Disciplining Emperor Gaozu of Han

There is a circular walkway outside the barn, which goes up to the top of the barn and has handrails to prevent falls.

Liu Bang stepped onto the passage, and Liu Ying and his entourage followed him up.

Reaching the top of the granary, Fan Kuai grabbed the copper coin, lifted it, then pushed it back, setting it down to reveal a large expanse of grain. A dazzling expanse of white, gleaming brightly—all of it was polished rice.

Liu Bang grabbed a handful of rice, held it up to his eyes, examined it carefully for a while, then loosened his fingers, letting the rice flow into the granary through his fingers.

Liu Ying's eyes widened as she looked around; the barn was overflowing with japonica rice, and she was quite surprised. Grabbing a handful, she felt its excellent texture; the rice was exceptionally well-preserved. "Is it all japonica rice?" she asked.

"Yes," Ao Cangling replied.

"That's amazing," Liu Ying exclaimed.

The shelling technology at the time was very poor; it was done manually using the most primitive method, pounding the shells with a pestle. It was extremely tiring, and after a while, your arms would feel like they were going to break.

This was one of the most physically demanding jobs at the time, on par with building city walls and roads. Therefore, it was often used to punish female criminals who had committed crimes, and was called "chong".

Along with the city wall repair labor, it was known as the most severe physical punishment at the time, collectively referred to as "city wall repair labor".

Back then, because hulling was too difficult, ordinary families usually ate coarse rice, which was rice with the husk not completely removed, usually still having about 30-40% of its husk remaining. This kind of rice had a very poor taste and was a hardship for the mouth and stomach.

Therefore, Qin law made eating japonica rice a privilege of the nobility. To eat japonica rice in public, one had to reach the third rank of nobility.

If the grain in Ao Cang is all japonica rice, that would be terrifying, and Liu Ying couldn't help but be alarmed.

"Is there any adulteration?" Liu Bang asked, his face darkening as he stared at Ao Cangling.

"I dare to tell the King of Han: Who dares to falsify the laws of Qin?" Ao Cangling was speechless.

The Qin laws were brutal and harsh, with extremely strict management of warehouses. The discovery of three rat holes would result in a fine of one shield, or 384 coins, which was a considerable punishment.

If it's adulterated, the consequences are entirely predictable—the entire family will be wiped out.

"Let's put it in the warehouse and see," Liu Bang said, still uneasy.

Ao Cangling and his subordinates got busy. First, they brought over a large, round bamboo basket and placed it under the outlet. Then they lifted the bronze guillotine on top, and with a continuous gurgling sound, the white, glutinous rice flowed out.

In no time, the bamboo basket was filled with a thick layer of it.

"Pack it up, we'll be transporting it later," Liu Bang ordered.

The subordinate officials then brought sacks and kept stuffing the contents into them.

After the granary was emptied and no problems were found (it was all japonica rice), Liu Bang was satisfied, but he did not let his guard down and continued to conduct spot checks.

Liu Ying and her team conducted separate spot checks, inspecting over 300 warehouses, and found no problems.

All the released rice was packed into sacks, ready to be transported away.

"The grain stored in Ao Granary can supply an army of 100,000 for three years." After verifying the information, Liu Bang was extremely satisfied.

He currently has a little over 70,000 troops at his disposal, and with reinforcements from other places, he has a total of over 100,000. He doesn't need to worry about food.

This was an incredibly wonderful thing for Liu Bang.

"The King of Han only mentioned rice, and there are also mountains of dried meat and plenty of wine. All together, it can supply an army of 100,000 for nearly four years. There is absolutely no need to worry about food supplies." Zhang Liang was equally satisfied with this result.

Aocang not only has glutinous rice, but also dried meat and wine, piled up like mountains.

This is also food. If you add it all up, it wouldn't last more than four years for an army of 100,000.

