Gou writes entries in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 54 Talent
From autumn to winter,

In 197, the Central Plains experienced a great battle that destroyed Yuan Shu.
All parties seem to have entered a period of calm.

It's cold in winter, and the early morning sunlight slants through the frost-covered wall.

Shining on a leafless jujube tree in the courtyard,

The ice beads on the tips of the thorns reflect the sunlight, like colorful gems.

Liu Xuanha let out a breath of white air, wrapped it in his hands and rubbed them.
This winter in Huaiyin seems to be much colder than in later generations.

Zhao Liniang was wearing a cyan cloak, and her waistcoat was made of thick white rabbit velvet.
The temperament is dignified and elegant.

I don’t know if it’s because of eating rice for a long time.
Zhao Liniang's pretty face is rosy, and her figure has grown again due to adequate nutrition.

He completely lost the look of a down-and-out refugee when we first met him.

"My lord, Xu Hucao has reported on the planting status of this year's winter wheat."

"All the more than 2 acres of official field wheat have survived, and the growth is gratifying. Xu Hucao is really happy this time. It would be good if [-]% of the winter wheat in the past could survive."

"He also said that this year's tenants don't know what's going on. They are working in the wheat fields day and night. The fields in this winter are as lively as in spring."

Liu Xuan chuckled lightly,
"There is nothing hard to understand about this. The tenants are so active simply because this time they see hope."

"Most of the official fields are good fields with fertile soil. According to the current growth rate, this year's harvest is estimated to be more than [-] kilograms per acre."

"This acre of land is worth five acres, and the tenant farmers still risk their lives to cultivate it."

Finally, Liu Xuan asked again,

"What happened to the wasteland reclaimed by the refugees?"

"It is said that the wheat is growing well, but it is a rush at the end of the year. Before the autumn sowing, the refugees have only cultivated less than [-] acres. These are small fields, and the harvest will definitely not be as good as the official fields."

Zhao Liniang replied,
"I have followed your lord's instructions and set aside part of the grain stored in last year's treasury to support the livelihood of the refugees, and entrusted Shen Fu to sell the rest."

"Well, you did a good job," Liu Xuan nodded, "In three or four months, when the spring grain is harvested, there will be no shortage of grain in Huaiyin. It's best to sell while the price is good now."

After a pause, Liu Xuan asked, "So how is Shen Fu doing with his grain sales?"

"Within half a month, they were all sold. At the beginning of this month, Shen Fu had already handed over the cost of selling grain to the treasury."

"The Shen family is really good at doing business." Liu Xuan sighed. It is indeed a merchant family that has accumulated over a hundred years. If Liu Xuan wants to sell so much grain, he may not be able to sell it faster than Shen Fu.

But when Zhao Liniang thought of this, her face suddenly became serious.
"My lord, do you know who bought this batch of grain?"

"Cao Cao? Or Lu Bu?" Liu Xuan guessed that these two families had been attacking Shouchun for several months and suffered heavy losses. They must have taken advantage of the winter to recruit troops and horses, and they must have consumed a lot of money and food.

Zhao Liniang shook her head,

"It's Liu Bei."

"Liu Bei? Where did he get the money?"

Liu Xuan asked in surprise.

Liu Xuan plundered Shouchun's treasury and transported all the money to Huaiyin. Zhao Liniang knew this.

So when Zhao Liniang learned that Liu Bei had bought military rations, she immediately sent people to investigate.
Zhao Liniang explained the matter slowly,

"It was indeed bought by Liu Bei. After the Battle of Shouchun, Liu Bei sent Guan Yu to guard Xiaopei and Zhang Fei to guard Shouchun, and then went to Xiangyang himself."

"He went to find Liu Biao." Liu Xuan said flatly.

"That's right," Zhao Liniang said, "Liu Bei is indeed a man who can bend and stretch. He ran to Liu Biao and cried and complained about the suffering of the people. Liu Biao actually lent tens of millions of money to Liu Bei and also gave away thousands of stones of food and grass."

"Liniang, how do you know so clearly?"

Zhao Liniang said,

"Everyone in Xiangyang knows this. Liu Bei's horse team to transport grain and fodder still rented the caravan from Shen Fu's family. All this was reported by Shen Fu."

"Liu Bei is really lucky. All this has been taken care of by him." Liu Xuan couldn't help but sigh, does this guy really have destiny to protect him? "There is one more thing that my lord needs to pay more attention to."

"What's the matter?"

"On his way back to Xiangyang, Liu Bei also recruited a counselor. With this counselor's strategy, Liu Bei has completely controlled Shouchun."

"Who?" Liu Xuan's heart skipped a beat, he couldn't be that smart guy.

"This person's name is Xu Shu and Xu Yuanzhi, a famous scholar in Jingxiang. After Liu Bei got Xu Shu, he worshiped Xu Shu as his military advisor. In just two or three months, he not only solved the food crisis in Shouchun, but also greatly improved Liu Bei's prestige in Shouchun."

"So Liniang thinks that the Lord should be more careful about this person."

Liu Xuan couldn't help but sigh, "Not only do we need to be more careful, but that's Xu Shu. If Lu Bu really takes action after the year, he probably won't be able to get anything done."

Fortunately, Liu Xuan now has a good relationship with Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Lu Bu.

Moreover, the location of Huaiyin, although it is adjacent to Xuzhou Lubu in the north, is separated by the Huai River in the middle.

To the east is a mountain, and to the east is the sea.
The terrain in the south is flat, and there are no particularly strong forces all the way to the river.

As long as Shouchun doesn't attack, Liu Xuan can almost grow with peace of mind.

The most important thing is that Huaiyin County is indestructible.
Liu Xuan was confident that he could defend the city with [-] elite troops and [-] new soldiers, so anyone who came to attack would have to think carefully.

However, Liu Bei’s case still served as a reminder to Liu Xuan.

What was the most expensive thing in the second century AD?
Talent!

We must recruit more talents.

[Notepad opens.]

[In 197 AD, Huaiyin, according to Zhao Liniang's report, you learned that Liu Bei went to Xiangyang to recruit military advisor Xu Shu. With Xu Shu's assistance, Liu Bei successfully took control of Shouchun and his strength greatly increased.You feel the crisis and decide to start recruiting talents. 】

[Trigger development tasks: Talent]

[Mission details: Recruit a top counselor. 】

[Task reward: entry*1, word grid*1]

Word pattern!

Liu Xuan suddenly became excited. After completing so many tasks, the word pattern finally appeared again.

The current three word grids are really not enough.

Liu Xuan had to combine many excellent entries so as not to be brushed away.
Once there are four word grids, wouldn't the number of options available increase exponentially?
However, the difficulty of this task is indeed not low.

There were only a handful of top counselors in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, and these top counselors had a vicious vision.

Most of them have their own favorite lord.

Liu Xuan is currently just the magistrate of Huaiyin County, and it is almost impossible to get people to take the initiative to vote.

Liu Xuan had no clue yet, so he had to tell Zhao Liniang,

"Liniang, we must pay more attention to these celebrities in the future, otherwise we will inevitably be unable to cope with too many things in the future."

Winter is finally over in the blink of an eye.

At the end of spring, Liu Xuan rode his horse beside the official field outside the city.

Looking at the busy figures of the tenant farmers in the fields and listening to the joyful laughter from time to time,

Liu Xuan knew that the winter wheat planted last year was finally ready to be harvested.

The heavy wheat ears have turned golden, and everyone's face shows expressions of excitement and disbelief.

These tenant farmers have been working in the fields for most of their lives, and they have such a bizarre harvest.
It was definitely their first time meeting.

(End of this chapter)