Chương 359: 345. Project: Expanding Xiapi Progress
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When the army was leaving the town under Guan Yu and Zhang Fei's lead, Ju Shou and Kuai Yue managed to catch up to them and joined them as the strategists. Knowing that Ju Shou and Kuai Yue joined them, both Guan Yu and Zhang Fei knew that they would win against Liu Biao, even though they had the same number of men the tactical advantage was on their side with these two advisors that Liu Bei ordered for them to respect.
Liu Bei's Army then headed toward a village called Jixan, where from the information they received Liu Biao's army passed through Jixan and its situation was easy to defend and hard to be attacked.
Both Ju Shou and Kuai Yue decided to fortify the army at Jixan, due to the geographical advantage they would receive and its position located on the main road that connected Jiangling and Xiangyang.
Giving them much easier access to their logistics from Xiangyang, and it much safer for the logistics team to go back and forth between Xiangyang and Jixan, as bandits don't dare to ambush on the main road due to the presence of the patrols that have been dispatched by Kuai Liang after Liu Biao retreat to Jiangling.
Liu Bei's Army spent around 2 weeks before they reached Jixan and a scout was dispatched by Ju Shou to go ahead of them to scout the situation to see if there was any trace of Liu Biao's army near Jixan.
The scout heads further ahead after scouting around Jixan and finds out that Liu Biao Arny is still heading on their way to Jixan, and that takes around a week before they reach Jixan.
So when Liu Bei's Army arrived at Jixan, the scout that Ju Shou dispatched also returned back to Jixan and reported his findings to both Ju Shou and Kuai Yue, who then calculated the speed of the preparations that needed to be done.
The two of them began to instruct the soldiers to build fortifications, and traps and concocted a formation the Eight Gate Formation, to counter Liu Biao's Army that was on its way.
For those who found the name of the formation familiar, this is the formation that was used by Cao Ren to trap Liu Bei's Army in the original timeline, before being saved by Xu Shu who knew how to counter the Eight Gate Formation.
So the fortifications and traps were built according to the scheme of the formation, and they also familiarized Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Liu Pan as the main generals with how the formation worked and what instructions they should follow.
Guan Yu: "Such a complicated formation, Master Ju Shou and Master Kuai Yue then I leave the command of the army to the two of you during that time, don't entrust this to me or my third brother, as I'm afraid we will mess this up."
Zhang Fei: "Yeah Yeah! Just like what the second older brother just said, It's better than leading the soldiers on the battlefield and waiting for both master's instructions."
Kuai Yue: "Don't worry General Guan and General Zhang, the two of us will be the ones responsible for commanding the formation. Of course, the two of us gathered both Generals with General Liu Pan as well, to familiarize the generals with the instructions."
Liu Pan: " *sigh* It's really a complicated formation just like what both Uncle Guan and Uncle Zhang have just said, maybe in the future I will learn more about strategy I hope that the two Masters can guide me more."
Ju Shou: "It's good that General Liu Pan has the initiative to learn more about military strategy, a General needs to have a flexible mind not just physical prowess, I hope both General Guan and General Zhang are also interested in learning more about military strategies."
Listening to what Ju Shou said, Guan Yu's interest was piqued in learning more about military strategies, he prided himself on his strength and intelligence, so having a flexible mind became one of his priorities.
As for Zhang Fei, he just snorted and turned his head to the side. He doesn't like reading a book and learning complex things, that's why he leaves much of the decision makings to his eldest brother and second brother, as he doesn't like to involve himself in those kinds of things except for the ones he is interested in.
Ju Shou seeing the reaction from the two of them could only sigh, at least Guan Yu showed his interest and could be directed albeit in a way that didn't offend him because he was a very prideful man.
Due to the skills and prowess he holds, Guan Yu has a very large pride and eventually ego which in Ju Shou's eyes could be his downfall, so that's why he hoped that at least Guan Yu's mind could be more flexible.
For Zhang Fei, he could only let go because in truth in his eyes, Zhang Fei's shortcoming wasn't his muscle headed thinking, but the temper he had and his love for drinking wine until he was drunk.
In an army structure that requires absolute discipline and upholds military law, Zhang Fei wasn't a good General due to his temper combined with his love for drinking wine, and many complaints were sent to him immediately when he started his tenure.
He hoped that he could change or albeit somewhat influence the temper or personality of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei because, at the end of the day, the two of them were Liu Bei's biggest arsenal on the battlefield, just like Zhang He and Pan Feng when he still serve Han Fu.
