After Liu Bei received the letter, he and Zhang Fei worked hard, day and night, and rushed from Guangling to Ling County in three days.
Although I was exhausted along the way, my mood was very high.
Guan Yu had also detached two thousand troops in advance, sailed upstream from Huaiyin along the Si River, actually controlled Ling County, and faced off with Xiaxiang County controlled by Lu Bu's army eighty miles upstream.
When Zhuge Jin passed by on his mission before, he discovered that Lu Bu did not send troops to Ling County. He was probably afraid of a misfire, or there were more valuable targets worth grabbing, so he didn't care about such a small place with no strategic value. .
Zhuge Jin did not want to provoke Lu Bu at that time, so he did not occupy Ling County. Now that the negotiations have been reached and the division of the spoils has been made clear, Guan Yu is worried that Ye Changmengduo will take advantage of it.
It can be regarded as Liu Bei's army regaining hundreds of Xuzhou sergeants and more than 20,000 people, which is a small supplement.
…
In the early morning of the 13th, Liu Guanzhang marched thirty miles from the west gate of Ling County and along the Sishui River, and did not stop until he was about to enter the lower phase boundary.
The group of people waited anxiously until noon, and finally saw a group of carriages coming on the horizon in the distance, as well as about two hundred cavalry.
Although he already knew the result, Liu Bei's nervousness was still raised to the extreme.
Several miles away, I desperately searched for Zhuge Jin's shadow in the crowd, but couldn't find it.
He thought it was because of his bad eyesight, so he quickly patted his third brother several times to let Zhang Fei take a closer look.
Guan Yu had squinty eyes and his eyes were not very good. Liu Bei knew this very well. Zhang Fei, on the other hand, has always been stunned, so he searched with a wider angle.
Zhang Fei looked for a long time, only to find Chen Dao. Fortunately, he was also rough and subtle, and comforted: "Brother, I saw my uncle! My uncle is here, sir, he must be fine, maybe he is hiding in the car."
Zhang Fei's guess was indeed correct. Liu Guan and Zhang rode up to meet him, and several carriages on the opposite side quickly stopped. The women's families in the carriages opened the curtains and cried with joy to report to their husbands that they were safe, but they did not get out of the car.
Obviously because this place is still a dangerous place, it is only right to hurry up and stay away. After Liu Guanzhang met his family members, he immediately turned his horse's head and followed the car.
As expected, Zhuge Jin was in the last car. Since the other cars were filled with women, she was embarrassed to ride with them, so she took a few children with her.
When Liu Bei personally opened the curtain of the carriage, he saw the young boy Guan Ping sitting next to Zhuge Jin, holding a two-year-old girl in his hands.
When Zhuge Jin saw Liu Bei, he quickly signaled Liu Bei to get in the car and take care of the baby by himself.
Liu Bei had no children in his early years, but he still had a daughter. This daughter was conceived by Mrs. Gan after he entered Xuzhou, so counting the time, she is still less than two years old. Historically, she was separated when he was crossing the river with his people.
But now Liu Bei probably has no chance to go to Changbanpo.
Liu Bei quickly got in the car, hugged his daughter, and then looked up and down in surprise: "How could you, Ziyu... aren't you not yet married? Are you the child of a concubine?"
Little did he know that with the development of media in later generations, even unmarried men knew how to coax children.
Zhuge Jin knew a lot of strange things. The child was bored along the way and came to play with him voluntarily. It was not because he wanted to steal the child from Mrs. Gan.
Liu Bei's daughter also took the initiative to explain, saying that Uncle Zhuge told her and Guan Ping many interesting stories about the distant world along the way.
Liu Bei was filled with emotion after hearing this: "I didn't expect that a capable person can do anything. He can even brag about anecdotes so easily. Ziyu, are you twenty-one? Why haven't you started a family yet? You don't even have a concubine?"
Zhuge Jin: "When I was in my hometown of Langya, I had not yet reached the crown. I have been running around for the past two years and have no fixed place to live."
Liu Bei quickly said: "Then after returning from this mission to Xuchang, I will finally be able to settle down. Why don't you decide on one first? You are so kind to my brother. Brother Yu should help you plan this little thing."
Zhuge Jin quickly objected: "It's better to discuss it in the long run after we come back. This matter is not urgent."
