My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 168 Military Expansion Plan
Putting everything else aside, at least the military strength of these three places depends on Xuzhou for protection.

After much deliberation, Liu Bei decided that each of the three regions—Lu State, Rencheng, and the six northern counties of Pei State—should be assigned at least one army, totaling four thousand men, to ensure local stability through coordinated efforts.

If faced with a large-scale attack, such as from Cao Cao in Yanzhou, Liu Bei would need to maintain an army of more than 35,000 men in Tancheng, ready to quickly support the front lines by waterway at any time.

In this way, with the addition of Chen Deng of Langya, at least 52,000 troops would be needed for the entire northern part of Xuzhou.

The army numbers 50,000 and the navy 1,000 to 2,000.

At the same time, Xiapi also needs four to six thousand people to defend the right flank of Pei and the eastern direction of Jiujiang.

Finally, Guangling must be equipped with a corps of at least 10,000 men, including 8,000 to 10,000 land troops and 2,000 naval troops.

In this way, Xuzhou would need at least 66,000 troops, and if they wanted more, 70,000 to 80,000 would be sufficient.

After hearing Liu Bei's words, Liu Feng couldn't help but smile bitterly.

He returned this time hoping that Liu Bei would send reinforcements to Guangling.

Given the current situation in Yangzhou, Guangling needs at least 20,000 troops, preferably 2,000 to 4,000 of whom should be naval forces.

Otherwise, even if they joined forces with Liu Yao, it might not be enough to quickly and effectively intervene in Jiangdong.

If Jiangdong is turned into a wasteland, it will only become a burden on Xuzhou, not a support base.

"Father, the total military strength of Xuzhou is now 47,000 men. Among them, your personal guard, your second uncle, your third uncle, your uncle Zilong, your uncle Guorang, Prefect Chen, and Prefect Zang Guoxiang each have an army of 4,000 men, making 28,000 men here. In addition, there are 2,000 men under Xu Sheng, 1,000 men under the Grand Historian, 1,000 men under Uncle Zijing, and 1,000 men under Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin. In addition, there are 5,000 soldiers from Donghai Commandery, 6,000 soldiers from Xiapi Commandery, and 3,000 soldiers from the three commanderies of Langya, for a total of 47,000 men."

"The main force in the field should not only not be reduced in size, but should also be expanded."

Liu Feng counted on his fingers: "Father plans to have Uncle Guo Rang lead his troops to Lu State and serve as the Commandant of Lu State. In this way, all the soldiers of Lu State can be dismissed. Those who have a livelihood can go home, and those who do not can be sent to Xuzhou and uniformly arranged to cultivate land. In this way, the output of Lu State will be enough to support Uncle Guo Rang's army of soldiers."

"Although Rencheng Kingdom suffered greatly from the war, it still has vitality. Zang Guoxiang's troops can also find food locally. If there is a shortage, Lu Kingdom and Pei Kingdom can supplement it. At the same time, it is necessary to stockpile enough grain in Rencheng and Kangfu to prepare for the enemy's siege. It can also serve as a stronghold for our Xuzhou army when it advances."

"Similarly, if Father sends another army to garrison the northern part of Pei State, the local county troops can still be dismissed and replaced by my Xuzhou army. In this way, at least the food rations can be saved."

Liu Feng was very shrewd in his calculations. In chaotic times, the biggest expense in maintaining an army was actually food.

If you don't pay your soldiers, the soldiers of the Eastern Han Dynasty have long been used to it, as long as you allow them to loot and massacre cities after battle. But if you can't supply them with food, even the most tolerant soldiers will rebel against you.

Although Liu Bei was exceptionally charismatic, and historically, when he was ambushed and attacked by Lü Bu and Yuan Shu, and fled to Haixi, he preferred to have his soldiers eat each other rather than eat civilians or rebel against Liu Bei, Liu Feng would never want things to come to that.

In this way, the food for 12,000 people was transferred out, and Xuzhou had a food shortage. At least 12,000 more troops could be added immediately.

“However, Father, I do not recommend that you send your second uncle to Pei State to serve as a military officer under Lord Chen.”

When the topic came up, Liu Feng advised, "Second Uncle is a man of strong character, who is strict with his superiors but compassionate to his subordinates. Lord Chen is an important support force for us in Xuzhou, and Prefect Chen is Father's confidant. If Second Uncle and Lord Chen have a falling out, Father will be in a difficult position."

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei's pupils contracted slightly, clearly indicating that he had taken it to heart.

After a moment, Liu Bei asked, "In your opinion, who should be sent?"

Liu Feng chuckled, avoiding the question, and said, "I will naturally follow Father's advice, but Second Uncle is indeed not very suitable, so I am here to fill in the gaps for Father."

