My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 209: Jing Yang divides power to await changes in the world

After dealing with the families, maids and servants of the troublesome generals in Lu Bu's camp, Sun Qian was asked to send Cao Cao's envoy away.

Liu Bei finally felt less disappointed and was able to drink happily with his Zhuge brothers.

During the banquet, Liu Bei also casually mentioned that whether Zhuge Jin should be able to serve the maids left behind by the rebel generals of Lu Bu's army who did not need to be released. However, this suggestion was quickly rejected by Zhuge Jin.

It's not that he is not lustful, but there is no need. He does not have the habit of seeking concubines and maids like in the Han Dynasty. Zhen Mi Daqiao is enough for him at home. Xiaoqiao and Bu Lianshi will be old enough to be together next year and the year after next. Why does he need to go out and have more than he can chew?

As for Zhuge Liang, since Huang Yueying had been treating him for more than a year and had no hope of getting pregnant, she helped him pick a beautiful concubine, and he did not need more for the time being. Moreover, Huang Yueying's right to speak in the inner house did not decrease because of this. After all, she was the one who picked the concubine and it was relatively easy to control her.

Liu Bei didn't force it, as he knew Zhuge Jin's temper well: Zi Yu doesn't like to snatch women from others, so it's better not to ask him about this kind of thing in the future.

After drinking almost enough, Liu Bei couldn't help but talk about his outlook for the future and asked casually:

"Zi Yu, now that Huang Zu is dead and Lü Bu has been defeated, our army has no rivals. All our previous campaigns were ordered by the imperial court.

I'm afraid Cao Cao won't issue an order for us to attack any traitors in the future, so what should we do? Should we just rest and recuperate? If Sun Ce doesn't show his rebelliousness, attacking him for no reason seems to lack some righteousness."

When Liu Bei said these words, his tone was somewhat lonely, and he did not show any ambition. It was totally different from what most Three Kingdoms fans imagine.

But this is the truest mentality of Liu Bei in history before the Longzhong Plan. In Liu Bei's early years, he was basically fighting against traitors to the country, and there was no such thing as a purely selfish war to annex territory.

The reason why Liu Bei was able to fight for three consecutive years was mainly because of Yuan Shu, the main plot. Yuan Shu was a traitor to the country, and those who supported Yuan Shu were also traitors, and those who formed an alliance with Yuan Shu were also traitors. When the entire traitor camp was uprooted, Liu Bei actually felt a little empty.

Let him act on his own to fight other princes and raise an unknown army purely to seize territory. Liu Bei really can't afford to do this now. The contrast is too great.

However, Zhuge Jin thought this was a good idea and did not want to encourage Liu Bei to change for the time being - he felt that after the Yidaizhao incident broke out, everything would become clear, and Liu Bei would naturally change at that time.

There is no point in saying more now.

Moreover, Liu Bei's army has fought two battles this year. Although they were both small in scale, it is almost time to take a break. They cannot continue fighting continuously, otherwise the people will suffer and the territory will be unstable.

Zhuge Jin advised with a mature and prudent manner: "My lord, you are not impatient, which is a blessing for the Han Dynasty and the people. Now that the world is in turmoil, why worry about not having opportunities? Peacefully keeping the people safe and raising troops, waiting for changes in the world, is the right way.

Although our army is not as short of military rations as it was a few months ago, we still have no savings. At least we will have a little surplus after the autumn rice harvest is completed at the end of September. During these three months, we will wait and see how things develop, rest with the people, and not miss the farming season.

And I believe that with the death of Yuan Shu, Cao Cao will definitely cause a lot of changes. It hasn't happened yet, but it's because Cao Cao hasn't returned to Xudu to live permanently. My lord, you can send more spies and messengers to Xudu to get the news and hear the reactions of all parties. Then we can deal with them as the time comes."

Zhuge Jin said this, but in his heart he was actually looking forward to the "Xutian Hunt".

