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

While enduring the thumping sounds behind her, Lu Wan tried her best to steady the brush in her hand.

Looking at the rubbish written by Lu Wan, Liu Bei couldn't help but sigh that no one is perfect, and even someone as capable as Mr. Lu has things he's not good at.

Zhang Fei desperately tried to suppress his laughter: "I must hold it in, I must force myself to hold it in, I can't laugh out loud, my brother will beat me up. But how can I hold back something so funny?"

He encountered the unparalleled strategist in Xiapi, whose handwriting was so ugly it was like a dog crawling, and he couldn't hold back his efforts.

Today is Lu Wan's first day at work. Liu Bei and Zhang Fei came to see if Lu Wan had any new ideas or anything she was not used to. They found Lu Wan looking at the documents with a bitter expression.

Lu Wan sighed and put down her brush.

"Laugh if you want to, no one will blame you."

Zhang Fei immediately burst into laughter: "Hahaha!"

Liu Bei turned around and glared at Zhang Fei, who had no choice but to lower his head and not show his smile.

"Actually, the teacher writes some characters very well. Third brother, look at this character '乐' (le), it's written very well."

"My lord, this is 'East'."

Liu Bei paused for a moment, then continued, "It must be a problem with this paper. I can't believe these merchants dared to sell me paper of this quality. They're truly inhuman."

"My lord, there's no need to defend me anymore. Poor writing is poor writing. I'll practice slowly and improve." Lu Wan was saying this when she suddenly had a brilliant idea.

The paper is of very poor quality?

Why not try to improve the current paper? It's something that aristocratic families can't refuse, just like the curved plow.

Caihou paper has been invented for over eighty years and was produced in various places during the Eastern Han Dynasty. However, the quality of Caihou paper was not very good; it was easily torn, and writing on it would easily bleed and become illegible.

In the years following Cai Hou's death, Zuo Bo, a native of Donglai in Qingzhou, improved upon Cai Hou's paper and produced the even better "Zuo Bo paper".

Compared to its predecessors, Zuo Bo paper used mulberry bark as its material, resulting in excellent toughness. However, this type of paper was only produced and sold in the Qingzhou region, and was very expensive. The reason was simple: in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, only Shu (Sichuan) and Qingzhou had large-scale textile industries and cultivated a large number of mulberry trees; other places simply didn't have the material to produce it.

Therefore, wealthy people nowadays either use silk or bamboo slips to write, and rarely use paper as a medium for knowledge.

If there were a paper product that could be both high-quality and inexpensive, it would become a key product for reviving Xuzhou's economy.

"My lord, I have an idea. We can improve papermaking and sell it to the surrounding areas. Then we won't have to worry about money and food anymore." Lu Wan immediately reported this idea to Liu Bei.

Liu Bei just stared at Lu Wan in shock, as if to say, "You even know about papermaking?"

"Just tell me what you need, sir, and I'll get it for you!" Zhang Fei patted his chest loudly.

"Let's make this clear first, this is a long-term project, and it will take at least three months to see results." Upon hearing this, Liu Bei and Zhang Fei both said that it was no problem and they could take their time.

"I've heard that the paper from Zuo Bo in Qingzhou is made from mulberry bark. We'll get a batch to try it out."

Then came the selection of a site for the paper mill. Papermaking uses a lot of water, which means that there needs to be land, and that land also needs to be near water. After searching all over Xuzhou, only the banks of the Yi River were suitable.

The land on both sides of the Sishui River has long been divided up by powerful families because it is close to Xiapi, the economic center of Xuzhou. The land on both sides of the Huai River is not considered because it is close to enemy-occupied areas.

"Wen Yuan, the matter of choosing a location for the workshop is easy to solve, but how do we solve the problem of the materials for papermaking? There aren't many mulberry trees in Xuzhou." Liu Bei asked the question cautiously, afraid of dampening Lu Wan's enthusiasm.

Zhang Fei chimed in, "That's right, we can't exactly plant a whole batch for you right now, can we?"

"My lord, you're truly blinded by a leaf and can't see Mount Tai. There are no mulberry trees in Xuzhou, but there are in Qingzhou," Lu Wan replied with a slight smile.

Seeing that Liu Bei hadn't quite grasped the situation, Lu Wan told the two of them his three-birds-with-one-stone plan:

"Does my lord know who currently controls Qingzhou?"

