Chapter 214 Liu Lu’s Transaction
According to Liu Bei’s classification, there are actually only twelve counties in total.
Because there is Qianzou County closest to Langya Kingdom, Liu Bei wanted to transfer to Langya County.
The location of this county is actually closer to Langya, and it is also an important route between Langya and Donglai. If you have it in hand, you can focus on guarding against threats from the direction of Donglai.
If it were not under Langya's control, then Langya, Dongwu, Zhuxian and other cities in the hinterland of Langya would be flanked by Donglai County.
During the Western Han Dynasty, Qianzou County originally belonged to Langya County. It was not assigned to Donglai County until the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty. This can be regarded as an old drama of regional division in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Under Liu Feng's suggestion, Liu Bei simply decided to eat up Qianzou County, an important transportation area.
Speaking of which, this county is one of the rare ancient place names in the Shandong Peninsula that has been passed down to later generations. Most of the names of other Donglai cities have been lost in the long river of history.
And according to Liu Feng's classification, Zhang Miao, who is the most honest and weakest in force, is closest to Xuzhou, Chen Gong, who is second in rank, occupies Ye County and other places near Beihai, and Lu Bu, who is the strongest in force, is Chen Deng and Zhang Miao were isolated near the sea.
For now, not only Zhang Miao has completely separated from Lu Bu, but he will at least get closer to Xuzhou.
Although Chen Gong and Lu Bu are still in the same camp, the personality gap between the two is so big that it will most likely be difficult for them to work together.
In this way, such an arrangement not only helped protect himself from being stabbed by Marquis Wen, but also protected Beihai Prime Minister Kong Rong in disguise.
However, Kong Rong himself admired Lu Bu very much and praised Lu Bu many times in public. Maybe the two of them would get along happily.
For Lu Bu and Chen Gong, what Liu Bei served at this time was simply a piece of fragrant cake.
Chen Gong was still wondering whether there was some poison in the pie that he didn't know about, or what price they needed to pay in exchange.
But Lu Bu had already laughed: "Xuande, even if you hand over this Donglai to me, Bu will be able to protect this place for you."
Liu Feng sighed in his heart, this Lu Bu is really another Stupid and bad, but if he didn't have this kind of character, with his ability to lead the cavalry, he would never end up like that.
Liu Feng was slandering Lu Bu in his heart, but Lu Bu happened to be looking at Liu Feng at the same time.
Seeing that although Liu Feng was still a little boyish, he was upright and handsome, sitting behind Liu Bei.
Recalling his wife's words, Lu Bu couldn't help but feel something in his heart.
This guy seems to have good looks, at least.
This is not because Lu Bu is picky, he has enough capital to be picky.
Lü Bu has a majestic appearance, and the Wei family has a stunning appearance. The daughter they gave birth to is obviously also a great beauty. Although she is still young, she is already stunning.
Seeing that Lu Bu and Chen Gong were both satisfied, Zhang Miao naturally had no objections.
So Liu Bei began to reveal his true purpose: "Now our state has fought with Yuan Gongzhu several times, and there is no difference in the outcome. Liu Yao of Yangzhou was harassed by Sun Ce, and there was a war in the east of the Yangtze River, so he turned to our state for help. Therefore, I have something to ask for, and I wonder if Marquis Wen would be willing to help.”
Lu Bu's heart skipped a beat. He only had these three or four thousand men. Liu Bei's family had a great business, so why did he look like he wanted to borrow troops from him?
It has to be said that Lu Bu is really narrow-minded. He just got the big advantage of a territory of a county. As soon as the price was mentioned, he started to fall out and wanted to get rid of all the money.
Lu Bu tentatively refused and said: "Xuande, you also know that Bu is fleeing in confusion now. His troops are exhausted, his men and horses are exhausted. If he doesn't take a good rest, he may not be able to fight."
Chen Gong frowned when he heard Lu Bu's words.
Fortunately, Liu Bei didn't care about Lu Bu's reaction and just kept talking.
After all, for Liu Bei, the two most important parties involved in this matter, namely him and Zhang Liao, have already nodded. So what if Lu Bu disagrees?
The current operation is just because I don’t want to break up with Lu Bu and give him a step down.
"It doesn't matter, Bei just wants to temporarily borrow Wenyuan's troops and go south to help in the battle."
After Liu Bei finished laying the groundwork, he directly stated his request.
Hearing that Liu Bei just wanted to borrow Zhang Liao's troops temporarily, Lu Bu breathed a sigh of relief, and he really thought that Liu Bei was just "temporarily".
"If this is the case, Butang personally ordered Wen Yuan to lead the troops south."
Chen Gong heard something was wrong, but for a while he never thought that Zhang Liao had defected to Liu Bei.
