My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 559 Abandoning the City and Fleeing

Although Sun Ce's cavalry numbered only a hundred or so, they put immense pressure on Yong Kai's forces, who were eager to escape. The rearguard, in particular, faced pressure that was almost maddening.

Before long, Yong Kai's rear guard began to break away from the main force, and their marching speed slowed down. As the main force moved further and further away, Yong Kai's rear guard quickly collapsed completely. Some knelt down and surrendered, while others looked to flee.

Sun Ce did not pursue the fleeing men, nor did he pay attention to those who knelt and surrendered. Instead, he simply gave them an order to return to Dianchi Lake to accept their surrender, and then chased after Yong Kai's troops.

By repeating this maneuver, Sun Ce, with only a hundred or so cavalrymen, managed to carve out several chunks of flesh from the enemy.

This was actually a result of the brothers Yong Kai and Yong Lü losing their courage. Yong Kai's troops did have cavalry, although they were not as tall and strong as the warhorses of the Central Plains, they still had a couple hundred dwarf horses from the southwest.

However, the Yong brothers, who had already been terrified by the Han army, led their cavalry at the forefront, burying their heads in the sand like ostriches, completely ignoring what was happening behind them.

This is precisely why Sun Ce's tactics succeeded time and again. Had he had cavalry cover, Sun Ce wouldn't have been able to act so recklessly.

In the end, Yong Lü couldn't stand it any longer and personally led seventy or eighty cavalrymen to turn back, and organized a group of archers, which stopped Sun Ce from continuing his pursuit.

Seeing that there was no chance, Sun Ce withdrew his troops, thus bringing the Battle of Dianchi to an end.

Sun Ce's pursuit resulted in the capture of over two hundred of Yong Kai's troops, while another two hundred fled in different directions, leaving only one thousand eight hundred of Yong Kai's more than two thousand two hundred who escaped the battlefield.

After Sun Ce's infantry occupied the north gate, they did not encounter any counterattack.

An hour later, Wei Yan's thousand elite troops and Sun Ce's main force arrived, entered the city from the north, and then took control of the other city gates, as well as key locations such as the prefectural government, county government, armory, warehouses, and grain depots. At the same time, they disarmed the city's armaments and posted notices to reassure the people.

Before long, Sun Ce, who had gone out to pursue the enemy, returned to Dianchi Lake with the prisoners.

Looking at the lush green winter wheat outside the city, Wei Yan and Sun Ce were overjoyed, finally having secured this first victory.

In the following days, Wei Yan and Sun Ce adjusted their deployment. Wei Yan's troops were split up, with 300 Han soldiers and 500 Han auxiliary troops stationed at Wudan, 200 Han soldiers and 500 Han auxiliary troops stationed at Yuyuan, and the remaining 1,000-plus of Wei Yan's main force stationed at Dianchi.

Sun Ce left 500 men to assist Wei Yan in guarding Dianchi Lake, and then led his own 1,500 men northward, intending to capture the northern barrier of Dianchi Lake and the transportation hub of Guchang County.

Not only is this place well-connected, serving as the second most important transportation hub in Yizhou Prefecture after Wei County, with trade routes passing through, but its southern part is surrounded by Dianchi Lake with numerous paddy fields, while the western part has a large number of salt wells that can produce well salt. This is not only the main source of salt for everyone in Yizhou Prefecture, but also an extremely important source of fiscal revenue for the prefecture.

Lianran County, located more than 50 li southwest of Guchang County, is the largest salt and iron producing area in Yizhou Commandery. It not only has the second largest salt well in the entire Eastern Han Dynasty, but also has a large number of iron mines and iron smelting workshops, making it the most important military equipment producing area in Yizhou Commandery.

Sun Ce's target was these two counties.

There were originally 500 soldiers stationed in Guchang County, but when Yong Kai fled through Guchang, he completely withdrew all of them.

By the time Sun Ce arrived at Guchang, the city was already out of soldiers to defend.

If Yong Kai hadn't been so eager to flee that he blocked the news, most of the people in Guchang County would likely have fled.

Sun Ce quickly entered the city to appease the people, sealed the treasury, and won over the hearts of the people.

After stabilizing the situation, Sun Ce left 500 men to garrison Guchang, while he led the remaining 1,000 men southwest, heading straight for Lianran County.

Lianran County had only two hundred salt and iron soldiers, plus ironworkers, totaling no more than five hundred men. They were no match for Liu Feng's army. Furthermore, Sun Ce produced a document bearing the seal of the Left General and sent captured mid-level officers from Yong Kai's army into the city to persuade them to surrender. Ultimately, he successfully persuaded Lianran County to open its gates.

After capturing Lianran County, Sun Ce marched north and occupied Qinzang County, bringing the entire northern part of Dianchi Lake under the rule of Liu Feng's army.

While Sun Ce was reporting frequent victories, Wei Yan was not idle either.

