Chapter 373
Chapter 373
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At Shouchun, with Lu Bu and Zhang Liao as the witnesses, Zhang Lei finally paid respect to Liu Mang as his foster father . Many ceremonious clothing was made according to the standard . Although everyone was busy, this had also swept away the shadows of war .
Lu Bu could not help but make a strange expression as he watched Liu Mang receive his foster son . Lu Bu had two foster fathers, Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo . However, both of them did not meet a good end . Both of them had been killed by Lu Bu, giving him the reputation of a foster father killer . He noted the irony of how his son-in-law is now becoming the foster fathers of others .
The ceremony was complicated as this was still in ancient times . It could not be simplified or avoided like how Liu Mang preferred it to be . Once all the preparations were finished, Zhang Lei knelt down in front of Liu Mang, called him foster father and served him tea . One of the changes to being a foster son is the change in name . One example was Liu Bei’s own foster son, Liu Feng . This man was not really a Liu . However, Liu Bei was already at the age of forty and he still did not have a son . Most people would already have a few children at that age and on top of that, their children would already be assuming responsibility in something .
Yuan Shao and Cao Cao already have children that were above twenty years old . Cao Cao’s son Cao Ang was killed . Lu Bu married his daughter away . Meanwhile, Liu Bei still has no children . He was worried to be without heir which is why he got himself a foster son .
The people during ancient times were different from modern people . They placed a lot of importance in surnames . Changing ones surname is the same as changing families and they would not be buried together . If Zhang Lei truly accepted being a foster son, his name would change to Liu Lei . However, Liu Mang allowed Zhang Lei to remain a Zhang . This would make Zhang Lei fall under the other type of foster son that does not have inheritance rights like Lu Bu to Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo . If Lu Bu had inheritance rights, why would he kill those two? After all, they do not have children of their own .
One of the reasons Liu Mang let Zhang Lei remain a Zhang was because he was the only descendant left . Although Zhang Xiu had been Liu Mang’s enemy, he was not able to end their family tree .
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The second reason was because Zhang Lei still had his uses . At that moment, he could be used to pacify the Xiliang Cavalry . After all, the Zhang Family still had prestige amongst the Xiliang Cavalry . They would then also be able to use Zhang Xiu as an excuse to start a war against Nanyang and Jingzhou . The people would approve of Zhang Xiu’s son avenging Zhang Xiu .
After everything was settled, Liu Mang gave Zhang Lei the ‘Analects of Confucius’ and a sword . The sword was also something brought from the future and was made with titanium alloy . The material used was as strong as the Aries God Cloth . Liu Mang gave these two different things so that Zhang Lei could eventually do both . Liu Mang’s high expectations for Zhang Lei who used to be his enemy’s son, made his reputation reach new heights . Ge Jun and Zhang Hu knelt down shedding tears . They could be considered to have been converted .
After a few days, Lu Bu took his Wolf Cavalry along with Gao Shun’s Formation Breaker and left Shouchun as he still had things to do at Lujiang . As Jiangdong and Jingzhou were busy at war, it is unlikely for them to provoke an attack . That was why Lu Bu took a few days before leaving . Meanwhile, a dozen ships had been given to Gan Ning who took his men across the Hongze Lake and eventually returned to the naval stronghold . Only two thousand navy soldiers were left behind . These people were needed by Liu Mang to test out the new ships and to train an ocean navy . There would be stronger winds at the ocean which meant that more preparations was needed .
All that was left at Shouchun was the Urban Army, the Black Flag Army, the White Horses and the Xiliang Cavalry . All of them were elites but the White Horses still needed to be established while the Xiliang Cavalry was being trained by Zhang Liao . All that was left was the Yiyang Troops that was starting to be made and was returning to Shouchun . However, Liu Mang had them wait at Guangzhou while obeying Hao Shao .
When it came to discussing official matters, the officials all gathered and sat at their seats .
Sitting at the front was the Military Advisor of Yangzhou, Xu Shu, followed by Liu Ye . Sitting at the back was the new addition, Jia Xu . Although Jia Xu was not inferior to the other two, he knew that he had to settle for third place as he only just joined . Besides that, Jia Xu knows that the two men in front of him did not like him . Jia Xu would only be inviting trouble to himself if he went and fought with the other two for sitting positions . With no contributions or anything, the third seat was already good enough . Yang Hong could have sat in front of Xu Shu but he went to Lujiang to bring Liu Mang’s wives over .
Jia Xu was also indifferent . He was not like Sun Qian and Pang Tong . In his opinion, gold always shines1 .
