Chapter 7177 The True Grass Troupe

Chapter 7177 The True Grass Troupe

Zhuge Liang was wary of Zhou Yu, after all, among these warlords, Jiangdong was the most developed, and the current development of the Han Dynasty actually depended on Jiangdong to some extent, especially in terms of livestock feed grain, which Jiangdong accounted for almost 90%.

Although the last negotiation between Chen Xi and Zhou Yu resulted in a draw, Zhuge Liang believed that the fact that Jiangdong was willing to negotiate with the Han Dynasty demonstrated the difference between Jiangdong and other warlords, or more directly, that Zhou Yu was fundamentally different from others.

Furthermore, Zhou Yu was young and capable, so when Zhuge Liang truly inherited Chen Xi's mantle, the first tough opponent he would face would definitely be Zhou Yu.

As I said before, humans only fear things that can truly threaten them; they don't care about things that pose no threat at all.

Therefore, Zhuge Liang was also aware that if Chen Xi ran away in the future, the first challenge he might face would definitely be Zhou Yu.

There's no way around it. Given Zhou Yu's strength, background, and origins, it's impossible for him not to cause trouble. Plus, Zhou Yu is so arrogant that even Chen Xi sometimes complains about him. So Zhuge Liang doesn't need to worry about Zhou Yu thinking he, Zhuge Liang, is exceptionally talented.

To put it bluntly, Zhou Yu certainly didn't have any bad intentions in doing this; he simply wanted to see if Zhuge Liang was qualified. But the problem is that if someone of Zhou Yu's rank takes the lead in doing this, a whole bunch of people will definitely follow suit.

Given Zhou Yu's pride, even if he knew that those following behind harbored malicious intentions, he probably wouldn't care too much.

Therefore, Zhuge Liang paid relatively close attention to the intelligence from Zhou Yu's side. After all, it was only a matter of time before Zhou Yu confronted him. Chen Xi was powerful and Zhou Yu was one of the few who stood firm. So, after Chen Zichuan left, wouldn't Zhou Yu consider who Chen Xi's successor would be?
"Actually, I don't think this operation is very good, but you know that the governor can strongly interfere with certain policies. In addition, there is no shortage of food and supplies in Tiannan. If things really don't go well, we can survive no matter what." Zhuge Jin said with a hint of complaint, but he had a high opinion of Southeast Asia.

"Adapting to local conditions is a normal thing." Zhuge Liang chuckled, then naturally changed the subject, "Aren't you building a water conservancy network over there? When will those mudflats in the north of Ye Diao Kingdom be able to be utilized?"

"It's hard to say. I estimate that it will be ready for large-scale use in another five years, but it will take another ten years to complete the first phase. As for the positioning of those newly developed fertile lands, well, Wu Gong's subordinates all have their own ideas," Zhuge Jin said with a hint of helplessness.

In Zhuge Jin's view, Sun Ce's side was fine in every way, except that there were too many brains and the management was too lax, to the point of being somewhat unruly. In addition, the area was rich in resources and there were many ways to make money and cause trouble, so many aristocratic families had a tendency to just drift along like this.

As a result, the various branches have completely different views on many things, and they can't come up with a reasonable solution at all. It feels like they are all relying on powerful figures to suppress things. If there were no powerful figures, they could come up with ten different solutions to one problem.

That's right, it's about the direction of the solution, not the solution itself. This means that these people aren't solving the problem, but rather purely considering the benefits that the problem might bring, which is very frustrating.

"It's gotten to this point?" Zhuge Liang was very quick-witted. Zhuge Jin had only given a brief explanation, and Zhuge Liang didn't need his brother to continue. He already knew that Jiangdong was in a predicament. But, as Liu Ye had said, it was actually quite good. These vassal states were indeed beneficial to the Han dynasty.

