My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 549 Gongsun Nanlai
Huang Zhong immediately said, "Lu Boyan's plan is clear in its details and the allocation of troops is well-organized. It can be said to be a flawless plan. I believe this plan is feasible. If you have any orders, General, I am willing to lead my troops to Lu Boyan's aid."

Although Huang Zhong's vision was not as clear as Sun Ce's, he had been leading troops for a long time and had extremely rich combat experience.

Just by listening to Lu Xun's strategy, he judged that Lu Xun's plan would definitely succeed. Even if he couldn't achieve a great victory, he would certainly be able to gain a foothold in Yizhou County.

Given Sun Ce's previous proactive attitude, Huang Zhong naturally developed a competitive spirit as well.

Sun Ce, relying on Liu Feng's favor, dared not be disrespectful to Kuai Yue, but given his personality, he naturally couldn't get along with Huang Zhong and Wei Yan.

Sun Ce was indeed arrogant and reckless, and Huang Zhong and Wei Yan were not exactly good-tempered either.

Sun Ce was directly under Liu Feng. The relationship between the Sun family and the natives of Jiangdong in this world was still very bad after Sun Ce's death and the early and middle period of Sun Quan's reign. Therefore, the Sun family, a local powerful family that was clearly from Jiangdong, was ostracized by the Jiangdong faction.

In contrast, Huang Zhong and Wei Yan were both from the Jingzhou faction, both natives of Nanyang County, and true fellow townsmen. They later became Liu Biao's directly promoted generals and officers, and maintained a good relationship with each other.

After Jingzhou changed hands, Huang Zhong and Wei Yan naturally became closer to the Kuai, Pang, and Huang families, since they all belonged to the Jingzhou faction, and Huang Zhong himself was a branch of the Huang family.

While the relationship between the three wasn't exactly hostile, it was certainly quite distinct, and their competitive spirit was palpable.

Kuai Yue still didn't make a decision, but simply nodded gently, and finally looked at Wei Yan.

Wei Yan had clearly been pondering this question as well. When Kuai Yue looked at him, he made a decision in his heart, stood up and said, "General, in my opinion, we should send reinforcements with a large force!"

"oh!?"

Kuai Yue became interested and encouraged him, "Why use so many troops? Wen Chang, please speak frankly."

Encouraged by Kuai Yue, Wei Yan continued, "In my opinion, General, you should send our three divisions of troops to reinforce Lu Boyan, so as to take Yizhou County in one fell swoop and explore Jianwei to the north."

The general's previous concern was the lack of supplies. But now, General Boyan has pacified the local natives at Longxia Pass and amassed over 100,000 shi of grain. With this grain as a foundation, we can invade Yizhou County ahead of schedule.

"General Boyan's current concern is not food supplies, but his elite troops. With our six thousand elite soldiers, supplemented by General Boyan's two thousand fierce warriors, we should be able to sweep through Yizhou in less than a year, at most half a year."

Upon hearing Wei Yan's words, the first person to frown was none other than Sun Ce.

This was not because Sun Ce opposed Wei Yan's opinion; in fact, he strongly agreed with it, as it was also the place he had originally thought of.

Sun Ce was arrogant enough, and like Wei Yan, he had already considered this possibility. However, Sun Ce wanted to claim all the credit for himself, and he was confident that he only needed his two thousand men to join forces with Lu Xun and take all the credit.

For this reason, Sun Ce did not mention these things at the beginning, but volunteered to lead the troops on his own.

Sun Ce's plan was that if he could take it alone, that would be best; if not, he would then launch this plan to gain credit for devising it and at the same time try to secure the position of commander of the reinforcements.

The deepest reason why Sun Ce dared to do this was that he looked down on Huang Zhong and Wei Yan, believing that these two were simply incapable of seeing this aspect.

As a result, Wei Yan has now gained the credit for his strategy. Sun Ce is certain that Kuai Yue must have thought of this as well and will definitely adopt Wei Yan's suggestion.

Sure enough, Kuai Yue burst into laughter, patting his thigh and saying, "I never expected Wen Chang to have such foresight! This is excellent!"

Immediately, Kuai Yue ignored Sun Ce's hesitant expression and made a decisive statement: "The three generals may go back and prepare. Within three days, I will mobilize two thousand county soldiers, for a total of eight thousand troops, with Wen Chang as the main general and Bo Fu and Han Shengru as the deputy generals. We will set out four days later and travel by boat to Yizhou County."

"Here!"

Sun Ce and the other two stood up together and respectfully accepted the order.

Kuai Yue then warned, "Gentlemen, after you set off, our logistics may not be able to be replenished for three months. Please be very careful."

Wei Yan and his men numbered a total of eight thousand, and it was necessary to mobilize most of the ships to transport them. Originally, these ships were meant to be loaded with grain and military equipment and transported to Lu Xun for storage.

