Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 376
During the 25th year of Jian'an, Shen Chen spent the New Year with his family in Nanyang. This year is already 220 AD, and Shen Chen is 33 years old.

In fact, it should be 32 years old, because he was born in October of the fourth year of Zhongping, that is, in October of 187 AD. When Cao Cao slaughtered Xuzhou in 10 AD, his actual age was 194 years old, and he would not be full until October of that year. 7 year-old.

However, the ancients paid attention to the imaginary age, that is, they were counted as one year old at birth. It was not until the modern West introduced the concept of one year old that there was a so-called distinction between real age and imaginary age.

So as long as the New Year is over, the Han people will automatically be one year older.Therefore, even if Shen Chen has not actually turned 33, he is about to enter middle age this year.

After celebrating the New Year in Nanyang, on October [-]th, Shen Chen took a boat to Jiangzhou and took his wife to meet Liu Bei.

Now he is Liu Bei's son-in-law, and the two sides got married. Liu Bei held a family banquet in Hanwang's mansion to entertain him. Shen Chen's eight-year-old eldest son, Shen Yin, is smart. It just so happens that Liu Chan is also 12 years old this year. Uncle and nephew play together. Happy.

The new year welcomes the spring, although the weather in Jiangzhou has not been very good these days, the sky is overcast, the northwest wind is whistling constantly, and there is light rain, but it does not affect the joy of the people to welcome the arrival of the new year.

After a year of depression last year, this year Jiangzhou has gradually regained some of its popularity.Since the middle of last year, due to Sun Quan's surprise attack on Jingzhou, the business and trade between Jingzhou and Yizhou, which had been cut off, resumed again. The business recovered slightly, and after the improvement, the city gradually became prosperous.

The streets and alleys are full of people who come and go to buy new year's goods. Every family pastes peach charms that have gradually spread during the Qin and Han Dynasties. Everyone has a smile on their faces and goes out to congratulate each other on the arrival of the new year.

In the new year and new weather, Liu Bei has ordered the reduction of taxes in flood-hit counties and counties in Yizhou and Jingzhou since last year, encourages the people to farm, exempts corvee and miscellaneous taxes, and develops organized production.

The life of the people who were originally pretty is a little better, because the government is now using work as relief to help the people through the difficult period.

Last year Yizhou recruited too many civilians and auxiliary soldiers to serve in corvée, which resulted in many fields in Shu County and Ba County not being cultivated, resulting in abandoned fields, withered mulberry forests, dried up fish ponds, greatly reduced output, and wasted at least half a year of food production time .

After the civilian husbands and auxiliary soldiers returned, it was too late to think about temporary farming, so the government used money and grain to collect people to open up wasteland, build canals, and dig roads, subsidizing those who were hungry and impoverished because they missed farming.

Although it would be a huge burden for the Liu Bei Group to subsidize hundreds of thousands of people.

But one is that very few coins are issued, mainly to support food.The second is that the duration is relatively short, only two or three months. In terms of the current Liu Bei Group's finances and grain and grass stocks, it can fully support it.

Therefore, under government subsidies, although the common people are still poor, they can at least barely have food and clothing. After the next year's harvest, they will live a lot easier without paying taxes.

And Liu Bei was able to subsidize the people in the form of work-for-relief, mainly because Ji Han did not lack food no matter in history or now.

In history, Zhuge Liang fought the Northern Expedition for more than ten years, and Yizhou was still very rich. Its economy was even the best among the Three Kingdoms, and it was able to maintain the currency system, which was much stronger than Cao Wei and Sun Wu.

What Zhuge Liang lacked was how to effectively transport food and grass to the front line.

Same now.

Shen Chen improved the productivity of Jingzhou and Yizhou through Champa rice and retting technology, and the grain output increased greatly. From the 20th year of Jian'an to the 24th year of Jian'an, it took four or five years to store a lot of grain, and there were no granaries in various places. Empty.

