In the seven or eight days that he and Li Su acted separately, Lu Su took the initiative to collect a lot of information.

At this moment, Li Su created an opportunity for him to perform, of course Lu Su had to shake his spirit and try his best to show his talents:

"The good teacher learned that there are three main families in this Danyang handsome, all of whom are from the Shanyue chieftains, who are stationed in Jiangbei and trade with the imperial court.

The largest family is called Zheng Bao, according to Chaohu; followed by Zhang Duo, according to Jinghu; Xu Qian again, according to Shanyang Pond. Under the command of these three families, there are thousands of brave mountain Yue people waiting to be sold. The rest of the forces are less than a thousand soldiers, so there is nothing to worry about.

In previous years, if the imperial court needed a huge number of Danyang soldiers, such as three years ago, Zhu Jun, the general of Youzhonglang, came here to recruit more than 10,000 soldiers, resulting in expensive soldiers, they would make money together.

Later, the yellow scarves were flattened, the demand decreased, and some small chiefs couldn't hold on, so they wanted to sell at a lower price to grab business. At this time, Zheng Bao will attack privately, and his subordinates will control the source of troops and stabilize the price of soldiers. ”

Lu Su told me that it was the first time that Wu Qiu Yi and Li Su had heard the details of it, so much so that even Li Su was amazed to hear it.

Judging from the way these heroes are entrenched, they are all like the Liangshanbo mercenaries in later generations, occupying a big lake and waiting for Zhao'an to be hired.

Who said that the people of the Han Dynasty would not be able to do business!

Zheng Bao is just the chief of a large Shanyue tribe, and he knows the simple truth of "whoever dares to play a price war with Lao Tzu at a discount, Lao Tzu will destroy him", and regulates the relationship between supply and demand, so as not to have too many buyers who are too strong.

Li Su couldn't help but ask curiously: "In this way, this Zheng Bao is still quite prestigious among the Shanyue tribes of the Danyang and Guangling generations?" If he wants to control the supply of troops, then those troops that he has annexed can't be sold out for a while, so don't he have to raise them himself? ”

Lu Su immediately explained: "That's true, that's why these heroes want to entrench themselves in Daze." Because Yangzhou is vast and sparsely populated, most of the officials sent by the imperial court are northerners, who are not suitable for swampy and humid places. The locals of Yamagoe can cultivate their own fields on the edge of the river.

The imperial court's taxes and levies on the people of Shanyue were also lighter, and they were mostly restrained, and every year the chieftain paid some mountain goods, even if he paid the grain and taxes. Therefore, Zheng Bao is in the fields around Chaohu Lake, which is enough to feed the people. In a rampant year, it will even invade Heqi County. ”

When Li Su heard this, he also had to sigh, it turned out that the scope of activities of the Shanyue tribe was so large now.

In later generations, when he read history books, he emphasized Sun Quan's merits in naturalizing Shanyue, and he thought that Shanyue was at most active in places south of Huiji, such as Jiangxi and Hujian.

Unexpectedly, during the Zhongping period, the northernmost part of the country was the range of activities of the Shanyue people!

It is estimated that it was later that Cao Sun fought many tug-of-wars in Hexi, including the battles of Wetshuwu, that the local Shanyue people were washed and moved.

Moreover, in the land on the surface of the river, the local heroes are good at driving boats and boats, coming and going like the wind, and there are many water villages, so they refuse to defend along the lake, and most of the officers and soldiers turn a blind eye -

Officers and men could not drive boats from other places to the lakes that were not connected to the big rivers, and if they wanted to suppress the bandits, they had to build local ships on the spot, or only rely on the smallest boats that were easy to transport. The heroes couldn't beat it, as long as they hid in the lake, the officers and soldiers would be blinded.

Wu Qiu Yi didn't have so much leisure, he only cared about his recruitment task, so he interrupted Lu Su and went straight to the point and asked: "Don't talk about this, then you can tell me how Sun Jian recruited troops three months ago, who did he win over at that time, and who did he suppress?" ”

Lu Su's intelligence work was fully done: "Sun Taishou joined forces with Zheng Bao, and at that time he also brought his own soldiers to besiege Xu Gan, who ranked third in power, and knocked out most of the Xu Gan tribe, and Xu Gan's tribe is now estimated to have more than 1,000 elite soldiers left. Zhang Duo also tended to help Xu Qian at that time, but he also suffered a slight loss.