But now we have enough of the most important food. If we continue to transport and stockpile supplies according to the original plan, it will undoubtedly be a waste of time and may also alert the enemy.

If Yizhou Commandery gets the news, it will be detrimental to the next phase of the war.

Therefore, Kuai Yue, Sun Ce, Wei Yan, and other people with a strategic vision saw this point and, despite insufficient preparation, launched the campaign to conquer Yizhou County ahead of schedule, throwing in their elite reserves in an attempt to sweep through Yizhou County and lay a solid foundation for Liu Feng's subsequent operations.

From this perspective, Huang Zhong's strategic vision was undoubtedly inferior to that of Kuai, Sun, and Wei; he was the only one among the four who failed to see this point.

Today, Jiaozhou has many ships, but they are divided into several routes, each with its own focus.

The largest number of ships were assigned to the warm waterway, firstly because the waterways there are clear and allow direct access to their destinations, and the area is ice-free year-round, making it navigable. Secondly, this route is also the most crucial main battleground.

Although there were many ships, they were used to transport Wei Yan and his eight thousand men, along with their military equipment and supplies, which was the best they could do at the moment.

These ships transported Wei Yan and eight thousand others to Lu Xun's location, a journey that would take a month. The return trip, though faster, would still take eight to ten days.

In addition, reloading supplies and going upstream again would take at least three months. During these three months, Lu Xun's troops and Wei Yan's reinforcements would not receive any new supplies and would have to rely entirely on their own personal weapons and Lu Xun's meager savings.

Therefore, Kuai Yue had to emphasize this point and remind them to bring as much weaponry as possible.

After receiving Kuai Yue's reminder, Sun Ce and the other two discussed the matter and decided to maximize the quantity of weapons and weapons while reducing the quantity of food, just enough for them to reach Lu Xun.

In Cangwu County, all efforts were being made to gather troops, mobilize weapons, load them onto ships, and send Sun Ce, Huang Zhong, and Wei Yan's forces to reinforce Lu Xun. Meanwhile, Lu Xun was also making preparations in earnest.

With the support of chieftains of all sizes, including the Xi and Lin families, the army appointed a separate commandery.

The vast majority of the soldiers were local natives. In addition, Lu Xun transferred 500 officers and veterans to fill other units, totaling 1,600 men. They were divided into four battalions, with 400 men in each battalion. Training began immediately, and Lu Xun's requirement was that these 1,600 men meet the standards for defending cities and strongholds.

If the field standards are met, the entire army will be awarded a first-class merit.

Of course, the field troops here are not as elite as Lu Xun's main force. As long as they can hold their ground in the field fortifications for an hour, they are considered qualified.

It was precisely because of this expectation that Lu Xun spared no effort in transferring 500 elite troops from his own forces to fill the gap, hoping to train this army as well. Ultimately, the southwest was too remote, and the transportation conditions were too poor. Utilizing even a fraction of the local strength was equivalent to ten parts of the strength from Jing and Yang provinces, and twenty parts from Yu and Xu provinces.

Moreover, the local forces were extremely scarce. Within a radius of a hundred miles from Longxiakou Village, there were only a dozen or so local chieftains of varying sizes, with a total population of only tens of thousands including the wild people. This area covers 8,000 square kilometers, equivalent to one-twelfth of Xuzhou.

This comparison makes it easy to see how sparsely populated Zangke County was.

Lu Xun used available manpower to transport grain, concentrating it at Longxia Pass and the Xinting Mountain stronghold. In particular, the main stronghold at Xinting Mountain had several granaries specially expanded to store grain for the subsequent army.

At the same time, he also actively repaired and renovated large vehicles.

In the ensuing battles, not only would it be necessary to transport food by water, but land transport would also be needed if necessary, so preparations had to be made in advance.

They had previously captured nearly four hundred cattle from Longxiakou Village, and later acquired several hundred more from various villages of the Long family. In addition, they could also gather cattle from the Xi family, the Lin family, and other local chieftains, which would be enough to raise two thousand water buffalo if necessary.

These water buffaloes can be used not only for plowing but also for pulling carts.

On the contrary, there are not many large trucks, since there are not many goods that need to be transported in the mountains, and the terrain further restricts the use of large trucks.

Fortunately, the surrounding mountains are full of high-quality timber, and as long as there are enough manpower and craftsmen, new carts can be built continuously.

Kuai Yue immediately sent reinforcements, while Lu Xun was making intensive preparations for the war.

Liu Feng, far away in the Central Plains, looked at the letter in his hand with a headache. The letter came from Liu Bei in Xuzhou, and it said that the Gongsun family from Liaodong had come by sea to discuss the formation of an alliance.

At this point in the original timeline, the territory of the Gongsun family in Liaodong had expanded to its maximum extent, extending south to Korea, west to Liaoxi Commandery, and south to Donglai.

