My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 179 Salt and Sugar for Grain
Liu Feng's decision to mention Liu Biao was actually a well-considered one.

Liu Yao appears to be in danger but is actually safe; compared to the situation in history, he is in a much better position now.

Liu Yao still had at least 10,000 elite troops at Niuzhu, as well as various supplies such as grain, weapons, and clothing stored there.

The grain reserves in Niuzhu are currently sufficient to feed 20,000 people for a year.

After Sun Ce successfully crossed the river, he swept across Jiangdong, largely because he obtained this batch of grain.

Because of Zhou Shang's sudden betrayal and sneak attack, the garrison at Niuzhu had no time to burn the grain. Not only did the granary fall completely into Sun Ce's hands, but the warehouses for weapons, clothing, and other items also fell into enemy hands.

This gave Sun Ce, after crossing the river, money, food, and weapons, allowing him to take off and relentlessly beat Liu Yao.

Therefore, Liu Feng judged that although Liu Yao and Xu Shao had come to Xuzhou for help, they were not truly in dire straits; they still had time and resources.

Since that's the case, Liu Bei can naturally stall for time as well.

Therefore, bringing Liu Biao into the picture would be the most appropriate solution.

If Liu Biao is willing to provide grain, the Xuzhou army will not be afraid of fighting. There are many refugees in the Central Plains now, so there is no fear of not being able to recruit soldiers. The only fear is not having enough grain.

If Liu Biao was unwilling to provide grain, then compared to Liu Biao, Xuzhou was at least willing to send troops. It's just that due to insufficient grain, you can't force Liu Bei to starve the people of Xuzhou to rescue your Yangzhou.

As for Prince Chen, Liu Chong, it was actually the same situation as Liu Biao's.

There's a saying that goes, happiness is always relative.

Doesn't the indifference shown by Liu Chong, the Prince of Chen, and Liu Biao of Jingzhou towards Liu Yao's group further highlight the preciousness of the friendship in Xuzhou?
Speaking of which, Xuzhou could indeed trade with the State of Chen, as the transportation between the two places is quite developed.

The route from Chen County, the capital of the State of Chen, to Suiyang, the capital of the State of Liang, was a well-known land route with wide and unobstructed roads, making it an important trade route. Once in Suiyang, one could switch to water transport, traveling along the Sui River directly to Tancheng.

Xuzhou will face severe food shortages in the next few years, especially since Huainan will experience a major drought the year after next. Although this drought seems to be a curse on Yuan Shu, it is concentrated in the two commanderies of Lujiang and Jiujiang, and will not have a significant impact on the surrounding Guangling, Pei, and Runan.

However, if Liu Bei wanted to take this opportunity to attack and destroy Yuan Shu, he still needed a large amount of grain.

Otherwise, if the two commanderies of Lujiang and Jiujiang were to suffer widespread famine and misery, it would truly be Yuan Shu's fault and Liu Bei's fault.

The only state around Xuzhou with a large grain reserve was the State of Chen.

According to Liu Feng's estimate, the State of Chen has at least 300,000 shi of grain in storage, which is a rather astonishing amount.

“Father, Prince Liu Chong of Chen is resolute, brave and strong-willed. He gets along very well with Chancellor Luo Jun and is able to listen to his advice.”

After Liu Bei saw Xu Shao off, he returned to his seat. Liu Feng leaned over and whispered, "Luo Jun is very respectful of famous scholars. Xu Gong is a renowned scholar known throughout the land. If he were to ask for grain, there might be a chance of success."

Liu Bei nodded: "I understand."

Afterwards, Liu Feng returned to his seat, and Liu Bei addressed the crowd below, asking, "You all heard what Lord Xu said just now. What are your opinions?"

Next, Liu Bei was about to meet with the envoy from Jingzhou, clearly giving his senior officials a chance to speak.

If there are no urgent matters or opinions, then Liu Bei should summon the envoy from Jingzhou.

Liu Bei's gaze swept over Chen Deng, Liu Ye, and the others. If there was any advice to be given, it was these two who were the most enthusiastic.

Unexpectedly, Chen Deng, Liu Ye, and others did not speak, but Mi Zhu spoke up instead.

"My lord, as far as I know, the trade route from Chen County to Tancheng is very smooth. Xuzhou is short of grain. If possible, could we take this opportunity to buy some grain? Even if it is only three to five thousand shi, it can be used to set up one or two hundred more households for settlement."

After a brief moment of thought, Liu Bei realized that Mi Zhu was right; at the moment, food was far more important than wealth.

If there's a chance to buy food, then we definitely shouldn't miss it.

Liu Bei readily agreed and immediately assigned the task to Mi Zhu: "Very well, this matter will be handled by the Prefect."

Mi Zhu respectfully obeyed.

A moment later, Liu Xian, the envoy from Jingzhou, entered the main hall.

