In the twenty-fifth year of Jian'an, Shen Chen spent it with his family in Nanyang, and this year is already 220 AD, and Shen Chen is 33 years old.

In fact, he should be 32 years old, because he was born in October of the fourth year of Zhongping, that is, in October 187 AD, when Cao Cao slaughtered Xuzhou in 194 AD, his actual age was 7 years old, and he would not be 8 years old until October of that year.

However, the ancients paid attention to the imaginary age, that is, it was calculated according to the birth of the first year directly over the age of one, until the concept of the first year was introduced in the modern West in later generations, and there was the so-called distinction between the real age and the virtual age.

So as long as the New Year passes, the Han people are automatically one year older. Therefore, even if Shen Chen is not actually 33 years old, he is about to enter middle age this year.

After spending the New Year in Nanyang, on October 11, Shen Chen took a boat to Jiangzhou and took his wife to meet Liu Bei.

Now he is Liu Bei's son-in-law, the two sides are close to each other, Liu Bei held a family banquet to entertain him in the mansion of the King of Han, Shen Chen's eight-year-old eldest son Shen Yin is smart and clever, it just so happens that Liu Chan is also twelve years old this year, and his uncle and nephew play together, and they are very happy.

New Year's Spring, although the weather in Jiangzhou has not been very good recently, the sky is gloomy, the northwest wind is howling, and it is raining lightly, but it has not affected the joy of the people to welcome the arrival of the New Year.

After last year's recession, this year's Jiangzhou has gradually regained some popularity. Since the middle of last year, because of Sun Quan's sneak attack on Jingzhou, the trade between Jingyi and Jingyi has been cut off again, and the business has recovered slightly, and after there has been an improvement, the city has gradually prospered.

The streets and alleys are full of people who come and go to buy New Year's goods, and every household sticks the peach charm that gradually spread in the Qin and Han dynasties, and everyone's face is full of smiles, going out to congratulate each other on the arrival of the New Year.

Since last year, Liu Bei has ordered to reduce the taxes paid by the flood-stricken counties in Quanyizhou and Jingzhou, encourage the people to farm, exempt the levy from labor and miscellaneous taxes, and develop organized production.

The people who used to have food on their faces are living a little better, because the government is now providing relief for work to help the people through the difficult times.

Last year, Yizhou requisitioned too many people and auxiliary soldiers to serve in conscription, resulting in many fields in Shu County and Ba County not being cultivated, resulting in the abandonment of field production, the withering of mulberry forests, and the drying up of fish ponds, greatly reducing the output and wasting at least half a year's time for grain production.

After the people and auxiliaries returned, it was too late to think about temporary farming, so the government used money and grain to recruit the people to open the wasteland, build canals, and dig roads, and subsidize the people who were starving because they missed farming.

Although it will be a huge burden for Liu Bei Group to subsidize hundreds of thousands of people.

However, the first is that the coins are issued very little, mainly to provide food. Second, the duration is relatively short, only two or three months, and the current financial and grain and grass stocks of Liu Bei Group can fully hold up.

Therefore, under the government subsidy, although the people are still poor, at least they can barely have food and clothing, and after the harvest in the next year, they will have a much better life without paying taxes.

And Liu Bei was able to subsidize the people in the form of work-for-relief, mainly because Ji Han was not short of food, both historically and now.

In history, Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition fought for more than ten years, and Yizhou was still very rich, and its economy was even the best of the Three Kingdoms, and it was able to maintain a monetary system, which was much stronger than Cao Wei and Sun Wu.

What Zhuge Liang lacks has always been how to effectively transport grain and grass to the front line.

It's the same now.

Shen Chen improved the productivity of Jingzhou and Yizhou through the technology of Zhancheng rice and manure, and the grain output increased greatly, from the 20th year of Jian'an to the 24th year of Jian'an, accumulated four or five years, the grain storage was very large, and the granaries in various places have never been empty.

