Chapter 375: Sun Sets
Yanzhou, Chengshi County.

Located in the southwest corner of Juye Lake, it is one of the strongholds of the Li family.

Although a powerful family as large as the Li family did not span across states, they did control counties.

Juye Lake is divided into four counties, mainly Jiyin in the west, Shanyang in the south, Dongping in the east, and a small corner under the jurisdiction of Dong County in the north.

Being able to govern all four counties and kingdoms also means that no one can have exclusive control over them.

Under this special environment, a special Li family developed. Unlike other families that expanded by force, the Li family's motivation for maintaining force was only to continue to dominate the economic benefits of Juye Lake.

Therefore, the entire family has no motivation or ambition to develop externally. It may also be that there is insufficient savings and objectively no conditions for external expansion.

Under such circumstances, they naturally would not follow Cao Cao to move west to Luoyang.

Even the imperial edict appointing Li Dian as the governor of Qingzhou caused fierce internal conflicts, and many people did not agree to start a business in Qingzhou.

Qingzhou had not been completely cleared since Yuan Tan invaded it. Yuan Tan was defeated by Zang Ba in the Battle of Guandu, and Zang Ba withdrew his troops after his victory.

As a result, there are not only pirates, Yellow Turban bandits, and clan bandits causing chaos in Qingzhou today, but also the tentacles of Gongsun Du from Liaodong are active.

No one knows how many troops Gongsun Du can deploy. After all, it is an army coming from across the sea. The long coastline of Beihai and Donglai will become the landing point of the Liaodong Army.

The internal situation of Qingzhou is so complicated. There is Gao Gan in the north, Zang Ba in the southeast, and Lu Qian, the governor of Taishan County, in the south.

Gao Gan was a native of Chenliu, Yanzhou, and Lü Qian was from Rencheng. They were neighbors of the Li family and were local tyrants.

Even if these external interferences are eliminated and Qingzhou is successfully captured, how can Qingzhou resist the Guanzhong troops who may turn around and attack Guandong in the future with its strength?
Therefore, the elders of the Li family generally opposed this imperial edict and hoped that Li Dian would decline it.

Juye Lake is too big. Guarding Juye Lake is enough for the Li family to develop for another two or three generations.

In two or three generations, relying on the rich output of Juye Lake, even without much economic accumulation, the population of the Li family could expand to 40,000 or 50,000 households.

Forty to fifty thousand households are all Li families, including Li family’s in-laws, and servants from generation to generation… With such a large scale, the Li family can be called a big tree in Kanto. No matter how the situation changes in the future, the Li family can deal with it calmly, and at least they will not lose completely.

The elders of the tribe were conservative in their attitudes, but some were radical, such as sending envoys to Guanzhong to capture Qingzhou for the Grand Marshal.

No matter whose orders you follow, you must first gain control of Qingzhou.

No matter how dilapidated Qingzhou is, there are always more than 100,000 households.

Based on this, the Li family can develop and grow faster until it achieves quantitative change.

Li Dian also felt embarrassed. He tended to be conservative, but the radical elders among the clan also had reasonable arguments.

By guarding the Juye Lake and relying on the current population, we can usually have enough food and clothing without having to worry about it.

However, when faced with an attack from a powerful enemy, only clansmen, in-laws, and fellow villagers can put on armor and fight desperately. If even a trace of this vitality is lost, it will be a permanent loss.

If we plunder people from other countries, we will have expendable populations when war breaks out in the future, and it will also accelerate the growth of the core population.

The most critical thing is natural disasters. Whether it is the maintenance of water conservancy facilities in Juye Lake or other disasters, it requires the support of a large population.

If the future situation is the worst, the worst that can happen is that the abducted population will be dispersed or released.

Foreign abduction of people was generally supported by young and middle-aged people, and it was the fastest way to expand the family. The violent wars and personnel movements since the end of the Han Dynasty brought about a collision of ideas. In such a chaotic world, it was not surprising that the Li family became barbaric, militarized, and tribalized in order to better survive and develop.

