"There's not enough food?!" In the main hall of Shouchun, a grain officer was reporting to the two masters in the main hall. One was the lord and the other was the young lord. One was the nominal lord of Lujiang and the other was the actual lord of Yangzhou.
"We're running out of provisions again!" Lü Bu was having a headache. Originally, he had hundreds of thousands of provisions in Lujiang. These provisions were first confiscated by Lü Bu. Then, his son-in-law killed the rest of the nobles and robbed the rest. It could be said that the foundation of Lujiang's nobles was in the hands of the Lvbu's Army. These nobles were not ordinary people. They did not know what to eat. Even if they had provisions, it was only a few kilograms. These nobles, on the other hand, had tens of thousands of shi. Therefore, Lü Bu was really rich at that time. The provisions in his hands were enough for his Lujiang Army to eat for a few years. However, after his son-in-law issued a conscription order, this rich man finally became a miser who had to be careful to eat a kilogram of rice. He could not even give out his salary! The reason for this was that Liu Mang was tricked by Sun Ce of Jiangdong. He directly suppressed the population of one million.
Originally, it was only enough for hundreds of thousands of people. Now, it had to supply ten times more people. Of course, the provisions were not enough. Lü Bu was a little angry that Liu Mang did not inform him when he issued the conscription order. However, when he thought that this was a kind of training for Liu Mang, it made Lü Bu feel a little better. Moreover, when Sun Ce was scheming against Liu Mang, he had also given Yangzhou a chance to survive!
As long as the new provisions arrived, the Lvbu's Army would be able to survive. With a population of one million and half of Yangzhou's land, Shouchun was the center of Jianghuai. The land was fertile enough to support one million people. With one million people, it would be very convenient for the Lü Bu's Army to expand. With Yangzhou in hand, the Lü Bu could once again step into the ranks of first-class warlords.
What was the purpose of ancient wars? Wasn't it just money, provisions, and people? Now that they had people, they only lacked money and provisions.
"The one hundred thousand provisions sent by Cao Cao will be used up soon!" Liu Mang learned from Xu Shu that Cao Cao of Yanzhou had sent one hundred thousand provisions. When Shouchun was about to be plunged into civil strife, Lao Cao's action could be said to be a timely help.
"Milord. Although 100,000 shi of provisions is a lot, but it is not enough to feed a million people. Now, we still need at least four months to produce new grain. Our provisions can only support us for a little more than a month!" Xu Shu cupped his fist and said to Liu Mang.
Lü Bu did not have any objection to Xu Shu calling Liu Mang Lord. This was because Xu Shu was Liu Mang's retainer. As for Liu Mang, Lü Bu treated him as the successor of his great undertaking.
"More than a month! Four months! " These two numbers were simply a headache. The difference between these two numbers wasn't just one or two days, but more than two months. Even if one's body was made of iron, one wouldn't be able to withstand two months of not eating or drinking!
Such a big problem appeared in front of Liu Mang. Liu Mang's joy of defeating Liu Bei and Zhang Xiu's alliance was suddenly washed away. Sun Ce's plan was still in effect in Yangzhou. If the provisions problem was not solved, then Yangzhou would immediately riot. The commoners didn't care who was the ruler. If you didn't let the commoners have enough to eat and a way to survive, they would definitely rebel against you without a second word.
"Hanyang, I will ask Gongtai to transfer a batch of provisions from Lujiang!" Lü Bu looked at Liu Mang's frown. He also knew that Yangzhou was urgent. Coincidentally, a new batch of provisions had arrived in Lujiang. This batch of provisions came from the Jingzhou Navy. Lü Bu was able to mobilize the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry and the Formation Breaker and Taishan Army so quickly because of Liu Biao holding back Jiangdong's Sun Ce. Another reason was because of the ten thousand shi of provisions from the Jingzhou Navy.
"Not enough, not enough! It's just a cup of water on a burning cart of firewood! " Liu Mang shook his head and said. The disciples of Lujiang were almost emptied by Liu Mang. How could there be provisions left? Even if there were ten thousand shi of provisions from the Jingzhou Navy, it was just a cup of water on a burning cart of firewood! Right now, Shouchun did not even have a hundred thousand shi of provisions. Would they care about ten thousand shi of provisions? Furthermore, Lujiang was not close to Yangzhou. Transporting ten thousand shi of provisions would consume a lot of them. Therefore, Liu Mang directly refused.
