My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 21 Hidden Intentions

Of course, the vast Xu Province could not be controlled by Liu Bei's small force alone. In fact, there were another 20,000 to 30,000 troops in the province, but these troops did not obey Liu Bei and were stationed in various commanderies and kingdoms, so Liu Bei did not need to worry about them for the time being.

Liu Bei's army of less than 30,000 was mostly composed of infantry, so its losses were relatively small.

A soldier needs about two shi of grain per month. If grain is scarce, one and a half shi can be managed if one is frugal.

However, if even a stone is not obtained, the soldiers will definitely suffer from hunger, which will affect their training, reduce their combat effectiveness, and cause them to harbor resentment.

Horses are consumed in large quantities, roughly equivalent to the consumption of 3 to 5 infantrymen. Fortunately, Liu Bei's army currently only has two to three hundred cavalrymen in total, and even including the horses kept in the state-run areas, the total number is less than five hundred, which is equivalent to the food for two thousand infantrymen.

In addition, the grain needed by officials at the prefecture, county, and county levels in Tan County is enough to supply approximately 30,000 people.

In that case, even if we calculate based on a moderate consumption of one and a half shi (a unit of dry measure) per person per month, it would still take Liu Bei at least seven months to hold out until the summer harvest.

Based on the consumption of 30,000 people, this would require at least 320,000 shi of grain.

In the Han Dynasty, units of measurement were divided into large stones and small stones, with one small stone being about three-fifths of a large stone. However, the calculation here is based on large stones.

As Liu Bei just said, there are still 400,000 shi of grain in the state and county granaries in Tan County. After deducting the minimum of 320,000 shi of military rations, even if Liu Bei didn't keep a single grain, he could only squeeze out a maximum of 30,000 shi.

With this limited amount of grain, which is needed to produce seeds and serve as food, we can probably only recruit a thousand or so people at most.

In Liu Bei's view, it was better to keep the 30,000 jin of grain in hand as a precaution rather than engaging in such a small-scale operation.

Liu Bei's idea was not wrong at all; he just didn't know how big Liu Feng's plans and appetite were.

He was prepared to make exorbitant demands when he went to the Mi family this time; he wanted at least 100,000 shi of grain, plus a million coins worth of supplies.

"Father, this matter is not urgent. Let me visit the Prefect first."

Liu Feng kindly kept his plans from Liu Bei, otherwise he was worried that Liu Bei would be so frightened that he would jump up and beat him up.

To change the subject, Liu Feng asked Liu Bei, "Father, what is the third thing?"

Liu Bei replied, "It concerns Xiangben County. You previously suggested that my father, Zilong, go to Cheng County, and Guorang to Lanling. What about Xiangben County?"

Xiangben County is located on a major transportation route, and is a necessary passage for communication between Cheng County, Lanling County and Tancheng County.

If Xiangben County is cut off, then Cheng County and Lanling County will be isolated and cut off from Tancheng County.

Liu Bei continued, "Moreover, you are now suggesting that I establish military farms in Cheng County and Lanling County, but Xiangben County is even more important than these two counties. It is the western gateway to Tancheng County. Surely you haven't overlooked this, Feng'er?"

Liu Feng certainly had his reasons; he had considered them very carefully, because Xiangben County was essentially territory he wanted to reserve for himself out of personal favoritism.

Liu Feng had already planned it out. He would send Zhao Yun and Tian Yu to the front, while he would stay in Xiangben County, with Liu Bei's Tancheng behind him. This would allow him to attack or defend as he pleased, receiving protection from Liu Bei's group at any time while avoiding Liu Bei's interference. It was a win-win situation.

But Liu Feng also knew that it would be very difficult for him to achieve this goal.

No matter how much Big Ears values ​​him now, respects his suggestions, or even takes the initiative to ask him questions, he is still just a ten-year-old child.

Not to mention in officialdom, it is impossible to entrust the position of a county leader to a child who has not yet come of age.

Even if Liu Bei agreed, there would only be one outcome: he would be ridiculed by Chen Deng and Chen Qun.

In fact, the arrival of Zhao Yun and Tian Yu as county magistrates was extremely difficult, a result of multiple coincidences.