He left Huang Ming to oversee Dianchi Lake, while he himself led 400 Han soldiers and 800 surrendered soldiers, and easily persuaded Jianling County, located southwest of Dianchi Lake, to surrender.

Jianling is a fortified county, originally established to defend the Dianchi Plain and resist threats from the southwest.

With subsequent development, large copper mines were discovered in Jianling County, transforming it from a simple garrison fortress. As peace and stability prevailed over the Dianchi Plain, Jianling County gradually shifted its focus from defense to copper mining.

With the opening of Jianling City, Liu Feng's army reached the peak of its influence around Dianchi Lake. The five core counties of the historical Dianchi Plain all fell under Liu Feng's control, and the Dianchi Plain became safe again.

When Lu Xun led the main force of the central army to Dianchi Lake, the surrounding area not only became peaceful, but also the salt wells, iron mines, copper mines, and iron smelting workshops of Gu Chang and Lian Ran resumed normal operation.

It must be said that although Yizhou Commandery had a small population, it was truly a small, independent kingdom. It had salt wells, iron mines, copper mines, iron smelting bases, fishing, and even animal husbandry, making it self-sufficient and all-encompassing.

As the foundation for advancing into the Chengdu Plain, Yizhou Prefecture's conditions were simply too perfect.

When Lu Xun arrived at Dianchi and took over the Dianchi Prefecture, he was overjoyed after reviewing the prefecture's documents and records. He said to Sun Ce, Huang Zhong, and Wei Yan, "The prefecture is rich in salt and iron, and has abundant copper mines. It also has the benefits of fishing, hunting, and animal husbandry. If we can use these benefits to entice the Baiyue people to mine the mountains, the military equipment produced by the prefectures and kingdoms of Yizhou will be enough to supply tens of thousands of troops."

No wonder Lu Xun was so happy. From the account books and records left by the Yong family, it can be seen that Yizhou Prefecture was extremely rich and abundant in resources. However, it had always been swallowed up by the local powerful clans. Historically, it was only after Zhuge Liang's southern expedition that the resources in the south began to be developed and utilized, greatly supplementing the needs of Chengdu and leaving behind the reputation of "the country is rich because of the military resources produced".

According to the current records, the entire Yizhou Prefecture had 1.2 million mu of registered fertile land, of which more than 500,000 mu were paddy fields. The more than 280,000 mu of fertile land in the Dianchi Plain were all paddy fields, with very high yields. In addition, Yuyuan, Shengxiu, Guchang, Lianran, and Weixian counties together had more than 200,000 mu of paddy fields.

The remaining counties and towns, such as Tonglao, Qinzang, Mumi, and Kunze, are mostly dry land with relatively few paddy fields, but still comprise over 600,000 mu of farmland. Of this, the paddy fields yield approximately two to two and a half shi of grain annually, with two harvests a year: one of rice and one of wheat. The dry land, on the other hand, is primarily used for wheat cultivation, yielding between one and a half to two shi annually in spring and autumn.

However, if we calculate based on an average of two shi (a unit of dry measure), the total annual grain output would be approximately 2.4 million shi.

According to the Han Dynasty's grain tax of one-fifteenth of the total tax, that would amount to 160,000 shi (a unit of dry measure).

However, Liu Feng's income from grain will not be limited to this after he takes over Yizhou Commandery. After all, once Yong Kai and the powerful clans who supported the Yong family have fled, their lands will all belong to Liu Feng.

Putting aside everything else, almost all of the 500,000 mu of high-quality paddy fields centered on the Dianchi Plain would end up in Liu Feng's pocket. On the other hand, the 600,000 to 700,000 mu of dry land is not only scattered but also hidden deep in the mountains and forests. The owners are likely scattered and fragmented, so the only thing that can be collected is taxes.

According to the custom in the Southwest, if 500,000 mu of paddy fields were divided into three equal parts (70% and 30% respectively), Liu Feng could receive at least 700,000 shi of grain over several years. Even after deducting grain tax, he would still have as much as 600,000 shi. If the grain tax from 700,000 mu of dry land were added, he could still earn at least 700,000 to 800,000 shi of grain.

In addition, Yizhou County produces 50 tons of pig iron, 8 tons of copper ore, 30,000 pieces of ironware, and 100,000 bushels of well salt annually.

Of these 30,000 iron artifacts, the vast majority were simple cast iron farm tools, with only 2,000 bronze and iron spears/halberds truly belonging to the category of military equipment. In addition, there were 200 armor plates produced annually, which were made of cast iron sheets that were then strung together and tightly bound with ropes.

Originally, these lamellar armors, once completed, would be sent north to Chengdu, the capital of Yizhou, and not left locally. Now, however, they are a great supplement to Liu Feng's army. Both the quality of the armor plates and the lamellar technique used to make them are far inferior to similar armors produced in the Central Plains.

