Chapter 2: Prescriptions

  "Now, the governors of Ji Province, Han Fu and Yuan Shao of Qing Province, and Gongsun Zan of You Province have formed a tripartite situation. Although there is no significant movement at present, after the beginning of next year, there will inevitably be a great war among these three."

  Early in the morning, after dealing with some trivial matters, Liu Xuan kept a few close people behind, including Lü Bu, Cao Cao, Xun Yu, Xun You, Guo Jia, Liu Ye and Liu Bei who was gradually recovering from his illness.

  Zhang Liao personally sat at the gate, not allowing outsiders to enter. It can be said that now in this warm temple, all of them are Liu Xuan's confidants. Compared with those in the imperial court, these people are truly usable and can discuss major events together.

  Everyone sat down, and Liu Ye directly spoke out his speculation. As for this matter, everyone had already figured it out in their hearts, so there was no surprise.

  "The area north of Sichuan and the state of Bing has also been quite unstable. The governor of Henan, Wang Kuang, in order to suppress the White Wave bandits, has been heavily collecting taxes and grain from the local population for military use. Although this has not yet led to any popular uprising, it will inevitably lead to disaster in the long run. The governor of Henan, Kong Rong, submitted a memorial to the imperial court, hoping that the government would impose some restrictions on Wang Kuang."

  Cao Cao was stationed on the west bank of the Yellow River, but he looked out at the eastern provinces across the river, so he had a good understanding of the situation in that area. After being summoned back to the capital by Liu Xuan, he also took a look at the memorials from that side and learned about this situation.

  But to Kong Rong's words, he just smiled disdainfully: This Kong Wenhui really read books and became stupid. Wang Kui now has troops in his hands and is not under the control of the imperial court. Why should he be subject to your imperial court?

  If there is still some respect for the imperial court, it can be dealt with. If there has been a disloyal heart from an early age, I estimate that even reason and argument will not be bothered to reason, and do one's own thing.

  More importantly, Wang Kuang's collection of money and grain was also an inevitable move. Before the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, natural disasters occurred frequently in various places, resulting in poor harvests. Over a decade had passed, and there were no surplus grains in any place. With the White Wave Bandits rampant nearby, if Wang Kuang did not collect money and grain to support his military, he feared that his territory would be immediately overrun by the bandits.

  Because Liu Xuan re-divided the prefectures, there were many changes in the division of prefectures in the north. For example, He Nei and He Dong, which originally belonged to Pingzhou, are now under the jurisdiction of Sizhou.

  Apart from this, the adjustments to the east were not great. Moreover, these adjustments have been decreed and announced to the world, and now local officials must re-determine their own spheres of influence - this is also a deliberate move to provoke conflicts among them. If they feel that their territory has been occupied by others, conflict is inevitable.

  Only when that group of people in the east is exhausted, can Liu Xuan have the energy to slowly cultivate his land here. Otherwise, if all the vassals unite and go against the imperial court, wouldn't it end up with the imperial court independently opposing all the heroes of the world? This isn't very comforting.

  "At the same time, Zhang Yang privately relied on the party above, with tens of thousands of troops, and eyed the entire Pingzhou..."

  The province is now quite chaotic, with no single highest official in charge. Half of it is under the control of officials and half is controlled by bandits, while another part was occupied by the Xiongnu due to previous chaos and has not been recovered yet.

  And Bingzhou is also the northern gate of the imperial court. If Bingzhou is lost, the imperial court will face the Xiongnu in the north directly, which is naturally very unfavorable for Liu Xuan.

  "What about Yu Province and Xuzhou?"

  The situation in Hebei has become clear, and the various provinces are in a state of turmoil. Youzhou, Qingzhou, and Jizhou will certainly have their own fierce battles to fight, but whether Yuan Shao will ultimately occupy Hebei remains to be seen.

  It's not clear whether they were discussing the situation in Hebei, but Liu Bei's face looked a bit unsightly. Liu Xuan turned his head and saw it, knowing that Liu Bei was worried about the safety of his sworn brother Gongsun Zan. However, he couldn't say anything about this matter either. Now that Liu Bei had boarded his ship, he naturally could no longer consider things from Gongsun Zan's perspective.

  At this time, he already knew that the emperor was eager for the heroes of Guandong to fight each other, and the current performance of the heroes of Guandong did not have the slightest appearance of being a vassal. Liu Bei also knew that Gongsun Zan, whether actively or passively, had already been feared by the court, even if he could win this time in the struggle with Yuan Shao, he would still be attacked by the court later.

  He secretly sighed, and could only pray that Gongsun Zan would be defeated by Yuan Shao in their struggle for dominance, and then escape with his life. In that case, Liu Bei thought he might still be able to save this friend of his; otherwise, no one would be able to save him.

  A few people around him didn't have the energy to pay attention to Liu Bei, and upon hearing the Emperor's inquiry, they immediately said: "Some counties in Yu Province are occupied by Yuan Shu, while Xuzhou is governed well by Tao Qian and his son. With the wars breaking out everywhere, many refugees have flooded into Xuzhou, which has become one of the most prosperous provinces at present."

  As for Tao Qian, these people also admired him very much. Since the previous emperor's reign, disasters had been continuous, and then there were wars, which had been going on for so long that many states and counties had suffered greatly, with countless people having no homes to return to and no land to farm. However, Xuzhou had always been prosperous under his governance.

  Moreover, after several wars, Xuzhou did not suffer any damage at all, which shows that Tao Qian also has some military skills.

