My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 544 Attack and Defense of the Earth Fortress
Even rolling stones and logs couldn't stop the Han army; Long Ben was now at his wit's end.

But the situation was dire; the Han army was now charging forward with overwhelming force. If they wanted to surrender now, they would become fish on a chopping board.

Seeing that the Han army had already rushed to the foot of the stockade wall, using wooden blocks to ram the gate and using makeshift ladders to climb the wall, Long Ben's forehead was covered in cold sweat. He hurriedly ordered the armored young men who were hiding behind the archers to climb the wall and resist.

But if any of these able-bodied men peeked out from behind the stockade walls, they would immediately be spotted by crossbowmen.

Their mere armor was like paper against the deadly power of crossbows; they were either killed or wounded one by one. So much so that no matter how much Long Ben urged them on, no one dared to show their faces again.

At this point, whether these young men still dared to climb the stockade walls became irrelevant.

The village gate, exposed and repeatedly struck by wooden stakes, began to crumble; even a fool would know it wouldn't hold for long.

However, the armored soldiers were faster at climbing. Although they were clad in iron armor, the resistance on the stockade walls was far too weak. They had no rolling stones, logs, hot oil, or even arrows.

Upon reaching the top of the wall, there were no pushers or spears to be seen, yet the first group of warriors were able to scale the wall with surprising ease.

More than half of Lu Xun's elite troops were Yue people. Since joining Lu Xun's forces, and with Liu Feng's policy of ethnic integration, Yue soldiers were often treated the same as Han people.

Over time, these Yue soldiers have become more like the Han people in terms of mentality.

Seeing the weak and incompetent soldiers of the southwestern chieftain, these Yue soldiers became even more ferocious than the Han people. They formed groups of three or five, covering each other, and left a small number of men to support the follow-up troops. Then, like wolves and tigers, they pounced on the village wall, their target being the village gate.

"Block them! You must block them! Kill a man and you'll be rewarded with a sheep; kill a man and you'll be rewarded with a cow!"

Long Ben's eyes widened in fury, and he roared hysterically, offering a hefty reward.

In Southwest China, cattle and sheep were considered hard currency, as valuable as cloth and even more so than gold. Water buffalo, in particular, were not only useful for plowing and farming but could also be rented out. Their leather could be used to make weapons and clothing, their sinews were excellent for bowstrings and ropes, their meat was edible, and their bones could be used to make farm tools and implements, as well as for decorations, containers, and medicine. Even their dung, after being dried, could be used as fuel. They were practically a treasure trove.

The Long family was the largest tribe within a hundred miles, yet they owned only a little over three hundred cattle, demonstrating the preciousness of cattle. The fact that they were offering cattle as a reward showed that Long Ben was willing to go to great lengths, and this mobilization had been extremely effective.

The morale, which had been on the verge of collapse, was instantly boosted. After seeing that there were only fifteen armored soldiers rushing down the stockade wall, many able-bodied men, led by their leader, gathered together and surrounded the enemy, launching an attack.

The next moment, something that shocked the Baiyue people happened.

When their spears struck the iron armor of the Han soldiers, they at most produced a metallic clang, and then either the spearheads broke or simply slid away, failing to penetrate the enemy's defenses at all.

On the contrary, the Han soldiers took advantage of the Baiyue's momentary lapse in concentration and charged forward in groups of five, wielding their steel swords and hacking and slashing. In just one exchange, they killed or wounded seven or eight of the opposing soldiers.

The Baiyue people were thrown into chaos. Those in the front tried to retreat, but those behind blocked their path, and for a moment, everything fell into disarray.

Several leaders in the middle shouted not to cause a disturbance, but they were spotted by the Han soldiers.

The fifteen men immediately split into three groups and charged at the three chieftains, causing the Baiyue people to cry out in despair, unable to stop them at all.

Caught off guard, the three chieftains, along with their guards, suffered eight fatalities and thirteen injuries on the spot.

The weapons of the Baiyue men were completely ineffective against the enemy's defenses. What was particularly troublesome was that there was very little iron armor in the mountains of the southwest, so the Baiyue people basically had no armor-piercing weapons, and they couldn't even change their weapons if they wanted to.

Faced with the heavily armored warriors who were like iron turtles, the young men of Baiyue were helpless, but the steel blades in their hands could easily cut through their leather armor.

The courage emboldened by the generous reward could not withstand the threat of death. The young and strong men of the Baiyue tribe could no longer endure the desperate battle and fled in disarray.

