My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 134 Zhou Tai Offers Advice
Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin exchanged a glance, and then Zhou Tai spoke up: "During lunch break today, my old brother and I chatted about the old days of trading on the water."

At this point, a blush appeared on Zhou Tai's face, clearly indicating that this business on the water was not so legitimate.

"Later, an old friend mentioned that when he was smuggling salt in Jiangdu a couple of years ago, he discovered a secret passage under the water gate in Jiangdu County that led directly from outside the river to the city."

"oh?!"

Liu Feng immediately perked up: "Is that secret passage still there?"

Zhou Tai turned and glanced at his old friend, signaling for him to answer.

The man stepped forward and replied, "Reporting to you, young master, that secret passage is actually a piece of rock in the water that blocked the Jiangdu water gate, preventing the sluice gate from going all the way down, leaving just enough space for one person to squeeze through."

As the man spoke, he gestured in the air, making Liu Feng understand what he meant.

According to Liu Feng's estimation, the pebbles in the water were probably not formed naturally.

The government of the Eastern Han Dynasty did not have a salt monopoly system, and from an official standpoint, there was no distinction between official and private salt.

However, in some local communities, salt from other areas is considered smuggled salt and needs to be cracked down on and eradicated because it affects the production and sale of salt in their area and is therefore considered an intruder.

For salt products from other regions to enter the country, it was often akin to smuggling, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call them "smuggled salt."

Guangling and Yangzhou were both major salt producers, and even Yanzhou produced well salt, so there were strict sales territories between them.

However, there are always some people who, in their greed for greater profits and wealth, cross the line, especially desperate river bandits like Zhou Tai.

However, that's not the main point; the real issue is that Jiangdu's city defenses are flawed.

This is valuable intelligence.

After a moment's thought, Liu Feng asked three questions in quick succession: "How long ago was it that you last entered or exited that secret passage? Can you be sure that the secret passage is still there? If I asked you to go to Jiangdu now and secretly check whether the secret passage is still there, would you be willing?"

This intelligence is important, but its value lies in the secret passage.

Zhou Tai and his men have been enjoying themselves on the Yangtze River for two or three years. If time has passed and the secret passage has been discovered and blocked by Jiangdu, or damaged, then if the Xuzhou army uses this as a basis for its battle plan, something terrible could happen.

Zhou Tai's subordinate hurriedly replied, "That secret passage is used by powerful local smugglers in Jiangdu County, and it's not easily shut down. The last time I went there was several months ago, and it was still open and unobstructed. If you're worried, young master, Chun Yuan can make the trip himself. It will only take about half a month to bring back the latest information to Tancheng."

The distance between Tancheng and Jiangdu is quite far, several hundred miles.

Fortunately, the route is familiar and smooth, so traveling by water will greatly increase the speed of the journey.

Even so, completing the round trip within half a month, while also gathering intelligence, still meant that time was extremely tight.

But the fact that he was still willing to make such a boast shows that this person is quite ambitious and wants to seize this opportunity.

Coincidentally, Liu Feng admires people with ambition the most.

Liu Feng asked, "What's your name?"

The man's face lit up with surprise, and he quickly replied, "My name is Qian Chun, and I am currently serving as a captain under Commander Zhou."

Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin were only military commanders, while this Qian Chun was actually a captain, which shows that he was Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin's right-hand man.

"Okay! Qian Chun."

Liu Feng nodded to him: "If you can bring back the intelligence accurately within twenty days, I will reward you with a thousand coins and a bolt of silk."

"In addition, you can first choose two helpers, and then give you a small boat, a thousand coins, and two bolts of linen for your use on the road."

Upon hearing this, Qian Chun was thrilled, his face flushed red, and realizing he had seized an opportunity, he quickly bowed deeply and said, "Thank you, young master! I will do my best to serve you."

Liu Feng nodded and stepped forward to help him up: "Good, I'm glad you have this intention. But the journey is long, so please be careful on the road and prioritize your own safety."

"Son!"

Qian Chun had never seen such an easygoing nobleman before; this was the first time he had been so close to a nobleman from the prefecture.

Upon hearing Liu Feng's repeated instructions to ensure safety, Qian Chun burst into tears, wishing she could die for Liu Feng on the spot.

"Young master, your kindness and virtue will never be forgotten! Please rest assured, young master! As long as Qian Chun has a breath left, he will find out the truth and report back to you."

"Okay, okay, I believe you."

Liu Feng patted Qian Chun on the shoulder and pulled him up from the ground.