"Yes, and the conflicts between the major families caused by the enfeoffment are also getting bigger." Zhuge Jin said with a sigh, "Before the enfeoffment, even if there were conflicts, it wouldn't be like this now. After the enfeoffment, some conflicts have become public, and even the internal conflicts of some families have become public. Although the resentment has dissipated after it has become public, it feels even more dissipated."

Zhuge Liang was somewhat speechless upon hearing this. What did he mean by "internal conflicts within the family have become public"? What were the powerful families of Jiangdong thinking? Shouldn't they be united and cooperating for mutual benefit at this time? Why are they becoming more and more divided?

“I’ve thought about this issue carefully. It does seem a bit outrageous, but I can understand it in general. In the past, we banded together because of the risk of failure, but now we can survive even if we go our separate ways, so the significance of banding together has greatly diminished.” Zhuge Jin said with a hint of weariness, “Just like the situation between the two of us and our uncle back then. If our Zhuge family had several island fiefdoms and had no other choice, young people like us would definitely have taken the clansmen we trusted and separated directly.”

Zhuge Liang was speechless upon hearing this. After Zhuge Jin said this, Zhuge Liang also felt that it seemed to be true. When young people are angry, if they have a way out, they will definitely flip the table. They just want to have fun first and worry about the consequences later. As for whether there will be any problems after having fun, they can deal with them when there are problems.

By then, they'll already be on other islands. The old folks will definitely want to avoid seeing them and have them go to their own islands so they can have some peace and quiet. But what about the younger generation who have split off? Of course, they'll say, "If I go back, I'll be treated like a dog. I'll develop on my own. Do you think I'm any better than you?"
After all, not most family elders are like the elders of the Wan and Xun families, who can bind their descendants with past feelings. Most families actually rely on rules and laws. In the past, when they needed to stick together, they considered that if they followed these rules and laws, they could enjoy the benefits of these rules and laws when they got old, so they gritted their teeth and accepted it. But now!

Whoever wants to follow the rules can follow them, but I'm not playing with you guys anymore!
I'm going to become the Pirate King!
That's pretty much the situation in Jiangdong now. Sun Ce is too generous. He's so generous that every famous family in Jingxiang and Chu can get a large fiefdom. And in Southeast Asia, not to mention other countries in later generations, just in Indonesia, where Sun Ce's main force is located, there are about 20,000 islands.

So how would Sun Ce distribute the fiefdoms? He would naturally divide up super-large islands of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of square kilometers among several families, and then supplement them with some medium-sized islands of varying sizes. The aristocratic families would then divide the islands among themselves.

After acquiring the fiefdom, you'll definitely need to develop it. You'll need to develop the core area and also establish a foothold on the periphery. Otherwise, if someone else occupies it, you really won't be able to say anything.

After all, if this kind of lawsuit were taken to Sun Ce, he would definitely say, "You can divide it among yourselves. I've given you so much land, and you're only giving me this tiny island? That's enough. Just draw it out yourselves."

It's worth noting that Sun Ce had his spices and volcanic ash stolen by the powerful families under his command for several years, but he didn't care. The others naturally knew that Sun Ce wasn't deliberately creating conflict, but genuinely felt that having two more or fewer islands wasn't a big deal. They were all brothers, and there was no need for such a fuss.

But for most powerful families, every island is theirs to claim. If the lord has allocated it to them, it must be theirs. Anyone who dares to touch it will have their claws chopped off!

Therefore, every fiefdom belonging to their family must have people, even if it is a small island of a few square kilometers. As long as it is confirmed that people can live there, their own family members will be assigned to it.

Well, a few square kilometers isn't small at all; it's equivalent to a small town.

If only one or two families live up there, they can survive no matter what. Even without engaging in agriculture or growing any food, they can survive by gathering in the forest.

Therefore, being sent to such an island as a small family is not so bad. After all, when you are sent there, they will build you a house, leave you a ship that is not too big but can go to the main island, and they will also do cooling and etching for your house. Overall, in terms of life, it is much better than living in the Central Plains.