"My Lord, we can only rely on three methods to obtain the rations!" Liu Ye also spoke. When Liu Mang left Yuzhou, Liu Ye was the military advisor of Liu Mang's Army. Now that the army had returned to Shouchun, he naturally had to give up his position as the military advisor. Xu Shu was the military advisor of Liu Mang's Army. After all, Liu Ye's main job was to be in charge of Liu Mang's Army's industrial park. However, now that the industrial park was destroyed, it would take a lot of time to rebuild it. Therefore, Liu Ye was in the main hall.
"Ziyang, you can speak freely!" Liu Mang looked at Liu Ye and said. Lü Bu looked at the two strategists under Liu Mang and could not help but nod his head. The current Liu Mang was no longer a lone commander. In terms of strategy, Liu Mang had Xu Shu and Liu Ye.
Lü Bu had never heard of Xu Shu and Liu Ye before. However, the two of them used their achievements to tell Lü Bu that they could take responsibility. Xu Shu relied on tens of thousands of soldiers to defend Yangzhou's last fortress, Shouchun. If it was not for Pang Tong's trick, Shouchun's gates might not have been opened. Yangzhou was in good order under Xu Shu's hands. The millions of people in Shouchun were living in peace and contentment.
As for Liu Ye, he had followed Liu Mang to Yuzhou and had great military achievements. For example, he had wiped out half of the Xiliang Cavalry. That was a force of seven thousand heavy cavalry! In the end, his Lvbu's Army obtained three thousand cavalry and five thousand war horses! How could this not make Lü Bu happy?
In terms of generals, Yangzhou was about to become its own faction. Liu Mang had two main forces, the City Guard Black Flag Army. Other than the City Guard's General Chengyu, Xu Sheng, Wang Wei, and Huang Xu were all personally promoted by Liu Mang. Now, there was a small White Horse under Liu Mang's command, Zhao Yun. Lü Bu still had an impression of the White Horse General Gongsun Zan. Youzhou and Bing Province were not far from each other. Gan Ning could also be considered one of Liu Mang's subordinates. It could be said that Yangzhou had the temperament of a warlord. Lü Bu gave them full autonomy. Lü Bu did not covet the talents under Liu Mang's command. In terms of strategists, Chen Gong was enough. As for generals, Zang Ba, Zhang Liao, and Gao Shun were all great generals. Not to mention the God of War himself, Lü Bu. Lü Bu looked at Liu Mang like an elder looking at a junior.
"Milord, if you want to obtain provisions, one of the ways is to rob!" Liu Mang said to Liu Mang.
"Rob?!" Liu Mang thought for a moment and said, "Is there a place to rob provisions around here?!" Liu Mang's two neighbors in Yangzhou were Cao Cao and Liu Bei. Although Cao Cao won the Battle of Guandu and obtained most of the provisions from Yuan Shao, those provisions were far away in Jizhou. Even if Liu Mang sent troops, he could only attack Yan Zhou and Xu Province. The provisions from these two provinces were not enough to consume! What's more, Lao Cao had sent 100,000 shi of provisions at a crucial time in Shouchun. At the very least, he had to remember this kindness. The other neighbor was Liu Bei. Although attacking Liu Bei was a good idea, Liu Mang was afraid that Liu Bei's army would be ruthless and fight to the death. If that happened, even if they took Runan, they might not get anything. Moreover, Liu Bei's profits were almost exhausted. Even if they took Yuzhou, it would be difficult to support the consumption of Yangzhou. What's more, going to war would require a large amount of provisions. It would be difficult for Yangzhou to provide such a large amount of provisions. Therefore, Liu Mang vetoed the first method.
"Then Milord, the second method is to borrow provisions from our good neighbor!" Liu Ye said the second method.
"Borrow provisions?!" Borrow provisions from Cao Cao? Liu Mang still smiled bitterly and shook his head. It wasn't that he didn't want to borrow, but he couldn't. When Lao Cao sent 100,000 shi of provisions, he had sent a messenger to ask for Liu Mang's ballistae. Liu Mang could sell the ballistae to Jiangdong or Jingzhou, but he couldn't sell it to Cao Cao. This was because Cao Cao had already defeated Yuan Shao. The Northern Overlord was about to be determined. There wasn't much time left for the vassals in the Central Plains. Once the ballistae were given to Cao Cao, how long could the Yuan Brothers, who were originally not Cao Cao's opponents, last? Cao Cao's goal in unifying the Northern Plains was to first pacify the Central Plains, then go south to take over the Yangtze River Valley. His Lvbu's Army was the first to bear the brunt. If Liu Mang sold the ballistae to Cao Cao, he must be crazy! Therefore, borrowing provisions from Lao Cao was completely impossible. In the end, Liu Mang vetoed the idea.