"Xiang Yu passed through here twice last year, and he never thought of transporting the grain from Ao Cang back to Pengcheng?" Liu Ying was speechless, truly wondering what was going on in Xiang Yu's mind.

Need I say more about the importance of provisions?

With so much grain and fodder at Ao Cang, Xiang Yu could easily transport it back to Pengcheng.

Even if it's not transported back to Pengcheng, it should be stored somewhere he can control.

If you don't want to transport it, send a large army to garrison here and firmly control Aocang.

If you really don't want to do anything, just set it on fire to save yourself from aiding the enemy.

Xiang Yu did nothing at all, and for the first time, Liu Ying realized that Liu Bang's criticism of Xiang Yu as a "commoner" was quite reasonable.

If Liu Ying knew that Xiang Yu had passed by Ao Cang three times without entering, he would be even more speechless.

"Xiang Yu is just a coward with only the courage of a common man; how could he possibly think of such things?" Liu Bang held Xiang Yu in utter contempt.

"Xiang Yu couldn't have imagined this, but surely Fan Zeng could have?" Liu Ying asked in surprise. "Why didn't Fan Zeng warn Xiang Yu?"

"That old scoundrel Fan Zeng only knows how to scheme and plot; what talent does he have?" Liu Bang gritted his teeth, his eyes blazing with fury, wishing he could tear Fan Zeng apart and devour him.

Last year, Xiang Yu enfeoffed many princes in Guanzhong. The reason why Liu Bang was enfeoffed in Hanzhong was because of Fan Zeng's idea.

According to the agreement made by King Huai of Chu, whoever entered Guanzhong first would be king of Guanzhong. Liu Bang was the first to enter Guanzhong, destroy the Qin Dynasty, and become king of Guanzhong. Xiang Yu was extremely displeased with Liu Bang and naturally did not want to enfeoff Liu Bang in Guanzhong. So he sent someone to deliver a letter to King Huai of Chu, meaning that he wanted King Huai of Chu to endorse Xiang Yu.

King Huai of Chu replied "as agreed," meaning that Xiang Yu should act according to the original agreement.

Xiang Yu, of course, would not comply, saying that King Huai of Chu was installed by their Xiang clan, and his words had no binding force. Xiang Yu still did not want to enfeoff Liu Bang in Guanzhong, but could not find an excuse, so he was in a difficult situation.

Fan Zeng, as expected of Xiang Yu's strategist, quickly found an excuse: Hanzhong and Bashu were also part of Guanzhong.

And so, Xiang Yu enfeoffed Liu Bang as the King of Han in Hanzhong.

Therefore, the person Liu Bang hated most was Xiang Yu, and the second most was Fan Zeng.

"Fan Zeng really didn't warn Xiang Yu?" Liu Ying couldn't believe it.

"No," Zhang Liang replied.

"Such an important matter, how come Fan Zeng didn't remind Xiang Yu? Is he getting senile?" Liu Ying felt that his worldview had been refreshed.

"Definitely!" Liu Bang agreed, and exclaimed, "Ao Cang is the lifeline of the world. During the Battle of Julu, Zhang Han built a tunnel to transport grain from Ao Cang for Wang Li, but was defeated by Xiang Yu, who cut off Wang Li's supply line. As a result, Wang Li was defeated, and Qin perished."

"Who is Wang Li? Why is he so important?" Liu Ying was bad at history and couldn't understand at all.

"You don't even know Wang Li?" Liu Bang was very surprised.

"I just left Pei County, how can you expect me to know?" Liu Ying quickly made an excuse.

"Excellent!" Liu Bang agreed, saying, "Wang Li is the grandson of Wang Jian, the Marquis of Wucheng, a famous general of the Qin Dynasty, and the son of Wang Ben, the Marquis of Tongwu. He comes from a military family, and three generations of him were famous generals of the Qin Dynasty."

"This family background...is unparalleled!" Wang Jian was a very famous man, and Liu Ying had naturally heard of him. He was very shocked that the Wang family had produced two marquises.

