Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 25 The Drought is Coming
In the sixth year of Guanghe, on the night of May 12, it was the day of Great Heat.

The scorching sun this year seems particularly merciless, yet it burns everyone equally.

Even the common people in the countryside, who were accustomed to going to bed early so that they could get up early to work on the farm the next day, tossed and turned on their couches and found it difficult to fall asleep.

Of course, even though the merciless high temperature tortured everyone who was preparing to fall asleep, it did not affect the sleep of Liu Bian, the prince of the Han Dynasty.

The two palace maids on duty brought two ice mirrors and placed them at the head and foot of Liu Bian's bed. They fanned the ice mirrors with cattail-leaf fans. The cold air emitted from the ice in the mirrors was blown towards the bed by the cattail-leaf fans, dispelling the heat that made it difficult to fall asleep.

The cool and refreshing feeling accompanied him until early morning. The palace maids on duty were rotated several times, and the ice in the ice jar was refilled several times, but there was never any movement to wake Liu Bian up, allowing him to sleep soundly until early morning.

After getting up, Liu Bian changed into a set of tight clothes with the help of the palace maid, took a wooden sword from Dian Wei, and began to practice swordsmanship under the guidance of his swordsmanship instructor Wang Yue.

Wang Yue, a native of Ji County, Youzhou, lived in Yanshan. He once killed 37 bandits in Yanshan without any injury. He was given the name "Yanshan Sword Saint" by the wandering knights. Later, he joined the Huben Army and served as a Huben Lieutenant.

Upon hearing that the prince wanted to learn sword, Cao Cao recommended the famous "Yanshan Sword Saint".

When Liu Bian heard about Wang Yue, he was also quite curious about how brave Wang Yue was.

People in later generations often said that Wang Yue was unparalleled in infantry combat and Lu Bu was unmatched in cavalry combat. If Lu Bu met Wang Yue in infantry combat, he might not be able to escape unscathed.

But unfortunately, Wang Yue is now 45 years old and his physical condition has passed its peak. Even if he maintains his condition well, he can never be a match for Lu Bu in terms of strength.

Furthermore, as the saying goes, the martial arts of Qi cannot match the Wuzu of Wei, which means that the knights who are good at killing and fighting cannot defeat the well-trained soldiers.

Even if Wang Yue, who was at the peak of his powers, met Lu Bu on the battlefield, the result would probably be the same. Therefore, Liu Bian did not even have the thought of summoning Lu Bu, who was in his twenties, to fight against the forty-five-year-old Wang Yue.

Boom!
The wooden sword in Liu Bian's hand skillfully blocked Wang Yue's chopping blow, and then the two quickly separated. Liu Bian smiled as he savored the move he had just made and said, "An Rui (Wang Yue's courtesy name), how was my move? Have you mastered it?"

Wang Yue naturally wouldn't spoil Liu Bian's fun, so he complimented him, "Your Highness is very talented. If my disciples had your talent, they would have surpassed you long ago. However, Your Highness still needs more practice to fully grasp it."

Liu Bian nodded, and although he was happy, he did not take Wang Yue's praise to heart.

Although Wang Yue was once a knight who traveled the world with a sword, he was a power-hungry person. His mind was full of thoughts about escaping the knight class. Sometimes he even felt that Wang Yue was a little too flattering.

Besides, he didn't really want to be a sword master. He could only defeat a hundred people by learning sword. Moreover, with his identity, he might never have the chance to draw the sword and kill in his life.

And if someone could kill Dian Wei, Xu Chu and a group of elite guards and get to him directly, then no matter how superb his swordsmanship is, it would be of no use.

He practiced swordsmanship only as a morning exercise to strengthen his body and avoid dying early like the previous emperors of the Later Han Dynasty.

What Wang Yue taught Liu Bian was not a complete set of sword moves, but some body-building methods and scattered but extremely exquisite self-defense sword moves. These were the essences that Wang Yue had comprehended during decades of fighting. If the situation really got dangerous, they could help him with one or two of them.

Liu Bian, sweating profusely from his training, watched the muscles on his arms gradually become curved, and he knew that Wang Yue had indeed been working diligently these days. Furthermore, his team had recently become increasingly complete, with the two Zhangs, Qian Zhao, Li Su, Song Xian, and others all entering the Crown Prince's Palace. In high spirits, he said to Wang Yue with a smile, "An Rui, I heard that you have a disciple named Shi A who has inherited your legacy. I will grant you a favor and summon him to the Eastern Palace to serve as a guard for a while."

