingzhou and Yizhou factions.

Moreover, he is talented, magnanimous, and possesses strategic vision.

Prime Minister Zhuge valued him highly and even groomed him as his successor.

The Battle of Jieting
Prime Minister Zhuge was visibly agitated and could hardly contain himself.

“This is a story,” Lin Dao said calmly. “According to historical records, Ma Su was not stupid.”

"He did indeed choose to build fortifications at key crossroads, rather than going up the mountain where the water supply was cut off."

His gaze was fixed on Zhuge Liang, who said, "The reason for the defeat was insufficient strength."

"Faced with tens of thousands of Cao Wei mobile troops led by Zhang He, Ma Su, with only a few thousand men, could not possibly defend a small, dilapidated city."

"The reason this situation has arisen is entirely your fault."

"Prime Minister Zhuge, you can't bite off more than you can chew."

"You want too much, which leads to having to divide your forces everywhere."

"The result was that we were unable to concentrate our superior forces, which led to our being defeated one by one by Cao Wei."

Lin Dao's words were very straightforward and direct.

"Prime Minister Zhuge, you yourself never thought the Northern Expedition could succeed."

"The Northern Expedition was merely a means to unite the people within our ranks."

"The initial purpose of attacking various places in Longyou was simply to take away the local population."

"Unexpectedly, Cao Wei was careless and you won a series of victories, seizing a large amount of land and people."

"At this point, you are at a loss for what to do."

"If we follow the original plan and take people away, there will be a huge wave of opposition from the military."

"After all, it doesn't make sense to retreat after winning a battle."

"But if we want to swallow the fruits of victory, we need to divide our forces and control key strongholds."

"That's why we divided our troops and sent Ma Su to guard Jieting, hoping he could create a miracle and stop Cao Wei's reinforcements, but he was ultimately defeated!"

Lin Dao looked at him intently.

"Prime Minister, do you truly intend to launch a northern expedition?"

(End of this chapter)