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

Chapter 96 If you want your boss's appreciation, you have to take the initiative.

Shortly after, the doctor cut the stitches and instructed, "It's all stitched up. Go home and rest. Remember not to get the wound wet, and don't touch it. I'll write down a prescription for you; take it and brew it yourself."

Tian Li nodded, his forehead covered in cold sweat. There was no anesthesia in Liu Bei's army; the doctor had to use a small wooden stick to stitch his wound. Just then, Li Xiuji burst into the tent, shouting, "Tian Li! Tian Li! I heard you're going to die!"

"You're the one who's going to die! How dare you talk like that?"

"Don't get so angry. I didn't go to clean up the battlefield; I came specifically to see you. What's wrong with me saying a few words to you?"

Upon hearing this, Tian Li's temper flared up: "I know you too well. You didn't clean up the battlefield, but your henchmen did it all for you. You're getting the benefits and still acting innocent! You were just like this back in the village!"

As Lee Soo-gil's good friend who had gotten into trouble and taken the blame together, Jeon-ri directly exposed Lee Soo-gil's past. The doctor next to him wanted to laugh but felt it was inappropriate, so he lowered his head and wrote a prescription, pretending not to hear.

Li Xiuji clicked his tongue and said jokingly, "The casualties in this battle were very small. Out of more than a thousand people, only a few dozen were injured. I didn't expect you to be among them. What does this mean? You still need to train. How about you come and work under me, and I'll teach you how to fight step by step? I won't charge you tuition; just kowtow to me a couple of times."

Tian Li turned her head to the side, not wanting to look at Li Xiuji anymore: "I don't care about you anymore, I'm going to ask for leave to go home and recuperate for a while."

""

"You should stay here and recover. We might not be able to leave for a while."

"Can't leave?"

"Yes, headquarters just issued an order requiring the anti-bandit forces to switch to a construction state after eliminating the bandits, and to build fortresses in various transportation routes and strategic locations. Headquarters intends to completely eliminate the possibility of bandits appearing here again, but we don't know how long this will last."

The Xuzhou General Headquarters positioned Taishan Commandery as the first line of defense against the enemy outside the country's borders, and together with the neighboring Langya Commandery, it formed a complete northern barrier, the kind that would make Yuan Shao retreat in the face of difficulties.

Moreover, this also sends a message that Liu Bei will absolutely not launch any special military operations in this direction in the coming period, and that the area beyond this defensive line is Liu Bei's clearly controlled area.

This is relatively easy to understand. No one would spend money on something they wouldn't use. Since this defensive line was built, it must be made to fulfill its intended purpose. The only way for the defensive line to be effective is in defensive battles, which is tantamount to telling others that Liu Bei will adopt a defensive posture in this direction. Any warlord with a modicum of political acumen could understand this subtext.

Upon hearing this news, Tian Li's expression betrayed his disappointment. He hadn't earned any merit on the battlefield, and had already paid a hefty price for his efforts.

He even considered that he could at least see his family while he was recuperating at home, but he couldn't even meet this most basic requirement.

"Don't look so miserable. You're a wounded soldier, and it's not good for you to travel long distances. Besides, you'll scare your family if you go back like this. This kind of construction work is a bit tiring, but your military pay will still be paid as usual. Once you've saved up for a few years, you'll be able to marry a beautiful wife."

Seeing Tian Li's blank stare, Li Xiuji still offered a few words of advice: "This is a crucial time to accumulate experience. If you go back, you'll lose this opportunity."

Although Li Xiuji was illiterate, that didn't mean he wasn't intelligent. Such long and arduous missions were invaluable. Li Xiuji wasn't content to remain an ordinary soldier forever. This task of building defensive lines was like a top-notch lesson in how to construct defenses in the field—something he couldn't learn without finding a way to marry into a powerful family.

In the process of building the defensive line, Li Xiuji also gained a deeper understanding of the terrain and topography. He gradually learned which places were suitable for concealment and which areas were likely to become enemy breaches, which greatly helped him to better utilize the terrain for defense and counterattacks in battle.

Now he can learn something just by watching from the sidelines; it's a golden opportunity. Even if he were to go back and rest, he would still apply to carry out the mission himself.

Moreover, the big shots at the top will often come to inspect and test you. If you can show yourself and demonstrate your abilities at this time, it would be a great achievement to get a few pointers from someone.

