My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 214 Liu-Lü Deal
If Liu Bei divided them like this, there would actually only be twelve counties in total.

Because there was a county called Qianzou that was closest to Langya State, Liu Bei wanted to move into Langya Commandery.

This county is actually closer to Langya and is a vital passage between Langya and Donglai. If it is controlled, it can be used to concentrate on defending against threats from the Donglai direction.

If it is not under the control of Langya, then the cities in the heart of Langya, such as Langya, Dongwu, and other counties, will be attacked from the flanks by Donglai County.

During the Western Han Dynasty, Qianzou County belonged to Langya Commandery. It was not until the mid-Eastern Han Dynasty that it was transferred to Donglai Commandery. This is an old story of regional division in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

On Liu Feng's advice, Liu Bei decided to take over Qianzhou County, a strategically important transportation hub.

Speaking of which, this county is a rare example in the Shandong Peninsula where an ancient place name has been passed down to later generations. The names of most other cities in Donglai have been lost to the long river of history.

Moreover, according to Liu Feng's classification, Zhang Miao, who was the most honest and weakest in martial arts, was closest to Xuzhou, while Chen Gong, who was second best, occupied places such as Yexian near Beihai, and Lü Bu, who was the strongest in martial arts, was isolated by Chen Deng and Zhang Miao near the sea.

As things stand, Zhang Miao, if not completely estranged from Lü Bu, is at least more inclined to be closer to Xuzhou.

Although Chen Gong and Lü Bu are still in the same camp, their personalities are too different, making it highly unlikely that they can work together harmoniously.

In this way, such an arrangement not only helped protect himself from being betrayed by Wen Hou, but also indirectly protected Kong Rong, the Chancellor of Beihai.

However, Kong Rong himself greatly admired Lü Bu and repeatedly praised him in public, so the two of them might have gotten along quite well.

For Lü Bu and Chen Gong, what Liu Bei was offering at this time was like a deliciously tempting pie.

Chen Gong was still wondering if there was some kind of deadly poison hidden in the pie that he didn't know about, or if they would have to pay some kind of price in exchange for it.

Lu Bu burst into laughter: "Xuande, just hand over Donglai to me, and I will surely guard this place for you."

Liu Feng sighed inwardly. This Lü Bu was truly both stupid and wicked. If he hadn't been like this, with his ability to command cavalry, he would never have ended up like that.

Liu Feng was inwardly cursing Lü Bu, just as Lü Bu was also sizing up Liu Feng.

Although Liu Feng still had some youthful air about him, he was upright and handsome, sitting behind Liu Bei.

Remembering his wife's words, Lü Bu's heart stirred.

This kid, at least in terms of looks, seems to be passable.

This isn't Lu Bu being picky; he has every right to be picky.

Lu Bu was a man of imposing stature, and Lady Wei was a woman of exceptional beauty. Their daughter was also a great beauty, and although she was still young, she already possessed a captivating charm.

Seeing that both Lü Bu and Chen Gong were quite satisfied, Zhang Miao naturally had no objections.

Then Liu Bei began to reveal his true purpose: "Now my state has fought Yuan Shao several times with no clear victor. Liu Yao of Yangzhou is being harassed by Sun Ce, and war is raging in Jiangdong. He has also sought help from my state. Therefore, I have a request to make. I wonder if Marquis Wen is willing to help me."

Lu Bu's heart skipped a beat. He only had three or four thousand men left. Liu Bei was a powerful and wealthy man. Why did it seem like he wanted to borrow troops from him?
It has to be said that Lü Bu was truly narrow-minded and petty. He had just tasted the great sweetness of gaining a territory of a commandery, but as soon as the cost was mentioned, he turned on him and wanted to refuse to give up a single penny.

Lu Bu tentatively refused, saying, "Xuande, you know that I have fled in a sorry state, my troops are exhausted and weary. If I don't rest properly, I'm afraid I won't be able to fight."

Chen Gong frowned upon hearing Lü Bu's words.

