xymnovel Chapter 107 A Letter from Kuaiji: Taishi Ci's Pledge of Allegiance!
Chapter 107 A Letter from Kuaiji: Taishi Ci's Pledge of Allegiance!
Chapter 107 A Letter from Kuaiji: Taishi Ci's Pledge of Allegiance!
After a brief commotion, Liu Bei steered the conversation back on track.
He asked Mi Zhu, "Zi Zhong, what's wrong at the workshop?"
"The sugar mill has successfully produced its first batch of white sugar, and the quality is excellent. I thought I'd let you see it, so I made this trip," Mi Zhu replied.
Lu Yong's eyes lit up: "The sugar is done?"
"It's done. It's as white as snow, sweet but not cloying, a hundred times better than any rock candy on the market!"
Liu Bei stood up, straightened his clothes, and said, "Let's go take a look."
After leaving the governor's mansion, the group headed west towards the Qingyi River.
Liu Bei did not ride a horse or take a carriage; he walked with Lu Yong, Mi Zhu, Zhou Tai, and their entourage.
Once outside the west gate, one can see stretches of newly reclaimed farmland.
The rice in the fields has already sprouted ears, turning from green to yellow, and will be ready for harvest in another month or two.
Several old farmers were resting on the edge of the field when they saw Liu Bei coming over. They hurriedly stood up and knelt down to pay their respects, feeling awkward and at a loss for what to do.
Liu Bei stepped forward, without any airs or disgust at the dirt on their clothes, and helped them up, saying, "Old folks, how is the rice growing this year?"
Even though the old farmer mustered his courage, his voice still trembled slightly as he replied, "Thanks to the magistrate, this year the weather has been favorable, the irrigation ditches are flowing smoothly, and the government has even lent us oxen—this year's harvest will be at least 30% more than in previous years!"
"That's good, that's good." Liu Bei smiled, bid farewell to the old people, and left.
A short distance further on, the outline of the workshop complex came into view.
Six months ago, this place was a reed marsh, but now it has been transformed into a cluster of buildings stretching along the riverbank.
Liu Bei was momentarily stunned when he saw the scene not far away.
Paper mills, printing workshops, breweries, sugar mills, ironware workshops, and carpentry workshops lined up one after another along the riverbank, stretching for miles.
The closer you get to the workshop, the louder the shouts, calls, and hammering sounds become.
These cacophony of sounds, though mixed together, revealed a rare and vibrant vitality amidst the chaos of the world.
Mi Zhu pointed to the nearest building and introduced, "My lord, those three are the carpentry workshops. They just started production five days ago, and now they can produce twenty sets of tables and chairs every day."
Liu Bei followed his hand and looked over.
The main door in the center of the woodworking workshop was open, and hundreds of craftsmen were busy inside.
There were many semi-finished products piled up at the entrance, neatly stacked up to a height of more than one person.
"Who did you sell all that furniture to?" Liu Bei asked.
Mi Zhu replied, "They are mainly aristocratic families and merchants from Wanling and the surrounding counties, but there are also merchants from Lujiang, Jiujiang and even Xuzhou."
Liu Bei nodded slightly, then looked towards the distant workshop where the clanging of blacksmiths could be heard continuously.
"That's the ironworks over there, responsible for making farm tools," Mi Zhu explained. "Armor and weapons are all made in the general armory, and it's kept strictly confidential."
"Do we have enough iron?" Lu Yong suddenly asked.
"The iron mine in Danyang is being expanded, and Shen Yi has already led craftsmen to survey it. In another two months, the iron production will double," Mi Zhu replied.
Liu Bei appeared calm on the surface, but was inwardly deeply shocked.
He originally thought that the workshop Lu Yong wanted to build was just a few workshops in the usual sense.
Unexpectedly, this place has been built into a town of comparable size.
Mi Zhu exclaimed from the bottom of his heart, "If these workshops are built, we will no longer have to worry about money and weapons."
All of this far exceeded Liu Bei's expectations, giving him a new understanding of Lu Yong's abilities: "A prodigy!"
After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the group arrived at the entrance of the sugar workshop.
A sweet, cloying smell immediately wafted over from the main entrance.
Liu Bei stepped across the threshold, and inside were rows of large pots and stone mills for pressing sugarcane.
Several craftsmen were stirring in front of the pot, where the syrup was still bubbling and gurgling.
