"All of this would cost an astronomical amount of money, and the water wheels can only be used in places with fast-flowing water. Out of all nine provinces, how many places actually meet such conditions?"
Zhuge Liang did not say a word. What his wife said was absolutely correct. Jingzhou lay along the upper reaches of the river. Around Gong'an, with the main river to the north and the Hudu River to the south, deploying water wheels everywhere was totally feasible for now. But what about the north?
Huang Yueying did not dwell on it. She took Zhuge Liang's hand, put out the lamp, and led him back to the room warmed by the brazier.
Seeing that Zhuge Liang was still lost in thought, she moved behind him, gently massaged his shoulders, and spoke in a gentle voice.
"It seems our lord's arrangement was indeed the right call."
"Hmm... what?" Zhuge Liang snapped out of his deep thoughts and raised his head, meeting Huang Yueying's concerned gaze.
"Even without official documents to handle, my husband still exhausts his mind like this. How could you possibly not die early?"
"Since you already plan to hand the Ministry of Works over to me, why not step back completely and just wait for the results?"
Having a wife like this was truly a blessing. Zhuge Liang temporarily pushed his worries aside. The long night was still young, and it was time to cherish the moment.
They did not talk much for the rest of the night. The next day, for the very first time since taking office, Zhuge Liang brought his wife along with him to the county office.
"You intend to relocate the Ministry of Works to the banks of the Hudu River?" Sun Qian was quite surprised.
He knew the Hudu River well. It was a tributary south of Gong'an, and it even had a fun connection to their future.
Legend had it that a fierce tiger used to harm people near Gong'an. The Administrator of Nan Commandery at the time personally investigated the situation and ordered the removal of the traps set against the beast. The tiger then swam across this river and left, bringing peace back to the area.
That was how the river got the name Hudu, which meant tiger crossing.
That Administrator was Fa Xiong, whose great-grandson would later become their colleague, Fa Zheng.
"We will do exactly as Madam Huang suggests," Zhuge Liang said as he issued the directive.
Sun Qian had no objections, but he glanced at the buildings the craftsmen had already started dismantling and felt a bit troubled.
"In that case, what should we do with this empty space?"
"We will just use it for the Medical Department," Zhuge Liang replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"With our lord personally making the trip, even if he cannot invite Zhang Zhongjing himself, he will definitely bring back one of the divine physician's disciples. We can build new structures here to serve as a medical hall. As the population of Gong'an keeps growing, having a proper medical hall will help us prevent and treat epidemics."
Right at that moment, Ma Su returned from his wood-chopping mission and brought some urgent news.
"Sir, Zhuge Liang, our lord has returned with fifty thousand troops!"
Fifty thousand troops? Zhuge Liang stared at Ma Su for a moment, and his mind went completely blank.
'Are we even serving the same lord here? Please do not tell me Cao Cao just marched over here with fifty thousand troops instead.'
Thankfully, his worst fears did not come true. Walking into the Gong'an county office alongside a dust-covered Liu Bei was a middle-aged general with a thoroughly exhausted face.
"Kongming, this is Lei Xu of Lujiang, styled Zibo. He has been persecuted by Cao Cao's general Xiahou Yuan and has come to join us in taking down the Cao thieves."
Liu Bei looked equally travel-worn, but his face carried way more excitement than fatigue.
Zhuge Liang immediately got the hint. Lei Xu had brought his entire faction over, so they naturally had to give the man a proper welcome. That was fifty thousand people right there, and they definitely were not lacking in capable fighters.
Fortunately, Lei Xu was not difficult to deal with at all. The weary general simply requested a peaceful and comfortable bed from Zhuge Liang, lay down, and immediately fell into a deep sleep.
Once everyone was seated again, Liu Bei finally recounted his rather remarkable journey.
"A-Dou and I asked around for the whereabouts of Divine Physician Zhang Zhongjing and rode straight over to meet the old man."
Thinking back to the meeting, although Zhang Zhongjing was pushing sixty, his energy was incredible, and he honestly looked even younger than Liu Bei himself. That was when Liu Bei realized the light screen was not exaggerating at all when it called him a divine physician.
"Divine Physician Zhang was unwilling to take up the post of Administrator," Liu Bei said with a hint of regret, since they were still severely short on civil officials. "But the good news is he agreed to our request and is willing to come live in Gong'an for a while."
"That is more than enough," Zhuge Liang nodded. "And I assume you ran into Lei Xu on the way back?"
Zhuge Liang was naturally familiar with the name Lei Xu. The man was a native of Lujiang and had once served under Yuan Shu. When Yuan Shu arrogantly declared himself emperor, he appointed Lei Xu as a Zhonglang General. After Yuan Shu's defeat and death, Lei Xu gathered his followers and roamed the Jianghuai region right up to the present day.
