My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 504: You hit yours, I’ll hit mine

Although Cao Cao successfully became the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty in early February of the 206th year of Jian'an (), the relevant news also spread quickly.

However, there was an obvious difference in the time when the fourteen states of the Han Dynasty received this news - Cao Cao was not stupid, he knew very well that once the news of his becoming the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty reached Liu Bei's ears, Liu Bei would definitely take action.

Therefore, Cao Cao immediately sent messengers to inform the local officials in the hinterland states under his rule that he had become the prime minister.

As for the border areas bordering the areas controlled by Liu Bei's army, strict patrols and inspections were carried out to slow down the spread of news as much as possible, so as to give Cao's army in various places enough time to prepare for war and deal with possible emergencies.

By this calculation, most of the states under Cao Cao's rule could get the news within a month. Xuzhou, Yangzhou, Jingzhou and other places under Liu Bei's rule might get the news one month later. And the most remote Shu might get the news one month later than other places.

Considering that Liu Bei was still in Jiangzhou, concentrating on winning over the people of Shu, he probably had to wait until the end of April before he would pay attention to Cao Cao's rebellion.

Before this, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang naturally did what they were supposed to do, and everything went on at the original pace.

……

Two flowers bloom, each showing its own beauty. The timeline goes back to years ago, and the perspective is temporarily pulled back to Jiangzhou City in Ba County.

Ever since Wei Yan threw a wooden sign into the Jialing River in early December to report victory and alert the enemy, Zhuge Liang in Jiangzhou successfully received the news in just a few days.

At that time, Zhuge Liang was arranging work at the newly built commercial port west of Jiangzhou City. As a result, the patrolling navy under Gan Ning fished out the wooden sign in the river and presented it to Zhuge Liang.

After reading it, Zhuge Liang had an idea in his mind and became more confident. He ordered his men to deliver the news to Jiangbei City to make his lord happy.

Unexpectedly, before the message was sent out, perhaps as if they had a telepathic connection, at noon that day, Liu Bei personally took a boat across the river to inspect the work at the new port in the west of the city.

Upon hearing the news, Zhuge Liang hurried to the dock to greet him in person, but before he arrived, Liu Bei had already disembarked.

Zhuge Liang went forward and said, "My lord, why did you come here so suddenly? I didn't even have time to greet you."

Liu Bei waved his hand casually: "Oh, it's alright, sir, just take care of yourself. I've been feeling bored in Jiangbei City these days, so I came out for a walk and took a look at the situation here. I guess there should be some news from Wenchang as well."

Zhuge Liang couldn't help but sigh. His lord's intuition was sometimes quite accurate. He quickly explained the situation truthfully:
"My Lord, you really think the same as me. Wen Chang has indeed sent back a victory report today - all of Xiahou Yuan's sneak attacks have been defeated by him, Lu Zhao was killed in the battle, and Zhang Xiu was injured.

Moreover, he followed the strategy I had instructed before and deliberately left some loopholes for Xiahou Yuan, making Xiahou Yuan mistakenly believe that he could cut off the food supply to Diaoyu City by siege and that there was no wharf to transport food by water.

In this way, Xiahou Yuan will definitely be reluctant to leave this winter and will continue to surround us, so we can take advantage of the situation and wait for him to tire himself out.

In the future, when the time is right, Wen Chang will repair the grain anchorage of Diaoyucheng, and not only repair it, but also deliberately publicize it so that Cao's army can see it. By then, Cao's army will inevitably realize that they have been besieging for a whole winter in vain, and their morale will plummet.

We can take advantage of the moment when Cao's army's morale plummets to launch a full-scale counterattack against Xiahou Yuan!"

While introducing the situation on Wei Yan's side, Zhuge Liang also took the opportunity to arrange and sort out the strategies he had planned.

Liu Bei's answer sounded very intuitive, and he felt reassured all of a sudden: "Sir, your plan is so sound, I have nothing to worry about, and I will surely win the battle against Xiahou Yuan next year.

But how did you know that Cao Jun would misjudge and think that Diaoyucheng could not build a dock and transport food by water? "

Zhuge Liang shook the wooden sign and said, "Using the river current to communicate is a sign of weakness in our army's water transport capabilities. It is easy to subtly make the enemy think that it is difficult for ships to dock at Diaoyucheng to send messengers, so they have to use the drifting method to send messages.