"Of course I know. This summer, Yuan Shao's eldest son, Yuan Tan, conquered Beihai and occupied the entire Qingzhou." As he spoke, Liu Bei felt a little sad. Yuan Shao's son was already leading troops into battle, while he hadn't even seen a shadow of a son.

"My lord, don't forget that you have done a great favor for Young Master Yuan."

"What great favor have I done for Yuan Tan? Wait, could it be about recommending him as a talented scholar?"

Lu Wan nodded in agreement, saying, "Indeed, our lord is Yuan Tan's patron. If we do business with Yuan Tan and buy mulberry bark from him, he can earn extra income and repay our lord's kindness. He certainly won't refuse."

The recommendation system of the Han Dynasty was a very special system. Each commandery and kingdom in the Han Dynasty had a quota for recommendation every year. For example, a large commandery like Bohai with a population of hundreds of thousands could only have six people recommended for the title of filial and incorruptible in a year. Other commanderies and kingdoms had even fewer. You can imagine how fierce the competition was.

Not to mention that Liu Bei recommended Yuan Tan's "Maocai" (a title for outstanding scholars). There were only about twenty such candidates across all the dozen or so provinces in the entire Han Dynasty. Moreover, only the Three Dukes, generals of equal rank to the Three Dukes, Guanglu Xun (a high-ranking official), Sili Xiaowei (a high-ranking official in charge of the capital region), and local governors could recommend them. The annual quotas were three for the Three Dukes, one for Guanglu Xun, one for Sili Xiaowei, and one for each local governor.

Compared to the recommendation of filial piety and incorruptibility, the title of "outstanding talent" carries higher prestige and greater significance. After being recommended as a filial and incorruptible official, one would typically serve as a probationary official in the imperial court, gradually working one's way up to a substantive post. However, an outstanding talent could be directly appointed as a substantive official at the county magistrate level, or even more impressively, directly appointed as an official with a salary of two thousand shi (a unit of grain), equivalent to the level of a prefect or one of the Nine Ministers.

Such an important spot was given to Yuan Tan, so you can imagine how grateful Yuan Shao and his son Yuan Tan were to Liu Bei. Even if the Yuan and Liu families clashed one day, and Yuan Shao crushed Liu Bei's army and captured Liu Bei himself, Yuan Shao could not do anything to Liu Bei. He still had to treat Liu Bei as an honored guest, and Yuan Tan had to kowtow to Liu Bei respectfully.

Lu Wan couldn't think of any reason why Yuan Tan could refuse, since he only wanted to do business with her.

Liu Bei, having grasped the crux of the matter, nodded repeatedly. Zhang Fei, impatient to hear the follow-up strategy, asked, "Sir, you mentioned a plan to kill three birds with one stone. What exactly are the three birds?"

"The first step is naturally to establish good relations with Yuan Tan of Qingzhou. Trade is always mutually beneficial. Qingzhou provides us with raw materials, while Yanzhou and Yuzhou provide markets. We can also exchange grain with Liu Jing of Jingzhou, which will allow us to quickly recover Xuzhou."

Lu Wan actually had another hidden benefit that she didn't tell the two of them: Qingzhou would provide the raw materials, which would be processed into goods in Xuzhou and then sold back to Qingzhou, profiting from the price scissors in Qingzhou.

"The second target is Langya County, which is sandwiched between our army and Qingzhou. Our army can use the guise of merchants to collect intelligence on cities such as Kaiyang, in order to prepare for the future recapture of Langya County."

"Sir, why not have the army disguise themselves as merchants and infiltrate the city, then coordinate with our army for a pincer attack? That would make the siege more likely," Zhang Fei suggested, believing there was a more reliable military approach.

Liu Bei slapped Zhang Fei on the back and said:

"Yide! Don't talk nonsense. How can a man do such a despicable thing?! Even if we capture the city by pretending to be merchants, it will only make others more wary of merchants. In the end, it will be the innocent people who suffer. We cannot harm future generations for the sake of short-term gains."

Lu Wan also agreed with this view. As the saying goes, it's hard to learn good, but easy to learn bad. The more the moral bottom line is tested, the lower it gets. Today you dare to pretend to be a commoner and steal from the city, tomorrow I dare to use the commoners as shields, and the day after tomorrow I dare to use the commoners as reserve food.

Lu Wan knew that moral boundaries were more flexible in chaotic times, but they couldn't be completely abandoned. In order to deal with the many foreign tribes that would later invade from the south, it was necessary to protect more Han people.

