Sun Ce kept Zhou Yu and told him two things: one was to transfer Xinpi to Luoyang to serve as Lu Su's military plan. The other was to appoint his father Zhou Yi as the prefect of Wujun. Zhou Yu readily agreed to the previous thing, but he was a little hesitant about the next thing.

"What are you worried about? Cai family?"

Zhou Yu nodded. "General..."

Sun Ce raised his hand. "There are no outsiders here, so there is no need to be so polite, otherwise I wouldn't know if you are saying polite words or what you are saying in your heart."

Zhou Yu smiled awkwardly, a little embarrassed for a moment. Sun Ce smiled. Zhou Yu in front of him was probably the person farthest from his historical image. It is no wonder that when they walked out of Shu County together four years ago, who would have thought that he could rule the five states, sit in the southeast today, and even start to consider the issue of establishing a country? Although Zhou Yu was in his prime, he was proud enough to lead a state, but he was surrounded by talents, especially with such a genius as Yu Fan, it would be abnormal if he had no psychological pressure.

It is certainly a blessing to be with geniuses, but the pressure is unimaginable to ordinary people. No matter how broad Zhou Yu is, he is only a young man in his early twenties. Even a few months ago, he was still the suave beauty Zhou Lang and the idol of a girl in Jingzhou.

"Bo Fu, Cai Feng is old and stupid, and it is not worth worrying about, but Cai Degui's sisters and sisters still support you. Cai Feng has already bowed his head, so it is not advisable to press too much at this time to avoid being disheartened. Although Cai Degui, the prefect of Wu County, has not outstanding achievements, it is not too bad. It is not appropriate for you to remove his position at this time."

"Who said I want to remove him from his post?" Sun Ce said with a smile.

"and you……"

"Gongjin, you have never been a prefect, and you don't know how complicated the affairs of the prefect are. The prefect is just a small court, with fierce intrigues and more complicated than the generals in the army's struggle for merit. Cai Degui's interest is to make money, and being a prefect is not his hobby. I plan to change him to a position that is more suitable for him."

“What position?”

Sun Ce blinked. "Gongjin, do you know what we lack the most now?"

Zhou Yu smiled. "Are you talking about money or horses?"

"The lack of money is not the lack of money you understand, but the real money." Sun Ce scratched his head, thinking that this matter was too easy to explain, so he turned around and said to Zhuge Liang and Yang Yi: "For you, explain our troubles to Gongjin clearly. I'll go change my clothes."

Zhuge Liang and Yang Yi looked at each other and responded, moved forward. Sun Ce got up and left the tent. Pang Tong also stood up and followed Sun Ce to get out of the tent. Sun Ce heard the footsteps and looked back. Seeing that it was Pang Tong, he smiled and said, "Shi Yuan, you are newlywed, how do you feel?"

"I feel good when I get married." Pang Tong caught up with Sun Ce and said with a smile: "General, I will give me a few more months off, so I will spend more time with my husband, and also experience it with the general."

Sun Ce's heart moved and turned to look at Pang Tong. "Why, it's too hard to be in Qingzhou? Or can't you get along with a group of Wu Hui people?"

"How could it be that we get along well, but we just can't bear to leave our husbands. I just got married. I thought, if she gets pregnant and is inconvenient in her health, I'm not around..."

Sun Ce suddenly realized. "You are not marrying a child, are you?"

"Uh..." Pang Tong blushed and twisted. Sun Ce stopped and scratched his chin. "No wonder it was so quiet the night before yesterday. I thought you were tired and had no strength. It turned out that you had tasted it a long time ago and there was no newness."

"General, general..." Pang Tong bowed his hands repeatedly to beg for mercy. "Leave me some face."

"You boy is capable." Sun Ce smiled and reached out to wrap his hand around Pang Tong's shoulder. After a few years of meeting, Pang Tong has grown a lot taller and stronger. He is no longer a thin and small boy when he first met. "Shi Yuan, do you remember the first time we met?"

"I remember, I will never forget it in my life."

"I didn't expect you to hold such a grudge."

"How dare I? If I hadn't met the general, how could I have been today? I remember that meeting because I have not been able to answer the question raised by the general so far."

"What's the problem?" Sun Ce only remembered Pang Tong's expression at that time, and couldn't remember what he had said to him.

"The sky is high, the earth is thick, and the people are greedy."

Sun Ce thought for a while and then he had a little impression and couldn't help but smile. "Have you figured out the answer yet?"

"No, but I have been thinking about this issue over the past few years and I still gain something." Pang Tong said, and the two had already arrived at the place where Degong was standing side by side, peeding at the rows of toilet buckets. The soldiers responsible for cleaning stood consciously in the distance to avoid hearing Sun Ce and Pang Tong talking. "I think people are like buckets..."