Before this, he had captured Changxi, but told Liu Bei that he didn't want any reward, only to lead Liu Bei's horse. This was for the same reason. It later proved that Li Xiuji's move was very clever. Sometimes when Liu Bei inspected the troops and saw him, he would chat with him for a few minutes, perhaps only asking simple questions such as: "How have you been lately? Have you encountered any difficulties?"

But even this simple question proved that Liu Bei and Li Xiuji definitely had a good relationship. Not only did no one in the army dare to cause trouble for Li Xiuji, but his promotion was also swift; he was quickly promoted to platoon leader. With this bandit suppression campaign and his previous achievements in the blitzkrieg of Huainan, he would most likely be promoted another rank.

Tian Li hadn't thought about those things, but he did raise his own question: "Why are you thinking about those things all day long? Let me make this clear, I'm not questioning the lord's orders. I'm just wondering, who are we building this defensive line against?"

"Who else could it be but to defend against bandits?" Li Xiuji chuckled. He wanted to say something more, but when he noticed there were other wounded soldiers in the tent, he simply patted Tian Li's thigh and left.

As for what he was thinking, it was nothing more than that his primary target in the future would definitely be General Yuan of Hebei. It was just that since they were both Han officials, they hadn't directly made their hostile relationship clear.

Once General Yuan is defeated, the truce between Liu Bei and Cao Cao will soon burst like bubbles on the water, and that will be the time for these strongholds to shine.

Xiahou Dun's eyes ultimately remained the same as in history, with only one eye left. The difference was that in history, he was blinded by an arrow during the battle with Lü Bu in Puyang. In this timeline, although he was preserved for two more years, he was still shot out by an arrow.

Moreover, this sudden injury prevented him from participating in the land reclamation work. By the time he recovered, Cao Cao's only remaining task was to manage the intelligence department, which was disliked by some.

Being a spy under Cao Cao is a deadly job these days, especially going to Xiapi in Xuzhou. They go in batches but never come back. Now, when superiors scold their subordinates, they say things like: "If you dare to do this or that again, I'll send you to Xiapi to gather intelligence!"

Things weren't going well for Cao Cao anywhere else either. Yuan Shao in the north, Zhang Xiu in Nanyang, and Liu Biao in Jingzhou all saw Cao Cao as a threat and treated any of his spies as they came across as they were killed.

Xiahou Dun, with the spirit of "since I'm already here," thought that since these past few times had already proven that he was not good at military affairs, he might as well make some achievements elsewhere, so he did not reject this job.

After several twists and turns, Xiahou Dun arrived at the northern part of Taishan Commandery. At this time, Taishan Commandery was divided in two. The prosperous northern region, having lost its natural defenses and being close to the two powerful warlords Liu Bei and Yuan Tan, faced immense defensive pressure. Therefore, intelligence gathering in this area was crucial. Otherwise, if someone attacked, the city would surrender without any warning.

Joining the intelligence work didn't mean going to the grassroots level; rather, it meant taking charge of all the intelligence personnel in Chongzhou, essentially making him the chief administrator of the intelligence stations in that area. All the intelligence from that region was first handed over to him, then processed by him before being delivered to Cao Cao.

Since they were all doing intelligence work, they naturally needed to use code names. Xiahou Dun picked and chose, and finally settled on "Grand Commander". Firstly, he was indeed the highest-ranking officer in the intelligence system in this area. Secondly, "Grand Commander" was much better than other code names like "Emei Peak" or "Chuanshan Shen". It sounded like the kind of powerful character who could secretly infiltrate.

Of course, some subordinates advised Xiahou Dun to keep a low profile, as the name "Grand Commander" seemed a bit too conspicuous: "General Xiahou, isn't the name 'Grand Commander' a bit too ostentatious?"

"That makes some sense. Here's what we'll do: when I'm directing the operation, you can call me Commander-in-Chief, and at other times, you can call me Snake."

"Snake?"

"Back when Sikong and I were fighting in the Central Plains, we used the sound of snakes as a code to identify an inside agent, and we captured the city in one fell swoop. Taking the codename Snake now is also a way of commemorating my past military career." Xiahou Dun recalled his old times with Cao Cao, a hint of reminiscence flashing in his eyes, but he quickly regained his composure and began to inquire about the situation in this region: "Speaking of which, I'm truly sorry to have kept you waiting while I was recuperating. How is the situation in Taishan County now?"

