My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 197 Vigorous Vitality
In this chaotic world, Xuzhou has burst forth with vitality, with all things flourishing and a scene full of life.

Liu Feng kept raising his expectations. He originally planned to increase the production of armor to 300 sets next year, but now it seems that it can be increased to at least 400 sets, and may even reach 500 sets. Moreover, this can also ensure the increase in the production of other weapons, agricultural tools, and iron products.

In addition, the population can be restored to at least two million, which is extremely beneficial for food production and troop recruitment.

Because of this back and forth, the increase or decrease in population is twice the value.

Yangzhou's population is actually not large, which is a major concern for Liu Feng.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the entire Yangzhou region had a population of only 4.33 million, of which 1.66 million were from Yuzhang Commandery.

Unfortunately, Yuzhang Commandery was sparsely populated and had many mountain tribes, making it quite difficult to govern.

Kuaiji Commandery, with a population of 480,000, was actually in a similar situation to Yuzhang, except that it was developed earlier and was in a better position than Yuzhang.

Therefore, the most efficient use of population in Yangzhou actually came from the four counties along the Yangtze River.

The combined population of the four counties along the river is only 2.19 million. Because of Yuan Shu's great kindness and virtue, this number is now probably only 70% of the original, or even only 60%.

The combined population of the most central areas of Xu and Yang prefectures is less than three million, which is the biggest driving force behind Liu Feng's frantic efforts to capture refugees.

Liu Feng clearly remembered that during the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao's population in Ji Province alone exceeded four million, while Cao Cao's population in Yu Province was also over four million.

The so-called Battle of Guandu was actually a struggle for supremacy between Hebei and Henan provinces.

Ji Province plus Runan Commandery versus the other commanderies of Yu Province plus Yan Province.

One crucial reason for the infighting at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty was that the various warlords only knew how to plunder, not how to govern. They were all inexperienced warlords, having never been in power before.

In September, the horse-buying team that had set off for Liaodong in April returned.

However, the horses brought back were different. Originally, they had purchased twenty second-class horses and eighty third-class horses. But now they had thirty first-class horses, fifty second-class horses, and only forty third-class horses.

After listening to the caravan's host's report, Liu Feng finally understood why such a change had occurred.

The root cause is frosting sugar and snow salt.

These two items aroused great interest in the Gongsun family in Liaodong.

The Gongsun family and Gongsun Zan were of the same clan, but they had split up and their relationship was extremely bad, even to the point of attacking each other.

Yuan Shao later nominally occupied half of Youzhou, but in reality, he only controlled one-third. Another third was in the hands of Xianyu Fu and others who openly supported Cao Cao, and the remaining third was in the hands of the Gongsun family in Liaodong.

In the north, calories are very scarce, especially high-calorie, delicious treats like frosting sugar, which are even regarded as miraculous medicines.

Therefore, prices naturally rose significantly again.

Moreover, the caravan's host, Zang Ming, was a clever man. After noticing something amiss, he immediately stated that Frost Sugar could only be exchanged for gold and top-grade or first-grade warhorses.

It wasn't that no one in the Gongsun family wanted to sabotage this deal, but the family head, Gongsun Du, directly rebuked them.

In Gongsun Du's view, by cheating on this deal, you not only damaged your reputation, but you will also never be able to buy such a treasure again.

Besides, it's just horses; does Liaodong really lack horses?

People who have such thoughts are most likely using public office for private gain.

Therefore, Gongsun Du personally made the decision. The number of top-grade horses was very small, and they were only one step away from being Ming Dynasty horses, so naturally they could not be given away.

However, they could still offer quite a few first-class horses for exchange.

The horses here are classified, with famous horses naturally being Cao Cao's Jueying, Liu Bei's Dilu, and Lü Bu's Chitu.

Slightly inferior to these horses are the top-grade horses.

Top-grade horses are the most elite breeds, known as "famous horses." Their shoulder height is at least six feet, such as the Red Hare, which, according to legend, had a shoulder height of eight feet, equivalent to a human height of 1.86 meters. Such famous horses are extremely rare and hard to come by; if a famous person owns one, they will be remembered in history.

First-class horses are inferior to special-class horses, representing the top tier of horses in the regular category. They are called "warhorses," and their shoulder height is generally over four feet four inches, meeting the excellent standards for armored cavalry mounts. Prices generally range from 80,000 to 100,000 coins, varying depending on their quality.

Second-class horses, slightly inferior to first-class horses, were called "field horses" and generally had a shoulder height of over four feet one inch, meeting the minimum passing standard for armored warhorses. Horses of this grade were sold in bulk, and in large-scale transactions, only a negotiated price was set, rather than a price per horse.

