My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 419 Arrangements for Mi Zhu
Liu Feng was unaware of what had happened in the backyard of the Cao residence. After staying at the Cao residence for another day, he took his leave.

Cao Bao naturally tried his best to persuade Liu Feng to stay, but seeing that Liu Feng was determined to leave, he no longer stood on ceremony. After all, Liu Feng had returned this time to get engaged, and if Cao Bao kept him for another day, the engagement would actually be delayed by another day.

But when Liu Feng left, Cao Bao actually started moving boxes of valuables onto Liu Feng's ship, leaving Liu Feng dumbfounded.

"What does Uncle mean by this?"

If it were someone else, Liu Feng would definitely be angry. What does this mean? Is it blatant bribery?
But the person in front of him was Cao Bao. First, the other party was about to become his father-in-law. Second, he had contributed to the first pot of gold. Third, Cao Bao often talked nonsense, so he had to listen to his explanation.

As expected, Cao Bao's explanation left Liu Feng dumbfounded and quite shocked.

“Nephew, this is a fortune of one hundred million, including five hundred catties each of gold and silver, and the rest are all five-zhu copper coins.”

Cao Bao first listed the total amount of his wealth, and then continued, "This is the money I used to buy government bonds. Please take a look at it, my dear nephew."

"One hundred million?"

Liu Feng asked in shock, "Buy all the government bonds?"

Seeing Liu Feng's surprised expression, Cao Bao felt a surge of satisfaction. He immediately nodded solemnly and said, "Nephew, your promotion of government bonds is a great undertaking. How can I stand idly by? I only regret that I am of limited talent and ability and cannot share your burden. Thanks to you, my family has accumulated considerable wealth. In that case, let's use this wealth to purchase government bonds to help you. That would fulfill my wish."

Liu Feng was truly moved; he hadn't expected Cao Bao to have such thoughts.

Thinking of Cao Bao from the original timeline, Liu Feng felt that he was a good person who was rewarded.

This truly became a case of giving a peach in return for a plum.

He treated Cao Bao with genuine sincerity, and even when facing financial difficulties, he never withheld Cao Bao's share. In return, Cao Bao truly regarded him as a son-in-law, and had actually gone to such lengths.

Liu Feng immediately bowed deeply and said, "Uncle, I will always remember your kindness and repay you in the future!"

Cao Bao was overjoyed and quickly helped Liu Feng up, pretending to decline, saying, "Nephew, there's no need for this. It's just that your uncle is of little virtue and ability and cannot help you any more."

"Why do you say that, Uncle?"

Liu Feng said solemnly, "Now Xiapi is well-governed by you, Uncle, and the people live in peace and prosperity. This is all thanks to you. When I return to Tancheng to see my father, I will definitely report your achievements to him."

Cao Bao was overjoyed and thanked him repeatedly.

Subsequently, under Cao Bao's earnest persuasion, Liu Feng boarded the boat and left.

Cao Bao stood on the dock watching the fleet go until it disappeared from sight, then returned to Xiapi to sell government bonds for Liu Feng.

********
Liu Feng's next stop was naturally the Mi family in Qu County.

Now Mi Zhu has been appointed as the Chancellor of Pengcheng, while Mi Fang is serving as the Prefect of Langya.

The two brothers were both appointed as prefects, and both were located within the territory of Xuzhou, which was undoubtedly a great honor.

Of course, Mi Zhu was also very low-key. He wrote to Liu Bei several times, requesting to resign from his position as Chancellor of Pengcheng and asking to serve as a staff member in Liu Bei's General of Chariots and Cavalry.

It must be said that Mi Zhu far surpassed his younger brother Mi Fang in terms of talent, strategy, and virtue.

However, Liu Feng had other ideas. Mi Zhu was doing a very good job as the Chancellor of Pengcheng. He not only governed the area, stabilized the people, encouraged mulberry farmers, and restored people's livelihood, but also provided Liu Feng with almost perfect logistical support in the workshop area.

Liu Feng was reluctant to reassign such a capable official who understood commerce and industry and could govern a region. Moreover, in Liu Feng's opinion, there were very few people who could perform as well as Mi Zhu after taking office.

On the contrary, Mi Fang, I remember that after he defected to Eastern Wu, his few appearances were in the campaign against the Shanyue.

Since that's the case, it would be better to send him to the southern part of Kuaiji to cooperate with He Qi in conquering the Shanyue. After all, his performance in the Shanyue was quite good in history.

Liu Feng originally intended to go directly to Qu County, but he received a message from Liu Bei on the way that Mi Zhu and Mi Fang had both taken leave and come to Tancheng, and that he could go directly to Tancheng.

After receiving the news, Liu Feng changed course and headed to Tancheng.

In fact, it would have been much easier for him to travel from Xiapi to Tancheng, as the distance was shorter. On the contrary, to get to Qu County, he had to turn onto Xiangshui, sail for hundreds of miles, and then turn onto Youshui before he could reach Qu County.