In addition, Zheng Bao also took the opportunity to exterminate several other fragmentary tribes, captured all their captives, and then disposed of them to Sun Jian. Zheng Bao saw that Sun Jian was attacking and killing his opponent side by side with him, so he gave Sun Jian some cheaper. ”

When Qiu Yi heard this, his brows furrowed: "In this way, if we unite with Zheng Bao again, I'm afraid there won't be many Zheng Bao's enemies to catch, so do you really have to pick a hard one...... How did you get so clear about this news? ”

Lu Su: "I have a friend I made during my study tour, named Liu Ye, whose name is Ziyang, who is the sixth son of Emperor Guangwu, King Fuling, who is two or three years older than me. He is a local, Zheng Bao in order to facilitate negotiations with the government, in the local Huairou to hold some Han clan relatives hostage, that Brother Liu has no choice but to be coerced by him. I secretly visited Brother Liu this time and asked him about his situation, so I know very well. ”

Wu Qiu Yi was overjoyed: "Zheng Bao doesn't know that you have looked for Liu Ye?" He's not suspicious, is he? ”

Lu Su: "Zheng Bao is very strict with Brother Liu, and someone should know about it." Merely...... No one has plotted against Zheng Bao for many years, and most of them think that I am helping Du Wei to find out the price. ”

Qiu Yi was stunned for a moment, feeling that it seemed to be the case.

Although Zheng Bao is a wealthy chieftain, he is also a businessman, and if a businessman wants to sell soldiers, he must allow his subordinates to constantly contact the outside world to exchange quotes.

How can you be suspicious and not allow potential buyers to ask for the price?

Qiu Yihu was hesitant and felt that his scalp was a little numb.

If you join forces with Zheng Bao again, there is not much room to provoke, so you have to endure Zheng Bao's high price, and you may not be able to buy enough people.

If he turned his face with Zheng Bao, Wu Qiu Yi only brought 300 soldiers and horses from his headquarters this time, plus Li Su had almost negligible 20 cavalry soldiers. Zheng Bao's soldiers and horses were originally at least more than 5,000, and after joining forces with Sun Jian to expand a wave, it may be possible to swell to nearly 10,000 people.

If you want to directly destroy Zheng Bao and surrender his people, how difficult it is.

Wu Qiu Yi's only advantage is that he has He Jin's Jun life and Liu Yu's order in his hand. If Zhang Duo and Xu Qian were supported in the name of the general, it would be possible to take the defeat of these two Zheng Bao's subordinates as a precursor.

It's just that most of these Hao chiefs are cunning, and they don't know if they are willing to exert a little effort, if they are just fighting a good fight, they will not be of much use.

After thinking about it, Wu Qiu Yi humbly asked Li Su's opinion: "Li Beijia, what do you think?" Should we join Zheng Bao, or should we join the rest of the weak and gamble on the great merit of Zheng Bao? ”

Li Su didn't know much about military affairs, and he didn't dare to say nonsense: "I don't know the soldiers, so it's inconvenient to make decisions on my behalf." This matter has to be seen first, how many soldiers and horses do you think it will take to defeat Zheng Bao?

Knowing the scale of strength we need, I can help you calculate, how to win over and divide in order to gather enough forces to break the enemy, if it is really not enough, you can only unite with Zheng Bao and endure high prices. ”

Li Su's suggestion was very stable, and whether it was Qiu Yi or Guan Yu, it sounded very comfortable.

After all, no one who is a general likes literati to dictate combat strategies.

And Li Su put out: You can take care of the war yourself, and I am only responsible for helping you pull sponsorship and divide the enemy.

Wu Qiu Yi said with relief: "If Zheng Bao really has nearly 10,000 Danyang soldiers, I am afraid that I will also need four or five thousand people, and with the help of the appeal of the imperial court, I can be sure of victory." After all, the Danyang soldiers are all elite soldiers in the world, not ordinary thieves.

