Chapter 168 Already Won
Hedong, a suburb of Anyi.

Ma Chao returned with a dozen riders and was surprised to see that the village was densely populated.

The patrol guard informed in advance, and Ma Dai hurried out to greet him.

Ma Chao dismounted, played with the whip in his hand, and recounted the journey.

Before he set out, he thought Yuan Tan was in Pingyang, but after he arrived in Pingyang, Yuan Tan happened to go to see the Chanyu of Southern Xiongnu.

After some delay, when Ma Chao came back, he found that the situation in Guanzhong had changed.

Ma Chao was not clear about the details and needed Ma Dai to explain in detail.

The two brothers drank chrysanthemum wine, and Ma Dai told them all the information he knew, and then asked, "Brother, what does Yuan Sili think?"

"No purpose. Just take it one step at a time. I think from his words he wants me to be the governor of Xihe County, to cooperate with the Lishi Xiongnu and other Hu people to invade the north and divide the Black Bear's troops."

Ma Chao gave a brief summary and asked curiously, "I thought the people were scattered, but why are they so strong now?"

"This, this depends on the situation in Guanzhong."

Ma Dai felt a little embarrassed and didn't know how to explain the matter in a light-hearted way. Ma Chao understood when he saw this.

“It is human nature to seek benefits and avoid harm.”

Ma Chao nodded. He roughly understood what Ma Dai had gone through during this period.

It was nothing more than the Tiger Tooth Army sweeping across the Guanzhong tribes, triggering a strong sense of crisis among the indigenous powerful people in Hedong.

Some opportunistic knights and evil young men came to join Ma Dai on their own initiative.

The reason is very simple. Too many people do not have the vines to build bridges and thread the threads. General Ma Teng, the General who Conquers the North, is the father-in-law of the new General who Guards the North. This means that by surrendering to and relying on Ma Chao and Ma Dai, it is equivalent to establishing contact with Guanzhong in advance.

Ma Chao didn't want to know too much about this matter.

He continued to tell Ma Dai his opinion of Yuan Tan: "I rejected Yuan Sili, and the Hu tribes are motivated by profit. If I lead the Hu tribes to invade Guanzhong, how can I face my brother?"

"And then there is Yuan Sili, who is now in a dilemma. I suspect he has big plans."

"What do you mean by brother?"

"Xudu."

Ma Chao lowered his voice and said, "Yuan Sili is now lobbying Bingzhou Qianzhao to form an alliance to advance to Luoyang. If he succeeds, he will have a foothold and can also relieve the difficulties of Hebei. I think he wants to have his own troops and take it if he can. If not, he will join forces with Cao Gong."

"I see. It would be better to go to Xudu as a commoner than to follow Yuan Sili and flee to Hebei."

Ma Dai also reacted and immediately expressed his willingness: "I am willing to follow my brother to Xudu."

"Well, the Minister Geng Ji is from Maoling Township. When I enter Xudu, I will visit Geng Ji to find a good opportunity to serve the country."

Ma Chao told Cao Cao about his plan. Cao Cao had recruited him before, but he refused.

Therefore, it is impossible for him to lower himself to seek an official position now. After arriving in Xudu, whether he lives in seclusion, travels to study, or visits guests everywhere, he just needs to blend in.

It would not work until the imperial court offered him a position that satisfied him. The starting position for a scholar in the officialdom was very important.

Although Yuan Tan made him the governor of Xihe County when he started out, it was just an empty title and he was unable to mobilize any decent county troops.

Not to mention requisitioning manpower and resources from Xihe County, if Ma Dai knew that he was going to lead the Hu people from Xihe and Shangjun to invade Guanzhong, he might have taken his men back directly to Ma Teng to apologize.

If there are still spies left by Ma Teng around Ma Dai, they might directly kidnap Ma Chao and then return to Guanzhong.

Today is different from the past. Ma Teng's strategic speculation has achieved great success.

This made Ma Chao, who seemed to be a backup chess piece, feel a little at a loss as to what to do.

While they were discussing, there was an official salt pond near Anyi.

Cui Yan grabbed a handful of bluish-white salt crystals, which felt a bit rough. He clasped his hands together, crushed them, and slowly raised them up from his hands.

In front of him and under his feet were white salt blocks and piles.

Everyone knows the importance of salt.

Now not only Guanzhong is short of salt, but Hebei is also beginning to be short of salt.

Yuan Tan was transferred to the western front, and all the loyal forces willing to follow Yuan Tan came to the western front. Most of these people were from Qingzhou.

