My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 58 Leave the things you can't handle to Aliang

Of course, Chen Qun couldn't know all of Zhuge Jin's inner plans, but he had to admit:

As long as you tell Liu Bei that "this plan was approved by Mr. Ziyu", Liu Bei will immediately invest resources to implement it.

Even if Zhuge Jin told him clearly, "I haven't thought of a solution yet, but I believe I will be able to come up with a solution in a few months," Liu Bei would still firmly believe that he would be able to come up with a solution by then.

This is the power of credit accumulated by "historical records".

Who can blame him for having planned everything out since his debut?

Chen Qun stopped talking and decided to follow the teacher's instructions.

The families of the soldiers who were working in exchange for relief were organized that day to dredge the Sheyang Lake and the southern section of the canal and create polder fields, lay the foundation for future canal gate projects, and clear the planned "future reservoir area."

After seeing Chen Qun off, Zhuge Jin was not idle either.

On the one hand, he also needs to use his brain to plan some preliminary details and help with some guidance.

On the other hand, in the next few days, Zhuge Jin was also busy writing the last wave of family letter scrolls to his brother Zhuge Liang before they met again - compared to the wave of scrolls he sent before going to Xuchang, his plan this time was more targeted.

Because after he returned from Xu Du this time, he received a reply letter from Zhuge Liang.

Among them, there is a clear report on the extent of Zhuge Liang's academic progress, what new things he has mastered, and what connections, teachers and friends he has made in Jingzhou in the two and a half years since he left Xuzhou to flee.

This time, when Zhuge Jin gives his younger brother guidance, he will be able to strengthen his weaknesses in a targeted manner and be more inclined towards practical operations.

While Zhuge Jin was instructing Chen Qun and preparing the letter, Liu Bei also came to him once.
This was because of the matter that Liu Bei discussed with Mi Zhu and Tian Yu on the day when the Song family established their own family, about "bringing back the families of Tian Yu and others from their hometown in Youzhou."

Liu Bei explained that his conversation with Tian Yu that day went very smoothly, and Tian Yu temporarily gave up the idea of returning to his hometown to take care of his elders.

However, Tian Yu expressed some concerns about bringing his family here:
If we travel by land, it will be too tiring and the elders in our family may not be able to withstand it.

Although traveling by boat is more comfortable than traveling by car, the inland rivers are not accessible to Youji, and the sea route is too bumpy due to the wind and waves, even if you take a short-distance route close to the coastline.

After listening to Liu Bei's retelling, Zhuge Jin felt that although this problem was somewhat troublesome, it was not completely impossible to improve and optimize.

So he suggested to Liu Bei: Why not make a bet with Tian Yu and other Yuan Cong comrades whose families are still in Youzhou?
If Liu Bei could show sincerity, he would improve the anti-turbulence capability of Mi Zhu's ships.

Even if the situation cannot be completely improved, as long as there is progress, Tian Yu and others should stop talking about going back to their hometown to take care of their elders and try to bring their families over.

Liu Bei felt that this agreement had a good chance of success, so he went to tell Tian Yu and others about it.

Tian Yu and the others were indeed embarrassed when they heard this, but then they thought, "My lord, as the General of the Southern Expedition and the Governor of a state, is willing to make efforts and make improvements for such a small matter as helping Yuan's subordinates to take in their families. How can we not appreciate it?"

In the end, they had no choice but to implicitly agree: as long as Liu Bei tried his best, even if he only achieved a little improvement, they would be willing to accept it wholeheartedly and would never mention the family burden again.

In this kind of situation, everyone should show their sincerity and then take a step back.

If Liu Bei shows off enough, others will appreciate it.

When Liu Bei took this agreement and told Zhuge Jin about it, Zhuge Jin's reply was still to let him be patient and wait at least two or three months.

Anyway, it is November, a cold winter, and the wind is always blowing from the north, so it is impossible to sail north from Xuzhou to Youjizhou.

