My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 20 Accounting on the Bed
The next day, Liu Feng resumed his routine of staying at home, visiting himself every morning and evening, and then staying home to read.

He simply took a moment to send a letter to Cao Bao, informing him that the matter had been accomplished. He also sent a visiting card to Mi Zhu, asking him to pay a visit on his day off.

Around noon, Liu Bei got up and called Liu Feng over.

When Liu Feng arrived, Liu Bei was still leaning on the couch and had not yet gotten up.

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were no longer with them. They had been appointed as new colonels and each commanded a unit of troops. They frequently traveled between the military camp and the prefecture, and could no longer share meals and beds with Liu Bei as they used to.

"Feng'er, I called you here because there are a few things I want to discuss with you."

Upon seeing Liu Feng, Liu Bei raised his hand and beckoned him to come closer.

Liu Feng took off his shoes and climbed onto the bed, crawled behind Liu Bei, and then pressed his temples from behind and gently massaged them.

Liu Bei was somewhat surprised, but then relaxed.

Liu Feng's technique was excellent. The gentle squeezing and kneading relieved Liu Bei's headache caused by drunkenness, and he unknowingly became immersed in it.

It was quite some time before Liu Bei finally realized what was happening.

Turning his head, he saw that Liu Feng's forehead was covered with a thin layer of sweat, which meant that the massage had been quite strenuous.

Moved, Liu Bei patted Liu Feng's arm, signaling him to stop.

His son was not only precocious and exceptionally talented, but he also had a magical encounter with the gods. He was extremely filial to his father, which made him very satisfied.

"Feng'er, I called you here for three things."

"The first thing is to deal with Cao Jianwei. We can't delay for too long; we need to give him a formal reply."

Liu Bei patted Liu Feng's hand and said, "I have received the news. Cao Jianwei is very sincere this time. He has begun to organize his troops and has sent someone to inform me so that I can prepare and send someone to complete the handover."

At this point, Liu Bei sighed and said, "He really trusts you. I don't know what kind of spell you cast on him."

These were Liu Bei's heartfelt words. In the months since arriving in Xuzhou, he had tried to win over Cao Bao, but the latter had been like a coward, leaving him with no way to make a move.

If Cao Bao hadn't only guarded his own three-tenths of territory and hadn't refrained from provoking Liu Bei, it's hard to say whether the two sides could have maintained peace until now; they probably would have already fought a fierce battle.

"After some consideration, your father plans to ask your Uncle Jian Yong to go with Cao Jianwei the day after tomorrow to obtain a marriage certificate. The marriage is tentatively scheduled to take place after your coming-of-age ceremony. What do you think?"

Liu Feng thought about it and felt there was no problem; Cao Bao and Liu Bei still had some political mutual trust.

Seeing that Liu Feng had no objection, Liu Bei continued, "As you know, all the money I've had over the years has been used to support my retainers, and the rest has been sent back to my hometown. I specifically checked yesterday, and even if I squeezed some out of the treasury, I could only scrape together three or four hundred thousand coins at the moment..."

Liu Bei was very embarrassed. His son wanted to take a concubine, but he, the father, couldn't even afford the betrothal gifts.

But he still forced himself to continue, "I'm thinking of sending out part of the betrothal gifts first, and then adding more later when I have more money. What do you think?"

Liu Feng was dumbfounded, completely stunned by Big Ears' actions.

But on second thought, I felt a little sorry for Big Ears. He really didn't have much money left, and he had to support 40,000 to 50,000 men. It was really not easy for him to come up with 300,000 to 400,000 yuan. He must have emptied his savings.

Liu Feng comforted him, "Father, there's no need to worry. I've already discussed it with Jianwei, and we'll use the profits from the snow salt as the betrothal gift. He agreed to it at the time. After I visit the Prefect tomorrow, I'll write him a contract."

Hearing Liu Feng's reply, Liu Bei finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Very good, very good. Since you have a solution, Feng'er, then I will not worry about it anymore."

Even though that's what he said, and the object of his affection was his own beloved son, Liu Bei still felt a little empty inside.

However, Liu Bei was Liu Bei after all; his weakness was only momentary, and he quickly rallied.

"The second thing is about the supplies for the land reclamation."

Liu Bei straightened up, took out two scrolls of silk from the bedside, and handed them to Liu Feng.

"Yesterday morning, I invited Chen Changwen to take stock of the surplus in the state treasury. Although it is not much, there is still more than 350,000 shi of grain, 1,500 shi of salt, 3.47 million coins, more than 70,000 jin of iron, plus several thousand bolts of various hemp cloth and silk. This is the wealth of Xuzhou."

Liu Bei hesitated for a moment, then added, "Of this amount of goods, one-third were transported by Yuanlong from Xiapi County. In addition, Zifang also transported 40,000 shi of grain and 500 shi of salt from Qu County."

"I reckon there should still be some reserves in the Xiapi County treasury. I'll discuss it with Yuanlong later to see if we can raise some more from those two places. As for Guangling County, I've also sent an official letter there, but I don't know if there's been a response."

At this time, the governor of Guangling County, Zhang Chao, was away, having gone to Yanzhou to help his elder brother, Zhang Miao, fight against Cao Cao.

Zhang Chao has now entrusted all the affairs of Guangling County to his subordinate Yuan Sui.

Although Yuan Sui was not from the Yuan clan of Runan, he shared the same ancestor as the Yuan clan.

Therefore, he was relatively benevolent towards Yuan Shu.

Under Yuan Sui's influence, although Guangling County did not raise its flag in rebellion, it maintained a friendly attitude towards Yuan Shu and did not reject his involvement.

Fortunately, Yuan Shu is currently in a very difficult situation, being sandwiched between Liu Biao and Liu Yao and getting beaten badly.

Big Ears still has a chance to win back Guangling County's heart, but this chance is really difficult to come by.

Liu Bei also wanted to take this opportunity to test the reaction of Guangling County. If they really sent grain over, it would be a win-win situation. Not only would there be grain in the granary, but it would also mean that Yuan Sui was willing to accept Liu Bei as the governor.

If Yuan Sui directly refuses, then there's basically no hope of a peaceful resolution; just wait for war.

"However, even so, it's just a drop in the ocean and unsustainable."

Liu Bei sighed deeply, his face full of worry: "Feng'er, your plan to cultivate land is indeed excellent, but with such a shortage of resources, I'm afraid we can only wait until after the autumn harvest to make further plans."

Liu Bei's frustration was understandable; he currently needed to maintain an army of 27,000 men, of whom 6,000 were his own men and the other 20,000 were soldiers from Danyang.

Although the Danyang soldiers were somewhat arrogant and self-important, Liu Bei was paying to support them, so it was just a matter of them being somewhat arrogant and self-important.

If Liu Bei dared to cut off these old men's money and supplies, it would be an armed uprising.

Therefore, Liu Bei had to include the expenses of the Danyang soldiers in his own account, which was quite frustrating.

Fortunately, Liu Bei gained the vast territory of Xuzhou for free, and he was willing to pay for it.

This is why Liu Bei was so overjoyed when he learned that he could obtain the four thousand troops ceded by Cao Bao.

(End of this chapter)