Chapter 614 [Second Update]

Liu Tan didn't react at all after hearing this, and remained silent for a long time. Li Xi took a step forward with some concern: "Your Highness?"

Liu Tan put down the pen in his hand and said calmly: "Nothing."

However, Li Xi saw that the pen in his hand had broken into two pieces.

Li Xi's heart skipped a beat. In fact, this news was a bit heavy for him, but it was not enough to make him particularly angry.

After fighting with these foreigners many times, you will know what kind of people they are. Unlike the Han people, the first thing they do when they occupy a place is to massacre the indigenous people there, so that they can occupy the place more firmly. On the other hand, it is also to avoid internal troubles when the other party comes to fight for this place again.

Li Xi was used to seeing life and death, so this kind of thing would make him angry, but not too angry.

But now his prince doesn't look very good like this.

In fact, he also understood why Liu Tan was angry. After all, he was young and had never suffered such a loss before. In the past, he was the one who beat others.

Liu Tan asked, "If we send troops now."

"Your Highness, absolutely not." Li Xi knew that Liu Tan must have the idea of ​​sending troops in advance, but war cannot be rushed. They had already made a plan before. If they changed it now, the most important thing would be that the supply of food and fodder would not be enough for the war.

Liu Tan pursed his lips tightly and said nothing. Li Xi knew he would have to persuade him, so he sighed and said, "Your Highness, Liaodong County has been occupied for three months. They wanted to kill... but they've killed most of the people. Now they won't massacre civilians so easily."

The population size of the occupied area is also very important. If all else fails, those people can still serve as slaves. It would be a pity to kill them all. It is sufficient to ensure that the enemy's population is unable to mount an effective large-scale resistance.

Liu Tan was very clear about this, but he asked, "What about the rest of the people?"

Li Xi said seriously, "If we rush out now, we might end up with more soldiers dying due to lack of preparation."

When faced with two evils, choose the lesser one. When it is destined that he cannot have both, Li Xi must first protect his soldiers.

And if you think about it more coldly, if more Wuhuan people could be captured, the overall population would be the same.

In fact, Liu Tan didn't take Li Xi's previous claims of not having enough time to change the plan and not having enough food seriously. He had money on hand, so at worst he could just buy food at a high price. Apart from anything else, the soy products from the Northern Border should be able to be supplied.

But he said that this would result in the deaths of more soldiers, and Liu Tan knew that he couldn't do that.

He didn't know how many people were left in Liaodong County. If during the attack, the Wuhuan Bo Xi clan was disrespectful and directly killed all the remaining civilians, then the loss would outweigh the gain.

Liu Tan lowered his head and pondered for a long time before saying, "If that's the case, then let's simply change the plan. We'll keep the sea landing plan, and then divide our forces to enter the Wuhuan along the Ru River."

Li Xi didn't waste any more words and immediately responded, "Yes."

In fact, before he came, the task given to him by Liu Che was to assist the King of the Northern Border in driving the Wuhuan out of Liaodong County and taking over Liaodong County.

However, he also knew that now that something like this had happened, his prince, being young and hot-headed, would definitely not be able to tolerate this injustice and would seek revenge no matter what.

As long as they are careful not to attack the Fuyu Kingdom, the size of the Fuyu Kingdom is not comparable to that of the Wuhuan.

However, he believed that his prince would not be so cruel.

After receiving such news, Liu Tan was no longer in the mood to do anything else. He looked at the map again and prepared to speed up his pace.

He stayed in Guangyang County for only a few days before leaving, leaving the matter to others. As soon as he returned, he saw the governor of Liaoxi County looking worried and troubled. He couldn't help but ask, "What happened?"

Liu Tan felt that no matter what happened now, he could remain calm. At least the news would not be worse than the news from Liaodong County.

The Liaoxi County Magistrate said, "Your Highness, winter is approaching, and with so many troops here this year, I'm afraid we won't have enough firewood for heating."

Liu Tan asked curiously, "You guys are still using firewood here? Don't you use coal?"

The Liaoxi County Magistrate was silent for a while before he said, "The amount brought here is too small. After all, the journey is long and the roads are not convenient."

Liu Tan's mouth twitched. "Alright, I get it. Don't worry too much. I'll have someone deliver it. Tell me the quantity needed by the people and I'll try to deliver it all."

Alas, this is another unexpected expense. Fighting is indeed a money-burning profession. It is true that he has a lot of money, but it is also true that he spends money like water.

This was actually what the Liaoxi County Magistrate meant, but he was embarrassed to say it out loud. After all, Liaoxi County did not have much money to support such transportation, and he let the King of the Northern Territory spend money on transportation... Why?

Besides, if the King of the North could transport it this time, what about next time? Coal is needed every winter, and we can't let the King of the North pay for it next time.

