My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 577 Dongzhou Shi Ju
After taking over Jiangzhou, thousands of sails raced on the river between Jiangzhou and Jiangling, with boats coming and going in an endless stream, transporting war supplies such as grain, weapons, cloth, salt, sugar, liquor, medicine, fuel oil, and sesame oil.

Jiangzhou City was tall and sturdy, covering a large area. Not only were there many warehouses in the city, but the port below the city was also protected by the city walls and could accommodate a large number of ships. Not to mention, there was also a dedicated military port on the other side.

The two ports together can accommodate thousands of ships.

Today, Jiangzhou serves as a logistical base for several armies, supplying not only the front lines heading north to Jiameng, but also the front lines heading north to Jianshui, as well as the front lines heading north up the river to attack Bidao.

Even Zhao Wei's side kept urging, and even sent Gong Yang over, hoping that Liu Feng could, out of respect for him, allocate another batch of military equipment and supplies.

Without a large number of ships, it would be impossible to sustain such a huge consumption.

It should be noted that when Liu Feng took over Jiangzhou, Zhao Wei had almost emptied the local granaries and granaries.

If Zhao Wei hadn't been worried about angering Liu Feng and hadn't left the last two or three thousand shi of rice, wheat, and soybeans in the granary, the officials in Jiangzhou would have truly gone hungry.

Fortunately, Liu Feng controlled the three prefectures of Jing, Yang, and Jiao, and had a large number of ships.

The number of ships captured from Yangzhou and Jingzhou alone reached tens of thousands. Even after the old and damaged ships were decommissioned and sold, there were still six or seven thousand transport ships of various sizes. If necessary, fishing boats from Yangzhou and Jingzhou could be captured to participate in the transport, but the cost would be much higher.

Fortunately, it was transported by water, so even though it was more than a thousand miles long, the total loss was only about 50%.

That is, if 100 shi of grain were transported from Jiangling to Jiangzhou, 50 shi would still be left over.

However, it is worth noting that the losses mentioned here include the food consumed by the ships on their return journey from Jiangzhou to Jiangling. If other goods had been loaded on the return trip, the losses could have been significantly reduced.

This reduction in losses is a special case. Only regional riverside commercial ports like Jiangling and Jiangzhou receive such preferential treatment. In other places, there are no valuable local specialties, and even if an empty ship wanted to transport something, it wouldn't know what it could carry, and it might not even be able to recoup its costs.

At the same time, it is also important to note that this food loss is only physical loss and does not include the depreciation of the ship or the wages of the sailors.

These expenses are also quite substantial. Ships need maintenance and repairs, and if they are damaged, they need to be repaired. This not only requires the cost of timber, but also the wages of repairmen. Sailors also need to support their families, and they need to be paid in goods and food when they are conscripted to transport food.

These expenses were quite staggering, with each sailor's monthly expenditure equivalent to two to four shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain. The cost was even higher for the boat trackers and helmsmen in the Three Gorges region, who required three to five shi of grain as payment.

After calculation, the cost would increase by another 20%.

Therefore, the 300,000 shi of grain currently stockpiled in Jiangzhou City has consumed 500,000 shi of grain in Jiangling City.

As for getting them to the front-line troops, there's still another layer of skin to peel off.

This is why so many military strategies teach the principle of obtaining supplies from the enemy.

It's really a huge loss to transport grain from your own home.

Even so, this "super-efficient grain transport" method is only possible through river transport.

During the most terrifying period in the Northwest, transporting one shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain to the military camp would require consuming eighty to one hundred shi of grain along the way.

Seeing this enormous loss, Liu Feng's heart truly bled.

No wonder Huan Wen had a force of 100,000 under his command when he was the governor of Jingzhou in the original timeline.

However, when he entered Shu, he only brought 10,000 men. Those who did not know thought that he was highly skilled and daring, confident that he could win, and that 10,000 men would be enough.

Those who know the situation will understand how miserable Huan Wen was. It wasn't that he didn't want to lead the troops; it was that he simply couldn't afford to. With his meager resources, leading another five thousand men would probably bankrupt him, and he wouldn't be able to supply enough food.

In order to save food, Liu Feng went to great lengths, transferring a large amount of sugar from Xuzhou to serve as military rations.

The cost of transporting one shi (a unit of dry measure) of sugar is actually no different from that of transporting one shi of rice, but the cost is completely different after it is transported to Jiangzhou.

One shi of rice is still just one shi of rice, but one shi of frosting sugar can be exchanged for hundreds of shi of grain in the Sichuan and Chongqing region.

At the same time, Liu Feng ordered that after reserving enough salt from the wells for military needs, all of it should be sold to purchase grain.

With these two strategies implemented simultaneously, Liu Feng acquired a total of 230,000 shi of grain in just two months.

The biggest contributor to this success was sugar, which was not only valuable but also widely popular. Not only the powerful landlords of Sichuan and Chongqing, but even the leaders of the Ba people were willing to spend large amounts of grain to buy it, and at one point, the supply even fell short of demand.

