I seek economic hegemony in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 2 One of the Logistics Artifacts
"Your Majesty, please be patient." Zhuge Liang put down the medicine bottle and looked slightly relieved.

"Prime Minister?"

"I'm fine."

Li Ruji was stunned for a moment, muttering to himself, is this bullshit cough syrup really effective?

Doctor Zhang on the side was also slightly startled, what's going on?
I have been practicing medicine for decades, but I have never heard of cough syrup really relieving the Prime Minister's illness?

Zhuge Liang raised his head slightly and said, "Li Heng, this medicine is sweet in the mouth, cooling and soothing the throat. It has miraculous effects."

"It is my Li family's duty to treat the Prime Minister's illness!" Li Heng saluted respectfully.

Yang Yi on the side looked at Li Heng with a completely different look.

"You just said that I have tuberculosis. Do I need to take your medicine to cure the disease?" Zhuge Liang's tone was indifferent, but he was somewhat looking forward to it.

Over the years, he has been busy with state affairs and doing everything personally, and his health has been deteriorating.

He knows his own body better than anyone else.

And he was worried, could he listen to this year?

This time was the fifth Northern Expedition. He had been preparing for it for three years and proposed a strategy of managing Guanzhong and fighting a protracted war with Wei.

As the name suggests, it is to establish frontline positions in Guanzhong.

This would avoid the logistical failures of the past four attempts.

Moreover, under his training, the Han army became so powerful that even a man like Sima Yi, who was a god with soldiers, did not dare to challenge him.

Thinking of all the past events, Zhuge Liang felt quite sad.

If God gives me another 20 years, I will definitely live up to the late emperor’s legacy and will definitely establish the Han Dynasty!

"I can indeed cure the Prime Minister's illness, but I still need to feel the Prime Minister's pulse again."

Li Heng's voice pulled Zhuge Liang out of his thoughts.

Zhuge Liang looked calm, just nodded and said: "Okay."

"But I have one more request."

"You can say it anyway."

"Prime Minister, please let them out first."

"No!" Yang Yi immediately objected.

How can the Prime Minister be allowed to stay alone with other people?
If something goes wrong, no one can bear the responsibility!
Zhuge Liang said, "You guys go down first."

"Prime Minister..."

"Everyone, please go down. Li Heng and I will be alone for a while."

Yang Yi and others had no choice but to give up and said to Li Heng before going out: "Be careful. If the Prime Minister does anything wrong, I will never spare you!"

Li Ruji glanced at his son and followed him out.

Li Heng sat aside, imitating his father's appearance in his memory, and began to take Zhuge Liang's pulse.

He, Li Heng, doesn't know how to take a pulse, but he still has to go through the process.

Zhuge Liang looked calm and said nothing.

After a while, Zhuge Liang asked kindly: "How?"

"Prime Minister, this disease is indeed tuberculosis!" Li Heng said seriously, "This disease is specially treated with special medicines. Even cough syrup can only relieve the symptoms, but not the root cause."

After speaking, he took out a white plastic bottle from his arms and handed it over with both hands.

"Prime Minister, take this medicine three times a day, one tablet each time. Just come to me after taking it."

Zhuge Liang took the white plastic bottle and looked a little surprised.

Cough syrup is made of glass, he knows it.

But this was the first time he saw this white container.

Unscrewing the cap of the bottle, I found pills smaller than a fingernail inside. They were slightly yellow in color and had a faint sweet and slightly bitter taste.

Zhuge Liang couldn't help but laugh and said: "This container is quite novel. I didn't expect the pills inside to be so novel."

Li Heng did not explain, but just said: "Prime Minister, you must take it according to what I said."

Zhuge Liang thought for a moment and then said: "Okay, I will take it as you say."

The cough syrup he just drank worked wonders, and he wanted to try it again.

After hearing what Zhuge Liang said, Li Heng felt relieved.

In fact, Li Heng also had his own ideas in mind, but he had only traveled through time for more than two months.

I have been trying to find a way to get in touch with Zhuge Liang, but Zhuge Liang's status is too high. He is just the son of an imperial doctor and has no chance at all.

Unexpectedly, this combination of misfortune and good fortune gave him an opportunity.

"Prime Minister, with all due respect, tuberculosis is easy to cure, but heart disease is difficult to cure." "Heart disease?"

"Yes, heart disease."