In later dynasties when grain transportation was replaced by sea transportation, ships transporting grain to the north by sea usually had to wait until the middle of the second lunar month when the monsoon was favorable before setting sail, and would not arrive in Beijing until March.

The Han Dynasty's navigation technology and wind power utilization were much worse than those of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, so it would be impossible to sail north before March next year.

So Zhuge Jin can also delay it, and start the project first and dig holes to fill them.

Liu Bei's new needs eventually prompted Zhuge Jin to add two more volumes of targeted knowledge to his new family letter to his second brother.

Strengthen my second brother's basic knowledge of buoyancy, fluid resistance and power, maybe it will be useful in the future.

……

A few days after the Song family set up their own faction, Zhuge Jin, who had been in seclusion for a long time, finally prepared a new wave of family letters and secret scrolls for his second brother, and then asked Tang Guang to send them to Xiangyang for contact.

Zhuge Jin himself also planned to spend the last few days inspecting Chen Qun's project of dredging Sheyang Lake to create embankments and see how the work-for-relief program was being implemented.
If there are no major problems, he can lead his troops to Yuzhang with peace of mind.

Zhuge Jin sent this letter to his second brother in mid-November, and it should be delivered in early December.

My second brother will take a few more days to prepare and get away, and he should set off in mid-December to reunite with his family in Yuzhang.

It is about 2,000 miles from Guangling to Xiangyang upstream, and more than 900 miles to Yuzhang. It is 1,200 miles downstream from Xiangyang to Yuzhang.

The boat travels fast downstream, and if you sail day and night, you can get from Xiangyang to Yuzhang in seven or eight days.

Therefore, he, his uncle, brothers and sisters and he would definitely be able to reunite in Yuzhang County to celebrate the New Year.

With my army, I should arrive a few days earlier than Aliang. And there is no need to go to Xi'an County where my uncle is right away.

When Guan Yu sent the first wave of reinforcements, he was worried about the loss of Xi'an County. If Zuo Rong suddenly launched an attack, his uncle would not be able to defend the city, so he had to ensure safety first.

With Guan Yu, Zhuge Jin was sure that the defense of Xi'an County would be more than sufficient.

This time he will bring another 2,000 Danyang soldiers. The first thing he needs to consider when deploying them is "where to station them to best facilitate the subsequent counterattack against Zuo Rong."

You read that right, it’s a counterattack.

Zuo Rong claimed to have "tens of thousands of followers", while Zhuge Jin only had 4,000 followers and a title from the imperial court, but he dared to consider counterattack. Although Chaisang, the most important place at the mouth of Poyang Lake, must be heavily guarded and impossible to steal directly, it is entirely possible to take Pengze County on the other side of the lake, or some other place.

This time, Zhuge Jin planned to set up camp in a small county near Chaisang, and then meet up with his second brother. By then, he could form a pincer attack with his uncle and Guan Yu and support each other.

……

After Zhuge Jin had planned all matters concerning the dispatch of troops, he went to Chen Qun as agreed to check on the progress of the water conservancy project.

Chen Qun did a pretty good job. He led a large group of laborers and spent more than ten days dredging the area around Sheyang Lake, which would serve as the future canal regulating reservoir. They dug out the silt from the low places and piled it up higher.

Chen Qun himself occasionally lives on the construction site to understand the situation in a timely manner and manage it nearby.

Although he doesn't like engineering, he likes to experience new management experiences. He thinks it is a kind of life wealth and very eye-opening.

The allocation of workload and the distribution of relief grain as wages were both carried out in an orderly manner, and it seemed that there were absolutely no problems with management.

If there is a problem, it can only be a technical problem.

Zhuge Jin was very satisfied with Chen Qun's management ability and casually asked if he had encountered any other difficulties.

Chen Qun also answered directly: "The food and management are going well, and the people can bear this kind of work. Now this work is much easier than the proper dredging of lakes and marshes, because the water level is very low and there is no need to dig the mud under the water. The biggest complaint of the people is that they have never seen such a method, and they are confused and easily slack off."

According to Chen Qun's explanation, Zhuge Jin also noticed that the intensity of dredging work was indeed not high.

