Chapter 141 Tian Ze's Ambition
After finalizing the short-term strategy, Tian Ze turned his attention to the entire world.
"Wenhe, what is the current population situation between us and other states?"
"My Lord, the people under our rule are about 2200 million now, as we have recently taken over nearly one million people from Jizhou."
"Among the other states, Sili and Qingzhou are basically empty for some reasons, Bingzhou and Liangzhou are already sparsely populated. The combined population of these four states is less than 200 million. The population of Jizhou, which is in Yuan Shao's hands, is about 400 million."
There was a reason why Yuan Shao looked down on Bingzhou.
It is difficult to conquer, there are few people, the land is thin, and most of the people there are the undisciplined Southern Xiongnu. Even if you conquer this place, it is difficult to control it. Even if you control it, it will not be of much use to Yuan Shao who is pursuing the strategy of increasing the number of troops.
In comparison, although Qingzhou also has a small population, it has a lot of fertile land and is close to Xu and Yan states. There is no pressure to take it over, so it can still be moved.
"In the Central Plains, Yanzhou has a population of about 300 million, Xuzhou has a population of about 200 million, and Yuzhou has a population of about 500 million, totaling nearly million."
"In the south, the population is relatively large. Jingzhou has about 600 million people, Yangzhou has about 400 million people, Yizhou has about 700 million people, and Jiaozhou has about 200 million people, totaling nearly million people."
"The total population of the world is nearly 60 million."
Hearing this, Tian Ze couldn't help but feel relieved.
Due to his influence, a large number of refugees were attracted and settled in Liaodong, which greatly alleviated the problems of famine and refugees. Therefore, despite the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the population of the country is still nearly 6000 million.
This can also be considered as accumulating virtue.
"We have absorbed too many refugees from the Central Plains over the years. The population gap is too large compared to the south, and the local princes are relatively strong. I'm afraid we can only rely on making war profits in exchange."
"But we can contact Xuzhou's Tao Qian. He is already old and his health may not last for many more years. Both of his sons are not good leaders. It is almost inevitable that Xuzhou will be replaced by a new leader."
"We can try to make a deal with him. Instead of Xuzhou, we can give up a few hundred thousand refugees in exchange for a guarantee for Tao Qian. He is likely to agree." Dong Zhao said.
Dong Zhao believed that Tao Qian was a smart man and would not mind adding an extra layer of insurance for his useless son and the family business that would be lost sooner or later.
"Our main target should be in the south." Tian Ze looked at the huge three states of Jing, Yang and Yi with greed in his eyes.
The maintenance of the Three Kingdoms was mainly due to the sharp decline in population caused by wars in the north and the steady growth of population in the south.
The conditions of these three states in the south are so unique! Even when Liu Yan and Liu Zhang did basically nothing, the population did not decrease but increased.
What's the point of beating up these princes in the north? It would be a real headache to cripple them and let them flee to the south. The south has both the people and the land, and the strategic space is huge, which will increase the difficulty of unifying the world.
The best strategy is to let Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and Liu Bei, these heroes, slowly fight in the Central Plains while you go to the south to steal chickens.
After all, the South is relatively stable now and there is no overlord.
Liu Yan and his son Liu Zhang of Yizhou were both people without ambitions. They only cared about being their own local emperors behind closed doors and did not care about the development of the people under their rule. They just wanted to play around and make things worse.
Although Liu Biao had some talent and was able to take Jingzhou on his own, he was also hindered by his aristocratic family and had no chance of competing for hegemony. Moreover, there were many factions within Jingzhou, so there was a lot of room for maneuver.
Liu Yao, the governor of Yangzhou, was of mediocre ability. Facing Yuan Shu, he could only defend himself, allowing local tyrants and clans to grow stronger and various bandit problems to emerge.
Tian Ze has no conflict of interest with the forces of these three states. Facing these three mediocre people, he can definitely make some progress.
"It's a little difficult to recruit refugees from the three southern states, but it's not impossible, especially in the chaotic Yangzhou. Even if we pretend to be bandits, we can easily attract hundreds of thousands of people." Xun You said.
"In Jingzhou, Liu Biao is just a dog who guards the house, but he also has certain ambitions. He is secretly in conflict with Yuan Gonglu. As long as we make good use of Yuan Gonglu, we may be able to form an alliance with him, which will facilitate our actions."