Fortunately, Liu Bei didn't pay attention to Lü Bu's reaction and just kept talking.

After all, for Liu Bei, the two most important parties involved in this matter, namely himself and Zhang Liao, had already agreed. What could Lü Bu do if he disagreed?
This current maneuver is simply to avoid a complete falling out with Lü Bu and to give him a way out.

"It's alright. I just want to temporarily borrow Wen Yuan's troops to go south and help in the battle."

After laying the groundwork, Liu Bei directly stated his requirements.

Upon hearing that Liu Bei only wanted to temporarily borrow Zhang Liao's troops, Lü Bu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and he genuinely believed that Liu Bei was only "temporarily" agreeing.

"If that's the case, then Bu should personally order Wen Yuan to lead the troops south."

Chen Gong sensed something was amiss, but he couldn't possibly imagine that Zhang Liao had already defected to Liu Bei.

Liu Bei didn't mind. After all, even if Lü Bu was stupid enough to think it was a loan after Zhang Liao borrowed it, when to return it was up to Liu Bei.

Thus, both parties reached an agreement to their satisfaction.

The matter should have ended there.

But who would have thought that Lü Bu was truly a petty person, always feeling like he was at a disadvantage if he didn't gain any advantage?

He actually felt that he had achieved a balance between lending Zhang Liao's troops and Liu Bei handing over Donglai to him, so he actually asked Liu Bei for grain and soldiers.

Liu Bei didn't speak, but Liu Feng took the initiative to interject: "Father, Marquis Wen's troops have many horses, but they are indeed short of food."

Upon hearing this, Lü Bu was overjoyed and the more he looked at Liu Feng, the more he thought the young man was quite good.

Liu Bei glanced at his eldest son, then at Lü Bu's greedy expression, and gave a low snort before continuing, "Then, in your opinion, what should we do?"

"Although Donglai County has thirteen counties and its area is second only to Pingyuan Kingdom, ranking second in Qingzhou, its population is only over 400,000, and it is probably even smaller now. The entire Donglai County is surrounded by the sea on three sides, with mudflats and swamps everywhere, and truly fertile land is extremely scarce, especially paddy fields and superior fields."

Liu Feng clearly remembered that Donglai would be a major grain producer in the future, with eleven rivers scattered throughout the Donglai Peninsula. Only a small amount of investment in water conservancy projects would be needed to obtain large areas of farmland and paddy fields.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was not a single river to be found in the entire Donglai region, except for the Gu River which flowed into the sea at Qianzuo. However, Qianzuo had already been taken over by Liu Bei.

This is why Donglai, despite its large size, has a smaller population than the state of Qi, which only had six counties.

In a normal year, the grain output of Donglai Commandery was about 30 million shi. According to the grain tax of one-thirtieth of the official tax in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the government could collect about one million shi of grain.

This is only the grain tax, not the total tax burden borne by farmers.

In addition to the grain tax, there were a large number of exorbitant taxes, including but not limited to taxes on people, property, mulberry and hemp, and even land.

Qingzhou was a major disaster area during the Yellow Turban Rebellion. The Yellow Turban army, numbering in the millions, appeared two or three times and even launched attacks in all directions, attempting to expand into Ji, Yan, and Xu provinces, but none of these attempts succeeded.

Therefore, the population of Qingzhou showed signs of a sharp decline, and the decline was no less than that of Xuzhou, which had Cao Cao's help with family planning.

Based on Liu Feng's estimation, if Donglai County still had 30% or 40% of its population, Lü Bu would be incredibly lucky. Even if only one-fifth of the population remained, Liu Feng wouldn't be surprised in the slightest.

To be on the safe side, let's assume 30%. The amount of grain that Lü Bu could actually control in Donglai each year should be around 150,000 shi (a unit of dry measure).

This figure of one million shi (a unit of dry measure) needs to be reduced by 30%. Without a population, where would the production come from? With 30% of the population, we can roughly assume there would still be 30% of the production, which would leave only 300,000 shi of grain.