The subordinate didn't answer, only kept shaking his head. Clearly, in the minds of the local officials, the situation in Taishan County was rather dire.

The anti-bandit operation in Xuzhou went very smoothly. Soon, with the cooperation of various forces in Xuzhou, the good days of the bandits in Xuzhou came to an end.

Many of the bandits, sensing the danger, fled before the Xuzhou army even arrived. This wasn't due to the poor skills of Liu Bei's army; rather, it was because they lacked cavalry, making pursuit of these bandits difficult, thus creating an unavoidable situation. Furthermore, it was impossible for Liu Bei's army to completely encircle the entire mountainous region at this time.

The bandits were all bullies who preyed on the weak and feared the strong. As soon as the authorities showed even a little force, they all complained that they couldn't take it anymore. Since the officials in the south couldn't tolerate them, they had no choice but to flee north.

When these bandits fled, they only had two paths before them: one was to head northwest to the north of Taishan County, which was occupied by Cao Cao, and the other was to cross the Yimeng Mountains and enter the territory of Qi, which was controlled by Yuan Tan.

It's obvious which path a normal person would take; most people would choose to go to Cao Cao's territory. As a result, the security of Cao Cao's Taishan Commandery deteriorated at a visible rate, which is why Cao Cao sent Xiahou Dun to oversee the area.

This situation was somewhat unexpected for Liu Bei. These bandits had gone directly into Cao Cao's territory. What should they do now? If they didn't eliminate them, they would return and wreak havoc on the people, making their operation a waste. But if they pursued them to the end, would Cao Cao allow the armed forces of other warlords to enter Chongzhou?

Of course, these were all things that Liu Bei's army considered at the beginning of the operation. Given the delicate relationship between Liu Bei and Cao Cao, Liu Bei only sent an apology letter to Cao Cao as a public relations gesture to raise Cao Cao's vigilance. Other cooperation, such as joint bandit suppression operations, was out of the question.

It was already quite polite of Liu Bei to send a message to remind them. Before this bandit suppression operation, he had informed several surrounding warlords, intending to have them keep an eye on their borders. However, everyone treated it as a private matter of Xuzhou and ignored it.

Among the surrounding warlords, only Yuan Tan explicitly expressed his support for the bandit suppression campaign. He even sent an envoy to inquire whether Liu Bei needed any assistance. He said they could help send troops, as long as they received a small reward after the mission was accomplished.

Liu Bei naturally declined. He was earning a lot but also spending a lot in Xuzhou, so he figured he should save as much as he could.

"We can't relax for a moment. Are our soldiers not going to fight? Are we just going to stand by and watch bandits plunder our land with impunity?"

"General, Chongzhou simply doesn't have any surplus grain. We've been in a state of constant warfare for years; where would we find any extra grain to use for suppressing bandits?"

Hearing this, Xiahou Dun couldn't help but sigh. How could he possibly carry out his work under such difficult conditions?

News of the successful bandit suppression operation in Xuzhou had been placed on Lu Guan's desk, but Lu Wan did not show much excitement about the victory.

To Lu Wan's surprise, this bandit suppression campaign also selected a large number of capable officers for the Xuzhou army. Although they can only start from the bottom for now, they may well have a stage to shine in the future.

After tidying up the documents on his desk, Lu Guan began to think about development matters again. This time, his focus was on food.

Expanding the army, building factories, and pacifying the people all require money and food. Money is not a concern for the time being, but how to solve the problem of food is a long process.

Lu Wan had been considering future plans for some time, and after much deliberation, she realized she still had to start with food. Agriculture is the foundation of all industries; without food, the army cannot expand at will, and the development of industry and commerce is also impossible. All sectors will be affected.

So where does the grain come from? It boils down to two things: domestic production and external purchase.

The need for self-sufficiency requires Xuzhou to increase its efforts in reclaiming farmland, while also constructing supporting water conservancy facilities. This construction was spearheaded by Chen Deng before his illness, and the arrangements were quite good; for now, there's no need for further intervention.

However, even that wasn't enough. Lu Wan had previously calculated that Xuzhou was located in a strategically important area, requiring at least 120,000 troops to ensure the safety of their home base before venturing out to cause trouble. These 120,000 were genuine, full-time professional soldiers, not some kind of peasant-farming garrison, which placed even greater demands on logistics.