It was only because Liu Bei traveled a long distance to fight the battle of Guanzhong and Shen Chen lured the enemy deep in Jingzhou, resulting in a large area being temporarily occupied by Sun Quan and Cao Cao, which required the people of Yizhou to bear a heavy burden of forced labor, which made the people's livelihood wither.

Now that the fighting has stopped, there is still a lot of grain left in the warehouse. Even if it stands to reason that these are national reserves, they should be stored for a possible war.

But now people with a little insight know that the Liu Bei group is the one who has the ability to take the initiative to start a war, and Liu Bei's strategist group believes that the next war to be fought is not a war with the Cao Wei group in the north, but a local war with the Jiangdong group.

If it was before the Battle of Jingzhou, it would still be a little difficult to fight Jiangdong with the strength of Liu Bei's group's naval army, and it might even be necessary to mobilize the whole country.

However, what about Koto today......

As long as the Jingzhou Corps is dispatched, it can basically be eliminated, and it is no longer a large-scale battle, so naturally it is not so burdensome.

Therefore, it is obviously the right thing to use the grain store to improve the living conditions of the people.

October 16, in the mansion of King Han.

Liu Bei and Shen Chen sat under the pavilion in the back garden, Chen Zhi was guarding outside the garden, and in the courtyard Liu Bei's eldest son Liu Chan, second son Liu Yong, and youngest son Liu Li and Shen Chen's eldest son Shen Yin, and the second son Shen Xi were playing.

The oldest of them was Liu Chan, who was born in 207 AD, and the youngest was Liu Li, who was born in 215 AD, and even Shen Xi was a year older than him.

In history, Liu Bei did not have no sons, but he died or disappeared in the war, and even his two daughters were captured by Cao Chun in Changbanpo. Now that he has settled down, he is finally able to have offspring and multiply.

Watching his children playing in the yard, Liu Bei sighed: "Twenty years ago, this was a scene I never dreamed of, when I was in a panic, but now I can be the king in the south, Xiaoqing, all this is the credit of you and Kong Ming." ”

Shen Chen said with a smile: "The lord's fame is all over the world, and it is because the world knows the lord's benevolence and righteousness that he is willing to come and join him, this is all the lord's relief to the world in the early years, but the result of doing good deeds without asking about the future, how can it be said that it is my credit?" ”

"You."

Liu Bei smiled and shook his head: "I've been persuading me to exchange you and Yun Chang for the past two days, and I've decided." ”

Shen Chen nodded, waiting for Liu Bei to change him away.

Unexpectedly, Liu Bei smiled slyly and said, "I decided to take you and Yun Chang with me." ”

Shen Chen scratched his head and said, "Kill cattle with a chicken knife?" Uncle Yun Chang is incomparably powerful, and the destruction of Jiangdong is no less than the battle of destroying the country, and he is about to do it, not to mention that I want to go to Hanzhong, there are also some other things. ”

"What's the matter?"

Liu Bei asked curiously.

Shen Chen said: "In fact, as early as more than ten years ago, Kong Ming and I invented stirrups, horseshoes and Gaoqiao saddles, but at that time we all thought that these things could not be born, so we concealed them, and now we have Liangzhou, and we have a place where horses come from, we can equip these objects, and I want to go to Xiliang to form a heavy cavalry." ”

The heavy cavalry appeared in the late Han Dynasty, and Yuan Shao had 300 heavy cavalry.

But because the horse equipment did not keep up, the heavy cavalry wore dozens of pounds of armor, and there were no stirrups and Takahashi saddles as strong support points, and it would be very hard to fight when fighting, and it was necessary to clamp the horse's belly with two legs, and the slightest carelessness might fall off the horse, so this was not popularized.

Shen Chen, as a later generation, even if he has not had much contact with horses before, he has always watched costume TV series, stirrup horseshoe and Takahashi saddle are basic common sense, and he naturally wants to figure it out.

The problem is that Cao Cao in the north was strong at that time, and it would be bad to get these things out and be learned by Cao Cao.

Therefore, he has been hiding and tucking it all these years and has not announced it.

