Chapter 195: A rich harvest, but you have no children In 198 AD, that is, in April of the third year of Jian'an, under the urging of Master Zheng, the Cao and Liu families negotiated in the State of Chen. Through this meeting, the confrontation pattern in the Central Plains was initially established. As for Cao's army, they exchanged the two counties of Chen and Xinping from Liu Bei in exchange for the city of Pingyu. In this way, the troops were further reduced and a stable defense circle was obtained. As for Liu Bei, he successively captured Chengfu, Sishan, Songguo, Xinyang, Yilu, Xiangxian, Nandun and other cities at the lowest cost, and controlled most of Runan County in one fell swoop. On this basis, together with the four counties of Chen State and Pingyu City given by Cao Cao, Liu Bei obtained more than a dozen counties and a population of 700,000 to 800,000 through this plan. In addition to the increase in territory and population, there were also all the garrisons of the State of Chen, plus Yuan Shu's captives, a total of nearly 40,000 troops, hundreds of thousands of stones of food and fodder, and hundreds of millions of gold and silver. The price to pay was to support a new King Chen, Liu Xian. The task of supporting Liu Xian was actually kicked onto Liu Bei by Cao Cao.

Because now the two families divided the territory of Chen State, but Liu Xian was still the King of Chen and retained his fiefdom. Now that the State of Chen has been divided, whoever accepts Liu Xian will have to spend a large amount of money and grain to support Liu Xian's expenses in the future. Logically speaking, after Liu Xian left the country and stayed in the county, Cao should have brought him back to the court because of his status. But Cao Cao thought that although he did not send many troops this time, he still suffered heavy casualties. As a result, Liu Bei took most of the benefits. Apart from Pingyu and Chen counties which were exchanged in equal value, he got four counties! If he continues to worship Liu Xian, wouldn't he be at a great loss? So Cao Cao made this proposal to Liu Bei, saying that Liu Xian is a member of your family, so I will not take him away, and you should take him home and take good care of him. Naturally, Lao Liu didn't have much objection to this proposal. After all, Liu Xian helped a lot when they were planning to take over the State of Chen this time. Liu Ye called him uncle, and Liu Xian and Liu Ye were brothers, so Liu Xian was his junior. Anyway, it would just cost more money and food to support him, so Liu Bei could naturally afford it. After this discussion, people like Luo Jun, Lu Kai, Liang Xi and others naturally joined Liu Bei's army. Liu Bei originally wanted to separate the four counties of the State of Chen and have Luo Jun and Lu Kai continue to guard them. But as soon as this idea was proposed, it was rejected by Liu Ye and Qin Zhen. The reason given by Liu Ye was that although Luo Jun and Lu Kai were Liu Chong's old subordinates, they were not suitable for guarding the border. Luo Jun's talent lies in governing the country, not in pacifying the various regions. Lu Kai is even more of a jack of all trades. He is good at leading troops in battles, but lacks in political strategy and strategy! Qin Zhen responded by saying that their territory was now too fragmented, spanning three counties and kingdoms in the Central Plains: Runan, Chen, and Pei, and the administration was quite chaotic. It would be better to separate the State of Chen and the dozen or so counties they took this time into a separate area, with Yilu as the center, and appoint a military commander to lead it. As for the selection of the colonel, he recommended Zhang Xun for the position, and appointed Liang Xi, Shu Shao, Zang Ne and others as his deputies to govern the newly seized land.

