Chapter 402 Hanzhong Aged Wine
After drinking five or six more cups of wine with Yan Pu, Yang Fu realized that he was getting drunk and left immediately.

Leaving here, he staggered around several wooden-walled barracks and found the barracks with a green umbrella standing in front of the door.

Even so, Yang Fu still asked the guard on duty at the door: "Is your Majesty free?"

"There is no outsider. The Lord is dealing with paperwork."

The guard answered in a low voice, and Yang Fu rubbed his face vigorously, and waited until he was a little more sober before entering.

Black Bear, who had just finished a banquet in the barracks, was sitting in front of the fireplace. There was a skylight in the barracks, and the light fell near the table.

The light around the black bear was dim, except for the table, which was bright white.

Black Bear just looked up at Yang Fu and asked, "Did they finally state their demands?"

"Yes, Zhang Lu has two requests, one is to avenge his mother, and the other is to marry the king."

Yang Fu walked to the space between the table and the fireplace, sat on the wooden floor, grabbed a few pieces of pine wood, put them in the fireplace, and fiddled with them.

Then Black Bear put down his pen, took a sip of tea and said, "Zhang Lu's revenge, is it that I kill Liu Zhang's mother and family, or that I refuse to accept Liu Zhang's surrender?"

"Zhang Lu pretended to be drunk, so I was unable to ask him any more questions."

Yang Fu replied: "From what I have seen of Yan Pu's conduct, it will be enough if he can kill Liu Zhang's entire clan."

"Yishan, you are drunk. Zhang Lu offered 120,000 households in Hanzhong to surrender to me. How could he not be angry?"

Black Bear corrected him, "He wanted to avenge his mother, and he didn't want to be attacked from all sides, so he surrendered Hanzhong to us. 120,000 households, only Liu Zhang's entire family was killed... Yishan, do you think these 120,000 households are too cheap? We must learn to respect. 120,000 households and 400,000 people are far more important than Liu Zhang's entire family."

Drunk and thinking, Yang Fu tilted his head slightly and felt that Zhang Lu's request was legitimate and reasonable.

The other party's contribution was too great. It was not just a matter of manpower for 120,000 households, but it provided a stable and complete foundation.

Although the roads were dangerous and it was difficult to transport grain from Hanzhong to Guanzhong.

But every winter, Guanzhong would dispatch 50,000 troops here to eat for free, which was also a great contribution.

In winter, if 50,000 troops can maintain their combat capabilities by eating well, and keep this habit for three to five years, they will definitely be trained into an elite force.

Even if these 50,000 people did not take the initiative to attack every time they came to Hanzhong, they could still cause panic in Yizhou, forcing Yizhou to passively enter a war economy every winter.

It consumes material resources, turns more manpower into meaningless military force, and continues to increase people's resistance to war.

With continuous weakening, when the decisive battle comes in the future, Yizhou will have insufficient war reserves; the military and civilians will be tired of war, and it will be much easier to fight.

So in the long run, what Zhang Lu presented was not just 120,000 households in Hanzhong, but a fully functional front-line offensive base.

As long as he doesn't mess up things internally, he will be able to delay Liu Zhang to death!

Therefore, what Zhang Lu offered was not just Hanzhong, but Hanzhong plus a feasible plan to acquire Yizhou.

This also means that Liu Zhang will definitely launch a campaign to capture Hanzhong after the spring.

If Hanzhong's productivity is not captured or severely damaged, then no matter how big Yizhou is, it will be dragged down.

In the final analysis, no matter how big Yizhou is, its core is Shu County and its subordinate Ba County. No matter how small Hanzhong is, dragging down Shu County, or defeating and assimilating Ba County, will lead to the demise of Liu Zhang of Shu County.

Yang Fu was drunk and his thoughts were jumping. He felt that Zhang Lu's request was very reasonable.

But he also felt that this path was more difficult. In fact, the conditions were now in place to mobilize the powerful families in Yizhou to expel Liu Zhang and peacefully take over Yizhou.