However, these armor plates were an unexpected bonus, an unplanned source of income. Moreover, all that was needed was to transport sesame oil from the back to maintain the armor, so naturally, the more the better.

In recent years, the Yong family has become increasingly powerful and has even dared to embezzle county and prefectural taxes. However, the ironworks are operated independently by the state government and have not yet been embezzled by the Yong family.

It wasn't that the Yong family was soft-hearted, but rather that Yong Kai was well aware that once he got involved with the Iron Officials, it would mean a complete break with Chengdu.

In addition, there were wooden crossbows from the Li Liao tribe, about a thousand of which were produced annually. Although they were far inferior to the large yellow crossbows and even compared to the common crossbows of the Central Plains, they were still a supplement to long-range weapons and more than enough for the future Han auxiliary army.

Lu Xun has decided to adjust the production focus of the Ironworkers, temporarily shifting the focus to the production of weapons and armor.

After the adjustment, the production of lamellar armor can be doubled to about 400 sets per year, and the production of long-handled weapons can also be increased to 6,000 per year.

However, they are not good at short weapons. The only short weapons that can be produced here are daggers and short swords. Weapons such as ring knives, long knives, broadswords and long swords cannot be produced by the ironworkers of Lianran. Historically, when there is a need, these weapons are transported from Chengdu to Yizhou County.

The cost of the adjustment is a significant drop in the production of agricultural tools. The original annual output of more than 20,000 agricultural tools will inevitably shrink drastically, and may even fall below 10,000 or even 5,000, leaving only 2,000 to 3,000 pieces.

Fortunately, the current stockpile of agricultural tools is sufficient to ensure that grain production reaches the average level of recent years. However, a new conflict is set to erupt this spring, and the relative importance of each is self-evident.

However, this was not without its advantages. In fact, in addition to increasing the production of military equipment and armor, reducing the production of agricultural tools had an unexpected benefit: the abundance of copper mines.

In Yizhou County, copper mines were not used for minting coins, but for forging weapons and agricultural tools. This was because copper smelting was much simpler than iron smelting. Therefore, in the technologically backward Yizhou County, copper mines were always used to fuse with pig iron to forge the metal heads of long-handled weapons and agricultural tools.

Now, after reducing the production of agricultural tools, all the pig iron can be used to forge iron weapon heads and armor. The surplus bronze can be transported back to Jing, Yang, Jiao and other places, and then used to mint Wuzhu coins.

Based on eight tons of copper, more than 1.2 million high-quality Wuzhu coins could be cast. However, casting coins requires labor, fuel, and so on, which originally resulted in a cost loss of 10% to 30%.

Considering that these copper materials were to be transported back to the Central Plains for minting coins, the technology used was definitely the most advanced technology from the late Eastern Han Dynasty. In addition, with the large-scale use of coal as a material in Xuzhou and the research and development and production of new blast furnaces, the cost of copper materials for minting coins could be reduced to a minimum of about 10%.

The output of these eight tons of copper is 1.1 million high-quality Wuzhu coins. With the development of Yizhou County and the increase in copper mine production, the revenue from this area will continue to increase in the future.

In addition to these main benefits, there is also the protein from fish and shrimp from the fishing industry, which can greatly reduce the army's meat costs, and the cattle, horses and sheep from animal husbandry, which can supplement the army's transportation capacity.

Finally, the various ores, treasures, leathers, and other items offered as tribute by the Baiyue tribes also provided an additional source of income.

Before spring arrives, Lu Xun plans to manufacture a batch of curved-shaft plows and prioritize their use in paddy fields. The paddy fields in the southwest can achieve rice-winter wheat rotation, allowing for two harvests per year. If combined with curved-shaft plows and planting techniques from the Central Plains, the grain yield of Yizhou County can reach an even higher level.

In addition, there was an unexpected windfall: the Yong family's stockpiled goods in Dianchi Lake.

As the Yong family's stronghold, the treasury in Dianchi Lake was always full. This time, Yong Kai fled in haste and had no time to take anything from the treasury with him.

Meanwhile, Yong Kai, fearing that it would cause chaos and affect his escape plan, did not arrange for anyone to burn the supplies.

In this way, all these treasuries fell into Lu Xun's hands, which can be described as making a huge profit.

This represents decades of savings accumulated by the Yong family and the powerful clans of Dianchi who supported them. The grain alone constitutes an enormous sum, not to mention the large quantities of gold, silver, cloth, grain, weapons, and armor.

From this perspective, Wei Yan's risky move was not entirely unreasonable.

If Yong Kai waits for the main force to arrive before engaging in battle, he will likely hold his ground at Dianchi Lake and not come out.

If the Han army were to attempt to conquer a fortified city defended by 6,000 elite troops and supported by several thousand able-bodied men, the losses would certainly be substantial. This is the stronghold of the Yong family, with extremely high influence and prestige, and the brothers Yong Kai and Yong Lü certainly have no shortage of determination to hold it.

(End of this chapter)