Lu Xun burned Liu Bei's food and grass. Although he did not get any benefits, he would not have let Liu Bei's army retreat due to shortage of food. It was certain that Liu Bei could force him to collect grain on the spot.

Before taking office as the Grand Governor, Lu Xun analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of Liu Bei and Sun Quan, and found that Liu Bei was invincible. In addition to his sharp cavalry, he also occupied the righteousness and won the hearts of the people.

In other words, now Liu Bei occupied angels and people, while Sun Quan only occupied the advantage of the territory.

When Lu Xun took office, he made up his mind and couldn't stand it. This time, burning military rations was to let the army seize grain from the mouths of the people and compete with Liu Bei for the people's hearts.

After Liu Bei entered Xichuan, he had been warring for years, and it was not easy to provide enough food and grass for a large army.

If we leave a lot of food reserves on the front line, even Sun Quan, who occupied Jingzhou, could not do it.

Therefore, Lu Xun and Sun Quan both took action secretly and sent people to lobby the major families. Lu Xun even used all his trump cards in Yidu.

Although Lu Xun served as the prefect in Yidu for less than a year, he used his rights to mix a lot of sand into the Yidu family and cultivated many new family members.

Those new local tyrants who benefited from Lu Xun naturally became Lu Xun's lieutenant. After receiving Lu Xun's order, they acted according to the order.

Liu Bei sent people to investigate the reasons for the robbery of food and grass, and the news that the three major families were implicated quickly spread.

After Lu Xun received the news, he smiled proudly.

Because he knew that the next step was Liu Bei's way of raising military rations, and he wanted to make a big fuss and bring some aristocratic families over and become his own help.

Not long after, the spy sent good news to Lu Xun. Liu Bei asked the three major families to raise 100,000 stones of grain and grass, which was nominally borrowed, but whether Liu Bei could repay it as scheduled became the prerequisite for these families to continue to support Liu Bei.

If Lu Xun wanted to rob grain on this land, he naturally could not do it. Even if Liu Bei's army occupied the upper reaches on the water, it would be impossible for Lu Xun to seize grain.

But the dominant position of the Jiangdong Navy was not given for nothing!

Lu Xun decided to start making a big fuss about the deadline for Liu Bei to return the food and grass.

Because Liu Bei's food and grass were transported by water, Lu Xun might not be able to enter the upstream to grab Liu Bei's food and grass, but it is still possible to make a water battle and delay the arrival of Liu Bei's military rations.

The navy has always been the advantage of the Jiangdong Army. Neither Cao Cao nor Liu Bei could compete with Sun Quan on the water.

Cao Cao won many battles on the land of Hefei, but he only stopped at the Yangtze River and was firmly blocked by Sun Quan to the north of the Yangtze River because of the unfavorable water war.

After Liu Bei recruited Liu Biao's naval army, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and others also developed a skill in water battles and were originally qualified to challenge Sun Quan's naval army.

But with Guan Yu's defeat, Huang Zhong died of illness, and Zhang Fei was murdered again. Only Zhao Yun and Wei Yan were left under Liu Bei's generals who could barely fight against the Jiangdong Army in the water battle.

Of course, Liu Bei would not use his own weaknesses to Sun Quan's strengths. He acted as a defensive posture on the water, using Wu Ban, Huang Quan and Chen-style troops who were just a rough battle in the water to defend the river. In fact, they were not prepared to confront the Jiangdong Army on the water, which was a warning effect.

Zhao Yun, a general who was proficient in both land and land battles, was left by Liu Bei in Baidi City to support him. In fact, Liu Bei had a profound meaning.

Anyway, he was not prepared to compete with the Jiangdong Army on the water. Liu Bei simply kept Zhao Yun and guarded the natural danger of the Yangtze River at Wuxiakou. With Zhao Yun's ability and prudence, it was foolproof.

Therefore, Liu Bei's attack on land, mobilizing his own cavalry to play to his strengths and avoid his weaknesses was a very clever strategic deployment.

Without any worries, Liu Bei was able to crush the Jiangdong Army on land. It took only more than ten days to advance to Yiling City.

Liu Bei's advantage lies in the cavalry, and naturally he has an absolute advantage in land confrontation.

But after Lu Xun took office, he could not stand firm, so Liu Bei could only attack the passes and cities.

Lu Xun's move dragged Liu Bei into the point of consuming.

Whether it was fighting for soldiers or food and grass consumption, Liu Bei was at a disadvantage, which made him in a dilemma.

In addition, the heat is difficult to catch up, and Liu Bei has no choice but to stop the army for the time being. In fact, there are also plans to lead the snake out of the hole.

Lu Xun's original intention was not to waste Liu Bei. As long as Liu Bei's main cavalry was still there, he could launch a war against Jiangdong at any time.

Now it seems that Liu Bei has regarded the occupied area as his territory. If he wants Liu Bei to retreat to Xichuan, he can only defeat Liu Bei.

While the Chen family, Guo family and Zhan family were intensively raising food and grass, Lu Xun's chess pieces left in Yidu also began to move around and contacted many aristocratic families. They reached an agreement that each aristocratic family allocated a share of the borrowed food.

Although the share of borrowed grain is different, the interest rate for borrowing grain is the same, with the highest monthly profit of 30%.

At the beginning, the three families were very angry after hearing such high interest rates and turned to borrow food from other aristocratic families.

But these families remain highly consistent, not only do they stop interest rates and do not reduce them, but also do not give them too much, which forces them to borrow more.

At that time, grain was hard currency, and the operation methods of grain lending were similar to those of current capital operation methods.

The popular methods of usury, completion and other methods now come from the operation of food.

Those big families cannot support so many families and private soldiers with the leased land, so the operation of food is their main means to make money.

By collecting low prices, selling high prices, completing the money, and lending usury, 90% of the grain harvest of tenants was transferred to their own granaries, which allowed them to pass on from generation to generation, and through grain transactions, they obtained official positions and could occupy the right to speak in the government.

Although these aristocratic families support Liu Bei, on the same grand position, it will not affect the competition between them. If there is a chance to cause these three families to bleed, the major aristocratic families will never let them go.

Therefore, Lu Xun did not use too many means to achieve his goal. These families have already divided the cake.

The three families have similar assets, and their own grain storage is less than 20,000 shi, which is almost half the gap. We need to borrow from other aristocratic families for a temporary loan.

After finally collecting all the food and sending it to Liu Bei, the three families made a preliminary calculation and found that the three families were also seriously injured!

Because the interest rate was too high, when Liu Bei returned their food, they returned it to those families. After deducting the interest, their own grain storage shrank by most, which was much greater than the loss of donating 10,000 stones of grain.

They also went to Liu Bei to donate 10,000 stones of grain directly on the grounds that they could not borrow food.
Chapter completed!