Liu Yu is soft, and Gongsun is strong.

Liu Yu's treatment of foreign races is mainly appeasement, appeasement and assimilation, and sometimes, it is almost conniving.

While this brought him a reputation of leniency and benevolence, it also brought him criticism, saying that he colluded with other races.

And Gongsun Zhan Rongma has only one word for foreign races all his life: fight!

The tough attitude towards foreign races won Gongsun Chan prestige among the alien races in the north, and Gongsun Chan also won the title of poor soldier at the same time.

The two have been contradictory for a long time.

This time, the two sides sharpened their knives, but everyone, including Liu Mang, felt that they would still be the same as before, with heavy thunder and little rain. blamed each other and quarreled a lot, but in the end, it must be Liu Yu who gave in one more step and ended in reconciliation between the two parties.

……

In the first battle of Hanoi, Xu Da quickly defeated the Jizhou army, although it slightly deepened the hatred with Jizhou Yuan Shao, but it also made the Jizhou army more frightened, and did not dare to use swords against the state.

Under Liu Mang's rule, he entered a short but rare period of recuperation.

The biggest problem facing Liu Mang is the food problem.

Although he borrowed food from the family of the state, he was able to tide over the difficulties temporarily. However, borrowing grain is not a long-term solution, and the key to solving the problem is to develop production, increase the amount of cultivated land, and increase output.

Jia Sixian's research and development of new wheat varieties will not achieve remarkable results until next year or even the year after, and Liu Mang will face a food ration crisis in the coming year.

……

Liu Mang convened Liu Bowen and others to discuss the next development strategy.

At present, Liu Mang has occupied all of the prefecture, as well as the entire territory of Hedong County under the jurisdiction of the Sili Commandery, the western part of Hanoi County, the part controlled by the Eight Passes of Yin Luoyang in Henan, where Luoyang is located, and the northern part of Hongnong.

The geographical area under Liu Mang's rule has exceeded Yuan Shao's Jizhou. However, the population of the jurisdiction is only 30% of that of Jizhou.

If there are fewer people, there will be fewer laborers, and there will be fewer soldiers.

The next development direction and development goals need to be seriously discussed.

North.

To the north of Bingzhou, it is a grassland desert, a habitable place for non-agricultural Han people, and there is no room for development.

South.

The southern part of Hongnong-gun. Bear's Ear Mountain and Funiu Mountain are the natural barriers between Hongnong and Nanyang in Jingzhou. The mountains stretched and were rarely inhabited, and the army could not pass at all. Southward movement is also restricted.

The next step of development is only in two directions: east and west.

However, it is difficult to unify the opinions of the staff on whether to develop to the east or west.

is not only the staff, but also Liu Mang himself. It's hard to decide.

West.

Bounded by the Yellow River, to the west is the Guanzhong region controlled by the Western Liang Army.

The Guanzhong Plain arose in Qin and flourished in the Western Han Dynasty.

The Guanzhong Plain, with its superior geographical location and developed irrigation, coupled with the Zhengguo Canal built in the Qin Dynasty, has won the reputation of "the land of abundance" for the Guanzhong Plain. (The Guanzhong Plain won this title half a century earlier than the Chengdu Plain)

Guanzhong is rich in natural products and has never had a major natural disaster, which is an important reason why some aides advocate seizing Guanzhong.

But. The unique location of Guanzhong is also known as "Jincheng Qianli". It refers to the fact that it has high mountains and steep mountains, dangerous passes and passes as screens, which are easy to defend and difficult to attack.

With Liu Mang's current strength, it is difficult to take it by force even if he exerts all his military strength.

What's more, Guanzhong is now controlled by the Xiliang Army.

The Xiliang Army has good horses and strong soldiers, and the Bingzhou Army, after two years of development, the number of horses is increasing day by day. But it still can't match the Xiliang army.

In terms of troops, the Xiliang Army also has an advantage.

Expanding westward is extremely difficult. What about the east?

……

It is difficult to force Guanzhong in the west, and it develops to the east. There are also many difficulties.