"You!"

Liu Bei glared at Liu Feng with annoyance and said disdainfully, "It's only been two months, and you've already learned to hide your abilities from your father? I want to hear your advice, so are you going to give it or not?"

Liu Feng had no choice but to consider it.

After thinking for a while, he said, "Uncle Zijing has already made many contributions. He once went to Kaiyang to persuade Prefect Zang to surrender, and later forced Ju County to surrender. In the past two months, he has also assisted me in taking Guangling and repelling the counterattack of Yuan Shu's army. Uncle Zijing can be promoted to Commandant of Pei State, his troops expanded to four thousand men, stationed in Pei State, and assisting Lord Chen."

"Zijing?"

Liu Bei thought that in the past six months, he had indeed given Qian Zhao many opportunities to accumulate military merits, all in order to promote him.

Now it seems that it is indeed feasible.

After all, the position of Commandant was far less prominent than that of Zang Ba, the Chancellor of the State.

So Liu Bei immediately decided: "Alright, then let Zijing go."

With the three vassal states and counties freed up 12,000 men, plus the vacant 6,000 soldiers in Guangling, Xuzhou now has enough food to expand its army by 20,000.

Six thousand soldiers from Guangling are definitely too few.

Guangling has never experienced the ravages of war. When Zuo Rong marched south, although he killed Zhao Yu and looted the area, he did not carry out a massacre. However, Cao Cao twice conquered Xuzhou, turning Pengcheng into a wasteland and burning, killing, and looting more than twenty counties, but Guangling alone escaped unscathed.

Guangling Commandery originally comprised 11 counties and was the largest commandery in Xuzhou in terms of area, yet it had the smallest population in Xuzhou, with only 410,000 people.

But things are different now. The population of Xuzhou has dropped to 1.6 to 1.7 million, while Guangling County still has nearly 400,000 people, which has greatly narrowed the gap with other counties and kingdoms.

With the resources of Guangling County, it was enough to support an army of 20,000 men.

Upon hearing Liu Feng's words, Liu Bei's eyes widened immediately, clearly surprised by the good news.

He couldn't help but ask, "How can Guangling County support so many soldiers?"

Liu Feng immediately did some calculations for Liu Bei: "Before, Guangling and Langya were not in Father's hands. Father supported more than 40,000 soldiers with only the devastated Donghai and Xiapi. The total population of Donghai and Xiapi is only a few hundred thousand. Guangling alone has 400,000 people and has never suffered from war. How could it not support 20,000 soldiers?"

"Moreover, although we marched south more than two months ago, it did not affect the summer harvest and autumn sowing in Guangling. The treasury has hundreds of thousands of shi of grain, enough to feed 20,000 soldiers."

Liu Bei was overjoyed. This way, Xuzhou could expand its workforce by at least 32,000 people, which would already meet the minimum standard.

Liu Feng hesitated. His thoughts differed from Liu Bei's. He actually wanted to save some resources and continue to expand the scale of the military farms.

The summer harvest is over, and the autumn harvest will begin soon. I believe we can expect to harvest at least 600,000 to 700,000 shi (a unit of dry measure).

The larger the scale of your land reclamation, the higher your future profits will be; the earlier you expand, the better the cost-effectiveness.

This is not yet apparent, because the chaos has only just begun, and there are still many people in various places.

Five years later, after the Battle of Guandu, vast tracts of land in the Central Plains were left barren. Cao Cao had land but no one to cultivate it, and only then did he realize the value of human beings.

If Xuzhou could take advantage of the current chaos in the Central Plains to take in more disaster victims, restore Xuzhou's population, and even allow people to migrate to Jiangdong and develop Yangzhou.

This is a move that could truly lay the foundation for future dominance.

Seeing the hesitation on Liu Feng's face, Liu Bei's heart skipped a beat. Could it be that there was some difficulty that Feng'er hadn't mentioned?

"Feng'er, if you have any difficulties, you may tell me everything."

Liu Feng then laid out his thoughts.

Aside from raising an eyebrow slightly when he heard that Liu Feng wanted to gather refugees and provide them with land for farming, Liu Bei remained silent afterward.

Only after Liu Feng finished speaking did Liu Bei say with a look of satisfaction, appreciation, and pride, "Feng'er, I am very happy that you care about the people."

As the sage said, "He who wins the hearts of the people wins the world."

"He who wins the emperor's heart wins the feudal lords' heart." "He who wins the feudal lords' heart wins the high officials' heart."

"He who wins the hearts of high officials can only win the hearts of scholars."

Liu Bei recounted his experience: "When I first started out, I had no more than a hundred soldiers and only two generals. But wherever I went, I always did my best, thinking about what I could do for the people."

