The previous debate among the counselors was not whether to defend Beixin City, but how many troops to send to Beixin City.
If you deploy too few troops, you will be unable to withstand the enemy's attack. If you deploy too many troops, food and grass will be a huge problem.
Based on the calculation of 10,000 soldiers and horses, including the logistics and baggage, a month's supply of food and fodder would cost upwards of 50,000 dan. After taking into account transportation losses, weather deterioration, bandits and looting, etc., even 100,000 dan may not be able to defeat the enemy.
Want millions of stones!
After calculation, this is almost a year's tax for 100,000 households. Nowadays, there are only a few hundred thousand households in the entire territory of Jizhou.
Therefore, fighting is all about logistics. A big war often takes several years to prepare, and then requires a long period of rest and recuperation.
That's why the Three Kingdoms period was fought back and forth for decades. It wasn't that it didn't want to end early, but it was that it couldn't.
Although the mule-horse army envisioned by Yuan Xi sometimes works wonders, the livestock eats a large amount of food on a daily basis. Recruiting civilian livestock on the spot is also a solution, but it is not a long-term solution.
The root of all limiting ideas is food.
Now seeing Yuan Xi taking the initiative to defend the city, all the counselors breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, everyone began to discuss how many troops Yuan Xi would bring.
Each of the three cities in Beixin has a population of no more than 20,000 to 30,000. In this case, raising 1,000 soldiers per city is almost the limit.
But a few thousand soldiers and horses cannot stop the army, but if there are more, food and grass will be a big problem.
Even in the richest Jizhou, food did not fall from the sky. In the event of natural or man-made disasters, Yuan Jun would be forced to eat mulberries to satisfy his hunger.
Yuan Xi said: "I have an idea."
"Now the world is very short of food. I heard that Cao Cao is stationed in Yanzhou, which is the most feasible solution to appease the situation."
"I will take three thousand young men to guard three cities. I will send the soldiers out of the city to open up wasteland. It will be just in time for the spring wheat planting. The harvest will be available in half a year. Although I cannot be self-sufficient, I can still meet most of the needs."
Tian Feng made a rare objection: "I have also heard about the farming, but the grain rent is nearly half, which is really too high."
"You must know that the Chinese system of thirty taxes per yen is only 15 per yen in times of difficulty. If you implement this rashly, I am afraid that the people's support will be dispersed before the war starts."
"Then Cao Cao used criminal laws to restrict the people and the army. The soldiers and the people below are like slaves. How can this law last long?"
What Tian Feng said is true. In order to prevent the people in the fields from escaping, Cao Cao formulated harsh punishments.
If the people who were conscripted into farming, if they ran away, even if they came back to surrender, they would be killed without mercy. Once the people who were forcibly conscripted into farming began, their descendants would continue to farm, and they would be bound to this land forever.
Everyone nodded, sighed and shook their heads. They all knew that this method was tantamount to drinking poison to quench thirst, but if it was not used, there was no other good way.
Yuan Xi was also a little helpless. Although this was the case, in the later generations of the Three Kingdoms' melee, Shu and Wu also used farming due to the situation. After all, food was the biggest problem. If they could not survive, there would be no need to talk about it.
He clarified his thoughts and said, "You can change it a little bit."
"The main ones are military camps, supplemented by the millet sales during Emperor Wu's period. In calculating military achievements, there is some preferential treatment."
No one could react for a moment, so Jushu said: "I would like to hear the details."
Yuan Xi said: "On the land where the garrison is located, soldiers can bring their families and cannot move out of the border at will. They usually work on farming, practice martial arts in their spare time, and go to war when necessary."
"Military merits for military expeditions will be counted, but soldiers need to prepare their own food and pay."
"Military merit can be regarded as a reward for honors, and some preferential treatment will be given to the land and the children's education and official career."
"Soldiers must farm, but they don't have to pay taxes!"
No need to pay food?
Everyone was shocked when they heard it, and they didn't react for a while, but the eyes of a few of them lit up slightly when they understood.
This method seems very similar to the farming system of the Han Dynasty where all farmers were soldiers, but it was completely different on the inside.
All soldiers are farmers.
This is actually similar to the later Tang Dynasty's military system.
Unlike the Han Dynasty's farming system, which placed armed groups on production groups, the Tang Dynasty's army system placed production groups on armed groups.
The difference lies in the military merit rewards.
In fact, the government military system is not necessarily better than the military system. After all, it was also an important factor leading to the turmoil in the middle and late Tang Dynasty.
But in the chaotic times of the late Han Dynasty, there was no need to worry so much. After all, after conquering the world, the system could still be changed.
The shortcoming of the Fubing system was that the land was annexed in the later period, leaving no land for farming, and eventually collapsed. However, at the end of the Han Dynasty, the population was sparse, and Youzhou had a large area of wasteland that could be reclaimed. It can be said that it had quite mature conditions!
This method requires soldiers to bring their own food, so there is no need to pay them. It is indeed an effective way to solve the current problem.
During the intervening few months, Jizhou's grain support can be used. Compared with the previous full grain transportation, the quantity is greatly reduced!
The counselors slowly came to their senses. While they were secretly surprised, they secretly looked around to see who had the wrong reaction.
Who among them came up with this strategy?
Or have some advisers already taken refuge with Yuan Xi?
Yuan Shang thought it was another story.
Second brother is so calculating!
Tie these soldiers to the land of Youzhou. In the future, these people sent from Jizhou will become the second brother's own!
And on the contrary, in order to cultivate the land, Jizhou has to send workers, peasants and merchants to cooperate. The second brother is preparing to suck blood from Jizhou!
