Liu Jing quickly walked to the outer study room. The study door was open, and a large area of ​​light shot out from the room, illuminating the yard. From a distance, he saw Xu Shu paced back and forth in the room, looking worried.

Liu Jing couldn't help laughing. As the steward, it was really difficult for him to resettle the fugitives, to repatriate the people after the war, and to plan more than 100,000 troops to make money and food.

"Are Yuan Zhi worried about Chaimi again?" Liu Jing walked into the room with a smile.

Xu Shu hurriedly bowed and said, "See the governor of the state!"

"Sit down and talk!" Liu Jing waved his hand and asked Xu Shu to sit down with a smile.

Xu Shu sat down, smiled bitterly, and said, "I just finished the Battle of Chibi, and got 200,000 stones of grain. I got 150,000 stones of grain from Jiangling and Xiangyang. I got 50,000 stones of grain from Pengze Water Village. Logically, so much food is enough to support the battle against Jiangdong. I shouldn't have any worries, but when I think about the future, I always feel very heavy."

"What are you worried about in the future?"

Liu Jing asked with a smile: "Is our taxes not enough to support soldiers?"

“Frankly, that’s true!”

Xu Shu sighed softly, "In fact, from the beginning, we have been far from being able to pay. The taxes of Jiangxia County can only support 20,000 to 30,000 troops at most, and the other tens of thousands of troops are supported by the Tao family. Today, Tao Sheng came to visit me and told me a unfortunate news that both Bashu and Jiangdong banned trade with Jingzhou, which means that we can't buy food even if we have money."

It is understandable that Jiangdong's decision was made, but Bashu also banned trade with Jingzhou, which was beyond Liu Jing's expectations. He thought to himself: "Is there really a problem with new money?"

Xu Shu continued: "The main reason is that a large amount of materials have flowed into Jingzhou in the past six months, which has aroused the vigilance of Bashu and Jiangdong. At the beginning of the year, Bashu and Jiangdong successively banned grain trade. Now all trade is banned. We minted new money, but we did not expect it to cause such a big problem."

Liu Jing pondered for a moment and asked, "Are we relying so much on trade?"

Xu Shu sighed, "Bashu's carbonite and Jiangdong's iron ore are indispensable to us, but I am more worried that there will be problems with the food!"

Liu Jing walked a few steps behind his back, and suddenly turned around and said, "But didn't the grain produced in Jingzhou ten years ago feed the 130,000 troops?"

Xu Shu understood Liu Jing’s question: In the past, food was self-sufficient, so why can’t it work now?

He thought for a while and said, "In the past, he was able to be self-sufficient. Xiangyang alone could support 50,000 troops, and Nanjun could also support 30,000 troops. But the problem is that Cao Cao's southern invasion caused great damage to Jingzhou. Although the population was not much reduced, considering the land was deserted, rebuilding homes and other factors, it would take at least three years to restore the grain production in Jingzhou in the past. I was worried that we would not last for so long."

Liu Jing was a little confused when he heard this. He knew Xu Shu very well. Xu Shu would never bother him about what happened three years later. There must be a very urgent real problem. Liu Jing glanced at him and asked with a smile: "Tell me the truth! What happened now?"

Xu Shu was helpless and could only sigh and said, "To be honest, the official warehouse has run out of food. I originally thought there was no big problem, because we had enough money, and we still had a lot of gold in our hands, and our money has a high copper content and is very popular everywhere, so I plan to buy a lot of food.

Unexpectedly, the Tao family told me that both Bashu and Jiangdong banned trade with us, which made my plan empty. Now the fugitives are starting to return to Xiangyang and Nanjun one after another, and they just need a lot of food. At least by this autumn, the government will have to provide relief to them. However, the total amount of grain in the official warehouses in various places is less than 20,000 shi, and there is no rice to put into the pot."

Only then did Liu Jing understand what Xu Shu meant. It turned out that he was here to ask himself for grain from the military warehouse.

Whether it is the spoils from the Battle of Chibi or the spoils from Jiangling and Xiangyang, they are all owned by the military and stored in the military warehouses in Xiakou and Wuchang. The food alone is as much as 380,000 stones, but these materials and grain belong to the army and have nothing to do with the local government.

Liu Jing pondered for a while and asked, "How much food do you need before the September autumn harvest?"

Xu Shu had long considered the food shortage. Seeing that Liu Jing had the intention to agree, he hurriedly said: "It costs at least 300,000 stones, but we can exchange livestock for 100,000 stones of grain from the farmers in Jiangxia County and Changsha County, but there is still a gap of 200,000 stones."

Liu Jing nodded, "I still have the same old saying, there is not enough food. You can transfer it from the military warehouse, but it cannot be transferred at one time. You need to adjust as much as you need. I think there will be a big change in the problem of insufficient food within two months."

Xu Shu thought, "Does the governor of the state refer to Jiangdong?"

Liu Jing smiled slightly, "It's not necessarily Jiangdong."

Xu Shu's carriage left Liu Jing's mansion and drove on the wide avenue. Moonlight shot through the gap in the car window, shining on Xu Shu's complex expression.

He was still recalling the last few words Liu Jing said to him, "You did a good job in raising grain prices last year. Now we want to develop and accumulate strength. Not only do we need to plunder from the outside, but we must also make the people tighten their belts appropriately."

