My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 86 Liu Yao's Sorrow

After consolidating its own security, Xuzhou was willing to support Liu Yao in resisting Yuan Shu.

Liu Yao frowned upon seeing the letter.

Because the letter did indeed mention things that were keeping him up at night, and every word it said was accurate.

Liu Yao was at a loss as to what to do about Xu Zijiang's health or his worries about Zhou Shang.

Xu Shao, also known as Xu Zijiang, held an extremely high position by Liu Yao's side. This was not only because he was a renowned scholar, but more importantly, because Xu Zijiang was Liu Yao's chief strategist.

Many people only think that Xu Zijiang is good at judging people, but they don't know that Xu Zijiang is also good at governing and military strategy.

Liu Yao was able to rise to prominence in Qu'a County, and within a few dozen days, he won over more than ten powerful families, gathered an army of ten thousand, and launched a surprise attack on Wanling, all thanks to Xu Zijiang.

In this operation, Xu Zi not only discovered three generals for Liu Yao in advance: Fan Neng, Yu Mi, and Zhang Ying, but also formed an alliance with Xue Li, the former chancellor of Pengcheng, and Dahe Rong, the right-hand man of Tao Qian, who was stationed in Moling, to serve Liu Yao and provide him with troops and supplies.

After that, Xu Zijiang personally set up three lines of defense, resisting each other one by one and supporting each other. As a result, Wu Jing and others could not defeat the Yangtze River no matter what they did, and when Sun Ce arrived, he could only look at the river and sigh.

It can be said that Liu Yao's ability to turn the tide against Yuan Shu and occupy Danyang and Wu counties was entirely due to the efforts of Xu Zijiang.

However, Xu Zijiang has been suffering from a minor illness since a month ago. Although the illness is not serious, it has not been able to heal for a long time.

Perhaps this is also related to the complexity of Xu Zijiang's affairs. He is now Liu Yao's right-hand man, responsible for handling the political affairs of various counties and managing the prefecture. At the same time, he is also responsible for collecting grain, fodder, and military equipment and sending them to the front lines.

What's most terrifying is that he also has to constantly monitor military affairs, adjust deployments, and replenish troops on the front lines.

Xu Shao alone practically took on all the responsibilities of Liu Yao's prefecture.

Fortunately, Liu Yao and Xu Zijiang were close friends and had no worries about each other rebelling; otherwise, they would have fallen out and been fighting for power long ago.

The day before yesterday, Xu Zijiang even took the time to remind Liu Yao to be careful of Zhou Shang.

But now Liu Yao knows what he should be most worried about: Xu Zijiang's health.

Even if Zhou Shang betrays Liu Yao, Liu Yao is confident he can handle the situation if Xu Zi is present.

But if Xu Zijiang were gone, Liu Yao shuddered at the thought of the situation.

Gradually, Liu Yao's gaze fell on Liu Bei's letter.

Or, let's listen to Liu Bei and send Zijiang to Tancheng for treatment and recuperation first?
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The following day, Liu Bei summoned all his core personnel, including Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Tian, ​​Chen Deng, Mi Zhu, Lu Su, Cao Bao, and others, and formally introduced them to the battle plan drafted by Liu Feng.

Seeing the clearly explained and well-defined battle plan, everyone present was greatly encouraged, as if the mission had become simpler.

In particular, the detailed preparations made for several possible contingencies and corresponding response plans at the end of the mission earned the praise of frontline generals.

Cao Bao looked at the silk scroll in his hand, feeling both delighted and proud.

The surprise was that he felt the chances of success for this operation were getting higher and higher, and the satisfaction came from the fact that his bet on the young master Liu Feng now seemed to have been incredibly profitable.

Even deep in Cao Bao's heart, a trace of regret arose, regretting that he had not staked everything and used all his troops to get his daughter the status of a legitimate wife.

Cao Bao also knew that Liu Feng could not possibly agree, or rather, Liu Feng had no right to agree; only Liu Bei was qualified.

But he couldn't help but fantasize: if Liu Feng had succumbed to the temptation of ten thousand troops and given in, would Liu Bei have been unable to back down and would have had to grit his teeth and accept reality? Then he would be Liu Feng's rightful father-in-law now.

In the end, Cao Bao sighed inwardly: Alas, I was still too timid and too cautious.

Liu Feng's battle plan, both in terms of its content and overall framework, received high praise from everyone, and there were absolutely no objections to its general direction.

However, everyone offered some improvements on some minor details of the operation, which refined the entire plan.

Finally, Liu Bei strictly ordered everyone not to reveal the details of the battle, including their families.

The plan was also put away again, and tasks will be assigned to the responsible persons of each department before the operation begins.

Next, Liu Bei officially appointed Zhao Yun and Tian Yu as magistrates of Cheng County and Lanling County, respectively, and ordered them to lead their newly recruited soldiers, escort the recruited households and prepared supplies to their respective county towns to carry out land reclamation.

Zhao Yun and Tian Yu were overjoyed. They bowed in gratitude and left for the training ground to prepare to lead their troops out.

In addition, the funds that the Mi and Lu families originally planned to raise were no longer needed.

Because Zang Ba requested that the Mi family provide rock sugar and snow salt that were easier to transport and conceal.

Both the Mi and Lu families took Liu Bei's orders very seriously and worked hard to raise funds.

Although it has been a short time, four million coins have already been raised.

Therefore, Liu Feng persuaded Liu Bei to simply borrow the money in the name of the state government, with an annual interest rate of 10%.

This interest rate would be considered usury in later generations, but it was a very low interest rate during the Eastern Han Dynasty.

However, considering that the lender is the state government, which has an extremely reliable repayment ability, and that it is secured by various taxes and levies, this interest rate is not low.

The Mi and Lu families were also happy to agree, as the current chaos of war had severely damaged trade routes, and the cost of goods lost on the road was far greater than in peacetime.

Lending money to the state government at an annual interest rate of 10% is considered an extremely stable and good business.

After Liu Bei received the money, Liu Feng strongly urged him to invest half of it in expanding the scale of the artisans.

Because Liu Feng's subsequent expansion of the iron smelting and forging industry, the iron smelting industry, and even his experiments with steelmaking, iron farm tools, and porcelain making all required craftsmen, expanding the scale of the craftsmen was also a very important matter.

Liu Feng planned to entrust this matter to Mi Zhu.

Firstly, Mi Zhu has always been a strong supporter of Liu Bei and his son. He is a reliable and business-savvy individual, so it would be a good opportunity for him to try his hand at industrial projects. Perhaps he will become an excellent industrial management cadre in the future.

Secondly, Mi Zhu's position as the Prefectural Governor actually did not wield much power within the prefecture.

It wasn't that anyone wanted to sideline him, but rather that while the position of Prefectural Governor was prestigious, the power it wielded was closely tied to the Prefectural Governor's own personality.

If the Prefect is a strong-willed person who likes to seize power, then he has the right and authority to interfere in everything. In theory, he can even sideline the Governor and the Inspector.

In fact, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were indeed many famous scholars who, after being recruited by governors or prefects to serve as their assistants, directly sidelined their rulers and took over the administration.

(End of this chapter)