The problem is that this is an island, not mainland, so there is a very fatal problem: if a family has other large islands of several hundred square kilometers or even several thousand square kilometers in addition to the main island, then it will be very dangerous.

Those who can be assigned to such a large island must be important branches, and quite powerful ones at that. This creates a new paradox: once such a powerful and important branch is on this island, will it still listen to the main branch as before?

Most likely they won't listen. In the past, it was because the environment required people to stick together and the pressure to survive was high, so everyone mingled together and controlled all aspects of the family. But now, I have my own paradise where I can survive, so why should I get involved with your main branch?

Am I really that pathetic to enjoy being bossed around like this? What a joke! I'm going to be the boss now, don't contact me again!

Even if they are brothers, even if they have a very good relationship, when they are assigned to different islands and the older generation dies, their feelings for each other will naturally be severed.

Those with foresight and an understanding of human nature will gradually sever ties when the other party stops contacting them, maintaining a gentlemanly but distant relationship. They will then develop their own paths without interfering with each other, but will try to present a unified front to maintain the family.

However, if the main branch continues to maintain a "they're the boss" attitude, then on other islands, branches that can support themselves will only resort to some means to secretly confront the main branch once they realize that the main branch can't do anything to them.

So, after a long time, Zhuge Jin, a big shot who was in charge of Ye Diao's core area and mediating between the various families, would surely know what kind of mess the Jiangdong aristocratic families were after the division of fiefdoms.

"No, do you really have any fighting power left? You're supposed to be the bulwark of the country, after all," Zhuge Liang said with a headache. He was indeed very satisfied with the harmlessness of the Jiangdong aristocratic families, but you're being too harmless. As far as Zhuge Liang was concerned, it was enough that the Jiangdong aristocratic families were harmless to the Han Dynasty. They still needed to have a deterrent effect on other things, and it would be best if they could be released like vicious dogs to bite people.

"Well, their combat strength might not be great in the future, but at this stage, Wu Gong's authority on Ye Diao's side is sufficient, and their overall strength is still not a problem. Coordinating and resolving the issues of the major families, and adjudicating the legal issues and conflicts between them, is itself a way of demonstrating authority." Zhuge Jin thought for a moment and replied. Although the Jiangdong families are currently facing significant internal problems, they are still reliable in naval warfare.

Of course, don't count on land battles; Zhuge Jin has already deeply realized this problem.

"Isn't this going backwards?" Upon hearing this, Zhuge Liang instantly understood what his brother was talking about. Wasn't this just a replica of how the Western Zhou emperor handled conflicts between various feudal lords? The reason why the Spring and Autumn Period came later was because the emperor was deposed.

Basically, if the United Nations truly has the power to mediate conflicts between countries, then the UN is awesome and truly powerful enough to organize countries into an alliance. But if countries upgrade to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, then the UN becomes nothing more than toilet paper, which is a serious problem.

"It's alright. Reversing is inevitable. Generally speaking, the Tiannan region is quite good for both agriculture and animal husbandry, and the land output is very high, but it is too geographically fragmented," Zhuge Jin said with a hint of helplessness. "So choosing this route is really a matter of adapting to local conditions."

Zhuge Liang looked at his brother speechlessly upon hearing this, finding it hard to believe that his brother could say such a thing. However, to be fair, the fragmented terrain of Southeast Asia was indeed a problem.

"Furthermore, with Lord Wu and the Governor working hard to cultivate the Ye Diao region, as long as Lord Wu isn't too incompetent, he can still suppress the local forces with his substantial resources. After all, the initial design was for adjudication, not rule, so security and stability shouldn't be a major issue." Zhuge Jin thought for a moment. Having stayed in Tiannan for so long, he realized that it was impossible to proceed exactly as the Han Dynasty was doing; the local situation had to be considered.

