My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 468 Increased Pressure
At this critical moment when tensions were high and the situation was as taut as a bowstring, Han Song stepped forward from the crowd.

He stood tall and straight, his eyes piercing, took a deep breath, and suddenly shouted, "Silence!"

The shout was like the ringing of a bell, carrying an undeniable authority that instantly silenced the chaotic crowd.

The noisy discussion stopped abruptly, and everyone's eyes were focused on him.

Han Song knew that every second was precious and could not be wasted. He immediately began to make arrangements in an orderly manner. First, with a cold expression, he swept his gaze over everyone and sternly ordered a silencing order: "From now on, no one is allowed to divulge the news that our lord has vomited blood and fallen into a coma. Anyone who disobeys will be executed!"

His tone was firm and left no room for argument, and everyone nodded in agreement.

Immediately afterwards, Han Song quickly arranged various matters.

He first looked at Liu He, his expression serious: "Kaiyang, you must go out immediately and summon all the famous doctors in the city, the sooner the better!"

Liu He immediately accepted the order and hurriedly left.

Then, Han Song turned to Cai Mao and said in a loud voice, "De Gui, from this day forward, you shall have full control of the military in Xiangyang. Quickly conscript able-bodied men, mobilize troops from the surrounding areas, set up defensive lines, and strengthen the city's defenses!"

Despite his disheveled state and the blame for provoking Liu Biao to vomit blood, Cai Mao felt somewhat relieved. He glanced gratefully at Han Song, clasped his hands in acceptance of the order, and strode away to prepare for deploying military affairs.

Finally, after a moment's thought, Han Song decided to send Deng Yi as an envoy to Shangcheng County in Guanzhong to contact Zhang Ji and discuss requesting assistance; and to send Fu Xun as an envoy to Luozhong to lodge a complaint with the court, hoping to gain the court's support and issue an edict to mediate the war between Jing and Yang.

The reason Deng Yi was chosen was because he was upright, incorruptible, and resourceful; in Han Song's mind, only Deng Yi was capable of undertaking this important task. After all, asking Zhang Ji for help would be like asking a tiger for its skin.

Among the military men of Liangzhou, Zhang Ji was considered relatively rational and clear-headed, and he was also quite polite to scholars. However, he was still a military man from Liangzhou. In the past few years, he had invaded Nanyang several times and fought with the Jingzhou army several times. We have to be wary of his intention to seize control of Xiangyang.

Fu Xun's mission to Luozhong was naturally very appropriate.

Fu Xun himself was born in the north, which was adjacent to Luozhong. His family had been scholars for generations and were a prestigious family with great prestige in the court. Naturally, he was the most suitable candidate.

After the arrangements were made, Han Song personally escorted Liu Biao, and the others carefully led him to the backyard.

After a flurry of frantic treatment, Liu Biao finally regained consciousness.

After hearing Han Song's arrangements, his face turned pale and he was still very weak, but he still nodded slightly, which was considered as his approval of Han Song's decision.

The situation in Xiangyang was chaotic due to Liu Biao's sudden change of events, while Liu Feng also faced a new and thorny problem.

Previously, Liu Feng's army marched north with unstoppable momentum, but when they reached Ruoguo County, a series of problems that had accumulated before finally reached a critical point, and the situation suddenly changed.

The army's march began to slow down, as if it were stuck in a quagmire, encountering resistance from all sides. Every step forward was extremely difficult, and the logistical pressure also increased dramatically at this moment.

"Lord."

A clear voice rang out. Liu Feng looked up and saw that the person who entered was Zhuge Liang.

Liu Feng was somewhat surprised. Since the army marched north to Xiangyang, everyone had been extremely busy. Zhuge Liang and Lu Xun, in particular, as Liu Feng's de facto deputies on both political and military matters, were working non-stop, keeping their feet on the ground.

The fact that Zhuge Liang has come to see me now must mean that there is something extremely important to discuss.

Thinking of this, Liu Feng immediately stood up and quickly came out from behind the desk. With a smile on his face and a concerned expression, he asked, "Kongming, what brings you here?"

As he spoke, he warmly invited Zhuge Liang to sit down on a chair to the side.

This chair is the latest furniture produced by Pengcheng Workshop. It is exquisitely designed and has a novel style. Several sets were specially sent to Yangzhou for Liu Feng to appreciate.

Liu Feng didn't stand on ceremony and brought two sets of chairs on board. Over time, this gradually fostered the habit of using chairs among the people around him.

After leading Zhuge Liang to sit down, Liu Feng ordered tea, the steaming tea emitting an enticing aroma.

Liu Feng then looked at Zhuge Liang, his eyes full of inquiry.

Zhuge Liang took out a silk scroll from his bosom, handed it to Liu Feng with both hands, and said with a solemn expression, "My lord, this month's grain consumption has reached 400,000 shi, and the rate of increase in grain consumption is very strong. I'm afraid the number will be even larger next month."

