On August 11, Liu Xiang received two battle reports.
Jie Xiu captured three thousand enemies and captured Shi Liu Ai, the general who conquered the west.
Captured Yong'an, killed 600 enemies, captured 2,030 prisoners, captured 108 ships, and 40,000 shi of grain and fodder.
In addition to yesterday's battle, 1,400 Dong Yue and his men were killed, and 4,600 infantry and cavalry were captured.
After counting the results of these days, we found that nearly 10,000 enemies were captured and more than 4,000 were killed. Old Dong had already lost half of his troops.
No more fighting.
He needs Dong Zhuo alive, or in other words, he needs a powerful Liangzhou Army to usher in the troubled times for him.
It's time to negotiate. At this time, Dong Zhuo will no longer have the idea of attacking Bingzhou. He is not a lunatic who doesn't know how to advance or retreat.
The tent was set up three hundred paces outside the north gate of the Liangzhou military camp. Liu Xiang sat north and faced south, setting up wine to wait.
Dong Zhuo swaggered into the hut with a few servants. He bowed his hands in a perfunctory manner and considered it a courtesy. After sitting down, without saying anything, he drank a bowl of wine.
"Good wine, dense and sweet, really good wine."
"Aren't you afraid that I will poison you to death?" Liu Xiang teased.
"It's useless to be afraid, I've drunk all the wine." Dong Zhuo looked like he was not stingy: "The army is on the side, the back road is cut off, and I have lost. You don't want Dong to grovel and beg for mercy, do you? Wait until you kill me
Let’s wait until the end of the battle.”
He knew that the opponent did not want to fight, otherwise who would negotiate when they were about to win.
He was wronged for losing this battle, and the traitor was not found. Although he was not convinced, a loss was a loss. A man who can bend and stretch can only make a comeback by keeping his old position.
"It's not the first time you've lost to me, why are you so upset? Don't worry, there's no deep hatred between you and me. I won't embarrass you." Liu Xiang smiled happily, and extorting money always made him feel happy.
"What do you want this time?"
Dong Zhuo recalled the days when he used Hexi stallions to redeem his life. In the blink of an eye, it had been almost four years. The person opposite had grown up, but he himself was old, which made him suddenly feel a little sad.
"Nine thousand and nine hundred prisoners, I can return them to you."
"It looks like I need to cut off my flesh."
Liu Xiang smiled and stretched out two fingers: "Not much, two thousand iron armors, two thousand powerful crossbows, and help me kill thirteen families of Bingzhou nobles."
These thirteen gentry families were those who withdrew from Bingzhou along with Liu Yu. Liu Xiang couldn't kill people openly, and it would be a hidden danger to keep them, so he wanted to borrow a sword.
If they can move Dong Zhuo to beat them this time, they will definitely cause other troubles next time and cannot be allowed to stay.
Dong Zhuo felt bitter in his heart. The iron armor and the powerful crossbow made his body hurt, but it was not impossible to take them out, but he could not bear the charge of massacring the scholars.
"Why kill them?"
"I'm so good at killing people!"
"Then do it yourself."
"I don't dare."
Dong Zhuo was extremely angry: "If you don't dare, then I do?"
"Then I don't care. You choose one of the soldiers, horses and nobles. The captured Liu Ai can also be returned to you."
Dong Zhuo's attention was attracted by Liu Ai's name. He rolled his eyes and asked calmly: "Liu Ai was caught by you?"
"Caught together with the sneak attack."
"It seems that Liu Ai didn't betray me." Dong Zhuo muttered in his heart, who is the thief?
He fell into deep thought, not only considering the problem of the traitor, but also weighing which one to choose between reputation and troops.
Liu Xiang offered him advice: "I can return the salted heads to you. If you take them to the court to report your merits, tell them about the captured Yellow Turban bandits, and then ask for weapons. For those nobles, you can send your Hu
If someone goes to kill someone, at most he will be accused of being lax in his command and allowing barbarians to plunder, so it’s not a big deal.”
Dong Zhuo rolled his eyes: "Iron armor and powerful crossbows are so easy to come by?"
"You don't want anything more."
"Okay, when will the road be opened?"
"First give me armor and strong crossbows, and then our troops will withdraw from Yong'an, and then we will hand over the prisoners." Seeing Dong Zhuo's hesitation, Liu Xiang added: "Can you still not trust my credibility? This is not the first time.
Why bother coquettishly?"
Dong Zhuo sighed, the situation was stronger than his own, and he had to bow his head. The choice between annihilating the entire army and bringing back 20,000 troops was clear at a glance.
"It's as you said." He admitted failure and accepted the terms of redemption.
Neither of them mentioned the thirteen noble families in Bingzhou. Their fate has been decided, so there is no need to talk nonsense.
Things went smoothly after that. Liu Xiang obtained the ordnance, and Zhang He's troops returned to the army with the captured weapons. They also brought back seven or eight thousand people who were willing to follow them and come to Bingzhou to farm.
Dong Zhuo went to the imperial court and defeated the Black Mountain bandits, beheading more than 4,000 enemies. Because his soldiers were exhausted and their war equipment was broken, the army returned to Yong'an for repairs.
