My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 89: Standing Trees and Hanging Gold
People like Li Jue and Guo Si were far more skilled at fighting than at training troops.

The troops from Danyang in Xuzhou were so formidable that they could be considered the most elite army in Xuzhou at the time. The troops from Donghai and Xiapi were far inferior.

Although the Danyang soldiers were a bit slow, they were still able to form a relatively neat formation.

The soldiers of Donghai and Xiapi might not be able to achieve such discipline.

However, their equipment was really terrible, which is understandable. The Danyang soldiers were repeatedly defeated by Cao Cao and his men, and losing their armor and weapons was a common occurrence.

No matter how wealthy Xuzhou is, it can't withstand the attrition of the Danyang troops.

Moreover, military equipment such as armor is inherently complicated to produce and has a low output, so there is naturally not enough time to replenish it.

Liu Feng sighed helplessly. "The road ahead is long and arduous. Let's take it slowly."

After waiting for quite a while, the line finally quieted down.

Liu Feng walked up to the group and looked at his first batch of troops.

Then, he waved to the side.

Seeing Liu Feng beckon, several attendants carried a wooden stake, several bags of millet, several bolts of silk, a plate of iron coins, and a gold ingot to his side, and then put the items down.

Liu Feng pointed at the log and shouted to the Danyang soldiers in the ranks, "Everyone sees this log, right? Now, whoever can carry this log to the gate of the training ground will be rewarded with a bolt of silk and a bag of millet."

Anyone with even a slight familiarity with history in later generations would know that Liu Feng was imitating Shang Yang's wise strategy—the story of "setting up a log and hanging gold."

Unfortunately, none of the people present, including Xu Sheng, Pan Zhang, and Cao Meng, understood.

This is easy to understand; knowledge is extremely valuable these days, let alone these historical anecdotes.

Such anecdotes can only be found in lengthy historical records, and these records are so large that only extremely wealthy families could afford to collect them.

Xu Sheng's family was considered a powerful family in Ju County. They ate meat, practiced martial arts, and were literate. They were quite wealthy, weren't they?

But his family's collection of books probably couldn't even gather a complete set of classics; having a few fragments would be quite good.

As for ordinary people, they've never even seen it, let alone seen it.

This left Xu Sheng, who could read and had read a few fragments of texts, completely clueless.

The soldiers in the drill ground stared at each other, not even understanding what Liu Feng meant.

Liu Feng, however, showed no impatience. Instead, he repeated himself, this time in more detail: "Whoever can carry this wooden stake from where I stand to the gate of the drill ground will be richly rewarded. This bolt of silk and this bag of millet beneath my feet are his reward!"

This time, the soldiers of Danyang finally understood Liu Feng's meaning.

Unfortunately, no one stepped forward; instead, everyone just watched the spectacle and whispered among themselves.

Almost no one believed that such a good thing could happen.

This wooden stump looks quite heavy, but it's only a few hundred steps from here to the entrance of the drill ground. It's hardly worth so much money.

They assumed that Liu Feng was young and playful, and wanted to make fun of these common soldiers.

Liu Feng didn't care about any of this at all, and even gestured to Xu Sheng and Pan Zhang not to stop them, letting the soldiers talk freely.

Then, seeing that no one came out, Liu Feng raised the price again: "From now on, whoever can carry this wooden stake to the main gate of the training ground will receive an extra string of cash in addition to the reward we just received!"

Because the officers did not stop them, the Danyang soldiers became increasingly emboldened.

Now Liu Feng has added fuel to the fire, like pouring a spoonful of cold water into a frying pan, causing it to explode.

All the soldiers were buzzing with discussion, and the murmurs grew louder and louder, even some officers joined in. But even so, no one was willing to step forward and try.

Liu Feng, who was standing in front, could also hear some snippets of conversation.

The main problem was distrust. People thought it was ridiculous to get silk, millet, and coins in such a simple matter.

It must be that Liu Feng, the son of the governor, is playing a trick on them, wanting to see them fall for it.

In the distance of the training ground stood two young men clad in armor, with more than a dozen subordinates standing behind them.

These men were all strong and fierce, and they were clearly different from the Danyang soldiers in the drill ground.

These people have not only seen blood, but also have taken many lives.

"Abo, look what the young master is doing!"

A stocky-looking young man asked his friend.

"can't read."

The young man called Abo couldn't understand either, but guessed, "Perhaps the young master wants to find the most obedient person."

These two men, Xiahou Bo and Fu Shiren, were both trusted officers in Liu Bei's elite troops.

These men were young and energetic, and were potential generals carefully cultivated by Liu Bei. They would be given important positions and promoted once the army expanded in the future.

Now, Liu Bei has sent these two men to help Liu Feng train his troops, clearly because he is worried that his son might be wronged; he is truly concerned about this.

These two are somewhat special. One of them had already become a general in the army when Liu Bei returned to Xuzhou for the third time, but he surrendered with Guan Yu when Cao Cao's army besieged the city. After that, he disappeared from history and left no trace.

As for Fu Shiren, he was even more infamous. He surrendered to Eastern Wu and became the blade that betrayed the Second Prince, directly destroying the greatest hope of the Shu Han dynasty.

According to historical records from later generations, Fu Shiren initially defended the city and refused to meet Yu Fan.

Rather than a genuine surrender, it would be more accurate to say that they were outmaneuvered by Yu Fan.

In fact, after Yu Fan persuaded Fu Shiren, he was also very worried that Fu Shiren would go back on his word. So he immediately ordered Lü Meng to take control of the defenses of Gong'an City and then took Fu Shiren hostage and took him out of the city.

But no matter what, the evidence of Fu Shiren's betrayal is irrefutable, just as it is now that he is risking his life for Liu Bei.

At this moment, neither Xiahou Bo nor Fu Shiren could understand Liu Feng's actions, and could only wait and see.

The subsequent developments were entirely under Liu Feng's control.

Therefore, he continued to raise the reward again, step by step: "Still no one? Then from now on, the reward will be doubled! Whoever can do it will receive two bolts of silk, two bags of millet, and two strings of coins!"

This time, the discussion didn't increase but decreased, and the atmosphere gradually cooled down.

The soldiers were starting to get scared, thinking that Liu Feng had ulterior motives, otherwise why would he offer such a high reward?
Who knows, if someone actually tries to carry it, they might be chopped into mincemeat by the axemen lying in ambush before they even reach the gate.

It was this kind of wild thinking that made the soldiers panic, fearing that they would be chosen by Liu Feng because they were too active, so they didn't even dare to participate in the discussion.

Liu Feng was very patient, ignoring the worried looks from Pan Zhang and Xu Sheng, and continued to wait.

In fact, Liu Feng had already secretly arranged for an inside agent, who was personally deployed by Cao Meng.

A wildly imaginative historical fiction novel, "I Opened a History Tutoring Class in the Ming Dynasty," is a friend's new book. If you like this genre, you might want to check it out.

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(End of this chapter)