The strongest devouring system in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 233 Internal and external cooperation

As a result, Xun Yu and others frequently reported Guo Jia's misdeeds. Chen Er was quite helpless with such a prodigal son as Guo Jia. Although he was the lord, he couldn't possibly interfere in such matters.

It's already difficult enough to restrict Guo Jia's drinking. As for other matters, Chen Er can only remind Guo Jia more often. He doesn't want the Guo Jia in this world to die young like the one on Earth.

"Fengxiao, I've heard you've been living a rather leisurely life lately."

Chen Er smiled and said to Guo Jia: Sensing the ill intent in Chen Er's smile, Guo Jia immediately protested, "My lord, you are wronging me. I have been traveling among the people recently to understand their conditions."

To gather more reference materials for the next stage of development in the self-governing area, look, your subordinates have all lost weight.

"You rascal! I know you too well! You must have been out there observing the lives of ordinary people with that girl," Chen Er said with a laugh.

Xi Zhicai, standing to the side, teased Guo Jia, saying, "My lord, you should still be understanding of Fengxiao. It is because of him that the brothel industry in Yuyang has been able to develop so much, and we have been able to collect more taxes."

The autonomous region did not prohibit brothels. Although Chen Er, who came from the modern era, did not particularly like this matter, he also knew that where there is demand, there will be a market, and some things cannot be prohibited simply because you want to.

Blindly prohibiting it would have the opposite effect. As the saying goes, it is better to guide than to block. On Chen Er's advice, all the brothels in the self-governed area were rectified, and all employees had to be licensed to work.

Moreover, the taxes levied were among the heaviest in the autonomous region, reaching as high as 40%. Even so, the brothel industry in Yuyang and even the entire autonomous region was still booming, after all, it was a highly profitable industry.

"That's right, Fengxiao's actions are indeed for the development of the autonomous region."

Following Xi Zhicai and Chen Er, the people present took turns teasing Guo Jia. Guo Jia was not annoyed by this. They were all colleagues and good friends in private, so such jokes were harmless.

Moreover, Guo Jia really liked this atmosphere because there was no internal strife like in other places, although sometimes people would argue heatedly over a certain issue or plan.

However, their fundamental purpose is the same: to serve their lord and promote the development of their self-governed areas. The only difference lies in their governing philosophies.

"Alright, alright, everyone stop teasing Fengxiao. It's inevitable for a man to philander, but Fengxiao, you better remember this: if you come back with some kind of disease, I'll have to order your inhumane annihilation."

Chen Er said, "Also, you need to be careful to be moderate, don't ruin your health at such a young age."

"Yes, my lord, Fengxiao remembers." Guo Jia replied to Chen Er with unusual seriousness.

Seeing that Guo Jia had agreed, Chen Er clapped his hands and said to everyone, "Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. Let's continue discussing the next step of the plan. Let's put the Guanzhong region aside for now."

"Just have Li Zhong's intelligence department keep a close eye on the situation. However, Yuan Shao has already sealed off the palace. His next plan is probably to take over the Luoyang military factory. I just don't know how much Yuan Shao will have to pay for it."

"My lord, I believe Yuan Shao will not lose a single soldier," Xun Yu said.

"Why?"

"According to intelligence, the guards of the Luoyang Garrison number only three thousand, most of whom are newly recruited soldiers by Ding Min. All of their elite soldiers have been transferred to the palace to protect the emperor. It has to be said that this is a huge mistake."

"In comparison, I believe that Yuan Shao is far more interested in the military factories than the emperor, since he desperately needs them to replenish his resources. The Luoyang military factories were initially established under your guidance."

"Although Lu Zhi later dismantled most of it, after Gongsun Zan took control of Luoyang, we provided assistance to Gongsun Zan as instructed by our lord. One of the secret agreements was to help Gongsun Zan restore the operation of the troop factory... Yuan Shao, who lacked sufficient organizational resources, must have coveted such a large troop factory for a long time."

"He certainly wouldn't want the battle to damage the facilities of the soldiers' factories. Yuan Shao must have already started making arrangements, and may have even won over a considerable number of the guards, organizers, and workers inside the soldiers' factories, working together from the inside and outside."

"I believe that the guards Ding Min has assigned are very likely to hand over the factory without firing a single shot..."

Xun Yu launched into a long speech, analyzing the situation in Luoyang in great detail. After listening to Xun Yu's analysis, Chen Er had to admit that the situation was very likely to develop as Xun Yu had predicted.

“Wenruo’s analysis is indeed reasonable. However, even if Yuan Shao controls the arsenal, he won’t make much progress in the short term. Tell Li Zhong to arrange for a few special agents to infiltrate the arsenal and await my deployment,” Chen Er said.

Wang Hui, who was standing nearby, immediately wrote down the order. After the meeting, he would specifically tell Li Zhong about the order concerning him from this meeting.

Chen Er took a sip of tea, put down his cup, and addressed the group, recounting the events of their southward journey: "Alright, that's the arrangement for the northwest for now. Now let's talk about the south."

"This time, I went south to meet with Liu Bei and Sun Quan, two southern warlords. Although some unpleasant things happened during the trip, fortunately, Zilong was there. Not only did I not suffer any losses, but I also gained a lot of advantages."

Chen Er addressed the crowd, saying, "Although the land forces of various southern powers have been equipped with flintlock muskets, their units lack practical combat experience and are not worth mentioning. However, we must be vigilant against the Jiangdong navy."

"The fleet I saw this time, led by Sun Quan, had more than ten ironclad warships, all of which were steam-powered. It seems that we were fooled by Sun Ce before. Jiangdong may not be outstanding in firearms."

"But on the water, their strength has definitely surpassed ours. The only advantage our organization may have left is artillery, but I'm worried that we won't be able to maintain that advantage for long."

Sun Quan had some understanding of the early days of firearms, which Chen Er didn't know, but Liu Bei certainly had a wealth of knowledge, after all, he was a professional, and knew about famous weapons like the Frankish.

Chen Er had reason to believe that Liu Bei must know the principle. Liu Bei might not have thought of it before, but now that he had the energy to fight the artillery of his own territory, he would definitely remember such a powerful weapon.

Perhaps Liu Bei, upon returning to Ba Commandery, had already begun forging Frankish weapons. Furthermore, Chen Er was also pondering the issue of rifling, something Liu Bei and Sun Quan certainly understood.

Although they may not know how to turn these ideas into reality, that does not prevent them from having equally advanced theoretical knowledge, and Chen Er must be mentally prepared.