Liu Bei POV
“Of course, this battle was won thanks to you after all.” I shrugged and then turned to everyone, “By the way, after we fully establish control over Fan city, how many troops can we expect to draft?”
“Un, we don’t have a specific figure as yet but based on the total population, I’d say that we can get 30,000 at the most.” Wen Yuan replied.
“About the same number I had in mind.” Zi Long nodded but her expression darkened, “But in reality…”
“Yes, even if we are able to follow through with all of the improvements in the city, that does not mean we can attain that number.” Yun Chang continued after Zi Long, “It’s not like we can seize all the able-bodied after all but there are a significant number who have expressed some interest in joining us after hearing that we were Liu Bei’s army.”
“But it’ll be difficult for the people of Fan city to make the resolve to join us.” Feng Xian added, “For them, it is difficult to see how we might end up after all and they were under the rule of Cao Cao not too long ago as well.”
Un… We have quite a number of issues huh?
“Then let’s leave aside the number that we can draft for now.” Yuan Zhi spoke up and asked, “And think about the number we need based on your experience.”
Yun Chang exchanged glances with Wen Yuan and Feng Xian before replying, “We currently have in total 10,000 troops, 4,000 here and 6,000 in Xinye. Both cities are severely lacking troops. Based on the standard garrison sizes, I would say that we need at least 50,000 troops to be able to defend both cities.”
“50,000?!” I frowned, “Do we need that many people?”
“Even this is a conservative estimate.”
“Based on my experience, it’s better if we have 50,000 troops to a city.” Zi Long chimed in and knocked the nail into the coffin, “Look at this battle. In the very last skirmish, we ended up using all 11,000 troops that we had back then. If we have 50,000 troops, we can attack and defend. Even if we leave the city to attack and fail, we can still fall back and defend the city. It will also allow for a wider range of strategies.”
Everyone else nodded in response.
“So the issue here is a lack of able-bodied individuals to draft huh…” Yuan Zhi said as she looked up and sank into thought, “But Jing state is not like the north where there are more commandery towns so…”
“Has Yuan Zhi thought of any solutions to raise the number of troops in a short amount of time?”
“Un… But it will not be easy.” Yuan Zhi said as she looked at us, “I’m rather familiar with Jing state. Though the cities are prosperous and populous, that is just the main cities and outside of them, most people live in small villages or village towns. Most of these tend to have less than 100 households in total and less than 1,000 troops.”
“What about it?” Zi Long asked, “Do we then go to each village and recruit troops?”
“That’s too difficult.” Wen Yuan said as she shook her head, “Small villages like that can’t lose too many able-bodied workers so the most we can take from each village like that is about 1-200 individuals.”
“Additionally, city denizens are smarter than village denizens so it will take more time to train recruits from villages.” Feng Xian added.
“Nonsense, how could people from villages be stupid~” Zhou Cang immediately said when Feng Xian finished and all of us looked at each other. Zhou Cang really did prove Feng Xian’s point.
“Yes, that is indeed an issue.”
“Oi!”
“But this doesn’t affect recruitment numbers. We’ll deal with training issues when we get there.” Yuan Zhi continued, ignoring Zhou Cang’s protests, “I also understand what Lord Zhang Liao and Lord Guan Yu have said and my method will deal with those issues.”
I looked at Yuan Zhi and saw that she was as confident as she seemed during the first pre-battle briefing. Unlike then, her confidence this time was genuine.
Yuan Zhi looked around at everyone when she finished and took a deep breath when she saw that everyone was waiting for her to continue before she explained her solution, “What I propose is to move all of the surrounding villages into Xinye and Fan city.”
“Eh? Move… The villages?”
Yuan Zhi nodded.
“Moving the villages into the city will greatly enlarge the population we can draft on.”
That is true… But there are also a lot of issues to do that…
“But where will they live after they move in? And how do we convince them to come?” Yi De asked the moment Yuan Zhi finished.