Under Gongsun Du's leadership, the Gongsun family's territory reached its peak, and they even sent troops south across the sea to occupy many counties in Donglai and extend their reach into the Beihai Kingdom.

It is evident that the Gongsun family not only had many horses, but also many ships.

This is why Liu Feng actively engaged in maritime trade with the Gongsun family. After all, goods had to be transported there before a transaction could take place. If there was demand but no transportation capacity, the deal could not be completed.

Liu Feng was extremely extravagant in Liaodong, spending money like water, which was undoubtedly a good thing for the Gongsun family. However, the Gongsun family also had a headache, namely that Liu Feng only wanted to buy horses, and warhorses at that.

This undoubtedly made the Gongsun family very hesitant. Excellent warhorses are not as common as cabbages. Under normal circumstances, it takes five to ten horses to produce one qualified warhorse, and the proportion of first-class warhorses is even greater.

Over the years, Liu Feng has purchased thousands of warhorses by sea from the Liaodong region. Even though most of these warhorses are second or third class, there are still over a thousand first-class warhorses.

At present, the Gongsun family itself only has more than 10,000 warhorses, of which only two or three thousand are first-class warhorses. Therefore, many of the first-class warhorses that Liu Feng purchased were actually warhorses used by the Gongsun family.

Liu Feng's procurement has begun to affect the combat strength of the Gongsun family's army.

If Liu Feng had restrained himself a bit, it would have been fine, but now that he wants to continue to increase the amount of purchases, the Gongsun family can't sit still anymore.

The problem is that the Gongsun family has become dependent on the luxuries such as frosted sugar, snow salt, and sesame oil supplied by Liu Feng.

Compared to snow salt, frosting sugar and sesame oil are almost wildly popular in Liaodong.

Frosting sugar can replenish physical strength in a timely manner, and it is convenient to eat as it does not require heating. In Liaodong, frost sugar with these advantages is almost like a second life.

In the Central Plains, sesame oil is mainly used for stir-frying and mixing vegetables, and there is also lamp oil specifically used for lighting.

The former is edible, while the latter is not.

After arriving in Liaodong, the people there discovered that mixing sesame oil with beeswax, adding a small amount of animal fat, and then heating and stirring the mixture to create a wax oil that, when applied to the body, could prevent frostbite, chilblains, and chapped skin. Lamp oil was also an indispensable resource for the people of Liaodong.

As a result, sesame oil became a prized possession of the people of Liaodong, holding a status no less important than that of frosting sugar.

Compared to icing sugar and sesame oil, snow salt is much inferior, but only compared to the former two.

The Liaodong elites had a real need for snow salt, not only because it made cooking more delicious, but also because it could be used to clean teeth, making it unique among sugar and sesame oil.

The Gongsun family had already launched an attack once before, negotiating with the person in charge of Liu Feng's mission to Liaodong. After discussions, they reached a compromise, which was the warhorse deployment method.

For each warhorse purchased, a certain amount of furs, ginseng, seafood, gold, jade, cloth, and other items must be procured; otherwise, the warhorse will not be sold.

The Gongsun family had no choice. Originally, Xuzhou purchased a lot of grain, but as the mulberry farmers under Liu Feng's rule gradually recovered, their grain purchases from Liaodong decreased.

Currently, unless the Gongsun family disregards the needs of their own army, they simply cannot meet Liu Feng's demand for warhorses. Moreover, they do not have hard currency such as gold, silver, and wuzhu coins, so they can only try to use other goods as substitutes for equivalents in order to obtain a larger trade volume and purchase more sugar, sesame oil, and snow salt.

However, as Liu Feng's purchases of warhorses increased, even though the Gongsun family acted as middlemen, buying warhorses from the surrounding Wuhuan and Xianbei people, they still couldn't keep up with the demand.

After discussing it among the family, they decided to send someone to sail south to Xuzhou to talk to Liu Bei and Liu Feng.

Right now, the Gongsun family's envoy is pestering Liu Bei in Xuzhou, hoping that Liu Bei can reduce the number of warhorses he purchases and increase the purchase of other things.

The problem is that there really isn't much to sell in the North.

Although Liu Bei was not good at economics or trade, the people around him were.

Leaving Xun You aside, Lu Su and Liu Ye were experts in economics, Chen Deng and Chen Qun were also quite knowledgeable in this field, and Liu Feng's brothers-in-law were not only wealthy merchants but also served as prefects.

Liu Bei only needed to ask for their opinions to know what to do.

Therefore, it was absolutely impossible for Liu Bei to reduce his demand for warhorses while he was in Xuzhou playing a game of cat and mouse with the Gongsun family.

Left with no other option, the Gongsun family sought Liu Bei's recommendation and planned to travel south to discuss matters with Liu Feng.

(End of this chapter)