Liu Bei had already risen from his seat and was standing, to show respect to Liu Xian and Liu Biao behind him.

Upon seeing this, Liu Xian was overjoyed and stepped forward to pay his respects to Liu Bei.

"Envoy, please don't stand on ceremony, please take a seat."

"This humble subject thanks Your Excellency."

Liu Xian bowed again before taking his seat.

After everyone had taken their seats, Mi Zhu asked, "Your Excellency has come from afar to Xuzhou. May I ask what important matter brings you here?"

Liu Xian straightened up from the table, politely cupped his hands to Mi Zhu, and then turned to Liu Bei: "My lord, I have come here on the orders of my lord to express my goodwill and friendliness to you in Xuzhou."

"General Yuan Shu, holding a high position, does not think of serving the court. He attacks cities and territories, and erodes the power of the state. He is clearly a traitor and a villain of the Han Dynasty. To be honest, my lord has suffered greatly because of him. The years of war in Jingzhou are also thanks to Yuan Shu."

"Although my lord had driven him out of Jingzhou, Yuan Shu went to Yangzhou and occupied two counties."

When Liu Xian mentioned Yuan Shu, he not only showed great disdain but also resentment: "My lord is deeply afraid that this villain will rise again, so he sent me to Xuzhou to join forces with Lord Xuande and Lord Zhengli to annihilate this villain."

Liu Xian's words were not wrong. Yuan Shu was indeed a fly in a latrine. Once he had some strength, he would expand everywhere.

Historically, he was later besieged, and almost all of his enemies, except for Sun Ce, were provoked by him first.

Even Sun Ce was so disgusted by Yuan Shu that he lost his heart.

Although Sun Ce was indeed ambitious and would not be content to remain subordinate to others for long.

However, given the relationship between Yuan Shu and Sun Jian, and the kindness of protecting Sun Ce's family after Sun Jian's death, the generals of the Sun family would not have been so resolute in supporting Sun Ce if they hadn't been made fools of two or three times.

After all, Yuan Shu treated the generals of the Sun family very well. Most of the older generation of generals in the Sun family had earned their titles by following Yuan Shu, and they also served as governors.

The reason why they all turned against Sun Ce in the end was twofold: firstly, Yuan Shu had tricked Sun Ce several times, which was disheartening; secondly, Yuan Shu's declaration of himself as emperor was unpopular.

For example, Sun Ce's maternal uncle Wu Jing, his cousin Sun Ben, his uncle Sun Jing, and his cousin Xu Kun all came to join Sun Ce after Yuan Shu declared himself emperor. Before that, their status was higher than Sun Ce's.

In this timeline, after Yuan Shu arrived in Yangzhou, he not only provoked Liu Bei, but also actually sent troops to compete with Liu Bei for Guangling, and the two sides had already formed a considerable enmity.

This is also the source of Liu Biao's confidence in trying to win over Liu Yao and Liu Bei.

After receiving a signal from Liu Bei, Liu Ye spoke first: "Does Your Excellency know the situation in Yangzhou?"

Liu Xian is a gentleman, so naturally he wouldn't tell such a low-level lie.

"This foreign official comes from Yangzhou and is indeed familiar with the situation there."

Liu Ye continued, "Since Duke Jingsheng intends to form an alliance, I would like to ask Your Excellency, does Duke Jingsheng have any plans to assist Duke Zhengli in his current crisis?"

Liu Xian nodded: "Your humble servant was sent by my lord to Yang and Xu with good intentions. Yangzhou was invaded by the Left General, and Sun Ce slaughtered Wu County. From my lord to the common people, everyone in Jingzhou feels the pain. Therefore, your humble servant has sent a message back to Jingzhou, promising to send 600 sets of leather armor, 3,000 long swords, 3,000 wooden shields, 200 bows, 80,000 arrows, and 5,000 shi of grain within a month to relieve Yangzhou's urgent needs."

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei nodded slowly and exclaimed, "Brother Jingsheng truly deserves to be called a model member of the imperial clan."

Liu Xian thanked Liu Bei for the praise, then asked in return, "I have heard that Lord Xuande is also a member of the imperial clan and is currently in Yangzhou. I wonder if he could offer some assistance to Lord Zhengli? If members of the imperial clan can help each other, it would not only comfort my lord, but also make the Left General more cautious and prevent him from acting recklessly."

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei did not reply, but instead sighed and punched his leg.

At this moment, Chen Deng straightened up and said in a booming voice, “Your Excellency’s words are very wise! Our lord’s benevolence is well known and admired by everyone in Xuzhou. When we heard about the Yangzhou incident, our lord naturally wanted to help Lord Zhengli. It is just a pity that our prefecture has been invaded twice by Cao Yanzhou, and there are many famine victims and food shortages in the prefecture.”