It is nothing more than a temporary concession, allowing the people of Shu to rule Shu... First disband Liu Zhang's group, and when other aspects are stable in the future, the people of Shu will voluntarily give up autonomy.

This thought flashed through Yang Fu's mind but soon disappeared. He then said, "Your Majesty, there is also the marriage proposal proposed by Zhang Lu. There are two daughters of Zhang Lu, one legitimate and one illegitimate, one niece, two nephews, and more than 30 maids from famous families such as Yang Song as dowry."

After a pause, Yang Fu looked up and observed the black bear, and then said, "Yan Pu also asked, if the king has no grudge against the Ba people, the Ba people's big families each have three daughters, there can be 24 people, a total of 60 people, forming a number of Jiazi."

Seeing that Black Bear was silent, Yang Fu hurriedly explained, "Zhang Lu's concubine's daughter is about to reach marriage age, and the legitimate daughter is too young to be left alone away from her parents, so I am giving the concubine's eldest daughter as a dowry."

He wanted to introduce other women one by one, but Yang Fu felt it was inappropriate and said, "Although your Majesty does not hold the title of a prince, in the eyes of the officials and the people, your position is above the princes and kings, and is not comparable to the false emperor of Huainan. Therefore, in the eyes of Zhang Lu and others, this matter is not beyond the scope of what can be said."

Black Bear raised his hand and said, "Okay. We will make another agreement with the big families of the Ba people. I want the Ba people to offer eight women every year. I will not take them for nothing. They will each give good horses, precious armor, and swords as betrothal gifts. If they agree, I will recruit the Ba people to form a camp of guards. If one person retires, one person will be replaced. I will select the bravest Ba people to fill the list."

Seeing Yang Fu shaking his head and widening his eyes pretending to listen carefully, Black Bear turned his head to look at his secretary Lang Yangxiu who was taking notes on the side: "Yishan is drunk, you can pass my words to Yan Pu. The words I just said to Yishan can also be disclosed as appropriate to appease the people of Hanzhong."

"Here."

Yang Xiu immediately put down his pen, stood up leisurely and walked to the door, whispered a few words, and two guards came in and carried Yang Fu out.

Yang Fu wanted to struggle, but he didn't dare to shout. Seeing this, Black Bear couldn't help laughing. He said to the other secretaries in the room, "Hanzhong is rich and has no shortage of aged wine. It is truly a paradise on earth."

The oldest secretary replied, "Before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the rich lands of the Central Plains also had aged fine wines. For example, when the former king of Chen was still alive, why did they have to worry about aged fine wines?"

Black Bear was silent. It was too difficult to drink aged wine in this world.

Not to mention a Tianshui tyrant like Yang Fu, even if you send the older generation like Duan Wei, Ma Teng, and Yang Qiu to Hanzhong, they will be attracted by the aged wine.

This is not just the mellowness of aged wine, it is also an illusion of a peaceful and tranquil world.

After thinking for a while, Black Bear instructed, "Tomorrow, go and discuss with Yan Pu. I plan to buy a thousand carts of fine wine and ship them to Guanzhong in the spring to reward officials and people who have made contributions."

"Here."

A secretary responded and asked, "Your Majesty, does the price of wine follow the local market price?"

"Well, we won't suffer any loss, and neither will the officials and people of Hanzhong. In principle, we follow the market price, but if we buy in large quantities, we should bargain a little."

Black Bear made his instructions, but the secretary replied, "Your Majesty, fine wine is rare. If you buy a thousand carts, Hanzhong's aged wine will be scarce in the future. Scarcity makes things valuable. I think it will be difficult to buy a thousand carts at three times the market price. At the beginning, it can be lower than the market price. As time goes by, if you can't force it, it will be difficult to buy at ten times the market price."

The other secretaries subconsciously lowered their heads, and Black Bear looked at the other party: "Are you Wang Lian from Nanyang?"

"It's a minister."

"You have a point. I will give you three times the market price, and you go and buy me a thousand carts of fine wine. After the purchase, you must store it properly. Next spring, I will give you five thousand soldiers, and you will be responsible for transporting it back to Guanzhong. Okay?"

"I accept your order!"

(End of this chapter)