With this collapse, the gates were immediately breached.

The armored soldiers didn't chase after the scattered Baiyue youths; instead, they simply opened the gates of the village.

The Han army swarmed in and captured the entire Longxiakou stronghold in just half an hour.

Long Ben was captured by Xianyu Dan, while Long Kuang was escaping when he ran into Li Yi's troops who had infiltrated from behind.

By the time Lu Xun entered the Longxia Pass stronghold, the Long family father and son had already been captured and brought before him.

The previously arrogant and domineering father and son were now pale-faced and kneeling trembling on the ground.

Upon seeing Lu Xun, the two men immediately kowtowed and cried out that it was a misunderstanding.

"General, spare my life! General, spare my life!"

Long Kuang and his son Long Ben shouted loudly, "We are willing to surrender, we are willing to serve the Han Dynasty."

Lu Xun ignored him, only glancing at the Long family father and son, and said to a scholar-like officer beside him, "Yunhe, I'll leave this to you for now. Submit the documents to me as soon as possible."

"I understand."

The person who responded was Xu Ping, one of Lu Xun's four trusted and beloved generals.

Unlike Xianyu Dan, Li Yi, and Xie Jing, who were fierce generals who charged into battle and captured enemy flags, Xu Ping was rather thin and weak, not at all like a brave general. In fact, under Lu Xun's command, he was mainly responsible for tasks such as command, internal affairs, and documents.

At this moment, the document Lu Xun requested contained detailed information about the Long family. And the source of this information was naturally the father and son from the Long family standing before him.

Next, the army entered the camp and began to treat the wounded, take in prisoners, care for livestock, rest the troops, seal up the treasury, and take inventory of supplies.

Soon, in just over fifteen minutes, Xu Ping arrived with documents to find Lu Xun.

"General, the statistics are in."

Xu Ping walked to Lu Xun's side and handed him all the documents in his hand, while introducing, "The Long family is the number one powerful family within a hundred miles. They have six villages of various sizes, a population of over four thousand, three hundred and eighty-seven head of cattle, and over sixty-seven thousand eight hundred mu of farmland. However, paddy fields account for only about a quarter of them, about sixteen thousand mu. They also have over twenty-five thousand mu of irrigated land, and the rest is dry land."

Paddy fields rely on natural rainfall and irrigation water to keep the field surface submerged for a long time. They have well-developed water conservancy facilities such as field ridges and ditches, which can effectively store water and control water levels. For example, rice fields in the south require a large amount of water throughout the growing season to maintain their growing environment.

Only paddy fields are the best for growing rice.

Compared to paddy fields, irrigated land is much less fertile, requiring artificial irrigation systems such as pumps, canals, sprinklers, and drip irrigation to transport water from the source to the fields. The frequency and amount of irrigation are adjusted according to the needs of the crop and conditions such as climate and soil, and it is not necessary to keep the soil moist for extended periods.

Both paddy fields and irrigated land can be used to grow rice, but the former is more stable and has a higher yield, while the latter is more risky. Even a small-scale drought that lowers the river level can affect the harvest of irrigated land.

Therefore, paddy fields are more valuable than irrigated land. Generally, rice is not grown on irrigated land; instead, wheat, millet, and other grains are planted.

Generally speaking, paddy fields have the highest yield under the same fertility conditions. In the southwest region, paddy rice cultivation has already adopted a double-cropping system.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, in areas with better water conservancy conditions, irrigation costs were relatively low. The value of five mu of paddy fields was roughly equivalent to eight to twelve mu of irrigated land.

The difference mainly depends on irrigation costs. For example, in mountainous areas like this, irrigation systems are not only expensive but also very difficult to maintain. The value of paddy fields can be more than three times that of irrigated land, and in the most extreme areas, it can be as much as ten times.

The main reason is the cost of irrigation and water conservancy conditions.

If the water conditions are excellent, the irrigation cost will be very low. At the same time, irrigated land with sufficient water can produce grain yields that are no less than those of paddy fields, and the prices will naturally be similar.

Conversely, the worse the water conditions, the higher the irrigation costs, and the greater the price difference between paddy fields and irrigated land.

As for dry land, it's even cheaper. Generally, the yield from about five years can buy one acre, which is only a bit more expensive than wasteland.

