Chapter 111 Borrowing Zhao Yun Again

The water level of the Han River rose, and the retreating Gan Ning fleet sailed against the waves.

With the help of the wind, the fleet gradually approached Nanxiang County in the bumpy boat.

The fleet arrived at the dock on the east bank of Danshui River. Gan Ning put on his helmet and was the first to disembark.

The sunshine after the rain was particularly bright and clear, and the bamboo and wooden houses and warehouses built in rows on both sides of the river looked even greener.

Gan Ning observed his surroundings and sighed, "General Qu governs the people like he governs the army, which means he seeks stability too much."

He anticipated that the continuous influx of population would disrupt and worsen the public security and order in Nanxiang.

Unexpectedly, the efficiency of integrating manpower here was so fast. Except for the Qingzhou soldiers who were closed for training, all other manpower was invested in construction.

Also because of the heavy population loss during the turbulent times, the bamboo and wood resources near the county town have become lush again.

Nanxiang County and Yin County are separated by the Dan River, and the surrounding area is densely populated.

The sudden increase in population is simply filling the gap left by the previous loss, so in the short term, all resources in the wild are still sufficient.

But in Gan Ning's eyes, his own commander was still too conservative.

With this high-speed construction capability, every house built in Nanxiang is a waste!
Now it’s time to advance towards Wuguan Road and keep advancing!

Only houses built on territory controlled by one's own side are not considered a waste!
According to Gan Ning's character, as they were advancing towards Wugu Pass, he would rather burn down the empty houses unless the people of Nanxiang paid to replace them!

These three thousand Qingzhou soldiers were not included in the original battle plan, but they are now.

After the battle of Xiangyang, Gan Ning was confident that he could attack Guanzhong with just the Qingzhou soldiers and his own Jinfan Battalion.

Just by virtue of the fact that they easily wiped out Cai Mao's 5,000 elite soldiers, even if the Guanzhong generals had 5,000 troops, they were definitely not as good as Cai Mao's 5,000 men in terms of weapons and armor!
Cai Mao's weapons and armor are now all ours.

In terms of reserves of war equipment, Jingzhou already has a crushing advantage over the generals in Guanzhong. This is the advantage of Jingzhou's accumulated productivity.

After the rebellion of Li Jue and Guo Si, what savings could Guanzhong have?
The more Gan Ning thought about it, the more impatient he became. He quickly walked towards the black bear who was coming to greet him from a distance: "General Qu!"

The black bear looked at Gan Ning, who was wearing brand new lacquered leather armor. Gan Ning was now dressed in brand new clothes. The leather armor and other protective gear were lacquered and shiny, and the bright brocade robe underneath could be seen through the gaps in the armor.

Even the seven copper bells around the waist are golden and gilded.

He couldn't help but smile under the black bear mask: "How did you get here so quickly?"

It is inconvenient to sail during the rising of the Han River. For safety reasons, Gan Ning should arrive tomorrow.

"Speed ​​is of the essence in war. We dare not delay."

Gan Ning turned around to look at Li Yi who was following him, and introduced him with his arms outstretched: "Commander Qu, this is my fellow countryman from Ba County, Li Yi!"

Li Yi was surprised to see the Sanxingdui mask on Black Bear's face. Black Bear was also surprised to see Li Yi's typical Sichuan appearance, with a square face and big eyes.

Only slightly surprised, Li Yi stepped forward and knelt down, saying, "I am an exile. I have heard of your great name and have come to you to seek your friendship. I hope you will not abandon me."

"Since you are someone that Xingba values, don't say such inappropriate things."

Black Bear turned his head and looked at Gan Ning. "I will lead the Tiger Fang General now. Xingba can lead the Henghai Colonel and command the Jinfan Camp and Wang Wei's camp. Li Yi will be added to Xingba's camp and serve as a camp commander temporarily. We will appoint him after we take Guanzhong."

"Thank you, Commander Qu!"

Gan Ning took a step forward and knelt on one knee, the bells on his body jingling. A man next to Black Bear came forward holding the official seal of the Henghai Captain and handed it to Gan Ning.

Wang Wei, who was watching from the side, also stepped out and knelt on one knee beside Li Yi.

Wang Wei is a guest general and is currently only assigned to Gan Ning.

After the Guanzhong Campaign, Wang Wei still had to return to Jingzhou.

Li Yi did not expect that after he brought more than 200 people to surrender, Black Bear would really fill up his camp as Gan Ning promised.

When he rebelled against Liu Zhang, he was just a small figure and had planned to return to Yizhou quietly.

But it wouldn't be a good idea to go back in disgrace.