As Ju Shou and Kuai Yue were preparing Liu Bei's Army for their inevitable clash with Liu Biao's incoming Army, far away from their location in the Northeast, Lie Fan was Inspecting the progress of Xiapi's expansion.
It's been two years since the project was ongoing and was halted for a few months due to Lie Fan's campaign against Huang Zu at Juangxia and his scheme over You Province.
Now the project has resumed after his victory at You Province and Jiangxia and after several eventful events, he finally has the time to inspect the progress.
Accompanied by Jia Xu, Liu Ye, Chen Qun, Mi Zhu, Man Chong, and Zhuge Jin, he was riding his horse inspecting the construction of the outer walls that were 50% done.
The outer wall construction could be said to be the one that needed the longest time invested, due to the sheer size, length, and height that was required by Lie Fan, fortunately, Liu Ye understood Lie Fan's vision and with his expertise managed to point out several areas that could be built in a much faster stepped.
Lie Fan: "I see that the progress of the construction is going very well, Ziyang how is the condition of our labor forces and the resources required for the construction?"
Liu Ye: "Our labor forces are in great shape and morale My lord, even though the construction was hated for a few months, My lord still gave them half of their wages during that time which caused them to work twice as hard when the construction was continued, as for resources I think Master Mi Zhu could elaborate on it more."
Mi Zhu: " Ahem, thank you, Master Liu Ye. For our resources, it can be said to be in somewhat good shape My Lord, for money, we still getting more investment from the nobles and merchants' clans, our wood supply is in great condition, and the cement ingredients supply chain doesn't have any problem, it was our stone supplies that have some problem due to the long track needed to be sent to Xiapi."
Lie Fan: "That's great Ziyang, gave them some raise for this month as a reward. As for the stone supplies, what have you done to take care of it Zizhong?"
Mi Zhu: "I have coordinated with Admiral Gan Ning to lend me some ships, and then send a delegation to Sheng Xian asking for his tribute to be stones until the end of this year My Lord to take care of our stone supplies emergency, I hope I haven't overstep My Lord for making this decision on my own."
Lie Fan: "No you don't overstep anything Zizhong, I think it's a great idea to be done. Sheng Xian doesn't have much in terms of money and his other tributes anyway, it's much better to be turned into a resource that we needed the most at his time, good work."
Mi Zhu heaved a sigh of relief, cupped his hand toward Lie Fan, and said thank you to Lie Fan for believing in him, Lie Fan waved his hand and said that he didn't mind that they had done some things without using his permission, as long as it was logical and that they tell him after doing it.
Lie Fan's trust in them increases the loyalty of his advisors, especially Man Chong and Zhuge Jin who don't have much contact with Lie Fan compared to Lie Fan's Big 5 advisors.
Next Lie Fan asked about the layout of the Outer City Liu Ye, are there any construction been done in the area where the section of the outer walk has been constructed, because if not he thinks it would be much better if they hired more labor forces and started the construction of the buildings in that area, increasing the speed of the project.
Liu Ye, Jia Xu, and Mi Zhu immediately pondered over Lie Fan's words, what could be done in their opinion maybe not starting construction on the building, but creating the arrangement of what buildings should be here, the size, etc.
They also could start constructing the road, creating its layout before being paved with stone and cement, which was what Lie Fan envisioned.
Of course, their expenses will increase once again, and with four big projects coming their way as well, Jia Xu and Liu Ye turned to Mi Zhu asking him if it's possible, and Mi Zhu estimated their expenses rise with the income from the nobles and merchant clans investment, finally concluded that it is possible.
With Mi Zhu's answer, the three of them reported to Lie Fan what they thought, and hearing it Lie Fan immediately agreed and said to them that they could halt it if their expenses were too much.
At this time when Lie Fan is still inspecting the outer wall, a messenger riding toward their location and presents a letter to Lie Fan saying that it is from Xun You, after opening the letter Lie Fan is surprised as Xun You reports that the Oriole informed him that in 3 days Huang Zhong and the Qinglong army will arrive, bringing Li Yan a prisoner and Lu Su a scholar from Lujiang Commandery.
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Name: Lie Fan
Title: Three Heroes Who Defeat Lu Bu
Age: 30 (197 AD)
Level: 16
Next Level: 462,000
Renown: 825
Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 9)
SP: 1,121,700
ATTRIBUTE POINTS
STR: 936 (+20)
VIT: 598 (+20)
AGI: 583 (+10)
INT: 587
CHR: 96
WIS: 509
WILL: 397
ATR Points: 0
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