However, Lu Kai is not good at commanding troops, so he can be transferred to Xu Shu to guard Xiang County. Others such as Yan Xiang, Luo Jun and others all have their own talents and can be transferred to Guan Yu to deal with the civil affairs of Runan. When Liu Bei heard this, he readily agreed. Therefore, after several days of negotiations, Liu Bei and Cao Cao finalized various details and finally began to deploy troops. This step is naturally more tense than negotiation. Because conflicts of interest and frictions are likely to arise during the deployment of troops. However, under Zheng Xuan's care, neither Cao Cao nor Liu Bei resorted to any tricks. In the end, Cao Ren led his troops to withdraw from Pingyu, and Guan Yu led 20,000 troops to station there. Liu Ye and others moved out of Chen County with the baggage of Chen State and some people who were willing to follow, and gave the county seat of Chen State to Cao Cao. By the time the handover between the two companies was completed, it was already May. With the mobilization of troops, the confrontation between the two families was completely formed. Cao Cao stationed more than 70,000 troops from south to north, including Cao Ren, Yu Jin, Cheng Yu and others. Liu Bei's army consisted of 80,000 troops stationed under Guan Yu, Zhang Xun, Xu Shu and others. It seems that Liu Bei has the advantage in military strength, but Liu Bei's battle line is too long, so it is more difficult to defend. Once the two fronts were established, the situation between the two families stabilized. At this time, it was time for Master Zheng to leave. At the time of parting, Liu Bei was naturally reluctant to leave, and told Zheng Xuan that there were too many vacancies among officials under his command, making it difficult to accommodate the refugees. Seeing that Liu Bei was so devoted to the people, Zheng Xuan ordered more than 30 of his disciples, including Zhao Shang, Xu Ci, Wang Jing, Ren Gu, etc., to follow Liu Bei south. However, Xi Lu and others were optimistic about Cao Cao and were unwilling to go south, so Zheng Xuan did not force them. By the time Liu Bei returned to Shouchun with his army, it was already late May. As soon as he returned to Shouchun, the first thing Qin Zhen did was to bring Hua Tuo home to treat his wife. After a diagnosis, Hua Tuo stroked his beard and smiled, saying to Qin Chen: "Madam, your pulse is a sign of a child. You just need to take good care of yourself. When you give birth in the fall, both mother and child will be safe!" At this time, Cai Yan was six months pregnant. Her belly was bulging. She was no longer as pretty as before, but had a little more roundness. Hearing what Hua Tuo said, he smiled brightly and immediately asked someone to bring some gold and silver as a reward to thank Hua Tuo. Hua Tuo just smiled and said nothing, stroked his beard and accepted the money. Even though he practices medicine everywhere and is incorruptible, he still has a wife and children to support. If people who have no money ask him to treat their illnesses, then he is providing free medical treatment. And if someone is rich, like Qin Zhen, and they give him money, he would not refuse it.

However, Qin Zhen was surprised to hear that he could tell whether it was a boy or a girl by just taking the pulse: "When I saw you taking the pulse, you only touched it lightly. How did you know if it was a boy or a girl?" When Hua Tuo saw him asking questions, he thought he didn't believe it, so he pointed at his wrist and explained to Qin Zhen: "Mr. Qin is not familiar with medicine, so he does not know what the pulse shows. In fact, the human body's meridians are connected to the whole body, and blood flows from the internal organs to the limbs, so the pulse can be used to diagnose the disease." "I observed your madam's pulse and found that there was a pulse within it, and that the pulse was shifted to the left, which means you are having a child." "If the pulse is more urgent on the right side, it means the baby is a girl. If it is urgent on both sides, it means the baby is twins!" Qin Zhen listened to this and thought to himself that the pulse was so weak that he didn't know how to tell whether it was left or right. But the man in front of him was a famous doctor after all, so he asked again: "But I wonder if there is a way to fix the situation when a person is unable to have a son and all his children are daughters?" When Hua Tuo heard this, he immediately promised Qin Zhen: "Not to mention not being able to have children, even if you can't have children, you can still understand the pulse and regulate it!" But after telling this story, he thought that your wife is already pregnant, so does she still need to be taken care of? "But I don't know who Mr. Qin is talking about?" When Qin Zhen heard this, he immediately expressed his opinion. Who else could it be? It must be their boss Liu Bei! Speaking of the issue of Liu Bei's offspring, that is their biggest hidden danger now. Because Liu Bei only had two daughters and no sons. Now with the change of the timeline, Liu Bei has finally gotten some stable time to live in peace. But he took care of his two wives every day, but there was no news of any birth. It would be fine if Liu Bei was infertile, but in history, he was able to have children. In Jingzhou, she gave birth to a son named Adou, and later gave birth to two brothers, Liu Yong and Liu Li. There are still nine years from now until Liu Chan is born. It doesn't make sense that only one son was born in nine years. Therefore, Qin Zhen inferred that Lao Liu probably had some problems during this period of time. Now that Hua Tuo has arrived, he naturally needs to make a careful diagnosis. When Hua Tuo heard Qin Zhen's words, he understood why Qin Zhen insisted on inviting him. It seems that Cai Yan is just an excuse, and the real purpose is to treat Liu Bei. He immediately smiled and said: "It's hard to know the problem just by listening to it. I need to see you in person before I can make a judgment!" When Qin Zhen saw this, he naturally brought Hua Tuo into the general's mansion again. Liu Bei had just returned to Shouchun and was preparing to rest for two days, but he did not expect Qin Zhen to bring a doctor and say he wanted to treat him. Of course he had heard of Hua Tuo's reputation, but after all, some issues are beyond the reach of men. If the diagnosis is fine, then it's fine. But if it's said that he, Old Liu, is not good enough, that would be so embarrassing! So Liu Bei rarely disagreed with this proposal and said directly to Qin Zhen: "I know the military advisor has good intentions, but this is a private matter, why is the military advisor worried about it?" But Qin Zhen saw this and laughed at Liu Bei and said: "I heard that you and I were looking for a concubine because you wanted to have more children. Why do you want to talk about private matters when I come to you?" "You must know that if you have no son, the state will be in turmoil. Does your Excellency have no intention?"