He was not afraid of Liu Zhang's pursuit, because Pang Xi was now in charge of the area around Baxi. If he took 200 people back, Pang Xi would not refuse him.

Black Bear stepped forward to support Gan Ning and said, "It's up to Xingba to decide who to choose as the military commander or the chief secretary. I only have one request, that you obey orders and win the battle!"

"I dare not disappoint Commander Qu's trust!"

Gan Ning also raised his head with an excited expression, which was very consistent with his character.

Daily discipline is one thing, but this kind of special trust, a status that is different from others and slightly higher than others, makes him more excited than any reward of gold or silver.

When men fight hard, isn't it just to make a name for themselves?

After pacifying Gan Ning and the others, Chen Zhen and Sun Qian came one after another.

The boat the two men were on was behind, coming quickly, followed by their subordinates.

Chen Zhen approached and presented the slightly thick military book in his hand: "General, I have fulfilled my mission. This is the list of soldiers recruited by Liu Yuzhou."

Black Bear took it and opened it immediately, and saw the list of 327 people.

Behind it were densely packed names and hometown information of officials and soldiers. He didn't have time to read them, so he rolled it up immediately and handed it to the military advisor Liu Ye behind him: "It's good that the Chief Secretary can come back!"

Black Bear went to see Sun Qian: "Mr. Gongyou, how are you?"

"The general's reputation is greater than ever before. I sincerely wish you a successful start and a great victory in sweeping away the bandits in Guanzhong."

Sun Qian saluted and said, "I have come here on the orders of my lord Liu Yuzhou to discuss how to help fight in Guanzhong and defeat the bandits together."

Cao Cao was a traitor to the country, and Zhong Yao, the Inspector of the Imperial Capital appointed by Cao Cao, was naturally an accomplice of the traitor and should be attacked.

"Okay, let's go sit down and talk in detail."

Black Bear extended his arms in invitation, and more than twenty people walked towards the wooden building.

On the shore, Wang Wei's troops and Lu Chang's troops began to assist in unloading all kinds of supplies that came with the fleet.

There was a spacious hall on the first floor and everyone entered barefoot.

Black Bear sat at the top, the first on the left was the military advisor Liu Ye, the second was the chief secretary Chen Zhen, the third was the military doctor Li Feng, the fourth was Xuan Liang, and the fifth was the Taiping Dao chief priest Guo Tai.

The first on the right is Gan Ning, followed by guest general Wang Wei, the third is Xu Lin, the fourth is Zhang Ding, and the fifth is Chen Yang. A person's energy is limited, let alone being able to take care of everything, it is not easy to catch more than a dozen people and let them do their job well.

Therefore, in the short term, there will not be much changes in the people sitting at the table today.

Now the Qingzhou soldiers are the most special, with the largest number of people, but there is still no camp commander.

The only person who can represent the Qingzhou soldiers is their chief priest Guo Tai.

This also means that it is impossible for this Qingzhou army to be promoted to battalion commander in the future. After the Guanzhong Campaign is over, they will withdraw from the front line and transfer to the garrison sequence.

Sun Qian sat in the middle, face to face with the black bear.

After the maids who served the dishes left, Black Bear picked up the rice wine and looked around, his eyes falling on Gan Ning's face: "We haven't celebrated since the war, so let's celebrate with a little wine, everyone, drink up."

"Drink full!"

As long as we win the battle, get spoils, and have few casualties, it doesn't really matter whether there is a celebration ceremony or not.

After drinking the sweet wine, Black Bear looked at Sun Qian and said, "Mr. Gongyou, what does Lord Xuande mean by helping in the battle of Guanzhong?"

"Here is my master's handwritten letter, please read it, General."

Sun Qian took out a stack of papers from his sleeve and handed it out with both hands. Chen Zhen, who had been with Sun Qian during this period, stood up, took the letter and handed it to Black Bear.

Black Bear opened it and read Liu Bei's handwriting.

Liu Bei still had not given up the idea of ​​fighting back to Yuzhou from Wankou. It was difficult for most people to give up.

The defeat of Cao's army at Bowangpo was a heavy blow to Cao Cao.

This means that people in Yuzhou dare not place their all in betting. If Cao Cao gets less bets, Liu Bei will get more.

The cruel system of alternate labor service also made the officials in the court of Xudu dissatisfied, because the system of alternate labor service was also a shackle for them.

In the long run, the staggered service system can stimulate current combat effectiveness, but at the expense of population recovery efficiency.

Twenty years from now, the population of Yanyu, Qingxu will be roughly the same as it is now, or maybe even less.

