My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 431 Seeking Credit and Rewards

Zhou Yu realized that Zu Duan's curiosity was genuine, but he was putting on an act to save face.

Zhou Yu talked to him for so long without killing him with a single blow, which clearly meant there was room for negotiation.

Isn't Zu Duan just trying to save face for himself?
Sure enough, Zu Duan then shouted, "Tell me what methods you used. If you can convince me, I will surrender!"

Zhou Yu was secretly delighted, but said disdainfully, "Shan'er is cunning. Who knows if you've truly surrendered or just pretended?"

Zu Duan's eyes lit up, and he pretended to be annoyed, saying, "You're just being paranoid. I swear on the mountains and our ancestors' spirits!"

"It's a deal?"

"A word is settled!"

Zhou Yu was overjoyed and immediately presented his design on a tray.

Actually, once the design is revealed, it's not anything special. It's simply that Zhou Yu had people tie up water birds and hide them outside the reeds. After the inspection, they would then quietly sneak into the reeds.

Once they saw or heard the signal arrow, they immediately released the water bird in their hands.

Once those in the distance see this, they take turns releasing the waterbirds in their hands. In this way, only two or three relays are needed for the fleet that has been waiting in the distance to receive the order and speed toward the meeting point on the shore.

Although they were farther away, they were much faster than those on land. If Zhou Yu hadn't already ordered them to hide in the reeds and await orders upon arrival, they would have arrived even earlier than Zu Duan's men.

As for whether the bird might be mistaken, that's naturally not the case.

There were many people here, and with Zu Duan sending people to inspect the reed marshes, the birds that originally flew there had long been frightened away, so there was no need to worry about misjudgment.

"It's so..."

Zu Duan's mouth dropped open, and he was dumbfounded, never having imagined that such a thing could be done.

The brilliance of this strategy lies not in its design, but in its vision.

In other words, one would be quite astonished upon first encountering it, but after seeing it once, it wouldn't seem so remarkable. Not to mention that Zu Duan and his group lived in the mountains year-round and rarely ventured onto the plains, much less the shores of lakes.

Zu Duan's ability to send men to search the reed marshes and guard against Zhou Yu hiding his troops there demonstrates his exceptional foresight.

In other words, he ran into Zhou Yu. If it had been an ordinary general, trying to set up a trap for Zu Duan, the best they could have done was to have their plans discovered and the two sides would have parted ways.

Those with worse luck might end up at Zu Duan's trap.

Zhou Yu asked with a smile, "Well, are you willing to surrender now?"

Zu Duan regained his senses and felt admiration. He immediately knelt down and shouted, "Zu Duan is completely convinced and willing to surrender!"

********
The memorials from Sun Ce, He Qi, and Zhou Yu arrived at Liu Feng's office on the same day.

After Liu Feng opened and read it, a clear look of joy appeared on his face.

"Good, well done."

Seeing Liu Feng not only beaming with joy but also shouting excitedly, Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, and Lu Xun were all astonished, as they rarely saw Liu Feng so out of control.

"Take a look at it."

Liu Feng smiled and pointed to the silk book on the table: "Sun Bofu has done a great job this time. He sent Sun He back to report that he asked me for permission to stay in Jingnan temporarily to advise the powerful clans and gentry of Jingnan."

Liu Feng had no doubts about this and was not worried at all that Sun Ce wanted to run away.

Sun Jian's entire family is under his control, and Sun Quan is now the county magistrate. What's the point of Sun Ce running away alone?
On the other hand, the Jingnan region, especially the Changsha region, does indeed have a very close relationship with the Sun family. Many people don't know that Changsha can almost be considered a staunch supporter of the Sun family.

While Zhou Yu was attacking Nan Commandery and Sun Quan was attacking Hefei, Liu Bei swept south into Jingchu. Despite Liu Bei's reputation, official position and strength, as well as Liu Qi's righteous cause for Jingzhou, Changsha was still the area with the fiercest resistance.

Changsha looked down on Liu Bei; instead, it favored Cao Cao and Sun Quan.

The reason for favoring Cao Cao is that he had the emperor in his hands and was the most powerful force in the land, so naturally there was no shortage of people betting on him, while Sun Quan relied entirely on his father's favor.

Later, when the Xiang River was used to demarcate the border, Sun Quan launched another surprise attack on Liu Bei. The four counties of Jingnan offered almost no effective resistance. One of the key factors was that Changsha surrendered too quickly, leaving the other three counties no time to react before the enemy was already at their gates.

In the original timeline, Changsha was able to resist Liu Biao for more than a year. Zhang Xian's appeal and the popular support of Changsha's gentry and powerful families were important reasons, but there was another reason that is rarely known.