Moreover, if we can fish for it by throwing wooden signs into the river 150 miles downstream, how can Xiahou Yuan fail to fish for it upstream? As long as Xiahou Yuan surrounds Diaoyucheng across the river, his patrols will definitely fish for it. I originally instructed Wen Chang to use this method to send messages, and to place at least 100 wooden signs at a time. "

Only after Zhuge Liang revealed these details one by one did Liu Bei fully comprehend and understand the overall design, and he once again admired and praised him in his heart.

"I see... I see. That makes me feel more at ease. We can just sit back and wait for Xiahou Yuan to stop his troops at the fortified city and wait for his division to become old and his soldiers to become tired. Then we can launch a counterattack next year!"

Liu Bei let out a long breath, completely putting the battle of Diaoyucheng aside and no longer worrying about it.

I can finally spend this new year in peace and tranquility, and after the new year I can focus on winning the hearts of the people of Shu until the decisive battle.

……

Putting aside his worries about military issues, it was still early. Liu Bei thought that since he was here today, he should also inspect the civil affairs work, so he asked Zhuge Liang to accompany him for a while.

Zhuge Liang took Liu Bei to the newly built commercial port in the west of Jiangzhou City. Everyone was in casual clothes, but the security work was definitely not relaxed.

Liu Bei had not paid much attention to the farming and civil affairs after entering Sichuan. Of course, he was quite curious about this commercial port, which had only been planned in September and had just been completed. There were places worth visiting everywhere he went.

Riding on a horse, walking at your leisure, you can see the rows of newly built stores and warehouses along the river, with a constant stream of merchants coming in and out.

The dock workers unloaded the woodblock printed books from Jingzhou, the celadon and steel knives from Yangzhou, and loaded bundles of Shu brocade and bags of mountain delicacies onto the ships. The scene looked very prosperous.

On the other side, there were many small boats repacking the cargo that had just been unloaded. From time to time, there were ships leaving the port and going upstream. Sometimes, Gan Ning's warships would escort those small merchant ships.

Liu Bei watched these scenes and felt very relieved.

He had spent several years in Jiangxia and also spent several years winning over the hearts of the people in Jingzhou. Liu Bei was well aware of how much the large-scale popularization of woodblock printing could help win over the hearts of scholars.

Previously, the Yizhou market had a relatively small reliance on woodblock books. After all, there was the natural barrier of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River. Merchants and travelers from Jingzhou would be repeatedly checked when coming to Yizhou. In addition, there were checkpoints and exploitation at Baidi City in Yufu County. In the end, the local wealthy businessmen in Yizhou would definitely become middlemen and make the lion's share of the profits.

Now Liu Bei’s army can come directly to Jiangzhou to open border markets, which can at least bypass one or two layers of middlemen and allow these popular goods to reach more people.

After looking around, Liu Bei couldn't help but sigh:

"In just three or four months, you have made Jiangzhou so prosperous that the people of Shu can all feel the benefits of mutual exchange. Even if Ji Yu wants to weaken the trade between Shu and Jingyang in the future, he won't be able to do it.

However, since there is already an old wharf at the river mouth in the east of the city, why did you think of setting up a new one here? Wouldn't it be a waste of money? Or is the wharf in the east of the city not enough?"

Liu Bei had never investigated the geographical environment for water transportation near Jiangzhou. It was only when he saw it in person today that he thought of this question and asked it casually.

Zhuge Liang had been working very hard for the past few months, repeatedly examining and planning, and naturally had a plan in mind. He immediately gave Liu Bei an answer:
"My lord, you may not know that the water flow of the West Han River (Jialing River) at the mouth of the Yangtze River is turbulent and chaotic. The water volume of the Yangtze River is relatively stable throughout the year, but the water level of the West Han River varies greatly between winter and summer. Small boats coming from the upper reaches of the West Han River find it difficult to trade at the old port east of Jiangzhou City. Nowadays, the volume of private trade has increased greatly, and it will only increase in the next few years. That is why I have planned a new port in the west of the city.

Later, the old port in the east of the city was used for large ships and official ships, mainly for the trade of Linyi rice seeds and military rations. The new port in the west of the city was used for the distribution and transshipment of small boats, mainly for porcelain, books, tea and Shu brocade.

