After Lijiabao was defeated, news of Gu'an City's victory soon came. It is said that Cheng Yuanzhi and Deng Mao divided their troops into two groups, with Deng Mao as the vanguard. With the help of careful craftsmen in the city, the two groups of armies easily captured the city without encountering any resistance.

Gu'an City. Xu Kang was not surprised by this. Although there were many more defenders in Gu'an City than Lijiabao, the real defense was not strong, so it was expected that they would be captured.

At this time, someone suddenly reported that a dozen cavalrymen suddenly came under the fort. They had been lured into the fort by Zhao Bahu and captured. After investigation, they turned out to be Li Shi, the son of the Li family.

Xu Kang was no longer interested in this little person and asked Xue Ker to kill him.

At noon, Xu Kang restored Guan Yu and three others to their positions as garrison commanders, and ordered the three men to guard Lijia Fort, while Xu Kang marched towards Gu'an City with one hundred of his own soldiers.

At this time, the four gates of Gu'an City were tightly closed, and they had already been guarded by Taiping Taoists. Xu Kang went up to report his identity, and then he was taken to the county government office, where Cheng Yuanzhi's temporary residence is now.

In the Gu'an County government office, Cheng Yuanzhi had a wry smile on his face after hearing Xu Kang's report about Lijiabao's loot.

Xu Kang was puzzled and asked what happened?

Cheng Yuanzhi shook his head and said with a wry smile: "My subordinates just came to report that there were 20,000 dendrobiums of grain in Gu'an County's account book, more than 10,000 weapons, 100 fish scale armors, 2,000 leather armors, and other millions of coins."

."

"That's not too little." Although it's only a little more than the Li family.

"However, after verification, it was actually found that there were only 3,000 hu of grain in the inventory, and most of the weapons and armor were in a state of decay and could not be used. There was only tens of thousands of silver coins left."

Xu Kang was stunned and said, "Isn't this difference too big? Could it be that those officials were lining their own pockets?"

Cheng Yuanzhi nodded and said: "They said those account books are only used for inspections from above."

"Aren't they afraid that the imperial court will send someone to verify it?"

"Of course they are not afraid. Even if someone comes to verify, most of them will be bribed by them."

Xu Kang was speechless for a long time and then said: "It seems that we actually helped these officials."

Cheng Yuanzhi also said: "That's all, if the imperial court hadn't been so corrupt, we wouldn't have been able to successfully rebel. Let's make arrangements for the future as soon as possible."

At this moment, Deng Mao's bold voice sounded outside, calling: "Brother." After saying that, without waiting for the people in the room to reply, he pushed the door straight in. After seeing Xu Kang, Deng Mao smiled and said: "Haha, you

The boy is back too."

Although Cheng Yuanzhi was the commander-in-chief of Taiping Road, he had too many things to take care of, so the deputy commander-in-chief Deng Mao was mostly responsible for military matters.

Since Deng Mao became deputy commander-in-chief, he moved into the military camp and Xu Kang rarely saw him in the past few months.

Xu Kang had a good impression of this generous uncle. When he saw him coming in, he quickly stood up and saluted: "Hello, Uncle Deng."

"Okay, very good." Deng Mao patted him on the shoulder and praised: "You did a good job, you actually captured Lijia Fort so quickly. I thought you were waiting for my reinforcements."

Cheng Yuanzhi said helplessly: "Second brother, you are also my deputy commander of Taiping Road. How can you still yell like this?"

Deng Mao immediately bowed and said seriously: "Yes, I will listen to my elder brother."

"Why did you come to me when you weren't in charge of the military camp?" Cheng Yuanzhi had no choice but to change the subject as his second brother.

"I want to ask my brother if we should pursue the defeated generals who escaped from the city."

"In such weather, how far can they escape even if they escape? There is no need to chase them." Cheng Yuanzhi thought for a moment and then said to Xu Kang: "I don't think there will be any more important battles for the time being. The soldiers of your battalion

I’ll leave it to your men to train on their own for the time being, and you’d better come back and help me take care of the logistics.”

Xu Kang said hurriedly: "Aren't Mr. Cheng and Feng Dehai still here?"

"Mr. Cheng is old after all. Now that we have just captured Gu'an City and there is so much to do, I'm afraid his body won't be able to bear it. Although Feng Dehai is capable, he can't handle the workload alone."

Xu Kang thought for a moment and said, "Yes." Although logistics work is not popular, training troops is not what he is good at.

At that moment, Xu Kang immediately returned to Lijiabao and told his centurions that he was leaving temporarily. He also said: "Now that we have occupied Gu'an County, the scale of future wars will continue to expand, and the army expansion will also continue.

It is inevitable. So I decided to expand our battalion to 3,000 people by then."

The generals immediately showed joy, after all, the expansion of the army also meant the increase of power in their hands.

Guan Yu was worried: "With such a large-scale military expansion, other armies may be dissatisfied. Will Commander Cheng Qu agree?"

"I will discuss this with my adoptive father after I return to Gu'an. I believe he will not refuse. You don't have to worry. In addition, although we won this battle easily, the real battle will be a tough and big battle in the future. So every day

Everyone must have a weapon that they can use. Tomorrow, you all will go to the craftsman camp with me and think about what kind of requirements you have today."