It was only because Liu Bei traveled long distances to fight the Battle of Guanzhong, and Shen Chen lured the enemy deep in Jingzhou, causing a large area to be temporarily occupied by Sun Quan and Cao Cao.

Now that the fighting has ceased, there is still a lot of food left in the warehouse.Even if it is reasonable to say that these are national food reserves, they should be stored to deal with possible sudden wars.

But now people with a little insight know that the only one capable of launching a war is the Liu Bei Group, and Liu Bei's counselor group believes that the next war to be fought is not a war with the Northern Cao Wei Group, but a local war with the Jiangdong Group war.

If it was before the Battle of Jingzhou, it would still be a little difficult to fight Jiangdong with the strength of the Liu Bei Group's navy, and it may even require mobilization across the country.

But today's Jiangdong...

As long as the Jingzhou Corps is dispatched, it can basically be wiped out. It is no longer a large-scale battle, so naturally it is not such a big burden.

Therefore, it is obviously the right thing to use the stored grain to improve the living conditions of the people.

On October [-]th, in the mansion of the King of Han.

Liu Bei and Shen Chen were sitting under the pavilion in the back garden. Chen Dao was guarding outside the garden. In the courtyard, Liu Bei's eldest son Liu Chan, his second son Liu Yong, his youngest son Liu Li, Shen Chen's eldest son Shen Yin, and his second son Shen Xi were in the courtyard. play.

The oldest among them was Liu Chan, who was born in 207 AD, and the youngest was Liu Li, who was born in 215 AD. Even Shen Xi was one year older than him.

It is not that Liu Bei had no sons in history, but he died or disappeared during the war, and even his two daughters were captured by Cao Chun in Changbanpo.Now that he has settled down, he is finally able to give birth to offspring and make his offspring multiply.

Watching his children playing in the yard, Liu Bei sighed: "20 years ago, this was a scene that I would never have dared to dream of. At that time, I was terrified all the time, but now I can be king in the south, Xiaoqing. It is thanks to you and Kong Ming."

Shen Chen said with a smile: "My lord is famous all over the world. It is because the world knows the benevolence and righteousness of my lord that they are willing to come and join me. This is the result of my lord helping the world in the early years, but I don't care about my future when I do good deeds. How can I say it is my credit?" ?”

"You."

Liu Bei shook his head with a smile: "I have been persuading me to change you and Yun Chang for the past two days, and I have decided."

Shen Chen nodded, waiting for Liu Bei to replace him.

Unexpectedly, Liu Bei smiled slyly and said, "I decided to take you and Yun Chang with me."

Shen Chen scratched his head and said, "How can you use a chicken knife to kill a cow? Uncle Yun is unmatched in power, destroying Jiangdong is no less than a war of destroying a country, and Uncle Yun is going to do it, not to mention that I want to go to Hanzhong, and I have some Something else."

"whats the matter?"

Liu Bei asked curiously.

Shen Chen said: "In fact, as early as ten years ago, Kong Ming and I invented stirrups, horseshoes and Takahashi saddles, but at that time we all thought that these things could not be born, so we concealed them. Now that we have Liangzhou, we have After entering the place where the horses come from, these items can be equipped, and I want to go to Xiliang to form a heavy cavalry."

Heavy cavalry appeared at the end of the Han Dynasty, and Yuan Shao had [-] heavy cavalry.

But because the horse equipment has not kept up, the heavy cavalry wears armor weighing dozens of kilograms, without stirrups and high bridge saddles as support points, it will be very hard when fighting, and they need to clamp the horse's belly tightly with two legs, a little If you are not careful, you may fall from the horse, so this is not popular.

Shen Chen, as a descendant, even if he hadn't had much contact with horses before, he has always watched costume dramas, and stirrups, horseshoes and Takahashi saddles are basic common sense, so he naturally wants to figure it out.

The problem was that Cao Cao was powerful in the north at that time, so it would be bad if he brought out these things and was learned by Cao Cao.

Therefore, he has been hiding it all these years and has not announced it.

