My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 317: Liu Biao and Yuan Tan: What a coincidence? Your subordinates have also joined Liu Bei?

Time quietly came to the end of September in the sixth year of Jian'an.

There were constant wars in the north this year.

However, in the south, the war had basically stopped since March, and all the princes in the south did not resort to war for the following six months.

For the people in the south, this was a rare peaceful year of recuperation. There were no floods, droughts, or locust plagues in the south, so the people could farm peacefully from the beginning of the spring ploughing season and harvest happily in the autumn.

Both Jingzhou and Yangzhou achieved a good harvest this year. After the agricultural persuasion progress was reported to Xiangyang, Liu Biao was very satisfied.

The military rations he had stored in Jiangling had already exceeded one million dan.

If we continue to have two more years of good harvests at this rate, and if Wu Ju and Lai Gong in the south also pay tribute in full and on time, it will be easy to save two or three million by then.

Although Liu Biao was old, in poor health, and had no ambition, he had never thought about attacking anyone after accumulating two or three million shi of military rations.

But for a miser, being able to save more and more is a happy thing in itself - even though more than six years later in history, all these things were given to Cao Cao for free.

……

On September 28th, Xin Pi was still about ten days away from returning to Qingzhou.

Lai Gong's letter to Liu Biao had already been delivered to Xiangyang.

Lai Gong's swift actions also allowed Liu Biao to get ahead of Yuan Tan and win the title of "the first prince to be won over by Liu Bei and become his confidant this year."

After Liu Biao saw it, he didn't react at first. He thought Lai Gong just sympathized with the people of Lingling and wanted to reduce transportation losses. So he was not in a hurry to collect grain and transfer it to the north. He wanted to intercept part of the tax grain of that year and use it to improve transportation locally.

Although Liu Biao was old, he was not confused. He did not understand the situation at first, but at least he knew that he would be wise if he listened to both sides. He called Kuai Liang, Kuai Yue, Yi Ji and others to discuss how to deal with Lai Gong's request.

As soon as Kuai Yue read the letter, he immediately reacted: "Sir! Lai Gong has only been in Lingling for the second year! He only collected money and grain from Lingling once and sent it to Jiangling when he took office last year.

Now he is so unwilling to obey orders, could it be that he has been wooed by Liu Bei? In the past year, I heard that Liu Bei has also lightened taxes and levies in Changsha County, and has also promoted industry and commerce. The labor that originally required corvée labor has now been changed to the government paying people and providing them with food. This is a typical example of selling favors!

Although Lai Gong did not mention how he would use the intercepted money and grain to repair roads and rivers, it is reasonable to say that he was planning to provide food for those serving labor. Otherwise, why would he need so much food? This is clearly Liu Bei's style!"

After hearing this, Liu Biao was somewhat shocked and angry, but also somewhat unwilling, as he always felt that the words were harsh.

As for Yi Ji from the other faction, although he also vaguely felt that Liu Bei might be behind this matter, Yi Ji had long been fed up with the style of Kuai and Cai, and was vaguely leaning towards Liu Bei. How could he not argue at this time?

Liu Biao had full trust in Yi Ji because he knew that Yi Ji had been fighting for Liu Bei's interests in his negotiations with him.

Moreover, apart from ordinary gift-giving and exchange, Yi Ji personally did not receive any huge benefits from Liu Bei, so there was no possibility of him being bribed, which is very rare.

How could Liu Biao know that Yi Ji was the kind of person who would bring his own food and speak for Liu Bei wherever he went, and he didn't even need Liu Bei to give him huge benefits.

Yi Ji immediately seized on some unpleasant parts of Kuai Yue's words and refuted them righteously: "Brother Yidu, what are you talking about! When did light taxes and levies, sympathizing with the people's hardship, and having the government provide for their food become a trick to win people's hearts?
Even if the General of Chariots and Cavalry did this in Changsha and Jiangxia to win over the people, shouldn't we compete with them fairly and show more kindness to the people, so that the people of Wuling and Lingling can see that they can live better under the rule of the envoy than under the direct rule of the General of Chariots and Cavalry?

Should we turn around and do something violent just because our competitors have acted righteously? "

After all, Liu Biao was a moral gentleman who loved his people in his heart. He felt embarrassed after hearing what Yi Ji said, so he dismissed Kuai Yue and asked him to reorganize his words and stop talking nonsense.

Liu Biao's mentality at this moment was probably similar to that of Principal Chang when he heard a report like "Judging from the fact that this man is honest and incorruptible, and not interested in women, he must be a member of XX without a doubt."

Although this may be true, I cannot accept it emotionally.

Are we not allowed to have a few honest people?

After figuring this out, Liu Biao made the decision: "Allowed! Lai Gong will be allowed to withhold Lingling's money and grain this year to be used for repairing roads and canals. However, I will also send people to check the accounts of the use of money and grain, publicize the benevolent policies, and let the people and officials of Lingling know who they are being beneficiaries of!
Regardless of whether Liu Bei is trying to win people's hearts or not, I will accompany him! Jingzhou has not been in war for nearly ten years, and Jiangling has nearly two million grains stored. How can it not outlast Liu Bei!"

After hearing what Liu Biao said, Yi Ji felt a little relieved, and felt that this old boss and fellow villager, who had served him for many years, was still a benevolent ruler. Although he was a little pedantic and indecisive, he was still good to the people.

Yi Ji also felt a little guilty about this.

