Liu Bei was originally the designated object of Tao Qian's entrustment in Xuzhou, and now that he has come to Xuzhou, he naturally wants to serve him as the master. And as soon as Liu Bei came, he made it clear that the Xuzhou Shi clan would not be suppressed and would continue to be reused. So what else is there to say.

Seeing that Liu Bei asked about the situation in Xuzhou, Chen Deng said: "Lord, when Cao Cao's town evacuated Xiahou Yuan, he almost emptied the money and grain. Now the treasury of the second county is empty. And Xiahou Yuan led the army west to Qi County, and the soldiers of Lu State attacked Peiguo together, and Peng Chengguo Minister was Sun Jian's general Cheng Pu, seeing Xiahou Yuan sending troops to attack Peiguo, he also sent troops to help. I don't know where the lord wants to raise his troops? ”

Liu Bei thought for a while, and immediately reacted, since he raised troops to fight for thieves, then Sun Jian and Yuan Shu were within his own strike range. Now that Cao Cao and Sun Jian are fighting, if they send troops to Pengcheng by themselves, then they will indirectly help Cao Cao. Liu Bei thought to himself, Yuzhou first let Meng De and Wentai go to fight well, and he first quickly pacified Pi and Guangling, and then sent troops to Jiujiang to smash Yuan Shu's lair, which is serious.

So he said to Chen Deng: "Yuanlong, capture the thief and the king first, I want to capture Pi and Guangling first, and then Nantu Yuan Shu." For the time being, I can't take care of Peng Cheng. ”

Chen Deng listened to it and thought to himself, it seems that the relationship between the lord and Cao Cao is not as close as rumored. So he and Lu Zhu talked about the situation in Xuzhou with Liu Bei respectively.

Xuzhou, with five counties and sixty-two counties. Zhitan County. After the Yellow Turban Rebellion and various rebellions in the years that followed, there were still more than 2 million registered Dingkou. The 26 cities of Donghai and Langya alone have a population of one million. Chen Deng and Lu Zhu made a report slowly, only to hear Liu Bei is eyes flashing. He still remembers that when he first arrived in Qingzhou, the population of Ding households was only more than one million, less than two million. It wasn't until later that he reduced rents and taxes, granted land, opened up wasteland to recruit displaced people, and encouraged childbearing, and now has a population of just over 3 million. The two counties of Donghai and Langya actually have a million mouths. Sure enough, it's one of the richest places in the world.

Xuzhou can have such a situation, firstly, because the main battlefield of the Yellow Turban Army is not in Xuzhou, but in Henan, Hebei, Yan, and Qinghai prefectures. The second is that Tao Qian has been trying his best to maintain the situation in recent years, so that Xuzhou will not be too chaotic, so it has attracted many people from the Central Plains to take refuge here. That's why the population of Xuzhou can be maintained so much. However, compared with Xuzhou during the census of the third year of Emperor Huan's eternal life, the population is nearly one million less, and all these changes are only 40 years.

In forty years, the population of Xuzhou alone has decreased by nearly one million, thinking about the thirteen states in the world, Liu Bei can't help but shudder. How many people have been killed in years of war.

Langya and the newly acquired land of the East China Sea, Xiahou Yuan copied the two counties to the bottom. Since ancient times, people have lived on food. It is related to the eating problem of countless people, and Liu Bei naturally does not dare to slack off. At this time, Liu Bei didn't care about sending troops, so he hurriedly sent a message to Xun Yu, asking him to raise grain and grass and transport it to the East China Sea as soon as possible to put it on the market and stabilize people's hearts. According to Lu Zhu's report, the price of rice has begun to rise in the past few days, which is the result of him using his family's savings to maintain it. Otherwise, it will rise faster.

Chen Deng persuaded Liu Bei again, asking him not to move the orders of the two counties for the time being, everything is as before, and it is not too late to come to rectify it after Jiangdong is pacified. Liu Bei didn't intend to consider personnel issues at this time, and agreed to Chen Deng's advice one by one.

This time when he was discussing Yuan Shu in the south, Liu Bei thought that there was a Chen Deng in the East China Sea who was Yunwen and Yunwu, so he didn't think about letting Xun Yu accompany the army, but left Xun Yu to sit in Qingzhou and entrust the state affairs. He was on the expedition, and Lu Zhi was far away in Liaodong, Qingzhou was the fundamental place, and without Xun Yu sitting in the rear, Liu Bei was a little uneasy.