As soon as he listened to Liu Bei's suggestion, a Flag flashed in his mind: After completing this mission, I will return to my hometown to get married...
How could Flagg, who was so unlucky, stand up!
Even if you have to consider women's affairs, you should at least consider it after Xuchang comes back and completely settles down! It’s absolutely impossible to even make an engagement now!
Liu Bei did not insist.
Soon, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei also listened to their wives and concubines complaining about their sufferings, and came to bow to Zhuge Jin.
Guan Yu cupped his fists and made a bow, while Zhang Fei came over and knelt down. Zhuge Jin couldn't stop him.
In the end, Liu Bei understood them and pulled Zhuge Jin and said, "Let him kneel down! It's also a lesson. He lost our family this time. Tzuyu redeemed it for us. We should let him apologize, otherwise we are afraid of him." I haven’t been able to sleep for a year!”
Zhuge Jin's original intention was just to gain some favors and didn't think much about anything else.
He knew that according to the original course of history, Liu, Guan, and Zhang's family members were finally brought back, and he was just going along with the flow and taking the credit for nothing.
Now that he was aroused by Zhang Fei's overreaction, he was also very embarrassed. He thought of something and quickly turned around and took two carefully wrapped boxes from the car to relieve the embarrassment.
He first reminded Zhang Fei not to get excited before opening it.
But even if Zhang Fei was mentally prepared, when he saw what was in the box, his eyes were split open and he clenched his fists and almost hit it.
Fortunately, Zhuge Jin immediately took it away and warned: "Just let it out! If it's smashed, how can you send it to Xuchang to ask for credit? Chen Yuanlong took responsibility and secretly lent it to me for three days. Don't cause any trouble."
It turned out that the box contained the lime-pickled heads of Xu Dan and Zhang Kuang.
For Zhang Fei, this was a meeting between enemies, so how could he not be jealous? It was humiliation and regret that he would never forget for the rest of his life.
That night, it was Xu Dan who led his troops to defend Baimen Tower to withstand Zhang Fei's counterattack. Zhang Kuang then fled and informed Lü Bu to speed up the attack. If one of the two thieves was missing, Lü Bu would not be able to steal Xiapi City.
When Liu Bei heard that it was borrowed by Chen Deng, he quickly pulled Zhang Fei away to prevent him from being impulsive.
After Zhang Fei calmed down for a moment, he punched the ground with his fist and vented his anger: "Dog thief! Dog thief! Today is the day for you too!"
Having vented enough, Zhang Fei held his bloody fists and yelled at Zhuge Jin: "Sir, if there is any use for me in the future, as long as I don't object, you can speak up!"
Liu Bei was speechless when he heard this. He felt angry and funny, thinking to himself, aren't you trying to sow discord between me and Tzuyu? What does it mean that big brother doesn't object?
But he also knew that Zhang Fei was just such a person, and he had no ill intentions and no explanation.
Fortunately, Zhuge Jin gave Liu Bei a look in time and confirmed with his eyes that everyone was smart and laughed it off.
…
There is no need to elaborate on the red tape of giving thanks.
After Liu Guan and Zhang calmed down, Liu Bei ordered Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to talk to their family members to confirm whether they had endured hardship during the month of being under house arrest by Lu Bu.
He himself took Zhuge Jin to take stock and confirm whether Lu Bu had agreed to all the negotiation conditions as planned.
Zhuge Jin then succinctly explained the contents of the agreement between the two parties except for the release of the generals.
"In the past two days, Xianhe and Yuanlong pretended to be on one side and agreed on many conditions. Yuanlong also reported it to Lu Bu, but Lu Bu didn't understand, so he agreed to them all.
First of all, Lu Bu has allowed the families of our soldiers and soldiers to return south one after another. Anyone who wants to leave can leave.
There are still seven to eight thousand local soldiers in our army, and there are more than 20,000 family members, including women and children. Within more than a month, we can always go south in batches. The general must let Gongyou try to arrange them.
In addition, because Xu Dan and Zhang Kuang were killed, Lu Bu could not take all the Danyang soldiers. Most of the Danyang soldiers who stayed in Xiapi were forcefully subdued by Gao Shun, but there were still more than a thousand people who were the direct descendants of Xu Dan and Zhang Kuang. They felt it was unstable even if they stayed, so they were sent to Guangling together.
