My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 261 Preparing for Natural Disasters
The thought of the severe drought that would last for two years starting next year made Liu Feng's teeth ache.

Previously, Liu Feng was reluctant to attack Yuan Shu. When discussing strategic directions with Liu Bei, Lu Su, Liu Ye, Chen Deng, and others, he always emphasized first controlling Jiangdong and then taking Jiangbei. The fundamental reason for this was the drought that had lasted for more than two years.

At that time, Liu Bei only had four commanderies and kingdoms in Xuzhou, and Pengcheng was practically undeveloped. Although grain production had increased considerably thanks to Liu Feng's tireless efforts in land reclamation and encouragement of mulberry farmers, as well as the decentralized management approach, the overall grain yield was still low.

However, this increase in grain production is merely a drop in the ocean compared to the severe drought in the Huai and Si River basins.

Liu Feng had the will to save people, but lacked the ability, so he had no choice but to painfully give up.

But now the situation is completely different. In the past year or so, the land reclamation in Xuzhou has been greatly promoted, and hundreds of thousands of refugees have been gathered and resettled.

The tax contributions of these displaced people are almost equivalent to those of millions of people.

There are a few reasons, the first and most important being that there are no middlemen.

These refugees were resettled by Xuzhou in Pengcheng, Xiapi, Donghai and other counties and kingdoms. There were large uninhabited areas with enough land to settle them, but they were not exploited by the local gentry and powerful families.

In this way, even though the nominal taxes were heavier than those levied on ordinary households, their actual burden was actually lighter.

Secondly, the managers among these refugees were all handpicked by Liu Feng and controlled by him. The data on money and grain production were accurate and effective, which undoubtedly reduced the layer of exploitation.

Most importantly, the vast majority of these refugees who have survived to this day are strong and healthy young people, a valuable source of labor. Investing in them will yield immediate and substantial returns.

In addition to the large output brought by the refugees, the Yangtze River trade between Jingzhou and Xuzhou also brought a large grain surplus.

The sugar, salt, salted fish, kelp, pearls, and other products sold in Xuzhou are all highly profitable, have strong sales, and are widely available in the market.

In particular, Liu Biao had a love-hate relationship with his two signature products, frost sugar and snow salt.

These two items not only brought a large amount of grain to Xuzhou, but also continuously supplied Liu Biao's private treasury with wealth.

In fact, when Liu Biao learned that Liu Bei had been appointed General of the Cavalry by the emperor and entrusted with important responsibilities, overseeing the affairs of the three provinces of Xu, Yu, and Yang, he became wary and wanted to cut off the supply of grain.

The problem is that Liu Biao wanted to cut off the grain supply, but he was reluctant to give up the various goods from Xuzhou.

Xuzhou, however, only needed grain.

Of course, Xuzhou wasn't giving up everything else. If Jingzhou was willing to offer important strategic materials such as iron armor, farm tools, machinery, weapons, medicines, and warhorses, Xuzhou would be willing to exchange them.

However, compared to grain, the things mentioned above are undoubtedly more important.

How can one give up something more precious and important for the sake of food?
Isn't this putting the cart before the horse?

Finally, seeing the steady stream of wealth and treasures flowing into the treasury, and the armor, weapons, and rare items that could be bought with that wealth, Liu Biao ultimately couldn't bring himself to cut off the trade route.

In fact, Liu Biao had tried this before. He used the excuse of insufficient food supplies to try to suppress the trading volume.

He was then shocked to discover that the sales volume he had given up had been instantly snapped up by the Kuai and Huang companies.

This left Liu Biao both angry and anxious, but he was helpless.

The Kuai family controlled all the officials, big and small, in Jingzhou. Without their assistance, Liu Biao would even have trouble collecting taxes.

As for the Huang family, they are even more extraordinary.

Whether considering their personal relationship or the length of their collaboration, the Huang family was undoubtedly a latecomer.

Before Liu Biao entered Jingzhou, the Huang family, being natives of Jingzhou, had only a casual relationship with him and were not close. Moreover, unlike the Kuai and Cai families, the Huang family had its own representative in the central government, namely Huang Wan.

Huang Wan was actually quite remarkable, and his great-grandfather was Huang Xiang, one of the Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars, who was known for "fanning the pillow and warming the quilt".

When Huang Xiang was only nine years old, he already knew the principles of filial piety and became famous in the capital, known as "the unparalleled Huang Xiang of Jiangxia".

This short sentence alone shows just how powerful the Huang family was at the time.

A nine-year-old child could become famous in Luoyang and be called unparalleled in the world simply by fanning his father and warming his bed.

