My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 733 Gongsun Kang: Zhao Yun! Why is it always you?
When Lu Yi finally returned, it was already the cold winter of the fifteenth year of Jian'an.

The Hokkaido variety of rice he brought back could not be planted in Liaodong for the first time until the spring of the 16th year of Jian'an.

Rye, which originated from Sakhalin Island and other areas along the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, could be planted in the winter of the 15th year of Jian'an, just like winter wheat.

Then, under the heavy snow in the northeast, they survived a winter and waited until the spring of the 16th year of Jian'an to ensure that they continued to sprout and grow, which basically ensured the final harvest.

Zhao Yun has been operating in Liaodong for five or six years. The level of development of the Liaohe Plain is now far beyond what it used to be. The scale of local Han Chinese farming households has also increased by several percent compared to five years ago, and they have accumulated sufficient farming experience.

Therefore, Zhao Yun knew very well that the further north the colder the area, the main factor that would determine whether wheat crops could be successfully harvested would be whether they could survive the cold winter and ensure sufficient growing period in the next year.

Wheat crops absolutely cannot withstand severe cold in the middle and late stages of growth, but can be very cold-resistant in the early stages.

The further north you go, the earlier summer ends, and the more important it is to harvest the wheat before the end of summer.

Therefore, wheat in Hebei can be planted in early winter and kept under snow for two months, and then grow rapidly in spring. In Liaodong and even further north, wheat planting must be earlier.

A few years ago, Zhao Yun tried to grow common wheat in the Liaohe Plain according to the sowing season in the Central Plains. The end result was that there was not enough time for the wheat grains to fully fill with juice the next year, and the wheat grains that were harvested were not full.

If the sowing time is advanced, it is difficult to determine how early. If it is a little too early, the wheat seedlings will freeze to death during the winter.

After all, Zhao Yun only occupied Liaodong for five years, and he did not start this experiment in the first year of occupation. So he only had three or four opportunities to experiment at most, and it is completely reasonable that he has not been able to find the optimal solution so far.

But the situation is different this year. Lu Yi asked people to send back the first batch of rye seeds before winter.

Zhao Yun rushed to plant wheat on the Liaohe Plain, and he planted it at a pace that meant "ordinary wheat would freeze to death during the winter if planted so early."

After a few months of anxious observation, the rye continued to thrive and grow taller in the spring.

When Zhao Yun saw this scene, he was certain in his heart: This thing can really survive in the extremely cold land! And it’s okay to plant it early!
Ordinary wheat would freeze to death during the winter, but this new wheat cannot be killed by the freezing!
Although the indigenous guides brought back by Lu Yi said that the yield of this kind of wheat was much lower than that of ordinary wheat, mainly because the grains were smaller.

It is also not easy to grind and hull wheat, as wheat is very sticky and the bran cannot be completely crushed and removed. You can only roughly grind off some of the hard and rough parts on the outermost layer, and then the inner bran will be integrated with the wheat core.

However, these are tolerable. The first thing Dahan needs to solve now is the issue of whether there are cold-resistant crops in the Northeast, and then he can consider whether they are good or not.

Moreover, the wheat was a little coarse and the bran could not be ground cleanly, but this was not a problem for the poor people of that era.

According to the living standards of the Han Dynasty, even if a piece of whole rye bread mixed with sawdust, which was hard enough to be used as a weapon, was given to farmers in the bitter cold land of Northeast China, they would find the taste tolerable, not to mention that it was just a little more bran.

Moreover, while the rye seedlings successfully survived the winter and continued to thrive in the spring, Zhao Yun soon received another good news.

That was in early March, when the soldiers under his command sprinkled the Hokkaido rice seeds brought back by Lu Yi directly into the wet paddy fields with cool water. Less than a month later, at the end of March, the rice began to sprout, and the growth of the seedlings was obviously normal and good.

