My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 37 I'm sorry, Brother Zizhong
With the two villains beheaded, Lu Bu had no choice but to continue along the path of "joining forces with Liu and fighting against Yuan", and he would not be able to turn back within at least a year.

Chen Deng informed Jian Yong immediately, and Jian Yong reported to Zhuge Jin who was behind the scenes.

Zhuge Jin remained calm, as if he had anticipated the result, and ordered calmly:
"In that case, arrange carriages and horses. I will escort the families of the civil and military officials back to Huaiyin first, and then send a fast horse to inform Yunchang to prepare for the reception.

As for the rest, you and Yuanlong should slowly discuss the conditions I have given you, and then we will go to Xuchang to meet the emperor together as agreed."

According to Zhuge Jin's plan, returning the families of Liu Bei's senior generals was only the first important condition of the negotiations.

There will be some "mutually beneficial" trade details to follow, as well as the treatment of the families of ordinary soldiers and the handling of the diehard remnants of Xu Dan and others. It is estimated that these discussions can be carried out for a few days, and the specific delivery will take even longer.

In this case, he left the follow-up cleanup to Jian Yong and Chen Deng, and he himself just took Chen Dao and escorted his family back.

After all, rescuing someone is a big favor, so of course I have to do it myself.

……

As mentioned above, Zhuge Jin and his entourage left Huaiyin and headed north on the third day of September, and arrived at Xiapi on the sixth day.

It was already mid-September when they secretly arranged and contacted internal forces and finally reached an agreement on the negotiations.

The gathering and travel of family members is definitely slower than that of the regular army, so they will not be able to return to Huaiyin until at least September 15th.

Liu Bei, who was in the rear, was of course very concerned about this and kept sending people to inquire about the situation. He also planned to go north in person as soon as he got the news, just to see his family as soon as possible.

On the morning of the tenth day of September, Liu Bei, who was in Guangling, had just washed, dressed and was ready to go to work when a trusted attendant rushed in with news.

Liu Bei was delighted, and since he calculated that the time was almost up, he took the initiative to ask, "Does Ziyu have any confirmed news?"

The attendant was stunned: "There is no news from Mr. Zhuge today - my lord, it is Mi Biejia's fleet that has returned from the prefecture governor Wang of Kuaiji."

Liu Bei then remembered that Mi Zhu had gone south to Wang Lang's place to prepare military supplies since the beginning of last month, and now he finally returned to Guangling with a full load.

Although it was not as good as Zhuge Jin's news, it was good news after all. Liu Bei adjusted his mood and immediately went to the Hangou Wharf outside the city to greet him in person.

……

According to the original history, after Liu Bei's entire army was wiped out, it cost Mi Zhu more than 100 million yuan to rebuild the army.

In this life, because the main force was still there and he only needed to replenish military supplies, Mi Zhu's expenses were much smaller. However, he still spent 30 to 40 million yuan to fill the logistics gap.

For example, this time when I went to Wang Lang's place, I brought back more than 20,000 dan of rice. The price of rice in troubled times was several times higher than in peacetime, but the freight for sea transportation was even more expensive than the price of rice.

It can only be said that the Han Dynasty's navigation was too underdeveloped and the risks were too great. Although inland water transportation was very cheap, once it came into contact with the sea, the cost rose sharply.

This can only be said to be an emergency measure, not a relief for the poor. It is absolutely unaffordable to eat this kind of sea-transported food for a long time, unless someone comprehensively upgrades the navigation technology.

Mi Zhu felt that he had returned very quickly. It was originally agreed that he would return in one and a half months, or two months at the slowest.

In the end, the actual round trip voyage to search for and purchase goods took less than forty days.

But what shocked Mi Zhu was that when he went ashore, he thought he would face a bloody siege camp - when he left, he heard that the plan was that the food would be used as rations for the siege.

As a result, the Guangling City that Mi Zhu saw was already a bustling commercial and orderly city, which had been occupied by Liu Bei for a long time.

This really made Mi Zhu, who had been wandering and offline for many days, doubt his life.

Liu Bei went to meet him in person, and seeing the confusion in Mi Zhu's eyes, he told him directly:
"Zi Zhong, you've worked hard. In fact, on the eighth day after you set out to sea, Zi Yu helped us capture Guangling City. It only took two days of fighting before Liu Xun and Chen Lan collapsed and fled!"

Mi Zhu suddenly felt mixed emotions, and his sense of accomplishment plummeted. He was happy that Liu Bei had survived the desperate situation, but also felt sad that he had not been able to make the first contribution.

"In this case, it would be a waste of effort..."

Fortunately, Liu Bei had a very high emotional intelligence and quickly comforted him: "No! Your batch of grain is really a timely relief! Previously, the enemy's strategist Liu Ye was able to see through our army's food shortage and burned the grain to avoid fighting.

