My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 56 Drawing Grain from Under the Cauldron
Moreover, from Liu Feng's perspective, it's better for Zang Ba not to express his opinion; if he were to surrender voluntarily, it would only make things more complicated.

Langya Commandery is geographically important; to secure Xuzhou, it is essential to take control of Langya Commandery.

If Zang Ba were to surrender voluntarily, given Big Ears' current guilty conscience and reputation for benevolence, he would most likely follow Cao Cao's example and grant Zang Ba the status of a vassal of Langya, which would be tantamount to planting a huge landmine for himself.

Currently, Zang Ba is the largest and strongest force in Langya County, but not the only one.

Behind Zang Ba was the power of Xiao Jian, the governor of Langya Commandery, and there were also the Wang and Zhuge families in the local area, as well as the remnants of the Yellow Turban Rebellion in Qingzhou to the north.

It can be said that Langya County is simply a miniature version of present-day Xuzhou, with complex and chaotic power struggles within the county.

Therefore, instead of spending a lot of energy trying to mediate, it would be better to cut the Gordian knot and suppress Zang Ba by force while he was still defiant.

Then, taking advantage of the victory over Zang Ba, they swept through Langya County, suppressing all these chaotic forces and bringing the power of Langya County back to the state government.

When Liu Feng went to see Liu Bei, the officials of the prefecture were no longer surprised.

Everyone in the prefecture knew that the new governor was not only benevolent and skilled in battle, but also had a precocious son who could influence the governor's decisions.

Upon hearing that Liu Feng was requesting an audience, Liu Bei immediately ordered him to be summoned.

After Liu Feng entered, he found that Chen Deng was also there.

It turned out that Chen Deng was discussing the land reclamation matters with Liu Bei for the coming year.

Although the matter of military farming had been decided to be handled by Lu Su, and Lu Su was even promoted to the position of Agricultural Commandant.

The person who held this position before him was Chen Deng, and he did a very good job in the position, achieving great success in land reclamation and harvesting a lot of grain.

It was precisely this foundation that fueled Tao Qian's arrogance, leading him to launch military campaigns in the following years in an attempt to expand his power.

Chen Deng truly lived up to his reputation as Liu Bei's good friend. As soon as he heard that Liu Bei wanted to establish military farms, Chen Deng had already written down all his experiences in military farms and even organized them in a special way.

I came to see Liu Bei today because I wanted to present him with this experience in land reclamation.

In addition, Chen Deng also received a letter from his father, Chen Gui.

In the letter, Chen Gui lavishly praised Liu Bei and his son, as well as Qu Yuanli, expressing his gratitude and loyalty to the people of Xiapi.

Of course, Chen Gui wasn't just all talk.

At the end of the letter, Chen Gui heard that Liu Bei wanted to establish a military agricultural system, so he mobilized the gentry of Xiapi and raised twenty oxen, five thousand shi of grain, thirty thousand coins, three thousand jin of iron, fifty bolts of hemp cloth, twenty bolts of silk, five bolts of plain white silk, as well as some clothing, bedding, farm tools, and other items.

All these supplies together amount to approximately one million coins.

Although it seems that the gifts sent by this entire prefecture are only about the same as those sent by Lu Su alone.

But Liu Bei was deeply moved, because this was a token of the local people's goodwill.

None of these people could be as wealthy as Lu Su. Even the Chen Deng family was only far superior to Lu Su in terms of family background, but when it came to money, they were far inferior.

The past two years have also been difficult for Xiapi. Although most of the main battlefields were in the East Sea and Pengcheng, Xiapi has also been ravaged by war.

Firstly, this was not Cao Cao's main attack direction, and secondly, the people of Xiapi were quite determined to defend themselves. Under the leadership of the Chen family, they resolutely resisted, which is why Cao Cao returned empty-handed.

In this situation, the fact that they could still provide the state government with over a million coins in cash and supplies truly demonstrates their utmost loyalty.