Although Zhao Yun was not good at farming, he had been in Youzhou for a long time and had seen many pigs run away even if he had never eaten pork. Therefore, he knew very well that the biggest risk of growing rice in Liaodong was that the water temperature was too low in early spring and the original rice seeds might not germinate.

Now this batch of new rice seeds can germinate normally in the season when the water temperature is still relatively cool. This alone is of great significance for the development of land further north than Liaodong.

(Note: In later times, rice grown in the Northeast, which is grown once a year, requires that the water temperature be above five degrees before it can be planted. During the Han Dynasty, rice varieties in the Central Plains could not grow in five degrees cold water. Many seeds would germinate at around ten degrees. The temperature in the Northeast rose too slowly, so the growing season was not long enough.)
……

Zhao Yun was a cautious person, so after Lu Yi brought back rye and Hokkaido rice seeds, he spent nearly half a year slowly exploring and trying to plant them. He only breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that rye had survived the cold winter and rice could germinate in relatively cold water.

The person who was worrying about this matter with him was Mi Zhu, who was now the governor of Youzhou. The specific work of military farming and organizing production experiments mentioned above was all handled by Mi Zhu. Zhao Yun was just waiting for the results.

Fortunately, Mi Zhu was born into a wealthy merchant family and had been focusing on managing his own estate economy since he was young. Naturally, he was familiar with such things as reclaiming wasteland, farming and construction, which was why he was able to plan the experimental plan so well.

At the end of March, when all the results were finally released and it was confirmed that these crops could be used to plant on the land of Fuyu after the future occupation of Fuyu, the relevant military issues were officially put on the table and became the top priority of the next stage of Youzhou's civil and military work.

On March 28, Zhao Yun and Mi Zhu took the lead and held a military meeting in Xiangping County, the capital of Liaodong Prefecture. Many of the core civil and military officials under his command participated, and even several Wuhuan leaders who had been conquered by Zhao Yun and had already submitted to him also attended the meeting.

Of course, the Wuhuan people were not qualified to participate in the discussion on whether to fight or not.

They could only participate in the second half of the discussion on "how to fight specifically" after Zhao Yun decided to fight. Then they would see what tasks they could get and what rewards General Zhao would promise them if they fought well.

"The seeds that Boyan brought back are really useful and are perfect for planting in extremely cold places. They also have both rice and wheat, one for paddy fields and one for dry fields.

In this way, no matter whether the territory of Buyeo is occupied in the future, whether it is slopes or swamps, it can be developed and food can be grown.

In this way, the Minister of War asked us to mobilize troops against Fuyu as appropriate, so as to gain more benefits and completely eliminate worries before the Lord goes to war with Cao again. This matter should be done as soon as possible. "

At the beginning of the meeting, Zhao Yun himself had not spoken yet, but Mi Zhu, who was in charge of internal affairs and military farming, was the first to express his optimistic views.

After all, Mi Zhu is the first person in charge of agricultural affairs in Youzhou, and he has the most personal experience of how good the things Lu Yi brought back are.

He couldn't help imagining that after conquering Buyeo, he would turn the Songnen Plain into a fertile land. Of course, the Songhua River is not called the Songhua River, and the Heilongjiang River is not called the Heilongjiang River, so Mi Zhu couldn't actually name the fertile land in Buyeo.

During the Han Dynasty, the Han people did not even give names to the big rivers in such remote places. Only the local natives might have had oral names for them, but no Chinese characters were left behind.

Zhao Yun did not question Mi Zhu's prospects. He had also collected sufficient intelligence on the Fuyu Kingdom in recent years and knew that the land occupied by the Fuyu Kingdom was indeed the "most flat" among the Dongyi countries, and that the economic potential for future reclamation was indeed very good.