He sneered secretly in his heart, it doesn't matter, Youzhou was given by the Yuan family and can be taken back at any time. Second brother, no matter how you jump, you can't get out of my palm!
Yuan Tan was thoughtful after hearing this. He was still helpless against the Taishan bandits in Qingzhou. Hundreds of thousands of rogue bandits had entered the mountain. The soldiers wereted money and food, but they could not wipe them out.
If soldiers were stationed around it, would it be possible to be self-sufficient and engage in a protracted war of attrition with the opponent, thus consuming the Taishan thieves to death?
Not to mention that everyone has their own thoughts, Yuan Xi thought that the military system of the government actually has many big pitfalls in it. It is not just something you want to imitate. The shortcomings will only slowly become apparent with the development of time.
For example, how to leave the military, how to take care of farming during the war, how to integrate the military merit promotion of the recruitment system, such as the land equalization system and the permanent field system, and so on.
It can be said that if operated improperly, the Fubing System will cause greater trouble.
Therefore, he is not afraid that this thing will be learned and used against him. After all, many of the traps were not even thought of by the person who invented them, and can only be left to the test of time.
And he can carefully control it within a certain scale to avoid getting out of control, and add some of the advantages of the recruitment system. Everything is to grow more food and mobilize the enthusiasm of the soldiers.
Tian Feng finally spoke, "It's a good idea."
"But soldiers are extremely sensitive in calculating their merits. This is a power that only the Han court has."
Everyone nodded. Although they all knew that Yuan Shao was standing on his own, after all, he was still an official of the Han court. If he overstepped his authority like this, he would probably be criticized.
Shen Pei said: "Just change the name."
Everyone knew how to adapt and began to discuss it heatedly.
A group of counselors discussed for a long time, and finally unanimously decided to let Yuan Xi lead his troops to Beixin City to try out a new farming system, and Jizhou would provide food before the first batch of grain was harvested.
Yuan Xi took the opportunity and said: "I have little knowledge, so I hope to deploy some officials and craftsmen who are proficient in agriculture, industry and commerce to assist in farming."
This is his purpose!
Use farming as an excuse to poach as many people as possible!
As long as these people arrive in Youzhou and have land, official positions and the qualifications for their children to become officials, will they still think about returning to Jizhou?
Finally, Yuan Shao made the decision and nodded in agreement.
Although Yuan Shang felt extremely unhappy, he still held his nose and congratulated Yuan Xi. After all, his biggest enemy at the moment was Gongsun Zan, and he would not be stupid enough to cause trouble at such a critical moment.
When Yuan Xi came out of Yuan Shao's official residence, he thought that he had come to the right place today.
If Zhao Yun hadn't alerted him, he would have been so happy in Yecheng that he even forgot that his base was in Youzhou.
Using the excuse of attacking Gongsun Zan, he obtained thousands of soldiers and nearly a thousand officials and craftsmen. In addition to the hundreds of craftsmen and apprentices promised by Yuan Tan in the first place, he could finally farm in Youzhou this time!
Yuan Xi returned to his mansion and saw Cao Xian busy packing his things, and said, "You really don't need to think about it anymore?"
"You know, life in Beixin City is very difficult, far less than that in Yecheng and Juancheng. It is possible to go hungry often and not be able to bathe for several months."
Cao Xian smiled and said, "The more you say this, the more I want to see it."
Yuan Xi shook his head, thinking that the little girl doesn't know how high the sky is, so just don't cry when the time comes.
Yuan Xi thought of the few months he had just arrived in Beixin City, where he was constipated from eating whole grains, squatted on the ground for a long time, his face turned red, and he was about to cry but couldn't hold back any tears. Evil thoughts arose in his heart.
What would it be like if this happened to a spoiled little girl like Cao Xian?
Yuan Xi got rid of the dirty thoughts in his mind. Now he was in a good mood. He had finally taken the first step by deceiving so many officials and craftsmen.
Such as voluntary studies and voluntary fields, such as the improvement of salt and iron technology, such as weapon forging, such as food improvement.
The more he thought about it, the happier he became. He brought a pot of wine and went to find Guo Jia, but as soon as he knocked on the door a few times, Dong's exclamation and Guo Jia's cursing voice came again.
After a while, Guo Jia came out wearing sackcloth and open arms. Looking at his expression, he wanted to fight Yuan Xi.
Guo Jia hated Yuan Xi so much that he bothered him again at a critical moment. If he did it a few more times, he was afraid that he would be ruined!
He snatched the wine bottle from Yuan Xi's hand and slammed the door, leaving Yuan Xi messy in the wind.
Yuan Xi turned around and left angrily. He originally wanted to share his joy with you, but who knew that you always like to do it during the day?
Even if he dies, he can still live for two more years.
Guo Jia's anger did not affect Yuan Xi's joy. The next day he obtained Yuan Shao's warrant and began to mobilize troops.
Most of the three thousand young men are unmarried, which is not a problem to him at all. As long as they arrive in Youzhou, just to allocate fields and exempt all households from grain tax, families with girls in Youzhou will defect to Beixin City one after another.
Fanyang Rongcheng Three Cities.
Moreover, this household includes not only the husband and wife, but also the parents on both sides.
In this way, the three cities will attract a large inflow of labor, which invisibly weakens Gongsun Zan's power in Youzhou.
The trouble that followed was that there were not enough soldiers to recruit troops locally, but there were still too few generals available.
He currently has only three generals under his command, Zhao Yunqu, Yi, Taishi Ci, and each of them has a city, so he can no longer find reliable generals.
For the current plan, we can only slowly encroach on Youzhou and look for talents locally.
As the day of departure approached, Yuan Xi decided to pay a visit to Zhen's Mansion before leaving.