Han Ji

The city streets were narrow, and crowded with people on both sides. Some people craned their necks to look, and an old man stumbled as he was jostled by the crowd. Zhao Yun reached out and steadied him.

Liu Bei walked slowly, his boots clicking on the bluestone slabs, occasionally nodding to the elderly people in the crowd. Upon arriving at the prefectural government office, Zhong Yao brought out the land registers for Yingchuan. The registers piled up to fill an entire table.

He said that Yingchuan has added 18,000 mu of farmland in the past two years and attracted more than 4,000 households of refugees, and the number of households has recovered from less than 10,000 during the war to more than 10,000.

Liu Bei opened the register and looked through it page by page. He stopped when he saw a certain number. "Why is the amount of land in Yangdi less than last year?"

Zhong Yao said, "There is a piece of land in Yangdi that was washed away by a flash flood this spring. It's about two hundred mu. We haven't had time to reclaim it yet."

Liu Bei said, "The land must be cultivated before next spring. Seeds will be sourced from the county granary, and if we don't have enough oxen, we'll bring them from Wancheng."

Zhong Yao noted it down.

After reviewing the records, Liu Bei went to see the granaries in Yingchuan. The granaries were built two years ago, surrounded by earthen walls, with twelve large granaries inside, each storing three thousand shi (a unit of dry measure).

He had one of the granaries opened and went inside to take a look. The wheat was piled up to half a person's height. He reached out and grabbed a handful; the grains were dry and plump, with no musty smell. He patted the chaff off his hands and said that the granary was well-managed.

That evening, the heads of several prominent clans from Yingchuan arrived at the prefectural government. The head of the Zhong clan had white hair and leaned on a cane. The head of the Xun clan was Xun Yu's cousin. The head of the Chen clan was younger, in his early forties, and spoke very directly. The head of the Han clan was the oldest, a little hard of hearing, and had to be repeated loudly by those around him.

The meal was simply laid out: millet porridge, steamed fish, and a plate of green vegetables. Liu Bei sat in the main seat, eating his porridge while listening to the people talking. The Zhong family patriarch said that Yingchuan had enjoyed favorable weather and a good harvest this year.

The Xun family patriarch said that Xun Yu had worked hard in Chang'an and asked the Prime Minister to take good care of him. The Chen family patriarch talked for a long time about the funding of Yingchuan Academy, saying that the scholars were almost out of money for lamp oil.

Liu Bei took a sip of porridge and put down the bowl. "How much money does the academy need?"

The Chen family head said, "It costs at least 200,000 coins a year. We can't collect the tuition fees because many students come from poor families."

Liu Bei said, "It will be drawn from the taxes of Yingchuan Commandery. Allocate 300,000 coins to the academy every year. If that's not enough, make up the difference from my fief."

The Chen family patriarch was stunned. Zhong Yao wrote it down beside him, his pen scratching softly on the bamboo slips. The Han family patriarch, being hard of hearing, didn't hear clearly, so someone next to him leaned close and repeated it to him. He exclaimed in surprise, stood up shakily to bow, but Liu Bei reached out and helped him up.

On the day Liu Bei left Yingchuan, Zhong Yao saw him off ten miles outside the city. Before mounting his horse, Liu Bei turned around and said, "Yingchuan is the heart of culture. The academy must be well-run, so that when the court appoints officials, students from Yingchuan will be given priority." Zhong Yao bowed deeply.

In early October, Liu Bei arrived in Runan.

Runan and Yingchuan are different. Yingchuan is a land of culture and education, while Runan is on the front line. To the south of Runan lies Cao Cao's territory, where he has stationed heavy troops in Xuzhou and Yanzhou, and could march south at any time.

The Prefect of Runan was an old general whom Liu Bei had transferred from Luoyang. He had previously led troops in Guanzhong, and the scar on his face stretched from his eyebrow to his chin.

The city walls of Runan were higher than those of Yingchuan, and the moat outside the city was also deeper. Liu Bei walked around the city walls, looking at the arrow towers, granaries, and military camps.

The new recruits were training in the barracks. Guan Ping, shirtless, led them in running laps, shouting commands that shook the heavens. The recruits, carrying wooden rifles, ran breathlessly.

"How many soldiers does Cao Cao have in Xuzhou?" Liu Bei asked the governor of Runan.

"The scouts report that there are approximately 30,000 troops," the governor said. "Xiahou Dun is guarding Pengcheng, and Cao Ren is guarding Xiapi. However, Cao Cao himself is currently in Xuchang and may send reinforcements to Xuzhou at any time."

Liu Bei nodded. "Defending a city isn't about waiting to be attacked. Set up several beacon towers outside Runan. When Cao Cao arrives, the beacon towers will light up one after another, and Zhang Xiu in Wancheng and Zhong Yao in Yingchuan will see them. Once they see them, reinforcements will arrive within a day."