"To be honest, Your Excellency, Lord Xu has come on behalf of Lord Zhengli to request assistance, and my lord is naturally willing to oblige. However, the state is short of food, and Yangzhou cannot afford to supply our army with food, so the matter of providing assistance has been delayed."

Chen Deng stared intently at Liu Xian: "I have long heard that Jingzhou is wealthy and its granaries are full of money and grain. If Lord Jingsheng is willing to provide some of our state's grain, our state can send 10,000 troops to aid Jiangdong within half a month."

Liu Xian's expression remained unchanged, only his brows furrowed slightly.

He wasn't stupid; why would he agree to such conditions? Liu Xian's expression turned serious, and he directly refused, saying, "Our prefecture does have some stored grain, but there are bandits from Guanzhong and Liangzhou to the north, heavy troops from Shu to the west, and rebellious traitors who disregard the king's way in the four southern prefectures. Grain is the foundation of the people's livelihood, and it cannot be moved lightly."

"We understand your meaning, Your Excellency. I have an idea, but I don't know if it's feasible."

The speaker was Mi Zhu.

Liu Xian recognized him from his seat as a high-ranking official in the prefecture, and asked, "May I ask who you are?"

Mi Zhu replied, "My name is Mi Zhu. I am honored that Your Excellency has not rejected me and appointed me as your advisor."

"So it was Prefect Mi."

Liu Xian cupped his hands in greeting: "May I ask what instruction the Prefect has for me?"

Mi Zhu humbly replied, "I dare not presume to offer guidance, but I do have some thoughts. It is a fact that Xuzhou has troops but lacks food. If not for this, my prefecture could at least muster several thousand troops to cross the river and provide assistance. Jingzhou has grain, but cannot spare troops to advance eastward. In that case, could you please ask Duke Jingsheng to sell a batch of grain to my prefecture? Whether it is purchased or bartered, my prefecture still has some reserves."

Liu Xian remained silent for a moment. Compared to the previous probing by Chen Deng and others, Mi Zhu's words were much more sincere.

If Liu Biao were to actually offer money to buy grain, he would likely be interested, even if it meant bartering.

Liu Xian continued, "I wonder how much grain Guizhou needs, what the price is, and if it's a barter, what kind of goods?"

The expressions of everyone present changed, and a faint look of joy appeared on their faces.

Mi Zhu glanced at Liu Feng without making a sound, only to see that the other man was also looking at him. After their eyes met, Liu Feng nodded at him.

Mi Zhu immediately understood that Liu Feng was implying that he should proceed according to the plan.

"In Xuzhou, there are more than 100,000 refugees. Outside the prefecture, Qingzhou, Yanzhou, Yuzhou and Yangzhou are all ravaged by war, and people are displaced. Many refugees have poured into Xuzhou, making our prefecture's food supply even more insufficient."

Mi Zhu continued, "I earnestly request that Duke Jing Sheng, considering that my lord is also a member of the Han imperial family, have pity on the hardships of the people. Our state is willing to purchase a large quantity of millet at a price of 231 shi. If the money is insufficient, we are willing to exchange it for rock sugar, snow salt, and table salt."

Liu Xian had been keeping his head down, but upon hearing about the fighting around Xuzhou, he felt a lingering fear and genuinely felt pity for the refugees.

However, he could somewhat sense Liu Biao's intentions. Moreover, in this chaotic world, grain was naturally extremely precious. Even for the sake of his relatives and the people, it would be quite good if he could sell a few thousand shi to Xuzhou, and at most it would not exceed 20,000 shi.

Liu Xian hadn't expected that the barter supplies offered by Xuzhou would hit Jingzhou's weak spot.

Jingzhou is located in the Central Plains, and salt is produced in all directions, but Jingzhou alone does not produce any.

Originally, because there was well salt from Sichuan to the west, brine salt from Guanzhong to the north, and sea salt from the east and south, Jingzhou was well-connected and had the advantage of waterways, so it naturally did not lack salt.

But now the situation has changed.

Because Liu Biao coveted Shu and instigated Gan Ning and others to rebel, he had already offended Liu Zhang to the point of no return. The relationship between the two sides was not exactly a life-or-death struggle, but it was certainly one of irreconcilable enmity.

The Liangzhou army in the north coveted the wealth of Jingzhou and repeatedly launched military campaigns to invade the south.

After defeating Yuan Shu, Jingzhou's greatest enemy became the Liangzhou army in Guanzhong.

Although Liu Zhang of Shu hated Liu Biao to the core, he could not take the initiative to attack Jing due to his personality and internal stability issues.

On the contrary, the Liangzhou army practically treated Jingzhou as a pasture, frequently marching south to reap a harvest. Nanyang, the former number one prefecture in the land, was almost completely destroyed.