Qin dynasty did not have the title of king, so the title of marquis was the highest possible rank. The fact that Wang Jian and his son Wang Ben were both granted the title of marquis was a great achievement in the Qin dynasty.

From the time Shang Yang implemented his reforms in Qin until the fall of the Qin Dynasty, only the Wang family produced two marquises.

Born into such a family, Wang Li truly deserves the praise of being a proud son of a military family.

"When King Chen raised an uprising in Dazexiang, the whole country responded, and Shandong was thrown into chaos. Zhao Gao was unable to mobilize the southern army, so he could only send Zhang Han to lead the convicts from Lishan to Shandong to quell the rebellion," Liu Bang explained to Liu Ying.

"What is the Southern Army?" Liu Ying was confused by this new term.

"Nan...why do you care so much?" Liu Bang was very reluctant to bring it up.

"I didn't want to hear it if you didn't mention it," Liu Ying rolled her eyes.

"Zhang Han initially won many battles, even killing Xiang Liang. However, the chaos in Shandong grew larger and larger, and Zhang Han was exhausted from running around. Zhao Gao had no choice but to transfer the northern army south to quell the rebellion." Liu Bang's words confused Liu Ying again.

"What is the Northern Army?" Liu Ying didn't understand.

"The Northern Army was the main force of the Qin Dynasty in the north, led by Meng Tian." Liu Bang explained in detail: "This army had built the Straight Road, rebuilt the Great Wall, and even defeated the Xiongnu in the Battle of the Ordos, driving them back more than 700 li. The Hu people dared not go south to graze their horses, and their fame spread far and wide."

"Why didn't Zhao Gao send the northern army south to quell the rebellion when Chen Sheng and Wu Guang started their uprising?" Liu Ying asked, puzzled.

"Because the supervisor of the Northern Army was Prince Fusu," Liu Bang explained. "After leaving Xianyang, Fusu went north and served as the supervisor of the Northern Army. He had been in the Northern Army for many years, and the Northern Army consisted of Fusu's confidants. Zhao Gao forged an imperial edict to kill Fusu, and Meng Tian was forced to commit suicide. Would he dare to mobilize the Northern Army?"

"Good!" Liu Ying agreed.

"Shandong was in complete chaos, and Zhang Han couldn't quell it, so Zhao Gao had to send the Northern Army south," Liu Bang continued. "Wang Li was the deputy general of the Northern Army. After Meng Tian and Prince Fusu died, he took command of the Northern Army. He led 200,000 Northern troops south to Julu. Zhao Xie and Zhang Er dared not confront them, and they cowered in Julu, sending people everywhere to seek help. When the feudal lords received the news, they all came to their aid, but they were intimidated by the power of the Northern Army and dared not fight them."

"So this is how the Battle of Julu was launched?" Liu Ying suddenly realized.

"Xiang Yu killed Song Yi, seized the Chu army, and after burning his boats and boiling his cauldrons, crossed the river to fight Zhang Han, defeated Zhang Han, and cut off Wang Li's supply lines. Until Wang Li's army ran out of food, they were eventually destroyed by the other lords." Liu Bang added, "Having lost the northern army, Zhang Han was left to fight alone and finally surrendered to Xiang Yu."

When Liu Ying learned of what happened next, he was very surprised: "Xiang Yu burned his boats and broke the cauldrons, yet he didn't attack Wang Li?"

"Does he dare?" Liu Bang's lips curled into a wide grin.

Note:

The Records of the Grand Historian, Biography of Zhang Er, states: "Xiang Yu's army repeatedly cut off Zhang Han's supply route. Wang Li's army lacked food, so Xiang Yu led all his troops across the river and defeated Zhang Han. Zhang Han withdrew his troops, and the allied forces then dared to attack the Qin army besieging Julu, thus capturing Wang Li. She Jian committed suicide."