My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 466 Zhou Gongjin Lands in Incheon

Two flowers bloom, one branch each.

Forced by the speed of expansion of Liu Bei's camp, Cao Cao had to offer better conditions to Ma Teng in exchange for a quick victory in the northwest.

Liu Bei's camp was not idle either. As early as the beginning of February, when Xiahou Yuan was just sent to Chang'an by Cao Cao, Zhuge Jin's secret report on how to digest the Gongsun family's territory in the subsequent stage was also sent from Ji County to Hefei and delivered to Liu Bei.

Liu Bei received this report a few days later than Cao Cao learned that "Zhao Yun" had returned to Ji County. This was certainly not because Cao Cao did a good job in intelligence work, but simply because Zhuge Jin did not intend to conceal it and deliberately spread it. On the other hand, Zhuge Jin had to take a detour to deliver the news to Hefei, and the distance was long, so it was not surprising that Liu Bei received the news a few days later than Cao Cao.

When Liu Bei heard that Zhuge Jin had sent a report, his first reaction was curiosity, and he quickly summoned Zhuge Liang to discuss it together.

Zhuge Liang has been quite busy recently and just returned to Hefei these two days.

In the new year, it was February, the time when spring ploughing began. Zhuge Liang took time out of the first month to inspect the three counties of Jiangdong, Wuhui, and arranged this year's Linyi early rice planting work.

This year is the second year of trial planting of Linyi rice in Jiangdong. Last year, because there were only a few thousand stones of seeds, it was not enough to fill the rice fields of an entire county and could only cover a few townships.

The scale of seeds this year has expanded dozens of times compared to last year. This is due to the second generation of seeds produced locally. It is also due to the fact that Bu Zhi and Lu Yi took advantage of the cool season to travel along the South China Sea trade route to purchase goods from Linyi.

In short, this year's planting area can finally cover several counties. In order to let all places summarize the technical experience of planting new rice and accumulate talent reserves as soon as possible, Zhuge Liang specially investigated the climate, water and soil conditions of the counties in the three counties of Wu and Hui, and finally selected several counties for scattered pilot projects.

In Danyang Prefecture, the entire county of Moling (now Nanjing) was selected to plant Linyi rice in the first season of this year. In Wu Prefecture, Wu County (Suzhou) and Qiantang (Hangzhou) were selected, and in Kuaiji Prefecture, Shanyin (Shaoxing) and Juzhang (Ningbo) were selected as pilot areas.

The scale of seeds is not enough to plant Linyi rice in all paddy fields of the five counties, and some counties can only plant half of the area. But selecting more counties is also to collect data as soon as possible, summarize experience, and find out the climate environment that Linyi rice can adapt to more quickly.

For example, every time Linyi rice is promoted in a new county, it is necessary to re-explore the best time for planting, approximately which day it is, what temperature and moisture conditions need to be met, whether there is room for compromise and replacement when all indicators cannot be met, etc. This is all very complicated.

Of course, you can also hope to grow crops in the best and most optimal environment, but that is something you can only hope for.

For example, even if Zhuge Liang calculated how much water should be used for irrigation at different times during the entire Linyi rice planting process, in reality the precipitation environment in each county is different, and it is impossible to do so in some places.

At this time, we need to use our brains. For example, after the rice seedlings are raised and just planted in the field, do we need to adjust the time and water storage to induce the rice roots to develop rapidly and take root deeper? However, all changes have a price. A more developed rice root system also means more growth space and more arable land. These need to be slowly summarized.

Zhuge Liang also wanted to speed up the progress of this exploration, so he did not allow the expansion of Linyi rice only in the vicinity of Wu County this year. Instead, he insisted on widening the distance and selecting individual counties in the three counties of Wu and Hui to participate in the pilot project.

When the seed production scale expands more than ten times next year, Zhuge Liang will also select Chaisang, Nanchang and other counties in Yuzhang, as well as Wuchang County of Jiangxia County in Jingzhou and Changsha County of Changsha County, and include them in the early rice pilot scope.