Those were the elite troops from Changsha who followed Sun Ce in conquering the Central Plains, repeatedly defeating Dong Zhuo's elite forces, and making a counterattack to enter Luoyang.

After Sun Jian's death in battle, most of these powerful clans and their retainers chose to return to their hometowns. These people numbered quite a few, easily reaching ten thousand.

This elite force not only had extensive experience in major battles, but also possessed excellent weaponry and equipment.

Not only did they receive supplies from Yuan Shu, but Sun Ce also obtained a large amount of military equipment and supplies from the Jingzhou and Nanyang prefectures after killing the governor of Jingzhou and the prefect of Nanyang.

Nanyang Commandery was the largest commandery in the country at that time, and also the largest iron smelting center in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Its annual steel production ranked first in the country, and it was leading in a tiered manner.

These iron armored weapons were not only stored in the warehouses of the Iron Official Camp, but also in the armories of Wancheng, the capital of Nanyang Commandery, and Xiangyang, the capital of Jingzhou Prefecture.

Sun Jian had a truly lavish feast. If we consider the armored forces of the various warlords at the time, perhaps only Dong Zhuo, who had annexed the central, northern, and western armies and seized control of the Luoyang armory, could surpass Sun Jian's numbers. Other warlords like Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, even combined, might not have as many armored soldiers as Sun Jian's force.

Sun Ce still maintained a relationship of loyalty and service with these people, and with Zhang Xian's approval, Sun Ce could even directly command them in battle. The role he could play by staying in Jingnan was far greater than if he returned to Liu Feng's command in Wu County.

In addition to the good news from Sun Ce, He Qi, Gao Shun, Zhou Yu, and Zu Lang also sent good news.

Taking advantage of the New Year holiday, He Qi and Gao Shun led 3,000 elite troops on a long-distance raid by waterway. In the first battle, they beheaded more than 1,000 people, and in the second battle, they beheaded more than 700 people. In the two battles, they broke through six mountain strongholds and captured more than 51,000 people, including Yue people and Han people. Less than 1,000 people escaped through the mountain paths.

He Qi's power and influence were overwhelming. In less than ten days, more than thirty large and small mountain strongholds in the surrounding area surrendered, and more than 70,000 people came to serve the imperial court. He Qi then seized the opportunity to establish another county, Jianyang County, located on the upper reaches of the Jianxi River. Within a week of its establishment, more than 7,000 able-bodied young men from the surrounding mountains and Yue tribes had joined its ranks.

While the situation was looking very promising, He Qi also asked Liu Feng for help.

Because the situation was so favorable, He Qi wanted to speed things up. He had no shortage of troops, and the people of Shanyue who had submitted to him were not afraid of not having a chance to make contributions. As for the fact that the other side was his own compatriots?
That's not true. The fighting among the Yue people in the mountains lasted much longer than the southward migration of the Han people. Even the term "Yue" itself was given to the Yue people by the Han people for convenience. He Qi is now seeking aid in the form of goods and grain, especially grain.

The large influx of Yue people into He Qi's territory quickly depleted his grain reserves.

Even if we calculate based on the extremely low consumption of a grown man's monthly and half-shi of grain, the more than 500,000 shi of grain he had would not last long. Moreover, he not only had to provide food and drink for these people, but also had to reserve seeds and rations for next year.

Taking Dongye County as an example, the net grain income next year is estimated to be around 300,000 to 400,000 shi (a unit of dry measure), which may be slightly higher due to factors such as the curved plow, but will not exceed 500,000 shi.

This year, Liu Feng had previously subsidized He Qi with more than 200,000 shi of grain, which is why he now has more than 500,000 shi in his hands.

In addition, snow salt, frost sugar, and sesame oil also have a considerable influence, and are powerful tools for bribing the chieftains, clan leaders, and officials of the Yue tribes. Naturally, the more the better.

Liu Feng did provide He Qi with considerable support, but the speed at which the other side had opened up three counties and gathered more than 100,000 mountain tribes and Han people to settle down and cultivate land in just half a year was far beyond Liu Feng's expectations.

In the original timeline, He Qi spent three years developing the three counties of Jian'ou, Jianyang, and Hanxing. The population under their direct administration was pitifully small, with the three counties combined not exceeding 20,000.

Even so, after Sun Ce's death, when the news reached the area, the three counties immediately rebelled, forcing Sun Quan to gather 6,000 county soldiers for He Qi and send him back to Huinan to quell the rebellion.

In just four or five months, He Qi has already achieved more than ten times the political achievements of the original timeline. How could Liu Feng not be overjoyed?

Similarly, great news also came from Zhou Yu's side.

With Zulang's assistance, he successfully captured Zu Duan, the most renowned figure among the local Yue people.

