Before Sun Ce finished reading, Guo Jia came first, said hello to Jiang Gan, sat next to Jiang Gan, and glanced at the paper scroll in Sun Ce's hand, very surprised. "Where did this come from?" As he spoke, he handed over the paper roll in his hand.

Sun Ce took it and took a look, and it was also a detailed report on the two battles between Yuan Shao and Dong Yue. There has been a brief report before, only the approximate strength of the two sides, the outcome of the victory or defeat. This time, a lot of details have been added, and maps have also been drawn, but they are still not as detailed as the results of Jiang Gan's field investigations.

After all, a detailed work is a detailed work, and some information is difficult to obtain. Sun Ce thought for a while and asked Guo Jiadao, "Fengxiao, do you still have contact with your uncle?" ”

"Yes." Guo Jia took out another scroll of paper from his sleeve and handed it to Sun Ce. "No, the letter I just received today."

"Today?"

"Well, I was surprised when the general went to the Chinese army to discuss matters. For the first time in so many years, my uncle took the initiative to write to me. After leaving Yecheng, I sent people to give him gifts many times, but he never replied to me. ”

Guo Jia laughed, but there was some indescribable anger. Sun Ce knew that Guo Jia was from the side branch of the Guo family in Yangzhai, and Guo Tu was a major sect, and he had never looked down on this off-the-sought clan. Guo Jia left Yecheng, and he had the element of fighting with Guo Tu, and sending someone to give Guo Tu a gift was definitely not to betray his information.

Sun Ce did not answer Guo Tu's letter. Since you have chosen to believe in Guo Jia, you will believe it to the end. "You can contact him more, and if necessary, you can provide him with some information to ensure his position by Yuan Shao's side."

Guo Jia was not surprised at all, and responded, but blinked when he put the letter back into his sleeve, and inadvertently rubbed the corners of his eyes.

"Fengxiao, how many strong crossbowmen does Yuan Shao have?"

"More than 10,000, nearly 20,000."

Sun Ce was taken aback. "So much?"

"There are two parts of the strong crossbow soldiers under Yuan Shao: one part is the Taishan soldiers, who were originally Wang Kuang's subordinates, and the number is not much, about more than 2,000 people, which is relatively brave. There are also some county soldiers from various counties in Jizhou, there are a lot of them, more than 15,000 people, originally led by Zhao Fu and Cheng Huan, stationed in Mengjin, and have very opinions about Han Fu's transfer of Jizhou to Yuan Shao, so naturally they can't get Yuan Shao to reuse, and now they don't know where to go, they may have been killed. ”

Jiang Gan was puzzled. "Why did it have to be killed? If you are unwilling to rely on Yuan Shao, is it impossible to return to the fields without being dismissed? ”

Guo Jia smiled. Ziyi didn't know that these two people had demonstrated in front of Yuan Shao, and Yuan Shao would not let them live. Anyone who offended Yuan Shao ended up with only a dead end. It doesn't matter if you were a friend or foe in the past. ”

Jiang Gan shrugged his shoulders and felt incredible.

Sun Ce asked again: "How many cavalry are there under Yuan Shao's account, are there some heavy cavalry?" ”

"Yuan Shao's cavalry is not much, as far as the current situation is concerned, it should not exceed three thousand. The heavy cavalry that the general said should be the cavalry in horse armor, which is indeed a killing weapon in Yuan Shao's hands. These cavalrymen and horses are all in great armor, the protection is very tight, the knights and horses are carefully selected, there are about two hundred people, all of them are loyal to Yuan Shao's rangers, almost all of them have received Yuan Shao's favor. ”

Guo Jia chuckled: "General, these heavy cavalry are all piled up with money, if you don't have Yuan Shao's financial resources, you don't need to think about it for the time being." ”

Sun Ce agreed with Guo Jia's opinion. The heavy cavalry did not last long in China, it appeared during the Three Kingdoms, the Northern and Southern Dynasties became the king of the battlefield, and the Sui Dynasty also had large-scale armored cavalry, which was not heard of much in the Tang Dynasty. This is due to both the inherent shortcomings of heavy cavalry and economic considerations. War is to burn money, and heavy cavalry is one of the most expensive arms in the era of cold weapons. Not only are the armor of men and horses expensive, but war horses are also carefully selected good horses, and ordinary horses simply can't afford that kind of weight.