"At that time, all I thought about was pitying the suffering of the people, but I never thought about the will of the people."

"It wasn't until Kong Wenju praised me, saying that my conduct secretly aligned with the teachings of the sage, that I began to understand the meaning of the sage's words."

“Now, my son is just over the age of 18, yet his conduct already aligns with the way of the sages. I am overjoyed and would never blame you.”

Liu Bei stroked Liu Feng's forehead with delight and exclaimed, "With such ambition, I, your father, will help you do good."

“In that case, I can streamline the army and reduce the burden on the government. The troops of Donghai County can be completely reorganized and disbanded, leaving only two thousand elite soldiers. Half of the troops of Xiapi County can also be disbanded, leaving three thousand men. In this way, we can save food for five thousand people. Moreover, Zizhong mentioned to me the other day that last year's harvest was poor due to the war, but this summer and autumn harvests will be at least 10% or 20% higher than last year.”

Liu Bei counted on his fingers and said, "In this way, we can squeeze out enough food for at least 20,000 people. Women, the elderly, and children will eat less, so we can still set up another 6,000 to 7,000 households in the settlement."

At that age, a normal man needed two shi of grain a month, an elderly woman needed less but still one and a half shi, and a child needed one shi.

However, this figure represents the food rations during the busy farming season. When the farming season ends, the food rations can be significantly reduced, requiring only half or even a third of the rations to get by.

At this time, there were still tens of thousands of refugees outside Tancheng, and in this way, they could be almost completely wiped out.

This was also an excellent achievement for Liu Bei's reputation as a ruler.

However, this means Liu Bei will have to be very cautious about his military actions next year.

Aside from Guangling, even with waterway supplies, the Xuzhou army in the north only had enough food in Tancheng for one or two defensive operations.

The grain in Guangling cannot be touched either. It is an essential resource for intervening in Jiangdong. If it is used, unless Liu Yao can provide grain supplies to the Xuzhou army, Liu Feng will be able to watch the situation in Yangzhou change without being able to intervene.

"Then let's tentatively set it at seven thousand households."

After careful consideration, Liu Bei made a decision: "Grit your teeth and get through this year. Next year, with these more than 10,000 households in the settlement, life will be much easier."

Liu Feng calculated that adding another 7,000 households to the settlements was indeed within his capabilities.

Liu Feng then agreed.

Then he thought of something: "Father, it would be best to arrange for the farmers to settle in the three counties of Xiang and Ben to enrich the population here. Moreover, it is close to Tancheng, which will make it convenient for you to check at any time."

Liu Bei readily agreed, noting that the three counties only had a total of five thousand households, which was far too few.

During the reign of Emperor Ling, the Donghai Kingdom had a total of thirteen counties and 148,784 households.

On average, a county can have more than 10,000 households.

Although some counties have large populations and others have small populations, even the smallest counties still have several thousand households. Xiangben, Lanling, and Chengxian are all located on plains, near lakes and rivers, with fertile land. They could easily accommodate 30,000 to 40,000 households, and they could also provide shelter to the west of Tancheng. Therefore, there was no need to find another place to settle people.

“Father, I have brought back two talented individuals this time. One is named Bu Zhi Bu Zishan, and the other is named Wei Jing Wei Ziqi. Both of them are capable of governing and can be put to use.”

Liu Feng recommended, "Especially Bu Zhi Bu Zishan. This man is of a generous and profound character. He can humble himself and lower his standards, yet he still adheres to his bottom line. He understands the big picture, knows when to advance and retreat, and is skilled in both literature and martial arts. He can shoulder important responsibilities in the future."

Subsequently, Liu Feng recounted the story of Bu Zhi and Wei Jing's visit to Jiao Jiao.

After listening, Liu Bei nodded in agreement and said, "Judging from this, Bu Zishan is indeed extraordinary. He is able to humble himself and keep to his place, yet he does not belittle himself. He is a true man. However, Wei Jing's character is really not good. He visited Jiao Jiao to seek self-preservation. Since he visited for this reason, how could he not tolerate the slightest humiliation? If he turned against him to his face, wouldn't that be going against his own principles?"

"Moreover, what Bu Zhi did was perfectly reasonable, yet he took his anger out on his close friend. How absurd!"

Liu Bei made a decision: "Wei Jing is a man of questionable character and frivolous nature. He is arrogant and self-important even when he needs something from others. Feng'er must be careful in the future and must not give him important responsibilities."

Liu Feng had already planned it this way, so he naturally agreed immediately.

The father and son then decided that Wei Jing would serve as the registrar of Cheng County, while Bu Zhi would serve as Lu Su's deputy. At the same time, they wrote a letter to Lu Su, asking him to give Bu Zhi more opportunities and train him.

