Tian Yu followed him out to greet him, and found that besides Sun Li, there was another guard beside Yuan Xi. His figure was not necessarily tall and strong, and he wore an iron mask that covered half of his face, leaving only a pair of eyes.
He had already advised Yuan Xi to find a bodyguard who was tall and strong to make up for Sun Li's shortcomings. Although Sun Li was very talented in martial arts, after all, his body had not yet matured and his martial arts had not yet been mastered.
It's fine inside the formation, but when it comes to a master like Yang Feng, it seems a bit inadequate.
When they met Yang Feng for the first time, Tian Yu and Sun Li teamed up and almost let Yang Feng succeed. Sun Li was naturally resentful, and Tian Yu also felt quite embarrassed.
In Tian Yu's opinion, the best way to deal with a flexible person like Yang Feng is to form a circle with a dozen strong people, drain him of his strength, and kill him alive.
The young master is going to attack Montenegro this time. Yang Feng may come to make a surprise attack. Is it enough to bring an extra bodyguard?
At this moment, Tian Yu noticed that Gao Shun beside him had a strange expression on his face, staring straight at the new guard, wondering what was so weird about this?
After everyone entered and sat down, Yuan Xi told about the appointment of Yan Rou as the captain of Karasuma. Guo Jia said: "This official position is suitable, but I am afraid of the corresponding official position."
Yuan Xi smiled and said: "I have already asked Zilong to take care of it."
"Brother Guorang."
Tian Yu heard this and responded: "The general will be here at the end."
Yuan Xi motioned to Zhao Yun to take out the seal ribbon and said: "Zilong has also applied for a title for the state. The emperor has decreed that my brother will be the Colonel of Huwuwan."
Everyone listened and thought that this was appropriate. Colonel Wu Wan was used by the Han court to supervise Colonel Wu Wan. If it were anyone else, Yan Rou might still have a grudge in her heart, but if Tian Rou had a good personal relationship with Yan Rou,
Yu, that would save a lot of trouble.
Tian Yu took the seal ribbon from Zhao Yun and murmured in his heart, Young Master really wants to hand over Youzhou to Zhao Yun?
You are really brave. You must know that the young master’s family members are all in Jicheng. If Zhao Yun has other ideas,
Yuan Xi seemed to see the doubts in everyone's minds, including Tian Yu, and said, "The emperor's decision to grant Youzhou Mu the title is indeed slightly different from what I had expected."
"The emperor had a lot of ideas in doing this."
"However, one person cannot serve as the state pastor of two states at the same time. This arrangement gives me a legitimate reason."
"Everyone can rest assured that the affairs of Youzhou will be arranged as usual in the future. Zilong will respond to orders in Youzhou as if I were issuing them myself."
Everyone immediately accepted the order. There was no need for them to argue about the matter that Yuan Xi had already decided. Besides, it was a little awkward at first, but Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu and others who owned several states actually did the same thing.
But think about it, among the thirteen states of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Yuan Xi, who he followed, could be considered as owning two states in name!
Yuan Xi then said: "The top priority is to capture Heishan and completely eliminate the hidden dangers of the Heishan army. Only then can we stabilize the surrounding areas of Youzhou. At the same time, we can also plan to merge the state and occupy as much land as possible in the Hetao area."
The Yellow River is full of dangers but only rich. The Hetao area can be said to be the most suitable place for growing food near the Great Wall in the north.
Moreover, due to the Ice Age at the end of the Han Dynasty, the weather in the north has become colder in recent years. As a result, many areas where water conservancy has not been developed are only suitable for growing cold-resistant and drought-resistant food crops, and the Hetao area is very suitable for growing wheat.
As for Youzhou, water conservancy facilities can be used to minimize the impact of cold weather and be used to grow rice with higher yields, but this approach is only suitable for places with sufficient water sources.
Doing the math, raising an army of about 10,000 soldiers and horses in Youzhou would cost about three million dan in terms of food for one year.
Of course, this is calculated based on all the soldiers’ expenses and food and wages, including staple food, meat, milk, vegetables, salt, seasonings, etc.