Third-class horses were naturally inferior to second-class horses. They were called "nagma" (驸马), with a shoulder height of less than four feet. They could not be used as armored warhorses and could only be used as transport horses for light cavalry or armored cavalry. They were quite cheap, costing only twenty or thirty thousand coins each.

The last tier consists of draft horses and cart horses, which can only be used for plowing fields and pulling carts. These horses are quite cheap, costing between eight and twenty thousand yuan each.

Zang Ming brought two stones of frost sugar this time, worth two hundred and forty gold cakes. The official price of one gold cake is ten thousand coins, but it can be exchanged for fifteen thousand coins in the North.

Moreover, Zang Ming insisted that Shuangtang only exchange for top-grade and first-grade horses, and in the end, thirty first-grade horses were sold.

The remaining snow salt was also negotiated down to three million coins by Zang Ming, who used it to purchase fifty second-class horses.

Gongsun Du then used the extra cloth, silk, and other valuables that Zang Ba had asked him to bring, valued at one million, and gave him a discount, purchasing forty third-class horses.

Zang Ming completed the mission brilliantly, but by the time he returned to Langya, Kaiyang had already undergone a complete upheaval.

As a loyal subject, Zang Ming even considered killing the horse and fleeing.

Fortunately, Chen Deng stopped the other party in time and informed him that Zang Ba had been promoted and transferred to the position of Prime Minister of Rencheng State.

Zang Ming was skeptical, but then Chen Deng urgently reported to Tancheng. Zang Ai had already taken office and went to Pengcheng with Sun Yu, Chang Rong and others to serve as county magistrate and county head.

There was no other way but to ask Zang Ba's second son, Zang Shun, to go to Langya and persuade Zang Ming.

Fortunately, this wasn't a fight. Although Zang Shun was only twelve years old, his mere presence before Zang Ming was enough to prove Chen Deng's words.

The matter finally came to an end without any major incident.

In the end, Zang Ming, realizing he had misunderstood, wanted to atone with his death, but Chen Deng stopped him.

For Xuzhou, such loyal and righteous men are naturally a welcome addition; how could they possibly die unjustly here?

In the end, Zang Shun led Zang Ming and the entire caravan to Tancheng, where Liu Feng personally went out of the city to welcome them.

These are a full eighty warhorses capable of being armored. Even third-class horses can be used as spares. Xuzhou only has a total of how many horses? This is equivalent to directly increasing the total number of warhorses in Xuzhou by one-third.

Liu Bei was very pleased with this, and after discussing it with Liu Feng, he appointed Zang Ming as the head of the caravan. Since the other party had already established connections with Gongsun Du, there was clearly no need to look for another suitable candidate.

"Father, it seems we need to speed up the construction of this ship."

Liu Feng knew that trade could make money, but he didn't know it could be this lucrative, especially since it could also be used to acquire warhorses, which were in high demand in Xuzhou.

Currently, the sugarcane grown in Guangling, Xuzhou, and Jiangdong is not enough, and we need to continue to expand our supply. There is sugarcane production in Kuaiji, but not much, and we still have to rely on Jiaozhi for the majority of our sugarcane.

The sugar production of Jiaozhi alone was far greater than that of Xu and Yang prefectures combined.

Moreover, Jiaozhi (Vietnam) had more than just sugar; it also possessed a variety of rare and precious luxury goods such as jade, kingfisher feathers, rhinoceros horn, elephant, hawksbill turtle shell, exotic fragrances, and fine wood. Selling these to the northern regions would undoubtedly be extremely profitable.

In addition, Jiaozhi had abundant grain, a large population, and excellent rice varieties.

The Champa rice of later generations actually existed in the Eastern Han Dynasty. It could be harvested three times a year in Jiangdong and twice a year north of Guangling.

Xuzhou is not short of water, with a large number of paddy fields for rice cultivation. In addition, Guangling has three harvests a year, so it is easy to increase grain production by 30% to 50%, and even doubling is not impossible.

Liu Bei nodded in agreement. Anyway, he didn't know much about this, and since Liu Feng was interested and knowledgeable, he simply handed it all over to Liu Feng to handle.

So Liu Feng placed an order for another fifty ocean-going ships, and also wrote down some shipbuilding techniques he remembered and gave them to the shipbuilders for reference.

These techniques generally include watertight compartments, semi-fixed containers, and so on.

These items differed greatly from similar items in later generations, but their advantage lay in their ability to transform and be used.