Sun Ce laughed "Pu" and said, "Your metaphor is really amazing."

Pang Tong also felt that it was a bit inappropriate, but he couldn't find a suitable example. Seeing that he was embarrassed, Sun Ce said again: "Okay, just let's put on the toilet. In fact, there are shit and urine in the stomach, which is not much different from the toilet."

"I'll just make an analogy. It may not necessarily be a toilet bucket. All buckets are similar. How much this bucket can hold depends on the capacity of the bucket. The capacity of the bucket depends on the shortest length of the wooden board. If there is a piece of wooden board that is very short, it will be useless even if the other wooden boards are long."

Sun Ce turned his head in surprise and looked at Pang Tong. This kid is smart. But what exactly did he want to say?

"In addition to the length of the board, it also depends on whether there are loopholes in the bucket. If there is a loophole, no matter how long the board is, the capacity of the bucket depends on the height of the loophole. If the loophole is at the bottom of the bucket, nothing will be left."

Sun Ce, after Pang Tong had finished peeing, a soldier brought water. The two of them cleaned their hands and walked back together. When they were about to return to the big tent, Sun Ce slowed down and turned to look at Pang Tong. "Shi Yuan, do you have any opinions on Yu Zhongxiang's suggestions?"

"I dare not, I just don't agree."

"Speak and listen."

"The general started from the Wuhui and will win the world in the future. The Wuhui is the Dixiang, and it is natural to become a companion. The general has lofty ambitions and explores overseas. It is also very reasonable to set up a base in the Wuhui. There is only one Dixiang, and it must be in Jiangdong, and it is legitimate to be a companion. The base may not be. I can understand it in Jiangdong, and I can understand it. But I only build a base in Jiangdong, but I think the situation is too small."

Sun Ce understood what Pang Tong meant. He was not against establishing a country in Jiangdong and establishing a base, but against Yu Fan's local consciousness. Yu Fan's suggestion was indeed selfish, and there was no doubt that this was beyond doubt and no blame. However, as the chief minister, he did not consider the overall situation when considering this issue. This was also his flaw, which was what Pang Tong wanted to say: there was a loophole under the bucket.

“What else do you think should be taken into consideration?”

"Not to mention the matter of accompanying the capital, as far as the bases go to sea, there are many good ports in the eastern part of Qingzhou, so you can choose a base. There are many mountains and forests nearby, and it is very convenient to obtain materials, and it is very convenient to build ships and repair them. Build a base here, you can go to Liaodong in the north and Lelang in the east, which is much more convenient than land. North Korea was originally the homeland of Jizi, and surrendered to the Central Plains very early. However, later the Central Plains gradually became chaotic and did not suffer the truth. If the general won the world and conquered overseas, North Korea is a good whetstone. How could he ignore it and focus on the unknown southeast?"

Sun Ce nodded repeatedly. "Shi Yuan, what you said makes sense. Why didn't you say it just now?"

"This is just a matter of details, just to check for details. There is no need to argue in front of everyone, and it will mess up the main and secondary."

Sun Ce looked at Pang Tong, who was calm and composed in front of him and showed a gratifying smile. Although personality determines fate, the encounters also have a great impact. The encounters between Pang Tong and Zhou Yu were exactly the opposite. Zhou Yu was under pressure and was a little restrained, but Pang Tong was proud and full of energy.

"Shi Yuan is very good," Sun Ce praised. "You think about it and prepare a more detailed plan. Then you will also discuss the Yizhou strategy like today. You have also seen the situation today. It is inevitable to criticize and criticize. You must prepare more thoroughly."

"Here." Pang Tong responded confidently.

The two walked back to the tent, and Zhuge Liang and Yang Yi had already explained to Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu frowned slightly and was thinking, but the worries between his eyebrows were gone. Seeing Sun Ce come in, he nodded and greeted. Sun Ce said, "Is it over?"

"They told me, and I got a general understanding, but I just felt it was not worth it. There is gold in Jingnan and Yuzhang, and there is also in Yongchang, so why bother going to sea?"

"Yongchang?" Sun Ce didn't react at once. "Where is Yongchang?"

Zhuge Liang said: "A county in the southern part of Yizhou has a gold medal, which is recorded in Luheng." Then he took the map and pointed out the location of Yongchang County.

Sun Ce was a little embarrassed. He had also read "Lunheng", but he had no impression. From this point of view, Zhuge Liang's memory was not as perverted as ever, but he was still very capable of focusing on key points. He looked at the location of Yongchang County and was a little regretful that Yongchang was at the southwest end of Yizhou, too far from Jingzhou.