Afterwards, Liu Bei and Liu Feng got back to the main topic and decided on the number of troops to be expanded.

Chen Deng, Tian Yu, Zang Ba, and Qian Zhao each commanded a full complement of four thousand men, stationed in key locations, which goes without saying.

The central army of Tancheng included Liu Bei's personal guards, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei's armies, two or three thousand men under Xu Dan and Zhang Kuang, and finally five thousand soldiers from Donghai Commandery.

The number of soldiers in Donghai County was reduced to two thousand. The two or three thousand Danyang soldiers under Xu Dan and Zhang Kuang could be absorbed during this expansion. If Zhang Kuang was willing, he could continue to lead troops, while Xu Dan would be transferred to the prefecture for resettlement.

At this point, Liu Bei had enough confidence to deal with Xu Dan, and he figured Xu Dan wouldn't dare to put up any resistance.

However, this would leave Liu Bei's personal guards, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei's three armies, with only 12,000 men. If the army were expanded, Xiahou Bo could command an army on his own, but there would be no other suitable candidates.

Instead, Liu Bei asked Liu Feng if he had any suitable candidates to recommend.

Objectively speaking, Liu Feng had many candidates: Taishi Ci, Xu Sheng, Dong Xi, Gan Ning, Zhou Tai, Jiang Qin, and Pan Zhang were all formidable generals.

These people were all newcomers to Xuzhou and had no merits.

Only Taishi Ci, Xu Sheng, and Pan Zhang could be promoted to commanders of armies, although Pan Zhang still lacked the seniority and merit. For the others, being able to lead a thousand men on their own was already a great favor.

Moreover, Liu Feng had his own ulterior motives. If he recommended them to Liu Bei now, they might very well become Liu Bei's subordinates. These were people he had painstakingly recruited, and Liu Bei had tacitly agreed to assign them to him. If he recommended them now, he would definitely have to return them to Liu Bei.

Fortunately, Liu Feng quickly came up with a solution.

“Father, if that’s the case, why not increase the strength of the army?”

Liu Feng pondered for a moment and said, "In my opinion, the State of Lu and Rencheng, where Prefect Zang and Uncle Guo Rang are located, are geographically deep in the heart of Yanzhou. Although they are connected by waterways, they are not close at all."

“Take Prefect Zang’s Rencheng State as an example. It has two key locations, Rencheng County and Kangfu County, which are indispensable. Four thousand soldiers are really a bit of a stretch. In that case, it would be better to expand the army’s size, from four thousand men in two schools to six thousand men in three schools.”

"In this way, the three kingdoms of Lu, Pei, and Rencheng will have 18,000 men, and there will be no need for Tancheng to mobilize its troops to provide support. Once the decisive battle is fought, Father can lead more than 20,000 central troops from Tancheng to reinforce the three kingdoms, which can be described as waiting in comfort for the enemy to tire themselves out."

At this moment, Liu Bei suddenly asked, "More than 20,000 central troops?"

Liu Feng nodded: "With Father's central army, plus Second Uncle, Third Uncle, and General Xiahou, Tancheng can be expanded to have 24,000 elite troops in four armies and twelve schools."

"In this way, with the addition of the 4,000 troops of Prefect Chen of Langya, the 3,000 troops of Langya Commandery, the 2,000 troops of Donghai Commandery, and the 3,000 troops of Xiapi Commandery, the total military strength in northern Xuzhou is 54,000. After deducting the 12,000 troops borne by Xin Commandery, the total military strength of Xuzhou not only did not increase, but actually decreased from 47,000 to 42,000, a reduction of 5,000 men."

Liu Bei thought about it carefully and realized that it was indeed the case, and it perfectly matched his earlier request, which was to reduce the number of soldiers from Xiapi and Donghai by two thousand and three thousand respectively.

"Alright, the military arrangements for the northern prefectures are settled in this way."

Liu Bei was very satisfied and immediately made the decision: "I will take this plan to discuss with your second and third uncles. As long as they have no objections, let's proceed accordingly."

At this point, Liu Bei thought of the situation in Guangling and asked, "So how do you plan to expand your forces in Guangling?"

Liu Feng had already prepared a plan and expressed his thoughts: "Uncle Zilong will remain in place for now and maintain the size of one army. Teacher Taishi and Wen Xiang can both be expanded into one army, Pan Zhang can be expanded into one colonel, and Li Zhang, a powerful figure in Guangling, can also command one colonel. Zhou Tai, Jiang Qin, Dong Xi, and Gan Ning can each expand their armies by one thousand men. In this way, there will be exactly twenty thousand men."

(End of this chapter)