At present, the upper reaches of the West Han River are still in the hands of Xiahou Yuan, and the volume of small civilian boats coming here for trade is not large. However, the counties along the Fu River can already transit through Diaoyucheng, go downstream to load goods, and then sell them back to Fucheng, Guanghan, Zitong and other places. "

As Zhuge Liang spoke, he pulled out a small silk map that he carried with him from his sleeve and pointed it to Liu Bei.

Diaoyucheng is the hub where the Fu River, Jialing River and Qu River meet. Xiahou Yuan's army had previously only fought southward along the Jialing River and Qu River, and had not been able to enter the Fu River basin.

Because Diaoyucheng blocked the river mouth and Gan Ning had a superior navy, if Xiahou Yuan's ships dared to turn into the Fu River, they would be immediately intercepted or chased by Gan Ning. Only after Diaoyucheng fell into Xiahou Yuan's hands could Xiahou Yuan use this city to block Gan Ning's neck and prevent Gan Ning's ships from being dispatched between the three rivers.

(Note: A few days ago, a book friend asked Xiahou Yuan why he wanted to fight Diaoyucheng to the death, and why he didn't go directly along the Fu River to attack Mianzhu and Zitong. This is the reason. His troops can go there by land, but the grain ships can't pass, and if they are blocked by the Gan Ning waterway, they will be finished.)
By the same logic, if we apply this geographical advantage in reverse, as long as Zhuge Liang controls the trade port of Jiangzhou and then Diaoyucheng, his trade routes can immediately radiate to major cities along the Fu River.

Even if there might be Cao cavalry on both sides of the river when the merchant ships passed under Diaoyucheng, Xiahou Yuan's cavalry would be helpless against the merchant fleet because of Gan Ning's escort. After crossing the estuary and going deep into the hinterland of the Fu River, Gan Ning's escort was no longer needed, and Xiahou Yuan could not go that far.

Zhuge Liang arranged for Gan Ning to temporarily escort merchants from Shu for "free" business, which could also help to establish Liu Bei's reputation and win over the hearts of the people.

Imagine that when Liu Zhang was in power, would the Yizhou army escort civilian merchants? There was absolutely no such treatment. Especially with Liu Zhang's cowardice, when faced with a powerful enemy like Cao Cao, he dared only defend to the death.

But Liu Bei dared to confront him head-on and sent Gan Ning to escort the civilian merchant fleet. These merchants traveled all over the country and boasted about Liu Bei's good governance when they returned, and the people of Shu became more and more close to Liu Bei.

This was Zhuge Liang's open strategy. There was no need to conceal it. He used the general trend to compress the opponent's space.

After Liu Bei listened to Zhuge Liang's story and broke down his thoughts, he finally understood Zhuge Liang's good intentions.

It turns out that keeping Xiahou Yuan outside Diaoyucheng for a few more months has such a wonderful effect! It can also make the merchants in Shu feel that "because of the invasion of Cao's army, if there is no strong ruler, then the merchants along the Fu River may not even have business to do."

In this way, the scholars and common people along the Fu River would be more eager for a strong ruler, with clear rewards and punishments, strict laws, and the people could stay in their positions, perform their duties, and produce with peace of mind.

The two commercial ports built by Zhuge Liang, one public and one private, one large and one small, later gradually became the "Chaotianmen" and "Ciqikou" of Chongqing City. One was dedicated to large ships for officials and merchants, grain and oil for the people, and the other was dedicated to small boats for private merchants, selling luxury and expensive products.

In later generations, Chaotianmen and Ciqikou have been home to Zhuge Liang's ancestral halls and pavilions, and tourists have been paying tribute to him for thousands of years.

……

Under Zhuge Liang's careful operation, Liu Bei's civil affairs and farming work in Ba County progressed very smoothly.

Time quietly came to the eleventh year of Jian'an.

At the beginning of the new year, the trade in Jiangzhou City became more prosperous. In particular, the seed grain fleets from Jingzhou downstream arrived at Chaotianmen Wharf one after another, selling high-quality early rice seeds to officials and merchants in Shu County, and then transporting them back to Chengdu.

After the quota for Chengdu was filled, the remaining dozens of ships of seeds were unloaded by large ships at Chaotianmen, then transported to Ciqikou and transferred to small boats, and then escorted by Gan Ning to Zitong in the upper reaches of the Fu River.

