Chapter 42: The Wisdom of the Ancients, Buying Deer to Control Chu

Just as Li Yi and Liu Bei were drinking and laughing together, a personal guard hurried in, reporting that an urgent message had arrived.

Liu Bei frowned. "An urgent message? Where is this urgent message from?"

He wondered what issue could possibly remain unresolved at this time. Even Li Yi was deep in thought, trying to figure out what pressing matters Old Liu could still have at this juncture.

The guard replied, "It is... it is an envoy from Kong Rong, the Chancellor of Beihai, claiming it is a matter of the utmost urgency."

Hearing this, the corners of Li Yi's mouth curled upward, a playful smile dawning on his face.

"My Lord, what you were concerned about was merely the timing."

"Now, the timing has arrived."

The timing has arrived?

Liu Bei raised an eyebrow. "Could the military adviser be referring to Zang Ba of Langye?"

"Precisely," Li Yi nodded.

"Then what about Kong Beihai here..." Liu Bei hesitated slightly.

"My Lord might as well see this Beihai envoy first and hear what he has to say."

Liu Bei agreed and ordered the envoy to be brought in.

A short while later, the travel-worn envoy arrived before Liu Bei and paid his respects.

When asked about the purpose of his visit, it turned out that Tian Kai, the Inspector of Qingzhou, had been defeated by Yuan Shao’s general Zang Hong, prompting Kong Rong to seek reinforcements from Liu Bei.

Tian Kai and Zang Hong were both technically Inspectors of Qingzhou; the only difference was that one had been appointed by Gongsun Zan, while the other had been appointed by Yuan Shao. Their shared objective was simply to seize control of Qingzhou.

Since Kong Rong was in the same alliance as Gongsun Zan, he naturally sided with Tian Kai. Moreover, his territory of Beihai bordered Pingyuan, and once Yuan Shao arrived, Beihai would inevitably suffer. Guided by the principle that when the lips are gone, the teeth feel the cold, Kong Rong knew he had to help Tian Kai resist the Yuan clan.

"My lord has already clashed with Yuan's army and fears he is no match for them. Thus, he has sent me to seek reinforcements from the General."

"We earnestly hope that, remembering past ties, the General will surely come to our lord's rescue!"

Having spoken, the envoy fell to his knees, kowtowing with tears streaming down his face.

Li Yi sneered inwardly. This envoy was quite smooth with his words—what did he mean by "fears he is no match for them"? Wasn't it a hundred percent certain that he wasn't a match?

Leaving Yuan Shao aside, Kong Rong couldn't even handle a band of Yellow Turban rebels; he was the type to get utterly beaten down. Later on, he would even be thrashed by Yuan Shao's son, Yuan Tan, until only a few hundred followers remained. Although this fellow was esteemed as one of the Seven Scholars of Jian'an, aside from writing good essays, he was truly inept at military affairs. To think that despite showing such immense kindness to Taishi Ci’s mother, even Taishi Ci looked down upon him.

"I am already aware of this matter. Guards!" Liu Bei said, waving a hand as he paced with his hands behind his back.

"First, escort this envoy to the guesthouse to rest."

The envoy was helped to his feet by attendants, wiped away his tears, and hurriedly exhorted, "I hope the General will not fail Kong Beihai!"

Very well, very well! Everyone was resorting to moral kidnapping, weren't they? What was this nonsense about not failing Kong Beihai? Helping you was a matter of sentiment; refusing to help was a matter of duty. Nothing in this world was absolute or owed.

Watching from the side, Li Yi found it somewhat hard to bear and felt a pang of sympathy for Old Liu. Truly, an honest man was destined to have a gun pointed at his head. When Taishi Ci had previously come to seek Liu Bei's help, he had also played this same trick of moral blackmail. Yet, frustratingly, Old Liu always fell for it.

The only thing that brought Li Yi some relief was that Liu Bei did not immediately make a promise. Instead, he first had the envoy escorted to the guesthouse to rest, clearly intending to consult his adviser's opinion first.

True to form, once the envoy had walked some distance away, Liu Bei turned to Li Yi and asked, "I wonder what timing the先生 was referring to earlier?"