The Huang family's status among the gentry is evident, especially their influence in Jiangxia, which is deeply rooted and terrifyingly strong.

Therefore, after Liu Biao entered Xiangyang, through the intermediaries of the Kuai, Cai, and Pang families, he also established a relationship with the Huang family, with Huang Zu being the leader at the time.

Huang Zu not only shot and killed Sun Jian, saving Liu Biao's life, but also now held power in Jiangxia, and his navy was the strongest in the world.

The Yangtze River waterway is under the control of the Huang family. If they take a bite out of you, do you dare to utter a sound?

Not to mention that you gave up the cake because you thought it was too sweet.

Helpless, Liu Biao could only swallow this bitter pill and continue the trade with Xuzhou.

This also led to the increasing abundance of granaries in Xuzhou, giving Liu Feng greater strategic space.

At the same time, Liu Bei was granted the authority to oversee the affairs of the three provinces of Xu, Yu, and Yang, which meant that he could collect taxes and allocate grain from Jiangdong and northern Yu.

Such a large increase gave Liu Feng the confidence to save the people of Huai and Si.

Apart from that, the two prefectures of Lujiang and Jiujiang are not actually short of water.

Jiujiang Prefecture has three large lakes, two tributaries, as well as the Huai River and the Yangtze River.

This devastating drought that swept across the Huai and Si River regions caused severe drought in Jiujiang, southern Pei County, and southern Runan County was not only a natural disaster but also a man-made one.

Liu Feng believed that as long as water conservancy was improved by relying on these major rivers and lakes, even if drought could not be completely avoided, it could at least greatly alleviate drought and disaster.

The Huai-Si region has a population of one million, fertile land, and numerous rivers, making it a land of great wealth and prosperity.

After this severe drought, the Huai and Si River basins became a living hell, with less than one in ten of the more than one million inhabitants surviving.

After Cao Cao marched south, he began a large-scale demolition and relocation project, moving tens of thousands of people away and forcing the remaining tens of thousands to go south and join Sun Quan.

This fertile land of Huai and Si was thus transformed into an eight-hundred-mile-long no-man's-land, and also became the largest main battlefield between Wei and Wu.

The two sides were locked in a stalemate here for decades, with battles involving more than 100,000 people reaching double digits, making it the most intense conflict during the Three Kingdoms period.

One of the most brilliant generals in the Three Kingdoms period, Sun Quan, the King of Wu of Wei, established his renowned reputation for power and prestige here.

With the Yangtze River as their base, the Sun family could allow the Huai and Si Rivers to become barren land.

But for Xuzhou, the Huai and Si rivers became its heartland and its rear granary.

If they can weather this storm, these two counties will immediately become the foundation of Liu Bei and his son's empire.

It is worth noting that decades later, after receiving the full support of Sima Yi, Deng Ai built the Guangcao Canal and the Baichi Canal on the shore of Shaopi Lake in Jiujiang County. The canals connected the Ying River and the Huai River, irrigating 20,000 hectares of farmland and connecting more than 300 li of waterway, which was a great achievement with half the effort.

More importantly, these fields were to contribute three million shi of grain annually. Although that was Cao Cao's 80/20 land reclamation system, a benevolent person like Liu Bei would certainly not have accepted such a heavy contribution if he had a choice.

Historically, when Liu Bei was in Xuzhou, Yuzhou, and Xinye, the tax rate was relatively low. It was not until after the Battle of Red Cliffs, when he lost Liu Biao's assistance and his army expanded on a large scale, that he began to increase taxes.

Based on Liu Bei's current tax policy, if calculated using the military-agricultural colony system, this portion of grain should generate two million shi (a unit of dry measure). If calculated using the household system, the amount would be significantly less, probably only a little over one million shi.

The difference between the two is hundreds of thousands of shi (a unit of dry measure).

Regardless of the method, it would mean that Xuzhou could harvest millions more bushels of grain, tens of millions of coins, and a human resource of millions more people.

For the sake of the people of Huai and Si, and for the sake of the Liu family's legacy, Liu Feng was willing to risk everything.

One of Liu Feng's greatest sources of confidence was the upgrading of water conservancy facilities such as waterwheels and tippers.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were already rudimentary versions of waterwheels and tippers, but in terms of both effectiveness and performance, they were far inferior to the drafts that Liu Feng presented.

What Liu Feng brought out was a Song Dynasty Dacheng version of a waterwheel and tipper, which used a wheel and axle gear system and could be used in a continuous relay.

