Chapter 194: You are so obviously favored, why don’t we leave?

At this time in Wei County, Yuan Shao was standing in front of a mountain stream, looking at the shaking reflection on the water. His face was extremely pale and his hair was disheveled.

The light in his eyes has gradually disappeared.

The Southern Expedition boasted a huge army at that time, but it is so miserable now. I am afraid there will never be a more tragic defeat than this time. The 650,000-strong army was in vain.

Tens of thousands of elite soldiers and horses returned, but now there are only a few hundred horsemen around them. The civil and military personnel are scattered. Jushou and Xu You were both taken as prisoners and could not be brought back. When Cao Cao's army chased him, they took away the soldiers, horses, and armaments.

Everything about it and food made him extremely heartbroken.

These are family properties accumulated over many years. Most of them were destroyed on the battlefield of Guandu, and the other half were given to Cao Cao.

"how so……"

"With an army of hundreds of thousands, we have never had a single major victory! Why is this so!"

Yuan Shao was a little confused. At this time, he even had the desire to die and wanted to plunge into the river.

Just die in the stream.

Before this, he had raised his sword twice and wanted to kill himself, but was stopped by his son both times. His subordinates, civil and military officials, persuaded him to return to Wei County and regain his strength. After all, the people's support is still there, and there is no

Completely discrete.

You can't die even if you want to live. I don't know how to fight with Cao Cao and Xu Zhen.

The key is that there is no rift between Xu Zhen and Cao Cao, and the alienation strategy does not work. They are already a family, and their relationship is unbreakable and cannot be fought for.

By now in this battle, Yuan Shao had belatedly understood all the strategies and arrangements. Xu Zhen threatened Yangping and Qinghe County in the east, allowing Cao Cao to advance head-on.

If Xu Zhen is ignored, Cao Cao will keep stalling and waiting for Xu Zhen to march straight into various cities.

If we want to control Xu Zhen, we must have an army of more than 100,000, or even 150,000, otherwise we will have to retreat to defend the city and be unable to defeat the enemy.

So we are in such a dilemma. If we really want to say that we failed, it means that we have failed in employing people. If we had used Zhang He and Gao Lan from the beginning to face Xu Zhen, even if we could not win and were not brave enough, we would not lose.

They were beheaded one after another so quickly, which severely damaged the morale of the army.

This is a failure of employment.

There are several strategists who give orders in the army, and they are scheming with each other. When the war is about to begin, they do not want to fight the enemy together, but they themselves fail to control it. Sitting back and watching these people become confused and hostile to each other is also a failure and should be reviewed.

In contrast, Cao Cao's side adheres to the principle of employing people without suspicion and believing in delegating power. In fact, it has achieved the effect of knowing people and making good use of them, so that the three armies can serve. With the current military strength, it seems that this year will not be possible.

Maybe continue.

After the defeat of Wei County, the exhausted troops were stationed at Liyang and other barrier cities to prevent invasion. Once the entire Wei County was lost, it would be a smooth road for them and Jizhou would be in danger.

"Father, don't linger any longer. You should quickly return to Yecheng and summon civil and military forces to discuss this matter."

"We still have the land of three states, and we have never reached the stage of complete defeat!"

"Okay, let's go back."

Yuan Shao sighed, picked up the cold water from the stream and patted his face randomly. After regaining his strength for a while, he stood up and left.

He knew what he would face next when he returned to Yecheng.

…

"Today is another day full of energy!"

At dawn, Xu Zhen came out of the main tent, wearing a black robe and military uniform, with his hair tied behind his head. He did not wear a crown. He left two bunches of hair hanging on the sides in front of him. He had an elegant temperament.

[If you go to bed on time, your self-discipline value +150]

[Self-discipline value: 26450]

In the morning, Xu Zhen first went to the martial arts field to practice Huanshou Sword martial arts. After the war, he gradually returned to the living habits he had practiced day and night before.

After wielding the sword five hundred times, he went to the school field and Dian Wei at Sishi. Zhao Yun continued to train his soldiers. He used a thousand-meter circular obstacle course to select new elites and entered the camp. He was busy selecting and demonstrating in person.

At noon, Zhuge Liang and I were counting the families of the casualties and sergeants in the camp, and were preparing to distribute pensions. After defeating Zhang He, we had captured manpower and captured a lot of baggage and money. It was enough to distribute them now.

"Although there are not many casualties in our army, the pensions in the elite battalion are very high. These are the promises made by Master back then."

Zhuge Liang lowered his head and didn't notice Xu Zhen's face. He was talking to himself, "After counting, there were more than 1,200 casualties on the armored cavalry, 2,100 on the crossbow cavalry, and 800 on the sword and shield camp.

There are many people, as for Uncle Dian, Zilong, and Uncle Zhongkang, the number of lieutenants is also three thousand..."

There were over 10,000 casualties.

That Zhang Junyi's ability is really not just a boast. From Yuan Shao to Cao Cao, no wonder he can live for such a long time and make countless achievements. With hundreds of thousands of people in his hands, he can indeed exert greater military power.

When a general leads an army, whether he can be called a general or not, the number of people he can command is also very important. For example, Liu Bei only leads less than 10,000 soldiers. When he has thousands of soldiers and horses, he is so fierce that he cannot win on any battlefield, even if he can win.