However, now that Zhang Duo and Xu Qian are being wooed, it would be good to be able to help more than 1,000 soldiers, they have just been defeated by Sun Jian, and the gap is too big, how can it be good? ”

Li Su thought about it, which meant that there was still a gap of at least three thousand elite soldiers.

And if it happens to be a reluctant victory, it doesn't mean much. I was originally here to recruit soldiers, and all that died was money.

In case the two sides fight, the dog's brain will be beaten, and it will inevitably form a deep hatred. Even if Danyang soldiers don't hold grudges anymore, it will not be easy to control in the future.

Therefore, it is necessary to have an overwhelming victory over Zheng Bao's certainty, so that he can easily exterminate and absorb.

Li Su suggested: "In my opinion, since the gap is so big, it is better to pretend to be Zheng Bao first, willing to accept his high price, let Zijing show favor through Liu Ye first, and Du Wei will pay tens of millions of dollars to recruit 1,000 elite soldiers from Zheng Bao." Even if he wants to turn his face with Zheng Bao in the future, he has a thousand less elite soldiers, and we have an extra thousand elite soldiers, wouldn't it be beautiful to use Zheng Bao's soldiers to kill Zheng Bao? ”

Wu Qiu Yi felt a little chill slightly: "This ...... According to Zheng Bao's current high price, the money and food allocated by the envoy are not enough to recruit 1,500 people, and the order is to recruit at least 3,000 people, otherwise he will be held accountable for the crime of dereliction of duty. Isn't it good to spend most of your money all at once?

Moreover, even if the Danyang soldiers don't miss the old master, whoever hires them will give their lives to whom, but if they turn around and attack the old master within a few days, what if they mutiny? ”

Li Su Zhizhu said in his hand: "It doesn't matter if you give more money, Zheng Bao sold people at a high price, and not all the money was given to the soldiers as a settlement fee, and the excess part must be Zheng Bao's own pocket." Since we have made preparations to turn our faces and kill Zheng Bao when the time comes, won't that part of the money still be seized and returned to us?

As for whether the fear of immediately directing the Danyang soldiers to fight back against the deceased master will provoke a mutiny, I think it can be completely avoided - as long as we buy people, we should be a little selective, and try to pick those subordinates who were originally subordinate to Zhang Duo and Xu Qian two or three months ago, and became prisoners of war because of the war with Zheng Bao.

These soldiers did not belong to the same Shanyue tribe as Zheng Bao, and they had little loyalty to Zheng Bao, so we commanded them to attack and kill Zheng Bao, as long as they were allowed to finally divide Zheng Bao's property, the soldiers would definitely use their lives. ”

Wu Qiu Yi couldn't help but bow: "This is indeed the reason, but do you have a way to identify those soldiers who belonged to Zheng Bao's headquarters when recruiting, or Zhang Duo and Xu Qian's old department?" ”

Li Su did not answer directly, but turned to Lu Su very realistically: "Zijing, do you know where Zheng, Zhang, Xu and other tribesmen live?" Are dialects different? Can you tell which tribe they are from through the accent of the Danyang soldiers? ”

Lu Su had been on standby, and immediately replied when he heard the words: "It can be heard that many of Zheng Bao's subordinates have pure Lujiang County and Danyang County accents, while Zhang Duo's subordinates have a bit of Huiji accents, and Xu Cadres have Guangling's local accents. ”

When Li Su heard this, he glanced at Wu Qiu Yi, and Wu Qiu Yi nodded in acquiescence.

Li Su gave an order on his behalf: "Zijing, then you will first lead two hundred personal soldiers to escort you, bring money to contact Liu Ye, and show favor to Zheng Bao through him to recruit troops, but you must explain to Zheng Bao that we are allowed to choose the source of soldiers."

You don't have to pick too carefully, just select by tun, as long as most of the soldiers in a tun are Zhang Duo and Xu Qian's old department, you can bring them in. To the outside world, we should lie that the purpose of our selection of troops is to select sensitive and strong men, so that they will not be suspicious. ”

"Subordinates take orders!" Lu Su was a little excited when he thought that he could manage a procurement project with tens of millions of dollars.

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PS: On Sanjiang, the competition is very fierce during Sanjiang, the current situation is not very optimistic and backward, ask for recommendation votes, ask for comments, ask for help, and help publicize various requests. Let's work together on the morning of September 25th.