For example, watertight compartments were impossible to achieve with the technology of the Eastern Han Dynasty. However, even simply reducing the rate at which seawater entered could save a ship's life in a critical moment. The semi-fixed containers were used because ships in the Eastern Han Dynasty had very unstable centers of gravity, especially after turning, making it extremely difficult to regain balance.

If the goods are packed into boxes and then secured with ropes, the problem of the center of gravity can be well solved. Although it is not a complete solution, it is at least a significant improvement.

Liu Feng racked his brains to come up with technologies like these, because sinking a ship would be a huge loss.

Ships in the Eastern Han Dynasty were actually quite inexpensive. A multi-story ship with a displacement of 100 tons cost only 100,000 coins, which was about the same price as a first-class horse. As for small boats, they were even cheaper. A brand-new sampan cost only one or two thousand coins, while larger boats and yachts were slightly more expensive, but still no more than three thousand coins.

Even the largest model of warship, capable of carrying twenty people, only costs five thousand coins.

No wonder the Western Han and Eastern Wu dynasties had tens of thousands of warships and hundreds of thousands of naval troops.

Similarly, the navy should obviously continue to expand, but for the time being, we should not directly recruit naval officers and soldiers. Instead, we can first recruit manpower from the merchant fleet as the second echelon.

In this way, when the online army needs to be expanded, key personnel can be directly drawn from the caravan.

In addition, the troops stationed in places near the sea, lakes, and rivers, such as Qu County's seaport, Guangling, Pengcheng, Rencheng, and Tancheng, can also increase their food expenses by purchasing fish and meat.

Fish were quite cheap in this era. Apart from the few large fish that the wealthy ate as sashimi, other types of fish, sea fish, as well as small fish, crabs, clams, and the like, were completely worthless.

Because these animals are difficult to raise and spoil very easily, fishermen dared not keep them for long. It was for this reason that the Sun family's troops had very good food when they were in Jiangdong and Jingzhou, as they had fish and meat to supplement their diet.

Not long after, Xu Shao and Bu Zhi returned from the State of Chen.

Xu Shao was, after all, a renowned scholar and a local bigwig in Yuzhou, so his influence really played a significant role.

At least Luo Jun gave Xu Shao considerable face, not only offering to donate 10,000 shi of military rations to Xu Shao's army, but also offering to sell another 100,000 shi of grain at a fair price.

At the same time, Liu Yao also sent Sun Shao to Xuzhou, expressing his willingness to cede Jiangcheng County to the Xuzhou army for temporary garrison, threatening Sun Ce's retreat.

Although Liu Yao obtained this 10,000 shi of military rations through Xu Shao's influence, he did not accept it and directly transferred it to the Xuzhou army as a supply for their entry into Jiangcheng County.

Subsequently, Liu Bei ordered Zhao Yun to send 2,000 troops to garrison Jiangcheng County and take over the defense.

Jiangcheng is connected to Dantu by land with a major road, and coupled with the threat of waterways from Jiangdu, it effectively surrounds Sun Ce's rear from two sides. If the Xuzhou navy were to march south in full force, Sun Ce and Yuan Shu would be completely separated.

Therefore, this posed a considerable threat to Sun Ce.

Meanwhile, a decisive battle that would determine the fate of the entire Yanzhou was taking place at the foot of Dingtao County in Jiyin Commandery, northwest of Xuzhou.

On one side was Cao Cao, who had sent troops to attack Dingtao, and on the other side was Lü Bu, who had gathered more than 10,000 troops from Dongmin County and Chen Gong to come to the rescue.

Cao Cao led more than 20,000 troops to besiege Dingtao but failed. So he built a large camp and surrounded Dingtao. At the same time, he sent troops to harvest the grain around Dingtao to replenish his military supplies.

Cao Cao never expected that Lü Bu would arrive so coincidentally, just when he had sent his soldiers out to harvest grain.

At this point, it would take at least a day to recall the soldiers.

"My lord, I am willing to cover the rear. Please withdraw first."

As Cao Cao's most capable general and one of the few regional commanders, Cao Ren stepped forward without hesitation.

Cao Ren and Xiahou Dun have completely different roles.

Cao Ren was a high-ranking military official, while Xiahou Dun was more politically inclined.

Therefore, Xiahou Dun usually replaced Cao Cao in guarding cities or extremely important cities. Cao Ren, on the other hand, led troops independently and was responsible for military tasks in a specific area.

After all, before Cao Cao raised his army, Cao Ren already had eight hundred followers who had rebelled in the Jianghuai region.