Liu Bei didn't care. Anyway, after Zhang Liao borrowed it, even if Lu Bu was really stupid enough to think it was a loan, I still have the final say when to return it.
So, both parties happily reached a consensus.
Originally, the matter ended here.
But who would have thought that Lu Bu was really a villain, and if he didn't take advantage, he would suffer a loss.
He actually felt that he had reached a balance between lending Zhang Liao's troops and Liu Bei handing over Donglai to him, so he actually opened his mouth to borrow food and troops from Liu Bei.
Liu Bei did not speak, but Liu Feng took the initiative to interrupt: "Father, Wen Hou has many horses, and there is indeed a shortage of food."
Lü Bu was overjoyed when he heard this, and the more he looked at Liu Feng, the more he felt Nice guy.
Liu Bei glanced at his eldest son, then looked at Lu Bu's greedy look, snorted coldly, and continued: "In your opinion, what should I do?"
"Although Donglai County has thirteen counties, its area is second only to Pingyuan State and ranks second in Qingzhou, but its population is only more than 400,000, and it may be greatly reduced now. The entire Donglai County is surrounded by the sea on three sides and has tidal flats. , swamps are everywhere, and real fertile farmland is extremely rare, especially paddy fields and upper fields."
Liu Feng clearly remembered that Donglai would be a major producer of grain in the future, with eleven rivers scattered throughout the territory. In the entire Dongnae Peninsula, large areas of farmland and paddy fields can be obtained with only a small amount of investment in water conservancy projects.
But during the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was no river in the entire Donglai. There was only one Gu River that entered the sea in Qianzou, but Qianzou had been cut off by Liu Bei.
This is also the reason why Donglai is so large, but its population is smaller than that of Qi, which only has six counties.
The grain output of Donglai County in a normal year is about 30 million shi. According to the grain tax of 30 to 1 in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the government could collect about 1 million shi of grain.
This is only the food tax, not the full amount of taxes borne by farmers.
In addition to food taxes, there are also a large number of exorbitant and miscellaneous taxes, including but not limited to head, real estate, mulberry and hemp, and even land property taxes.
Qingzhou was the hardest hit area by the Yellow Turban Rebellion. The million-level Yellow Turban Army appeared two or three times, and even attacked from all directions, trying to expand to Ji, Yan, and Xu, but they failed.
Therefore, the population of Qingzhou as a whole is showing signs of plummeting, and the rate of decline is no smaller than that of Xuzhou where Cao Cao helped with family planning.
According to Liu Feng's speculation, Donglai County still has 30% to 40% of the population, which is because Lu Bu burned high incense. Even if only one-fifth of the population is left, Liu Feng will not be surprised at all.
If we are more prudent and calculate based on 30%, the amount of food Lu Bu can obtain every year in Donglai should be around 150,000 shi.
This number is one million stones, which must be discounted by 30%. Without a population, where will the output come from? Thirty percent of the population roughly equals 30% of the output, which leaves only 300,000 shi of food.
Then the 300,000 shi of grain must be halved. The half of this reduction is reserved for the wages of county yamen, as well as the salaries of grassroots officials such as townships and pavilions below, as well as various project expenses in the county. cost.
The remaining 150,000 stone grains are almost the amount of grain Lu Bu can really get.
According to the fact that a soldier needs two stones of food per month, after Lu Bu went to Zhang Liao and Zhang Miao's tribe, there were only more than 2,000 men left, and he only consumed 200,000 a year, which seemed to be more than Lu Bu's income, but in addition to food taxes, the Han Dynasty also had various other money taxes.
Compared with the food tax, other taxes are the largest part. Most of them cost money, but they can also be converted into food, and the amount may be three to five times that of the food tax.
Looking at it this way, Lu Bu seemed to have more food.
But Lu Bu's part of the food also includes the salaries of officials in the county-level government, and various expenses of the county-level government also need to be spent.
With this offset, food is actually quite tight.
As for Lu Bu's army's six to seven hundred war horses, this is a huge expense. The cost of one war horse is five times that of infantry.
Not counting forage, just the fine grain that the war horse needs to eat every month requires three stones, and another five to six stones of various forages are needed. If these forages are not enough, a corresponding amount of fine grain must be added.
In terms of pure grains, war horses need six stones per month, and 700 war horses require 70,000 stones of refined grains a year.
In addition, there are more than 1,100 draft horses and pack horses in Lu Bu's army. The former are used for transportation, while the latter are used for pulling carts for transportation.
Although these horses can eat less well, or even eat no refined grains, their demand for fodder is much greater than that of war horses.
It can be inferred from this that Lu Bu could not afford to feed these horses, let alone that he wanted to expand his army.
Liu Feng was trying to trick the opponent's war horses, and these war horses were all Bing and Liang horses.