Liu Zhang originally did not plan to promote early rice in Zitong in the first year, but Zhuge Liang suggested to Liu Zhang to do so through Liu Bei, with the reason that "Zitong is close to Jiameng Pass and Baishui Pass, and closer to the front line against Xiahou Yuan. After the grain production in Zitong increases, it can be immediately supplemented as military rations for the front line, saving the loss of transporting food from Chengdu in the rear to the front line."

Liu Zhang felt that this made sense and he could do the math, so he changed the plan.

Although Wang Lei and Huang Quan vaguely felt that such an arrangement might allow Liu Bei to win over the hearts of the people on a larger scale, they could not speak out to stop it. After all, they could not "stop Liu Bei from doing good things in order to prevent him from winning over the hearts of the people."

Finally, as the first month of the New Year passed smoothly in peace and harmony, time entered February of the eleventh year of Jian'an, and the spring plowing season of that year officially began.

According to the planning suggestions of Liu Beijun, this year there are a total of three counties in Shu, and each county has several townships to grow Linyi early rice.

In Shu County, the pilot county was selected as Pi County near Chengdu, and about 30% of the county's area was planted with double-season rice.

Liu Bei also specially sent technicians to Pi County to guide the people under Liu Zhang's rule in farming, and taught them all the technical details and precautions without reservation. There were so many technicians that they could be sent to every village.

Such good governance certainly touched the local farmers in Pi County. They had been farming all their lives under Liu Zhang's rule and had never heard of the government sending technicians to teach farmers things to pay attention to.

Besides farming, the rumor about Liu Bei's benevolence and love for the people spread further and further. Combined with the massive sales of cheap woodblock printed books in the previous two months, everyone from scholars to farmers felt that Liu Bei was truly a benevolent ruler.

In Guanghan County, the early rice pilot county was naturally chosen to be Zitong. Zitong County has little plain arable land, so more than 40% of the paddy fields can be planted with Linyi rice. Liu Bei's support and guidance were also fair to all, so this frontline town supporting Jiameng Pass was gradually infiltrated by Liu Bei's reputation.

Finally, in Ba County, there were not so many things to do. Liu Bei's army directly planted Linyi rice in Jiangbei New City (now Jiangbei District/Yubei District) in Jiangzhou, and taught the people under his rule how to increase grain production.

But even so, this matter made Yan Yan, the defender of Liu Zhang's army on the other side of the river, jealous.

Yan Yan had heard through many channels that this thing could increase grain production by half a season. He also hoped that the people of Jiangzhou County on the south bank of the river could benefit from it, and that his garrison in Jiangzhou could have more food, so he mentioned this matter vaguely during the New Year when he was paying New Year's greetings to Liu Bei.

Yan Yan didn't have high expectations at first, just trying it out and saying a few words. But Liu Bei was quite generous and gave Yan Yan another 1,000 dan of seeds outside the plan, so that Yan Yan could plant tens of thousands of acres of Linyi early rice outside Jiangzhou.

Because it was a temporary decision and Liu Bei did not have enough "agricultural technicians", Zhuge Liang personally took care of it and urgently dispatched some newcomers who originally had less technical skills, trained them urgently, and assigned them to Yan Yan.

Zhuge Liang even personally inspected the fields during the spring plowing season and looked at the early rice fields planted by Yan Yan outside Jiangzhou City. Only after confirming that no major mistakes had been made did he feel relieved.

When Yan Yan was inspecting the defense, he saw Zhuge Liang going to the fields to inspect several times. He was also quite surprised. He respectfully asked his followers to bring a leather bag of water and wine to comfort Zhuge Liang: "Sir, you are an official in a prefecture, how can you go to the fields in person? I am really ashamed."

Zhuge Liang was very humble: "Don't worry, old general. My lord did not think I was humble and promoted me to work in the fields. It has only been more than eight years. I also worked in the fields for two years. I dare not forget my roots."

-

PS: Last week’s report came out on Friday, and I went for follow-up consultations these two days, so each one is a major update.

I was diagnosed with myocardial bridge in the coronary artery. The doctor said there was no cure and I should just lose weight. This is a congenital malformation, fortunately it is not fatal, but the heart cannot bear too much burden.

Other minor problems such as atherosclerosis may be treated with medication.

(A normal person's coronary artery runs along the surface of the heart, but my left coronary artery went through a hole in the myocardium. I'm almost 40 years old, and I've never had a comprehensive heart CT scan. I only found out now that I was born with this small heart malformation.)
(End of this chapter)