(Note: The original text of "Records of the Three Kingdoms: Biography of Wuhuan Xianbei and Dongyi" records that Buyeo "has many mountains and vast swamps, and is the most flat in the Dongyi area." It can be inferred that its territory includes the entire Songnen Plain. Most of Goguryeo to its southeast is in the Changbai Mountain area.)
But Zhao Yun needed to worry about some other issues, so after a little consideration, he had to propose:
"Buyu is indeed the most suitable among the Dongyi countries for the Han Dynasty to send troops to annex. The other countries are mostly in the snowy mountains and dense forests, and it would be unstable if we had to send troops to conquer them. As long as Buyeo can solve the problem of being unable to grow rice and wheat due to the bitter cold, it will be able to live and work in peace.

But wouldn't it be too hasty to deploy troops this year? Ziyu let us make our own decisions instead of forcing us to do so, probably because he didn't understand the current situation in Liaodong.

My lord, you are planning to resume the war with Cao this year. Even if we resume the war after the autumn harvest, we only have half a year left. I am afraid that if we fight Buyeo now, we may not be able to finish the war before the autumn harvest. Even if we finish the war, the soldiers will be exhausted and it will be difficult for us to immediately attack Cao.

In the final analysis, the planned truce period was too short. After the truce, our army began to think about improving ships and honing long-distance sailing skills in the south. It took nearly two years just to build ships and explore long-distance voyages. It took several more months to find new rice and wheat varieties and rush back to plant them for testing.

After all these days, there are only a few months left for our army to mobilize. Wouldn't it be better to attack Cao Cao in Hebei first and then deal with the Fuyu people?
Moreover, although Fuyu took in Gongsun Kang, they have not been disrespectful to the lord in recent years. Just because our army found a good variety of rice and wheat suitable for the bitter cold land, they suddenly mobilized troops. This excuse for starting a war is not only unreasonable, but at least not conducive to morale. If the soldiers knew that we just wanted to seize fertile land and cultivate it, and started a war without reason, who would be willing to fight for their lives? "

Zhao Yun still has a strong sense of justice, and he is very persistent about the reasons for sending troops. If it is just to grab land and population, he always feels a little guilty, and it would be better if he could supplement it with some excuses to punish the criminals.

In his heart, Mi Zhu did not agree with Zhao Yun's words. He was born into a merchant family, and merchants pursue profits. He thought it was reasonable to kill people and fight for money and land, so he did not think of this at all.

Mi Zhu's eyes rolled slightly, and he sighed, "Zilong, what you are really worried about is mainly the latter points, right? The lack of time mentioned earlier may not be a big deal in your opinion.

Although Fuyu has a vast territory, with a maximum depth of more than a thousand miles, I have checked its population and found that there are only about 80,000 registered households under its jurisdiction. Including the civilians and soldiers that Gongsun Kang took away when he fled, there are only about 100,000 households in total, and at most there are some fishermen and hunters.

How many soldiers and horses can be gathered for defense with this population? Even if there is one man in five households, plus the remaining troops of Gongsun Kang, there are only more than 30,000 people.

And I heard that Cao Cao relied on cavalry armed with double-side stirrups and high-bridge saddles to defeat Xianbei cavalry several times larger than himself in Hetao, Beidi, and Shangjun last year, and intimidated Kebineng and others. With Zilong's power, mobilizing tens of thousands of cavalry to defeat enemies several times larger than himself, isn't it more than enough?
The Buyeo people don't have strong cities. If our army attacks them, they will either flee into the mountains or fight in the field. This method of fighting is most conducive to a quick victory, perhaps even in a few months."

Mi Zhu and Zhao Yun have almost the same amount of experience, but Zhao Yun is already at the level of a general. Mi Zhu still gave Zhao Yun enough face when he spoke.

However, the subtext of instigation in these words is still easy to hear, it's almost as if he said directly "Even Cao Xiu, Cao Zhen, and Cao Zhang have done this kind of thing, how could Zilong be worse than them with his divine power", which can also be regarded as a kind of provocation.

Of course Zhao Yun also heard it, but he knew that Mi Zhu's words were obscure, so he was not angry or provoked.