Although Ziyu noticed it and tried his best to stop it, Guangling's grain reserves were still nearly half lost. If it weren't for your efforts, I'm afraid people would starve to death next spring! I will remember the kindness of the Mi family for the rest of my life! "Knowing that his efforts had helped, Mi Zhu finally felt better. The two chatted for a while about contacting Wang Lang and good neighborliness.

Naturally, Liu Bei also praised and rewarded these achievements in various ways.

Mi Zhu's mood improved, and he finally decided to talk about something he had been thinking about for a long time on his way back:
"There is something I want to discuss with my lord..."

Liu Bei: "What's the difference between you and me? Just tell me."

Mi Zhu organized his words: "This time our army was able to turn defeat into victory and stabilize its position, which is certainly God's blessing. But compared to when we were in Xia Pi, we still lost two-thirds of the counties. In the future, we need to make gradual progress and recover our vitality.

The families of the soldiers are trapped, and some soldiers will surely escape in the future... I believe that the most important task to stabilize the morale of the army right now is to find unmarried and widowed girls in Guangling, so that the soldiers can start a new family and win their hearts.

Moreover, if our generals take new wives, they can show Lü Bu that it doesn’t matter. Maybe when they redeem their wives in the future, Lü Bu will ask for a lower price, so that they won’t be so rare…”

Mi Zhu's deduction is completely in line with the thinking habits of businessmen.

Businessmen pay the most attention to scarcity. When their wives and children are in the hands of others, they have to hope that this weakness will depreciate. The best way is to find more wives and have more children.

After Mi Zhu laid the groundwork for the great truth, he quickly continued, "Zhu has a younger sister, who is only 28 years old and knows a little about etiquette. Zhu's family can still raise a dowry of tens of thousands of dollars and two thousand servants..."

When Liu Bei heard this, his eyes flashed a few times, and of course he guessed what was going to happen next.

Thanks to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, many people thought that Mi Zhen and Madam Gan were captured together when Xia Pi was robbed, but in fact Mi Zhen was not married at that time.

Historically, Mi Zhu made the above suggestion only after Liu Bei's entire army collapsed, his family was lost, and he moved his army to Haixi County.

Now that Liu Bei has not collapsed and has not gone to Haixi in person, Mi Zhu had the opportunity to speak only today.

This is very reasonable, it is the butterfly effect of Zhuge Jin changing his destiny against all odds.

Of course Liu Bei did not want to reject Mi Zhu's sincerity, but he felt that with Zi Yu's help, the success rate of returning his family should be very high.

And after all this ordeal, he became more and more convinced of his fate.

Liu Bei hesitated for a long time and then said sincerely: "Zi Zhong, I appreciate your kindness. Regardless of whether your sister can succeed in this relationship, our two families are as close as relatives and will never contradict each other.

But I am nearly 40 years old, and I have lost my wife several times. Fortune tellers all say that I have a hard fate and I am unlucky in marriage. Even if I only take one wife, I cannot pray for it. Your sister is still young, but I am afraid she cannot bear the position of my wife.

Besides, Ziyu has been ordered by me to go to Lü Bu to mediate the family affairs. I think there will be a report in a few days. It is better to wait for the result before making long-term plans. "

After hearing this, Mi Zhu had no choice but to give up.

After all, it is a bit unkind to advise the other party to find another woman on the eve of his concubine's possible release.

"In that case, I have been sailing for many days and am a little tired. I will go and have a rest." Mi Zhu stood up and said goodbye.

Liu Bei hurriedly saw him out personally.

As soon as the two men walked out of the middle gate and reached the outer courtyard, they saw a servant running in, holding a bamboo tube for carrying a message in his hand. When he saw Liu Bei, he bowed and presented it to him.

Liu Bei was delighted, as he had a premonition. With trembling hands he pulled out the silk and glanced at it.

"Could it be..." Mi Zhu looked at Liu Bei's expression and guessed something.

Liu Bei rubbed his fists hard, and his trembling stopped instantly: "Zi Yu succeeded! My family members have been released by Lu Bu! Yun Chang has also sent troops to escort them! Zi Zhong! You and Guo Rang will help me guard Guangling in the next few days, Yi De and I will go north personally..."

Mi Zhu was stunned, and was also happy for Liu Bei, but just to be safe he reminded: "Can't we wait for Yunchang to send someone over?"

Liu Bei explained solemnly: "If it were just family members, there would be no need to go to Ling County to welcome them in person. But Ziyu will soon follow Xianhe and Yuanlong to Xuchang for another important mission. How can I not thank you in person for such a great favor?"

(End of this chapter)