Heavy cavalry is prevalent in Central Asia, and that is because Central Asia has excellent war horse resources. It was very difficult for a smaller Mongolian horse to be a heavy cavalry, let alone a Central Plains horse. For him, who was seriously short of horses, the heavy cavalry didn't have to think about it.

However, how to deal with these heavy cavalry must be on the agenda.

Guo Jia disagreed with Sun Ce's worries. "How useful do you think the heavy cavalry can do here? After crossing the Yellow River, these heavy cavalry lost half of their combat strength. For the shock infantry formation, these heavy cavalry are not much different from ordinary cavalry, and it can even be said that they are inferior to ordinary cavalry. They can't do anything but charge. The real power of these heavy cavalry is precisely for ordinary cavalry, and the Xiliang army really encountered a nemesis when it encountered these heavy cavalry, no wonder it would be defeated again and again. ”

Sun Ce nodded again and again. The terrain around Chenliu is relatively low, the water network is vertical and horizontal, and there are five swamps of different sizes near Zhongmu, such as Putianze and Bolangze, and Junyi and Xingyang are no exception, and there is simply not enough space for these heavy cavalry to display. The final decisive battle between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao took place in this area, which was inseparable from the fact that the terrain here was not conducive to cavalry exertion.

As he spoke, Zhang Hong walked in. Sun Ce put aside the topic for the time being, and told him about the experience of going to the meeting, and Zhang Hong nodded frequently in approval after listening to it. "The general is right, it is very important for the general to stabilize Luoyang, we should not face Yuan Shao for the time being, and it is worth giving some food. In my opinion, if you can successfully win the four counties of Jiujiang, Lujiang, Jiangxia, and Nanjun, or even further win the four counties of Jiangnan in Jingzhou, you can give a little more. After all, the imperial court is the imperial court, and there are still people who are loyal to the imperial court, even the party members are no exception. ”

Guo Jia smiled: "Mr. is really sympathetic to the party." ”

Zhang Hong didn't mind either. It is no secret that he has differences with Sun Ce and Guo Jia in his attitude towards the party. Sun Ce also said, this is a generation gap, gentlemen are harmonious but different, everyone seeks common ground while reserving differences, and does not affect the overall situation.

"General, there are two things you must know about forming an alliance with the Xiliang Army."

"Sir, please."

"First, the Xiliang army killed too much, especially in the Yingchuan area, if it can't be relieved in time, I am afraid it will cause misunderstanding and affect the reputation of the general; Second, the state is barren, the Huns have been invading the south in recent years, and the imperial court is unable to suppress it, so it has always been appeased with rewards, which costs nearly 200 million dollars a year. If the Xiliang Army plans to occupy and merge states, even if it doesn't need so much, fifty or sixty million is needed. This is not a small burden for the general. ”

Sun Ce scratched his head. Only for food, he already knew that this burden was not light, but he still didn't think about it thoughtfully. Fifty or sixty million a year, this is cutting meat.

Guo Jia shook his head in opposition. "General, don't worry too much, we won't give them money in vain, we can let them trade war horses, if you can solve the source of war horses by spending fifty or sixty million a year, why not? After all, the Xiliang people are not Huns, and they cannot be regarded as barbarians and make strong enemies on their own. If it weren't for the fact that Shandong people think very highly of themselves and despise Shanxi people, why would the world be like this. ”

Zhang Hong nodded in agreement. "Yes, if I could have been a little more tolerant of the Xiliang people and the martial artists, it would not have caused such a catastrophe. The past cannot be admonished, the coming can still be chased, the general has the ambition to the world, first of all, he must be able to tolerate the world. Only by being inclusive can we help the world. ”