A Journey Through the Worlds of Film and Television.

Chapter 645: Defining Liaodong

Outside the city of Xiangping, facing the charge of two thousand cavalrymen, Lu Cheng raised his spear, took the lead, and led hundreds of cavalrymen under his command to charge straight out.

In the blink of an eye, the two teams of cavalry collided with each other. The hundreds of cavalry led by Lu Cheng were like a sharp knife, splitting the enemy cavalry team in half without any hindrance.

The men were like the wind and the horses were like dragons. Wherever the spears passed, blood splattered and heads rolled.

Gongsun Zhao and others on the city wall witnessed this one-sided battle, or rather a massacre, below the city.

As majestic as the two thousand cavalrymen were when they left the city, they were as miserable when they fled.

After only a few charges, this cavalry composed of the Fuyu and Wuhuan people was completely defeated and fled in all directions, with some returning directly to the city gate.

Gongsun Zhao, who was on the city wall, saw this and quickly ordered, "Close the city gates! Close the city gates!"

However, the defeated cavalry swarmed into the city, and the soldiers at the city gate were unable to close the gate and lower the drawbridge.

When Lu Cheng saw the enemy cavalry fleeing into the city, he immediately turned his horse around and followed them, rushing towards the city.

Seeing this, Gongsun Zhao on the top of the city wall, regardless of the soldiers still under the city, gave another order: "Shoot arrows, roll stones and battering rams!"

When Lu Cheng rushed to the bottom of the city wall, he saw a battering ram lowered from the top of the city wall. He immediately leaped forward from his horse more than two meters and entered the city gate.

When the soldiers guarding the city gate saw Lu Cheng coming, they did not dare to resist and retreated one after another.

Lu Cheng was too lazy to pay attention to those ordinary soldiers, and rushed straight to the top of the city wall. He happened to meet Gongsun Zhao who was hastily evacuating from the top of the city wall. The two sides were still more than ten steps apart. Lu Cheng jumped up directly, flew over the heads of a group of soldiers, and while in mid-air, he stabbed out with a gun, nailing Gongsun Zhao to the ground.

Then, Lu Cheng raised his spear with one hand, pinned Xiangping County Magistrate Gongsun Zhao on the spear, and said loudly: "Gongsun Zhao is dead, why don't you surrender now? When will you surrender?"

Immediately, the guards on the city wall knelt down and begged for surrender. Lu Cheng's troops entered the city smoothly and began to take over the city defense.

Xiangping is the seat of Liaodong County and the largest city in Liaodong. After taking Xiangping, the other cities will be easy to deal with.

As for Xuantu County and Lelang County, it is only a matter of time.

After taking Xiangping City, Lu Cheng was not in a hurry to continue attacking cities and seizing land, but instead began to arrange spring plowing.

The winter in Liaodong region is longer, and the time suitable for crop growth is shorter, so we must seize the time to carry out spring ploughing.

Moreover, Lu Cheng also stored some seeds of high-yield crops such as corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes, etc. in the cross-border space. He needed to choose a suitable place and plant them at the right time, and send special personnel to patrol and care for them to cultivate the first batch of seeds.

Since he lacked the talent to govern the local area, Lu Cheng had to do many things himself.

In the early stages of starting a business, you will always be busier.

At the same time, Lu Cheng also posted recruitment notices in various places to recruit civil and military talents, or special talents with special skills, such as blacksmiths, carpenters, shipbuilders, etc.

It's just that Lu Cheng conferred the title of the great general on himself. He has not been recognized by the court, nor has he gotten rid of his identity as a traitor. For the time being, all he can recruit are some craftsmen.

After arranging the spring ploughing, Lu Cheng called on craftsmen to start work, selecting suitable places in Fang County and other places to build salt factories and glass manufacturing workshops. At the same time, he also began to send people to mine the Anshan iron ore.

At the same time, farmland water conservancy facilities in various places are also being built and improved.

At that time, the main sources of salt in the Han Dynasty were well salt, lake salt, and rock salt. It was not until the Tang and Song dynasties that salt fields were opened in coastal areas, where seawater was used for irrigation, brine was obtained through sun drying, and then salt was boiled. This method was called brine boiling.