"Then Milord, there's only one method left! That's to buy them! " Liu Ye could only helplessly shake his head. Now that he couldn't steal or borrow the ballistae, he could only use money to buy them!
"Is it possible to buy them?!" Liu Mang was a little unconfident. One must know that this was a chaotic world. In a chaotic world, provisions were a strategic resource and were rarely bought or sold.
"Milord, other than Zi Yang's method, do you have any other methods?" Xu Shu also spoke.
Hearing Xu Shu's words, Liu Mang realized that other than buying provisions, he really didn't have any other methods.
"Who should we buy provisions from?!" Liu Mang looked at Liu Ye. If Liu Ye proposed this method, he definitely knew who to buy from.
"If there are many people buying, we can be like Yanzhou's Cao Cao, Hebei's Yuan brothers, Jingzhou's Liu Biao, and even Jiangdong's Sun Ce. We can send envoys to buy provisions." Liu Ye wanted to cast a wide net. This way, they would have a higher chance of buying provisions. "But Milord, you must be prepared to spend a lot of money!" Liu Ye was right. In a chaotic world, provisions were originally expensive. Moreover, almost everyone knew that Liu Mang was being schemed against and needed provisions to save his life. Therefore, provisions would definitely be sold at a very high price. With such a rich guy around, it would be a waste if he didn't rip him off.
Liu Mang sighed. Being ripped off was something that couldn't be helped. As long as it wasn't too excessive, Liu Mang could accept it. Even if it was three or four times the usual price, it was fine as long as they could get through this difficult situation.
"Milord, not only do we not have enough provisions, we also don't have much gold in our storage!" Xu Shu was the entire Liu Mang's Army's old housekeeper. The problem of money and provisions was all handled by Xu Shu. Buying provisions naturally required a large amount of money. However, they didn't have much money now.
Liu Mang was a little puzzled. "Yuanzhi, don't we still have tens of thousands of gold?" Liu Mang remembered that when he first came to Yangzhou, he brought tens of thousands of gold. This gold was not inferior to some century-old families. But now, it was not enough! It had only been a few months.
"Milord, Yuanzhi doesn't dare to reject Milord. We really don't have enough money." Xu Shu explained to Liu Mang. The industrial zone, the captain, the wages of the craftsmen, and even the cement houses in the city and the casting of the Hero Palace in Shouchun all required money! All in all, tens of thousands of gold had disappeared. Now, Shouchun was in a state of chaos. The industrial zone needed to be rebuilt and the captain needed to be restarted. How would they have any spare money?
"If we lack money, we can get it from Lujiang!" Lü Bu said to Liu Mang. Although there wasn't much provisions in Lujiang, there was a lot of money. It was all obtained from the confiscation of the families. These families that had been around for decades or centuries had a considerable amount of wealth. They couldn't have too much provisions, but they could have gold and silver.
"No!" Liu Mang rejected without even thinking. His straightforwardness made Liu Mang frown. Wasn't Lujiang part of Yangzhou? Although his Yangzhou was under the control of Liu Mang, his master was still Lü Bu. Liu Mang was Lü Bu's son-in-law. Now, he wanted to separate from the family! Lü Bu's expression was a little ugly. Zang Ba, Zhang Liao, and the other generals standing beside Lü Bu were also angry.
"Father-in-law, please don't misunderstand!" Liu Mang quickly waved his hand. Get rid of the Lvbu's Army and become independent? Even if Liu Mang wanted to, he didn't have the strength. If it wasn't for Lü Bu's Army, Liu Mang's Shouchun would have been conquered. "Father-in-law, you have to give me your money too!"
"Huh?" Liu Mang's words made Lü Bu confused. You want it, but you don't want to use it to buy provisions. What do you want to do?
"Use it to expand the army!" Liu Mang said to Lü Bu. Liu Mang saw the reason why Yangzhou was suppressed. Other than the lack of provisions, there was also a serious lack of military strength. If Liu Mang had tens of thousands of elite troops, why did he have to besiege Wei to save Zhao? Why did he have to cut off Liu Bei's Army's provisions and force Liu Bei's Army to retreat? This time, Liu Bei was beaten so badly because the main force of Liu Bei's Army was annihilated by his father-in-law. If Liu Mang had tens of thousands of troops in Yangzhou, he could have fought a decisive battle with Liu Bei. Xu Shu also wouldn't be trapped in Shouchun. He could have used his troops to fight against Pang Tong. Therefore, Liu Mang urgently wanted to expand the army.