Li Yi analyzed the situation: "Since Kong Beihai is seeking our aid, why not employ the stratagem of 'borrowing a road to conquer Guo'?"

"Under the banner of marching north to rescue Beihai, we can take the opportunity to eliminate Zang Ba as a hidden threat."

Hmm...

Liu Bei pondered this for a moment. Borrowing the road to attack Guo could indeed catch Zang Ba off guard. But given Liu Bei's current strength, would catching him "off guard" be enough to wipe Zang Ba out entirely?

Li Yi continued unhurriedly: "Since we are marching north to aid Kong Beihai, we might as well summon Zang Ba to lead his forces and rendezvous with us, making him march north alongside our army."

"Then, using the pretext that Zang Ba has rendered meritorious service to the state, My Lord can promote him to a provincial official, summon him to serve directly before your tent, and strip him of his military command."

"In this way, without expending the slightest effort, we can integrate Langye and Donghai into a single territory."

Liu Bei quickly asked, "What if Zang Ba refuses to obey my command and declines to come?"

Li Yi touched his chin and smiled, "Then we will make it so he has no choice but to come."

No choice but to come...?

Liu Bei looked at him in bewilderment.

Li Yi took out a brocade box from his sleeve and handed it to Liu Bei.

"Does My Lord remember the refined salt I showed you yesterday?"

"I have already handed the method of its production to Administrator Mi, ordering him to step up extraction."

"This substance is not difficult to produce. Administrator Mi will soon be able to effortlessly refine large quantities of refined salt."

"If we introduce this refined salt among the common populace, it will undoubtedly yield exorbitant profits."

Liu Bei suddenly understood. "Could the military adviser mean to—?"

"Precisely." Li Yi nodded. "I intend to use Guan Zhong's method of 'buying deer to conquer Chu' to deal with Zang Ba."

As the prime minister of Qi, Guan Zhong was exceptionally skilled in trade warfare. Whether it was the Hengshan stratagem, the Lu-Liang stratagem, or buying deer to conquer Chu, he used economic warfare to force enemy states into submission without dispatching a single soldier. For example, when Lu specialized in producing fine silk, Qi purchased massive quantities of it, causing the price of Lu silk to skyrocket, prompting every person in Lu to abandon farming in favor of weaving silk. When the time was ripe, Qi immediately stopped buying, causing the silk in Lu to sit unsold while their fields lay barren, leaving the populace without food. With no other choice, the people of Lu had to buy grain from Qi. Qi then hiked the grain prices a hundredfold, completely draining Lu's national strength and subduing the enemy without a fight.

Later on, whether dealing with Liang, Chu, or Hengshan, he used much the same playbook.

The core philosophy of Guan Zhong’s economic warfare strategy was the "art of weight and balance." What is priced low is cheap; being cheap makes it weightless. What is priced high is expensive; being expensive makes it weighty. Guarding all the vital resources of one's own state to prevent them from flowing out through trade, while leaking the vital resources of rival states inward through trade—by regulating the supply of strategic goods in this manner, one could effortlessly manipulate the economic lifeline of another nation.

Li Yi analyzed methodically: "Refined salt can generate immense profits. We can have Administrator Mi organize a merchant caravan to go to Langye and purchase grain."

"When necessary, we can trade refined salt directly for grain through barter."

"Given the immense profit of refined salt, I wager the people of Langye will have no reason to refuse."

"At the same time, we must restrict local merchants in Xuzhou, strictly forbidding them from selling grain to outsiders, with severe penalties for violators."

"Before long, we will be able to control the lifeline of Langye. Zang Ba will be like a fish in a net or a bird in a cage, entirely at our mercy!"

Brilliant! Truly brilliant!

Liu Bei clapped his hands in applause. "This stratagem is marvelous."

"Master Sun's Art of War states: 'To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill'."

"If we can integrate Langye into Xuzhou without expending a single soldier, then Xuzhou will be reunited once more!"

"However..."

His tone shifted.

"What about Kong Beihai's side of things?"

Liu Bei brought up the crucial question. If we use the pretext of helping Kong Rong merely to deal with Zang Ba, are we still going to rescue Brother Pear-lover or not?