The Three Kingdoms: I asked you to save Guan Yu, not to destroy Sun Quan.

Chapter 681 Disaster Strikes Out of the Sky While Sitting at Home

Startled by the rebuke, Youchi's legs went weak and he almost knelt down. He quickly forced a smile and said, "No, no, I was just his personal guard. Youchi ran away long ago."

The armored general was none other than Sun Lang. Upon hearing this, he stared at Sun Lang's magnificent attire and sneered, "Do you think I'm stupid? Men, tie him up!"

Youchi was quickly bound hand and foot and brought before Liu Chan and Guan Xing. Liu Chan circled around him repeatedly, examining him as if he were a rare animal, before asking curiously, "Is he Youchi, the second leader of the Youxi barbarians? He doesn't seem any different from ordinary barbarians. He doesn't even reach my shoulder."

Sun Lang bowed and said, "Your Highness, it is normal that people from Jiangnan are generally shorter than people from Jiangbei, and that the barbarians are even shorter than the Han people from Jiangnan."

Before Liu Shan could react, You Chi was stunned by the words "Your Highness the Crown Prince" and asked in astonishment, "You are Crown Prince Liu Shan?"

Seeing Liu Shan nod, You Chi instantly broke down, struggling to get up and scolding, "Liu Shan, are you out of your mind? As the crown prince, why aren't you enjoying yourself in Jiangling? Why are you coming to Wuling Mountain to beat me up? Have I offended you?"

Liu Shan rubbed his hands and smiled sheepishly, "I haven't offended you, but my personal guards need real combat experience. I can't beat the Wei army, so I can only come to you to practice first."

"You want to practice on me?" Youchi's head was buzzing and he felt terrible.

I understand you want to practice on someone, but there are so many bandits in Jiangnan, and the bandits in the Luoxiao Mountains are even stronger than me. Why don't you go fight them instead of coming to beat me up?

As a bandit who ruled the mountains, he could accept being formally besieged and suppressed by government troops, but he really couldn't stand being used as a practice subject by Crown Prince Liu Shan.

So, the reason I was wiped out wasn't because the government thought I had done too many bad things and was eliminating a scourge for the people, but simply because the Crown Prince needed a practice subject.

What's this all about? I was just sitting at home when disaster struck from the sky.

Upon understanding the reason for his attack, Youchi was truly heartbroken, but he had no choice but to force a smile and say, "Your Highness, I am the good brother of the Barbarian King (Shamoke), and the Barbarian King is a general who follows General Guan Ping to guard Longxi. In other words, the Barbarian King is your subordinate, and I am the Barbarian King's subordinate. I am the subordinate of your subordinate, which means I am your subordinate. I know I was wrong. Please spare my life."

It has to be said that Youchi's will to survive is really strong, but his logic is also sound.

Liu Shan touched his nose and pondered, "It's not impossible to spare your life for the sake of General Shamoke, but how come I heard that you stole five hundred sets of farm tools that the court allocated to Lingyang County?"

Youchi quickly replied, "It wasn't robbery, it was borrowing. I just forgot to return it."

"Your Highness, rest assured, I will return it to Magistrate Bao tomorrow, and from now on I will strictly obey Magistrate Bao's orders and will absolutely not cause any trouble for the government."

Liu Chan pondered, "Let's wait until we get back to Lingyang. It's getting late. Let's clean up the battlefield as soon as possible and then rest. Sun Lang, you take care of things. I'm going to sleep now."

After taking over the place, Sun Lang returned to You Chi's bedroom and fell fast asleep. As agreed, Sun Lang set off three beacon fires to signal the four armies besieging the outpost that he had finished his task and they could return.

At daybreak, the army assembled at the mountain stronghold. Sun Lang was the first to report the situation, bowing to Liu Chan and Guan Xing, saying, "Your Highness, Marquis of Shence, in this battle our army suffered thirty-six lightly wounded, no seriously wounded or killed, killed two hundred and forty-three bandits, and captured grain and supplies..."

The army suffered zero casualties, a result that greatly pleased Guan Xing. He addressed his soldiers, saying, "Well done! Everyone write a summary later, and I will review them one by one. By the way, you can ask me any questions you have now."