Four days later, Liu Feng arrived in Tancheng. Liu Bei went five miles outside the city to the post station dock outside Tancheng to welcome his eldest son.

Mi Zhu and Mi Fang followed behind Liu Bei. Both of them had asked for leave to come. The former was relatively calm, while the latter could not hide his excitement and joy.

Seeing that her investment was finally paying off, Mi Fang, who was not a shrewd person to begin with, naturally couldn't hide her joy.

"Father, my two elder brothers."

Since they were about to get engaged, they naturally couldn't call Mi Zhu and Mi Fang "uncle" anymore, and this new form of address made Mi Zhu and Mi Fang secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

Although Liu Feng has only grown three or four years older, his aura and prestige are now incomparable to what they used to be.

He is now the legitimate Left General of the Han Dynasty, holding the title of Grand General of the Three Excellencies, Governor of Yangzhou, Commander-in-Chief of the military affairs of Yangzhou and Jiaozhou, and Marquis of Wu with a fief of 4,500 households.

It can be said that this is the pinnacle that most people pursue in their entire lives, and Liu Feng is only fourteen years old this year.

The Mi family's initial idea was simply to help Liu Bei establish a foothold in Donghai Kingdom and Xiapi County, and to protect and shelter them.

At that time, let alone the three provinces of Yu, Yang and Jiao, they didn't even dare to hope for Langya and Guangling within Xuzhou. They were even worried that Zang Ba would go south from Langya and Yuan Shu would go north from Guangling, attacking Liu Bei from the East Sea.

As Liu Feng, Mi Zhu, and Mi Fang had privately worried that Liu Feng might break off the engagement, after all, the gap between the two sides was too great, so great that the two Mi brothers even discussed whether to take the initiative to cancel the engagement.

Fortunately, Liu Feng continued to pay the dividends he promised the Mi family every year, and the Mi family also helped Liu Feng develop many things such as mines, workshops, ports, shipyards, and salt fields, investing a lot of funds, technology, manpower and energy.

Of course, Liu Feng did not mistreat the Mi family. After the large-scale construction of the Donghai Saltworks was successfully completed, he taught the Mi family how to make snow salt.

After all, with the surge in sales, snow salt has always been in short supply, and the previous snow salt production technology has become less cost-effective and the production time is also quite long.

Therefore, Liu Feng directly taught the salt field technology to the Mi family, who then expanded the salt fields on the coast near Qu County and on Yuzhou Island. This led to a surge in the production of snow salt, which met the rapidly growing demand and brought Liu Feng a huge amount of money and wealth.

It can be said that although Liu Feng provided the technology, a large amount of manpower, funds, energy, and management relied on families such as the Mi family, Lu family, Chen family, Liu family, and Zhou family.

These families also benefited greatly from their cooperation with Liu Feng.

Of course, the largest portion ended up in Liu Feng's pocket.

The group returned to Tancheng Prefecture. Liu Feng begged for mercy and went to the prefecture first to pay his respects to his grandmother and mother.

Tancheng had been free from war for three years, and with the care of Hua Tuo, Liu Bei's mother, Lady Wu, and his wife, Lady Tian, ​​had actually become healthier through proper care. Hearing that Liu Feng had returned this time to arrange a marriage, Lady Wu and Lady Tian were overjoyed.

Liu Feng is now fourteen years old. In the Han Dynasty, people counted their age by the traditional Chinese age system, meaning they were considered one year old at birth. In the countryside, many fourteen-year-old boys and girls were already old enough to get married.

Marriages among the nobility tend to be delayed, often until sixteen or even eighteen, primarily to allow time for their studies.

At the same time, if one can achieve a higher social status, then one can choose to marry into a noble family of a higher social rank.

Putting aside everything else, the mere act of recommending someone for the civil service exam is enough to make a world of difference in the candidates.

It was common practice at the time for those recommended for filial piety and integrity to marry the daughter of the prefect.

Therefore, Liu Bei wasn't actually in a hurry. It was only when he saw that the Mi and Cao families were getting anxious that he summoned Liu Feng back to arrange a marriage. But Wu and Tian were different. They genuinely hoped that Liu Feng would get engaged as soon as possible, or even get married directly, and ideally, they could hold their great-grandchildren next year.

Liu Feng had a meal with Wu and Tian before returning to the front to look for Liu Bei.

Liu Bei was at the time feasting with the Mi brothers when he heard that Liu Feng was requesting an audience, so he immediately summoned him to the hall.

"Have you met your grandmother and mother?"

Liu Bei looked at his eldest son and said with concern, "They have missed you for so long. You have been gone for another year, and they miss you day and night."

Liu Feng hurriedly bowed and apologized, saying, "Your son is unfilial and has troubled your grandmother and mother."

"Get up."

Liu Bei smiled and nodded, offering a slight gesture of support, and said, "Now that Zizhong and Zifang have both arrived, what are your intentions?"

