Chapter 56 Drawing food from the bottom of the cauldron
Besides, from Liu Feng's point of view, it would be better for Zang Ba not to express his position. If he surrendered on his own initiative, it would be even more troublesome.
The geography of Langya County is so important. If you want to secure Xuzhou, you must take Langya County into your hands.
If Zang Ba takes the initiative to surrender, given Brother Big Er’s current guilty conscience and reputation for kindness, he will most likely follow Cao Cao’s example and grant Zang Ba the vassal status of Langya. This is tantamount to burying a huge heart for himself. Incomparable mines.
Now Zang Ba is only the largest and strongest force in Langya County, but he is not the only one.
Behind Zang Ba, there is the power of Xiao Jian, the prefect of Langya County, the Wang family and the Zhuge family exist locally, and there are the remnants of the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army in the north.
It can be said that Langya County is simply a smaller version of the current Xuzhou. The forces in the county are complicated and chaotic.
Therefore, instead of spending a lot of energy to adjust, it is better to cut through the mess quickly and suppress Zang Ba directly with force when he is dissatisfied.
Using the power of destroying Zang Ba, he swept across Langya County, suppressed all these chaotic forces, and returned the power of Langya County to the state capital.
Liu Feng went to see Liu Bei at this time, and the state officials were already not surprised.
Everyone in the state capital knows that the new Zhou Bo is not only kind and good at fighting, but also has a young and intelligent son who can influence the Zhou Bo's decision-making.
Hearing that Liu Feng asked for an audience, Liu Bei immediately ordered the summons.
After Liu Feng came in, he found that Chen Deng was also there.
It turns out that Chen Deng is discussing with Liu Bei the farming affairs in the coming year.
Although the farming affairs have been decided to be handed over to Lu Su, Lu Su was also promoted to the rank of Diannong Captain.
The previous person in this position was Chen Deng, and he did a very good job in this position. His farming was a great success and he harvested a lot of grain.
It was this foundation that gave Tao Qian his arrogance, and he continued to mobilize troops in the next few years to expand his power.
Chen Deng is indeed a good friend of Liu Bei. As early as when he heard that Liu Bei wanted to farm, Chen Deng had already written down all his farming experience and specially organized it.
I came to Liu Bei today because I wanted to present this farming experience to him.
In addition, Chen Deng also received a letter from his father Chen Gui.
In the letter, Chen Gui praised Liu Bei and his son Qu Yuuli vigorously, with a look of tears of gratitude, expressing the gratitude and loyalty of the entire Xiapi Kingdom to Liu Bei and his son.
Of course, Chen Gui is not just talking.
At the end of the letter, Chen Gui heard that Liu Bei was going to start farming, so he mobilized the Xiapi gentry and scraped together 20 cattle, 5,000 shi of grain, 30,000 yuan of money, and 3,000 catties of iron. Fifty pieces of linen, twenty pieces of silk, five pieces of white silk, as well as some clothing, bedding, farm tools, etc.
If you add one yuan of these materials, it’s about more than one million yuan.
Although it seems that the gifts given by this county are similar to those given by Lu Su alone.
But Liu Bei was very moved, because this was the sentiment of the local people.
No matter which family of these people, it is impossible for them to be as rich as Lu Su. Even the Chen Deng family is far superior to Lu Su in family life, but when it comes to money, it is far behind.
Xiapi Kingdom has also had a hard time in the past two years. Although most of the main battlefields are in the East China Sea and Pengcheng, Xiapi has also been baptized by the flames of war.
Only because this was not the main direction of Cao Cao's attack, and secondly, the people of Xiapi State had a strong will to persevere. Under the leadership of the Chen family, they resisted resolutely, and Cao Cao returned without success.
In this case, he can also support the state capital with more than one million yuan in money, food and supplies, which really makes him full of loyalty.
The first time Liu Feng came in, he saw Brother Big Ear holding Chen Yuanlong's hand and thanking him.
Seeing Liu Feng coming, Chen Deng withdrew his hand, then stood up and saluted him respectfully.
Liu Feng naturally couldn't wait for the other party to salute, he had been there for a week. After the two of them saluted, Chen Deng turned around and said to Liu Bei: "Since the master has something to do, I will leave first."
Chen Deng just wanted to leave, but was stopped by Liu Feng Come down.
"Chen Gongcao, wait a minute."
Under Chen Deng's doubtful eyes, Liu Feng said sincerely: "The boy came here this time to offer advice to his father. Chen Gongcao is deep and thoughtful, astute and wise. I also asked the meritorious officials to stay and discuss the details together."
Chen Deng went to see Liu Bei. The latter naturally laughed and pulled Chen Deng back to his seat: "Yuanlong is my favorite general and an important minister of the state. Is there anything you don’t know? Yuan Long doesn’t need to avoid suspicion, just sit down and listen.”
After Liu Bei said this, Chen Deng naturally would not leave again.
In fact, he was very interested in Liu Feng, Liu Bei's eldest son.
Previously, Liu Bei asked him to accept Liu Feng as his disciple, and he agreed immediately. However, I don't know what twists and turns happened later, and Liu Bei seemed to have nothing to do.
But this time, it is a good opportunity to make contact.
Liu Feng just said that he wanted to offer suggestions, which would allow Chen Deng to observe Liu Feng's personality and talents.
“I would like to ask Chen Gongcao to give me some advice and don’t hesitate to teach me.”
Chen Deng smiled and nodded. He has always been a person who dares to be the first in everything. Being low-key and low-key has never been suitable for him. Chen Yuanlong.
"Father, meritorious officer, please look at this picture."
After all, Liu Feng is a person of later generations and likes numbers and PPT.
Spread out in front of Liu Bei and Chen Deng was a PPT.
A rough map of Langya County is drawn on it, and data is listed in the blank space on the side.
"Father, I am a great hero. As far as I know, Langya County had 13 counties under the jurisdiction of the late emperor, with 120,000 households and more than 570,000 people. It could produce nearly 40 million grains per year. Stone, if I collect 1 from the field tax of 30, I can get 1.3 million stone from the field tax
Later, the Yellow Turbans broke out and the war continued. Although Xuzhou was not the main battlefield, it was deeply harassed by the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans. Langya was the first to bear the brunt, and its population dropped sharply.
By the time Tao Gong took charge of Xuzhou, Langya's household registration was less than half of what it was at its peak, and more than two-thirds of the land was abandoned.
Zang Ba actually did not control much land, mainly in the area around Donghai County, which only governed Kaiyang and Yangdu counties.
Although these two counties have not experienced too many wars, and Kaiyang is located in a river bend, the land is fertile and there are many fields. But even so, the grain output of the two counties is at most 7.5 million shi. With thirty taxes per year, Zang Ba could only receive a field tax of two hundred and fifty thousand dan.
Zang Ba had thousands of men. Counting Sun Guan, Sun Kang, Wu Dun, Yin Li, and Chang Xi, there were only about seven or eight thousand men in total. The total cost of raising troops was 160,000. Stone, there are less than 100,000 stones on hand.
Even if you include the grain reserves from previous years and some commercial grains circulated among the people, it will definitely not exceed 150,000 dan.
The current price of grain is 250 dan per dan, and 150,000 dan is almost 3.8 million dan. ”
Speaking of this, Liu Feng paused and looked at Liu Bei.
Chen Deng was a little curious and didn’t know what Liu Feng meant when he reported these numbers.
Liu Bei took the initiative to explain to Chen Deng and told him about Liu Feng's plan to destroy Guo and drain the firepower.
Chen Deng listened, turning his head frequently and looking at Liu Feng.
More updates are coming!
(End of this chapter)