When Liu Bei heard this, he shook his head and laughed. He knew that he could not win the argument with Qin Zhen, so he simply let Hua Tuo treat him. As a result, Liu Bei did not find any problem with the diagnosis, but instead found a problem with Mrs. Mi. According to Hua Tuo's diagnosis, Mrs. Mi was born with a cold lower abdomen, insufficient kidney yang, and stagnation of liver qi, irregular menstruation, and difficulty in getting pregnant. When this conclusion came out, Liu Bei didn't do anything, but Mrs. Mi was so anxious that she burst into tears. When Mi Zhu saw this, he went straight to Qin Zhen's house and complained: "Zhu, I have no grudge against you, why did you let the doctor harm me?" Seeing him coming to question him, Qin Zhen hurriedly tried to appease him: "Zi Zhong and I are friends, how could I say I would harm him? Doctors are kind-hearted, and Dr. Hua is here to help Madam." "If this matter continues, my wife will be childless and you will be without an heir. Isn't that harmful?" "Why not wait for the miracle doctor to treat the disease for a while? If he can cure the disease, you will have a son, and the Mi family will be honored by the son. Isn't it the best of both worlds? Zi Zhong will just wait patiently!" When Mi Zhu heard this, he sighed in grief, thinking that it would be fine if the disease was cured, but if it wasn't, there might be problems. But he also knew that Qin Zhen meant well. As Liu Bei's power grew and his sister was unable to have children, it was better to realize it early than late. If it can really be cured, then everyone will be happy. If it really can't be cured, he will have to accept his fate. Helplessly, he had to go back quietly and wait for the result. During this journey, Qin Zhen was naturally not idle. After arranging for Hua Tuo to treat Liu Bei, he suggested to Liu Bei to set up a special intelligence organization. Now that they have obtained a large amount of money in the land of Chen, they can use it as funds to build an intelligence system. Old Liu was also very concerned about this matter, but he had no experience in this area, so he said to Qin Zhen: "Our military intelligence has always been managed by Xianhe. If the military advisor is interested, he can discuss it with Xianhe first." "First, specify the rules. If you need money or food, I will allocate it!" Qin Zhen knew that Lao Liu had been very busy recently, so he stopped talking and went to find Jian Yong again to ask about their current methods of obtaining intelligence. When Jian Yong saw Qin Zhen asking about it, he directly explained to Qin Zhen how they obtained intelligence. It can be said that their current intelligence agencies are extremely crude, consisting of only two types: the spy camp and the scout camp. As the name suggests, the Spy Camp is composed of spies. A considerable number of these people are Lao Liu’s old brothers when he was still in society. Later, as Liu Bei embarked on the right path, these knights became his followers. The rest of the staff were swordsmen recruited from various places. Whenever Liu Bei had a request for intelligence, these spies would be sent to various places by Jian Yong to carry out intelligence gathering work. This part is also their main source of information about the situation in other places. Currently, there are many spies under the command of Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Sun Ce, and Lu Bu, and the spies are mainly distributed in Wu County, Xu County, Yecheng, Xia Pi and other places. The scout camps are more dispersed, and each army has elite soldiers serving as scouts.

This is their main source of information about the enemy's military intelligence. However, compared to the spy camp, the scout camp's detection range is smaller and more specific. The two forms combined form the main body of their intelligence agency! When Qin Zhen heard this, he naturally shook his head and said: "With such a method of detection, it's no wonder that our army's information transmission is not smooth." "If we face Cao's army again tomorrow, our army will be defeated!" As he said this, he was secretly glad that he had time now. Otherwise, once a full-scale war breaks out with Cao, they will suffer heavy losses just in terms of intelligence. (End of this chapter)