“As for where to stay, the makeshift buildings in the south of Xinye city are still standing so the immigrants can stay there for the time being. Wooden houses can be built much faster than brick and stone houses. Based on a ballpark estimate, 1 month is sufficient to build enough wooden houses to settle about 1,000 households. That is to say, 1 month is enough to settle close to 10 villages.” Yuan Zhi paused and gathered her thoughts before she continued, “As for Xinye’s market, we can have them hold it outside the city where the makeshift buildings the commoners used when they evacuated the city.”
When she finished, everyone sank into silence. From what she has said so far, the plan does not seem to have any major flaws. If we were to accomplish it, the cities would see a 10,000 increase in total population. This would allow us to draft more troops without severely undermining the economic output of each city and effectively raise the ceiling of total troops we can draft by 10,000.
“Un, then how do we go about getting the villages to move?” Zi Long asked.
“We just need to ask them. A substantial number of commoners in villages wish to come to the city to begin with.” Yuan Zhi said, “Cities are more convenient and livable than villages after all. The only thing we need to take note of is waste disposal and water needs.”
“Un, I think it works.” I agreed and decided speak up first. At the same time, I cannot just unilaterally decide here, “But we’ll have to discuss this with everyone else who isn’t here first since this is an issue that concerns everyone after all.”
“Un, naturally.” Yuan Zhi nodded. I looked at everyone else and saw that they too nodded in agreement.
“This plan will work easily in Fan city.” Yun Chang said, “When the houses in the city are renovated and finished, the empty buildings that the residents are currently in can be given to the villagers. There should be enough space for 1,000 households or so.”
“Yes, if there is any further need for space then we just need to build at the edge of the city.” Wen Yuan added.
“Un, I’m not too clear on the details of the surrounding villages but there should be 20-30 of them in the vicinity. If we take in all of them, we will increase the economic output of our cities and also increase the number of troops we can draft. Pursuing this plan in parallel with drafting troops should make it possible to get us 15,000 troops in just 2 weeks.” Yuan Zhi said and sighed. Looks like she is finally finished.
“Un, we will think about this the day after tomorrow.” Yun Chang nodded and turned to Guan Ping and Zhou Cang, “I’ll be counting on you both for this.”
“As expected huh?”
“We should have known.”
Looks like these 2 are used to being commanded around by Yun Chang huh?
“Well then, Zi Long, we’ll be discussing this with the rest when we return to Xinye.”
“Ah, I got it.” Zi Long nodded and looked relaxed as she turned to Yuan Zhi, “Lord Xu Shu, it really is great that we have you in our faction. If it was Xuan De, he wouldn’t have been able to come up with such a great plan even if we gave him another 3 brains~”
The entire room erupted into laughter, including myself, when Zi Long finished. This was the truth after all and I am more or less used to her stings.
“T-that’s over-exaggerating it…” Yuan Zhi stammered as she saluted Zi Long.
“There’s no need to stand on such ceremony. It’s a banquet not not a battle briefing.”
“Ah… Un.” Yuan Zhi smiled and nodded. Well then, it’s about time I did it.
“Though everyone in Xinye has known about it already, Feng Xian, Yun Chang and the rest in Fan city do not know yet so I’ll announce it here and now.” I said as I lightly patted Yuan Zhi’s shoulders, “Yuan Zhi has formally recognised me as her lord and she is now one of us.”
“Oh~ That’s really great~”
“Un, yes.”
“My lord (Lu Bu)~ Lord Xu Shu, please don’t mind it. My lord (Lu Bu)’s reactions tend to be on the bland side.”
Everyone seemed to be elated to hear this and looked over with relief as well. To them, this is something that makes Yuan Zhi’s place with us permanent and firm. And that is indeed the truth. I just never expected that it would happen through a formal event and thought that it would eventually happen over a long period of time.
“I, Xu Shu Xu Yuan Zhi, have limited capabilities so if I should make any mistake in future, I seek the understanding and advice of my seniors. If I have wronged you in any way before, please forgive me.”
Everyone had serious expressions on when they heard this and returned Yuan Zhi’s salute and bow. Even Guan Ping and Zhou Cang did so as well. After about 10 seconds, everyone finally relented and when I took a peek at Yuan Zhi’s face, I found that it was bright red.