It was precisely because of Zhao Wei's rebellion that grain prices in Bashu skyrocketed, increasing more than tenfold compared to pre-war levels. Otherwise, the grain purchased through the exchange of sugar alone would likely have been enough to support Liu Feng's army.

However, even if that day were to come, Liu Feng probably wouldn't dare. After all, grain is the foundation of an army's morale and courage, and relying entirely on sugar for supplies makes Liu Feng uneasy. But as a supplementary measure, it's incredibly useful.

Zhao Wei's behavior really amused and angered Liu Feng. Others would kick away the bridge after crossing the river, but this guy was still on the bridge and wanted to collapse it. Wasn't he afraid of falling into the river and drowning himself?
Even so, after careful consideration, Liu Feng still sent Zhao Wei a batch of military equipment, including 5,000 long and short weapons, 200 sets of iron armor, 800 sets of tunic armor, 400 bows and crossbows, and 50,000 arrows.

These things were like a timely rain after a long drought for Zhao Wei, a great supplement.

After resting in Fucheng for two weeks, Zhao Wei immediately launched an attack after receiving the batch of military equipment. In just five days, he captured Mianzhu, and Pang Xi suffered another defeat and retreated to Luoxian.

At this time, Liu Zhang also reinforced his troops in Luo County again, with Huang Quan as the main general, leading Liu Kui and Leng Bao with 12,000 troops to garrison Luo City.

Previously, Chengdu only had 20,000 troops, and another 5,000 were sent to reinforce Bidao and Zhuti, leaving only 15,000 men. However, in recent days, Pang Xi has been putting up a strong resistance at the front, and Liu Zhang has not been idle at the rear.

He first drew troops from Guanghan, Jianwei, and other places to reinforce Chengdu, with over 6,000 troops coming from Guanghan alone. Jianwei had slightly fewer, but 4,000 troops were drawn from Wuyang, Nan'an, and other places. In addition, 6,000 troops were drawn from the Jianwei, Shujun, and Guanghan vassal states, bringing the total to 16,000.

At the same time, Liu Zhang ordered the treasury to be opened wide, and used money and grain to recruit people from Dongzhou and Shu to join the army. More than 10,000 soldiers were recruited and incorporated into the Dongzhou army and local troops.

Subsequently, Liu Zhang left the Dongzhou troops in Chengdu and appointed Huang Quan as the commander-in-chief, leading 12,000 Shu troops to reinforce Luocheng.

This Luocheng was the city that would later hold Liu Bei back for a full year, and even lead to the death of Pang Tong beneath its walls, serving as a crucial barrier to Chengdu. However, Luocheng at this time was not as fortified as it would be later. Although it was a large city with considerable defenses, it paled in comparison to its later strength.

It was precisely because of Zhao Wei's rebellion that Zhao Wei captured Luocheng and successfully besieged Chengdu, terrifying Liu Zhang half to death. After suppressing the rebellion, Liu Zhang was forced to allocate vast amounts of money, supplies, and manpower to extensively fortify and expand Luocheng, transforming it into a massive fortress complex, which would later cause Liu Bei enormous trouble.

Pang Xi led his defeated army back into Luocheng. Despite suffering more than a dozen defeats and losing five counties and seven or eight strongholds along the way, Pang Xi was not actually seriously injured.

The 20,000 Dongzhou soldiers suffered repeated defeats and retreated in disarray. However, when they reached Luocheng and were counted, there were still 14,000 to 15,000 men left. It turned out that they had only lost a few thousand men.

After retreating into Luocheng, they merged with Huang Quan's forces, which numbered around 27,000 to 28,000, even stronger than before.

A week later, Zhao Wei's more than 40,000 troops arrived at the walls of Luocheng.

While Liu Zhang was taking advantage of Pang Xi's resistance against Zhao Wei to continuously gather troops and expand his strength, Zhao Wei was not idle either. He also forcibly conscripted young men from the cities he captured along the way to serve as soldiers.

Furthermore, with Zhao Wei's series of victories and capture of key towns, some of the previously hesitant powerful figures in Shu no longer hesitated and joined Zhao Wei's side. This was driven by resentment towards Liu Zhang's exploitation and a desire to seize the opportunity for wealth and glory.

As a result, Zhao Wei's army not only did not decrease but increased, directly expanding to a force of fifty to sixty thousand men.

Zhao Wei left more than 20,000 men on the rear road, and deployed heavy troops in Fucheng, Guanghan, Deyang and other places. He also set up an advance base in Mianzhu to stockpile military supplies such as grain, weapons, cloth and medicine.

Therefore, of Zhao Wei's more than 40,000 followers, more than a quarter were new recruits.

Zhao Wei, as the attacker, had only over 40,000 men, while the defending forces of Pang Xi and Huang Quan had over 27,000 men. With the advantage of the defenders, they should have been able to hold Zhao Wei firmly to the east of Luocheng.