This led to the complete collapse of Qingzhou, but Cao Cao was unable to control it. Now the local tyrants, bandits, and remnants of the Yellow Turban Army in the northern part of Qingzhou are rising one after another, and no one is willing to submit to anyone else.

Cao Cao focused his full efforts on besieging Liyang and did not send any more troops to advance into the northern part of Qingzhou, allowing various forces in these places to fight each other.

Ordinary people are living in hardship. As for the sea salt production in Beihai and Le'an, it is currently in a period of low production, and the price of salt transported to Hebei is also ridiculously high.

Under such circumstances, the importance of the easily exploitable Anyi Salt Lake to Hebei Province increased rapidly.

Salt pond workers are full-time workers, and if we want to maintain sufficient output, we need enough workers.

This means that if there is no significant increase in the amount of cultivated land and grain output, Hedong needs to reduce military-related manpower.

Cui Yan knew even more clearly that even if Hebei was short of salt, there was always sea salt to supplement it.

As for Guanzhong, you cannot expect Guanzhong to get salt from Jingzhou.

If the current problem of increasing salt production and distribution cannot be solved quickly, the war between the two sides may break out at any time.

Hebei is not as strong as the outside world sees. The Bingzhou soldiers need to suppress the various Hu people in the territory, and the pressure is extremely great when disasters occur.

Youzhou seemed to have a large number of cavalry, but after the demise of Gongsun Zan, Xianyu Fu rebelled in Zhongzhou and was appointed by Cao Cao as General Jianzhong and governor of the six counties of Youzhou.

This man, with the authorization of the Xudu court, confronted Yuan Xi.

Yuan Xi's Youzhou cavalry could launch a surprise attack on Cao Cao's main force that was besieging Hebei, but the cost of Yuan Xi implementing this tactic was too high.

Even though the chances of Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang launching this tactic were slim, Cao Cao did not dare to be careless and adopted a step-by-step strategy.

Now Youzhou is also watching the changes in the Liyang battlefield, and the only good news is that the Tiger Tooth Army, a quasi-ally appointed by Hebei, swept across Guanzhong. This will greatly boost the morale and cohesion of Hebei in terms of strategy, but if a war breaks out with Guanzhong, it will deal a fatal blow to Hebei's momentum!

So at this time, Yuan Tan had to change direction of attack.

Letting Yuan Tan lead the coalition forces of the various Hu tribes to attack Xiahou Dun in Luoyang has become the best solution at present.

Even Ma Chao felt that Yuan Tan was dissatisfied and might be instigated by Cao Cao to rebel when the attack went wrong. Could it be that Cui Yan couldn't see this?
If Yuan Tan betrays Hebei, it will also deal a huge blow to the morale of the peripheral dependent forces in Hebei.

Cui Yan was really in a difficult situation, and sometimes even thought about sending someone to assassinate Yuan Tan.

Unfortunately, Yuan Tan had already reunited with his old subordinates, so the success rate of the assassination was too low.

"My Lord, the envoy from Hebei has arrived."

When Wei Gu walked into the old warehouse, Cui Yan clapped his hands and turned to look at Wei Gu: "Hedong salt has always been only enough for Guanzhong. I have already shipped 800 carts to Changshan, but I can't catch up. Now I am afraid that it will be difficult to satisfy Black Tiger Fang."

Eight hundred carts of salt cannot solve the fundamental problem for Hebei. Having it and not having it are two completely different things.

Wei Gu came from a prominent family in Hedong and had been in the county government for more than a decade, but at this moment he was really unwilling to face a war with Guanzhong.

He smiled bitterly and said, "Let alone the Black Tiger Fang, even if Li Kan and Hou Xuan came back from the dead and joined forces to attack us, our county would not be able to resist them."

Wei Gu followed Cui Yan out and continued, "My Lord, this county has not been in turmoil since the Baibo Army, and the people do not like war. If Black Tiger Fang insists on a war, I am afraid I will do something I cannot bear."

"If he comes, I will give him Anyi."

Cui Yan walked out of the warehouse and looked up at the foggy sky: "There are so many salt ponds. Let the people in Guanzhong make salt. In this way, you, me, and the people of Hedong will not be responsible."

"My Lord, if there is no salt pond, the family will inevitably be alienated."

Wei Gu immediately reminded: "Since the imperial court sent an official to manage the salt industry, many of the big families in this county have been dissatisfied with the imperial court."