Then the 300,000 shi of grain will be reduced by half. This reduction of half will be used to pay the salaries of county government officials and lower-level officials such as township and village officials, as well as the expenses incurred in various projects within the county.

The remaining 150,000 shi of grain was roughly the amount of grain that Lü Bu could actually obtain.

According to the calculation that each soldier needs two shi of grain per month, after Lü Bu took away Zhang Liao and Zhang Miao's troops, he was left with more than two thousand men. The annual consumption would only be two hundred thousand, which seems to exceed what Lü Bu gained. However, in addition to grain tax, the Han Dynasty also had various other taxes.

Compared to the grain tax, other taxes were the bulk of the revenue. Most of these taxes were in cash, but they could also be converted into grain, and the amount could be three to five times that of the grain tax.

Looking at it this way, it seems that Lü Bu has suddenly gained more food.

However, Lu Bu's portion of grain also included the salaries of officials in the prefectural government, as well as various expenses of the prefectural government.

With such a surge, food supplies were actually quite tight.

Lu Bu's army had six or seven hundred warhorses, which was a huge expense; the cost of one warhorse was five times that of an infantryman.

Not counting hay, the fine grains that warhorses need to eat each month alone require three shi (a unit of dry measure), and an additional five to six shi of various hays. If these hays are not enough, the corresponding amount of fine grains must be added.

If we only consider the amount of refined grain, each warhorse needs six shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain per month, and seven hundred warhorses would need seventy thousand shi of refined grain per year.

In addition, Lü Bu's army also had more than 1,100 horsemen and pack horses. The former were used for transportation, while the latter were used to pull carts.

Although these horses can eat worse food, or even skip fine grains, their need for hay is much greater than that of warhorses.

Therefore, it can be inferred that Lü Bu could not possibly afford to feed all those horses, let alone expand his army.

Liu Feng was after the enemy's warhorses, which were all large horses from Bing and Liang.

"Father, why don't we contribute some money and supplies to buy some horses from Marquis Wen? We'll need to replenish our horses for our journey south to Yangzhou. And with the money and supplies, Marquis Wen will be able to develop his business in Donglai more effectively. It's a win-win situation."

Liu Feng's true colors were revealed: "You wanted my money and provisions, didn't you? Well, what a coincidence! I also want your big horses."

If everyone swaps, everyone will make a huge profit.

"This..." Lu Bu's face suddenly turned quite ugly. He only wanted to make a little more profit, not really want to sell the horse.

To Lü Bu's surprise, Liu Bei nodded and said to him with a serious expression, "Lord Wen, what my son said may not be without reason. You lack money and grain, and I lack horses. This deal is indeed very suitable."

What shocked Lü Bu even more was that Chen Gong actually agreed: "Lord Wen, what Lord Liu said is very true. This time, going north to Donglai, without a sum of money and provisions, we may not be able to sit still."

Unlike Xuzhou, the order of the entire Qingzhou had long since collapsed.

It can be said that Qingzhou is the most chaotic place in the Han Dynasty today.

Two governors of Qingzhou died in battle, and after the governors of various prefectures and kingdoms were vacant, no one dared to take up the post again.

Within its borders, remnants of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, notorious pirates, salt merchants, local magnates, and defeated soldiers and bandits were all intertwined, and official order was nowhere to be found.

Back then, Kong Rong's scathing remarks in Luoyang were so outrageous that even Dong Zhuo couldn't stand them. If it weren't for Cai Yong's earnest persuasion and Kong Rong's immense fame, Dong Zhuo would have chopped Kong Rong into mincemeat long ago.

Under these circumstances, what good post could Dong Zhuo offer Kong Rong?

Everyone knows perfectly well what Dong Zhuo was thinking when he sent Kong Rong to Beihai.

Kong Rong was not only extremely resilient, but even after being driven out of Qingzhou by the Yellow Turban Army, he was able to launch a counterattack with the support of Liu Bei and Tao Qian. In fact, in the original history, he was recommended by Liu Bei, who succeeded him as the governor of Xuzhou, to be the governor of Qingzhou.