"Expand the army? You have to think about it carefully! " Lü Bu asked Liu Mang worriedly. Expanding the army was not a child's play. This was because expanding the army required more commanders and officers of all ranks. Otherwise, how could they lead the new recruits? Also, expanding the army had to be in the direction of elite troops. Otherwise, ordinary troops would only be a waste of provisions and would have no other use.
"I have already prepared the sergeants, sergeants, and even generals of a hundred and a thousand soldiers!" Liu Mang said to everyone in the hall. Liu Mang had asked those who had the ability to challenge the soldiers of the Black Flag Army and the City Guard during the recruitment in Hefei. Those who could defeat the sergeants would become sergeants. Those who could defeat the sergeants would become sergeants. Those who lost would immediately give up their positions. Of course, they would not be removed from their positions. Instead, they would be given the title of deputy. This way, most of the soldiers in Liu Mang's Black Flag Army and the City Guard would be deputy sergeants, deputy sergeants, deputy generals of a hundred and deputy generals of a thousand soldiers. He had completely treated these two troops as an officer training camp. Once the army was expanded, the basic level officers would not be bad.
As for the elite troops, that is also not a problem. Liu Mang is planning to expand his army to three battalions. The first one is Zhao Yun's White Horse Cavalry. Zhao Yun's White Horse Cavalry is not worthy of its name. The White Horse Cavalry should have 5,000 soldiers and horses. How can it have less than 200 soldiers? This was a cavalry camp, but not a real cavalry unit. Therefore, Liu Mang wanted to form the White Horse Army for endless use.
Originally, there were no warhorses. Warhorses were too expensive. Liu Mang needed to calculate carefully. If he could rely on Gan Ning's navy to enter the sea and import warhorses from Liaodong, it would take at least one or two years for the White Horse Army to form an army. However, it was different now. After eating Hu Che Er's Xiliang Cavalry outside of Guangzhou, he obtained 5,000 warhorses and 3,000 Xiliang Cavalry. These Xiliang Cavalry would be able to mount and form an army after some training.
However, Liu Mang did not want all of them. He only wanted to select 1,500 soldiers. Then he would recruit 2,000 new soldiers to make 3,000 soldiers for Zhao Yun. He wanted Zhao Yun to select 2,000 soldiers from the 3,500 to form a White Horse Army. Each person would have two horses to form a light cavalry unit.
As for the remaining 1,500 Xiliang Cavalry, Liu Mang planned to give them to Lü Bu. They would train with the Xiliang Cavalry captured by Lü Bu to supplement the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry. Lü Bu had ambushed Zhang Xiu and obtained a lot of warhorses. Because he was ambushing them, many of the Xiliang Cavalry did not know what happened. After that, Zhang Xiu and the others lost a lot of warhorses when they escaped. Therefore, the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry had plenty of warhorses.
The second division that Liu Mang wants to form is Wei Yan's Yi Yang soldiers. Wei Yan's information in Yi Yang is pretty good. He only brought a few dozen Yi Yang soldiers. When he arrived at Yi Yang, the Jing Province Army did not even dare to fart and immediately handed over Yi Yang soldiers. This is because Wei Yan's reputation in Yi Yang is too big. Moreover, this person's martial arts is very high. If the Jing Province Army does not recognize him, then they will be taken away by Yi Yang soldiers.
Wei Yan did not disappoint Liu Mang's praise and even took over Zaoyang. Now, Wei Yan was gathering troops in Yi Yang and Zaoyang to form the Yi Yang Soldiers. The Yi Yang Soldiers were also an elite infantry unit.
The last unit was for Hao Shao. Hao Shao's talent was there. It was impossible for Liu Mang to kill him. If such a talent was not used, it would be a waste. Therefore, Liu Mang simply gave Hao Shao the title of General. He gave him a unit of 5,000 soldiers to be stationed in Guangzhou. It was like a nail nailed to the border of Yangzhou. With Hao Shao guarding the city, Liu Mang felt a lot more relieved.
Although the number of soldiers in the third unit was less than 15,000, the consumption was not small. The soldiers' swords, armor, and all kinds of weapons required money. There was also money for training. Which one of these did not require money? Therefore, Liu Mang needed money from Lujiang to support them.
But once he used it, he would not have enough money to buy provisions. It was really a difficult choice.
Fortunately, Liu Mang's personal butler, Yang Hong, opened his mouth and said, "Wen Hou, Family Head! Although I do not have provisions, there is gold and silver in Shouchun. It is enough to solve the problem of Yangzhou. "
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