The first thing Liu Feng saw when he entered was Big Ears holding Chen Yuanlong's hand and thanking him profusely.

Upon seeing Liu Feng arrive, Chen Deng withdrew his hand, then stood up and respectfully bowed to him.

Liu Feng naturally couldn't wait for the other party to bow; a week had already passed. After the two exchanged greetings, Chen Deng turned to Liu Bei and said, "Since you have business to attend to, then I will take my leave."

Chen Deng was about to leave when Liu Feng stopped him.

"Chen Gongcao, wait a moment."

Under Chen Deng's questioning gaze, Liu Feng said sincerely, "I have come here today to offer my advice to you, Father. Chen Gongcao is profound and strategic, quick-witted and intelligent. I would like to ask you to stay and discuss this with me."

Chen Deng went to look at Liu Bei, who naturally laughed and pulled Chen Deng back to his seat: "Yuanlong is my trusted and beloved general, an important official of the state. What is there that you cannot know? Yuanlong, there is no need to avoid suspicion. Please sit down and listen."

Since Liu Bei had said so, Chen Deng naturally wouldn't take his leave.

In fact, he was quite interested in Liu Feng, Liu Bei's eldest son.

Previously, Liu Bei asked him to take Liu Feng as his disciple, and he readily agreed. However, it is unknown what happened later, and it seems that Liu Bei did not follow up.

However, this time, it's actually a great opportunity to make contact.

Liu Feng just said he wanted to offer a strategy, which is a good opportunity for Chen Deng to observe Liu Feng's personality and abilities.

"I humbly request your guidance and instruction, Chen Gongcao."

Chen Deng smiled and nodded. He had always been someone who dared to be the first in everything, and keeping a low profile was never a good thing for Chen Yuanlong.

"Father, Chief Clerk, please look at this picture."

Liu Feng was, after all, a person from later generations, and he liked numbers and PowerPoint presentations.

What was laid out in front of Liu Bei and Chen Deng was a PowerPoint presentation.

The map above shows a rough map of Langya County, while data is listed in the blank space next to it.

“Father, Chief Clerk, as far as I know, Langya Commandery under the late emperor had 13 counties, 120,000 households, and more than 570,000 people. It could produce nearly 40 million shi of grain every year. Our dynasty’s land tax is 1/30, which can yield 1.3 million shi of land tax.”

Later, the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, and the war raged on. Although Xuzhou was not the main battlefield, it was severely harassed by the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou. Langya was the first to be affected, and its population plummeted.

By the time Tao Gong took charge of Xuzhou, Langya's population was less than half of its peak, and more than two-thirds of the land was abandoned.

Zang Ba actually controlled a small amount of land, mainly the area around Donghai Commandery, including only the commandery capital Kaiyang and Yangdu counties.

Although these two counties had not experienced much warfare, and Kaiyang was located in a river bend area with fertile land and abundant superior fields, even so, the two counties' grain production was at most 7.5 million shi (a unit of dry measure). With a tax rate of one-thirtieth, Zang Ba could only collect 250,000 shi of land tax.

Zang Ba had several thousand men under his command. Including Sun Guan, Sun Kang, Wu Dun, Yin Li, and Chang Xi, the total number of men was about seven or eight thousand. Maintaining the army would cost 160,000 shi of grain, but he only had less than 100,000 shi of grain available.

Even including the grain stored up in previous years and some grain traded in private commerce, the total amount would definitely not exceed 150,000 shi (a unit of dry measure).

The current price of grain is 250 coins per shi (a unit of dry measure), so 150,000 shi would be approximately 3.8 million coins.

At this point, Liu Feng paused and looked at Liu Bei.

Chen Deng was curious, wondering what Liu Feng meant by reporting these numbers.

Liu Bei took the initiative to explain to Chen Deng the strategy of "borrowing a path to destroy Guo" and "drawing firewood from under the cauldron" that Liu Feng had offered.

As Chen Deng listened, he frequently turned his head to look at Liu Feng.

An extra chapter is here!
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(End of this chapter)