Xu Shu hurried into the tent and bowed, "I have something to report to the provincial governor!"

Liu Jing glanced at Jia Xu. Jia Xu understood and smiled at Xu Shu, and walked out of the tent with his hands behind his back. Then Liu Jing waved his hand to Xu Shu and said, "Yuan Zhi, please sit down and say!"

Xu Shu sat down and bowed, "I want to talk to the provincial governor about the prisoners of war."

"The chief minister must be very surprised. He actually has more than 100,000 laborers, which is a huge wealth from heaven."

"no!"

Xu Shu shook his head and said, "On the contrary, I feel very distressed because we can't support so many people, and Jiangxia doesn't have so much land for them to cultivate."

Liu Jing couldn't help but feel a little amused. He remembered the last time Xu Shu complained to him in Wuchang about the serious shortage of manpower, and now he complained that there are too many prisoners of war.

Xu Shu seemed to understand Liu Jing's thoughts and sighed: "I have said that the labor force is better, but the provincial governor captured 160,000 prisoners of war this time, which is far beyond Jiang Xia's ability to bear it. In fact, we only

It takes 20,000 or 30,000 labor to be enough.”

Xu Shu paused for a moment and said, "In fact, most of these prisoners of war are northern farmers. The provincial governor should consider putting them back. People are grateful, which lays the foundation for us to gain support from the lower class when we enter the Central Plains in the future. I hope

The state governor can have a longer-term vision.”

Liu Jing laughed, "It turns out that Yuan Zhi is also a kind and righteous person."

Xu Shu blushed, "I don't agree with the state's governor when he released 10,000 prisoners of war in Cao's army. It was because Jiangxia was short of labor at that time, but once and forth. Since Chibi won, we need to make long-term plans and make prisoners of war.

Putting them back to the north and allowing them to return to their hometowns to reunite with their families will not only win the hearts of the people, but also win the support of the great gentry in the north. This is a long-term deal.”

"But I plan to pick out 30,000 elite troops from the surrendered stroke to replenish my troops."

"It's okay to let 30,000 people go back. I think it's better to release the rest of the surrendered soldiers."

Liu Jing walked a few steps behind his back, then turned around and asked, "Why did Yuan Zhi say that he could win the support of the northern aristocratic people?"

Xu Shu hesitated and said, "Before I came, I happened to chat with Sima Yi. When talking about the current situation in various places in the north, he said that most of the northern farmers were dependent on the aristocratic tribes, while the little geniuses were dependent on the aristocratic tribes. These prisoners of war were actually the foundation of the aristocratic tribes.

.

Cao Cao used the power of the whole country to fight against the gentry this time, and was widely opposed by the gentry. Kong Rong was killed, which means that Cao Cao killed one hundred people and prohibited the gentry from opposing the gentry. Although no one dared to object, he was dissatisfied.

In the heart.

This time, Cao Cao's great defeat will inevitably shake his foundation in the north. The return of the state-master's prisoners will also make the northern gentry see hope. I believe that the state-master will gain something politically."

Liu Jing nodded and said in depth. He really wanted to have a good talk with Sima Yi.

"I will consider the matter of prisoners of war again, and I will not be in a hurry. In addition, I have another thing I want Yuanzhi to help, which is about seizing Jiangling."

Speaking of this, Liu Jing had a smile on his face, but for some reason, Xu Shu always felt that there was nothing good in this smile.

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In the afternoon, Liu Jing summoned generals above the Ya General and more than a dozen civil officials to discuss the plan to attack Jiangling. Although the generals, including Huang Zhong, unanimously requested to march into Jiangling immediately, they were unanimously opposed by civil officials headed by Xu Shu.

In the big tent, Xu Shu and Wei Yan competed against each other. Xu Shu said sternly: "General Wei only considers fighting, but does not consider the feelings of the people of Jiangxia, and does not consider whether Jiangxia can still withstand such a large-scale war? I might as well tell General Wei the truth, Wuchang

There are ninety-nine empty granaries in one hundred and ten, and the supply of grain in private camps is extremely tight, so I can only provide relief porridge every day. Why am I in a hurry to come to Chibi? It’s because Jiangxia can’t support it soon!”

Liu Jing, who was sitting in the upper position, said silently. He originally wanted to ask Xu Shu to share his worries, but he did not expect that Xu Shu would agree to continue fighting.

Now Liu Jing realized the seriousness of the problem, mainly because there are too many fleeing people. Jiangxia has gathered more than 500,000 people, almost one Jiangxia has come to bear most of the people in Jingzhou.

At the same time, it also has to bear the military rations of 60,000 troops and 100,000 militias. If it weren't for some of the food savings in the past and the good harvest this year, Jiangxia would not have won the war at all.

Of course, Liu Jing also knew that there were some loopholes in Xu Shu's words. For example, 110 granaries have actually only 60% of them in stock, but it was just because Xu Shu wanted to help him that the concept was confused.