With some coarse grains mixed in, in the end you may not need 3 million shi of wheat and rice, but you will need more than half of it. The reason why wheat and rice were chosen over other crops is because the former has an advantage in yield.
Even so, it is difficult for the several counties of Youzhou alone to support these expenses, not to mention that the first few years are a period of breeding and selection. If the experiment fails, it is easy to lose the harvest, which will actually affect the harvest.
Yuan Xi controlled the number of soldiers so carefully, not because he could not recruit more soldiers, but because if more soldiers were added, Youzhou would be dragged down alive.
The response method adopted by many other princes is to fight and consume. If the soldiers die, the cost will naturally be less. As Yuan Xi, he is very reluctant to use this method.
Therefore, Yuan Xi coveted the Hetao area where he could grow grain and raise horses. In addition, in the coming years, the weather would become colder, which would affect the pasture in the pastures outside the Great Wall, resulting in a large-scale reduction in production.
If the nomadic people cannot feed their livestock, they have only two options.
One is to move westward in search of a place with more abundant water and grass. Of course, conflicts with other nomadic peoples will inevitably occur.
The second is to plunder southward, enter the fortress, and rob the border residents of Youzhou and Liangzhou.
Relatively speaking, the second option is more likely to be accepted by nomads, because moving westward is unreliable. There may be no pastures, or other pastures may also be affected by disasters.
But going south is different. Not only can you rob the food grown by the Han people on the border, but now that the country is in chaos, all the Pingliang troops who defend the border are involved in the civil strife, and the border fortress is almost undefended.
Yuan Xi predicted that within five to ten years, the Northern Xiongnu and Xianbei outside the Great Wall would move south to plunder on a large scale. Before that, he would use various forces to establish a defense line in the Bingzhou and Hetao Plains to block the footsteps of foreigners.
However, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shang and others, limited by the limitations of the times, did not take such a long-term view. The main reason why the Yuan family wanted to occupy Bingzhou was because they had their sights on the southern Xiongnu's military resources and war horses.
At this point, Yuan Xi, who mainly wants to farm, and Yuan Shang, who wants war horses, actually do not conflict too much in their goals, and the two sides can still cooperate.
As long as both sides open the Black Mountain Pass, they can enter Bingzhou. On the one hand, Yuan Xi used the strength of the Yuan family to back him up. On the other hand, he used the emperor's edict to intimidate the southern Xiongnu. He established military towns and camps in the Hetao area to ensure the safety of farming, and then in
During the window period of these few years, accumulate as much strength as possible.
Of course, the premise is that the Montenegrin army causing trouble must be eliminated.
Thinking of this, Yuan Xi said: "I have been ordered by the emperor to attack Heishan and at the same time persuade the Yuan family. I have to give face to both sides and try to avoid the death or injury of the soldiers."
"I would like to ask you first, what do you think?"
Jushou waited for a while, and when Guo Jia didn't speak, he said, "The emperor said that they turned the conflict into friendship. If the Black Mountain Army is really wiped out, I'm afraid the young master will also be criticized in the Han court."
"I think the best outcome is for the Montenegrin Army to surrender and the Young Master to integrate it."
Yuan Xi sighed: "I really want to do this too, but now we can't eat it."
"We also spend a lot of military rations. If we continue to fight for another month, I'm afraid Youzhou will have to use up even the food planted in the autumn."
"Even if their Montenegrin army surrenders to me, I can't afford to support so many people."
Jushu said: "But the Black Mountain Army can't hold on any longer."
"If they surrender to Yuan Shang, we may not gain much from attacking Montenegro this time."
Guo Jia spoke up at this time: "I have some different views from Mr. Gong and Mr. Yu."
"If Yuan Shang really dares to capture all the hundreds of thousands of Montenegrin troops, Jizhou will be depleted in less than half a year."
"When famine breaks out and the situation in Jizhou is in chaos, won't the young master's opportunity come?"
As soon as these words came out, the faces of everyone present suddenly became stiff. Is this what you can say?
Why are you always thinking about overthrowing Jizhou?
Yuan Xi smiled bitterly and said: "Let's not talk about this matter for now. We are still weak now. If something happens to Jizhou, Cao Cao will have an opportunity to take advantage of it. We can't compete with him."