He turned to Zhou Tai and instructed, "Youping, you can go to the prefectural government tomorrow to collect the goods. Also, arrange a fast boat so that Qian Chunhao can set off as soon as possible."

"Yes, son!"

Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin were also very happy to watch from the side. Qian Chun was their old brother. He was brave and daring, but because of his humble origins, no one paid attention to him. He could only make a living by smuggling salt. Later, he simply followed the two of them to become outlaws and roamed the Yangtze River.

Now that you've caught the young master's eye and are able to make contributions, your day of advancement is not far off.

After everything was arranged, Liu Feng felt a little excited.

This is because Jiangdu is such an important place.

Geographically speaking, Jiangdu almost controls the strategic pass where the Liyun River flows into the Yangtze River, thus shielding it from threats from the upper reaches of the river.

What's even more intriguing is that the entire opposite bank downstream of Jiangdu is under Liu Yao's control. Although Liu Yao is not yet an ally of Xuzhou, the two sides have already reached a tacit understanding and are accelerating their convergence.

Liu Feng's previous plan was to send a force of four to six thousand men from Xiapi to Dongcheng, reaching the strategic point of Jiujiang, to contain Yuan Shu's army.

If Jiangdu were to join forces with them, then even if Yuan Shu's army wanted to move, it would be futile.

Even if Yuan Shu's army enters Guangling first, let's take another step back.

If the Xuzhou army can recapture Jiangdu in a short time, Yuan Shu's army in Guangling will be cut off from their retreat and immediately become trapped.

This shows just how important Jiangdu, a city on the banks of the Yangtze River, is.

If given the chance, we might be able to give Yuan Shu a major setback in Jiangdu.

**********
Man Chong's return journey went smoothly. When he met Cao Cao in Juancheng, he recounted his mission in detail.

Cao Cao was quite dissatisfied: "This Liu Xuande is good at winning people's hearts everywhere. Bo Ning must not let him deceive him with his clever words."

Man Chong knelt on his seat, not sitting up straight, a habit he shared with Cheng Yu when facing Cao Cao.

"I will always remember your advice, Your Excellency."

Man Chong didn't think Liu Bei was using clever words to deceive him. That kind of attitude of respecting and seeking out talents was not something that could be faked.

However, Man Chong was not foolish enough to argue with Cao Cao about this. Instead, he casually changed the subject: "What is your opinion on Lord Liu's proposal? In my opinion, it is indeed beneficial to our two provinces."

Cao Cao sighed, "Bo Ning is right. However, given the current situation, if we rashly sign a treaty, our province will suffer a great loss. If we want to go back on our word later, we may be accused of being untrustworthy. Therefore, we need to be cautious."

Man Chong instantly understood Cao Cao's thoughts. It wasn't that he didn't want to negotiate peace, nor that he wasn't tempted by the terms; rather, he wanted to seize the initiative.

What is initiative?

Only after defeating Lü Bu and regaining control of Yan Province can we take the initiative.

After thinking for a moment, Cao Cao made a decision: "Let's put this matter aside for now. I will make a decision after I meet with Wenruo, Zhicai, and Zhongde to discuss it. I will also need to trouble Boning to attend the meeting."

Man Chong is perfectly acceptable; I nodded and accepted the order.

Cheng Yu, whom Cao Cao mentioned, had already arrived in Shouchun, the capital of Yuan Shu.

The capital of Yangzhou should have been in Liyang, but Yuan Shu stayed in Shouchun instead, which was driven by practical interests.

Many people who look at maps of the Three Kingdoms period think that Yizhou, Jingzhou, and Yangzhou are incredibly large, and in terms of territory, they could indeed stand alongside the three northern kingdoms.

In reality, most of the population of Yizhou, Jingzhou, and Yangzhou is concentrated in the north, while the south is mostly undeveloped or even undeveloped.

For example, in Yizhou, the main population is concentrated north of Chengdu. Even in the plains south of Chengdu, the population is not large because these areas are prone to raids by the southern barbarians, not to mention the mountainous regions.

Like Jingzhou, the main population is concentrated in the area north of the Yangtze River. Although the four counties in southern Jingzhou are large, the total population of all four counties combined is only equal to that of the northernmost county of Nanyang, which is less than 10 percent larger.

The most populous areas of Yangzhou were the two prefectures of Lujiang and Jiujiang north of the Yangtze River. These two prefectures were not large in area, but had a population of over one million. They were well-developed, fertile, and prosperous lands, producing salt, iron, silk, tea, and most importantly, copper mines.