Liu Bei's intention was for Liu Feng to immediately become engaged to the brothers Mi Zhu and Mi Fang. As long as Liu Feng said he would obey his father's words, he could immediately agree to the engagement with the Mi family and set a specific date for the wedding.

However, Liu Feng had some other thoughts on this.

He wasn't unwilling to get engaged, but rather wanted to treat both families as fairly as possible.

On his way back to Tancheng, Liu Feng chose to take the route through Xiapi. Since there were elderly people in the Mi family, it would be unfair to them if he arranged the marriage in Tancheng.

Therefore, Liu Feng proposed to go to Qu County to visit Mi Zeng, the former head of the Mi family, and to ask for Mi Yue's hand in marriage.

Liu Feng was somewhat surprised by Liu Feng's request, but he was clearly delighted by the brothers Mi Zhu and Mi Fang.

The Mi brothers never expected Liu Feng to treat the Mi family with such respect, and of course, they completely agreed to the request.

After receiving Liu Bei's approval, Liu Feng led the Mi brothers to Qu County to propose marriage.

Tancheng is hundreds of miles away from Qu County. Although there is a waterway connecting them, it involves a long waterway journey of over a thousand miles, making the land route much faster.

Eight days later, Liu Feng and the Mi brothers arrived in Qu County with a large amount of betrothal gifts.

Upon receiving the news, the entire Mi family mobilized, led by Mi Zeng, to go twenty miles outside the city to welcome Liu Feng.

Both parties were willing, and no one else tried to sow discord between them, so the engagement went very smoothly.

Just like the Cao family, they agreed to have Liu Feng marry Liu Feng when he turned sixteen two years later.

The Mi family naturally had no objection to this and immediately agreed.

"How is Second Brother doing in Langya County these days?"

In the blink of an eye, Mi Fang had been in Langya County for more than two years.

He has been serving as the prefect here since the division of the prefecture, and has not been transferred until now.

Mi Fang's eyes lit up immediately. To be honest, he was already tired of staying in Langya, and the situation on the northern border was somewhat different from what he had originally expected.

Yuan Shao did not choose to antagonize Xuzhou, but instead made certain concessions, even allowing Kong Rong to remain.

With the barrier of Qingzhou Beihai Kingdom, Langya County was very safe, with no enemies in the vicinity.

This is the fundamental reason why Chen Deng and Chen Qun were successively transferred to southern regions.

While stability represents security, it also means a lack of achievements.

Without war, there are no merits, but Mi Fang really wanted to prove himself through his military achievements.

Therefore, he had long since given up on staying in the northern Langya region and had sent several letters to Liu Bei requesting permission to fight, but had not received a response from Liu Bei.

Mi Fang was already somewhat desperate, so she simply decided to give up and rest in Langya.

Upon hearing Liu Feng's invitation, he was naturally overjoyed and immediately accepted.

Seeing that he was truly sincere, Liu Feng explained to him, "Yangzhou and Kuaiji cover a vast area. I intend to establish a new prefecture, Yongning, with its capital at Yongning County. It will be divided into three counties: Yongning, Zhang'an, and Damu. Zhang'an County will be further divided, along with four counties: Linhai, Huangyan, Jiaojiang, and Ninghai. Yongning will be divided, along with two counties: Lishui and Longquan. Damu will be divided, along with Jiangshan County."

"In that case, Yongning Prefecture would have a total of ten counties. I wonder if you, Zifang, would be interested?"

The series of new prefectures established by Liu Feng resulted in the division of many new counties. However, these new counties were not to be established immediately. The establishment of these counties would have to wait until He Qi, Yu Fan, Mi Fang, and Zhou Yu took office, and then the progress and population size would be assessed before being reported to the central government for approval.

Even so, the territory remains unchanged and will not shrink just because a new county has not been established.

In addition, Kuaiji is currently suppressing the Baiyue, which is a genuine military achievement.

Although the military achievements of the Baiyue people were not as prestigious as those of the warlords during the chaotic period, they were at least recognized by the shogunate, the prefectures, and the imperial court.

This is much better than staying in Langya.

In the original timeline, Mi Fang led his Mi family troops in many battles alongside Liu Bei, narrowly escaping death, proving he was no coward.

Now that he's just over thirty, it's the time when his ambition to achieve great things is at its strongest. Sending him with the Mi family's troops to wipe out the Yue tribes and pacify the local area is actually both suitable and would receive Mi Fang's full support.

Sure enough, after Liu Feng finished speaking, Mi Fang showed a look of surprise and delight, as if he couldn't believe such a good thing could happen. Mi Zhu, who was beside him, also lost his composure slightly. In fact, Mi Zhu was quite brave and strong, especially skilled in archery. It wasn't that he didn't want to go to the battlefield.

Clearly, Mi Zhu was also tempted after hearing Liu Feng's arrangement.

(End of this chapter)