"What you say is absolutely right, my lord. Moreover, Zang Ba hasn't done much rebellion yet, and in the eyes of the people of Langya, he's still a decent official. If we were to eliminate him so easily, we might lose the hearts of the people of Langya."

No matter how worried Liu Bei, Lu Wan, and others were about Zang Ba causing trouble, one fact was undeniable: Zang Ba was only in a semi-independent state at the moment, and nominally still recognized Liu Bei as his leader.

Zang Ba came from a powerful family in Mount Tai. In his early years, he took refuge in the mountains after his father was unjustly killed by the prefect. However, the biggest difference between him and figures like Cao Cao and Liu Bei was that he and most of the heroes of Mount Tai were just ordinary people. As long as they could make a living, these people were all very honest.

The people of Taishan and Langya counties are living relatively well, largely thanks to the heroes of Taishan. Without them, these two counties would have faced the onslaught of the Yellow Turban Rebellion in Qingzhou.

When dealing with someone of such high standing in the local area, it is absolutely not advisable to simply conquer them by force. Eliminating the heroes of Mount Tai is easy, but winning back the hearts of the people will be much more difficult.

Therefore, it is necessary to adopt bloodless political means as much as possible, which requires a concrete understanding of the situation in Langya Commandery and Taishan Commandery.

"The third bird is Cao Cao, whom I discussed with the lord before. Although he only has a small part of Yanzhou and Yuzhou now, in my opinion, he will become one of the strongest warlords in the future."

If he were farther away from us, it would be fine, but unfortunately, Cao Cao is right next door. He's already invincible in terms of territory, and he's also cultivating land in Yu and Yan provinces. If we don't cause him some trouble, he might come after he's dealt with Zhang Xiu in Nanyang.

Liu Bei was still considering whether he could secure some external support, and tentatively suggested, "Lord Yuan of Hebei has a strong and well-equipped army. Could we form an alliance with him to contain Cao Cao?"

"It's possible, but Yuan Shao is too strong. If you overexert yourself and defeat Cao Cao, based on the balance of power between you and Yuan Shao, you can at most take some land in Pei State, while Yuan Shao can take over Yan Province, Yu Province, and Sili Province. At that time, Yuan Shao will be impossible to defeat."

"Therefore, we must weaken Cao Cao through economic warfare, so that he cannot develop so easily, and at the same time strengthen ourselves."

Lu Wan smiled confidently and continued, "Once we produce mulberry paper, we can dump it on Cao Cao's territory. The powerful clans won't be able to refuse it."

But Liu Bei suddenly shook his head and rejected him: "Wen Yuan, what price do you plan to set for these papers?"

"Since it's dumping, the price is naturally low."

"That won't do. It should be sold at a higher price, ideally one that only 10% of the market can afford."

It turns out that Liu Bei used to travel all over the country trading, weaving mats and selling shoes, but he was too young to travel too far at that time. Later, when he grew up, he became a horse merchant and made a lot of money, but he spent it all during his later wanderings.

Lu Wan laughed at Liu Bei for not understanding economics, while Liu Bei laughed at Lu Wan for not understanding aristocratic families. Liu Bei had also done business with many scions of aristocratic families. Those born with a silver spoon in their mouths always bought the most expensive horses. They weren't short of money; they wanted this kind of high-end consumption. If you sold a good horse cheaply, they wouldn't be happy.

If Lu Wan's paper were really cheap and sold to aristocratic families, they probably wouldn't even glance at it. Instead, they would think that people who use paper are poor wretches who don't understand the wisdom of their ancestors, and that they should use bamboo slips, which are retro and high-class.

"Then let's follow the lord's suggestion and sell it in small quantities at a high price." Lu Wan nodded and said, it seems that paper can only be sold as a luxury item.

"Well... there's no need for a small quantity. Wen Yuan, just produce with confidence. The powerful families in the Central Plains can definitely afford it," Liu Bei added.

Lu Wan added a few more points to her understanding of aristocratic families: they value reputation more than actual benefits, and their family wealth is so great that they can afford to buy a large number of luxury goods at once.

It has to be said that these ancient people were really amazing. Lu Wan believed that if Liu Bei and others had his level of understanding, they would definitely be a hundred times better than Lu Wan.

Unable to think of any other issues for the moment, Lu Wan decided to end the meeting: "That's it. There's nothing more to add. My lord's most urgent task now is to recruit more people. We'll need people to do things like land reclamation, opening paper mills, road and bridge construction."