"In that case, we will lose some of our power," Zhuge Liang said thoughtfully. However, as soon as he said this, he shook his head. Judging from the boldness that Sun Ce was showing now, he probably didn't care much about this bit of power. He had already realized all his dreams, even more ambitious than he had envisioned when he was young. For Sun Ce, the distribution of a little power was probably just like a little hardship.

"Well, there's one more thing. The Governor and I discussed it privately, and I suspect he wants me to relay it to you, and then you can relay it to Marquis Chen." Zhuge Jin thought for a moment and said. Although he and Zhuge Liang were just rambling on, their identities meant that many things were actually being communicated between the two major groups, so they had to clarify some background information when they spoke.

"What is it?" Zhuge Liang asked with some curiosity.

"The governor also privately looked into the Xigu coconut tree, and then privately told me that if he had known about it earlier, he would have chosen to plant it too," Zhuge Jin said with a hint of reminiscence.

Zhuge Liang was taken aback upon hearing this, then slowly nodded. He couldn't say such things carelessly, and he couldn't respond carelessly either, since the grain supply of three to five units had just been finalized not long ago. Now that Zhou Yu had said this, he really couldn't respond carelessly.

"I will convey these words to Marquis Chen, but I think that with the Commander's wisdom, he should be very clear that it is impossible to do this at this stage." Zhuge Liang said to his brother with a somewhat subtle expression, after all, Zhuge Jin was also present when the meeting was held.

"Definitely not. I think it's more likely that the governor sent people to dig up two sago palm trees, then had Wu Gong peel off the bark and had people extract the starch. They found that the yield of this stuff is really high, and they felt like they had lost out," Zhuge Jin said with a somewhat wry smile.

Since Zhou Yu came into contact with commodities, he has been extremely interested in this kind of thing. Sago palm trees are not commodities, but grains are. No matter where I get my starch, even if I make it with carbon dioxide, it is still starch, it is still grain, and I can make money from it.

So after Zhou Yu finished that meeting and learned about this outrageous thing, he specially sent people to dig up two trees in Tiannan and brought them back. Then, he had people in Chang'an peel off the bark and start processing them. As a result, the two trees really produced nearly a ton of starch. Zhou Yu was dumbfounded when he saw the fine white starch produced.

To be fair, Zhou Yu was aware of the existence of the Sigurd palm trees and knew that Cai Mao sold them every year, but he never imagined that the yield was so high. He had previously thought that once the trees were cut down, that would be the end of it.

Being from the Central Plains, Zhou Yu found it hard to imagine what kind of magical thing it was to produce starch from trees. So he knew about it but didn't investigate it further. However, after the proposal to switch from rice to trees, Zhou Yu carefully read the information and realized that there was such a magical thing on his own territory.

How can a mere grass compare in yield to a woody plant? That's a joke.

However, the yield was so exaggerated that Zhou Yu felt it was a bit outrageous and suspected that Zhang Zhao and his group were deceiving him. So he sent Jiang Qin back to Southeast Asia to cut down two plants and bring them back. He and Sun Ce then peeled the plants and processed the starch, which resulted in a small ton of starch.

Zhou Yu was dumbfounded. He finally understood why Cai Mao spent all his time loitering around the supply and marketing cooperative, and why he was producing sago pudding so much and selling it at such a low price. If you think about it carefully, with such an exaggerated output, it's only natural that it's cheaper than grain.

So you were the one who was stupid before, huh?
After thinking about it this way, Zhou Yu looked at the West Valley coconut tree again and felt that it was indeed much easier than farming. It was a tree, after all, with a high survival rate, low management costs, freeing up manpower, and high output.

With so many advantages, Zhou Yu was also tempted, so he privately complained to Zhuge Jin that he was planning to plant this. Zhuge Jin immediately understood that this was a secret conversation!

　I feel like the more I write about the Kingdom of Wu in the South, the more déjà vu it feels.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)