NOVPUBThe joyous occasion of Liu Ye naturally called for the presence of Liu Bei, and with such a celebration, Guan and Zhang were indispensable. Everyone stationed at Fenggao, including Zhao Yun who had just returned from Licheng and Qu Qi, all made an appearance.
Quirky as Qu Qi may have been, he took agriculture very seriously. Hearing that Zhao Yun had scoured the entire Mount Tai to collect all the techniques that could improve grain yield, Qu Qi didn’t linger in Fenggao. The next day, he headed straight to Licheng, needing to understand all the proposals to acquire the best farming methods.
Qu Qi’s teaching method was simple: with a full granary comes the understanding of etiquette, employing the most practical approach. Therefore, high-quality farming methods and seeds were essential for Qu Qi. His concept of education was that once everyone had enough to eat, they would naturally have time to study etiquette.
As for the things Qu Qi read about in books before, he dismissed them as pie in the sky. How could he expect people who barely had enough to eat to understand and practice propriety? What a joke; it was out of touch with reality! Being realistic, sitting down to talk about how to ensure everybody had enough food was far more sensible.
In about five days, Qu Qi had absorbed everything he could from Zhao Yun. Then, Chen Xi ordered Zhao Yun to return in preparation for the summer planting, leaving the protection of the north to Zang Ba and Taishi Ci.
The reason for Zhao Yun’s return was simple: he had credibility. After the last summer’s planting, the people of Mount Tai had come to trust Zhao Yun implicitly. As long as Zhao Yun explained how to plant, they would certainly accept it. If anyone else tried, they could forget about gaining the peasants’ approval. After all, Zhao Yun had become familiar enough with them and done well enough to have a face recognized everywhere in Mount Tai for a meal.
Therefore, Qu Qi’s impractical farming techniques all fell onto Zhao Yun’s shoulders; only he could promote them. Truly, no one would believe Qu Qi. After all, the land determined the next year’s food, so unless they were genuinely convinced, people of the Han Dynasty would rather be safe than sorry. Who would dare gamble with their livelihood on an unproven method that might increase yield?
Qu Qi, too, was somewhat helpless about this, feeling a certain resignation akin to "Though my heart is set on the bright moon, alas, the moon illuminates only the ditches." Yet he didn’t make any fuss about it. Instead, he even expressed gratitude toward Zhao Yun. It was evident that the young man wasn’t the type to be arrogant and look down on others, despite being somewhat brash due to his youth.
The banquet hadn’t gone on for long when Fa Zheng, his hair a mess and donning a headscarf, walked in, grabbing food and eating without a care. These past several days, trying to decipher what exactly Cao Cao in Yanzhou was planning to do, had exhausted him. Attacking Yuan Shu was almost certain, but the details of when, how, and why were still causing Fa Zheng’s head to spin.
Neither Guo Jia nor Jia Xu offered any hints to Fa Zheng. Jia Xu felt like he was handling hot potatoes when he took over the intelligence department. He resolved issues without involving himself with Liu Bei and Chen Xi from his first day to avoid potential conflicts of interest.
Jia Xu was very aware that even though he was a masterless man, taking a prominent position right after arriving with Liu Bei was bound to attract envy. Even with Guo Fengxiao’s balance during his leisure times, Jia Xu did not want to leave a bad impression.
Hence, Jia Xu did not take direct control, serving only as the highest-ranking officer. He delegated authority to Fa Zheng after confirmation with Guo Jia, which served as dual training for Fa Zheng and familiarization with the current situation under Liu Bei’s command.
Guo Jia wished to see Fa Zheng independently handle this incident. As long as he could discern even a hint of intelligence through the hands of Xun Yu, Xun You, Cheng Yu, and Xi Zhicai, it would prove that Fa Zheng truly had boundless prospects.
As for whether to make preparations, the consensus between Jia Xu and Guo Jia was to act as if they had not noticed anything. Whether it was Cao Cao’s annexation of the Lu Kingdom to provoke Yuan Shu, or his coercion of Xuzhou, it would be advantageous for Mount Tai. It was the unanimous opinion of all strategists at Mount Tai that the grain-producing region of Xuzhou had to forge a deep alliance with Mount Tai.
Guo Jia was well aware that Fa Zheng’s focus was definitely on Yingchuan, not only because Yingchuan was the homeland of Cao Mengde’s leading civil officials but also because conquering Yingchuan and Jingzhou’s recapture of Nanyang County would enable the two to form an alliance. Afterward, it would become very difficult for Yuan Shu to seize any county, and with Jingzhou’s grain supply, the greatest issue would be resolved in an instant, paving the way for takeoff.
However, Guo Jia was even clearer on one point: given Cao Mengde’s disposition, he certainly would not focus on the tightly-defended Yingchuan, especially not when the summer harvest was approaching!
The reason was simple: Cao Cao did not have enough troops to take down Yingchuan. To be precise, he no longer had that many veteran soldiers! Liu Dai’s death had taken away the veteran soldiers of Yanzhou, while Cao Mengde had already lost all his veteran troops in the pursuit of Dong Zhuo, leaving him with numerous valiant generals but only able to fight when the winds were favorable. New recruits could not handle tough battles, and even with valiant generals as commanders, it would be hard to prevent an immediate collapse. Worse still, new soldiers might even drag the valiant generals into retreat, or their presence in the front could scatter even the veterans behind them!
In short, without a year or half-year of training and several major battles, new recruits could only serve as a facade. This was why Cao Cao was in such a difficult position.
As for Mount Tai, the situation was much better. There were many veterans, and when Chen Xi was organizing the troops, he made sure that each battle-seasoned veteran supervised at most two new recruits. This was why, although Chen Xi brought over ten thousand veterans to Mount Tai, there were still less than forty thousand in the regular army that could truly be considered battle-ready.
Once this batch of veterans was trained, expanding the force would be much easier; just slot some men into each veteran troop, and it would be about right.
After all, with a Qingzhou now under control, forty thousand regular troops were not even enough to defend key passes, so expansion became a necessity. As for Tuntian Soldiers and the like, Chen Xi never counted on them—they truly were only good for inflating numbers to intimidate, capturing prisoners, and guarding the rear. If a real battle broke out, they were just for show.
Everyone had a sense of these matters. Zang Ba, Taishi Ci, and Sun Guan, who were yet to become main generals, were all waiting for the summer harvest. After the harvest, with grain in the stores, they could be promoted to chief generals, lead their own troops, and put some serious effort into training, officially brandishing their own banners. As for the horses needed by each division, Zang Ba and the others had already accounted for them—the warhorses plundered by Hua Xiong from Xiliang, along with the return gifts from Gongsun Bogui, would be more than sufficient.
However, as a high-caliber troop type, neither Taishi Ci nor Zang Ba had any confidence in training cavalry. In the whole of Mount Tai, only Zhao Yun and Hua Xiong could handle such training. It was clear that Zhao Yun, who would be tied up with civil duties during the summer harvest and planting season, was unreliable. They could only muddle through with Hua Xiong’s help. Thinking of the two to three years required for cavalry to become effective, Zang Ba’s face turned green. He even considered allocating a thousand cavalry from Hua Xiong to himself and handing over his own horses to Hua Xiong, letting Hua Xiong train them as a gift for his position as deputy general.
(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you are welcome to vote for it at Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)