With two waterwheels working in tandem, the water drop could reach as high as forty zhang (approximately 33 meters).

Furthermore, during the research and development process, Liu Feng also emphasized the need for easy assembly and for parts to be as homogeneous as possible, so that the basic version's parts could be interchangeable.

Don't think this is a very difficult task. The parts in this era are far less sophisticated than those in the later industrial era. To achieve this, it is actually not difficult. As long as you pay attention to the dimensions when making it, there will be no problem at all.

After inspecting the waterwheel, tipper, and other water conservancy facilities, Liu Feng was quite satisfied. The craftsman surnamed Zhou, who was in charge of the waterwheel project, also gave it a high score.

The next step is to vigorously promote the water diversion and irrigation system centered on waterwheels and tipplers in Xuzhou. On the one hand, this will continue to increase the local grain output in Xuzhou, and on the other hand, it will train a professional water conservancy engineering team.

After the war begins in the second half of the year, this team will begin constructing water conservancy facilities in the areas occupied by the Xuzhou army, provided that safety is ensured.

"Ah Yin did a great job."

The catapults still need to be tested in actual combat after leaving the city the next day, but there are indeed no problems with the water conservancy facilities.

Xianyu Yin was very pleased to receive Liu Feng's praise, while Liu Fa and the others showed expressions of envy.

However, they were not jealous. On the one hand, they were all orphans adopted by Liu Feng, and they had a good relationship with each other. Moreover, they were not very old, and although they had begun to come into contact with power, they had not yet changed, or rather, had not completely changed.

On the other hand, everyone had different roles and were very confident in their respective responsibilities. Xianyu Yin was only praised by Liu Feng because Liu Feng happened to be the first to check his part of the work.

That afternoon, Liu Feng continued to hold a meeting with the boys of Liu'er Camp, demanding that four to six water conservancy construction teams of more than 600 people each be established, with each team including 20 to 30 craftsmen, to ensure that they could manage a farming team of less than 10,000 people.

Liu Fa immediately accepted the order and promised to prepare a contingency plan within a week and submit it to Liu Feng for review.

Liu Feng was making intensive preparations, planning to annihilate Yuan Shu in one fell swoop and swallow Yangzhou whole.

Sun Ce of Yangzhou happened to be talking about his northern neighbor.

At this moment, Sun Ce sat high in the hall, with his generals sitting below him.

The first person on the left was naturally his uncle Wu Jing, and the first person on the right was Sun Ce's cousin Xu Kun.

While the Eastern Wu dynasty in later generations did indeed respect the right side, this practice only began during the reign of the King of Wu of the Great Wei.

Just like in mainstream society, the left is still considered superior.

Below Wu Jing and Xu Kun are veterans and rising stars such as Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, and Chen Wu.

After a winter of rest and recuperation, the strength of Sun Ce's various units has been improved to a certain extent.

Jiangdong's total military strength has now exceeded 20,000, among which Wu Jing's troops are the most powerful, with more than 7,000 men, accounting for almost one-third of the total.

Secondly, there was Xu Kun, who transferred all his remaining troops from Liyang, and with the new soldiers that Sun Ce had given him, the number reached as many as four thousand.

The rest were the troops directly under Sun Ce's control, including new minor military leaders such as Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, and Chen Wu, totaling more than 10,000 men.

The remaining Sun family army, led by Sun Ben, continued to be stationed in Liyang, confronting Liu Yao's army in Niuzhu.

Sun Ce gathered everyone together this time mainly to discuss their plans after the start of spring.

Now that the weather is starting to warm up, if Sun Jiajun wants to continue to develop in Jiangdong, then expansion is imperative.

"Everyone, what do you think we should do next?"

Sun Ce's face was calm and his expression was composed, showing no sign of anything amiss, but in reality, he was quite anxious and uneasy.

Originally, from the second half of last year until winter, Xuzhou did not make any southward moves, but only sent two thousand people across the river to garrison Jiangcheng County.

This made Sun Ce secretly pleased, feeling that Xuzhou was playing with fire and getting burned.

Sun Ce believed that the reason Xu Province did not send a large army across the river was to allow him to expand in Jiangdong, so as to put pressure on the local forces in Jiangdong and Liu Yao, and make them make greater concessions to Xu Province.

In fact, Sun Ce's thinking wasn't entirely wrong, but he could never have guessed that there was someone with extraordinary abilities in Xuzhou.

Liu Feng could guess his thoughts and subsequent actions with a squinty eye. What's even easier was that, given the current situation in Jiangdong, Sun Ce had almost no chance of changing the course of history.