……

Without further ado, it would take too long to describe Zhuge Liang's hard work in the past six months, his efforts in encouraging agriculture, managing government affairs, and rectifying financial and grain issues, and there is no need to elaborate on them.

In the struggle for supremacy in the world, some people do the glorious work, while others are heroes behind the scenes. Everyone has their own expertise and the roles may switch at any time.

Anyway, Zhuge Liang's main job has come to an end for the time being. He just returned to Hefei when he happened to meet his elder brother delivering a secret report to the lord. Of course, he had to help out and discuss it together.

Arriving at the General of Chariots and Cavalry's residence, Liu Bei directly spread out Zhuge Jin's petition and asked Zhuge Liang to take a closer look. He also commented casually:

"I am still wondering why Ziyu is so serious and came to ask for instructions on how to deal with the attack on Liaodong. I have clearly entrusted him with full authority and given him the power to do whatever he wants. It turns out that he wants to let Gongsun Kang go. This is indeed a big deal and we should all discuss it together."

While listening to his lord's brief account, Zhuge Liang quickly glanced at his elder brother's secret report and immediately grasped the key points.

Indeed, the authority that the lord gave to the eldest brother was very high. Basically, he could decide on his own how to govern Youzhou and Bohai County and what money, grain and tax policies to implement locally, and the lord did not interfere at all.

In the past six months, my brother has done a very good job in these aspects. The organization of the Yuyang Border Market and the coordinated use of materials from various grassland tribes have solved the food shortage problem that the Han people in Youzhou were originally facing.

Youzhou now no longer needs to ask Jizhou for grain, and can support itself with its own grain production and the beef, mutton and dairy products it buys. The senior officials of Liu Bei's camp in Hefei always feel amazed and admire this when they talk about this.

As for Youzhou, it was even more impossible to ask Hefei for instructions on how to fight the war militarily and at the strategic and tactical level. When a general is away from his master, he may not obey his orders. Liu Bei was two thousand miles away, so how could he know the ever-changing situation on the front line? He could not micro-manage.

But there was one thing that Zhuge Jin had to ask for permission if he wanted to make any adjustments, which was the opinions of other princes on how to deal with them and their attitudes towards the enemy and ourselves. In other words, if we use a modern analogy, in an emergency, national defense can authorize the lower levels to react to changes in defense, but diplomacy must not allow people below to react to changes in defense, and all decisions must come from the center.

Zhuge Jin can decide how to fight Gongsun Kang, but he does not have the right to decide on his own to let Gongsun Kang go. This power will always belong to Liu Bei alone.

After reading the reasons briefly stated in his elder brother's secret memorial, Zhuge Jin also carefully expressed his support: "My lord, I think my brother's argument is well-balanced and can be supported... I am not speaking for my brother, I am just discussing the facts."

Liu Bei smiled happily and said to Zhuge Liang in a casual manner: "How could I not know that you are discussing the matter in a practical manner? If you were not motivated by public interest, why would you take the initiative to propose it without waiting for me to ask in detail?"

Liu Bei patted the back of Zhuge Liang's hand and didn't say anything else. They didn't even make eye contact, but just from the aura and atmosphere between them, both of them could tell that the trust between them was complete.

If Zhuge Liang had not known that Liu Bei appointed people based on their merits and trusted them, he would not have said it so bluntly. If it were a relationship between a monarch and his subjects, it would definitely be a taboo to say such things, but there was no such thing between Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang, and they could say whatever they wanted.

Zhuge Liang then began to analyze the details in a very eloquent manner: "My lord, you are right. My brother suggested to spare Gongsun Kang and give him a chance to live, considering that doing so is in the best interests of the Han Dynasty.

Once Gongsun Kang dies, Buyeo, Goguryeo and other northeastern barbarians will fight on their own and resist Hanization. After the Central Plains is settled, it will take more effort to rectify the surrounding barbarians.