Now after Liangzhou is in hand, stirrups, saddles, horseshoes and other equipment can be popularized, so that the range of activity of the light cavalry will be farther and the combat effectiveness will be stronger. The heavy cavalry can also come out, and it will definitely give Cao Wei a little shock at that time.

Liu Bei muttered: "If you form a large-scale cavalry now, you need a lot of money and food." ”

"yes."

Shen Chen sighed and said: "We have a steel filling method, there are iron mines everywhere in Jingzhou and Yizhou, and the steel output is not worried, but training elite knights and cultivating cavalry for a hundred battles will not be able to be practiced in a while and a half. ”

Liu Bei waved his hand and said: "Then don't be in a hurry, you will destroy Jiangdong with me first, and then it will not be too late to go back to Hanzhong to train cavalry." And Yun Chang and Yide are not good at water warfare, and I still need you to be by my side. ”

"But ......"

Shen Chen hesitated: "If Uncle Yun and I both go, Hanzhong also needs a general to garrison." ”

"Let Hansheng go."

Liu Bei said: "He has made great contributions in this battle, and I want to move him to the rear general, and Hansheng will sit in Hanzhong." ”

"General Hou? Isn't it Ma Chao? ”

Shen Chen asked.

Liu Bei smiled and said: "This year, I will move you to General Wei and let Ma Chao fill the position of General Zuo." ”

General Wei?

Shen Chen's brows furrowed suddenly.

Strictly speaking, Liu Bei, as a prince, is not qualified to be awarded the title of general of Wei.

Because General Wei is ranked below the three dukes, he is a high-ranking general after the general, the hussar general and the chariot general, and ranks fourth in the Han general sequence.

The other four major generals are second to General Wei, and only the emperor can appoint them, and the princes and kings cannot appoint them.

Therefore, Liu Bei's award to General Wei must be a violation of the system, and it was not until Liu Bei became emperor that the positions of general, hussar general, chariot general, and Wei general appeared in Ji Han.

What's more, General Wei's position is above the former general, Guan Yu's personality is so arrogant, he has always thought that he is the second person in Liu Bei's group, even if Huang Zhongding's army beheaded Xiahou Yuan in history, he looked down on him, if he was above him, he might be a little dissatisfied.

So Shen Chen said: "The lord must not be like this, the prince can't set up a guard general in the palace, this is a violation of the system, not to mention that I, as a great Confucian at that time, how can I be a martial artist for a long time?" I am willing to be a civil servant, and Huang Zhong should be handed over as General Zuo. ”

Xiaoqing wants to transfer to civilian work?

Liu Bei was stunned for a moment, and then reacted, he should be taking Guan Yu's feelings into account.

Thinking of this, Liu Bei couldn't help but sigh, it's still good for Xiaoqing, thinking about others everywhere, unlike his unconscious third brother, who causes trouble everywhere.

"If you turn to internal history, with Xiaoqing's talent, you should be the ...... of Xiangguo"

"Kong Ming is more suitable than me."

"Then the pastor of Jingzhou, and the governor of Nanzhou."

Liu Bei thought for a while and said: "After Jiangdong is destroyed, you will be transformed into the pastor of Yizhou and the governor of Xichuan, which is under the prime minister and is on the same level as the prime minister." ”

The metropolitan governor controls the soldiers and horses of a state, for example, Jingzhou is Nanzhou, and the soldiers and horses of Jingzhou are all under the control of the metropolitan governor, if Shen Chen is transferred to the governor of Xichuan, then the soldiers and horses of Yizhou are also under his control, and the actual power is above the generals.

This is much greater than the previous General Zuo's military power.

But because this is a temporary position, and a non-permanent position, it is just that all the soldiers and horses are controlled by him during the war, which is equivalent to a civilian official in charge of the army, and Guan Yu probably will not have any resistance.