Furthermore, Liyang is located close to the Yangtze River and is currently at war with Liu Yao, while Shouchun is situated in the rear and is relatively close to Yuzhou, making it easier to expand Yuzhou's influence.

In addition, Shouchun was a developed city with a large population and thriving commerce, so Yuan Shu refused to leave after entering Shouchun.

Cheng Yu sought out the chief clerk Yan Xiang, a man with an excellent reputation and a reputation for wisdom, who could be used to test him, given the deep-seated hatred between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao.

In the Battle of Kuangting two years ago, Cao Cao gave Yuan Shu a sound beating and chased him for six hundred li, all the way from Fengqiu in Yanzhou to Lujiang in Yangzhou.

However, at the same time, Cao Cao actually did Yuan Shu a great favor in secret. If Cao Cao really had the intention to kill, why did he win three battles in six hundred miles but still fail to completely eliminate Yuan Shu?

It wasn't that Cao Cao lacked the ability, but rather that he didn't want to.

Yuan Shu was a skeleton king, not a donkey cart war god. His ability to escape was far inferior to that of Cao Cao and Liu Bei.

The mystery lies in the fact that when Yuan Shu was defeated and tried to surrender to Yuan Shao, he couldn't escape no matter what he did and eventually died in distress.

Yuan Shu may not acknowledge this favor, but he certainly knows the extent of it in his heart.

"Your Excellency has come from afar; have you found a place to stay?"

Yan Xiang was greatly surprised when he heard that Cheng Yu was Cao Cao's envoy.

Cheng Yu, however, remained calm and composed. After bowing, he said, "My master sent me to request an audience with the General of the Rear because there is a very important matter concerning the General. I wonder if Your Excellency could introduce me to him?"

Yan Xiang pondered for a moment, then pressed on, "What is it that Your Excellency is referring to?"

Yan Xiang asked this question casually, because in his opinion, Cheng Yu would almost certainly avoid the topic and ask to meet Yuan Shu first.

Unexpectedly, Cheng Yu did something completely out of the ordinary. He bluntly revealed, "It is Liu Bei of Xuzhou who intends to march south to Guangling."

"Heading south to Guangling?"

Yan Xiang was shocked and disbelieving: "How is this possible? Liu Bei only launched his campaign against Langya a little over a month ago. Even if his troops don't need rest, Xuzhou doesn't have that much grain and supplies."

Cheng Yu replied with a straight face and a serious expression: "As far as I know, this grain comes from Xiao Jian in Ju County. He has stored three to four hundred thousand shi of grain there, which is the grain stored in Langya over the past two years."

Yan Xiang froze for a moment, then smiled bitterly and said, "So that's how it is."

After a moment, Yan Xiang stood up and said, "Please wait in the mansion, sir. I will report this matter to my master first. If you need anything, please feel free to instruct the servants."

After saying this, Yan Xiang hurriedly left, leaving the steward to entertain Cheng Yu.

Cheng Yu didn't have any requests, he just had someone arrange lunch, and then he sat back and waited for Yan Xiang to return.

When Yan Xiang found Yuan Shu, the latter was chatting and laughing with a fortune teller.

By the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the practice of prophecy and apocryphal texts had reached a fever pitch. Yuan Shu himself was a firm believer in them, and he even sought evidence from multiple angles within these texts to prove that he was destined to become emperor.

Upon seeing Yan Xiang hurrying over, Yuan Shu stopped his conversation and looked at him curiously.

Yan Xiang walked to Yuan Shu's side and whispered, "Please dismiss the idlers, my lord. I have important matters to report."

Yuan Shu knew that nothing major had happened to Yan Xiang and that he wouldn't act this way, so he immediately waved his hand, dismissing the fortune tellers and diviners who were talking to him.

"Jingxi, what happened to make you so panicked?"

Yuan Shu reassured Yan Xiang, then turned to the beautiful maid in the hall and said, "Why aren't you serving the chief clerk tea?"

Yan Xiang composed himself and said, "My lord, Cao Cao has sent someone."

"what?"

Yuan Shu, who had just been telling Yan Xiang not to panic, was taken aback: "Cao Cao is that concubine's servant, what is he doing sending people here?"

Yan Xiang continued, "It's related to Liu Bei of Xuzhou."

Yuan Shu frowned, puzzled, and said, "What's going on? The more you explain, the more confused I get. What does this have to do with Liu Da'er, the mat weaver and shoe seller?"