"As for Yizhou and Jiaozhou, there is no need to worry. The rulers of both places are incompetent. The key lies in the navy. As long as they can reach there, they can attract population."
"We need a capable naval officer to patrol the Yangtze River to solve this problem."
As soon as these words came out, Tian Ze instantly thought of a certain pirate leader.
That guy should be on the way!
Tian Ze heard this and smiled slightly: "We will not fight for the Central Plains for the time being. We can consider taking over Bingzhou and Sili first in the future. But the south is always the focus of our strategy, and we must put it in the most critical position."
"Although the distance is far, we still have time and can take our time. We can use any means, such as using money to open the way and contacting local powerful people, as long as we can attract people."
Looking at the map, Tian Ze suddenly felt that the strategy of starting from Youzhou, annexing Bingzhou and joining Sili, and then attacking Xiliang and Jizhou, going south to Yizhou and Jingzhou, and encircling the Central Plains and Jiangdong seemed to be a good one.
Although the defense line is long, it is not difficult to defend because of the natural barriers such as Taihang Mountains, the Yellow River, and Qinling Mountains.
Not only is the difficulty of attacking relatively low, but it is also possible to move south as quickly as possible, taking advantage of the weakness of the lord of Yizhou to seize the natural barrier of Yizhou and solve the problem of the natural barrier of the Yangtze River.
Of course, Tian Ze's strategy was just a preliminary idea. His strategy was never based on territory but on population. Everything had to change according to the situation.
"Other princes who are ambitious for the world are all competing in the Central Plains. The situation in the Central Plains is chaotic, but the outline is relatively clear. It is inevitable for Yuan Shao to go south to the Central Plains. Cao Cao of Yanzhou and Tao Qian of Xuzhou will be the first to bear the brunt and will definitely unite to fight against Yuan." Guo Jia analyzed.
Guo Jia did not take Liu Dai, the current governor of Yanzhou, seriously. Cao Cao's capture of Yanzhou was an inevitable result, just like Yuan Shao's capture of Jizhou, and it would not take long.
All this was basically doomed when Xun Yu surrendered to Cao Cao. With the great talent of Cao Cao and Xun Yu, who was a capable assistant to the king, and the Xun family behind him representing half of the Yingchuan Group, it was easy for them to take over Yanzhou.
As for the fact that Cao Cao was once Yuan Shao's younger brother, and Tao Qian was old, and whether he would unite with Yuan Shao or surrender, Guo Jia was not worried.
They are not stupid. If there is no conflict of interest with Yuan Shao, they can pretend to be friendly. But in the current situation, if they know a little about the experiences of Wang Kuang, Han Fu and others, they will not have any illusions about surrendering to and forming an alliance with Yuan Shao.
This is a mean and ungrateful person!
"Given Yuan Shao's ability, he wants to guard against us and go south to the Central Plains. He will definitely choose to form an alliance with the princes of the Central Plains, which is no more than Liu Bei or Yuan Shu."
"Yuan Shu is basically impossible." Tian Ze shook his head.
He knew the relationship between Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu best. Although they had not yet fallen out, it was almost like a falling out, and neither of them was the type to bow their heads.
Moreover, Yuan Shao knew Yuan Shu's character and ability too well, and he was not a man who could accomplish great things, so he would definitely not form an alliance with him. "The situation would probably be that Yuan Shao, Liu Bei, and Liu Biao would form an alliance against Cao Cao, Tao Qian, and Yuan Shu," Guo Jia analyzed like peeling silk off a cocoon.
Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao had always been at odds with each other, and Yuan Shu's arrogant and trouble-making character caused friction with Liu Bei and Liu Biao, so Guo Jia made this judgment.
"Yuan Shao seems to be stronger." Tian Ze said after taking a quick look at both sides.
"These are actually unimportant. No matter how they form an alliance, we just need to stick to the middle path. Once the army and officials are ready, we can pacify Hebei." Guo Jia said indifferently.
Absolute strength brings absolute confidence.
As long as we don't act recklessly and attract siege from the princes of the Central Plains, we can rest easy.
"However, there is still one thing we want to ask our lord." Guo Jia, who had always been dissolute, looked a little serious at this moment.
