In Shouchun, Yangzhou, under the witness of Lü Bu, Zhang Liao, and the others, Zhang Xiu's youngest son, Zhang Lei, finally became the King Of Shu, Liu Mang's adoptive father. All kinds of etiquette and clothing were according to the standards of the King. Shouchun was very busy, and the shadow of the previous war was swept away.
Seeing that Liu Mang had adopted a son, Lü Bu could not help but have a strange expression. Lü Bu had a lot of adoptive fathers, such as Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo. However, none of them had a good ending. They were all killed by Lü Bu's Sky Piercer. Even Lü Bu had the title of Adoptive Father Killer. But now, his son-in-law had adopted a son. This made Lü Bu feel that this was fate making a fool of people.
The etiquette was very complicated. After all, it was now ancient times, and it could not be avoided like Liu Mang said. After everything was done, Zhang Lei knelt down and called Liu Mang adoptive father. After serving tea and water, it was finally done. Generally, there were two types of adoptive fathers. The first type was like Liu Bei's adopted son, Liu Feng. His original name was Kou Feng, and he was not a member of the Liu family. Liu Bei did not have a son, so he adopted a son from the Kou family. The Kou family also wanted to hug Liu Bei's thigh. After all, Liu Bei was more than 40 years old. At this time, most people had several sons, and even the sons should be able to take charge of their own affairs.
Yuan Shao's son, Cao Cao, was already in his twenties. Cao Cao's son, Cao Ang, had died in battle. Lü Bu had a daughter, but his daughter was already married. Liu Bei, on the other hand, did not have any children. Therefore, Liu Bei could not help but worry about whether he could not have a son. Therefore, he adopted a son so that he could share his life with his adopted son.
The ancient people were different from the modern people. They attached great importance to their ancestors' surnames. Changing one's surname was equivalent to changing one's clan. Even after death, they would not be buried in the clan. For people like Liu Mang, who was a member of the Han dynasty, if he really adopted a son, this Zhang Lei should also change his surname to Liu Mang. However, Zhang Lei was still surnamed Zhang. This was the second kind of adopted son. Just like how Lü Bu viewed Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo, this kind of adopted son had no right of inheritance. If they had the right of inheritance, why would Lü Bu kill Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo? These two people did not have a son.
Liu Mang let Zhang Lei continue to be surnamed Zhang. One reason was that Zhang Lei was the only son of Zhang Xiu. He could also be considered the only descendant of the Zhang family. Zhang Ji's son killed Zhang Xiu's son, Zhang Quan. Now, only Zhang Lei was left. Although Liu Mang was enemies with Zhang Xiu, he could not stop him from having children.
The second reason was that Zhang Lei would still be of great use in the future. He could be used to appease the newly joined Xiliang Cavalry. After all, Zhang Xiu's Zhang family still had prestige among the Xiliang Cavalry. Another reason was that they would have a good excuse to declare war on Nanyang and even Jingzhou. That was, they could use Zhang Xiu's death as the reason. Zhang Xiu's son avenged Zhang Xiu. This was very reassuring.
Finally, all the red tape was over. Liu Mang gave Zhang Lei the Analects of Confucius and a long sword. This long sword was also brought by Liu Mang from the modern era. It was made of titanium alloy. The hardness of the material was not inferior to Liu Mang's Aries Saint Cloth. Liu Mang gave these two things to show that he wanted Zhang Lei to be proficient in literature and martial arts. Literature could lead a country and martial arts could lead a country. The importance that Liu Mang attached to Zhang Lei was really impressive. Not only did he take in the son of his enemy, but he also had such expectations for him and adopted him. At this moment, Liu Mang's reputation was raised to another level. Ge Jun, Zhang Hu, and the others who were kneeling on the ground were also moved to tears.
A few days after Shouchun, Lü Bu still had things to deal with in Lujiang. Their army was mobilized. Although Jiangdong and Jingzhou were at war again, it was inevitable that some clowns would jump out and provoke them. Therefore, Lü Bu left after a few days. Gao Shun's Break Formation Battalion also left. The Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry also followed them back. On the waterway, more than a dozen ships in Shouchun were handed over to Gan Ning. Gan Ning directly went along the Ying River to Hongze Lake. Along the way, he went through the Tutang River and entered the Yangtze River. Then, he returned to the Lujiang Water Camp. Along with Gan Ning, there were also thousands of craftsmen who were in charge of the maintenance of the warships. On the Ying River, there was no navy that could be Gan Ning's opponent. Only 2,000 were left. Liu Mang kept this navy to test the new ships in Lujiang County and Shouchun. He was also preparing to train another navy. The wind and waves in the sea were much stronger than in the rivers. Liu Mang had to be prepared if he wanted to enter the sea.
Now, in Shouchun, there were only the City Guard, the Black Flag Army, two main forces, Zhao Yun's White Horse Cavalry, and the Xiliang Cavalry. These four forces were all elites. However, the White Horse Cavalry was still being formed. The Xiliang Cavalry was also being trained by Zhang Liao. As for the Yiyang Cavalry, Wei Yan had already begun the selection process. He was also preparing to return to Shouchun. However, Liu Mang had him stay in Guangzhou and listen to Hao Shao's orders.
In the Shouchun Conference Hall, a group of civil and military officials had already lined up.
Although Jia Xu's experience and wisdom might be better than Jia Xu's, he was still placed third. It was not that he did not want to fight for it. It was because he knew that his foundation was weak. Most importantly, the first two did not have a good impression of him. If he were to fight for it now, he would only be asking for humiliation. After all, Jia Xu had just joined Yangzhou and did not have any contributions. To be able to stand in third place was already very good.
