After Lantian's planting technology was spread in southern counties, agriculture in each county began to grow explosively.
At the beginning of the 11th year of Jian'an, the Quyuan plow was successfully improved in Linwu County. Lantian summoned craftsmen to mass-produce it and popularized it in southern counties before spring plowing that year.
New tools and new technologies seemed to have magical powers. The Yue people who originally made a living by hunting also settled down and farmed under the influence of the villagers.
This also attracted many residents from Lingling County in the west, Cangwu County in the south, and Yuzhang County in the east to migrate to various counties in Guiyang.
The registered population by household in several southern counties has more than doubled. Zhang Fei recruited more than 3,000 new soldiers in the four counties under his command, most of whom were Yue people who were good at hunting.
Most of the people who moved from Cangwu and Yuzhang were Yue people without citizenship, but those who fled to Guiyang County from Lingling County were mostly Han people with citizenship.
Yingdao County, which borders Guiyang County, is located near Jiuyi Mountain. After the several plagues in Jingnan, its population was only 20,000 to 30,000 people, but it lost nearly 4,000 people in less than a year.
A small population means low taxes, which is an important criterion for evaluating the performance of local officials. After investigation, the Yingdao County Magistrate found that the people under his rule fled south to Guiyang County via Jiuyi Mountain.
Gan Ning allocated land to the newly moved people and provided experienced farmers as guidance. Guiyang County, which was originally lifeless, became a large southern county in one fell swoop.
Xu Xiang, the magistrate of Yingdao County, first sent people to negotiate with Gan Ning to no avail, and then sent the county lieutenant to lead 300 garrison troops to seize the people by force. As a result, they were killed by the other party in the name of rebel bandits.
Seeing that the civil and military forces were ineffective, Xu Xiang was forced to become mute, so he went to Quanling County to report to the prefect Liu Du.
Xu Xiang said: "That Gan Ning is extremely arrogant. After he took office as the magistrate of Guiyang County, he led troops to our camp and kidnapped the people many times. He once sent people to beg for help but was attacked by the enemy. In the long run, the camp general will There is no one left, so today I am here to apologize."
After hearing this, the prefect Liu Du was furious, "Who is Gan Ning? How dare he do such a tyrannical thing? We all belong to a small county in Jingnan, and we all plunder like him. How can we shepherd the people in the future?"
"It is said that he is a subordinate of Liu Xuande in Guiyang. It seems that he was a bandit in the past..." Xu Xiang said.
Liu Du, who was still angry at first, suddenly lost his temper. Liu Bei was driven to Guiyang by Liu Biao, and he even made a joke among Jingzhou officials.
This Yuzhou Mu was someone who had defeated Cao Jun in Bowang. Thinking of this, Liu Du immediately hesitated.
"Father, if you are afraid of Liu Xuande, why not write a letter and send it to Governor Zhao?" Liu Xian suggested.
Liu Du shook his head and said: "If you want to go to Chen County, you must pass through Guiyang. If you take a detour from Nanping, Gan Ning will empty out your trip to Yingdao County."
"Prefect, why don't we negotiate after a fight? Magistrate Xu, how many troops does Gan Ning have in Guiyang?" Xing Daorong asked.
"There should be only three to five hundred people..." Xu Xiang lowered his head and replied.
Xing Daorong snorted coldly: "Three to five hundred people have troubled you? Prefect, can you leave this matter to me?"
"If we provoke a war, wouldn't it be bad if the future ruler holds us accountable?" Liu Du hesitated.
Xing Daorong: "Prefect, the principles are all proven. Besides, this matter is Gan Ning's fault. Even if Zhao Fan sues to Xiangyang, why should he be afraid?"
Liu Du nodded and said: "General Xing's words are reasonable. I will send you two thousand troops to attack Gan Ning. Try to capture this man alive so as not to harm the peace..."
"Two thousand people are too many, one thousand people are enough." Xing Daorong raised his hands and cupped his fists.
"Very good. General Xing will quickly go to reorganize the army. Magistrate Xu will rush back to the camp road first to prepare labor supplies." Liu Du ordered.