The prefect clasped his hands in a fist and said yes.

Liu Bei stayed in Runan for two days. By the time he returned to Luoyang from Runan, it was already late October, and the old locust tree outside his window had almost lost all its leaves. He sat down, drank a bowl of hot porridge, and began writing his post-inspection reports to the various prefectures.

The edicts were short, each only a few lines long, but each one was practical and effective: Yingchuan was to allocate funds for the academy, Runan to set up beacon towers, and Nanyang to build irrigation canals. Jia Xu checked the wording for him, making sure that none of them were ambiguous.

At the end of October, Xun Yu arrived in Luoyang from Chang'an.

He had traveled overnight. The carriage had bumped along the Hangu Road for two days, and by the time it reached Luoyang, the wheels were almost falling apart. He alighted from the carriage, his robes covered in dirt, his face pale, and his eyes even more sunken. After managing logistics in Chang'an for several years, he had lost weight, but his eyes were still bright.

Liu Bei waited for Xun Yu in the study of the Prime Minister's residence. A charcoal brazier burned in the study, and a pot of tea sat on the fire. Xun Yu entered, and Liu Bei stood up. The two looked at each other for a moment. Liu Bei said, "Wenruo, you've lost weight." Xun Yu replied, "My lord, you've also lost weight."

The two sat down. Jia Xu was also there, sitting beside them. Liu Bei poured Xun Yu a bowl of tea; the tea leaves were coarse, large, and the brewed water was yellowish.

Xun Yu took out a scroll of bamboo slips from his sleeve and spread it on the table. The bamboo slips were densely covered with numbers, detailing the population, land, taxes, grain reserves, and troop deployments of each prefecture and county, line by line, clearly and precisely. This was what he had compiled from years of working day and night through account books in Chang'an.

"My lord, this is the account of the thirteen provinces under heaven," Xun Yu said. "The result of the calculation is that the territory you currently occupy cannot support the entire country. If you were to unify the world, the army would need to be expanded to two hundred thousand. How much grain would two hundred thousand soldiers consume in a year? How much money would it cost? How many laborers would be needed to transport the grain? The current tax revenue cannot sustain this; we must take three to five years to recover."

Liu Bei picked up the bamboo slips and read them very slowly. After he finished reading, he put them down.

"Three to five years," he said. "That's too long."

Xun Yu said, "This is the most conservative estimate. If we wage war year after year and exhaust the people's strength, even if we conquer the world, it will be nothing but ruins. People are not just numbers; they need to eat. Land is not a chessboard; it needs to be left fallow after being cultivated for too long."

Jia Xu spoke up from the side. "Wenruo is right. But the reality is, Yuan Shao is not dead yet. Even if he is ill, Hebei is not truly paralyzed. If we stop now to recuperate for three to five years, what if one of Yuan's nephews or nieces in Hebei reorganizes his army, or Cao Cao swallows up Qingzhou and takes advantage of our recuperation to press down? We will go from being on the offensive to being on the defensive."

Xun Yu said, "First the north, then the south. Yuan Shao isn't dead yet, but he's already half-dead. After Guandu, he won't have the ability to fight back. After conquering Hebei and unifying the Central Plains, we can recuperate. By then, a single letter will be enough to persuade those south of the Yangtze River to surrender."

Liu Bei said, "What about Sun Quan? Sun Quan is not Liu Biao."

Xun Yu remained silent for a moment. "Sun Quan is young, but he can hold his ground. To defeat Sun Quan, we need a navy, time, and a stable rear. Right now, our rear is not stable enough. If Ji Province is not at peace, if You Province is not at peace, our rear will be unstable. Therefore, we must attack the north first and then the south."

Jia Xu placed the chess piece on the map at the location of Ye City. "Before Yuan Shao dies, let's wipe out his last bit of strength. After Yuan Shao's death, Hebei will be ours."

Xun Yu said, "After conquering Hebei, we should recuperate for three years. After three years, we will march south."

Neither of them spoke, both staring at Liu Bei. Liu Bei stood up and walked to the map. He drew a line from Ye City northward, across Youzhou, then southward, across Jingzhou, and across Jiangdong. Then his hand stopped at the location of Luoyang.

"North first, then south. It's settled."

He lowered his hand. "Wenruo, you continue to manage logistics. The front lines need supplies, and the rear cannot be cut off. After Ji Province is captured, you will be the Governor of Ji Province and concurrently the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat."

Xun Yu stood up, straightened his sleeves, and bowed deeply.

That night, Liu Bei sat alone under the lamp, unfolding the bamboo scroll left by Xun Yu. He reviewed every number again. The oil lamp burned until midnight, then he put the scroll away in a wooden box and looked at the map of the world once more. His finger traced a line north from Ye City, past Youzhou, past the Great Wall, and stopped at the border region.