Wei Yan's face turned red with anger, and his eyes were filled with anger. He stared at Xu Shu viciously and said, "This time, the Red Cliff victory, we seized 200,000 stones of food. Isn't it enough?"

"But you have also captured more than 100,000 troops, and supporting them will also cost a lot of food. Didn't General Wei think about it?" Xu Shu retorted without hesitation.

"this....."

Wei Yan was speechless, his mind was in a mess. He could not imagine refuting Xu Shu's words for a moment, so he had to stare at Xu Shu fiercely. At this time, Gan Ning was about to get up to answer the conversation, Huang Zhong next to him pulled him for a moment. Gan Ning was stunned and looked at him in confusion.

Huang Zhong and Huang Zhong winked at him. Although Gan Ning didn't quite understand, he stopped standing up.

After a moment of silence in the tent, Li Jun stood up and saluted and said, "I want to say something. Although there is insufficient food, there is no way to solve it. We seized a large amount of money and materials, especially more than 100,000 livestock, which is the most precious thing in the south.

The wealth can be entrusted by merchants to Qichun County and Jiujiang County to exchange grain, so that there will be guaranteed military rations to continue fighting. What does Xu Changshi think?"

"But even if you go to Qichun County and Jiujiang County to exchange grain, it will take at least more than a month. How can such a simple thing be done?"

"Okay, don't argue anymore!"

Seeing that the time was ripe, Liu Jing finally spoke. The big tent suddenly became quiet. Xu Shu bowed and sat down slowly. Liu Jing said to Wei Yan again: "General Wei, please sit down first!"

Wei Yan glared at Xu Shu fiercely and had to sit down. Liu Jing slowly said to everyone: "Jiangling must fight, but we also need to consider the local ability to bear it, so I decided to adopt General Li's plan and use livestock.

It takes some time for the neighboring counties to exchange food, of course, so let’s do it! The 100,000 militia will be disbanded and returned home to save food, and the army will rest for half a month.”

Speaking of this, Liu Jing asked Xu Shu again, "I can only delay it for half a month at most, is it OK?"

Xu Shu nodded helplessly, "Okay! Just half a month."

"That's what it's decided."

Liu Jing stood up and said to the generals: "Half a month later, the army will march towards Jiangling!"

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Huang Zhong was responsible for guarding the Chibi Camp. He was ordered to come to Jiangbei to attend the military meeting in the afternoon. He was about to return to his tent, but Gan Ning chased him from behind, "Please stay with the old general!"

"Is there anything wrong with General Gan?" Huang Zhong smiled.

"Why did the old general stop me when he was arguing just now?"

"This..." Huang Zhong hesitated for a moment, shook his head and said, "Actually nothing?"

Gan Ning saw Huang Zhong's hesitation and said seriously: "Is there anything else that can't be said to me by General Huang?"

Huang Zhong had no choice but to point to his big tent, "Go to the tent and talk!"

The two of them sat down after entering the tent, and then Huang Zhong said slowly: "There is a word first, and General Gan must not spread what I say now."

"Don't worry, the veteran general, I am a person who understands the truth."

Huang Zhong then asked with a smile: "General Wei was so angry today that he didn't hear the loophole in Xu Shu's words. Did General Gan hear it?"

Gan Ning nodded, "We seized 200,000 stones of grain, and it is impossible to use them all to raise prisoners of war. It would be good to give them 50,000 stones of grain. Why are our people hungry, but prisoners of war can eat enough? So Xu Changshi

There is something wrong with this."

"It's right. Not only is there a loophole in this sentence, but there are loopholes in other words. For example, the government has no food, but the local farmers in Jiangxia have food in their hands. There are many wealthy families and wealthy families in Changsha County. They have no food in their hands.

If you accumulate less grain, why do you have to go to the neighboring county to exchange food? Isn’t it enough to change food in your own hands?"

"The old general is right!"

Gan Ning sighed, and he realized that there were many loopholes hidden in it. He didn't even hear it, but he was still confused and said, "Since that's the case, why didn't the old general let me say it?"

"The problem is here, you can hear it. Could it be that with the cleverness of the governor of the state, he doesn't understand?"

Gan Ning was stunned for a while, and then he felt a little responsive, "The old general said that postponing the attack on Jiangling is actually what the governor of the state?"

"It must be so. He just borrowed Xu Changshi to object."

Although Huang Zhong is a military general, he has been in the Jingzhou officialdom for decades and is better at understanding the world than Wei Yan and Gan Ning, who are rising stars. He saw the tacit understanding between Liu Jing and Xu Shu, and realized that he should not speak too much.

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"But... why didn't the governor of the state tell everyone clearly?" Gan Ning was still a little puzzled.

Huang Zhong said lightly: "The governor of the state must have had no choice but to have no choice but to let his subordinates know, so he asked Changshi Xu to object."

Speaking of this, Huang Zhong said earnestly: "General Gan, there is one thing you need to remember, he is the lord. We should not know too much about the lord's mind. For the general, we only need to execute the orders and not try.

Change the lord’s decision.”
To be continued...