Historically, the "Xutian Hunting" incident took place in the autumn of the year when Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shu. Cao Cao felt that after defeating Yuan Shu, he should "hunt in autumn and winter, and go out to the suburbs in all seasons to show his military power to the world." The descriptions in the official history and the romance are consistent on this point.

As long as this can happen as planned, the Yidaizhao will definitely not be able to escape. The only disturbing variable is that there is no Liu Bei in Xudu now, but Lu Bu is there. Everything else is the same as the same period in history.

Zhuge Jin thought it would be better to wait for a few months to see if there were any changes in the Xutian hunting situation before he could make subsequent deductions. Otherwise, the major premise could not be confirmed and any more he said would be in vain.

However, he couldn't say these words directly to Liu Bei now, so he could only keep them in his heart.

After listening to what Zhuge Jin said, Liu Bei felt that it made sense, and he became more determined to farm for the time being and wait for changes, and not to cause trouble again.

After the war a while ago, Liu Bei now owns five complete counties, namely Xia Pi, Guangling, Jiujiang, Lujiang and Yuzhang, and only half of Donghai, Danyang and Jiangxia counties. In addition, there is Wang Lang of Minzhong, who is controlled by Bu Zhi and Lu Yi, which is considered to be a small half of Kuaiji County (in terms of area, Minzhong is about the same size as southern Zhejiang, but in terms of population and number of counties, Minzhong has only two counties, which only accounts for one-tenth of the entire Kuaiji County).

In total, it covers seven counties, including two and a half counties of Xuzhou, four counties of Yangzhou, and half of Jingzhou.

After harvesting the wheat planted last winter in May this year, Liu Bei's army could only barely get enough food to survive the winter, but it was definitely not enough.

Under normal circumstances, we should have one season of staple food harvest a year, and the harvest in May is considered the minimum.

If this wave of rice can be harvested successfully in September, it will be considered an extra bonus and can be considered a strategic reserve.

Moreover, this year is the first year that rice transplanting has been promoted at the county level, and the yield during the adjustment period will definitely be lower than normal farming.

Zhuge Liang was very satisfied with the harvest, which was equivalent to 70% to 80% of the traditional February rice harvest. It was already considered a great achievement by Shennong. As the people became more and more proficient in rice transplanting and farming time, the yield would naturally increase.

……

Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang arranged their schedule for the next few months at the welcoming banquet:
From now until the end of September, stop all efforts and just quietly farm and wait and see.

If there is time, perhaps we can reorganize the military's drill formations and make some fine-tuning at the system level. In terms of technology, if Brother Zhuge has time, he can also check for omissions and make up for them.

During the autumn harvest, Zhuge Liang should have gone south to Guangling and Lujiang to inspect the people, gain a deep understanding of the people's sentiments, collect feedback from the two counties on rice-wheat rotation, and find out the actual yield.

Although whether Zhuge Liang inspected or not would not affect the final harvest, the first year of large-scale promotion should still be carried out from beginning to end. This will ensure that the rights and responsibilities of leaders and executors are clear and prevent those below from fooling around.

After the end of September, Zhuge Liang would go from Lujiang County to Jiangxia County to take up his post. After all, he was appointed as the governor of Jiangxia by the emperor. Liu Bei might also go to Wuchang for a visit, because his current title was Marquis of Wuchang. Taking advantage of the fact that he had no military duties in the second half of this year, he could inspect his fiefdom and win over the hearts of the people in Jingzhou.

When Zhuge Jin was arranging this schedule, he casually mentioned that after his second brother and the lord went to Wuchang, perhaps they could pay attention to the work of recruiting scholars from Jingzhou - Liu Biao had been in Jingzhou to pacify the people and maintain a truce for seven or eight years.

Jingzhou was very attractive to the exiled northern scholars, even more so than Yangzhou before. Because Yangzhou was still a place where Sun Ce, Liu Yao, and Liu Bei were fighting each other, and peace had just come to an end.

But Liu Biao was undoubtedly a bit wasteful in employing people. Among so many exiled northern scholars, only a few were truly valued by him?