On the Guandong battlefield, at the end of the Han Dynasty, a small fry could command 5,000 soldiers, but now a good general can only command more than 3,000 soldiers, and a general of a certain region can only command 5,000 to 6,000 soldiers. In another 20 years, the number of soldiers directly under his command will be further reduced.

It's not that the troops are becoming more elite, but that the population is depleted and there is a shortage of manpower.

The more scarce the manpower is, the less we dare to let one person directly command too many troops.

When starting a business, efficiency is important when allocating manpower; when maintaining a business, balance is what is sought.

Each general had more than a thousand soldiers, and no one had the confidence to rebel.

The court officials liked the recruitment system or conscription system, and did not like the miscarriage system very much. The miscarriage system was a military system in which Cao Cao used the military deterrence of the Qingzhou soldiers and the righteousness of the court to kidnap the people under his rule, and then kidnap and undermine the court.

The only master of the system of alternating labor service was Cao Cao.

As long as Cao Cao wins a few more battles, his system of staggered military service would be in danger of collapse.

After all, the area under Cao Cao's rule was not that large. It was only until Cao Cao conquered Hebei that things became terrifying.

At that time, the Hebei soldiers will come to the south, and the Central Plains soldiers will go to the north.

The larger the area under governance and the wider the scope of kidnapping under the system of forced labor, the more brutal the local garrisons will be, and they will be particularly ruthless when suppressing the rebellion.

At the same time, with sufficient reserve troops, it will not be so easy to defeat them.

And now, Liu Bei believed that there was a possibility of completely defeating Cao Cao.

As long as a corner of the system of alternating labor service was torn off, the entire system would collapse, and under the backlash, Cao Cao's clan would inevitably be destroyed.

Cao Cao was lucky in the Battle of Bowangpo, as the more than 5,000 people captured and killed were from Qingzhou, Taishan and Dongping soldiers.

They were Cao Cao's founding veterans, not the poor people who were trapped in the system of miscarriage of duty.

Otherwise, 5,000 households across the counties would be severely punished by military law. Every family is related to Cao Cao, which would be enough to make Cao Cao suffer!
So in the letter, Liu Bei hoped that the next time a war breaks out, Black Bear would send a brave general like Tai Shi Wen Gong to assist him in the battle.

In exchange, he would send Zhao Yun to assist Black Bear in advancing into Guanzhong.

If Black Bear can send troops and Taishi Wengong to help in the battle, then Liu Bei can also send Zhao Yun to lead his own soldiers to help in the battle.

What is the status of 'Tai Shi Wen Gong'?
If he really led troops to help Liu Bei, he would definitely bring Black Bear's elite armored troops.

Although Zhao Yun's troops are elite, Liu Bei's troops are always the most elite and best equipped.

After reading the letter, Black Bear thought about it seriously and decided not to lie to Liu Bei on this issue.

He said, "Mr. Gongyou, I personally respect Zhao Zilong very much. I got along very well with him during my time at Jackdaw Road."

I couldn't help but think of the elite scouts who were killed by Zhao Yun's charge.

After the ceremonial words, Black Bear asked, "I heard that General Fubo has recruited soldiers, and after training, they will help fight in Nanyang around October. If accidents happen frequently, the Fubo army will not be able to help this winter or even next year, what will Lord Xuande do?"

Sun Qian thought for a moment, and answered seriously, resoundingly: "My lord also has such concerns, but Liu Zhennan has already recommended Mi Zizhong to lead Nanyang County. If the Fu Bo Army does not come to help in the battle next year, my lord Liu Yuzhou will personally lead the Nanyang Army out of Wankou again to fight against the traitors in the Central Plains!"

Even without Liu Qi's reinforcements, Liu Bei would still have to march out of Wankou to attack the Central Plains again next year.

"Well, I'm afraid that Zhao Zilong will lead his troops to help me this year, but I won't have the chance to help Lord Xuande next year. I don't like others to owe me, and I don't like to owe others."

Black Bear nodded: "In this case, I am willing to submit a letter of alliance to Lord Xuande. No matter what the situation in Guanzhong will be next year, as long as Lord Xuande's troops leave Wankou, I will send troops to help in accordance with the alliance!"

After that, Black Bear turned his head to look at Liu Ye and said, "Please ask the military advisor to draft the alliance letter, and I will give it to Mr. Gongyou after I seal it."

"Yes."

Liu Ye agreed immediately and just wrote down the general meaning of the alliance letter.

The biggest function of this letter of alliance is to give Sun Qian a written certificate. After taking it back, Zhao Yun will lead his troops to set off.

With this alliance between them, they will have more confidence when facing Liu Biao.

　Mission accomplished

　　
　
(End of this chapter)