When the foreman saw Liu Bei and his party arrive, he hurriedly came forward, knelt down, and bowed.
Liu Bei helped him up and asked, "Where is the prepared sugar?"
"Please follow me, sir." The foreman led them into the inner room and took a porcelain jar down from a wooden shelf.
The jar was sealed with oil paper. After untying the rope and lifting the oil paper, you would find the jar filled with white sugar.
Liu Bei reached out and picked up a bit, placing it on the tip of his tongue.
The sweetness melts in your mouth, pure and not cloying, and without the burnt aftertaste of rock candy.
Mi Zhu said, "Our current output is too low, so we can only sell at a high price. This jar, if taken to Shouchun, could fetch at least two thousand coins!"
"So expensive?" Liu Bei was startled.
"This is still cheap. If it were packaged in fancy packaging, people would buy it for five thousand coins." Lu Yong added from the side, "However, once sugarcane is grown on a large scale and sugar production increases, the price can be brought down, making it affordable for ordinary people."
"We must ensure that the common people can afford sugar too." Just as Liu Bei was about to say something more, hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside.
A bodyguard ran into the sugar shop, knelt on one knee, and held a coded message aloft with both hands: "My lord! An urgent message has arrived from the direction of Kuaiji!"
"Kuaiji??" Liu Bei took the letter with surprise, broke the seal, and pulled out the silk scroll inside.
His gaze swept quickly across the silk scroll, his expression shifting from surprise to astonishment, and then from astonishment to delight.
Seeing this, Lu Yong asked curiously, "My lord, who sent the letter?"
Liu Bei handed him the silk scroll, his voice brimming with undisguised joy, saying, "It's from a hero I knew back then, Taishi Ci, Taishi Ziyi!"
Taishi Ci!
Lu Yong was startled, thinking to himself, "After Liu Yao's defeat, I sent people to look for him, but to no avail. I never expected that he would actually run away to Kuaiji Commandery."
Lu Yong was thinking about something when he reached out and took the silk scroll.
After reading the letter, he couldn't help but smile.
Seeing Mi Zhu staring at him expectantly, Lu Yong smiled and said, "Taishi Ziyi and his subordinate He Chong have arrived in Shan County."
He Qi, the county magistrate of Shan County, was He Chong's cousin and also the head of the He family clan.
They persuaded He Qi to secretly submit to their lord.
Furthermore, He Qi is willing to lead his troops as an inside agent, and will defect to our aid when we march on Kuaiji.
At this point, Lu Yong couldn't help but chuckle, "Taishi Ziyi refused the lord's offer of service back then. Now he wants to join again, but he feels it would be impolite, so he and his subordinates submitted their pledge of allegiance."
Lu Yong saw through Taishi Ci's intentions in a single sentence.
Liu Bei asked in surprise, "How did you know about what happened between Ziyi and me, Huai'an?"
Realizing he had let something slip, Lu Yong quickly made up an excuse, saying, "The Third General once told me about this."
"Oh, Third Brother—" Speaking of Zhang Fei, Liu Bei realized he had seen Zhang Fei for a while, so he asked, "What have you been busy with lately, Third Brother? I haven't seen him."
Lu Yong laughed and said, "The Third General has been training troops in the mountains these past few days. He said he wants to learn from Lei Hu how to fight in mountain warfare."
Upon hearing this, Liu Bei chuckled and said, "Third brother, you just can't sit still."
Recalling Lei Hu's fleshy face, Liu Bei couldn't help but laugh again, "Third brother has found a good partner."
"That's for sure. The two of them are inseparable, even sleeping side by side at night," Lu Yong remarked with a smirk.
""
After a moment's hesitation, Liu Bei steered the conversation back on track, asking, "Huai'an, do you think He Qi is trustworthy?"
"The He family is a powerful local family in Kuaiji."
He Chong was loyal and devoted to his friends, and followed Taishi Ci through thick and thin.
Therefore, even if He Qi doesn't trust us, he will still trust Taishi Ci.
Moreover, the He family had long been marginalized by Wang Lang in Kuaiji and had been harboring resentment for a long time.
Now that we're here, he'll naturally seize the opportunity to show off.
Liu Bei pondered for a moment, then asked, "Who should lead the attack on Kuaiji?"
Lu Yong readily agreed, cupping his hands in greeting, "Yong is willing to go!"
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