During the two years Zhuge Liang worked as a farmer in Jingzhou, he also made several friends, including Pang Tong and Meng Jian, who were also recruited. But compared with the frustrated exiled northern scholars in Jingzhou, this scale of recruiting was still too small.

After Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang personally took charge of the newly built Wuchang City, they might be able to make efforts nearby to change this situation. Liu Bei also thought it made sense and said that he would pay attention to it when the time comes.

In such a chaotic time, what the southern princes lacked most was not land, but talent and population.

As long as there are enough people, there are countless swamps in the south that can be dredged and developed into waterside paddy fields to enhance national strength.

Therefore, even if there is no war, you can continue to improve your strength by recruiting people, and there is no need to worry about wasting time on farming.

Having said that, Liu Bei had a rough idea of the power operation model of his camp in the next stage - he and Zhuge Liang might go to Wuchang, and after handing over to Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong might go back to take charge of Yuzhang affairs and provide support for Jiangxia.

Therefore, the four top counselors of Liu Bei's army will present a situation of two in the east and two in the west. From the previous battles against Huang Zu and Lu Bu, "Kong Ming is responsible for matters in the north of the Yangtze River, and Zi Yu is responsible for matters in the south of the Yangtze River",
It became the future "Liu Bei personally handled the affairs of Jingzhou and Yuzhang, with Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong as his assistants. Guan Yu was responsible for defense of Xuyang, Zhuge Jin was in charge of internal affairs, with Lu Su as his assistant."

The territory's east-west distance is getting longer and longer, which is inevitable. Just like in history, after Liu Bei entered Sichuan, Jingzhou had to be handed over to Guan Yu.

So Liu Bei roughly divided the four counties of Jiangxia, Yuzhang, Lujiang and Jiujiang under his direct jurisdiction. Zhao Yun and Gan Ning would also be responsible for the defense of Liu Bei's territory. Zhao Yun would be responsible for the defense of the north side of the middle reaches of the Huai River, that is, Shouchun and Hefei as the core to defend against Cao Cao. Gan Ning would be in charge of the direction facing Liu Biao.

Guangling, Xiapi, Donghai, and Danyang were divided between Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin, one in charge of military affairs and the other in charge of internal affairs. Zhang Fei and Taishi Ci assisted in the defense, with Zhang Fei responsible for the north facing Cao Cao and Taishi Ci responsible for the east facing Sun Ce. The rest of the middle-level generals, such as Chen Dao and Tian Yu, could keep their old posts and serve as deputies to Zhang Fei and Taishi Ci respectively.

……

After sorting out all of this, Liu Bei finally felt that the future had become clear again.

He had eaten and drunk enough meat and wine and felt a little uncomfortable in his stomach, so he ordered the maid and the cook to bring him some soup noodles to help him sober up, and some dry Hu bing as a staple food.

When Zhuge Jin saw the food being served, he was slightly stunned and quite curious.

It was because he had been living in the south for three years since he traveled through time, and the transportation conditions in this era were not good, so the staple food he had eaten in the past three years was corn or rice, and he had almost never eaten pasta.

Huainan originally did not grow wheat, but this year, due to Zhuge Liang's promotion of rice-wheat rotation, an area of two counties was planted with winter wheat.

After the new wheat was harvested in May, the high-ranking civil and military officials who stayed in Huainan quickly switched to noodles as their staple food. Especially since Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yu were all from the north, Liu Bei still liked noodles very much.

After the soup noodles were served, Liu Bei began to drink them up in a very uncivilized manner.

Zhuge Jin took a look at the soup bowl. The contents were a kind of food that was a cross between northern noodle soup and southern noodle dumplings. It seemed to be seasoned with salt, vinegar, and dogwood, as well as some fresh mustard leaves and pickled mustard tubers, and served with a side of rotten meat sauce.

Zhuge Jin took a sip tentatively and found the sour taste a bit too strong. It wasn't just the sour taste of vinegar, but the leaves and noodles themselves seemed to have sour tastes. However, it was both sour and spicy, and it was indeed a good hangover reliever.