In addition, there are hundreds of Xuzhou local soldiers, who are also Xu and Zhang's confidants, and they have been sent away. Together with the Lingxian garrison, our army can add a total of two thousand soldiers. There are also more than 7,000 family members of these soldiers. "
All calculated, Liu Bei can take back a total of 20,000 to 30,000 original veterans' families, women and children, 2,000 combat soldiers, and 7,000 to 8,000 families of these combat soldiers.
Taken together, it makes up about 40,000 people.
In addition, Ling County was actually occupied by Guan Yu. As a security guarantee for mutual delivery, Liu Bei actually recovered 60,000 people this time.
Although two and a half counties in central Xuzhou were lost (Donghai County and several counties near the sea were not voted in because they were Mi Zhu's hometown, and were still in Liu Bei's hands), they still gained a little blood.
Guangling had just gone through great chaos, and many people had fled to Jiangdong, so there was definitely enough leftover idle land. The extra 60,000 people can definitely be accommodated.
What's more, of the 60,000 people, only 40,000 need to be divided into fields. The 20,000 people in Ling County just continue to live where they are.
Before the peace negotiation, Liu Bei's ruling area in Guangling only had more than 300,000 people left. After this wave of recovery, the actual population under control finally rose to 400,000.
After reforming Yuan Shu's prisoners of war, the number of soldiers was originally 16,000. Now add two thousand, which is eighteen thousand.
With 400,000 civilians supporting 18,000 soldiers, the burden is still quite heavy. Because the proportion of young and middle-aged males in the total population is less than one-third.
This is equivalent to a service ratio of one out of six.
As for Lu Bu, the two and a half counties under his rule have a population of about 900,000.
If he can officially devour Langya Zangba in the future, the population of the total control area can increase to more than one million. If the "Taishan thieves" who are neighbors to Zang Ba are also swallowed up, the number can further increase to more than 1.3 million. (Taishan County does not belong to Xuzhou, but to Yanzhou next door, but Cao Cao currently has no ability to control it, so it is in a state of independence)
Calculated in this way, if Liu Bei does not expand, his territory's population will still be only a small half of Lu Bu's, and may only be one-third of Lu Bu's in a year.
Although the situation has improved a lot compared to when it was most dangerous, it is still not optimistic.
After Liu Bei's short-term joy, he became worried about food problems.
Suddenly there were 60,000 more people. Although the 20,000 people in Ling County could be self-sufficient on the spot, the 30,000 new family members and 10,000 exiled soldiers and their families still needed food to sustain them until next summer's harvest.
Fortunately, Zhuge Jin had already thought of this problem, and it was also part of their negotiation with Lu Bu, so he immediately comforted:
"General, don't worry too much about the food problem. Thanks to Yuan Long's mediation, Lu Bu will let our family members go south this time. He will not use force to plunder people's property. Those family members can always be supported by one or two months of rations. Among them, they are relatively well-off. Households may be able to be self-sufficient.
Moreover, I also reached a fish and food trade with Lu Bujun through Yuanlong this time, which is incidental. They got a thousand stones of sea bass, some dried fish, and another fishing technique they had just figured out, and exchanged it with Lu Bu for thirty thousand stones of wheat and grain.
With these 30,000 stones and some food savings, the new population will definitely be able to survive the spring famine. In the winter slack, they can even work for relief, doing some water conservancy and soil restoration work in Guangling, laying the foundation for spring farming next year. "
Liu Bei was surprised again when he heard this: "Sir, did you teach Lu Bu how to fish with gill nets?"
Of course Liu Bei knew that a thousand shi of fresh seabass plus some dried fish was definitely not worth 30,000 shi of food, and at most it was worth more than 10,000 shi. So there are still 20,000 dan. Zhuge Jin probably sold out a very valuable technology and made a one-shot deal.
Zhuge Jin warned Liu Shaoan not to be impatient: "Of course I didn't betray the gill net. I just thought of a less valuable method. It was purely to conceal the source of such a huge amount of marine fish for our army, and it was also a bluff. Secretly warned Lu Bu, letting him know that "there is no point in taking food cards for us, we have inexhaustible sea fish."
Lu Bu is greedy and untrustworthy, so we can initially use his untrustworthiness to reach a settlement, but the inducement is only temporary. Later, we need to show our strength, show that we are not afraid of a protracted war, and use both kindness and power to hold back Lu Bu in the long run. "
——
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