Regarding the number of troops, Guo Peng does not believe that the more the merrier, the better.

For the time being, it is also necessary to consider whether Qingzhou's grain production can feed so many soldiers.

Isn't it asking for trouble to expand the army without food security?

Guo Peng found out in Jizhou through secret agents that Yuan Shao recruited a large number of soldiers and horses because he was in a hurry to expand the army and restore his strength, but the logistics could not keep up, so some of the recruits would be hungry and could not get paid.

In addition, the recruited recruits have no discipline, no rules, and military discipline is corrupt, and under the leadership of the officer, they cause trouble everywhere all day long, and they know how to loot Li Shu, women and property.

Then there are those who are "ambitious", digging mausoleums everywhere and searching for burial goods.

It's no different from bandits.

Or rather, this is the general state of the army in this era.

Can such an army win the war?

Yes, as long as the opponent's army is worse than such an army.

In other words, the combat effectiveness of a few elites on your side is stronger than that of a few elites on the other side, and you can take the lead in defeating the elites of the opponent, then you can win.

In short, it's all about your peers.

There are really no warlords like Guo who have set up a large training camp and regarded military training as the primary task, and even if there is, it is aimed at a small number of elites.

Guo has relatively high requirements for ordinary soldiers, and they are all required to be literate, and the requirements for a small number of elites are even higher.

There is a special organization in the barracks, which Guo Peng regards as the prototype of the military academy, attaches great importance to it, instills his own will in it, and conveys it to the will of his officers through education.

Guo Peng did not allow his soldiers to become what Li Shu called a military disaster, and he knew that the rules pursued by an army from the beginning of its establishment would be very meaningful, so at the beginning of the army, Guo Peng's highest requirement for the army was to abide by military regulations and military discipline.

Recruiting soldiers for training is not only training in tactics and tactics, but also in military discipline and military regulations, so that they can carry out orders and prohibitions, and take this as the standard for elite soldiers.

With such an army, it is possible to have an advantage on the battlefield.

At present, this number of soldiers is more appropriate, and after the recovery of Beihai Kingdom and Donglai County, some troops will be expanded, and a group of elite soldiers and horses who are good at fighting will be reorganized, and Qingzhou will be the foundation to win the world.

The number of county soldiers arranged by Guo Peng for each county was between 100 and 200, which were handed over to the commander of the county governor, and 3,000 garrisons were arranged for each county, which were handed over to the commanders of the four lieutenants of Liangcao and Xiahou.

The rest of the army was stationed near Linzi County, as the main force of the elite, which was the way he arranged to garrison the army.

The army is in the big camp in peacetime, and the big camp is under the command of the ban, and the ban is in charge of training in non-war times, so that the army cannot slack off in training, and must train every day.

The other lieutenants did not lead the troops, but only received orders during the war, took the talisman granted by Guo Peng from the camp to find Yu Ban to take away the trained army, and was ordered to go to the battle.

Guo Peng often took the time to go to the training camp to observe the soldiers' accommodation, food, daily life, and so on, and chatted with them, so that the soldiers knew their existence and heard their own voices.

When the salary is paid, it is inevitable to preside over it in person, and adhere to the tradition that has been adhered to since the time of Captain Gokarasuma.

As for the army under the two Cao and Liang Xiahou, because of the necessity of its existence, Guo Peng showed his existence in another form.

From time to time, for example, he ordered one or two small units to be drawn from their barracks to carry out a certain task, or to escort something to Linzi County to meet him, and use his warrant to pass Cao Ren and give orders directly to the officers.

Cao Ren didn't know these things, and they were a little surprised when they knew it, and they were relieved after asking Guo Peng.

For this reason, Cao Ren also ran over to complain to Guo Peng, saying that Guo Peng often did this, so that he thought that there were deserters in the army, don't always do it like this, okay?

Guo Peng agreed on the surface, but he still did it afterwards, and there was no sign of change at all.

After a long time, the two Cao and Xiahou are used to it, they are not surprised, ask if they know where they are going, as if it has never happened, on the contrary, they also listen to Guo Peng's orders, they are all the same.