Zhuge Liang recovered his smile, looked at Li Heng carefully, and asked, "Do you know I have a heart problem?"

"Everyone knows that the Prime Minister is concerned about the country and the people, but it would be too broad to just say that worrying about the country and the people is a heart disease. The Prime Minister must also be worried about specific matters."

"Tell me, why am I worried?"

"logistics."

Zhuge Liang was stunned for a moment and then laughed: "You are the son of a royal doctor, but you still know the logistics of marching?"

"I also know the logistics problems of our army."

"What questions?"

"The first is the problem of recruiting civilian husbands. The statistics of households in each township are unclear, and civilian laborers cannot be mobilized reasonably. This not only affects the demand for civilian husbands in the military, but also affects the agricultural production in the villages; the second is that the consumption statistics during the transportation of grain and grass are unclear, and the officials There are suspicions of enriching one's own pockets and wasting money. It is often unknown how many people are transporting grain and grass from one place to another, and how much is consumed during the journey. Third, the amount of daily labor required by the soldiers in the field is unknown. It is not known how much grain the soldiers in the field cultivated during the period. How many fields have encountered problems and how to solve them.”

As soon as Li Heng said these words, Zhuge Liang finally showed a hint of surprise on his calm face.

He didn't expect that Li Heng would be so meticulous when looking at logistics matters.

If a person tells Zhuge Liang now that there are logistical problems, Zhuge Liang will not really regard this person as a talent.

Because many people in the military actually know that there are logistical problems.

But few people can tell exactly where the logistical problems arise.

But the young man in front of him made it very clear, which showed that he had conducted on-the-spot investigation.

This is actually a pain point in Zhuge Liang's heart. Zhuge Liang has a background in logistics, but logistics matters are extremely complicated and involve the operation of the entire army, which is beyond the reach of others.

"Can you raise these questions and have any solutions?"

This was the moment Li Heng was waiting for.

Li Heng took out a piece of paper from his arms!

The paper is not much different from the rice paper of previous generations.

"Please ask the Prime Minister to write an inscription."

"What is this?" As soon as Zhuge Liang said this, he immediately changed his words, "Paper?"

"That's right, paper."

Zhuge Liang immediately took it, looked at it carefully, touched it carefully with his hands, and couldn't help but exclaimed: "This is the first time I have seen such delicate paper. Where did this paper come from?"

"Return to the Prime Minister, I made it myself."

"Did you make it yourself?"

"Yes, I made it myself."

"In addition to practicing medicine, you can also make paper." Zhuge Liang nodded repeatedly and became more curious about Li Heng, "But what does this have to do with logistics?"

Li Heng stole a glance at Zhuge Liang. He knew that Zhuge Liang was asking questions knowingly, because Zhuge Liang's eyes lit up when he saw the paper just now.

Li Heng replied unhurriedly: "It does matter. What I just mentioned are all statistical problems. The bamboo slips are too heavy and difficult to carry. For example, when counting households in a county, it is difficult to count all the households with bamboo slips. Another example is When fertile farmland changes, the records on the bamboo slips will change and need to be cut off and rewritten. It is very troublesome to search in the vast bamboo mountains. It would be different if all were made of paper."

This is not just population statistics. Information on households and fertile land also involves national taxation issues.

Aren’t taxes the most important part of logistics?
There are also grain escorts. For example, when transporting from one place to another, how many people were involved and how much grain was damaged all need to be clearly recorded and checked repeatedly.

There is no small matter in the army. If food management is not good, huge losses will occur. How to support frontline operations?

In the first four Northern Expeditions of the Han Army, the biggest logistical problem was unclear statistics and unclear verification.

Zhuge Liang asked again: "You are right. Paper instead of bamboo slips can indeed accurately count the affairs of the entire army, make the army more rigorous, and solve many problems for logistics, but it requires a lot of paper."

"Whatever the Prime Minister wants, I can give it to the Prime Minister?"

"really?"

"really!"

"What about ten thousand?"

"One hundred thousand, one million, no problem!"

"How to do it?"

"I have my own way."

Seeing that Li Heng was so confident, Zhuge Liang pondered for a moment and asked, "How long will it take for ten thousand pieces of paper?"

"More than a month."

"Okay, I'll give you more than a month. How do you need me to help you?"

"I just need to arrange some manpower for me."

(End of this chapter)