The two factions of elders were arguing with each other, and at this time Li Dian's opinion was still useless.

Without the intervention of other external forces, Li Dian would not be able to change the situation given his age and prestige.

Just as the Li family was going around in circles, Gao Gan sent his cousin Gao Rou to Chengshi.

Li Dian received them personally, and the two held a banquet on the embankment of Juye Lake.

There are dense, large areas of reeds on both sides of the embankment. The reed ground outside the embankment is dry. Li's men and servants also harvest reeds, bundle them into bundles and pile them up for storage as fuel in winter.

The reeds on the inner side of the embankment are still green, and some ducks are playing by the lake.

Many young men steered simple wooden boats through the reed marshes, searching for duck eggs.

Li Dian looked out for a long time before he said to Gao Rou, "The people of Qingzhou have always been brave. What I care about is the Le'an Salt Field. Apart from this, I can't think of anything else that is worth my whole family risking their lives for."

Gao Rou, wearing a yellow cashmere cloak, sat still and only turned his head to look at Li Dian's back: "General, the Le'an Salt Field is controlled by the Yellow Turban bandit Sima. If it is seized, it should be used as a government camp."

"So you and I have nothing to talk about."

Li Dian kept his back to Gao Rou, squinting his eyes and looking into the distance: "Bohai has salt fields, and you want to take the salt fields of Le'an and Qi. If it weren't for the fact that Langya Zang Xuangao also has salt fields, if you really succeeded, I'm afraid that my clan would be impoverished because of eating salt."

Gao Rou then turned aside and said as sincerely as possible: "General, since you know the importance of the salt industry to the military and the country, how can you easily ask for the right to operate the salt fields?"

"They refused to give it to me, but let the Yuan and Gao families run it?"

Li Dian turned around and looked down at Gao Rou: "In today's world, the Grand Marshal is the only one who is so powerful that no other party can compare to him. With the size of the Yuan family, they can bully our Li family which is small and weak. But the size of the Yuan family also has disadvantages, it is so big that it is difficult to surrender. The Gao family is a relative of the Yuan family, you have no way out, but my family does. Why should my family fight for your two families for nothing?"

Li Dian was confident and counted on his right hand: "My family has no shortage of money and food, why should I be a lackey for you and the Yuan Gao family? Go and ask, if you give me salt fields, I will move my whole family east to Qi!"

Gao Rou stared at Li Dian, which was in stark contrast to the image in the intelligence that he was calm, studious, and did not compete for credit.

Li Dian was not inferior to Gao Rou. In fact, ever since Hei Xiong seized Guanzhong with absolute force and defeated all the Hu people, the most motivated ones were the armed forces like the Li family.

Their confidence surged, which is also the fundamental reason for the growth of radicals within the Li family.

The number of radical factions within the family has skyrocketed. How can Li Dian, as the family spokesperson, maintain his past image?
Li Dian took a half step closer to Gao Rou, leaned forward and gently patted Gao Rou's cheek with his right hand: "In addition to you and the Emperor of Huainan, my family can also seek refuge with the Grand Marshal. With the generosity of the Grand Marshal, it would be a small matter for my family to manage the salt fields for more than ten years."

Gao Rou controlled his breathing and emotions, and endured for a long time before he stood up and bowed: "Since the general insists on asking for the salt fields, I will write to Pingyuan and ask for your instructions."

Li Dian nodded slightly and turned to look at a cousin who was holding a spear beside him. The cousin walked over and stretched out his arms to Gao Rou.

After watching Gao Rou walk away, Li Dian's uncles and cousins ​​approached him. Li Jin asked, "Is Mancheng really going to join the Yuan family?"

"How could that be? My nephew just wanted to see if the Yuan family was strong enough. If they dared to agree, my nephew would not dare to associate with the Yuan family."

Li Dian smiled shyly, and said to several brothers of the same generation: "The Yuan family is finally in decline. They ignored my family during the Guandu Battle, and now it seems that they are arrogant at first and respectful later. This is the trend of the rising sun and falling."

Several people nodded, thinking that what Li Dian said made sense.

(End of this chapter)