And Guo Peng never did this kind of thing in wartime.

On the other hand, while Guo Peng solved Yuan Shao's attack, Yuan Shu and Sun Jian also made some progress.

Zhou Ang, a general sent by Yuan Shao, took advantage of Sun Jian's absence to attack a large amount of land in Yuzhou, almost cutting off Sun Jian's retreat.

Sun Jian was very annoyed, and after returning with his troops, he punched Zhou Ang to the ground.

Zhou Ang was defeated and retreated to the city to defend it, Sun Jian sent troops to attack the city and won the battle, but unfortunately, Gongsun Yue, who stayed to help Sun Jian, was shot by Zhou Ang in the battle and unfortunately died.

Rao was like this, and Zhou Ang could not resist Sun Jian's attack, and was completely defeated by Sun Jian and escaped from Yuzhou.

Zhou Ang then fled to Jiujiang, and together with his younger brother Zhou Qiao, he held Jiujiang to defend against the combined forces of Sun Jian and Yuan Shu, and continued to clamp down on Yuan Shu and Sun Jian for Yuan Shao.

But after all, he was still a scumbag, and in the face of the Jiangdong Tigers, they were still invincible.

The Zhou brothers were defeated by Sun Jian and Yuan Shu, lost Jiujiang, crossed the Yangtze River and fled to Huiji for refuge.

At this point, Yuan Shao's plan to draw salaries from the bottom of the kettle can be regarded as a complete failure.

Of course, although it was a failure, Yuan Shao successfully renewed Dong Zhuo's life.

People of insight in the world scolded him in their hearts, but Dong Zhuo looked up to the sky and laughed and praised Yuan Shao, praised him for his vision, and gave him thirty-two praises.

After Sun Jian pacified Yuzhou, he originally wanted to lead the army back to the front line in Luoyang, but the matter was not over.

Yuan Shao and Guo Peng, who were forced by Liu Dai, could no longer fight, and when dealing with Yuan Shu, he would naturally not be soft.

He contacted Liu Biao, the assassin of Jingzhou, and on the grounds that the Nanyang County occupied by Yuan Shu belonged to Jingzhou, he instigated Liu Biao to lead his army into the war, and attacked Yuan Shu and Sun Jian from the north and south, trying to destroy them.

Liu Biao also felt that this was okay, and Liu Biao was very unhappy with Yuan Shu's occupation of Nanyang County and not returning it to him, so he sent troops north to attack Yuan Shu and Sun Jian.

Yuan Shu was furious, scolded Liu Biao, and after defeating Zhou Ang, he prepared for battle, preparing to go south to crusade against Liu Biao, and by the way occupied Jingzhou as his logistics base.

A new war began.

At that time, after settling down and reorganizing the army, Guo Peng focused on the summer grain harvest, continued to observe the situation in Tuntian in various places, and inspected everywhere.

Starting from Qi State, to Le'an Kingdom, and then to Jinan Kingdom, I plan to meet and chat with Zang Hong and Cao Cao and talk about some things.

They inspected the newly established villages and reclaimed farmland, personally inspected the growth of grain crops and water conservancy, inquired about the lives of peasant households, looked at their living conditions, and asked whether there was enough food to eat.

Guo Peng has never slackened in this kind of thing.

Finding that everything was developing according to his expectations, Guo Peng felt very relieved.

Guo Peng felt that although he was exploiting them, at least giving them a stable way to live in this world, without exile or starvation, was the best way to achieve their goals and take care of their lives.

At the same time, on the way to the counties and villages, Guo Peng realized the importance of roads.

So he ordered the accompanying officials to send people to inspect the road conditions after they returned, build a number of galloping roads centered on Linzi County, list the road traffic problem in Qingzhou as a very important problem, and take out a certain amount of financial revenue to repair the roads.

No one knows better than Guo Peng the importance of transportation to the country's development.

Watching Qingzhou gradually radiate new vitality under his own governance, Guo Peng was even a little proud.

Soon, though, his pride was shattered.