As a result, the supply of brine salt in Guanzhong was also cut off, and even private caravans dared not take this trade route. Who would dare to rely on the integrity of the Liangzhou army?

The bolder merchants were likely to be devoured by the Liangzhou army, along with their goods.

Although Jiaozhi in the south also produces salt, the quantity is far less than that of Yangzhou and Xuzhou, and transportation is extremely inconvenient.

No merchant would ever smuggle salt from Jiaozhi to Jingzhou. They could easily sell other local specialties, whether pearls or sugar, which would be more profitable than salt.
Moreover, salt is difficult to preserve, and the south is rainy. If it rains, it could lead to financial ruin.

Finally, Xuzhou and Yangzhou were left behind. Because of Yuan Shu, the salt supply route to Yangzhou was also cut off. Moreover, Wu Commandery was already in such a state of turmoil, so salt production would inevitably be greatly affected.

Liu Xian's mission to Jiangdong and Xuzhou also included finding a new source of salt for Jingzhou, and this source had to be substantial.

Millions of people in Jingzhou are waiting to eat salt.

More importantly, Liu Feng knew that Jingzhou had grain, and a large amount of it at that.

Despite the fact that Jingzhou seems to be constantly at war, its grain reserves are actually quite astonishing.

Since both Yuan Shu and the Liangzhou army were the ones who took the initiative to attack Liu Biao, it meant that Liu Biao did not have much additional expenditure.

In ancient times, the transportation link consumed the most food during wars.

Your soldiers stay in the city, whether there is fighting or not, they still need to eat and drink. At most, during battles, you can feed them a little more, but even if they are stuffed, it won't be more than double.

However, if transportation losses are taken into account, the situation is completely different. Smooth waterways require less than 10% of the losses per hundred miles.

However, land transport suffers double the loss per hundred miles, far exceeding that of water transport.

More importantly, traveling by waterway would not require mobilizing too much manpower.

If land transportation is used, at least several thousand people will be needed to transport the grain for 10,000 people. The number of people required to transport the grain will double for every hundred miles or more.

If the distance exceeds a thousand miles, the number of laborers required for ten thousand people could even reach sixty or seventy thousand.

These people are unable to engage in production, and their food rations have to be provided by the state. The losses are staggering.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Liu Biao, who was defending the city, was able to accumulate such a large amount of grain. Moreover, the early stages of the war in Jingzhou were along the Xiangyang line, and in the middle stages, the fighting extended directly to Nanyang Commandery, without significantly affecting the production and harvest of most of Jingzhou.

According to Liu Feng's estimate, if the State of Chen had 300,000 to 500,000 units of grain in storage, then Jingzhou might have more than 3 to 5 million units of grain in storage.

In fact, after Emperor Xian of Han fled Guanzhong the following year, it was Liu Biao who promptly sent a large amount of grain to feed Emperor Xian, his civil and military officials, and the 10,000 to 20,000 troops under Emperor Xian's command.

In addition, Liu Biao also provided money and manpower to help Emperor Xian of Han repair the palace in Luoyang, which, although far from comparable to peacetime, was still quite extravagant.

It's easy to imagine how much grain Liu Biao had.

It just so happens that Liu Biao was short of salt at this time, which was a good opportunity to extract grain from the enemy.

Sure enough, Liu Xian became interested upon hearing that salt was available for trade.

Liu Xian was unaware that Liu Feng had already seen through his trump card. He forced himself to remain calm and asked, "I wonder how much salt Guizhou can supply, and what its quality is? What are these frosted sugar and snow salt?"

Mi Zhu looked up at Liu Bei and his son, and saw that Liu Bei and Liu Feng nodded slightly at him in unison.

So Mi Zhu got up and personally brought the wooden box beside him to Liu Xian.

Mr. Liu quickly straightened up to show respect.

Mi Zhu put the wooden box down and then opened it.

Liu peeked inside and found that the wooden box was divided into two halves, each containing two completely different white crystals, which were naturally frosting sugar and snow salt.

"Your Excellency, the object on the left is frosting sugar, a specialty of Xuzhou. It is crystal clear, like frost, yet sweet and delicious, without any impurities."

Mi Zhu then pointed to the snow salt and said, "This is snow salt, which means it is as white as snow. It tastes extremely delicious and does not have the bitterness of other salts."

Finally, Mi Zhu invited Liu to try it first.

Liu Xian tasted it with some skepticism, and his eyes widened immediately, his mind reeling.

When did Xuzhou acquire such a treasure?
If they're willing to trade even such precious items, Xuzhou must really be short of food.

Liu Xianxian composed himself and then tried to appear natural: "I wonder what the value of these two items is? If we were to exchange these two items, how many could we get?"

Seeing that Liu Xian was interested, Liu Bei, Liu Feng, and Mi Zhu were all overjoyed.

(End of this chapter)