Liu Feng was startled. His hand, which was holding the teacup, paused slightly. He then slowly put down the teacup, took the silk book, and carefully began to read it.

Since the Yangzhou army entered Jingzhou, due to tactical needs, the battle line was stretched extremely long, almost spanning over a thousand miles across the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. If the logistical route from Yangzhou is included, it is no exaggeration to say that it occupied two-thirds of the total length of the Yangtze River. Fighting on such a long battle line naturally required an extremely large number of troops.

Therefore, since Huang Zu retreated to Zhouling, the monthly grain consumption of the Yangzhou army has reached 300,000 shi, far exceeding the original budget of 250,000 shi.

After the great victory at Zhouling, Liu Feng did not immediately head north to Xiangyang. Instead, he made a bold strategic decision to send troops to capture Jiangling.

This decision aimed to block the last passage for the Kuai Yue army to cross the Yangtze River and return to Xiangyang by land. Although it gained a huge strategic advantage, completely sealing off the Kuai Yue army's route back to Xiangyang and leaving them isolated and barely clinging to life, the same problems soon followed.

Liu Feng faced a shortage of troops, and to fill the gap, he had to transfer Jia Kui's army, the last mobile force stationed in Yangzhou, to Jingzhou. This brought the total number of combat troops deployed by the Yangzhou army to nearly 150,000. In addition, a large number of prisoners of war were captured; in the Battle of Zhouling alone, 40,000 Jingzhou soldiers were captured alive. This doesn't even include the surrendered soldiers brought by Huang Zu after he surrendered, who persuaded most of Jiangxia Commandery to surrender as well.

Subsequently, in the Battle of Baqiu, he killed and captured over ten thousand prisoners.

As a result, the Yangzhou army's demand for grain skyrocketed to 400,000 shi per month, which included nearly 100,000 surrendered soldiers and local conscripts.

In the first phase, the Yangzhou army's main operational area was along the Yangtze River. Even when attacking Xisai Camp, Qichun, Xiazhi, Echeng, Zhucheng, Xiakou, Shaxian, Zhouling, and even Baqiu and Jiangling, almost all of these were located along the Yangtze River, half of which were genuine river port cities. This means that the loss of these 400,000 shi of grain was not actually severe; it was genuinely consumed by the Yangzhou army. In other words, this scale of grain consumption was a hard drain that could not be reduced. Even more serious was that Liu Feng also launched his plan to advance north to Xiangyang at this time.

"My lord, according to my calculations, next month's grain consumption will probably start at least at 450,000. If we win another great victory, it may directly exceed 500,000."

Zhuge Liang frowned, his expression cautious, and slowly stated his estimate.

Since marching north to Xiangyang, the combat situation has been drastically different from the previous phase. The Han River is not as large as the Yangtze River, and many cities are not built directly on its banks, but rather at a distance, on higher ground. This reflects the experience and wisdom of the ancients, who feared that flooding of the Han River would not cause the cities to be submerged. However, this means that the army would need to utilize civilian laborers to conquer these strongholds.

In particular, in order to buy time, the Yangzhou army would adopt a strategy of attacking from multiple points simultaneously, which would drastically increase the demand for laborers.

Although Liu Feng used local conscription and prisoners of war as substitutes, these people still needed to eat.

If most of these cities weren't located not far from the Han River, the increase in food pressure would be even more alarming.

"Five hundred thousand shi?"

Liu Feng frowned, his expression grave. This number was indeed alarming. The two million shi of grain in stock was only enough for four or five months, and Zhuge Liang was hinting that it would continue to increase.

However, Liu Feng was not without a backup plan. For one thing, Liu Bei still held at least five million shi of grain, a quantity far exceeding that of Yangzhou. After all, Runan and Xuzhou in Yuzhou were fertile lands, yielding far more grain than Yangzhou, not to mention that the two counties north of the Yangtze River in Yangzhou had just survived the worst drought in decades.

Therefore, Liu Feng was perfectly capable of speaking to Liu Bei, but the problem was that Liu Feng didn't want to.

This was not because Liu Feng was being difficult, nor did he have any complaints about Liu Bei; rather, it stemmed from a strong sense of self-interest within their own camp.

Never underestimate the cost of transporting grain in this era.

Whether it's Yuzhou or Xuzhou, the journey from these two places to Yangzhou alone is six or seven hundred li. Then, from the Yangtze River to Jingzhou, and then north to the Han River, this entire route is a distance of two or three thousand li.

Although waterway losses are much less than land losses, less doesn't mean none. At a loss rate of 5% per 100 li, the loss over 1,000 li is close to 50%, and over 2,000-3,000 li the loss would exceed the loss of the original body.

Liu Feng pondered for a moment and asked, "Both Xiling and Jiangling have been opened to the public. When we attacked Shaxian the other day, most of the supplies and provisions were also preserved. How much grain did we get from these places in total?"

