He originally intended to surrender to Wei, so why did he end up restoring Han?

This battle can be considered Liu Bei's greatest victory to date in his military career.

In this battle, more than 21,000 enemy soldiers were captured, along with more than 3,000 sets of armor, more than 5,000 warhorses and pack animals. The grain and supplies, mainly captured from Xuyi, could supply an army of 50,000 for three months.

Apart from a small group of soldiers, about 7,000 men, taken away by Wu Jing, Sun Ben, and others, the rest of the enemy forces were annihilated in organized units. Liu Bei's army actually killed relatively few enemies, about 5,000; the rest were those who escaped after being scattered by Liu Bei.

It would have been better if they had been captured. A large area between the Liu and Yuan families is now a no-man's land; there's not even a ghost, let alone a person. Without supplies, it would be a miracle if even one out of a hundred of them escaped alive.

The casualties on Liu Bei's side were mainly caused by the previous raids on the camp and Ji Ling's two-day strong attack on Huaiyin, totaling about three thousand people.

Lu Wan, standing to the side, also summarized Liu Bei's biggest gain from this trip.

This battle effectively broke Yuan Shu's backbone. Now, it's a miracle he can even hold onto his existing territory; the idea of ​​him becoming emperor is utterly absurd. Southern Xuzhou can enjoy peace for a long time to come.

Liu Bei also gained more than 20,000 fresh troops through this, and although his territory did not increase much, his overall strength still rose.

Moreover, Liu Bei gained another rare thing: prestige.

For a long time, Liu Bei went from one defeat to another, and his occasional victories were all minor ones. As a result, most of the powerful families in Xuzhou did not take Liu Bei seriously.

In particular, when Liu Bei moved the capital of Xuzhou to Tan County in Donghai Commandery, it was as if he had voluntarily left the center of power. The powerful families and clans entrenched in Xiapi were completely unrestrained and began to seize unclaimed land, greatly increasing their strength.

According to the original historical timeline, Cao Cao later occupied Xuzhou but could not control it effectively. He had to hand it over to the local strongman Zang Ba. The reasons for this were not only the anger and resentment caused by the massacre of the city in his early years, but also the expansion of the power of the Xuzhou aristocratic families.

However, this situation is unlikely to occur now. Liu Bei has utterly defeated Yuan Shu, who is currently the strongest on paper, and the powerful families of Xuzhou will start to consider betting on Liu Bei.

Liu Bei could also use this opportunity to implement some minor reforms, so that the powerful families of Xu Province would at most be a little unhappy, but would not react as strongly as the powerful families of Yan Province rebelled against Cao Cao.

What's even better is that Xuzhou's external environment is currently at its best: Liu Bei had just become the governor of Xuzhou when he went to discuss the matter with Yuan Shao and recommended Yuan Shao's son, Yuan Tan, as a candidate for the civil service examination. This pleased Yuan Shao greatly, who not only forgave past grievances but also provided Liu Bei with some supplies and equipment to help him stabilize Xuzhou.

As Yuan Shao's subordinate, Cao Cao lost his reason to attack Xuzhou. He was also busy welcoming back the emperor and had no time to attack Xuzhou.

Yuan Shu? He was just beaten half to death, does he dare to come again?

The reform window that Lu Wan had been longing for has finally arrived!

Liu Bei was also very excited, and couldn't help pacing back and forth in the room: "Hahaha! The world should know that there is a Liu Bei in this world!"

"Wen Yuan deserves the most credit for this great victory."

"You flatter me, my lord. This is all thanks to your excellent command and the soldiers' selfless dedication. I merely offered a few suggestions," Lu Wan said with a smile and a cupped-hand salute.

Upon hearing the word "Lord," Chen Deng and Sun Qian raised an eyebrow, immediately realizing that Lu Wan had joined Liu Bei's forces.

Jian Yong was overjoyed and immediately wanted to take Lu Wan out for some fun.

Liu Bei feigned anger and said to Lu Wan, "Why do you belittle yourself, sir? If you hadn't captured Xuyi and intercepted Ji Ling, even if you had won, it would have been a Pyrrhic victory. You don't need to be so modest."

Lu Wan didn't press the matter further, but instead took the initiative to change the subject:

"Now that the war has ended, what are your plans, my lord?"

"Of course, we should return to Xiapi first to prepare for land reclamation," he added, seeing Lu Wan nod and then shake her head. "Is there something more important here?"

"My lord, you can show the previous wooden slips to Commandant Chen."

"Eh?"

Liu Bei was stunned for a moment. Under the bombardment of this good news, he had long forgotten about the plans that Lu Wan had told him.

Half a breath later, he remembered and took the wooden tablet out of his bosom and handed it to Chen Deng.

In an instant, everyone in the room focused their attention on this small wooden tablet.

"This is... a plow?"

"It's so different from the plow we usually use."

At this point, Liu Bei began to introduce Lu Wan: "This is a curved plow designed by Wen Yuan, which can be used by one person and one ox."

Lu Wan was waiting for Liu Bei to give a detailed introduction so he could pretend to be a hermit master, but Liu Bei only said that much and then stopped, obviously because he hadn't remembered it.

Lu Wan had no choice but to systematically explain the advantages of the curved plow again.

Among those present, Liu Bei and Jian Yong were from the lower classes. Although they had never farmed, they were not unfamiliar with farming. Chen Deng and Sun Qian came from aristocratic families, but both valued practical work. Chen Deng himself was the Agricultural Commandant, so the two of them also had great insights.

As Lu Wan explained, everyone's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

To put it bluntly, the advent of the curved-shaft plow would directly replace the straight-shaft plow.

Using fewer manpower and resources, yet being able to cultivate more land, is of great importance to Xuzhou and even the entire Han Dynasty.

"Brother Wenyuan, do you know if there is an actual plow?" Chen Deng was already somewhat unable to move when he saw this thing. Whether it was his identity as the Agricultural Commandant or the leader of a powerful family in Xuzhou, he could not resist the temptation.

Lu Wanyi shrugged: "No, I made this when I was in Jiujiang. How could I have brought it with me when I fled? But Brother Yuanlong, you could gather some craftsmen and make one here."

"Alright, alright, my lord, I have other important matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave now." With that, Chen Deng lifted his robe and ran off quickly.

This was the first time Liu Bei had seen Chen Deng so out of sorts, and he couldn't help but chuckle.

Sun Qian was also eager to try. He was a disciple of the great Confucian scholar Zheng Xuan. Influenced by his teacher, he also valued the common people. He had come to Liu Bei's side because his teacher told him that Liu Bei was a good official who loved the people like his own children.

Liu Bei then addressed the crowd directly, saying, "In that case, let's wait for Yuanlong to forge the curved plow, and once it passes the tests, we'll promote it throughout Xuzhou."

Lu Wan was also inexperienced, and upon hearing this, she suddenly remembered that there was something important she hadn't said: "Wait, my lord, we must not be too hasty. If we suddenly change the tools of labor on a large scale, not to mention whether the production capacity can keep up, the people will also feel confused."

"That's true, and with the large-scale use of curved plows, Xuzhou doesn't have that much iron now."

"Therefore, my lord, you should choose one or two counties to try it out. If the results are good, then you can promote it to other counties."