Liu Bei POV
“Of course, this battle was won thanks to you after all.” I shrugged and then turned to everyone, “By the way, after we fully establish control over Fan city, how many troops can we expect to draft?”
“Un, we don’t have a specific figure as yet but based on the total population, I’d say that we can get 30,000 at the most.” Wen Yuan replied.
“About the same number I had in mind.” Zi Long nodded but her expression darkened, “But in reality…”
“Yes, even if we are able to follow through with all of the improvements in the city, that does not mean we can attain that number.” Yun Chang continued after Zi Long, “It’s not like we can seize all the able-bodied after all but there are a significant number who have expressed some interest in joining us after hearing that we were Liu Bei’s army.”
“But it’ll be difficult for the people of Fan city to make the resolve to join us.” Feng Xian added, “For them, it is difficult to see how we might end up after all and they were under the rule of Cao Cao not too long ago as well.”
Un… We have quite a number of issues huh?
“Then let’s leave aside the number that we can draft for now.” Yuan Zhi spoke up and asked, “And think about the number we need based on your experience.”
Yun Chang exchanged glances with Wen Yuan and Feng Xian before replying, “We currently have in total 10,000 troops, 4,000 here and 6,000 in Xinye. Both cities are severely lacking troops. Based on the standard garrison sizes, I would say that we need at least 50,000 troops to be able to defend both cities.”
“50,000?!” I frowned, “Do we need that many people?”
“Even this is a conservative estimate.”
“Based on my experience, it’s better if we have 50,000 troops to a city.” Zi Long chimed in and knocked the nail into the coffin, “Look at this battle. In the very last skirmish, we ended up using all 11,000 troops that we had back then. If we have 50,000 troops, we can attack and defend. Even if we leave the city to attack and fail, we can still fall back and defend the city. It will also allow for a wider range of strategies.”
Everyone else nodded in response.
“So the issue here is a lack of able-bodied individuals to draft huh…” Yuan Zhi said as she looked up and sank into thought, “But Jing state is not like the north where there are more commandery towns so…”
“Has Yuan Zhi thought of any solutions to raise the number of troops in a short amount of time?”
“Un… But it will not be easy.” Yuan Zhi said as she looked at us, “I’m rather familiar with Jing state. Though the cities are prosperous and populous, that is just the main cities and outside of them, most people live in small villages or village towns. Most of these tend to have less than 100 households in total and less than 1,000 troops.”
“What about it?” Zi Long asked, “Do we then go to each village and recruit troops?”
“That’s too difficult.” Wen Yuan said as she shook her head, “Small villages like that can’t lose too many able-bodied workers so the most we can take from each village like that is about 1-200 individuals.”
“Additionally, city denizens are smarter than village denizens so it will take more time to train recruits from villages.” Feng Xian added.
“Nonsense, how could people from villages be stupid~” Zhou Cang immediately said when Feng Xian finished and all of us looked at each other. Zhou Cang really did prove Feng Xian’s point.
“Yes, that is indeed an issue.”
“Oi!”
“But this doesn’t affect recruitment numbers. We’ll deal with training issues when we get there.” Yuan Zhi continued, ignoring Zhou Cang’s protests, “I also understand what Lord Zhang Liao and Lord Guan Yu have said and my method will deal with those issues.”
I looked at Yuan Zhi and saw that she was as confident as she seemed during the first pre-battle briefing. Unlike then, her confidence this time was genuine.
Yuan Zhi looked around at everyone when she finished and took a deep breath when she saw that everyone was waiting for her to continue before she explained her solution, “What I propose is to move all of the surrounding villages into Xinye and Fan city.”
“Eh? Move… The villages?”
Yuan Zhi nodded.
“Moving the villages into the city will greatly enlarge the population we can draft on.”
That is true… But there are also a lot of issues to do that…
“But where will they live after they move in? And how do we convince them to come?” Yi De asked the moment Yuan Zhi finished.