It is clear that Kong Rong was actually much better than a good-for-nothing.

With Qingzhou in such a state of chaos, although Liu Feng had calculated the accounts for them, Chen Gong was not as optimistic as Lü Bu about how much grain was actually in the granary and how much money and grain the prefecture could collect. He completely believed Liu Feng's judgment.

Chen Gong served as a high-ranking official in a prefecture or state. Although he was a renowned scholar, he had handled many state affairs.

He knew very well that Liu Feng was referring to data from the Xiping era of Emperor Ling, but now it was the second year of Xingping. In the past twenty years, there had been earth-shattering changes, not to mention that this was Qingzhou, which had undergone the most changes.

According to Chen Gong's assessment, if we take the most conservative estimate, Lü Bu likely received most of the tax revenue, equivalent to 800,000 to 900,000 shi of grain, some of which belonged to Zhang Miao and Chen Gong.

This number means that Lu Bu could not possibly keep these warhorses alive.

Rather than continuing to support them until they go to Donglai and find they can no longer afford to keep them and then sell them, it would be better to sell them to Liu Bei now.

After all, Liu Bei could afford to provide the money and supplies, but Donglai might not be able to find such a high-quality client as Liu Bei again.

Another very important point is that the warhorses all belonged to Lü Bu, so Chen Gong didn't feel any pain selling them, which naturally allowed him to be so rational.

Under Chen Gong's reasoned arguments and the lure of money and provisions from Liu Bei and his son.

Lü Bu eventually made a concession and decided to sell 500 warhorses, as well as 800 riding horses and pack horses.

Liu Bei was very accommodating and offered to buy all the warhorses at a price of 50,000 coins each, and the riding horses and pack horses at a price of 20,000 coins each.

The price seems a bit low, but in reality, Lü Bu actually got a good deal.

This batch of horses has lost a lot of weight.

Lu Bu's army was barely able to feed themselves, so where would they find the food to feed these horses?

This was also a major reason why Lü Bu ultimately had no choice but to accept Liu Bei's trade request.

In addition, although the value was calculated in money, Liu Bei agreed that the funds could be converted into grain at any time according to the requests of Lü Bu and Chen Gong, and the price of the grain was also agreed upon.

Grain prices are rising continuously. Millet has increased from 200 coins per shi to 270 or 280 coins per shi. With the output in Yanzhou about to plummet, grain prices are expected to rise even more sharply next year.

Liu Bei was overjoyed to have acquired this batch of warhorses.

Liu Feng looked at his father's happy expression, but in his heart he was thinking, "When Lü Bu raided your Xiapi, and later defeated you at Xiaopei, he used the same batch of warhorses."

This can be considered as helping my dad avoid a major problem in advance.

After reaching a deal with Lü Bu's army, Lü Bu's army first received 100,000 shi of grain, and then began to march north to Donglai.

Meanwhile, Liu Bei continued to reorganize his army.

Because of the extra grain from Liang, Chen, and Jingzhou, Liu Bei had become much wealthier.

With the addition of a new core group and the influx of a large number of refugees, Liu Bei's army expanded by more than 10,000 men.

The four armies of Zang Ba, Tian Yu, Qian Zhao, and Chen Deng remain unchanged, each with 6,000 men, stationed in various prefectures and kingdoms.

Liu Bei's personal guard, Guan Yu's army, Zhang Fei's army, and Xiahou Bo's army each had 6,000 men, totaling 24,000 men, and were stationed in Tancheng.

Zhao Yun and Xu Sheng led two armies of 8,000 men, stationed in Guangling, Jiangdu, and Jiangcheng.

The four divisions of Dong Xi, Gan Ning, Zhou Tai, and Jiang Qin, totaling 6,000 naval personnel, are temporarily training at Qugang.

The four divisions of Taishi Ci, Pan Zhang, Gao Shun, and Zhang Liao were also replenished to full strength of two thousand men each, totaling eight thousand, and were temporarily stationed in the military camp outside Tancheng City.