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Amongst the military generals, Zhang Liao sat in front as he was the veteran that followed Lu Bu for a long time . Even if this was not so, Liu Mang would have placed Zhang Liao in front because Zhang Liao was a great general with multiple talents .
After Zhang Liao, it was Cheng Yu, Xu Sheng, and then Zhao Yun . These were the main Generals of the army . They were then followed by the Deputy Generals, Wang Wei and Huang Xu . As for Huang Zhong, the man did not take a seat but instead stood behind Liu Mang .
“Is everyone here?” Liu Mang looked at his officials . Almost everyone was present except for those like Wei Yan and Hao Shao . Even Ge Jun and Zhang Hu was present .
“Milord . We are all here!” Xu Shu said . As a civil officer, he was the one managing the people in the army .
“Alright . Let us begin!” Liu Mang also decided to start the council . They needed to discuss about the direction they needed to take in the future . Although they have managed to chase away Liu Bei and Zhang Xiu’s armies and survived their stratagem, Liu Mang and the others have also suffered heavy losses .
“Yuanzhi . Have you dealt with the family register?”
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“Milord . Using your methods, the family register have already been completed . Only the ones at Guangzhou, Hefei and Lujiang is still in progress!” Xu Shu gave Liu Mang some documents as he spoke . On these documents was the family registry and the number of citizens . Even a modern person would have been amazed if they could see this as it was easy to comprehend . After all, it was written in Arabic numbers . The reason why it had been so troublesome for the ancient people was because their calculation methods were more troublesome . It was still alright up until ten but problems appear it comes to much larger figures . Even simple things like the amount of provisions and troops they have, would need an entire morning to count . What was known as Han Xin’s troop counting method simply relies on a person’s own ability . Liu Mang found this complicated and taught Arabic numbers .
Xu Shu who obtained this new method immediately worked with new efficiency . In Shouchun, there were almost two hundred and forty thousand households . Each household would have about four to six people . The total population was about 1 . 12 million . By estimate, there would only be a few tens of thousands of people at Guangzhou and Hefei as most of the people were at Shouchun .
1 . 12 million is not a small number . A great man once said that a million small problems would be a very big problem . Liu Mang had been considering the provision problems in the city . Even if one person eats a catty worth of food a day, there would still be a million catty used up at the end of the day . As they had already sent people out to buy provisions, what they needed now was residence .
“Milord! The first batch of cement houses have already been occupied by the people . ” Xu Shu reported . These were the buildings that began construction before Liu Mang left Shouchun . During that time, Liu Mang split up the population to about ten thousand men and sent them to search for lime to make cement .
“How is the quality of the buildings?” Liu Mang asked . The people during those times mostly lived in short wooden houses . Once a building caught fire, it would easily spread to the whole city . This was why fire was extremely dreadful . Using cement would make the building more resistant to fire . Cement buildings were also drier than wood, making it more comfortable than the damp building in the long run .
“It is strong and firm!” Xu Shu replied . He found the cement extremely useful . Normally, they would need a lot of wood for a building . The entire process of cutting down the trees to the finishing touches of the building would usually take several months at best . Yet, only half a month was needed for the cement and on top of that, it was of better quality than a wooden building .
“Good . That is good! Now, a hundred thousand people would have a place to settle down!” Liu Mang nodded . Cement buildings were not only economically better but also brought benefits to the future expansion Liu Mang was planning to do . One of the reasons was that the wooden buildings could not be as orderly built as cement buildings .
“Haha . Milord . This is not only a hundred thousand people but four hundred thousand people that now has a place to live!” Xu Shu shook his head and laughed .
“Four hundred thousand?” Liu Mang was stunned . Liu Mang had only ordered for thirty thousand buildings to be constructed with three to four people occupying each building . This is because he did not know how firm the building would be .
From Xu Shu’s explanations, Liu Mang realized that he had underestimated the ancient people’s capability to endure hardships . Ten people simply squeezed into the building that was fifty square feet wide . To them, it was good enough as long as the building could shield them from the wind and rain .
“Quickly get the second batch of buildings done . We cannot let the people sleep outdoors or in tents anymore!” There were still a lot of people sleeping in tents as there were plenty of rundown buildings in Shouchun .
“Milord . Building houses is easy but we need more cement!”
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Basically, Jia Xu doesn’t care even if he sits at the back because he knows he is talented enough for a good Lord to take note of him . This is unlike Sun Qian and Pang Tong who is more interested in one upping each other .