"Father, why don't we give some money, food and goods and buy some horses from Marquis Wen? We will also need more horses when we go south to Yangzhou. And with Marquis Wen getting money and food, we can better develop in Donglai. , This is a good thing that kills two birds with one stone."
Liu Fengtu Qiongdiao saw, aren't you after my money and food? Isn't it a coincidence that I also want your family.
Everyone changes it, and everyone will make a profit.
"This..." Lu Bu's face suddenly became very ugly. He just wanted to make more money, but he didn't really want to sell the horse.
But what Lu Bu didn't expect was that Liu Bei actually nodded and said to him with a serious face: "Marquis Wen, my son's words may not be unreasonable. You are short of money and food, and I am short of horses. This deal is indeed very suitable."
What shocked Lu Bu even more was that even Chen Gong actually agreed: "Marquis Wen, what Liu Shijun said is true. This time he went north to Donglai. , Without a sum of money and food, you may not be able to sit securely."
Donglai County is different from Xuzhou, and the entire order of Qingzhou has completely collapsed.
It can be said that the most chaotic place in the Han Dynasty today is Qingzhou.
The governor of Qingzhou died in the war twice. After the governors of various counties were absent, no one dared to take office again.
The remnants of the Yellow Turban Army, big pirates, salt tycoons, local tyrants, defeated troops and bandits in the territory can be described as complicated, but there is no official order.
Dong Zhuo couldn't bear it when Kong Rong was in Luoyang. If Cai Yong hadn't persuaded him and Kong Rong was so famous, Dong Zhuo would have chopped Kong Rong into pieces. .
In this case, what good position can Dong Zhuo put for Kong Rong?
Everyone knows very well what Dong Zhuo was thinking about when he sent Kong Rong to Beihai.
But Kong Rong was not only extremely tenacious, but even after he was driven out of Qingzhou by the Yellow Turban Army, he counterattacked back with the support of Liu Bei and Tao Qian. In the original history, he was even defeated by Liu Bei who took over as Xuzhou Mu. Governor.
It can be seen that Kong Rong may actually be much better than trash.
Qingzhou is in such chaos. Although Liu Feng has calculated an account for them, Chen Gong is not as optimistic as Lu Bu about how much food there is in the treasury and how much food the county can collect. I completely believed in Liu Feng's judgment.
Chen Gong had been a high official in the county. Although he was a famous person, he had done a lot of state affairs.
He knew very well that Liu Feng was talking about the data from the Xiping period of Emperor Ling, but now it is the second year of Du Xingping. In these twenty years, there have been earth-shaking changes, let alone This is Qingzhou that has changed the most.
According to Chen Gong's judgment, if the most conservative calculation is used, Lu Bu is likely to receive most of the tax revenue, which is equivalent to 800,000 to 900,000 shi of grain, some of which belongs to Zhang Miao and Chen Gong.
This number means that these war horses Lu Bu cannot survive no matter what.
Instead of continuing to support him until he goes to Donglai and finds that he cannot afford it and then sells it, it is better to sell it to Liu Bei now.
After all, Liu Bei can afford the money and food, and it is unlikely that Donglai will be able to find such a high-quality big customer as Liu Bei.
Another very important point is that the war horses all belong to Lu Bu. He, Chen Gong, doesn’t feel bad at all when selling them, so he can naturally be so rational.
Under Chen Gong's arguments and the temptation of Liu Bei and his son's money and food.
Lu Bu finally gave in and decided to sell 500 war horses, as well as 800 draft and pack horses.
Liu Bei was also very generous and was willing to purchase war horses at a price of 50,000 yuan each, and taming and pack horses at a price of 20,000 yuan each.
The price seems a little lower, but in fact it is Lu Bu who takes advantage.
Because this batch of horses have all lost weight, and they have lost weight very badly.
Lu Bujun himself was almost out of food, and there was nowhere to feed the horses.
This is also an important reason why Lu Bu finally had no choice but to accept Liu Bei's trade request.
In addition, although the value was calculated in money, Liu Bei promised that these funds could be converted into grain at any time according to the requirements of Lu Bu and Chen Gong, and the price of the grain was agreed upon.
Right now, the price of food is constantly rising. The price of corn has increased from 200 yuan per stone to 2,780 yuan per stone. Seeing that the output in Yanzhou is about to plummet, the price of grain is expected to rise even more next year. fierce.
Being able to buy this batch of war horses, Liu Bei smiled from ear to ear.
Liu Feng looked at his father's happy expression, but he was complaining in his heart. When Lu Bu attacked you in Xiapi and later defeated you in Xiaopei, he used these war horses.
Now I have helped my father eliminate a big thunderstorm in advance.
After reaching a deal with Lu Bujun, Lu Bujun first withdrew 100,000 shi of grain, and then started heading north to Donglai.
Liu Bei continued to organize his army.
Because of the extra grain from Liang, Chen and Jingzhou, Liu Bei was much richer.