In ancient times, salt and iron were always strictly controlled and were considered strategic materials.

Mastering salt and iron is equivalent to mastering the economic lifeline. Once food is self-sufficient, the entire Liaodong region can become fully active.

A month later, farming was basically completed, and the salt field and glass workshop also produced a batch of goods.

On this day, Lu Cheng had someone prepare some fired glassware and some refined salt, and gave them to Xu Hu: "Xu Hu, you lead a team of cavalry, one man with two horses, and rush to Jibei as quickly as possible to deliver these goods to Wuji Zhen family and bring them my letter. If they are willing to send a caravan, you lead the way for them. If they are not willing to come, you return directly."

"Yes, General!"

After capturing Xiangping, Lu Cheng captured many Wuhuan and Fuyu cavalrymen. The number of cavalrymen under his command had reached two thousand and was being reorganized.

After Xu Hu left, Lu Cheng sent people to contact the caravans from Fuyu, Wuhuan, Goguryeo and other places, and showed them some glass products.

Although the colored glaze currently produced has many impurities and the color is not pure, it is enough to scare people of this era, especially those from foreign races.

Seeing those sparkling and beautifully shaped glassware, caravans from all over the country expressed their willingness to buy them at high prices.

Lu Cheng combined the prices of various commodities and formulated the exchange ratios of various commodities and glass products. For example, how many war horses, how many livestock, how much food, medicinal materials, animal skins, etc. could be exchanged for a glass cup.

Although Lu Chengding's price was very high, those merchants were still willing to buy it. After all, they could sell it to those nobles at a higher price after buying it.

In the next two or three months, Lu Cheng developed and expanded at the same time, launching surprise attacks from time to time, leading 2000 cavalry to roam Liaodong and capturing a city every now and then.

Later on, many cities surrendered or voluntarily submitted.

Three months later, the entire Liaodong County and Xuantu County were completely controlled by Lu Cheng, and several cities in the north of Lelang County also fell into Lu Cheng's hands.

The entire Liaodong Prefecture had 11 counties, more than 6 households, and a population of more than 30. Xuantu Prefecture had 6 counties, more than 1 households, and more than 4 people.

Together with the vassal states of Liaodong and part of Lelang County, Lu Cheng has occupied 28 counties with a population of over 50, basically controlling the entire Liaodong.

At this time, the Wuji Zhen family's caravan also rushed to Liaodong from thousands of miles away, bringing with them a large amount of supplies, medicinal materials, etc.

"Zhen Yin of the Wuji Zhen Clan, on behalf of the patriarch, sends his regards to the general."

Lu Cheng nodded slightly: "How is Patriarch Zhen these days?"

"Thank you for your concern, General. The master has been ill recently and is recuperating at home. He is unable to come in person. Please forgive me, General."

"It's okay. Since Zhen sent you here, I think you are willing to trade with Liaodong. Are you willing to agree to the conditions mentioned in the previous letter?"

"We can agree to all your conditions. But we need you to agree to one condition: the colored glaze and refined salt will only be sold by our Zhen family for the time being."

"I'm afraid I can't agree to this condition. Zhen's trade routes don't reach the whole world, so how much cargo can they handle? However, I can promise that all trade in Jizhou will be handled by Zhen."

"That's fine." Zhen Yin paused for a moment, then took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Lu Cheng: "General, this is a letter from my family's master to you."

Lu Cheng took the letter, opened it and read it, and was slightly happy in his heart. It seemed that someone really sent him a pillow when he was sleepy. Zhen was willing to help him to make connections and buy an official position for Lu Cheng, which would also facilitate trade between them.

After all, the Zhen family is also a family of officials, and it is not right for them to collude with a traitor like Lu Cheng.

As for the money for buying the official position, Zhen Yi was worried that Lu Cheng could not come up with it for the time being, so he promised to pay it for him first and make up for it later with goods such as glass and refined salt.

In this way, these goods can only be supplied to Wuji Zhenshi in the early stage...