Sun Ce's only way out was to head south, first defeat Xu Gong's remaining army, and then attack Kuaiji.

If he dares to turn back to northern Danyang, he will immediately be surrounded on all sides, and Xuzhou will never sit idly by and watch Sun Ce devour Liu Yao.

The only possibility for turning back westward is for Zhou Yu to persuade Zhou Shang to betray him, and then launch a three-pronged attack. Only in this way can Liu Yao be defeated in the shortest time, preventing the Xuzhou army in Guangling and Jiangcheng from coming to his aid.

Even so, the Xuzhou army was still able to plant spies in the northern part of Danyang, and Sun Ce was still unable to secure his rear. However, his opponent changed from Liu Yao to the stronger and more capable Xuzhou army.

Therefore, Sun Ce still preferred to continue south, but the current situation made him worry that going south might result in an even more crushing defeat.

This is the key reason why he gathered everyone together to discuss the matter.

As soon as Sun Ce finished speaking, the hall fell silent again. Everyone in the hall either looked at each other's expressions or kept their heads down in silence, and no one wanted to speak.

A hint of savagery flashed across Sun Ce's heroic brows, but he quickly suppressed it.

After a long pause, Cheng Pu hesitated before speaking, “I think it would be best for us to follow the previously planned strategy, first defeat Xu Gong’s remaining troops, and then head south to Kuaiji. That would be the most appropriate course of action.”

Cheng Pu spoke up, and Huang Gai immediately followed up, saying, "Brother Demou is absolutely right; that's what I think too."

Huang Gai's strange behavior was due to his rather awkward situation.

Huang Gai's background was actually quite different from that of Sun Jian, Cheng Pu, Zu Mao, and Han Dang; his origins were far superior to the other three.

Huang Gai was a true member of the Huang family, a main branch of the Lingling branch.

Cheng Pu was just a decent boy from the north, Zu Mao was an old man by Sun Jian's side, and as for Han Dang, his status was even lower, he was a military slave.

It should be noted that Huang Gai was a genuine candidate for the Lingling County's "Filial Piety and Incorruptibility" award.

Therefore, during Sun Jian's era, Huang Gai's status actually far surpassed that of the other three. He was skilled in both literature and martial arts and was one of Sun Jian's important assistants.

But the awkward thing now is that his surname is Huang.

Sun Jian died in an ambush set by Huang Zu, and the Huang in Huang Zu and Huang Gai were actually from the same family.

Huang Gai and Huang Zu were indeed distant relatives.

Can this yellow-clad figure not sit on a waxen seat?

Huang Gai was a highly experienced and accomplished individual, skilled in both literature and martial arts, and also a candidate for the civil service examination.

However, during the reigns of Sun Ce and Sun Quan, he was not only surpassed by Cheng Pu, but even Han Dang was above him, which shows how precarious his situation was.

Why did the future choose Huang Gai to feign surrender to Cao Cao?

Isn't it because his defection would seem perfectly reasonable?

Huang Gai is currently in a very bad situation. Sun Jian's death has caused the generals within the Sun family to unconsciously keep a certain distance from him.

Only a few old friends, such as Cheng Pu and Han Dang, still maintain a good relationship with him.

Therefore, although Huang Gai wanted to persuade Sun Ce to continue south and not waver, his awkward situation made him the least suitable person to speak first.

After hearing this, Sun Ce smiled and nodded at Cheng Pu and Huang Gai to appease them.

After Cheng Pu and Huang Gai spoke in turn, the atmosphere in the hall became a little more lively.

The rising star Chen Wu followed up, saying, "If we head south, we need to be wary of Yan Baihu, who is west of Quan. The Yan brothers are notorious bandits in Wu County, commanding over ten thousand men, and they have a close relationship with Xu Gong. I believe that if our army heads south, they will definitely come to Xu Gong's aid, so we must be on guard."

The Yan brothers, Baihu and Baihu, were from Wucheng in Wu Commandery. They were very powerful and popular in the area. If they were to lead troops to rescue Xu Gong, it would undoubtedly cause considerable trouble for Sun Ce's army.

Upon hearing this, Wu Jing, Xu Kun, Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Han Dang, and others all nodded in agreement.

Only Sun Ce sat in the main seat, seemingly lost in thought.

Wu Jing and the others looked at each other, unsure of how to react.

Sun Ce quickly recovered and took the initiative to speak: "Gentlemen, if we do not head south, but instead focus all our efforts on advancing westward and capturing Liu Yao, what do you think?"

Sun Ce's words caused a huge uproar, instantly shocking everyone in the hall.

(End of this chapter)