Now that Liangzhou is in hand, equipment such as stirrups, saddles and horseshoes can be popularized, so that the range of activities of the light cavalry will be farther and the combat effectiveness will be stronger.The heavy cavalry can also come out, and it will definitely give Cao Wei a little shock at that time.

Liu Bei mused, "To form a large-scale cavalry now, you need a lot of money and food."

"Yes."

Shen Chen sighed and said: "We have the method of pouring steel. There are iron mines everywhere in Jingzhou and Yizhou. There is no need to worry about the production of steel, but training elite knights and cultivating cavalry of hundreds of battles will not be able to be practiced in a short time. Humans eat horses and chew. Naturally, there will be more food and money.”

Liu Bei waved his hand and said: "Then don't rush for a while, you will destroy Jiangdong with me first, and then it will not be too late to go back to Hanzhong to practice cavalry. Besides, Yunchang and Yide are not good at water warfare, so I need you by my side. "

"But."

Shen Chen hesitated and said: "If Uncle Yun and I both go, Hanzhong also needs a general to be stationed."

"Let Han Sheng go."

Liu Bei said: "He has made great contributions to this battle. I want to move him to be the rear general and let Han Sheng sit in Hanzhong."

"Rear General? Isn't it Ma Chao?"

Shen Chen asked.

Liu Bei laughed and said, "I will make you General Wei this year, and let Ma Chao take over as General Zuo."

General Wei?
Shen Chen frowned all of a sudden.

Strictly speaking, Liu Bei, as a prince, is not qualified to confer the title of General Wei.

Because General Wei ranks under the Sangong, he is a senior general second only to the Great General, General Hussars, and General Chariots, and ranks fourth in the sequence of generals of the Han Dynasty.

The positions of the remaining four generals are inferior to General Wei, and only the emperor can appoint them, not the princes and kings.

Therefore, Liu Bei's award of General Wei must have violated the system. It was not until Liu Bei became emperor that the positions of General, General Hussars, General Cheqi, and General Wei appeared in Ji Han.

What's more, General Wei's position is higher than that of the former generals. Guan Yu has such a proud personality and always thinks that he is the number two figure in the Liu Bei Group. In history, even if Huang Zhong ordered the army to kill Xia Houyuan, he would look down on him. If he was above him, he might be a little dissatisfied .

So Shen Chen said: "My lord, don't be like this. A prince can't set up a general guard when he opens a mansion. This is against the system. Besides, as a great Confucian at that time, how can I be a military officer for a long time? I would like to be a civil servant. General."

Xiaoqing wants to change to a civilian job?

Liu Bei was stunned for a moment, and then realized that he should be taking Guan Yu's feelings into consideration.

Thinking of this, Liu Bei couldn't help but sigh with emotion, it's better for Xiaoqing, who always thinks of others, unlike his third brother who doesn't worry about it, causing trouble everywhere.

"If you turn to internal history, with Xiaoqing's talent, you should be the prime minister."

"Kong Ming is more suitable than me."

"Then Jingzhou Mu, who is also the governor of Nanzhou."

Liu Bei thought for a while and said: "After Jiangdong is destroyed, you will be transferred to Yizhou Mu and Xichuan Metropolitan Governor. You will be under the prime minister and equal to the prime minister."

The Metropolitan Governor controls the soldiers and horses of a state. For example, Jingzhou is Nanzhou, and all the soldiers and horses of Jingzhou are under the supervision of the Metropolitan Governor.

This is much more powerful than the left general before.

But because this is a temporary position and not a non-official position, it is just that all soldiers and horses are controlled by him during the war, which is equivalent to a civilian officer in charge of the army, and Guan Yu probably will not have any conflicts.

Shen Chen felt that there was nothing wrong with it, so he said, "Everything is up to the lord."

Liu Bei asked again: "Xiaoqing said that the army will be sent to attack Wu in March this year. Is this too hasty? The war was completed last year, and the people in the south are exhausted. If we send troops now, will there be no shortage of food and grass?"