In normal, peaceful times, a county magistrate was a position that could only be held by a highly accomplished person with the title of "Outstanding Scholar".

What role does Mao Cai play?
You can think of it as the top scholar in a province, and there's only one of those each year. In peacetime, there are no prefectural governors, only prefectural governors, and each prefectural governor can only recommend one person to the imperial court each year.

As for the prefect, they could only recommend candidates who were filial and incorruptible.

The recommendation of candidates for the civil service examination was closely related to population; only one candidate could be recommended each year for every 200,000 people.

If the population is less than 200,000, the recommendation period will need to be extended.

For example, if there are 100,000 people, only one can be recommended every two years; if there are 50,000 people, only one can be recommended every three years.

One can imagine how prestigious this status was.

Even those who were recommended for the position of Xiaolian still needed to go to Luoyang for further studies before they could be assigned to the position of county magistrate.

In most cases, if a candidate with the title of "filial piety and integrity" wanted to become the head of a county, he would first need to have received some training in Luoyang and served as an official in the central government.

Zhao Yun and Tian Yu were indeed low-ranking scholars.

It was entirely due to the legacy of Cao Cao's massacre of Xuzhou.

Cao Cao massacred all the local scholars in Xuzhou, leaving it barren and greatly reducing the number of competitors for Zhao Yun and Tian Yu.

Secondly, due to Cao Cao's massacres, Cheng County and Lanling County were already in ruins and extremely dangerous.

To put it bluntly, these two places are now teeming with wild animals, plagued by bandits, and the people are living in misery. Not to mention, no one knows when Cao Cao will attack again and slaughter them once more.

Even if the scholars of this era were not completely corrupt, few would be willing to compete with Zhao Yun and Tian Yu for the position of magistrate of these two counties.

It was for this reason that high-ranking members of the aristocratic families, such as Chen Deng, Chen Qun, and Mi Zhu, were willing to give Liu Bei a break and not oppose his appointment of Zhao Yun and Tian Yu.

Try it if you go to a place that hasn't suffered from Cao Cao's military campaigns.

Even if Chen Yuanlong is on good terms with you, Liu Bei, he will still resolutely oppose it. Moreover, in Chen Deng's heart, what he opposes is Liu Bei's chaotic rule. The more vehemently he opposes it, the more it demonstrates his loyalty to you, Liu Bei.

Therefore, Liu Feng had already made plans long ago to carry out a backdoor listing.

He planned to select one of the scholars who had been recruited to serve as the county magistrate.

Liu Feng's initial plan was to appoint Lu Su as the county magistrate, but he later realized that if Lu Su were appointed as the county magistrate, Liu Bei would likely appoint Chen Deng as the Agricultural Commandant concurrently.

During Tao Qian's reign in Xuzhou, Chen Deng served as the Agricultural Commissioner and successfully implemented the military-agricultural colony system.

Upon assuming office, Chen Deng immediately "inspected the suitability of the land and fields and made full use of irrigation," which led to the recovery and development of agricultural production in Xuzhou, resulting in a "plenty of rice harvest," prosperity for the people, and full granaries.

Unfortunately, this also fueled Tao Qian's ambition, causing him to distance himself from capable scholars such as Chen Deng and Zhao Yu, and to rely heavily on sycophants like Cao Hong. He provoked conflict on all sides. Although he initially gained some advantages, he ultimately suffered a crushing defeat and died of illness in a state of anxiety.

Faced with Liu Bei's question, Liu Feng replied with a righteous expression: "Father, precisely because Xiangben County is located in a strategic position and is the gateway to Tancheng County, we must be extremely careful in employing people. I implore you to put this aside for a few days. It is better to have none than to have the wrong one, and we must not be too hasty."

Liu Bei glanced at Liu Feng a few times and nodded: "Alright, Yuanlong and the others also said to discuss it after the New Year. Right now, we are already too busy to deal with the refugees and persuade the big clans to provide grain relief to the disaster victims. We really can't take care of these things for the time being."

After saying that, Liu Bei pointed to his head, closed his eyes and said, "Feng'er's technique just now was really good. Give your father another massage."

Liu Feng was a little suspicious. Could it be that Big Ears had figured out his other plans?
Despite his grumbling, he still obediently started massaging Big Ears.

(End of this chapter)