Tian Ze was slightly stunned, but saw that Jia Xu and others around him were all like this.
"What's the matter?"
"What is your intention, my lord?"
This was the second time Tian Ze was asked this question. He had answered it before when he accepted Jia Xu. However, he was weak at that time, and the ambition he mentioned was just a vague direction.
Now, he is strong enough to rule the world and is qualified to express his ambitions.
Guo Jia and others had already vaguely sensed the terrifying ambition in Tian Ze's heart from his various plans and arrangements. If not, how could he not get the world? Why should he be so hesitant?
Facing everyone's gaze, Tian Ze smiled brightly.
It seems like it's time to tell them.
He slowly stood up, walked to the wall, and gently peeled off the map of the Han Dynasty on the wall.
I saw there was a layer of map underneath.
Guo Jia and others looked through a corner and felt that the map in front of them was quite unfamiliar, as if they had never seen it before. Until the whole map was turned over and they looked at the slightly familiar coastline in the center of the map, they suddenly realized something and their eyes widened.
"Lord, this is..."
There were also maps of the world in the Han Dynasty, but the distant Central Asia and Europe were only vaguely marked with a certain range, and there was no trace of America, Africa, etc.
However, the map that Tian Ze opened was actually a world map he drew based on his memory of later generations.
After he confirmed through observing the sea surface that the earth of this world was also round, and confirmed through various records and explorations that this world was basically the same as the previous life, he made this map.
"This is the world we live in." Tian Ze's eyes burned with a strong fighting spirit.
"If it's just to create another great man, what's the difficulty for me? What I want is this real world!" Tian Ze said in a deep voice.
As a cultivator seeking immortality, he naturally needs as much spiritual energy and as many people as possible.
After the Hu people were educated, they could also produce spiritual energy, although it might be weaker, but if there were a lot of them, it would be a great fortune. If possible, he would naturally want to bring the whole world under his rule.
"However, with our strength, we can only expand our territory to four or five times the size of the original Han Dynasty. That is the limit."
The maximum radius of a country's rule is basically determined by military logistics and communications. Under the conditions of this era, even if Tian Ze tried his best to build straight roads and canals, it is estimated that at most he could control Kushan and part of Parthia, which is now Asan and Central Asia.
"So, I need the power of various princes and noble families."
For the first time, Tian Ze expressed his true thoughts.
"My lord, are you planning to divide the fiefs again?" Tian Feng's eyes narrowed slightly, as if he had thought of something, and blurted out.
Tian Ze nodded solemnly: "That's right. They are all Han people. We can't manage such a big world, so let them manage it. It's better to keep the meat rotten in our own pot than to give it to outsiders."
"But they must be governed under my rule. At least until I leave."
"These noble families have become corrupt. They have forgotten the glory of their ancestors who worked hard to build the country. Only by completely destroying them can they wake up, inherit the legacy of their ancestors, and restore the glory of China!"
"So, I will completely defeat them, until they have no choice, no way out, and they dare not do anything rash before I leave."
Tian Ze was very clear that the world would eventually split after being united for a long time.
No matter how well he planned, the country he established would eventually decay and perish, and the princes he enfeoffed according to his plan would eventually become independent. This was inevitable.
The presence of external enemies is sometimes not necessarily a bad thing.
If future generations are immoral, it is not a bad idea for someone else to create a new world, as long as the world remains in the hands of China and civilization continues to progress.
As long as these princes and noble families are willing to obey, Tian Ze will not impose too many restrictions, as long as they can provide him with spiritual energy before he leaves this world. He does not want to care about what happens in the future, nor can he care.
After all, the dimension of this world is too low and cannot bear too strong a force. He has a premonition that when he builds his foundation, it might be the day of his departure.
The Qingmu Jue that he was practicing, although its name was very common, the more he practiced it, the more unfathomable it became. Every time he broke through to the next level, he had to consume several times the spiritual energy of the previous level, and the multiple was constantly increasing, and now it was almost ten times.
Tian Ze estimated that even if he unified the world, it would take several years or even decades to accumulate enough spiritual energy.
With his current life span of several hundred years, it would be no problem for him to survive until that time, but if he could do it earlier, he would have more time to make further progress in the future.
Immortality is his ultimate pursuit.
(End of this chapter)