Coupled with the new team members and the influx of a large number of refugees, Liu Bei's army expanded to more than 10,000 more than before.
The four armies of Zang Ba, Tian Yu, Qianzhao, and Chen Deng remain unchanged. Each army has 6,000 men and is stationed in various counties.
Liu Bei's four armies, namely Qinjun, Guan, Zhang, and Xiahoubo, also have 6,000 men each, totaling 24,000, garrisoned in Tancheng.
Zhao Yun and Xu Sheng's two armies of eight thousand men were stationed in Guangling, Jiangdu and Jiangcheng.
Dong Xi, Gan Ning, Zhou Tai, and Jiang Qin, with a total of 6,000 naval troops, are temporarily training in Qugang.
The four tribes of Taishi Ci, Pan Zhang, Gao Shun, and Zhang Liao were also replenished to a full complement of 2,000 men, totaling 8,000, who were temporarily stationed in the military camp outside Tancheng.
There are also a thousand men from Jia Kui's army, who serve as Liu Feng's personal bodyguards.
The above field army sequence totals 71,000 people.
There are also two thousand soldiers from Xiapi County stationed in Xiapi County, five hundred soldiers from Xiapi County stationed in Dongcheng County, five hundred soldiers from Donghai County stationed in Qu County, and two thousand soldiers from Donghai County. The troops were stationed in Tancheng.
A total of five thousand county soldiers.
Xuzhou's total military strength is as high as 76,000, of which 71,000 have independent field capabilities. Most of them are veterans with combat experience. The remaining more than 10,000 recruits have also experienced several months of training. train.
At the same time, Chen Ji, the father of Chen Qun, finally arrived in Tancheng.
He did not come alone, but also brought many talents from Yingchuan and other places.
Among them, Han Xin, a native of Wuyang, Yingchuan, was the son of Han Rong and the grandson of Han Shao.
The Han family's reputation declined in later generations, but it was a model of great fame in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.
Han Shao, Zhong Yao's grandfather Zhong Hao, Xun Yu's grandfather Xun Shu, and Chen Qun's grandfather Chen Shi are collectively known as the four chiefs of Yingchuan.
At the same time, the Han family is also the Han family of Xun Chen Zhong Hanzhong, the four major families in Yingchuan. Han Fu, who gave Jizhou to Yuan Shao, is the leading figure among this Han family.
At the same time, Han Xin's father, Han Rong, was serving as Dahonglu at the center of the imperial court. Later, he represented Emperor Xian to negotiate peace with Li Jue and Guo Si, allowing them to release hundreds of officials and palace ladies. , in the future he will become a royal servant.
In addition to Han Xin, there is also Yingchuan Yangzhai Sima Hui. This is Mr. Shui Jing, a famous celebrity in later generations. He was also a famous hermit at that time. However, he has not yet returned to hermitism. He was a famous scholar for a while and was once the leader of Pang Tong. Pang Shiyuan has become famous.
Other Cao Wei bosses who were familiar to Liu Feng, such as Du Xi from Dingling in Yingchuan County, Zhao Yan and Fanqin from Yangdi, and Du Ji from Duling in Jingzhao County, were also stunned to see Liu Feng.
As for talents who are not well-known or whom Liu Feng does not know, there are more than twenty or thirty people.
A Chen Ji can bring so many talents, this is the role of a famous person.
Liu Bei was almost overjoyed about this, and held a big banquet that day to welcome many gentlemen.
At the same time, they also sent people to invite Chen Qun back to Tancheng, so that Chen Ji and his son could have a happy gathering for a few days.
Liu Bei has planned to recommend Chen Ji as the prefect of Guangling. After he takes office, Chen Ji and his son will be separated from each other in the south and north, making it difficult to see each other. Naturally, they want to take advantage of now to reunite.
What's more, Chen Qun is also a rising star in Yingchuan, a young talent. Let him reminisce about the past with the people of Yingchuan, and also help Liu Bei find some talents.
But Brother Big Ear didn’t know that his precious little boy was already helping him with the screening.
Among this group of people, the most important ones are Zhao Yan, Du Xi, and Du Ji, while the others are less important.
As for Mr. Shui Jing, his talents and virtues are naturally excellent, but it is too difficult to ask him to do things.
This kind of hermit-like celebrity can only be offered up high as a totem to attract other talents to join Xuzhou. If you want to really let him work, the gain outweighs the loss.
Just when Liu Bei and his son were filled with joy and began to prepare to go south to Yangzhou, Jian Yong, Liu Yan and Chen Dao finally rushed back to Xuzhou.
"What!? The emperor is covered in dust!? Li Jue and Guo Si dare to chase and kill the emperor!?"
Having just heard half of it, Liu Bei was so surprised that he could hardly sit still.
(End of this chapter)