Earlier this year, Cao Cao likely marched south again to relieve the pressure on Cao Ren in Nan Commandery. The local factions in Jianghuai felt threatened and rose up in rebellion. Nobody expected Cao Cao to strike back so ruthlessly. He sent heavy hitters like Zhang Liao, Zhang He, Zang Ba, Xiahou Yuan, and Yu Jin to sweep through the entire region.
How could Lei Xu possibly withstand such a massive force? His troops were completely shattered.
Zhuge Liang had not heard any follow-up news and had just assumed they were wiped out. Who would have thought that the guy actually pulled off what the light screen called a strategic relocation, crossing the treacherous natural barrier of Mount Tianzhu to flee all the way here and join their lord.
"The Jianghuai region has been reduced to absolute ruin," Liu Bei sighed deeply.
Zhuge Liang let out a matching sigh. Even without the specific news about Lei Xu, the general reports from Jianghuai had been arriving constantly. After suppressing the local factions, Cao Cao inexplicably decided to forcibly relocate the Huainan population. Perhaps because the discipline of Cao Cao's troops was absolutely garbage during the campaign, the people of Huainan made a decision Cao Cao never expected, which was to run for their lives.
A hundred thousand civilians packed up their families and chose to seek refuge in Jiangdong rather than move north. Cao Cao's soldiers then rode out to ruthlessly plunder those fleeing south, creating yet another massive calamity of war.
"How does our lord intend to settle Lei Xu's forces?"
Liu Bei had clearly thought this through on the road.
"Lei Xu said that after enduring the chaos of war, his people only want to rest and recuperate. His personal guards will remain under his direct command, while the civilian refugees will be dispersed and settled west of Gong'an to cultivate farmland."
Zhuge Liang nodded in agreement. The most important part was that Guan Yu and Zhang Fei's military camps were stationed right to the west of Gong'an. If anything went sideways, they could step in and suppress it immediately.
"Cao Cao's campaign in Jianghuai ended up delivering fifty thousand people to our lord, and another hundred thousand to Sun Quan,"
Zhuge Liang shook his head. "No matter how you do the math, this campaign cannot be considered a win for him. Especially since Cao Ren has already fled in defeat, and Nan Commandery has fallen right into Zhou Yu's hands. Cao Cao has lost a massive amount of popular support."
Liu Bei sighed again. The sheer fact that Lei Xu could drag fifty thousand people across Mount Tianzhu to seek refuge spoke volumes about the terrible discipline of Cao Cao's army.
Even though Lei Xu was nominally labeled a bandit leader, what kind of bandits traveled with their entire families? His force was essentially just a miniature remnant of a warlord faction.
He had risen from humble beginnings, and neither Cao Cao nor Sun Quan had ever bothered to recruit him. He just gathered people in Jianghuai to survive. Rather than saying Lei Xu brought chaos to the region, it was more like his existence just gave Cao Cao's army a convenient excuse to loot the place. If Lei Xu truly commanded fifty thousand hardened bandits, he would have just fought back head-on. Why would he risk everything to cross the mountains and submit to Liu Bei?
After they finished exchanging sighs, it was time to get back to business.
Zhuge Liang demonstrated Huang Yueying's interconnected water wheel system to Liu Bei. The simple but brilliant principles behind it drew massive admiration from his lord.
"With such incredible ingenuity, Madam Huang will surely earn us a ton of those technology progress points."
Zhuge Liang smiled, feeling incredibly proud of his wife, before smoothly bringing up his own request.
"I can handle all the local matters here, from the farming settlements and the medical department to the construction of water wheels and the attempt to produce Zuo Bo paper. I can make the calls on all of that. There is only one issue that requires our lord to make a personal trip."
"What matter is that?" Liu Bei asked, his expression turning completely solemn.
"I need our lord to make a journey to Jiangdong to negotiate the ownership of Nan Commandery," Zhuge Liang declared with a firm and resolute voice.
"Wait, what? Big brother is going over there to get a wife?" Zhang Fei's voice suddenly boomed from the doorway as he randomly spawned into the room.
---
Historical Note:
There are very few records about Lei Xu. What can be verified is that he gathered followers in Jianghuai around the first year of Jian'an. In the fifth year of Jian'an, when Cao Cao recommended Liu Fu as the Inspector of Yang Province, Lei Xu even sent gifts to congratulate him. There are no records of him submitting to any faction in between, until he reappeared in the history books in the fourteenth year of Jian'an getting absolutely beaten up by Boss Cao.