Hearing that the Long family only had 16,000 mu of paddy fields, and even with irrigated land, the total was no more than 40,000 mu, Lu Xun's earlier good mood was somewhat dampened. This place was strategically located, not far from Lugao County, and connected by warm water, so its produce could effectively supplement the front lines, with extremely low transportation costs.

It can be said that producing one shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain here is equivalent to transporting two to three shi of grain from Jiaozhou in the rear.

Based on current grain production, these 67,000 mu of land can produce about 110,000 shi of grain per year.

According to the consumption patterns of people in the Eastern Han Dynasty, an adult male needed 20 shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain per year, while an adult female needed slightly less, but still 15 shi. As for the elderly and children, it was about 10 shi.

But this is the best-case scenario; most regions do not meet this standard.

Putting aside other factors, the consumption during winter and the off-season would definitely not reach this figure, and it would probably only be about half of that, plus some wild vegetables and other foods to make do.

The only time this number could truly be achieved is during the busy farming season. After all, farming is physically demanding, and lack of strength would result in a loss of next year's harvest. Even powerful local chieftains would understand this.

Based on an average of one shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain per person per month, plus expenses for five months during the busy farming season, adult men and women would have twenty shi per year, while the elderly, weak, and children would have about ten shi.

A population of 5,000, consisting of one elderly person, two able-bodied adults, and two children, would require at least 70 shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain per year to feed a family of five.

Five thousand people would require at least seventy thousand bushels of grain per year, otherwise the elderly, children and the weak would starve, or the able-bodied would not have enough to eat, which would affect the harvest the following year.

Therefore, after deducting costs, the Long family can only save about 40,000 shi of grain per year at most. Moreover, this grain needs to be used to deal with various emergencies, so the real surplus will probably be discounted to some extent.

"The granaries now hold only 180,000 shi of grain, but a considerable amount of gold and other valuables."

Xu Ping then added, "General, this 180,000 shi includes the autumn grain that was just harvested, of which 70,000 shi is the ration for these 5,000 people."

Lu Xun was somewhat pleased when he first heard about the 180,000 shi of stored grain.

But then Xu Ping cut that number in half.

Reminded by Xu Ping, Lu Xun also remembered that the situation in the southwest was quite different.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, although powerful clans had begun to emerge, they were still in their infancy. The vast majority of people in the Central Plains were still self-cultivating farmers and tenant farmers.

There's no need to mention self-cultivating farmers; even tenant farmers, after the harvest, would keep and distribute their own grain, and they could decide how much or how little they ate.

But the southwest is different; the tribal system here is actually a semi-serf system.

The able-bodied men of the Long family did not receive any grain; they could only collect their rations from the Long family's granary once every ten days.

Including the food rations for the five thousand people in Longjia Village, the Longjia granary only accumulated 180,000 shi of grain. Apart from the initial rations, the actual surplus grain was only 110,000 shi, and this figure was accumulated over the years.

Generally speaking, powerful local chieftains like the Long family would store up a year or two's worth of surplus grain in preparation for natural disasters and man-made calamities.

That's all. If it's any more, we'll just sell it.

After all, grain spoils, while hard currencies like money and salt are undoubtedly more stable. It's just that the Long family didn't have time to deal with their surplus grain; otherwise, there would have been even less grain available.

Originally, Lu Xun wanted to exterminate the entire Long family, both to make an example of them and to seize their land and power for his own use.

However, it seems we need to reconsider now.

If we rashly deal with the Long family, it might incite the surrounding chieftains, powerful clans, and tribal leaders to unite against the Jiaozhou army out of a sense of shared fate, which would be counterproductive.

Moreover, the Long family's land holdings need to be properly managed; otherwise, not only will they fail to harvest grain, but the Long family's four to five thousand mouths will become a huge burden.

"General, the situation has been clarified. Whether the Long family..."

As Xu Ping asked the question, he made a decapitation gesture.

Upon seeing this, Lu Xun shook his head: "Let's put it aside for now. Send people to the surrounding villages and ask those chieftains and powerful figures to send their representatives to Longxia Pass for discussions."

Xu Ping was taken aback for a moment, then realized that Lu Xu might have changed his mind, so he replied, "Yes! General, rest assured, I have already sent someone to do so."

Lu Xun nodded in satisfaction: "Tell Xianyu Dan and Li Yi that they must not kill innocent people indiscriminately and must strictly abide by military law, otherwise they will not be able to blame me for enforcing military law."

"Here!"

(End of this chapter)