Wei Gu is a big surname, and a big surname is Wei Gu.

Cui Yan listened calmly and said, "The salt pond is in the hands of Black Tiger Fang, so just submit to Black Tiger Fang."

Seeing Wei Gu's expression change significantly, Cui Yan raised his hand and stroked his beard, laughing: "Don't worry, I will satisfy Black Tiger Fang. Wang Yi handed over the complete Hedong to me, so I naturally want to keep a complete Hedong."

"The Lord is kind and benevolent."

Wei Gu was filled with emotion and didn't want to talk much, so he led Cui Yan to meet the envoy from Hebei who had just arrived.

The one who came was none other than Ju Hu.

Ju Hu observed the outskirts of the salt lake and felt that there was great potential for development here.

What limits the salt production in Hedong is not the lack of salt ponds, but the lack of manpower.

Since the troubled times, salt has been difficult to sell and production was almost stopped.

Ju Hu and Cui Yan met under a wooden shed at the salt lake construction site.

The two men sat cross-legged under the shed, and Ju Hu presented a silk book: "My lord heard that Black Tiger Teeth had started a war with the Weibei generals, so he ordered me to mediate the dispute. But when I first arrived, I heard many people say that Black Tiger Teeth has already taken over Guanzhong. Is this true or false?"

"It's true. Black Tiger Fang used his military prowess to terrify the Guanzhong heroes."

Cui Yan took the book and read it. He felt embarrassed after just a few glances: "The situation in Guanzhong is changing rapidly, and the general cannot react in time. It is impossible to mediate the dispute in Guanzhong now."

"It's my fault. I was slow and delayed the important event."

Ju Hu admitted his mistake, but we can’t blame him because he was traveling at a normal speed.

He was not just a person, he also brought gifts that Yuan Shang prepared for Black Bear.

But now it seems that these gifts are no longer worthy of the status of the Lord of Guanzhong.

Cui Yan also understood this, so he said, "In a day or two, the general's messenger will surely arrive. What I am struggling with now is that there are more than 5,000 soldiers in Hedong County, which is the limit of what Hedong can support on a daily basis. There are more than 1,300 people in the government-run salt ponds, and the salt they produce can barely supply Guanzhong, and it is difficult to take care of Hebei."

"What is the current situation of the salt pond that was occupied by the tyrants?"

"It is far inferior to the government-run salt pond, which only has 200 to 300 people."

Cui Yan looked at Ju Hu and smiled bitterly: "Hei Hu Ya doesn't trust me and suspects that I am deliberately shirking my responsibilities in an attempt to weaken the soldiers and civilians in Guanzhong due to lack of salt. If the people in Guanzhong are short of salt, he will definitely send troops to attack, and I will not be able to resist. The big families in Hedong are indecisive and may surrender without a fight."

"I don't worry about the gains and losses of Hedong."

Cui Yan calmly stated his views: "Since Black Tiger Fang took over Guanzhong, our army's original intention of sending troops to Hedong has been achieved. Now we must not fight with Guanzhong, we should sign an alliance and support each other."

Hedong is not important, and Cui Yan also looks down on the position of Hedong County Governor.

If he wanted to take Shen Pei's position, he could become Shen Pei's assistant if he couldn't.

Ju Hu listened to Zheng Zhong and nodded: "I understand, Mr. Ji Gui, don't worry. Before I left, the lord has given me the power to make decisions. I will cross the river to see Hei Hu Ya tomorrow. Not to mention Hedong, even Hongnong and Pingyang can be given to him."

As long as Black Bear dares to sign the alliance and swear to make peace.

Seeing Ju Hu's confidence, Cui Yan whispered again: "Beware of Yuan Sili. He is on good terms with the various Hu tribes, which has made Qian Zijing very alert. He has repeatedly told me to be careful."

Ju Hu smiled and said, "Do you have a response?"

"We still need the general's permission."

Cui Yan said calmly: "The general will surely make a name for himself one day, just like the Black Tiger Fang today. We have a great grudge against Cao Cao, so we should be patient and wait for the times to change."

"If Lord Ji Gui has a response, go ahead and use it."

Ju Hu exhaled a breath of foul air and said firmly: "This battle has already been won, there is no need to create more twists and turns."

Cui Yan nodded and also breathed a sigh of relief.

Although they did not fight on the front line, they won enough opportunities for Black Bear.

Zhong Yao and the ten tribes in Guanzhong were eaten up bit by bit by the black bear, and Hebei also made great efforts in this process.

(End of this chapter)