"Yes." Everyone responded.

"What about the cavalry? Didn't your Excellency say that we want to form a cavalry?" Zhao Bahu finally couldn't help but interjected. This is currently the only military branch in which he can use his talents.

Xu Kang nodded and said: "Didn't we capture 200 war horses? Keep them all. Together with the previous ones, we have 250 war horses. I will give you 200 horses, and you will be responsible for training me a 500-horse horse."

A human cavalry team. As for the men, it is up to you to choose them."

When Zhao Bahu heard this, he was overjoyed and responded with clasped fists: "Thank you for your trust, sir. I will repay you with death."

The next day, Xu Kang led a group of generals to the blacksmith camp and found Zhang Datie, the current head of the blacksmith camp.

Zhang Datie is about 30 years old. He is strong and dark, and he looks like a blacksmith at first glance. Originally, he was just a refugee. Because he has the ancestral craft of blacksmithing, he was recruited to the iron camp by Xu Kang. Although there are already several blacksmiths in the iron camp,

There are ten people, but there are only a few people who can really beat iron into steel. Among these people, Zhang Tie is the best. What's more important is that he is willing to teach this craft to others.

Therefore, he is very respected in the iron camp.

Originally, the person in charge of the iron camp was a blacksmith from Chengjia Village, but Xu Kang had a very good impression of Zhang Datie after he met him and urged him to serve as the leader. Cheng Yuanzhi also summoned him once and felt that he was not the right person.

A reckless man who only knows how to blacksmith and has some ideas, he agreed to Xu Kang's request. It can be said that Xu Kang had the kindness to know and support Zhang Datie.

So now that Xu Kang has arrived, Zhang Datie is very enthusiastic.

Xu Kang was not polite. After explaining his intentions, he asked his generals to put forward their requests to Zhang Datie one by one.

So, everyone stepped forward one after another. Some wanted a spear, some wanted a spear, and some even wanted a sword. They were all different. Guan Yu asked for a big sword, and detailed the style he wanted.

After checking it again, even the weight limit was clearly stated.

Zhang Datie wrote them down one by one, and finally asked Xu Kang's request. Xu Kang didn't have any special weapons, but he thought that Guan Yu's Qinglong Yanyue Sword was very famous, so he said: "I learned from my elder brother.

Naturally, my weapon should be the same as my big brother's, so you can just make me one according to my big brother's request, but the weight will be reduced by half, because I can't swing a heavy sword."

Zhang Datie immediately responded.

Weapons cannot be completed in a day or two, so Xu Kang led everyone back to Lijiabao. Since Lijiabao was captured by Xu Kang, it has become a temporary location for his military camp.

After explaining the things to pay attention to, he rushed to Gu'an City with his soldiers, and at the same time escorted 10,000 shi of grain and a large amount of copper coins seized from Lijiabao.

Xu Kang first found Mr. Cheng with these things and handed over the work to him.

Cheng Lao had just left, but before Xu Kang could understand the current situation of materials stored in the city, Feng Dehai had already arrived.

Feng Dehai clasped his fists and said, "It would be great if General Xu is here. You have to save my life this time."

Xu Kang asked doubtfully: "Master Feng, where did you say this?"

Feng Dehai said with a grimace: "Food, it's not all because of the food."

Xu Kang was even more puzzled and said: "Isn't there still a lot of food in the treasury?"

"There are a lot of them, but Mr. Cheng won't let them move."

"Why is this?"

Feng Dehai hesitated for a moment, but still spoke honestly and said: "General Xu should know about the refugees outside Gu'an City."

"I know something." Xu Kang said. Although Chengjiacun also takes in refugees, its capacity is limited after all. Most of the people it takes in are Taiping Taoists, or people who are good at crafts and have strength. There are also a large number of refugees in Chengjiacun who do not have the capacity.

After being taken into custody, these people fled to nearby cities for refuge.

"Gu'an City originally had nearly 20,000 people. If we had followed the original Gu'an County magistrate's practice of giving out porridge and relief, our food would have been enough. But now many refugees have been taken into military camps by our generals.

They were raised as soldiers, so the consumption of food increased greatly. However, Mr. Cheng said that there was currently no order from Commander Cheng Qu to increase the number of troops. It was wrong for the generals to recruit troops privately and refused to release food. This put me in a dilemma. Now.

Well, you came here and brought 10,000 shi of food. I believe that stubborn old man will not make things difficult for us this time."

"That's it." Xu Kang nodded. Recruiting troops was inevitable, but there was another thing that Xu Kang didn't expect. He was still in the idea stage of this matter, and these bosses were so rough that they started to implement it. He said: "But this

This matter is not urgent. It is wrong for the armies to recruit soldiers privately, and this trend cannot be encouraged. In addition, the issue of refugees is also a big issue and needs to be discussed carefully. That is to say, they cannot all be recruited as soldiers, but

We can’t just provide them with a bowl of porridge like before and ignore them whether they live or die.”
Chapter completed!