After hearing this, Guo Jia had a look of regret on his face, thinking that the young master is still so soft-hearted.
What Guo Jia actually meant secretly was that there was chaos in Jizhou and the Youzhou army took the opportunity to seize Yecheng!
And he believed that Yuan Xi must have understood and was just pretending to be stupid.
In fact, this is the fastest way Guo Jia can think of to capture Jizhou. Although it is very risky, fighting for the world requires taking risks.
However, since Yuan Xi rejected this idea, Guo Jia said: "Since Youzhou and Jizhou can't afford it, we can only let the Black Mountain Army collapse, and some refugees will be forced to go south to Hanoi."
"When the time comes, let go of part of the Black Mountain Army, and just focus on the Young Master's highest priority target, Yang Feng."
"In this way, the goals of all three parties can be achieved. We deal with Zhang Feng, the Yuan family defeats the Black Mountain Army, and at the same time releases some of the defeated troops to the Han court, and can also give an explanation to the emperor."
At this time, Guo Jia was deducing what happened after the defeat of Montenegro. It seemed that he had considered it a little too early, but everyone present understood that these situations must be dealt with early. When the Montenegro army really surrendered, they would think of ways to deal with it.
It's too late.
Guo Jia finally said: "I suggest you wait and see what happens in the past few days. When Yuan Shang is defeated, you can negotiate terms with him."
Jushou said: "I heard that Jizhou sent Zhang He and Gao Lan to lead reinforcements. Now that Yuan Shao has all three pillars under his command, his strength has greatly increased. What if the Black Mountain Army is directly defeated by him?"
After hearing this, Guo Jia said: "The Black Mountain Army is not easy to deal with. It cannot be completely eliminated by adding two generals."
"And the most troublesome thing is that the terrain of Black Mountain is dangerous and the woods are dense. Soldiers can only fight hand-to-hand with each other in twos and twos. The advantages of the Jizhou Army's strong bows, crossbows and cavalry cannot be used at all."
"Moreover, Yuan Shang is afraid that he wants to monopolize the credit. If he doesn't suffer a big loss, he won't be willing to let us intervene."
After hearing this, Jushou nodded and said, "It is true as Fengxiao said, when soldiers are tired, it is better to recharge their batteries."
Yuan Xi smiled and said: "As you two said, let the soldiers rest for two days."
"At the same time, we will step up troop preparations, become proficient in mountain warfare, and be ready to respond to changes at any time."
Yuan Shang sat in the tent, looking at his counselors and generals with satisfaction.
After the judge came back from levying grain and grass, together with Pang Ji, his two great advisers arrived.
The general Wen Chou, Gao Lan, Zhang He, and more than a dozen others under his command, together with the generals Lu Kuang, Lu Xiang, and more, were already the strongest combat power that Jizhou had at its disposal.
A total of nearly 30,000 soldiers were dispatched for reinforcements, as well as front-line logistics and food transportation. If we could not defeat the Montenegrin Army, we really would not be able to go back and explain.
He waved his hand, "Everyone go back, we will attack tomorrow!"
The judge said in a voice: "Where is Mr. Xianyi?"
Yuan Shang didn't take it seriously and said: "What can his thousands of soldiers do? If he gets involved, should I share the credit with him equally?"
After everyone heard this, they thought that this was in line with Yuan Shang's character, but it was also reasonable.
In the past few years, Yuan Xi had won several great victories and gained quite a reputation, but Yuan Shang had almost no military exploits and was in urgent need of a decisive victory to prove himself.
If Yuan Xi were to attack the Black Mountain Army together at this time, even if they won, the rumors that would spread out would most likely be that Yuan Xi played a decisive role in it.
In this way, wouldn't Yuan Shang himself become the victim?
Moreover, now that the Jizhou Army has an absolute advantage in terms of strength and generals, whether Yuan Xi participates or not does not affect the overall situation. Therefore, due to emotions and reasons, Yuan Shang will not let Yuan Xi participate in this decisive battle.
In Zhang Yan's camp of the Black Mountain Army, Yang Feng said: "General Zhonglang, what do you mean, I will attack tomorrow?"