Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1424 Rotation
In the days that followed, the offensive that the Wei army had expected from the Jin army never came. On the contrary, after the Jin army had set up their camp defense lines, Zhuge Liang began to lead his soldiers to level the land and prepare to carry out military farming on the Guanzhong Plain outside Wuzhangyuan.

This made some generals who were originally ambitious to make achievements unable to hold back, and the first to question was Wei Yan.

He heard that Sima Yi, who had killed his chief clerk Liu Fu, had returned, and he could not help but rub his hands, wanting to lead his army to break through Wuzhangyuan and avenge Sima Yi. However, Zhuge Liang's move was like pouring a bucket of cold water on Wei Yan, so he could not help but find Zhuge Liang and said, "Prime Minister, are you not going to attack Wuzhangyuan?"

Zhuge Liang said, "It seems that not fighting will help to contain the Wei army."

"The Wei army has already built a camp, waiting for us to attack. You have to know that Wuzhangyuan is a rugged place. Even if we have siege equipment, we can only break through the outer fences. Facing the trenches and valleys, the cavalry cannot be deployed. We can only use infantry to attack. Even if we suffer great losses, we may not be able to achieve our goal."

"If we lose too much strength, the Wei army will take the opportunity to counterattack. If we can't resist then, the Chang'an defense line will be in trouble."

"Sima Yi of the Wei army probably also saw this and is waiting for us to break in without any fear."

After hearing this, Wei Yan was unwilling to give in and asked, "Are we going to continue to confront each other like this?"

Zhuge Liang waved his feather fan and said, "Of course not."

"The Wei army needs a lot of food to maintain its strength in Wuzhangyuan. Even if Hanzhong continuously supplies it, it may not be able to sustain it."

"So their solution is to establish military farms in the area from Wuzhangyuan to Hanzhong. However, this route is full of mountains, and farming is not easy. This can only last for a year or so, and they will have to reduce their military strength."

"During this period of time, they will definitely try every possible way to break the impasse. The most effective method is to bypass Wuzhangyuan and find and open a passage to Yongliang."

"I estimate that they will look for a breakthrough point in the Qinling Mountains, hundreds of miles or even farther east of Wuzhangyuan, and at the same time send small groups of troops to explore and harass us from behind."

"So in the coming days, I will have to trouble you to patrol and protect the Qinling Mountains and stop the actions of the Wei army."

Wei Yan finally understood and immediately accepted the order. Zhuge Liang then reminded him: "The Qinling Mountains start from Shangluo in the east and end at Weilong in the west. It is 800 miles long from east to west and is extremely steep. In ancient times, it was also called Zhongnan. It can be said to be continuous and dangerous like heaven and earth."

"In a few days, I will arrange for the generals to lead their soldiers into the Qinling Mountains for rotational battles. Mountain warfare requires experienced generals and soldiers. Wen Chang can discuss this with Jun Yi. He has fought in the Black Mountain Battle and is quite familiar with this."

After hearing this, Wei Yan immediately took the order and went to ask Zhang He for advice. When Zhuge Liang walked out of the camp, he actually still had something to hide from Wei Yan. It was that it would be much easier for Longxi to send troops from Anding to attack Jieting, but Sima Yi in Weijun must have taken precautions. Wei Yan was too impatient and could easily fall into the trap of the other side.

The most labor-saving way now is to guard the Chencang Road adjacent to Wuzhangyuan. If the Wei army cannot break through these two places, it will not be able to pose an effective threat to Chang'an. In this way, the Jin State will be able to rely on its strong national strength to drag the Wei State to death.

Zhuge Liang looked at the endless mountains in the south and thought that this confrontation might last for several years. He didn't know when he would be able to return to Yecheng and meet his wife.

The news of the confrontation between Jin and Wei in Chencang, Wuzhangyuan, reached Yuan Xi's desk more than a month later. By then, he had already arrived in Dong'an and met Liu Ji and others.

Yuan Xi saw that Dong'an had been built on a larger scale since he left last time. Several suitable trade routes had been opened up, and many local products from the nearby thousand-mile area were traded here. He could not help but praise Liu Ji, "Jingyu has done a good job."

"The position of Dong'an Governor has proven your ability. I will make other arrangements next."

Liu Ji said hurriedly, "I am ashamed that I have done a lot of things wrong. The biggest problem is that the Shanyue people are gathering more and more, and there is a problem of food shortage. But I don't know much about agriculture. Most of my subordinates are from Jiangdong, and there are few people who are proficient in agriculture."

"What's more troublesome is that although there are a lot of wastelands around Dong'an, most of them are mountainous and difficult to cultivate."

"The prosperous trade in Dong'an has attracted more and more people to come here. In the past two years, the number of people has increased from more than 10,000 to nearly 100,000. With such a large food gap, fishing at sea cannot solve the fundamental problem. Now we can only buy from other states, which is not a long-term solution."

Another major reason why the development of fisheries was limited in ancient times was that although fish is high-quality protein for modern people, what physical labor really needs are carbohydrates and fats.

Carbohydrates are food, and fats are fat. These are the fundamental factors that ensure that people can do physical work. Therefore, fishing can only be a sideline, and it must rely on the entire agricultural system of planting, hunting and breeding.

During this era, the average agricultural level in Jiangdong was actually far inferior to that in the Central Plains. The area south of the Yangtze River that had the highest level of cultivation was known as the land of fish and rice, and to be precise, it was Jingzhou, the former site of the Chu State. The agricultural level in the coastal areas of Jiangdong did not gradually catch up with that of the Central Plains until the Five Barbarians Invasion of China in later generations, as craftsmen and artists from the Central Plains moved south.