Jia Xu was also very indifferent. He was not like Liu Bei's Sun Qian and Pang Tong who were like fire and water. In his opinion, gold would always shine.
Among the generals, Zhang Liao was the leader. After all, Zhang Liao was a veteran who had followed Lü Bu for a long time. Even in Lujiang, when Lü Bu was in discussion, the first general was Zhang Liao. Even Liu Mang sometimes had to give way to Zhang Liao. This was because Zhang Liao's strength was there. He was not only a general, but also a commander.
Behind him were Chengyu, Xu Sheng, and Zhao Yun. After all, they were the main generals of their respective armies. Behind them were their respective deputies, Wang Wei, Huang Xu, and the others. Huang Xu's father, the second strongest person in the Lvbu's Army, Huang Zhong, did not go because he was standing behind Liu Mang. Among the civil officials, there was one person who could stand in front of Xu Shu. That was Yang Hong. However, Yang Hong went to Lujiang to pick up Miss Lu and the others.
"Is everyone here?" Liu Mang looked at his civil and military officials. Other than Wei Yan and Hao Shao, almost everyone was present. Even the Xiliang Cavalry's Ge Jun and Zhang Hu came to the main hall.
"Milord, everyone is here!" Xu Shu, as the head of the civil officials, was also a figure in Yangzhou's military affairs other than Liu Mang.
"Good! Start the meeting! " Liu Mang did not argue and immediately started the meeting. This time, the topic of discussion was the future direction of Yangzhou. In the battle of Yangzhou, they had defeated Liu Bei, Zhang Xiu, and thwarted the conspiracy of the three families. However, Liu Mang's Army had also suffered a great loss. Naturally, they needed to replan.
"Yuanzhi, have you finished the census of Shouchun?" Liu Mang asked Xu Shu.
"Milord, with your method, the census of Shouchun has been completed. The rest of Guangzhou, Hefei, and Lujiang are on the way. They will arrive soon!" Xu Shu said and handed over a document to Liu Mang. On the document was the number of registered residents. If a modern person were to see this document, they would definitely be very surprised. Because he could actually understand the document. Nonsense! Who could not understand Arabic numerals? The reason why it was so troublesome for the ancients to count was because their way of counting was more complicated. It was fine if it was less than ten, but if it was hundreds or thousands, it would be a total loss. For example, counting the amount of provisions or the number of troops would take half a day. What was Han Xin counting troops? It was just testing a person's ability to recognize numbers. Liu Mang felt that it was too complicated, so he decided to teach her the Arabic numerals.
After Xu Shu obtained this new method of calculation, his efficiency immediately increased greatly. He quickly checked almost all of the household registers in Shouchun. There were a total of 240,000 households, and each household had about four to six people. The total population was 1.12 million! As for the commoners in Hefei and Guangzhou, there were only a few tens of thousands of them. After all, most of them were in Shouchun.
1.12 million was not a small number. A great man once said that no matter how small a number was, when multiplied by one million, it would still be a huge number. And no matter how small a problem was, when multiplied by one million, it would still be a huge problem.
Liu Mang was now considering the problem of clothing, food, housing, and transportation for the one million people. If each person ate one jin of rice a day, that would be one million jin of rice a day. He had already sent people to buy provisions everywhere. Now, he only needed to worry about housing.
"My lord! The first batch of cement houses has already been moved in. "Xu Shu reported to Liu Mang. The first batch of cement houses had been built before Liu Mang left Shouchun. At that time, the one million people were divided into ten thousand people by Liu Mang to find lime to make cement.
"How is the quality of the first batch of houses?" Liu Mang wanted to ask this question. The ancients mostly built wooden houses. Not only were the wooden houses low, but they were also especially vulnerable to fire. Once they were lit, half of the city would be burned down. Thus, accidental fires were very scary. Although using cement to make houses could not prevent fires, at least it would not be so scary. Moreover, the cement houses were also dry. The Huainan region had many forests, so it was very humid. After living in the wooden houses for a long time, it was really unbearable.
"Sturdy and stable!" Xu Shu used these words to answer Liu Mang's question. Cement was really a good thing. Generally, building a house required a lot of wood. It was impossible to successfully cut the wood and build it without several months. However, this cement house could be completely dry in about half a month. After that, it could be lived in. The quality was much better than some wooden fences.
"Good, that's the best! One hundred thousand people will be happy to have a place to live! " Liu Mang nodded his head. Not only can cement houses save resources, it will also be beneficial for Liu Mang's future expansion of Shouchun. Wooden houses are built in a disorderly manner. If you build your house this way and that way, it will take up a lot of space. However, this cement house can be completely planned.
"Hehe, my lord, this is not one hundred thousand people. It's four hundred thousand people!" Xu Shu shook his head and said to Liu Mang with a smile.
"Four hundred thousand?!" Liu Mang was stunned for a moment. He remembered that he built thirty thousand houses so that each house could accommodate three to four people. Liu Mang was not sure if these houses were sturdy or not. But now, it could accommodate four hundred thousand people. Liu Mang was stunned.
From Xu Shu's explanation, Liu Mang realized that he had underestimated the ability of the ancient people to endure hardships. The original fifty square meters were forcefully stuffed into dozens of people by the people! For the people, as long as there was a place to shelter them from the wind and rain, it was enough.
"Build the second batch of houses as soon as possible. Don't let the people live in the open and live in tents!" Some people were still living in tents because many of the original houses in Shouchun had been demolished. It was difficult to accommodate millions of people.
"My lord, building houses is easy, but this cement!"
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