Chapter 373

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.

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.

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?”

“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!”

___________

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.