"I thank Your Highness for your grace."

Wang Yue was delighted. It seemed that he still had some place in the prince's heart.

He had mentioned it casually before, saying that he had many disciples, but only Shi A inherited his mantle. He didn't expect that the prince actually remembered it.

However, the joy of the two did not last long, as Jian Yong came hurriedly to deliver the message.

"Your Highness, the Minister of Rites has something important to report."

Liu Bian frowned slightly. The current Minister of Rites was Liu Yan, the one who proposed "abolishing the historian and establishing the governor" in history. However, the Han Dynasty had not yet collapsed, and he had no ambitions.

For a moment, Liu Bian couldn't figure out what important matter Liu Yan, the Minister of Rites, could have that would require him to bypass the Secretariat and report it directly to him?
"Let's have the Minister of Rites wait in the side hall. I'm afraid he hasn't had breakfast yet. Have the kitchen staff bring him a portion. I'll go bathe and change clothes first." After Liu Bian bathed and changed, he met Liu Yan, who had already finished his breakfast. Liu Yan, not caring that the Crown Prince hadn't eaten yet, stood up, bowed, and presented a bamboo slip: "Your Highness, please read this memorial."

Gao Wang took the bamboo slip and handed it to Liu Bian. The inconspicuous bamboo slip contained content that made Liu Bian change color instantly.

There were two rains in the Central Plains counties at the beginning of summer, but it has not rained for more than twenty days.

"What did the Grand Historian say?"

"The Lingtai has been observing the weather and celestial phenomena these days, and the historian said that the drought demon is coming."

Ba is the god of drought.

This means a drought is coming.

Liu Bian couldn't help but sigh, natural disasters are unstoppable.

The end of the Han Dynasty was the Little Ice Age. The Little Ice Age itself did not have a significant direct impact on rainfall, but the resulting climate cooling would have an impact on rainfall patterns.

The drop in temperature will lead to reduced evaporation, which in turn affects the water cycle and rainfall distribution. The result is that in some areas with a humid climate, rainfall will decrease and droughts will occur, while in areas with a dry climate, rainfall will increase and floods will occur.

"This year... I'm afraid I won't be able to rest in peace."

Although he had not yet seen the destructive power of the drought, Liu Bian had almost witnessed the tragedy of countless people losing their homes and lives.

During these days, Lu Zhi did not teach Liu Bian much about ancient Chinese classics, but instead taught him a lot of knowledge to help him handle miscellaneous affairs.

For example, agriculture and sang!

“A king regards his people as his first priority, and the people regard food as their first priority.”

This is what Lu Zhi hopes Liu Bian will always keep in mind.

Lu Zhi knew nothing about agriculture and sericulture, but he had a good friend named Cui Shi.

Cui Shi was a master of agronomy. His "Monthly Ordinances for the Four Classes of People" is still extant. In his "Political Discussions", he discussed dozens of convenient matters of the time. His points were very accurate and his words were concise, which made him well-known in his time.

He had heard Cui Shi mention a point: why there were droughts in the pre-Qin and early Han dynasties, but none of them were as destructive as the drought in the later Han Dynasty? Could it really be explained by the immorality of those in power?

After much research, Cui Shi discovered a fundamental reason that had been overlooked by officials all over the world - it was the crops themselves!
During the Han Dynasty, crop varieties changed, and the planting area of ​​winter wheat increased greatly. In the Later Han Dynasty, it had completely replaced millet as the staple food.

In particular, the habit of winter wheat to be sown in autumn and harvested in summer allows many arid areas to increase their harvest by planting winter wheat.

Moreover, the harvest of winter wheat is far better than that of millet crops. The popularization of stone mills and noodle-making technology became the last straw that made winter wheat completely replace millet crops.

However, winter wheat also has a fatal weakness: it is not drought-resistant.

Although winter wheat's drought tolerance has been greatly improved compared to spring wheat, it is still far behind millet crops.

Droughts usually occur in April, which is when winter wheat is jointing and heading. Therefore, droughts have a fatal impact on winter wheat, and the result is often not a reduction in production but a total loss of harvest!

"Tomorrow we will hold a court meeting. Officials above the rank of 2,000 stone are not allowed to be absent unless they are ill!"

Liu Bian was unable to stop the impending drought and had no time to take disaster prevention measures. All that was left was to prepare for disaster relief in advance and make use of the drought to do something.

(End of this chapter)