To the east, bounded by the Yellow River, it can be divided into two directions: east and southeast.

To the east, across the Taihang Mountains, is Jizhou controlled by Yuan Shao.

Jizhou is the richest place today. Whoever takes Jizhou can dominate the north.

However, attacking Jizhou is no less difficult than attacking Guanzhong.

Between Bingzhou and Jizhou, there are only three roads that can transport troops: Taiyuan Jingcheng, Shangdang Fukou, and Hanoi Baicheng.

These three roads all belong to the Taihang Eight Mountains. The valley is deep and the road is narrow, and it is extremely inconvenient for the army to pass through, and the logistics supply is even more difficult.

In that year, Jizhou was defeated twice by Jingcheng, except for Li Xiucheng and Xu Da's perseverance, the road was difficult, and the support of the Jizhou army was unfavorable, which was also the main reason.

……

It is difficult to forcibly take Jizhou in the east, and the next development seems to be only in the southeast direction.

To the southeast of Luoyang, it is close to Yanzhou Dongjun, Chenliu, and Yingchuan, Yuzhou.

Dongjun Chen Liu, controlled by Lu Bu and Zhang Miao, and Yingchuan was in the hands of Yuan Shu.

Between Luoyang and these three places, there is no insurmountable natural barrier, and there are few dangers.

However, attacking these places also faces many problems.

After Lü Bu and Zhang Miao captured Puyang and Chen Liu, they formed a line with Yuan Shu's Yingchuan.

If he attacks Puyang Chenliu, Yuan Shu will send troops to support.

Moreover, even if Puyang Chenliu was successfully captured, these two places stood out from the jurisdiction and were very vulnerable to attack by other princes.

Not to mention Yuan Shu, Lu Bu and other mortal enemies, even Cao Cao, who has a good relationship, can't tolerate Liu Mang's occupation of Puyang.

……

Liu Mang's subordinates gathered Liu Bowen, Wang Mengdu, Ru Xuanling, and other capable ministers of various dynasties, however, these people are human beings after all, not gods, and there are also problems that cannot be solved.

Liu Mang has held several meetings since he received the assistance of these later generations, and although there were many debates, he was always able to quickly unify opinions and formulate the next development strategy.

This time, however, the meeting did not come out of the discussion.

Everyone couldn't hide their frustration, but Liu Mang suddenly found a problem.

That's not right!

It's not that these people are incompetent, it's that there is a problem with the topic of this meeting!

has just experienced the battles of Hanoi and Luoyang, and the accumulated family funds are almost exhausted.

The question now is not where to develop, but to develop and grow based on the existing territory!

……

The issue was corrected, and the mood picked up.

As for how to develop next, all the staff members are surprisingly unanimous: the top priority is to stabilize Luoyang.

The stability of Luoyang and the stability of all localities under its rule have returned to the food problem.

There are three factors in the grain problem: the area of cultivated land, the cultivated population, and the yield per mu.

Arable land, not a problem. And the prefecture and the county under the jurisdiction of the school and the county, most of the abandoned farmland.

In addition, a large number of irrigation ditches have been built since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The land is level, the ditches are developed, and arable land is not a problem.

Yield per mu, in a short period of time, there is no way to solve it.

However, with the successful cultivation of Jia Siyi's new seeds, the yield per mu will be greatly increased.

The issue of population is the key.

Hanoi and Luoyang were both once populous places. However, due to Dong Zhuo's rebellion, the imperial capital moved westward, driving millions of people in Luoyang to Guanzhong. In addition, the Central Plains continued to fight, and the residents of Hanoi and Luoyang were less than one percent.

However, with the right policies, population growth is not out of the question.

Yizhou and Liaodong, because of their geographical location, have few wars, and their populations have been growing steadily in recent years.

Jingzhou, after Liu Biao came to power, also attracted a large number of displaced people to relocate.

Including the merger of states under Liu Mang's rule, the population growth rate in the past two years has also been very amazing. It's just that under Liu Mang's rule, the territory is vast and the population base is small, so there is a shortage of labor. (To be continued.) )