Shen Chen felt that there was no problem, so he said, "Everything is up to the lord." ”

Liu Bei asked again: "Xiaoqing said that he would be able to send troops to attack Wu in March this year, would this be too hasty, the war was only fought last year, and the people in the south were tired, and if they sent troops now, will the food and grass be insufficient?" ”

Shen Chen replied: "The grain and grass are fine, Jingzhou alone can provide for it." The main thing is to take advantage of its illness to kill it, Sun Quan is now suffering from internal and external troubles, rebellions are everywhere, many Jiangdong families, rebels, Shanyue and others are willing to write letters to us, if it drags on, let Sun Quan quell the rebellion, it will be difficult to fight. ”

"Hmm."

Liu Bei nodded: "Then it's all up to Xiaoqing." ”

Shen Chen thought for a while and said: "General Hansheng has a lot of merit, in the battle of Yixian, it was he who rescued in time to defeat Sun Quan. But he only had one son who died young, so why didn't the lord send someone to Nanyang to search for General Hansheng's clan and continue the general's heirs? ”

Liu Bei felt that this proposal was good, so he said, "Then I'll let Fei Yi go." ”

In history, Nanyang has been controlled by Cao Wei, Huang Zhong is a native of Nanyang, there is a clan but can not go back, and the heirs died early.

But now that Nanyang has been taken back by Shen Chen, according to the patriarchal law of the ancients, it is completely possible to find the heirs of the Huang clan to pass on to Huang Zhong.

It's just that Huang Zhong is old, and his brothers of the same age are afraid that they have died a long time ago, and it is difficult to find close relatives.

However, the origin of Nanyang Huang's family is very easy to check.

He is a descendant of Huang Zilian, the Taishou of Nanyang during the period of Emperor Liu Bao of Han Shun, and currently inhabits Wancheng and other places.

After Huang Zilian spread his branches in Nanyang, one of them migrated to Lingling County in Jingnan, and Huang Gai was the descendant of the Lingling Huang family.

Therefore, Huang Zhong and Huang Gai are still brothers of the same clan.

Liu Bei could have sent someone to Huang Zhong's hometown to find Huang Zhong's recent bloodline through Huang Zhong's people.

For example, the descendants of brothers or cousins can solve the problem of Huang Zhong having no heirs.

The two talked about something else.

At this time, Chen Zhi outside the courtyard said: "Lord, Xiangguo and the right prime minister are here." ”

"Oh?"

Liu Bei hurriedly said: "Quickly let Kong Ming filial piety and let them in." ”

"Yui."

Chen will pass it on when he arrives.

Liu Bei turned his head to Shen Chen and smiled: "Kong Ming called him over today, and he also said that he wanted to deal with official business, but he didn't expect to come now." ”

"Maybe it's official business, or maybe there's something urgent all of a sudden."

Shen Chen washed a teacup and prepared to make another pot of tea.

After a while, Zhuge Liang and Fa Zheng came in, saw Shen Chen there, nodded slightly and said hello, and then bowed to Liu Bei: "Lord." ”

】

"Kong Ming, filial piety, come and sit."

Liu Bei greeted them.

Unexpectedly, Zhuge Liang said solemnly: "Lord, there is official business." ”

"What's wrong?" Liu Bei asked.

"Northern Emergency."

Zhuge Liang presented the official document in his hand.

Liu Bei opened the official document, glanced at it, and then his face changed slightly.

Shen Chen saw that his face was not right, and asked, "Lord, what happened." ”

"Cao Cao is dead."

Liu Bei sighed slowly: "I didn't expect him to die so quickly, I don't know why, I didn't feel very happy to be an opponent for a lifetime, but I was a little sad." ”

Zhuge Liang said: "But this is a gratifying thing after all, after Cao Cao's death, the internal instability of the Wei State, it is more convenient for us to pacify Jiangdong." ”

"Hmm."

Liu Bei handed the official document to Shen Chen and asked, "Xiaoqing, what do you think?" ”

"Is the lord asking me?"

Shen Chen's face was neither sad nor happy, as quiet as a puddle of lake.

Liu Bei nodded: "Yes." ”

"I have only two words to say about it."

Shen Chen's calm gaze looked at the north, and said softly: "Good death!" ”