If the Liaoxi County Magistrate was a bit unscrupulous, he would report more and stockpile some coal for use next year.

But he thought about it and realized that His Royal Highness the King of the North was not a fool. If the number was obviously abnormal, he would definitely notice it.

Therefore, the prefect of Liaoxi County not only did not increase the amount, but even reduced the amount needed by each household to the minimum, just to keep everyone from freezing to death.

Even so, the amount he reported shocked Liu Tan: "How come your county uses more than half of the Northern Territory?"

The Liaoxi County Governor immediately became very nervous: "Your Highness, I... I have not added a single cent, and this is already the minimum amount."

Liu Tan also felt that the other party would not lie to him in such an obvious place, and could not help but look puzzled: "Why would it consume so much?"

He turned to Miao Rui and said, "Send someone to investigate what's going on."

Miao Rui immediately took the order and left. The governor of Liaoxi County was a little uneasy. He thought about it carefully for a long time but didn't feel anything was wrong. Shouldn't there be any problem?

Liu Tan didn't act too harsh and even invited the Liaoxi County Magistrate to dinner. The person Miao Rui sent was very quick, and when he returned, Miao Rui immediately came to report, "Your Highness, Liaoxi County does use more coal because they don't have kangs here."

The Liaoxi County Magistrate asked in confusion, "What is a kang?"

Liu Tan finally understood: "So that's how it is. I overlooked it."

The kang had been widely used in the Northern Border Country a long time ago, so when Liu Tan calculated the coal needed in Liaoxi County, he would subconsciously calculate according to the situation in the Northern Border Country.

However, there is no kang here, and people don’t even know what a kang is. So if they use coal for cooking and then burn more for heating, wouldn’t that be a waste?

He turned to the Liaoxi County Magistrate and said, "This thing is very simple. Wait until tomorrow, and I will take you to the new city to have a look."

The construction of the new city is progressing at a fast pace. This time is different from the previous ones. Before, they would build the city walls first to defend against the Huns, but now they would build the houses first and let everyone live in them, and then build other things little by little.

The next day, Liu Tan took the Liaoxi County governor to see the newly built house.

The governor of Liaoxi County was very excited when he saw the new house. Although this house was completely different from what he knew, it looked clean and tidy at first glance, and most importantly, it looked very sturdy.

Before entering, he hammered the wall hard, turned to look at Liu Tan and asked, "Your Highness, will this house collapse if it snows heavily?"

Liu Tan was slightly taken aback. He hadn't really thought about this question before. He said hesitantly, "As long as the snow isn't too heavy, it shouldn't collapse. If there's enough snow to collapse the house, then you should be worried that the snow will be too heavy and block the door, preventing people from getting out."

The Liaoxi County Magistrate was delighted when he heard this and said, "That's great, that's great."

He looked at the house's exterior and asked, "What is this made of... cement? Is this stuff... available in Yan State? Is it expensive?"

Liu Tan wasn't entirely sure. "There should be. If it's produced locally, it's not very expensive, but it does consume natural resources. And it's not entirely made of cement. The main structure is red bricks, which require special soil... Never mind. I'll have someone give the documents to Dou Sibo and have him send someone to look for it."

In the future, many places in Yan State may need large-scale construction. Real estate has always been the easiest thing to boost the economy. The only thing to worry about is that not so many people need it.

However, Liu Tan has become more familiar with the situation in Yan State over the past few days. It is true that the country is generally poor, but that does not mean that there are no rich families.

If he really built a more advanced house, or created a gimmick or something, he didn't believe that these rich people would not pay for it.

Anyway, if we want to boost the economy in the short term, we must take money from these rich people.

Dou Sibo had been following Liu Tan all along. After hearing this, he immediately bowed and said, "Your Highness, rest assured. I will do it as soon as possible."

Liu Tan had nothing to complain about his work attitude. His so-called limited ability was only compared with Huo Guang. As the prime minister of Yan State... it was still quite sufficient for now.

After they entered, both the Liaodong County Magistrate and Dou Sibo were stunned.

They didn't notice it when they were outside just now, but after they came in, they found that the windows of this house were actually inlaid with glass!

No matter how backward the State of Yan was, it still had some knowledge about the recent popularity of glass, not to mention Dou Sibo.

The Liaoxi County Magistrate's hands trembled slightly as he asked, "Isn't this... too extravagant?"

Liu Tan took a look and said, "It's not extravagant. Didn't you see that these glasses are not made of a single piece?"

The rooms here are all made of discarded broken glass. Generally, this kind of glass will be recycled in the Northern Country, but it is not cost-effective to purchase these broken glass from other places and ship them back. The shipping cost is also expensive as the purchase of raw materials.

Before the discussion, Liu Tan simply asked people to purchase various broken glass in Yan State to use for inlaying these houses.

He also wanted to make some solid glass for these houses, but the cost was too high.