  Liu Xuan did know that Tao Qian was indeed talented, but unfortunately he was too old. Even if he were to recruit Tao Qian into the imperial court now and cultivate him well, it would likely be of no use for long, so he had never considered this old man at all.

  According to the original process, Xuzhou was prosperous in recent years, but it became a disaster-stricken place in the following decade. The most critical point is that Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou, and then there were several massacres. Later, Liu Bei led the governor of Xuzhou, Lü Bu entered Xuzhou, and Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou several times. In ten years, the master of Xuzhou changed several times, completely destroying a prosperous state.

  But now the three most important people are all on their own accounts, and I don't know if Xuzhou will become like that again.

  He also told Xun Yu to spread the farming method implemented in Chang'an to Yongzhou, and then to Liangzhou after it was completed in Yongzhou.

  However, Xun Yu also raised a point: "Although Yongzhou still has many good fields, it is difficult to implement in the bitter and cold land of Xiliang. Your Majesty's various methods are indeed ingenious, but they cannot change the entire situation of Liangzhou overnight. Wouldn't it be better to make other arrangements for Liangzhou?"

  This is more in line with the current situation, such as developing animal husbandry in Liangzhou. However, Liu Xuan felt that even if Western Liang itself was not a good place, it should not be abandoned. As long as they could plant some grain, they would plant some grain. With the growth and maturity of the grain in Yongzhou, with the power of Liu Xuan's formation, new grain varieties would slowly become high-yielding grain varieties. Even if they were thrown into Liangzhou, they could still produce a lot of grain. Only when there was enough food could the common people feel at ease having children!

  Otherwise, ordinary people can't even feed themselves, how dare they want children? Even if one is accidentally born, it's likely to be strangled to death immediately - in worse places, they would exchange their children for food.

  After the war at the end of Han Dynasty, the population was drastically reduced. Apart from the hundred years of war, there were also reasons for this aspect. Liu Xuan has now guaranteed this point, and the common people naturally have no worries about it, which can make the population base grow rapidly - whether it is military resources or labor force, it is all based on a large number of ordinary people, so Liu Xuan cannot help but attach great importance to it.

  He also communicated with Xun Yu again, and agreed on the establishment of animal husbandry in West Liang. However, at this time, it was mostly small-scale breeding. Liu Xuan had considered setting up a large farm to engage in large-scale animal husbandry, but there were so many problems to be solved that even if he had this plan now, it would not be possible to succeed in a short time.

  Pinched the bridge of his nose, and found that even with these two things now, it would take at least ten years to build a foundation, and it's clear how difficult it is to achieve great things in this era.

  After saying all these things, Liu Xuan began to shift his attention to military affairs.

  These things will have to be discussed with Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Lü Bu. Just now only the people's livelihood was discussed, these few men had their own views but all endured without speaking, after hearing Liu Xuan's arrangement, they felt that their own ideas were not necessary to say.

  As for the military, Cao Cao reported first: "The Hu Bao cavalry now has a full staff of 5,000 people and has initially formed combat effectiveness after a year of training. Most importantly, Your Majesty has recovered Xiliang, and the war horses of the Hu Bao cavalry have a supply channel. Now the Hu Bao cavalry has formed a combat force and can conquer the four sides for Your Majesty at any time."

  Liu Xuan nodded his head in satisfaction with this answer.

  The reorganized Hu Bao Riders, except for Cao Cao's personal command of a thousand elite heavy cavalry, were divided into two divisions: the Hu Qí (Tiger Cavalry) and the Bao Qi (Leopard Cavalry), each with its own Colonel to lead them. They formed a complete cavalry corps, whose power can be imagined in this vast expanse of flat plains in the north.

  But Liu Xuan was not satisfied with that, and immediately he took out a prescription and had Cao Jie send it to Cao Cao's hands. Cao Cao looked at it with a puzzled face, raised his head and looked at Liu Xuan: "What is this...?"

  "This medicinal formula mixed into the warhorse's feed can make the warhorse stronger. If the warhorse eats this medicinal formula soaked in fodder for a long time, even if it is wearing heavy armor, it can still run like flying and move freely, and its endurance will also increase, without worrying about the warhorse being too tired to charge after walking for a long time."

  Everyone was shocked to hear this, and if Liu Xuan's words were not exaggerated in the slightest, then the Tiger and Leopard Riders would undoubtedly become a nightmare for all enemies - just imagine it, a group of riders and war horses wearing heavy armor, fearless of ordinary bows and arrows, and able to directly charge into battle formations, with the speed of light cavalry and long-distance running ability, how terrifying is that? It's simply an invincible existence.

  Cao Cao originally did not organize the entire Hu Biao Army as heavy cavalry due to reasons such as warhorse strength and load-bearing capacity, now it seems that this issue does not need to be a headache at all.

  Among the people present, the one who is most eager to get it is Lü Bu. However, he also knows that he can't be too greedy, especially since Liu Xuan has already given him some good things, such as the method of cultivating Red Hare. If successful, his combat power on the battlefield will increase by several levels, so there's no need for him to covet this formula.

  Besides, Lü Bu believed that since the Emperor had taken out this thing in front of everyone, it meant he wouldn't give it to just Cao Cao alone.

  As expected, Liu Xuan then said: "At present, only Meng De's Tiger and Leopard Cavalry urgently need this thing, so I will give it to Meng De first. If any of you have a use for it, just come and tell me directly."

  After finishing all this, Liu Xuan directly let everyone disperse, but finally called out again: "Meng De, stay behind."