Another force of one thousand men under Jia Kui served as Liu Feng's personal guard.

The above field army units totaled 71,000 men.

There are also 2,000 soldiers from Xiapi Commandery stationed in Xiapi County, 500 soldiers from Xiapi Commandery stationed in Dongcheng County, 500 soldiers from Donghai Commandery stationed in Qu County, and 2,000 soldiers from Donghai Commandery stationed in Tancheng.

A total of 5,000 troops from various commanderies and kingdoms.

The total strength of Xuzhou's troops reached 76,000, of which 71,000 had independent field combat capabilities. Most of them were veterans with combat experience, and the remaining 10,000 new recruits had already undergone several months of training.

Meanwhile, Chen Qun's father, Chen Ji, finally arrived in Tancheng.

He did not come alone; he also brought many talented people from Yingchuan and other places.

Among them was Han Xin, a native of Wuyang, Yingchuan, who was the son of Han Rong and the grandson of Han Shao.

The Han family lineage declined in fame in later generations, but it was a renowned example during the late Eastern Han Dynasty.

Han Shao, along with Zhong Yao's grandfather Zhong Hao, Xun Yu's grandfather Xun Shu, and Chen Qun's grandfather Chen Shi, were collectively known as the Four Elders of Yingchuan.

At the same time, the Han family was also the Han clan among the four great families of Yingchuan: Xun, Chen, Zhong, and Han. Han Fu, who ceded Ji Province to Yuan Shao, was a prominent figure in this Han clan.

Meanwhile, Han Xin's father, Han Rong, was serving as the Grand Herald in the central government at that time. He later represented Emperor Xian in negotiations with Li Jue and Guo Si, persuading them to release officials, palace women, and other women. He eventually rose to the position of Grand Master of the Palace.

Besides Han Xin, there was also Sima Hui from Yangdi, Yingchuan, who later became the famous Mr. Shui Jing and was also a well-known hermit at the time. However, he had not yet retired and was a famous scholar of his time. He had once made Pang Tong and Pang Shiyuan famous.

Other Cao Wei bigwigs that Liu Feng was familiar with, such as Du Xi from Dingling in Yingchuan Commandery, Zhao Yan and Fan Qin from Yangdi, and Du Ji from Duling in Jingzhao Commandery, also left Liu Feng dumbfounded.

As for those who were not well-known or whom Liu Feng did not know, there were as many as twenty or thirty of them.

One man like Chen Ji could bring together so many talented people; that is the power of a great scholar.

Liu Bei was overjoyed at this and hosted a grand banquet that day to welcome the many gentlemen.

At the same time, someone was sent to invite Chen Qun back to Tancheng, so that Chen Ji and his son could have a few days of happy reunion.

Liu Bei had already planned to recommend Chen Ji as the governor of Guangling. After he took office, Chen Ji and his son would be separated by distance, making it difficult for them to meet. Naturally, they should take this opportunity to reunite.

Moreover, Chen Qun is a rising star and a promising young talent from Yingchuan. Letting him catch up with the people of Yingchuan can also help Liu Bei find some talented individuals.

However, Big Ears Brother was unaware that his precious son was already helping him with the selection process.

Among this group, the most important are Zhao Yan, Du Xi, and Du Ji; the others are less important.

As for Mr. Shui Jing, his talent and virtue are undoubtedly excellent, but asking him to do something would be asking too much of a question.

These reclusive scholars can only be revered as totems to attract other talents to Xuzhou; it would be a waste to actually get them to work.

Just as Liu Bei and his son were overjoyed and began preparing to head south to Yangzhou, Jian Yong, Liu Yan, and Chen Dao finally returned to Xuzhou.

"What?! The Emperor is in distress?! The two traitors, Li Jue and Guo Si, actually dare to pursue and kill the Emperor?!"

Liu Bei was so surprised that he almost couldn't sit still after hearing only half of it.

(End of this chapter)