Kuai Yue had already been scolded by Liu Biao, so he had no chance to speak. Kuai Liang had no choice but to pick up his brother's point of view, shaking his head and sighing as he tactfully advised:

"Your Excellency is confident that Jiangling has abundant money and grain, and is not afraid to show favor to the people. But I think you may have underestimated Liu Bei's financial resources. In the past two years, Zhuge Liang has mined and smelted steel in Wuchang and E County, printed books, and made silk, tea, and porcelain. I heard that the output of the large copper mine in Yuzhang has also skyrocketed every year in recent years.

If I compete with Liu Bei in wealth and power to win people's hearts, I'm afraid it will be in vain in the end."

Liu Biao frowned upon hearing this, but he did not intend to change his decision. He just wanted to test the waters this time, since it would not cost much money or grain anyway. If it was ultimately ineffective, it would also test Liu Bei's true intentions, and it would not be too late to make a decision then.

The main reason was that Liu Biao was relatively well-off in terms of money and grain, and he could afford to take out a little bit to play with.

What remains is the question of who will supervise Lai Gong's use of money and grain.

From a rational point of view, we should invite someone who is not likely to collude with Lai Gong to deceive the superiors and the subordinates. For example, Cai Mao, Zhang Yun and the Kuai family do not have a good relationship with Lai Gong now, so it is impossible for them to collude to deceive Liu Biao.

But Liu Biao also realized that Cai Kuai was too greedy for power. If they went, it might turn into Cai Mao continuing to blackmail Lai Gong. Even if Lai Gong was not a problem, he would have to shed some skin and bleed a little, and deal with Cai Mao well before he could get away.

Didn't Liu Biao experience this kind of case last year? When Wu Ju and Lai Gong escorted the former Wuling and Lingling governors' property to the north, some of the things other than the accounts were used to please Cai Mao in exchange for Cai Mao's leniency.

As a result, the ancestral jade book of the Jin Xuan family appeared in Cai Mao's villa in Yicheng. Liu Biao saw it with his own eyes, but he never made it public.

If Cai Mao's faction were allowed to supervise again, it might backfire and force Lai Gong to join Liu Bei's side.

With such a bad precedent, Liu Biao had to change his approach this time and let Yi Ji go instead.

Yi Ji also said that he would live up to his mission and would definitely monitor Lai Gong's behavior secretly while not provoking Lai Gong to prevent him from turning to Liu Bei.

After receiving the order, Yi Ji hurried southward. It took about ten days to get from Xiangyang to Lingling, not to mention the journey.

……

While Yi Ji was ordered to head south and sleep in the open air on his journey, Xin Pi, Taishi Ci and Zhuge Jun, who were drifting on the Yellow Sea, finally landed in various counties of Langya County on the fifth day of October.

Up to this point, Zhu County and Ju County were still under the rule of Yuan Tan and could not be directly handed over to Liu Bei's army.

So Xin Pi said that he would first rush to Linzi, get the authorization from Master Yuan, and then come to hand over the battle to the defenders of Zhuxian and Juxian. However, he could take some responsibility and let Taishi Ci's troops enter the city first and wait slowly.

Taishi Ci was not in a hurry either. Under the coordination of Xin Pi, he led a vanguard of several thousand people into the city.

He also borrowed a warehouse from Yuan's army, and in front of Yuan Tan's garrison, he moved the military aid supplies that Liu Bei was transporting to Yuan Tan, including the gleaming armor, swords and halberds, into the armories in the counties, temporarily sealed them and handed them over to Zhuge Jun for custody.

After finishing all this, Xin Pi rode straight to Linzi and met Yuan Tan three days later.

"My Lord! Although I have been delayed along the way, thanks to your reputation and your sincerity, I was able to persuade the General of Chariots and Cavalry to send troops to Langya to support us. He also sent a batch of military equipment to our army. Here is the reply letter, please read it yourself."

When Yuan Tan saw Xin Pi, he was also mixed with joy and sorrow. He was happy that Xin Pi had succeeded in his trip and finally got things done. He was naturally worried that he had wasted too much time, and he had been gone for almost three months.

During this period, Cao's army's offensive in Hebei became more and more fierce. Although the army held on to Nanpi City, the four counties of Guangchuan, Xiuxian, Dongguang and Xinle, located east of Nanpi and along the Zhangshui River in Bohai County, were all abandoned.

If Nanpi City had not blocked the Zhangshui River, Cao's army would not have dared to take the risk of having its food supply cut off and rashly make a detour with its main force. I'm afraid the lower reaches of the Zhangshui River would have been lost as well.

In the previous defensive battle, Yuan Tan was reluctant to see the people under his rule being plundered by Cao Cao, so he tried to fortify his city and clear the fields in advance, and moved the people of the four counties in the middle reaches of the Zhang River to Nanpi as much as possible, and defended the city to the death.

But this kind of thing can only last for a while, not forever.

Now, at least these people have moved ahead with their stored grain after harvesting winter wheat this summer, so there is enough food in Nanpi to last until next summer's harvest.

It is now the season for planting winter wheat. If Cao's army cannot retreat, they can only settle for the next best thing and wait until next spring to plant spring wheat. However, the harvest of spring wheat will definitely not be as good as that of winter wheat because the growing period is too short.

What's more terrible is that if Cao's army hasn't retreated by the time of next spring plowing, the people who Yuan Tan had fortified his city and cleared the fields would become a burden. He already regretted his greed and didn't want to lose anything, but he might end up losing more.

In this situation, although Xin Pi arrived late, he at least brought back good news, so Yuan Tan's expectations of him were very high.

Unfortunately, as soon as Xin Pi opened his mouth and mentioned only one or two additional conditions that Liu Bei had for reinforcements, Yuan Tan's face changed slightly:
Could it be that Xin Pi had surrendered to the enemy? How could he agree to such a condition?

(End of this chapter)