Liu Tan was frightened by the sight of people spending money like water. He was the kind of person who could waste several boxes of pearls without blinking an eye. Then he saw for the first time how an army of 100,000 people burned military funds.

He now finally understood why the Han Dynasty emptied its treasury after fighting the Huns a few times.

That was the national treasury after the rule of Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing. Now it seems that Sang Hongyang was indeed a capable man who was able to turn the tide and stabilize the economy.

So no matter from which point you look at it, broken glass is the most suitable. At most, it is not so beautiful and the light transmission effect is a little worse, but it is still better than others.

Moreover, these broken glass are embedded in the window sills, which are made of wood. If other people move into this new city in the future, they can simply remove the broken glass windows if they want to replace the whole piece of glass.

Liu Tan waved at them and said, "Okay, stop looking over there. Come here, this is the kang."

The Liaoxi County Magistrate and Dou Sibo followed immediately. The first thing they saw was the stove in the outer room, and then they saw the kang in the inner room.

Kangs were not uncommon in Yan State. The Liaoxi County Magistrate initially couldn't tell the difference between this and the ones in ordinary people's homes. He asked in confusion, "What's wrong with this?"

Liu Tan didn't explain much and just asked someone to light a fire in the stove outside.

After a while, he asked Dou Sibo and the Liaoxi County Magistrate to feel the kang and asked, "Is it warm?"

The Liaoxi County Magistrate was a little surprised: "It really has temperature. Is this... connected to the stove outside?"

Liu Tan waved for the blueprint to be brought over and said, "This is the structure of a kang. Usually, when you cook outside, you heat the kang. The kang dissipates heat while also warming the room. It's actually similar to a ground heating system, except it's more economical for ordinary people."

You can light a fire when cooking three meals a day. Those who are a little richer can keep a low fire in the stove. If you want to save money, the heat of the kang can be maintained for a while after a meal. It is better than burning firewood or carrying it hard.

The governor of Liaoxi County was a down-to-earth official. After one look and one thought, he immediately understood the benefits of this kang.

The most important thing is that this thing doesn’t cost money!

It's okay for those extremely poor families, but for any civilian who can still survive, they just need to renovate the kang in their home. It's just right that every household has time to do the renovation after the autumn harvest. As long as the renovation can be completed before winter, this winter should be much better!

Liu Tan personally brought the Liaoxi County governor here because he was afraid that he didn't understand the benefits of the kang.

This thing is dispensable for the areas within the Great Wall, as it is not particularly cold there even in winter. However, it is really useful in the Northern Border Country and the Yan State.

The Liaoxi County Magistrate was overjoyed and said quickly, "I will immediately order them to make changes."

Liu Tan turned to look at Dou Sibo and said, "You can take care of other things, but don't be too anxious. I don't have the time to argue with them about this right now."

He had to quickly defeat the Wuhuan, and it would be best if he could do so next spring.

With the construction of the deep-water port, Liu Tan directly asked Li Xi to select some soldiers who were familiar with water.

The results were not very good. There were many people who were familiar with water, but most of them were familiar with fresh water, and basically no one had ever been in the sea.

Li Xi couldn't help but say, "If all else fails, we can recruit soldiers from the nearby fishing village."

People in fishing villages must be good swimmers. If they weren't, how could they make a living from the sea?

Liu Tan shook his head and said nothing. He had learned before that the lives of the people in those fishing villages were actually not very good. They said that they lived by the sea, but living by the sea meant that they did not have enough fertile land to grow crops and vegetables. Once the seafood could not be sold or was not caught enough, they would not be able to eat these things.

Of course, they had seafood, so they didn't starve to death, but the people all had some diseases to varying degrees.

What's more, he has an army of 100,000 at his disposal, and if he needs to recruit more soldiers later, how will he explain it to the court?

It is obvious that an army of 100,000 is enough to crush the enemy on land, so why do they have to go through the sea?

Liu Tan knew very well that it was useless to tell the court officials that the people of Liaodong County would be in danger. In their eyes, the people were just a symbol. They looked at the whole picture, and the part of Liaodong County was destined to be abandoned.

Liu Tan said, "The deepwater port is still under construction, so why don't you take your people there to familiarize yourself with it first?"

The weather there is not too cold, so there is no problem going into the water.

Li Xi suddenly felt a little worried: "If I leave, Your Highness..."

Liu Tan was at a loss for words and said, "Wei Deng and Li Ling are still here with their elite troops. What are you worried about?"

In fact, if there is real danger, it would be useless even if Li Xi is here. How can the soldiers under his command compare to the elite regiment?

Li Xi thought about it and decided to take his men away.

After he left, Liu Tan took a look at the calendar and found that it was only three months away from New Year's Day. Before that, he had a very important thing to do - to find a county magistrate for Pinggang County.