The Three Kingdoms: Rise to Power Starting with Intercepting Liu Bei

In the evening, Qin Xuan summoned all his civil and military officials to the governor's mansion for dinner.

Seeing that the food table in front of them was empty, everyone except Qin Xuan and Zhang Juzheng was somewhat puzzled.

Didn't they say there was something good?

Why is there nothing there?

Seeing the questioning looks on everyone's faces, Qin Xuan didn't beat around the bush and instructed the maids serving outside:

"Come on, bring out the food I've prepared for you gentlemen!"

"promise!"

A few minutes after the maid agreed, she entered the main hall, followed by two rows of maids, each carrying a plate with their food for the day.

After everything was ready, Qin Xuan chuckled and picked up the food from the plate, eating as he spoke:

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is our food for today. Please try it and see how it tastes. This is what I instructed the refugees in the city to sign up for planting. Now it's finally harvested, so please have a taste!"

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately followed Qin Xuan's example and carefully picked up the potatoes and sweet potatoes from the plate to eat.

"Mmm~~~Mmm~~~~!"

Immediately, the hall was filled with exclamations of praise. They were thoroughly enjoying the food, as they hadn't expected it to be so delicious and so filling.

"My lord, this stuff is indeed delicious, but I don't know how much it's produced. If the production is high, Xuzhou might not be short of food, and we could attract a large number of refugees and increase Xuzhou's population."

Liu Bowen immediately recognized the value of this product. If potatoes and sweet potatoes could be mass-produced, Xuzhou's development would surely flourish. As long as there was grain, the people would have a good life.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is why I called you here today. The yield of these potatoes and sweet potatoes is quite considerable. However, since we didn't plant on a large area for the first time, the harvest isn't as high as we expected!"

"Next, we need to discuss how to expand production capacity while also preventing other lords from acquiring it!"

Qin Xuan had actually come up with a method with a major flaw, but he was still wondering if there was a more perfect method, otherwise he would not use this method until the very last moment.

This~~~~~

Upon hearing Qin Xuan's words, everyone fell into deep thought. To increase production, it was necessary to expand the planting area and send a large number of soldiers to patrol and strictly monitor the planting personnel.

More importantly, the governor's office controlled too little land, and in order to expand the planting area, it had to acquire land from those powerful families.

Although Qin Xuan had taken control of Xuzhou, the powerful families were all behaving like obedient children, keeping their tails between their legs, making it impossible to find any leverage against them.

As for buying or leasing the land, forget about it. These people treat the land like their own son and would never agree to it. Besides, Qin Xuan doesn't have that much money on hand.

Just as everyone was deep in thought, Liu Bowen spoke up:

"My lord, how about we have the farmers take turns planting? Some can be responsible for planting, and others for clearing land. That might be more efficient!"

"No!"

Qin Xuan decisively shook his head and refused. Although this would greatly increase the planting area of ​​potatoes and sweet potatoes, it would also undoubtedly increase the number of patrolling soldiers needed, which would lead to a shortage of manpower in the army.

As for explaining the importance of sweet potatoes and potatoes to the common people, that's utterly pointless. If you start explaining, everyone in the world will know within half a month. How can you keep it a secret then? When other lords come to ask, will you give them to them or not?

If he gives it to Qin Xuan, his advantages will vanish; if he doesn't, others will spread rumors that Qin Xuan doesn't care about the survival of the people.

The consequences were too great.

Seeing that everyone was racking their brains but couldn't come up with a solution, Qin Xuan turned his gaze to Jia Xu, wanting to hear what kind of method this old schemer had.

Sitting in an inconspicuous corner, Jia Xu noticed Qin Xuan's gaze. He slowly met Qin Xuan's eyes. Seeing everyone looking at him, Jia Xu smiled helplessly, knowing he couldn't remain invisible. He cleared his throat and offered his suggestion to everyone present:

"My lord, in my opinion, we should take over Qingzhou as soon as possible and place the production of potatoes and sweet potatoes there."

"Oh, why is that?" Qin Xuan was very surprised by Jia Xu's suggestion. He didn't expect this guy to propose to place potato and sweet potato production in Qingzhou.

The others also pricked up their ears, wanting to hear why Jia Xu did this.

"My lord, after the Yellow Turban Rebellion ravaged Qingzhou, it has countless unclaimed territories. The powerful clans and local strongmen there have been almost all wiped out. There is no obstacle for us to acquire so much land."

While potatoes and sweet potatoes are good crops, not all land should be used to grow them. Jia Xu's suggestion is equivalent to large-scale management today.

After listening, Qin Xuan suddenly realized that this seemed to be a good idea. The unclaimed land in Qingzhou was contiguous and easier to manage than in Xuzhou, not to mention that Qingzhou's military strength was not strong at present.

The governor of Qin Province, Yuan Tan, did not have many troops under his command. He only needed to send a general with tens of thousands of soldiers to occupy Qing Province. As for Yuan Shao, he was still fighting Gongsun Zan and had no time to deal with him.

Even if he intervenes, he can still form an alliance with Gongsun Zan and see who else can help him.

Moreover, he wasn't afraid of Yuan Shao using the emperor to pressure him. If pushed too far, the Black Ice Guard would take action to kill the emperor and frame Yuan Shao, and they would see who would have the last laugh.

"Does anyone have any further objections? If not, our next course of action will proceed as outlined in the document!"

Thinking of this, Qin Xuan came to his senses, glanced at everyone, and then shouted a question.

Upon hearing Qin Xuan's question, everyone looked at each other, and no one objected; they all agreed with Jia Xu's idea.

Seeing that everyone agreed, Qin Xuan nodded in satisfaction:

"Li Jing, listen to my command. I hereby order you to lead 10,000 new troops from Xuzhou, with Yuwen Chengdu as the vanguard, to capture Qingzhou in ten days. The Black Ice Guard will provide you with all intelligence support."

"Yes!" As soon as Qin Xuan finished speaking, Li Jing in the hall immediately stood up, cupped his hands in agreement.

Li Jing was one of only two brilliant commanders under his command, and with the addition of the fierce general Yuwen Chengdu, it shouldn't be a problem for them to take Qingzhou with a well-trained and well-equipped army of 10,000. Moreover, Yuan Tan didn't have any outstanding generals under his command.

·············

Just as Qin Xuan was inviting everyone to eat potatoes and sweet potatoes and making plans to conquer Qingzhou, Zhou Yu, along with Huang Gai and others, arrived in Shouchun to meet Yuan Shu.

"You're saying Sun Ce died at Qin Xuan's hands, and that he even occupied Wu Commandery?"

In the magnificent Yuan Shu's mansion, Yuan Shu stared wide-eyed at Zhou Yu, who had come to visit at night, finding it hard to believe what Zhou Yu had just said.

How could Sun Ce have died so quickly, and by Qin Xuan no less?

"What exactly happened? Why did you have a conflict with Qin Xuan? How could he kill Sun Ce?"

Yuan Shu asked three questions in a row. He had only returned from Luoyang a few days ago and no one had told him what had happened in Wu Commandery, so he did not make any hasty conclusions.

"We~~~~!"

Zhou Yu recounted to Yuan Shu how Liu Bei had come to him, but concealed some of the truth, such as the private agreement they had reached with Liu Bei.

After all, Sun Ce's rise to power largely depended on Yuan Shu. If Yuan Shu were to find out about Sun Ce's ambition to become independent, things would get very complicated.

After a long silence, having listened to Zhou Yu's account, Yuan Shu said quietly:

"You don't mean for me to go after Qin Xuan, do you?"