According to the silk manuscript, both Zhou Yu and his opponent set up a trap, but Zhou Yu was more skillful and captured Zu Duan alive.

Along with Zu Duan, fourteen mountain strongholds of varying sizes surrendered, with a population exceeding 70,000. As news of Zu Duan's surrender spread, more and more Yue tribes would be subdued.

After all, Zu Duan and Zu Lang were practically the most prominent leaders in the area.

After claiming his credit, Zhou Yu also made a request, almost identical to He Qi's, hoping that Liu Feng could provide financial and material assistance.

He Qina already said that snow salt, frost sugar, and sesame oil are so potent in their effects on the Yue people that there is no reason why the Yue people in the south would like them while the Yue people in Poyang and Danyang in eastern Henan would not.

After reading the silk scroll, Zhuge Liang and the others understood why Liu Feng was so happy.

The total number of the Yue people was about three million. In just half a year, Zhou Yu and He Qi had already subdued 200,000 of them, which is almost one-fifteenth of the total number of Yue people.

If you're still unhappy with this progress, then you're being too demanding of your subjects.

Pang Tong asked, "General, how should we handle the requests for assistance from the two prefects?"

Liu Feng smiled bitterly. What else could he do? His subject was so capable, and his request was so reasonable. He had even made some boastful promises before, so naturally he would do his best to support him now.

However, this is also a good thing. These Yue people can start farming this year. With the curved plow and the instruction of the Han people, and with the practice of military farming, as long as there are no natural disasters or man-made calamities, they can have a net income this year. Moreover, the longer the period, the greater the net income. At the same time, recruiting a large number of Yue people can not only greatly increase productivity and expand the economic, product, and population ceiling of the entire Jiangnan region, but most importantly, it can also significantly improve the security of Jiangnan.

These mountains, if left unattended, become a serious source of instability.

Although Sun Shiwan could only rack up battles against the Yue tribes, this alone earned him a lot of points in the eyes of the powerful clans of Jiangdong.

The Yue tribes in Jiangdong are really too troublesome. Apart from Wu County, almost every county has to deal with the problem of Yue raids, which is undoubtedly a very heavy burden.

However, by the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the problem of the Yue people had become much smaller. This was due to the contributions of the Sun family to the Yue people and also pointed out a clear path for Liu Feng.

“Give them to them.”

After a moment's thought, Liu Feng made a decision: "Give each person an additional 300,000 shi of grain, 10 shi of sugar, 500 shi of salt, and 100 shi of sesame oil. Make it clear to them that as long as they achieve results, I will continue to supplement their supplies."

Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, and Lu Xun exchanged a glance, their eyes full of smiles.

Clearly, what Liu Feng is saying now is his true thought.

Jiangdong still has nearly three million shi of grain stored up, which is more than enough to replenish its reserves.

The previous expansion of the army mainly consumed money and wealth; the consumption of food did not actually increase much.

Jiangdong has vast lakes and marshes, as well as a large coastline.

Liu Feng actively promoted methods for making salted fish and salted eggs, providing the troops with large quantities of fish and shrimp as a protein supplement.

In addition, Liu Feng continued to invest in expanding wind and water mills in Jiangdong, which greatly increased the production of tofu, thus enabling the supply to his elite troops.

All of Liu Feng did was to improve the food and living conditions of the elite troops, thereby enhancing their combat effectiveness.

They were able to supply their elite troops with meat and protein, so their food supplies were naturally plentiful.

It's better to just leave it there than store it, as it will cost money to preserve it. Besides, in another year, the grain will all be stale. It's more efficient to send it to Zhou Yu and He Qi.

Of course, the reason why Liu Feng was able to be so relaxed was that he had the support of major rivers and lakes in the next stage of his strategy.

The rear of the Jingbei army was cut off, with the Yangtze and Xiang rivers serving as supply lines. Jiangxia and Nanjun were both located on the banks of the Yangtze River.

The most troublesome place was Xiangyang, but it was still connected to the Han River.

Following Liu Feng's instructions, Zhuge Liang and others conducted a simulation, concluding that with a scale of 100,000 participants, the monthly grain consumption would be around 300,000 shi (a unit of dry measure).

The monthly cost of maintaining the army is 200,000 shi (a unit of dry measure), and the additional expenses are only 100,000 shi.

This is equivalent to consuming only 50% more than usual. This is transporting grain from Yangzhou to the front line in Jingzhou. The cost-effectiveness is truly surprising. The loss is about 5% per 100 li.

The loss on land starts at 30% per 100 li, and it increases linearly. When it reaches 1,000 li, the loss can even reach 300% to 500%.

It's no wonder that Sun Tzu recorded in his Art of War that after a long expedition, the daily cost was a thousand pieces of gold.

(End of this chapter)