After organizing his thoughts, Yan Xiang replied, "Cao Yanzhou sent an envoy to inform us that Liu Xuzhou intends to take advantage of the situation to move south and recover Guangling, so that we can prepare in time to avoid being caught off guard."

"How can this be?"

Yuan Shu echoed Yan Xiang's earlier words: "Liu Bei just launched a campaign against Langya. Even if the expenses were small, he must have needed at least 70,000 to 80,000 shi of grain, right? He just plundered for Cao Cao last year, and the summer harvest hasn't even arrived yet. Where did he get so much grain?"

When Yan Xiang repeated the answer he had received from Cheng Yu, Yuan Shu was dumbfounded and immediately began to curse Xiao Jian.

"Why can't I find a single fool like this among all the counties and kingdoms around me?"

Yuan Shu was furious, feeling that Liu Bei was incredibly lucky.

I have been allied with Tao Qian for years, but in the end, Liu Bei stole the fruits of our alliance. Now, Xiao Jian has sent me hundreds of thousands of bushels of grain. It is truly unpredictable what fate has in store for me.

Yuan Shu grabbed Yan Xiang and asked, "Then what should we do?"

According to Yuan Shu and his advisors' original plan, Liu Bei would not be able to march south to Guangling until the end of this year at the earliest.

By then, Sun Ce should have broken through the Yangtze River defense line and taken Danyang and Wu Commandery.

In this way, Guangling, which is only separated by a river and is close to us, does not need to send troops to attack. We only need to send a general with troops to cross the river and take up his post.

But if Liu Bei makes a move beforehand, then I will either have to give up Guangling or mobilize troops to fight for it.

But here's the problem: if we were to mobilize troops now, firstly, it would be difficult to move them, and secondly, the roads are riddled with rivers, making communication difficult.

The best way was to go down the Yangtze River, but unfortunately, Liu Yao's Niuzhu was blocked halfway, making it impossible to cross by submarine.

Now it’s troublesome.

Yuan Shu and Yan Xiang looked at each other, neither of them able to come up with a good solution for the time being.

After a long while, Yuan Shu finally spoke up: "Jingxi, let's gather everyone together to discuss this. Let Yang Hong, Li Ye, Qiao Rui, and Zhang Xun all come."

Yan Xiang responded and went out to gather everyone.

Soon, everyone arrived, and Yuan Shu told them the news that Yan Xiang had brought.

Immediately, everyone present was in an uproar.

This is completely different from what was planned.

It felt like something was thrown out of the blue.

Chief Secretary Yang Hong spoke first: "The prefecture only has 400,000 shi of grain, which must be supplied to the front line of Liyang. If we have to mobilize troops, numbering in the tens of thousands, we can rely on the Yangtze River, but the monthly cost would be 20,000 shi. If we take the land route, I'm afraid we'll lose 30,000 to 40,000 shi per month."

Qiao Rui counted on his fingers and said, "I heard that Liu Bei has accepted the surrender of the Taishan Army and expanded his forces by several thousand, bringing his total strength to fifty thousand. Even if only twenty thousand come, our troops will need twenty to thirty thousand to meet the enemy."

Yan Xiang concluded: "If we mobilize 30,000 men, the grain reserves in the treasury will probably only last for four months."

Yuan Shu's face turned red with anger. Most of the grain in his territory was concentrated in the Shouchun Prefecture granary, and it was all used to attack Guangling. What about Liyang? How could he survive?

He knew that his men were arguing with him about this because they didn't want to fight.

Qiao Rui and Zhang Xun knew better than anyone that the most capable and elite troops were all in Liyang, and many of their followers were former bandits, mountain bandits, or even remnants of the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

Although they had spent a lot of time reorganizing and training over the past two years, Yuan Shu's generals were not as confident as the Xuzhou army, which consisted of the Danyang army, the Taishan army, and Liu Bei's northern troops.

Despite Liu Feng's lack of interest in the Danyang army, he knew that not only had the Danyang army's morale been shattered by Cao Cao, but their discipline was also particularly poor, and their combat effectiveness was lacking.

But that was in comparison to Cao Cao's army.

Not to mention Liu Bei's main northern troops and the Taishan Army, even the Danyang Army was renowned in the south.

Just last year, Sun Ce was utterly defeated by the Danyang Yue tribes, escaped the encirclement alone, and went to Shouchun to complain to Yuan Shu.

Unlike in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the generals of Yuan Shu's army in the official history were very self-aware and never underestimated heroes like Cao Cao and Liu Bei, often forcing Yuan Shu to personally take to the battlefield.

(End of this chapter)