Although the Buyeo people also have a certain farming lifestyle, they have retained more fishing and hunting attributes. For such a country, when faced with the risk of national destruction, the mobilization efficiency cannot be calculated according to the Han princes. It is still very possible to break the conscription limit of one man per five households.

However, Zhao Yun did not care about the enemy's military strength. No matter how many Buyeo people were mobilized, as long as they were willing to fight, he would definitely be able to defeat the enemy in a field battle.

The key is whether the enemy will fight back or temporarily flee to the rear. If they delay for time with the idea of "waiting until Liu Bei and Cao Cao start fighting again and Zhao Yun needs to do other things, then we can avoid the disaster of national destruction", then things will be difficult to deal with.

Zhao Yun didn't have time to waste with them between the White Mountains and Black Waters.

Therefore, in response to Mi Zhu's speculation, he just nodded slightly, but his brows were still furrowed. He obviously acknowledged the main contradiction summarized by Mi Zhu, but he had no idea of the solution.

Fortunately, Zhao Yun did not have to use his brain completely by himself. Now in the northeastern territory, Liu Bei's camp was still not short of wise men.

Zhou Yu, the governor of Bohai, also took a ship today to cross the Bohai Sea and go up the Liaohe River to attend the meeting in Xiangping County.

Zhou Yu had been cooperating with Zhao Yun before. When Zhao Yun pacified Liaodong, Zhou Yu transported supplies to Zhao Yun from Bohai Sea via the Liaohe River.

This time, it was only because the war was spreading to more remote and in-depth areas and was not connected to the Liaohe River system that Zhou Yu could not help. He could only give advice before and after the war. After all, they were brothers-in-law.

Zhou Yu wanted to do his part. After thinking about the concerns of Zhao Yun and Mi Zhu for a while, he quickly helped to sort out a solution and immediately laid it out:
"Zilong is worried that he has no legitimate reason to fight. I think this is easy to solve. Gongsun Kang refused to surrender to his lord and insisted on fleeing to a remote place. This shows his rebellious heart.

Now, after a lapse of several years, our Youzhou army may march southward at any time to suppress the rebellion and attack Cao Cao. How can we be sure that Gongsun Kang will not instigate Wei Choutai to take advantage of the situation and stab our army in the back?
In this case, it is better for our army to strike first! If they refuse to submit to the lord, they are respecting Cao! What's more, we can also send a fake envoy, pretending to be Cao Cao's envoy, collude with Gongsun Kang and Wei Choutai to support them, and ask them to "make trouble in the northeast once the Youzhou army goes south to fight Cao Cao in the future."

As long as Gongsun Kang or Wei Choutai replied, wouldn't this be a sufficient reason to start a war? When the time comes, this letter will be passed on to the main generals of each army, and our army will surely be in high spirits.

As for the other problem that Zilong was worried about, whether the enemy would fight with us as soon as possible instead of hiding in the mountains and forests to delay, this is also easy to solve and can be combined with the above strategy.

For example, we could let someone pretend to be Cao Cao's envoy spread some false news, saying that Cao Cao was going to order Zhang He and Cao Zhang to attack Youzhou after the busy spring farming season was over, so that Gongsun Kang and Wei Choutai could seize the opportunity and take action when our army was weak from behind.

Our army will coordinate and make some moves that show weakness or are obviously bluffing but overdone, and pretend to be real when they are fake. Gongsun Kang and Wei Choutai are not wise men, I am sure I can deceive them. "

Zhao Yun listened to Zhou Yu's eloquent talk, and finally he relaxed completely. He nodded in agreement with great satisfaction:
"With Gongjin's plan, I will do my best to defeat Fuyu, no doubt about it. Although there are still some details, such as how to forge a letter to imitate Cao's envoy, I need to figure it out slowly, but it will definitely work...

I have made up my mind and will plan to attack Buyeo as soon as possible."

(End of this chapter)