Someone raised their hand and said, "May I ask, Marquis Shence, last night our army was unstoppable. When we attacked the first outpost, Battalion Commander Li Gousheng scaled the cliff to block us. Afterwards, the other four armies also went to the outposts to block us. Unfortunately, none of these blocking armies were used. Didn't that seem redundant?"

Guan Xing shook his head and said, "Your idea is dangerous. It's good that it wasn't used, but what if you don't have it when you need it?"

The person who raised their hand was stunned.

Guan Xing continued his lecture: "There's a saying that goes, 'Having no sword in your hand and having a sword but not using it are two different things. You can choose not to use a sword, but you can't be without one. This is especially true in war. On the battlefield, things can change in an instant, and anything can happen. So you have to be fully prepared before the battle. If you don't need these preparations, you've only wasted a little effort, but if you don't have them when you need them, you could lose your life. So as commanders, you must eliminate all the variables you can think of before the battle starts. You can't ignore those little mistakes that insult your intelligence just because you're lazy. Do you understand?"

The soldiers shouted in unison, "Understood!"

Guan Xing continued, "Let me add one more thing: if you fight with all your might and still lose, it's because you're not skilled enough, and you can accept it calmly. But if you lose because you're lazy and overlook a detail, you'll regret it so much you'll want to beat yourself to death. Moreover, the battlefield is a place where you gamble with your life. After a defeat, there may not be a chance to start over. So you must do your best in everything you can do, understand?"

The crowd shouted in unison again, "Understood."

Guan Xing said, "Sun Lang, you're still the commander. You handle the aftermath."

Then he looked at Liu Shan and smiled, "Your Highness, since you've come all this way, why don't you take a stroll around?"

The restless Liu Shan readily agreed and led a few trusted confidants down the mountain to enjoy the scenery of Maling.

There are also many fertile fields with crops around Ma'erling, which were reclaimed by Youchi himself. After all, even bandits can't live by robbing alone, or they'll starve to death sooner or later.

Therefore, bandits would also try to cultivate fertile land in the mountains, but this place is deep in the mountains, and there is very little fertile land available for cultivation or wasteland available for reclamation.

Liu Shan walked along the mountain path, looking at the unevenly distributed farmland on and off the stage, and said, "These fertile fields are no bigger than the palm of your hand. Even if there is a bumper harvest every year, how many people can they support? It seems that there is a reason why Youchi and the others became bandits."

Guan Xing said, "This place connects to Nanzhong. Between this place and Nanzhong, there are mountains. Countless peaks are like natural high walls that divide the people living here into isolated tribes. Also, because there are too many mountains, there is less arable land. So the barbarian tribes living here cannot be self-sufficient by farming alone. They also have to fish and hunt, and they have to save as much as possible. Simply put, they eat less and divide the food that should be enough for three days into enough for seven days. Although they are hungry, they will not starve to death. Over time, this has led to long-term malnutrition among the people here, and they are even unable to grow tall."

There are reasons why people in the south are generally short. In Guan Xing’s view, the biggest reason is malnutrition. If people in later generations had sufficient nutrition, even if they were only slightly taller than their parents due to their parents’ height, their children would be slightly taller than them. With improvements over generations, the height would increase in just a few generations.

Therefore, in Guan Xing's view, the fundamental reason why southerners cannot grow tall is poverty.

Liu Shan sighed and said, "The barbarians are also subjects of the Han Dynasty. Is there no way to improve the situation?"

Guan Xing said, “Of course there are ways, but relying solely on food self-sufficiency is not feasible. To truly improve the situation, we need to build roads and bridges, break through the mountain blockade, and allow food from the outside world to be transported in. As long as food can be transported in, even just a little bit, it will improve the lives of the local people. But building roads in such mountains is too difficult.”

Liu Shan said firmly, "It's difficult, but we have to do it. How about we start with Youchi? Give Youchi an official position and let him lead his old troops to build roads and bridges, and open up the connection between the mountains and the outside world as soon as possible?"

Guan Xing nodded and said, "We can give it a try. Let's do a pilot test and see how it goes."