But perhaps because the Dongzhou soldiers were used to running away, not long after the Battle of Luocheng broke out, the Dongzhou soldiers actually showed signs of being unable to hold out, which immediately frightened Huang Quan and the others.

"Master Pang, what exactly is going on?"

Huang Quan, pulling Pang Xi aside, asked with a livid expression.

This was only the fourth day. During the day, the Dongzhou soldiers almost lost the city gates, which terrified the Shu generals Huang Quan, Liu Gui, and Leng Bao.

As two opposing factions that were sworn enemies of the Dongzhou people, Shu generals like Huang Quan were quite familiar with the Dongzhou soldiers.

You can say that the Dongzhou soldiers had poor discipline, or that they were cruel to the locals, but you can't say that they were incapable of fighting. The Dongzhou soldiers established themselves in Shu precisely because of their fighting prowess; if they were incapable of fighting, they would have been wiped out by the Shu army long ago.

In fact, the combat effectiveness of the Dongzhou soldiers has always been superior to that of the Shu army, and by a significant margin, at least 30% to 40%.

Generally speaking, a thousand Dongzhou soldiers can defeat a thousand five hundred Shu soldiers, and they can even fight to a draw against a Shu force twice their size.

During most periods of division, the Shu army's combat strength was among the lowest. Only during Zhuge Liang's time was the Shu army's combat strength unmatched, truly capable of overwhelming the Central Plains army in open field battles.

Sima Yi feared Shu (the Shu Han army) like a tiger, but not only because he feared Zhuge Liang.

The reason why the Shu army was so powerful during Zhuge Liang's time was ultimately due to Zhuge Liang's efforts in both civil administration and military affairs.

Just like the legendary army of later generations, when Zhuge Liang governed the Shu Han state, he basically achieved two things: first, expanding the pie; second, distributing the pie as fairly as possible.

This ensured that, despite the heavy tax burden in Sichuan, the gentry and commoners were united in paying taxes, handling official duties, and holding official positions.

During Zhuge Liang's time, nearly twenty of the twenty-odd commanderies and kingdoms in Yizhou had governors who were natives of Yizhou, accounting for 80% of the total. In contrast, during Liu Bei's time, the number of governors from Shu was only one-quarter of the total.

From 20% to 80%, a full fourfold increase.

This is the fundamental reason why, despite the heavy taxes levied during Zhuge Liang's reign, no one in Shu, from the gentry and powerful to the common people, complained or rebelled. It is also why, after Zhuge Liang's death, even leaders like Qiao Zhou defied the law and Liu Shan's orders, secretly scaling the walls of Chengdu to go to Hanzhong to mourn him.

This is the greatness that "when Zhuge Liang was alive, no one noticed anything unusual, but after his death, no one could compare to him," and it is also the true meaning of why the people of Sichuan still cherish the memory of Zhuge Liang's governance of Shu more than a thousand years later.

This is the foundation of the Shu army's strength. As for Zhuge Liang's clear distinction between rewards and punishments and his expertise in training, these are actually high-rise buildings built on the foundation of the previous two points.

Therefore, from this perspective, it is not unreasonable to say that Zhuge Liang excelled in military administration.

However, Liu Zhang lacked Zhuge Liang's abilities, and he was also an outsider. The stronger the Dongzhou troops were, the weaker the Shu army became, which was actually the situation Liu Zhang wanted to see.

But the fact that the Dongzhou soldiers seemed unwilling to fight terrified Huang Quan and his men.

If that's the case, Luocheng won't be able to hold out for even half a month, let alone half a year, as Liu Zhang requested.

Faced with Huang Quan's questioning, Pang Xi replied with a grim expression, "Gongheng, you are unaware... the previous defeats have demoralized the army. If it weren't for Zhao's cruelty, he would have captured every one of my Dongzhou soldiers—"

He paused abruptly, then slammed his sleeve against the table, causing the command quiver to overturn and bamboo slips to scatter across the floor. His throat bobbed, and he finally gritted his teeth, saying, "Execute them all by disembowelment and beheading, their heads displayed at the gate! Some of my subordinates in the Eastern Provinces have long harbored thoughts of surrendering!"

Upon hearing this, Huang Quan was both shocked and furious.

They were both shocked by Zhao Wei's folly and enraged by his cruelty.

Huang Quan was surprised when Pang Xi immediately stood up and stepped forward, grabbing Huang Quan's arm and saying, "Gongheng, you have always been resourceful and wise. Could you give me some advice?"

"This matter is tricky."

Huang Quan shook his head with a wry smile. It wasn't that he really had no other choice, but that method couldn't be used for the time being.

Huang Quan's solution was to cut off the enemy's supply lines by abandoning Luocheng and retreating directly to Chengdu, leaving the Dongzhou soldiers with nowhere to retreat and no room to escape, forcing them to fight to the death to survive.

(End of this chapter)