Zhuge Liang already knew these figures by heart, so he didn't need to look at the silk scroll. Without hesitation, he answered, "Xiling City has 200,000 shi of grain, Shaxian has 150,000 shi of grain, Zhouling has 150,000 shi of grain, and Jiangling has slightly more, with 300,000 shi of grain." "Wait a minute."

Upon hearing this, Liu Feng couldn't help but interrupt Zhuge Liang, his face full of surprise and doubt: "Jiangling only has 300,000 shi of grain stored?"

Zhuge Liang remained calm and nodded in agreement, saying, "That's right."

Liu Feng was immediately surprised and asked, "Jiangling is an important town in Jingzhou, the seat of Nanjun, and a land of fish and rice. How come it only has 300,000 shi of grain?"

It should be noted that Wu County's grain reserves once approached one million tons, so Jiangling's grain reserves are clearly not right.

Zhuge Liang remained calm and composed, replying, "My lord, Nan Commandery is a land of plenty in northern Jingzhou, and it is located inland. It is only threatened by Yizhou in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, so there have never been many troops stationed there. The surplus grain is all sent to Xiangyang and Jiangxia."

After Zhuge Liang said that, Liu Feng finally understood.

"This time, the Jingbei expeditionary force marched south with a force of 100,000. Jiangxia County is an important town for river defense, so neither troops nor provisions can be easily diverted. Therefore, the pressure of provisions and pay has mostly fallen on Nan County. In the second half of last year alone, and from the beginning of this year, Nan County has had one million shi of grain, as well as various other military supplies, diverted."

After hearing Zhuge Liang's supplement, Liu Feng frowned even more: "Then wouldn't Jiangling be unable to allocate much grain?"

Zhuge Liang nodded: "Currently, there are more than 20,000 of our troops near Jiangling, and we need to reserve at least 200,000 shi of grain. Therefore, we can only allocate a maximum of 100,000 shi. However, the situation will improve greatly after the autumn harvest."

Of the three commanderies in Jingbei, most of Jiangxia Commandery has surrendered due to Huang Zu's influence. Conversely, in Nan Commandery, even with Liu Qi in control, only half of the counties have surrendered. This is partly due to the fact that many counties in Nan Commandery are located close to Xiangyang.

Liu Feng silently calculated in his mind that he could raise 700,000 to 800,000 shi of grain within Jingzhou, plus the more than 2 million shi in the Yangzhou treasury, which should be enough to last until the autumn harvest. He breathed a slight sigh of relief.

However, after thinking it over, he decided to play it safe and said, "Kongming, please write a letter for me and send it to Xuzhou to inform my father that he should order the grain supplies in Guangling and Zhongrunan to remain untouched for the time being, in preparation for any eventuality."

Guangling and Jiangdong are separated by the river, and the cost of transporting grain from Guangling is comparable to that of Yangzhou. Zhongrunan, on the other hand, has waterways connecting Lujiang and Jiujiang, and can travel along the Shouchun-Hefei line to enter the Yangtze River. Although the journey is several hundred miles longer, it is still the second most cost-effective grain-procuring location after Guangling.

As long as Liu Bei keeps the grain supplies at these two locations in place, Liu Feng will have a sufficient backup plan, and this solution requires almost no additional cost.

After Liu Feng finished discussing with Zhuge Liang, he specially summoned Lu Xun.

Tactically, the Yangzhou army has now begun to divide its forces and launch offensives against six cities: Zhongxiang, Ruoguo, Qiguo, Yicheng, Shanghong, and Hannan.

Among them, Jia Kui's troops were the main force, launching attacks on the three major cities of Ruo, Qi, and Yicheng, while the Wanlan Army was the auxiliary force, responsible for the conquest of the three smaller cities of Zhongxiang, Shanghong, and Hannan.

Of these six cities, Zhongxiang is undoubtedly the most famous in later generations, having been a strategic location fought over by military strategists since the Five Barbarian Invasions. However, in the present day, Zhongxiang is not important; it is merely a small city, far less significant than the states of Ruo, Qi, and Yicheng.

As for the most elite Vanguard Army, it was stationed at Lankouju for rest and recuperation, serving as a strategic reserve force, and continuing to conserve its strength.

Meanwhile, Gan Ning's troops were still the vanguard. They set up a camp ten miles south of Shuaidao, blocked the Han River waterway, and cut off the best route for Xiangyang to rescue the six cities.

This time, Liu Feng summoned Lu Xun with the intention of adjusting the situation and prioritizing the capture of Ruoguo City.

Ruoguo City is located next to the Han River and has a natural harbor. Although the city is not large, it has a complete set of treasuries and granaries. If we can capture it, it can serve as a forward outpost and a transit point for storing and transporting grain.

(End of this chapter)