"In the past, Qin was extremely weak in the seven countries, but in the end they could unify the world. What was the basis for plundering the wealth of the people. We also had to collect wealth from the people. We were not to use it for pleasure and squander, but to support the army, build weapons, and buy pig iron. Jingzhou has been stable for decades and the people are prosperous. Xu Changshi, we have to find a way to collect wealth. Now is not the time to enjoy happiness. When the world is unified, we will reduce taxes to Jingzhou!"

Xu Shu couldn't help but sigh. Although it was difficult for him to accept the theory of plundering people's wealth, in fact, this is another necessary way for a country to be strong, and it is often difficult to achieve both.

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It is not far from Chaisang to Xiazhi County, about 150 miles. The hills along the way are undulating and covered with large forests. If you march day and night, it will take only a day and a half. However, the eight thousand troops led by Zhou Yu walked for three days. They rested in the dense forest during the day, marched at night, hid in the day and walked at night, and secretly headed towards Xiazhi County.

Zhou Yu participated in the Battle of Chibi. He knew the power of tincture oil well, especially for water wars, which was simply the nemesis of warships. Unfortunately, Jiangdong searched in the territory for many years, but he never found tincture oil, which made Zhou Yu extremely disappointed.

Zhou Yu had always firmly opposed the Jiangdong Army's expedition this time. It was not until he heard that Xu Sheng had captured Chaisang that his position finally relaxed. He opposed the Western Expedition, but he would never oppose the capture of Xiazhi County, which was the tincture oil production area of ​​the Jiangxia Army. If it could be occupied, it would have great strategic significance for the Jiangdong Army.

But Zhou Yu also knew that Xiazhi County was equally important to Jiangxia, and Liu Jing would never leave an empty county for him, and Liu Jing would definitely station heavy troops in Xiazhi County.

In the evening, the sunset had already set, the red glow in the sky had faded into a light pink twilight mist, and the sky gradually changed from light blue to a faint green. In a valley thirty miles away from Xiazhi County, eight thousand Jiangdong troops were gathering together to have dinner in groups, preparing to set off after dark.

In a forest composed of dozens of big trees, a marching tent was temporarily built. In the tent, Zhou Yu stood in front of the map and pondered for a long time. Xu Sheng and Ding Feng stood beside him. Xu Sheng was the deputy general of Zhou Yu's expedition to Xiazhi County, and Ding Feng was the pioneer.

Zhou Yu was thinking about countermeasures to seize Xiazhi County. Now they are only thirty miles away from Xiazhi County. The war is right in front of them, but how to fight? How to seize Xiazhi? Zhou Yu does not have a clear plan yet. If he cannot succeed in his wisdom, he can only attack.

At this time, Ding Feng next to him said, "Report to the Guardian Army, the last time the Beiye was forced to retreat by the Jiangxia army was because the Clippers were burned by tinder oil in the water. They did understand the power of tinder oil. This time we must avoid marching from the water."

"We don't even have a boat, what does it have to do with the march in the water?" Zhou Yu glared at him with some dissatisfaction.

Ding Feng was so scared that he didn't dare to say another word. Zhou Yu also realized that he was too tough and said slowing down: "I also know that the turbulent oil of the Jiangxia army is powerful, so we naturally need to be more careful. The key now is that I am considering seizing Xiazhi County at the lowest cost, but I suffer from insufficient intelligence."

At this time, a soldier outside the tent reported: "Report to the guards, the scouts came back and brought a herb collector. It is said that they learned about the situation in Xiazhi County."

Zhou Yu was overjoyed and quickly ordered: "Come in!"

After a moment, several scouts brought an old man in. This was an old man in his sixties. He was thin but very energetic. He knelt down and kowtowed and said, "Little Min Hong Yun kowtowed to the general!"

"Please get up, father-in-law!"

Zhou Yu signaled his personal soldiers to help the old man up, and then asked him with a smile: "Where is the father-in-law from? How could he know the situation in Xiazhi County?"

"Xiaomin is from Xiazhi County. He makes a living by collecting herbs. He was moved to Yangxin County last year. Because he often collects herbs nearby, he is more familiar with the situation in Xiazhi County."

Zhou Yu nodded and asked again: "Do you know how many garrisons are in Xiazhi County now??"

The old man smiled bitterly and said, "Xiaomin is not sure, but there were many Jiangxia troops coming about ten days ago, and there were probably ten thousand people. As for who the leader was, Xiaomin really didn't know."

Zhou Yu asked about some more situations, and then ordered people to take the old man down. He walked to the map, pondered for a moment, and said to Xu Sheng and Ding Feng: "If I was not wrong, the chief general of the Jiangxia army should still be Wei Yan. If this person lost Chaisang, he would definitely be very cautious now and redeem his sins with his merits. In addition, the Ji City Wall is tall and strong. With our 8,000 troops, we would be in a desperate situation and would probably suffer too much casualties in our army. I decided to use the force method to force the Jiangxia army to go out of the city to fight."

Speaking of this, Zhou Yu said to Xu Sheng beside him: "Wen Xiang first goes back to Chaisang and tell Wu Hou that I need fifty cargo ships and ask him to ship to get the pheasant immediately."

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Chapter completed!