Liu Bei looked at Chen Deng again. This person is not only able to govern the place in an orderly manner, but also very strong in leading troops. In history, when Cao Cao beat Lu Bu, he was the vanguard, and personally led the elite soldiers to surround Lu Bu in Xiapi. After Lu Bu was ambushed, he worshiped General Fubo for his merits, and Guangling was too guarded. Later, in Guangling, he defeated Sun Quan, who led the troops to attack, several times one after another. History records that he even has the ambition to swallow Jiangnan. It's a pity that he was so heroic, but he died young at the age of thirty-nine, which made Cao Cao sigh every time he came to the river.

Chen Deng and Liu Bei are models of sympathy. In history, after Chen Deng returned to Cao Cao, in a dialogue with Chen Jiao, he still said: "The majestic posture is outstanding, there is the strategy of a king, I respect Liu Xuande." ”

And Liu Bei was embarrassed, when he lived in Liu Biao's place, Liu Biao and Liu Bei talked about the people of the world, Xu Yan said that Chen Deng was right and wrong, Liu Bei immediately came out to maintain, praised Chen Deng's courage in civil and military affairs, and ridiculed Xu Yan for asking for help.

The two cherish each other like this. It can also be called a confidant. Liu Bei thought to himself, this time he couldn't let Chen Deng die in his prime. is so handsome, how can he not survive and serve himself.

History records that Chen Deng was good at eating fishy things, and later became ill, and Yan Huatuo came to treat it. Hua Tuo diagnosed the pulse and said: "There are several liters of worms in the stomach of the prince, and he wants to develop internal gangrene. Then he prescribed a prescription and spit out countless redhead worms mixed with raw fish rays. Later, when the disease recurred, Hua Tuo was not there, and Chen Deng died of the disease.

However, Hua Tuo likes to travel to the world's famous mountains and rivers to collect medicine, and the traces are difficult to find. But Zhang Ji and Zhang Zhongjing are in Qingzhou. Qingzhou has academies and printing, and Zhang Zhongjing wanted to write his masterpiece and distribute it to the world to help the world, so Liu Bei sent someone to recruit him. Let him only be responsible for curing diseases and researching prescriptions, and all the others are sponsored by the Qingzhou Pastoral Government. With such a good thing, Zhang Zhongjing was unwilling, and he just didn't want to be an official, so he ran to Qingzhou.

With Zhang Zhongjing here, Chen Deng is afraid that it will be difficult to die if he wants to.

Before long, the grain in Qingzhou arrived, and Liu Bei asked people to drive a team of grain trucks into the city with a swagger. When the strangers in the city saw it, they felt remorseful in their hearts. As a result, in the East China Sea and Langya, grain prices fell in response. Under the great joy of the people, the crowd boiled and stopped.

The two places were safe, so Liu Bei made Zhang Feibing enter Xiapi. Yan Yan's soldiers entered Guangling. Guangling guarded Wu Jing to shrink the defensive line, guarded the area of Guangling and Jiangdu, and then flew to Sun Ce, asking whether to fight or retreat.

It's not the same with Xiapi. Xiapi is the depth of the Jiujiang River and a strategic place. If Liu Bei breaks through Xiapi, he can directly enter the territory of Jiujiang. That is where the capital of Yuan Shuguo is located.

So Yuan Shu sent the general Ji Ling and Qiao Rui to lead an army of 30,000 and stationed in Xiapi to meet Zhang Fei. Yuan's army was outnumbered, and it was a local battle. Although the Qingzhou Army has the advantage of armor, it also has the courage of Zhang Fei. After several battles with him, under the command of Ji Ling and Qiao Rui, Zhang Fei was still unable to win. had to confront Yuan Shu's army in the Liangcheng area.

At the same time, the two brothers Xiahou Yuan and Xiahoudun attacked Pei County, but they defeated Yuan Zhong, the former Taishou of Lu County. The two brothers, like Cao Cao, are both from Peiguo County, and when they were young, they were rangers in the township and crisscrossed Peiguo. Not to mention that he knows Peiguo well, but compared to Yuan Zhong, it is much stronger.

Yuan Zhong lost Pei County, fled all the way south to Xiao County, gathered the remnants, camped by the water, and fought again. Cao Cao laughed when he heard the victory in Pei County, he had gone through this period of adjustment, the army was sufficient, and the soldiers were eager to fight. So in Yu County, he fought with Sun Jian again.

At the same time, Guo Jia secretly sent an envoy all the way to the state of Chen.