“As for where to stay, the makeshift buildings in the south of Xinye city are still standing so the immigrants can stay there for the time being. Wooden houses can be built much faster than brick and stone houses. Based on a ballpark estimate, 1 month is sufficient to build enough wooden houses to settle about 1,000 households. That is to say, 1 month is enough to settle close to 10 villages.” Yuan Zhi paused and gathered her thoughts before she continued, “As for Xinye’s market, we can have them hold it outside the city where the makeshift buildings the commoners used when they evacuated the city.”
When she finished, everyone sank into silence. From what she has said so far, the plan does not seem to have any major flaws. If we were to accomplish it, the cities would see a 10,000 increase in total population. This would allow us to draft more troops without severely undermining the economic output of each city and effectively raise the ceiling of total troops we can draft by 10,000.
“Un, then how do we go about getting the villages to move?” Zi Long asked.
“We just need to ask them. A substantial number of commoners in villages wish to come to the city to begin with.” Yuan Zhi said, “Cities are more convenient and livable than villages after all. The only thing we need to take note of is waste disposal and water needs.”
“Un, I think it works.” I agreed and decided speak up first. At the same time, I cannot just unilaterally decide here, “But we’ll have to discuss this with everyone else who isn’t here first since this is an issue that concerns everyone after all.”
“Un, naturally.” Yuan Zhi nodded. I looked at everyone else and saw that they too nodded in agreement.
“This plan will work easily in Fan city.” Yun Chang said, “When the houses in the city are renovated and finished, the empty buildings that the residents are currently in can be given to the villagers. There should be enough space for 1,000 households or so.”
“Yes, if there is any further need for space then we just need to build at the edge of the city.” Wen Yuan added.
“Un, I’m not too clear on the details of the surrounding villages but there should be 20-30 of them in the vicinity. If we take in all of them, we will increase the economic output of our cities and also increase the number of troops we can draft. Pursuing this plan in parallel with drafting troops should make it possible to get us 15,000 troops in just 2 weeks.” Yuan Zhi said and sighed. Looks like she is finally finished.
“Un, we will think about this the day after tomorrow.” Yun Chang nodded and turned to Guan Ping and Zhou Cang, “I’ll be counting on you both for this.”
“As expected huh?”
“We should have known.”
Looks like these 2 are used to being commanded around by Yun Chang huh?
“Well then, Zi Long, we’ll be discussing this with the rest when we return to Xinye.”
“Ah, I got it.” Zi Long nodded and looked relaxed as she turned to Yuan Zhi, “Lord Xu Shu, it really is great that we have you in our faction. If it was Xuan De, he wouldn’t have been able to come up with such a great plan even if we gave him another 3 brains~”
The entire room erupted into laughter, including myself, when Zi Long finished. This was the truth after all and I am more or less used to her stings.
“T-that’s over-exaggerating it…” Yuan Zhi stammered as she saluted Zi Long.
“There’s no need to stand on such ceremony. It’s a banquet not not a battle briefing.”
“Ah… Un.” Yuan Zhi smiled and nodded. Well then, it’s about time I did it.
“Though everyone in Xinye has known about it already, Feng Xian, Yun Chang and the rest in Fan city do not know yet so I’ll announce it here and now.” I said as I lightly patted Yuan Zhi’s shoulders, “Yuan Zhi has formally recognised me as her lord and she is now one of us.”
“Oh~ That’s really great~”
“Un, yes.”
“My lord (Lu Bu)~ Lord Xu Shu, please don’t mind it. My lord (Lu Bu)’s reactions tend to be on the bland side.”
Everyone seemed to be elated to hear this and looked over with relief as well. To them, this is something that makes Yuan Zhi’s place with us permanent and firm. And that is indeed the truth. I just never expected that it would happen through a formal event and thought that it would eventually happen over a long period of time.
“I, Xu Shu Xu Yuan Zhi, have limited capabilities so if I should make any mistake in future, I seek the understanding and advice of my seniors. If I have wronged you in any way before, please forgive me.”
Everyone had serious expressions on when they heard this and returned Yuan Zhi’s salute and bow. Even Guan Ping and Zhou Cang did so as well. After about 10 seconds, everyone finally relented and when I took a peek at Yuan Zhi’s face, I found that it was bright red.