"My lord, you are of inestimable worth and should not take unnecessary risks."

Cao Hong also tried to persuade him, as Cao Hong was actually in charge of Dian Wei's security before Dian Wei was chosen by Cao Cao.

This also shows Cao Cao's trust in Cao Hong, and Cao Hong did not betray that trust. When Cao Cao was defeated at Xingyang and was completely crushed by Xu Rong, it was Cao Hong who gave his horse to Cao Cao and walked to protect him, finally ensuring that Cao Cao escaped from danger.

The reason why Cao Ren and Cao Hong were so anxious was simple: there were only a little over a thousand soldiers in the entire camp, and the rest were more than a thousand women and children who had been conscripted to help harvest wheat and who had fled into the camp when they saw Lü Bu's army arrive.

The situation is indeed quite dangerous, with the troop ratio almost 10:1.

But Cao Cao remained completely calm: "Gentlemen, why are you so anxious?"

Seeing Cao Cao still smiling, Cao Ren and Cao Hong almost wanted to flee with each other.

But Cao Cao sat down abruptly, his expression becoming serious, and immediately began assigning tasks: "Where is Cao Ren!"

Cao Ren was taken aback, but quickly bowed and replied, "Your subordinate is here!"

Cao Cao directly ordered: "You shall lead five hundred soldiers to hide in the woods. You shall not leave without my order."

Although Cao Ren was filled with doubt and uncertainty, he still accepted the token.

Where is Cao Hong?

Cao Hong also rushed out to receive the order.

"I order you to lead five hundred soldiers and hide behind the dike. You are not to leave without my order."

"Liu Ming."

A scholar rose and replied, "Your subordinate is here."

Cao Cao instructed him: "You must immediately order all the women and children in the camp to change into soldiers' uniforms, and then go up to the camp walls to defend them. Anyone who dares to cause trouble will be executed without mercy."

"Yes!"

After receiving the order, Liu Ming hurriedly went out.

Cao Ren and Cao Hong exchanged a glance, then looked at Cao Cao together: "My lord, what is this...?"

Cao Cao stroked his beard and laughed, "Chen Gong is known for his wisdom and resourcefulness. He knows I am cunning. Seeing how I have deployed troops today, he will surely suspect that I have ambushed troops in two places and dare not attack. In just one night, the soldiers who have gathered grain around the camp will return to the main camp. If he attacks again tomorrow, I will no longer be afraid."

Cao Ren and Cao Hong then realized what was happening and admired Cao Cao's resourcefulness and decisiveness. They accepted the order, left the tent, and each mustered their troops.

If we only talk about the Battle of Dingtao, Heaven actually gave Lü Bu a tremendous opportunity; it was a godsend.

If Lü Bu launches an attack, Cao Cao will have no choice but to flee.

It turns out that in history, Lü Bu and Chen Gong were so clever that they waited until the next day to attack, giving Cao Cao time to gather his troops.

When Lü Bu arrived at Cao Cao's camp, he saw from afar that the camp's wooden walls were filled with soldiers, and the gates were wide open, with five hundred elite soldiers deployed outside the camp.

The camp was flanked by a grove of trees and a dike on either side. It was impossible to know whether there were any ambushes on either side of the grove or the dike.

Lu Bu suddenly laughed.

Chen Gong asked with some confusion, "Why is Fengxian laughing?"

Lu Bu turned his head and smiled, replying, "Liu Feng, the son of Liu Xuande of Xuzhou, sent me a letter earlier. He was full of praise, but at the end he warned me to be careful of Cao Mengde's tricks, especially double tricks."

Chen Gong frowned, somewhat disliking Lü Bu's playful demeanor: "Cao Mengde is a cunning and treacherous man, full of schemes and tricks. It is only natural to be wary of his tricks. I wonder what is so funny about him, General?"

Lu Bu sensed Chen Gong's displeasure, so he quickly put away his smile and pointed to the opposite camp, saying, "Cao Cao's camp is in a bit of a panic, yet he has opened the camp gates. If what Liu Feng said is true, and he is using double deception, doesn't that mean Cao Cao's camp has no soldiers? Cao Cao is a cowardly rat. In Puyang, he shamelessly deceived me in order to escape. His treachery and shamelessness are abhorrent to both gods and men."

As Lü Bu spoke, he couldn't help but curse. Cao Cao had gone too far in Puyang. If he had just obediently let General Lü chop him down, they wouldn't have suffered defeat after defeat in the past six months and were almost unable to hold their ground in Yanzhou.

"A double trick?"

(End of this chapter)