Shen Chen replied: "The food and grass are fine, Jingzhou alone can support it. The main reason is to take advantage of its illness to kill it. Sun Quan is now troubled by internal and external troubles, and rebellions are rampant. Many Jiangdong families, rebels, Shanyue, etc. have written letters willing to join us. If If it is delayed until Sun Quan puts down the rebellion, it will be difficult to fight."

"Ah."

Liu Bei nodded: "Then it's all up to Xiaoqing to decide."

Shen Chen thought for a while and said, "General Han Sheng has a lot of credit. In the battle of Yi County, he rescued Sun Quan in time and defeated Sun Quan. But he only had one son and died early. My lord, why don't you send someone to Nanyang to search for Han Sheng?" The general's clan, how about continuing the heir for the general?"

Liu Bei thought the proposal was good, so he said, "Then I'll ask Fei Yi to go."

In history, Nanyang has always been controlled by Cao Wei. Huang Zhong was from Nanyang. He had a clan but could not return, and his heirs died young.

But now that Nanyang has been taken back by Shen Chen, according to the patriarchal system of the ancients, it is entirely possible to find the heirs of Huang's clan to adopt to Huang Zhong.

It's just that Huang Zhong is old, his brothers of the same age group probably died long ago, and it's hard to find close relatives.

However, Nanyang Huang's background is easy to check.

It is a descendant of Huang Zilian, the prefect of Nanyang during the period of Emperor Shun Liu Bao of the Han Dynasty, and currently lives in Wancheng and other places.

After Huang Zilian opened branches and leaves in Nanyang, one of them migrated to Lingling County in Jingnan. Huang Gai is a descendant of the Huang family in Lingling.

Therefore, Huang Zhong and Huang Gai are still brothers of the same clan.

Liu Bei can definitely send people to Huang Zhong's hometown to find Huang Zhong's closest blood through Huang Zhong's clansmen.

For example, the descendants of brothers or cousins ​​can solve the problem of Huang Zhong's childlessness.

The two chatted about other things.

At this time, Chen Dao said outside the courtyard: "Master, Xiangguo and Prime Minister You are here."

"Oh?"

Liu Bei hurriedly said, "Let Kong Mingxiao let them in quickly."

"only."

When Chen arrives, he will pass it on.

Liu Bei turned his head and smiled at Shen Chen: "Kong Ming asked him to come here today, and he also said that he had to deal with official business, but he came here now."

"Maybe the official business is over, or there is some urgent news."

Shen Chen washed a teacup and prepared to make another pot of tea.

After a while Zhuge Liang and Fazheng came in, saw Shen Chen there, nodded slightly in greeting, then cupped their hands to Liu Bei and said, "Master."

"Kong Ming, Xiao Zhi, come and sit down."

Liu Bei greeted them.

Unexpectedly, Zhuge Liang said solemnly: "My lord, I have official duties."

"What's wrong?" Liu Bei asked.

"Northern Express."

Zhuge Liang presented the official document in his hand.

Liu Bei opened the official document, glanced at it, and then his face changed slightly.

Seeing that his expression was wrong, Shen Chen asked, "My lord, what happened."

"Cao Cao is dead."

Liu Bei said with a long sigh: "I didn't expect him to die so quickly. I don't know why. After being an opponent all my life, I don't feel very happy, but a little sad."

Zhuge Liang said: "But it is a gratifying thing after all. After Cao Cao's death, Wei's internal instability is more convenient for us to pacify Jiangdong."

"Ah."

Liu Bei handed the official document to Shen Chen and asked, "Xiaoqing, what do you think?"

"Is your lord asking me?"

Shen Chen's face was neither sad nor happy, it was as peaceful as a lake.

Liu Bei nodded: "Yes."

"I only have two words for this matter."

Shen Chen looked towards the north with calm eyes, and said softly, "It's so damn good!"

　Slightly over a few chapters, slow down the pace a bit, and then kill Wu!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)