"The Indestructible King of the Great Village"
That night the Qiang went into chaos and invaded the counties in Hanoi, killing more than 10,000 people and looting countless assets. Dong Zhuo hurriedly mobilized his army to go south to quell the chaos. It took more than half a month before Hanoi was pacified, and he returned to Yong'an to confront the Yellow Turbans in Montenegro.
At the end of August, Liu Ai said goodbye to Xu Rong, who came to see him off, and led nearly 10,000 captives south.
The battle between the Anping Army and the Liangzhou Army at Jieshan ultimately decided the ownership of the three counties in Bingzhou.
Liu Xiang left his army behind more than half a month ago and rushed back to Youzhou with only Su Wei. The experimental fields were about to be harvested, and the technology of raising seedlings and transplanting rice seedlings was about to be put to the final test.
Along with him, those who rushed to Zhuoxian County were farmers selected from each township in Youzhou's eighty-five counties who were good at farming. According to the traditional culture of respecting the elderly among the Han people, those who came here were basically old people.
Since the beginning of the year, Fan Xian has led his subordinates to explain the techniques of raising seedlings and transplanting rice in various counties, and also elaborated on the benefits of promoting paddy fields. With Liu Xiang's reputation as his endorsement, people in various townships have already built greenhouses, but they are not at ease.
I'm looking forward to the harvest from the experimental fields.
Therefore, Liu Xiang ordered them to choose their own representatives and come over to witness them with their own eyes.
This created a spectacular scene of four to five thousand people waiting eagerly around eight acres of rice fields.
Officials measured the land in public, and more than a hundred young men were harvested with sickles. They were threshed and weighed on the spot. From eight acres of land, a total of 24 dendrobiums and eight buckets of rice were harvested, which is more than three husks and one bucket per mu. Because rice is heavier than wheat millet, the yield per mu weighs three shi.
Half, converted to modern measurement units, is two hundred and ten kilograms.
The crowd is in a commotion. This year's disaster has affected the fields. Although the remaining fields have not been harvested yet, experienced farmers all know that it would be good to have half the harvest of previous years. That is to say, relying on the frivolous taxes in Youzhou, the farmers only charge a certain proportion.
Land tax, otherwise, they would have to consider fleeing from famine.
And the rice fields created by the general, where seedlings are first cultivated and then transplanted, are 10 to 20% more productive than in good years. This is God's blessing.
Paddy fields must be replaced!
Must plant rice seedlings!
Who doesn’t want to be in a hurry?
"General Rende, you really didn't deceive us."
"With the blessing of our ancestors, it is a blessing for us, the common people, to live under the rule of the general."
The crowd was talking a lot, and the last obstacle to the promotion of paddy fields and seedling cultivation disappeared. People kept saluting in the direction of Liu Xiang, shouting "General's benevolence" and "General's kindness".
Liu Xiang smiled and nodded, returned the greetings one by one, and ordered a banquet to be held to entertain the old farmers who came here.
He had already thought of a name, and he called it Thousand Farmers' Banquet to initiate agricultural reforms that would change the planting structure and methods.
Fan Xian was afraid that he would make a wrong judgment, so he quickly explained: "The experimental fields are cultivated intensively, with three fertilizations and timely irrigation. The yield is somewhat falsely high. If private cultivation is promoted, the yield will definitely fall."
“How much will production be reduced?”
“It’s about three stones in the upper field and more than two stones in the lower field.”
Liu Xiang was relieved. After popularization, the output would be enough to feed the people and supply the army.
Paddy fields are highly resistant to drought and floods, and their yields are relatively stable, which is sufficient.
"Is the rice transplanting method feasible in dry fields?" he asked.
Changing fields is definitely not a one-size-fits-all matter.
Fan Xian explained in detail: "It is feasible, but not necessary. Most of the existing fields are in river basins. In recent years, the Lord has ordered people to dig many water diversion channels and drill many wells. Most of them meet the standards for replacing paddy fields."
, even some mulberry fields can be changed.
The remaining part can be replaced with fields for planting fruit trees, mulberry, hemp, and vegetables. My lord, there are a lot of grain fields in Youzhou. The weaving workshops everywhere are extremely short of silk, hemp and other raw materials. They can only be trafficked from other states, and the cost is high.
Not doing so is not a long-term solution, and the people in the city are also short of vegetables to eat. We can't just grow food."
Liu Xiang nodded, this is a good thing as the living conditions of the people in Youzhou have improved and their needs have increased.
"Ziming, you need to worry more about replacing paddy fields after the autumn harvest. We will also deal with the replacement of mulberry fields. Let's open up wasteland for vegetables, fruit trees, etc. There are plenty of hills and mountains. Next article, three years of tax exemption, and other
The amount will be reduced by half in the next two years, and the farmland will be owned by me."
After speaking, he emphasized: "The quantity of grain fields must be ensured. Every ten acres of Yongye field must be used to grow grain. Don't be afraid of too much grain. Only with grain can people's hearts be stable."
He insisted on this. Only by having food can he support people and do what he wants to do:
Enough food for the soldiers, both plowing and fighting.
Bring the people from the north and head south to fight for the world!