"Wei." Xing Daorong (Xu Xiang) said in unison.
Watching the two people leaving, Liu Xian asked worriedly: "Father, is General Xing comparable to Gan Ning? I heard that Liu Bei has so many brave and powerful generals..."
Liu Du shook his head and said: "If Guan Yunchang is of course not to be provoked, how can an unknown person like Gan Ning allow him to be arrogant?"
"Well, I hope General Xing can capture Gan Ning alive." Liu Xian nodded.
When Xing Daorong was preparing to attack Gan Ning, Liu Qi gradually became unable to hold on in the political whirlpool of Xiangyang.
Cai Mao, Kuai Yue and others put pressure on him in the court, and Mrs. Cai kept blowing pillow wind at night. Liu Biao could not withstand the pressure.
Yi Ji suggested that Liu Qi seek refuge, but there was no good reason until Huang Zu of Jiangxia was defeated again.
Huang Zu took advantage of Zhou Yu's conquest of Ma and Bao Ertun and sent general Deng Long with thousands of troops to attack the military town of Chaisang. However, he was directly surrounded and annihilated by Zhou Yu who returned to Guanting. The general Deng Long was also captured alive and sent to Wu County.
Although Huang Zu deliberately concealed the news of his defeat, it was still exposed by interested people in Xiangyang.
Just when Liu Biao was depressed, Liu Qi came out of the squad and said: "Prefect Huang's newly defeated army is not stable. Sun Quan has a feud with us. Sooner or later he will raise troops to avenge us. My son is willing to lead troops to garrison in Jiangxia to share his father's worries."
Liu Biao's eyes lit up when he heard this, and when he was about to agree, Cai Mao stretched out his hand to stop him: "Jiangxia's terrain is dangerous, and Huang Taishou has been defending it for many years. Although there are occasional defeats, it is nothing to worry about..."
Jiangxia is an important town in Jingzhou, and Cai Hao knew better that Huang Zu was Liu Biao's number one confidant. If Liu Qi was placed under his command, he would definitely compete with Liu Cong for the master of Jingzhou in the future, and his Xiangyang navy might not be able to defeat the Jiangxia navy.
"My son is already over 30 years old. He really wants to go out and have some experience. Please ask my father to help me..." Liu Qi said sincerely.
"How can the eldest son be in danger himself? Brother-in-law, you should think twice..." Cai Mao advised.
Although Liu Biao was constrained, he was not stupid. He wanted to help Liu Qi, but he had to take into account Cai Mao's opinions, so he said: "De Gui's words are serious and solemn. This Jiangxia is not suitable for Qi'er's experience..."
Liu Qi's heart froze when he heard this, but then Liu Biao said: "Ever since Sun Ce sent Tai Shici to garrison Jianchang, Pan'er has not made any progress in the past few years. When you were young, you were brothers, so you go to You County to help him. A helping hand.”
After all, You County is a small county in Changsha County, and its level of comfort is far less than that of Jiangxia, but Liu Qi was overjoyed to be able to escape at this time.
"Father, please give me some troops..." Liu Qi bowed his hands and bowed.
"De Gui, allocate 20,000 from the Xiangyang Navy to Qi'er to take him away." Liu Biao ordered directly.
Cai Mao was instantly stunned. He could not send troops to Liu Bei before, but now it was his lord who sent troops to his son, and he suddenly found no reason to refuse.
Kuai Yue saw that Cai Mao had a troubled look on his face, so he came to the rescue and said: "The eldest son has never led an army, so it would be difficult to control 20,000 people rashly. Furthermore, most of the soldiers in Xiangyang are naval troops, and most of the mountains on the side of Mr. Pan. ..”
"Mr. Yidu, I can't leave empty-handed..." Liu Qi didn't care about Kuai Yue and began to argue.
Liu Biao stretched out his hand to interrupt the quarrel between the two, "You two have their own truths, then allocate 10,000 people for Qi'er to be taken away by water."
Cai Maoxin said that this would require both soldiers and ships. He was about to find an excuse to shirk it, but when he saw Kuai Yue keep giving him winks, he had no choice but to give up.