The greatest labor consumption in normal dredging projects comes from digging up silt from the bottom of the water and piling it on the shore. The resistance to underwater operations is very great.

Now, before the sluice gates are built on the canal, the water level is very low, which means that it is very easy to half-drain the lake and dig out the exposed riverbed mud in advance.

If compared with earthwork excavation projects in plain areas, the labor required to dig one cubic meter of dry soil can be converted into at least five or six cubic meters of softened river mud.

If the silt is particularly soft, it may take more than ten cubic meters to equal the workload of one cubic meter of dry soil.

But everyone needs a sense of accomplishment, even migrant workers. Giving them food can certainly make them work harder, but if they can also give them a sense of accomplishment, their work efficiency will be even higher.

As early as before World War II, Elton Mayo discovered this truth through experiments on motor coil winding workers at Westinghouse Electric, refuting the previous mechanical and rigid Taylor management method.

Zhuge Jin certainly knew this truth.

So he asked calmly, "Did Changwen ever think of using other arguments to convince the people that what they are doing will eventually succeed and go down in history? These people haven't been to school, so they wouldn't understand if you talked about technology with them."

Chen Qun: "The people really didn't understand the details, so I thought of other ways to encourage everyone's confidence. I said: Don't worry, this is what Mr. Zhuge ordered.

Then, he would let the clerks tell the people stories about the master's past fortune-telling during breaks and meal times, and the people would then be willing to work hard.

But I am worried that after using this kind of rhetoric, although the people will be encouraged for a while, if something goes wrong in the future, your reputation will also be damaged - you won't blame me, right?"

Zhuge Jin laughed: "That's all! For now, it's enough to let the people do it even if they don't understand it. You don't have to worry about the future. Mathematics won't lie, and lake water won't flow from low to high on its own."

When Zhuge Jin and Chen Qun were chatting, their calm demeanor was seen from afar by the surrounding petty officials and construction workers.

Naturally, everyone's confidence increased and they worked harder, but many people also became curious about whether Mr. Zhuge would never make mistakes in calculations, and were waiting to see him make a fool of himself.

The anticipation and attention for the project instantly reached its peak.

……

After Zhuge Jin reassured Chen Qun and boosted his morale, his mission in Guangling was completely completed.

Although Liu Bei would come to chat with him every few days, and Mi Zhu would occasionally come to ask him some small questions, they were not troublesome and were easy to deal with.

Mi Zhu did hint at whether Zhuge Jin had considered starting a family.

But Zhuge Jin frowned again, thinking that Flagg's statement of "coming back to get married after fighting this battle" was too unlucky, and refused to discuss it before the war and didn't even want to listen.

Getting married in the Han Dynasty was still too troublesome. After all, six rituals had to be completed. If you start counting from the offer of betrothal gifts, it would take at least half a year to complete, right?
If you allow a "flash marriage" like in later generations, and complete the process in a few days, then Zhuge Jin might consider it.

After Mi Zhu retreated, it was already the end of November.

Zhuge Jin had a rare moment of leisure, and he was enjoying the last moments of relaxation before the war and adjusting his state.

Finally, two days before he left, three uninvited guests came to his house.

Zhuge Jin was not arrogant and went out to greet them personally. He found that the visitors were actually a few scholar friends who he had a vague impression of but had never seen before after traveling through time.

"Brother Ziyu, I haven't seen you for a year. I am so happy to see you achieve so much. I am late to congratulate you."

Zhuge Jin hurriedly sorted out his memories and tentatively responded: "Brother Zishan? You are from..."

The other party immediately admitted: "Yes, I just came back from Wujun in the middle of the month and just arrived yesterday."

Fortunately, he did not recognize the mistake. The person who spoke was Bu Zhi Bu Zishan, his nominal old classmate, who was still growing winter melons in Wujun a few months ago.

The two people next to him were Yan Jun and Wei Jing.

I didn't expect that on the eve of my departure for Yuzhang, I would meet these people coming to see me off.

(End of this chapter)