The texture of the noodles is not very fine either. It is probably because the wheat grains are not thoroughly ground into flour. Instead, the wheat grains are naturally crushed when the bran is removed, and then the broken wheat is used directly to make food.

Zhuge Jin was a cautious person and cared a lot about his health. After he felt that the sour taste was not right, he did not dare to eat it anymore. Instead, he took the dry-baked Hu pancake to test it and verify it.

With the common sense he had gained from traveling through time, although he had not eaten much pasta, he vaguely knew that the bread eaten in this era should not be specially fermented, and was similar to the unleavened bread in later generations.

The dough he got now felt slightly soft and fluffy, but it was definitely not leavened dough. Perhaps it could be considered half-leavened dough, which made Zhuge Jin even more suspicious.

"In history, shouldn't steamed buns be invented when my second brother crossed the Lu River in May to conquer the southern barbarians? Could it be that the prototype of steamed buns already existed? Or are there other leavened foods that appeared earlier than steamed buns?"

Zhuge Jin thought about it in his mind, and finally decided to do it himself, so he took a bite himself.

A strange sour smell entered my mouth and nose, a taste that was between a rotten bread and the Ethiopian "Injera" sour bread that I had eaten while traveling in later generations.

Zhuge Jin was rich in common sense. He could tell something was wrong just by the smell. This should be the dough that became sour and bloated due to the fermentation of yeast, lactic acid bacteria and other unknown bacteria.

On the other side, Liu Bei had already finished a bowl of noodle soup and took a big bite of sour bread. Seeing that Zhuge Jin didn't eat, he couldn't help but be curious:
"Tzuyu, you must be tired from the journey, so your appetite is poor? If you drink too much, you should eat something sour and spicy to sober up and not hurt your spleen and stomach."

Zhuge Jin had no choice but to tell the truth: "I have been in the south for several years and have forgotten the taste of bread. This bread seems to be a little sour?"

Liu Bei was unimpressed. "It's better to drink sour noodles! This is a good thing. When ordinary chefs make noodles, there may not be one or two sour noodles out of ten bowls. It's just after midsummer and it's hot in Huainan now, so there are more sour noodles. When I was young in my hometown Zhuo County, I couldn't eat sour noodles in the summer. They were all hard and bitter noodles that irritated my teeth."

Zhuge Jin suddenly realized: In this era, fermented pasta already exists, and steamed buns will not appear out of thin air in the future.

However, the chef has not yet summarized the rules of fermentation, nor does he know that this is a microbial reaction.

It is the early seventh month of the lunar calendar, the hottest time of the year, and the environment is humid and full of bacteria. Liu Bei's banquets are no different from his daily meals. The chef has to prepare the ingredients long in advance, and the dough will naturally acidify and ferment over time.

Zhuge Jin didn't dare to eat bread fermented by unknown bacteria. In this era, diarrhea could even lead to death.

He also thought: His second brother might not have the chance to go to the south to fight Meng Huo in person in this life. It would be a pity if steamed buns were not invented.

Why not take this opportunity to let my second brother do a "fermentation flora control group experiment" to systematically develop steamed bread and fermentation principles. This can also be regarded as a complete end for Shennong, who presided over the rice-wheat rotation in Huainan.

Liu Bei had no idea what Zhuge Jin was thinking and thought that the food just didn't suit his appetite, so he quickly ordered the chef to prepare some hot and sour soup to help him sober up.

Zhuge Jin came back to his senses and quickly said no, and said:

"My Lord, I really can't get used to these sour noodles, but when I was young in my hometown, I ate soft and non-sour noodles. Maybe the koji and koji used in the 'noodles' here in Xia Pi are not good. Aliang and I will select the koji and koji in a few days, and it should be fine."

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PS: There will be three updates today, but the third update will be after 9pm, so don’t wait and read it tomorrow morning.

(End of this chapter)