He is able to make meritorious deeds and then retreat unscathed, he fights bravely and tenaciously, and his subordinates fight to the death. He is often famous all over the world for this, and he is considered a unique person.

If there were tens of thousands of troops, it would be easy for Cao Cao to be pushed to the ground and beaten. This was the case when Xuzhou was originally scheduled to be defeated. After a few strategies, he fell into the trap and was defeated. It was difficult to take into account the difference in thought.

Not to mention when he has an army of 700,000, an arsonist can almost burn his entire reputation.

Therefore, Xu Zhen has many elite soldiers under his command, and the soldiers are highly trained. They will never use new recruits in vain. Just like blacksmithing, Su iron is better than ordinary iron, hard and sharp, and easy to cut, even if it is small and rare,

Also pursue.

He will not allow too many troops and horses. Each general can bring thousands or ten thousand, as long as he can equal ten on the battlefield.

Therefore, except for him, I am afraid that no one has ever had the feat of commanding tens of thousands or even one hundred thousand people at one go. In the future, we will have to cultivate the talents of a general.

This is not something that can be determined by talent, it depends on experience in combat.

Of course, Zhuge Liang didn't know what Xu Zhen was thinking. After reading the report for a while, he continued: "The pension for more than 10,000 people should be calculated as ten dan of food per household."

"This means at least 100,000 shi of food...if converted into money, it would also cost 10,000 jin."

"The profits from the war should not be lost. After reporting to the lord, we will not have much left. Master, you see..."

"Do you want to keep it private?"

Zhuge Liang looked up and saw that Xu Zhen's face was calm and not solemn. Then he saw Xu Zhen smiling and saying, "No, report it truthfully. Don't hide it."

"Everything in the army must be done strictly, and nothing can be done improperly, otherwise it will be blamed in the future." Xu Zhen thought for a while and said: "Last year's tax revenue from Shucheng has arrived. I will take a look at the money after Min Yue gives me a letter.

Whatever you accumulate, all of it will be used for pensions."

There are more than 5,000 households in Shucheng, and many small noble families live in them. Dong Fang, Dong Zhao brothers, Chen Deng, Bao Xin, etc. from Xuzhou have all purchased land and houses for Xu Zhen.

In terms of money, the total should be more than tens of thousands of dan.

It must be more than ten times higher than his salary. After adding the money and food, it must be enough.

But after Xu Zhen said this, Zhuge Liang fell into an indescribable sluggishness. He looked stunned and didn't know how to respond. After a long time, he asked: "Master, are you planning to...spend all of your fief tax revenue this year on soldiers' pensions?"

"

"Well, it's okay, as long as you have enough money."

Xu Zhen grinned.

Money is really not the most important thing now, because after he became a marquis, he has changed from a planner to a rule maker. He does not need money so much, and resources such as food are available everywhere. As long as the manpower is still there,

With people's hearts attached to them, tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, and more than ten civil and military celebrities around them, even if all their money is gone, they can still live without lacking anything.

Money and grain are currencies that ordinary people, merchants and even nobles must keep, but not for Xu Zhen.

"It's an old rule that wealth and wealth gather together. Kong Ming doesn't have to worry about the pension. These are small things."

Xu Zhen stood up and patted him on the shoulder, "Is everything okay? Noon is about to pass. Now I have to go to the main account to discuss matters with the lord. I will leave the matter of appeasing people to you."

"I am distributing my family property for pension purposes, and it needs to be kept secret. Only a few people know about it, and it cannot be spread outside."

Zhuge Liang sighed after hearing this, "I know."

[If you manage politics for one hour, your self-discipline value +150]

After the self-discipline score was calculated, Xu Zhen stood up with satisfaction and rode out of the tent to go to the main tent. However, when he went out, Zhuge Liang sighed deeply and shook his head with a wry smile.

For a moment, he seemed to be staring blankly at Xu Zhen's back, a little confused.

After a long while, he murmured to himself: "Not only can we not learn it through hard work, but also this kind of mentality is beyond the reach of others. Is there anyone in the world who does not seek benefit? My master is such a person, compared with celebrities from aristocratic families.

I don’t know how high and deep my realm is.”

…

In the main tent, Xu Zhen walked in hurriedly. When he opened the door curtain, Cao Cao looked up, his face immediately turned to smile, he got up and walked out from behind the papers to greet him.

Xu Zhen handed the Hu Liuli directly to Su Wei and asked him to put it on the weapon rack aside. Cao Ren, who was standing on the left side of the military tent, was stunned for a moment.

Why, I found this knife specially for you and asked the skilled craftsmen in Xuzhou to decorate it, and you still handed it over?

You really don't accept any gifts? I'm going to use this tiger glass to make you famous all over the world.

How can a counselor not hold a long sword against his body? From now on, he can't even lift a sword when fighting with others!

Cao Ren was puzzled.

"You take this again!"

Cao Cao rolled his eyes at Xu Zhen.

"Those four thousand war horses have been returned! Yuan Shao's war horses and baggage baggage were captured this time, which is countless, tens of thousands in total."
To be continued...