In the current era, especially since Dong'an is located in Fujian in later generations, the agricultural environment is actually quite harsh. This is also the reason why local people in later generations went out to sea to find a way to make a living. However, Yuan Xi now developed the shipping industry in advance, and with the population growth, this problem appeared in advance.

Yuan Xi pondered for a moment and said, "I didn't expect the population here to grow so fast. I was negligent."

“I will mobilize agricultural officials, but at the end of the day, we still need a governor who can take charge of the overall situation.”

"The nearest place with advanced agricultural science, besides Jingzhou, is Xuzhou."

"It's hard to move in Jiangxia, so let's go to Xuzhou." "Bo Yu, take my imperial edict to Guangling and take over Bu Zhi's post as governor of Xuzhou."

"He will come here to serve as the governor of Yangzhou, and the seat of government will be set up in Dong'an."

"You should set off in the next few days. Tell Bu Zhi to hurry up and arrange for a hundred officials who are proficient in agriculture, as well as 20,000 young and strong laborers to reclaim the wasteland. I will wait for him."

Although Liu Ji knew that His Majesty was decisive and swift in his actions, he was still a little shocked. The exchange of the two state governors would involve a lot of people, so would he be able to make a smooth handover?
Yuan Xi saw through Liu Ji's thoughts and said, "Don't worry. I have been trying to persuade the local nobles in Xuzhou over the years. Now that Jin is strong, they dare not disobey. You just need to take office normally."

"I have already thought about exchanging governors in various states. Six or seven years is fine, but more than ten years is too long. In the future, the rotation of officials in various states will become the norm."

"During this time, find a suitable person to recommend and have him become Bu Zhi's deputy. Then, temporarily hand over all the affairs to him and you can set off.

Liu Ji immediately accepted the order and went out to hand over the affairs.

After he left, Yuan Xi picked up the letter on the table and saw the news that Zhuge Liang was farming in Chencang. He thought that the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry of the Wei army were almost destroyed, and even if they wanted to jump in the future, they would not be able to jump very high.

When to destroy Wei was actually at the end of Yuan Xi's schedule. What he had to do now was to arrange the next farming and overseas development plans as soon as possible.

There was a knock on the door, and Yuan Xi said, "Come in."

Madam Mi came in with a stack of account books and said, "This is the list of goods in Dong'an for the past year. I have asked someone to sort it out."

Yuan Xi took the account book. Unlike the current tradition of using bamboo slips as recording materials, the Mi family has always invested in supporting the improvement of paper manufacturing. Although they have never produced a product that completely satisfies Yuan Xi, many semi-finished products can already meet the needs of many situations, and after being treated with oil immersion, the shelf life is greatly increased.

The account books made of dozens of thick papers in Mrs. Mi's hand are improved products made of tree bark, bamboo and rattan. In Yuan Xi's opinion, after several improvements and lower manufacturing costs, they should be able to be put into large-scale use.

What the ancients meant by "learned and learned" was actually a cart full of bamboo slips. Each cart contained only a hundred or so bamboo slips, with only a few dozen words on them. Moreover, communication was inconvenient, so knowledge was always controlled by a few people.

Since Yuan Xi promoted charity schools, more and more people have become literate and proficient in professional knowledge. The bottleneck became the bamboo slips that needed to be copied in charity schools. Due to the increase in the amount of knowledge, the required bamboo slips were in short supply.

If the cost of paper can be reduced and used on a large scale, combined with printing technology, the speed of dissemination of book knowledge will be greatly accelerated. The increase in the number of people mastering knowledge and technology will also promote technological breakthroughs.

Yuan Xi weighed the account book and felt it was quite light. He couldn't help but feel excited. This thin piece of paper carried the most profound history and culture of China. It was wonderful that he could now personally participate in the changes in this historical process.

When Madam Mi saw Yuan Xi taking the book and flipping through the pages carefully, she took the opportunity to say, "I have one more thing to report to Your Majesty."

"At the beginning, Cai Mao secretly transported two ships of wealth to Nanchang through the Mi family caravan, saying that they were for Madam Cai. I, Jingjing, handed them over to Madam Cai according to your majesty's instructions, but she said that it was useless for her to keep them. Dong'an is short of money now, so I will donate them."

"Mrs. Cai is so generous that I am puzzled. Aren't these two ships of wealth her dowry?"

Yuan Xi had just picked up the tea bowl and took a sip. Hearing this, he almost spit out a mouthful of water and kept coughing. "What did the madam say?"

Mrs. Mi walked behind Yuan Xi with a smile on her face and gently patted his back, "Isn't it?"

Yuan Xi said in a panic: "There is nothing between her and me, don't think the wrong way."

Madam Mi laughed, "Your Majesty, what I meant is, maybe she wants to remarry into a certain family."

"Did your majesty misunderstand?"

After hearing this, Yuan Xi said in frustration, "How dare you cheat me? As the ancients said, all merchants are dishonest. Let me see how I punish you."

He pulled Madam Mi into his arms and rubbed her until she was panting and begging for mercy. He then stopped and said, "I was drunk and had sex, so don't talk nonsense."

Madam Mi admitted defeat and couldn't help asking, "Where's Madam Xiahou?"

Yuan Xi gritted his teeth and said, "You are really pushing it too far!"

(End of this chapter)