"Jingnan, Yuzhang's gold will be picked. In the future, I will take over Yizhou and Yongchang's gold will be picked. But this does not prevent you from going to sea to find gold. If you don't look for gold, you will also go to sea. If you have gold, you will be more motivated. This is originally a long-term plan. Anyway, people need to do it. I think Cai Degui is very suitable, so why don't you let him go?"

"It's all for the minting of money?"

"yes."

"Will we need so much money? Bofu, if there is too much money, the price will soar, which is even worse than having no money."

"Don't worry, we will need a lot of money in the future. Those who don't have enough money may be greater than those who don't have extra money." Sun Ce said with a smile. Zhou Yu is a general after all, and he doesn't pay much attention to the economy. The example of Jingzhou is in front of him, and he didn't realize how amazing the development trend is.

As the saying goes, because of poverty and wealth, farmers are not as good as workers, and workers are not as good as businessmen. The total economic output of the agricultural society is limited by the area of ​​arable land and population, and the total amount has an upper limit. From the Qin to the Han Dynasty, the total economic output only doubled in hundreds of years. At the peak of the Han Dynasty, the national fiscal revenue was 8 billion yuan per year, the salaries of officials were 4 billion yuan, and the emperor received 4 billion yuan, which was 4 billion yuan, using half and leaving half. In the end, the savings were less than 2 billion yuan, which could barely support a medium-sized war. After several years of development in Jingzhou, the total economic output grew rapidly. Zhang Hong is now confident that there is no problem to pay 3 billion yuan a year to support Zhou Yu in the battle of Hanzhong. It should not be a problem to double it within ten years.

As the total economic output rises, more money is needed, but now it is a time when money is tight. Not only is there less copper coins, but there is also less gold. There was a large amount of gold in the Han Dynasty. The emperor rewarded ministers with tens of thousands of gold, and it took 20,000 kilograms to take a queen. However, in later generations, these golds disappeared, so some people suspected that these golds were not gold, but copper.

Of course, gold is gold, but later these gold disappeared. Some people say that it was because of the popularity of Buddhism, gold was used to paint Buddha statues. Some people say that Confucianism was emphasized in the Han Dynasty, and Confucianism regarded death as life. Many gold was buried with them. Some people say that the world was in chaos after the Wei and Jin Dynasties and gold was hidden. There are many reasons, and Sun Ce could not tell which one it was, but it was a fact that there was a shortage of money. When Dong Zhuo was in charge, he pulled all the bronze statues of Yuzhang Palace in Chang'an to mow money, but it was still not enough. The small amount of money he cast was useless, prices soared, and the economy collapsed.

Sun Ce is a person who has experienced an economic crisis. When he came to this era, he knew that the currency issue would be a roadblock. When he began to consider building a ship and going to sea, he was thinking about these things. Of course, he knew that China had gold mines, but going to sea to explore was not swimming at home, and there was no high profit. How many of them were willing to take risks?

There is gold overseas, which is a very good excuse. Since the Cai family likes money, let them go out to sea to find gold. When Cai Ke and him wanted to be the lieutenant of the gold touching school, although it was a joke, it was not entirely a joke.

"Gongjin, governing the country is like playing chess. You have to look forward, look as many as two steps as possible, and be prepared for any eventuality. People have laziness in their thoughts and habits. They often consider problems based on past habits. Sometimes you may not notice them yourself. However, you cannot only rely on past experience to solve problems, but you must also have a forward vision. Otherwise, you will find something wrong when things come to an end, and it will be too late to change them."

Zhou Yu sighed softly. He was just beaten by Yu Fan, and he was deeply touched by this.

Sun Ce took his seat again. "Many of the things we do now are not done before. No one can tell what consequences these things will have, whether they are good or bad, but it is always good to look forward to two more steps. Economy, business, these are things you and I may not pay much attention to before, but now we must pay attention. If we can get a truce, the next few years will be years of rapid economic growth. If we do not prepare enough gold and copper to eliminate the problem of insufficient coins, all our efforts may be gone and will only lead to disasters. Without a stable economy, how can you and I conquer? Wars will be beneficial. Wars without profits will be a waste of people and money, and they will be a waste of troops and a strong force, and they will not last long. I don't want to be Qin Shihuang or Emperor Wu of Han."

Zhou Yu nodded in agreement. Since Sun Ce had made arrangements for Cai Mao, he did not object and agreed to his father Zhou Yi as the prefect of Wu County. Sun Ce wanted to establish the capital of Jiangdong, probably Wu County. The prefect of Wu County was equivalent to Henan Yin and Jingzhao Yin. This was not only a compensation for Zhou Yi's resignation from Henan Yin, but also an extra gift to him.
Chapter completed!