But if we do not talk to Gongsun Kang, do not get along with him, and only use force to expel him or induce him to leave, according to my calculations, the King of Buyeo, Wei Choutai, is the son-in-law of Gongsun Du and the brother-in-law of Gongsun Kang, and he will definitely take in his brother-in-law.

If Gongsun Kang becomes stronger in the future, he will promote Hanization in Fuyu and help Wei Choutai reform the official system and improve people's livelihood and farming. After many years, we will attack Fuyu in the name of pursuing Gongsun Kang, and the whole land of Fuyu will be smoothly Hanized and annexed by the Han Dynasty.

If the situation goes more smoothly, Gongsun Kang can be patient for a few years, accumulate strength, and take over the country of Fuyu. That would be even better. Then we can attack him with a legitimate reason."

Zhuge Jin certainly could not mention the contents of these prospects in his secret report, as he was uncertain and not very open about them.

Any written material is likely to be preserved. Even if the letter has a high level of confidentiality and will not be written into history books, Zhuge Jin still has to keep it.

But when Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei talked face to face, it was all verbal, and no one was there to record it, so they were more relaxed. They could just talk about interests, without caring about those empty words.

After Zhuge Liang's elaborate analysis, Liu Bei felt more and more clear-headed and realized that this thing could indeed be done.

The two of them quickly deduced the situation and figured out the subsequent rhythm.

Finally, Liu Bei made the decision:
"In his secret letter, Ziyu also wanted Ziyi to raise another batch of warships in Donglai, so that he could cross the sea to Lelang and Daifang to land and capture Gongsun Kang's territory. I think this is a bit unnecessary. It is already February, and by the time he receives our reply, it will be almost halfway through February.

If we wait a little longer, the Bohai Sea will be completely thawed, and we won't have to fight for more than half a month. It's better to let Gongjin take the original warships, wait for the Bohai Sea to completely thaw, and then take the sea route through the Da clan to occupy the coast of Lelang and cut off the wings of the Gongsun clan.

Zilong's final attack on Xiangping to expel Gongsun Kang could be slowed down. Ziyu wanted to speed up because he was afraid that Youzhou would be empty for too long and Cao Cao would let Zhang He take advantage of the situation. But now it seems that Cao Cao was completely stunned by Ziyu's bluffing and apparent quick victory.

In this case, Zilong did not need to rush. If the siege lasted a little longer, the military rations in Xiangping and Liaoyang would be insufficient, and the morale would surely waver during the spring famine season. If the news of Gongjin's success in Lelang, Daifang and other places was passed back to Xiangping, it would be best to capture a few of the Gongsun family's garrisons in Lelang and other places, and bring them to Xiangping City as evidence, which would definitely cause the morale of the Xiangping defenders to collapse.

At that time, we can save ourselves the trouble of killing many people during the attack and just encourage them to collapse on their own."

This was also the plan that Zhuge Liang fine-tuned for his elder brother based on the latest observations of the external environment.

Zhuge Jin's original plan was to rush things and cost more. But now it seems that we can use some time to reduce costs and make the curve of money and grain pressure smoother.

Anyway, the enemy can't make any waves.

Liu Bei's reply and Zhuge Liang's personal reply were prepared within a few days and quickly sent back to Youzhou.

Zhuge Jin also thought it made sense. His second brother was indeed more steady than he was. Moreover, as time went on, his original plan could indeed be fine-tuned according to the latest situation.

Zhuge Jin's initial suggestion was based on the situation in the first month of the year. At that time, he did not know how well his bluffing strategy against Cao's army would work. Now it seems that the effect is very good, and Zhuge Jin himself is willing to exchange time for cost, which coincides with his second brother's.

With a clear mind, Zhuge Jin's operations naturally became smoother. He immediately issued a new order to Zhou Yu, requiring Zhou Yu to wait until the Bohai Sea was completely thawed before immediately launching a coastal landing war and harvesting Gongsun Kang's outer territories at a low cost.

(End of this chapter)