Sun Ce sat at the large round table in the military strategy office and watched Cang Ci explain the final plan. Guo Jia and Pang Tong sat on his left and right, and Sun Yi, Sun Shangxiang and others stood behind him, concentrating, and quietly discussing two sentences from time to time. The other military schemes sat or stood, most of them were very casual, and they were not restrained by Sun Ce's presence. Some people came in and out, or took official documents to ask Guo Jia and Pang Tong for instructions, or there was news that had just arrived and needed to be seen by them.

The atmosphere was relaxed, like a seminar, and a bit like a thesis defense, and the only people who were really nervous were Kuraji and his companions. From time to time, someone raised his hand to signal, or raised questions, or refuted, and his attitude was very sharp, Cang Ci answered them one by one, and from time to time took out a piece of paper from the side of the case, and read out a few numbers aloud to support his judgment.

Facts have proved that Sun Ce was overly worried.

Guo Jia arranged for several military strategists to assist Cang Ci in conducting in-depth discussions on the plan, and when Guo Jia did not make it clear that this was only an expedient measure, these military strategists also came to a conclusion: this is only an expedient measure, and it cannot last long, and if we do not talk about the follow-up development, only in terms of the current situation, it will not be able to maintain normal operation for more than five years. Within five years, the pros outweigh the cons. After five years, the drawbacks appeared, and it began to enter a barely sustained state, and collapsed in about a decade.

The main problem is casualties. There will inevitably be casualties in combat, the difference is only in size. If a household dies in battle, a household will lose its main labor force, and even if it has land, it is difficult to cultivate, and there is no problem in meeting the needs of one's own family, and it is reluctant to provide public food. In this way, it will inevitably lead to a waste of land. If it is disabled by an injury, the consequences can be worse than death in action.

Sun Ce's current subordinates are all professional soldiers who have left production, and their combat effectiveness is by no means comparable to that of the Tuntian soldiers who plough and fight. In the previous battles, these soldiers showed strong combat effectiveness in the battle after the battle, and the casualty ratio was significantly lower than that of the opponent, and the effect of the sports war was greatly reduced, especially in the face of Liu He's Hu Qi, they could not catch up with the opponent, and no matter how sharp the sword was, it was useless. Considering that Sun Ce's next opponent was Yuan Shao, and Yuan Shao's strength was much stronger than Liu He's, even if Youzhou failed to start, his cavalry advantage would be obvious, and casualties would be expected to increase a lot.

If it is replaced by Tuntian soldiers, the casualty ratio will be even more staggering. If we count the number of casualties in one battle per year, after five years, half of the families will have killed or wounded people, and whether there will be any people willing to farm. Even if it can be barely supported, it is estimated that in about ten years, the system will collapse. In the event of a major defeat in the middle, or a long-running standoff, this time limit will be shorter.

The casualties were large, and in the final analysis, Yuzhou was in no danger, and there was a lack of cavalry. Mainly foot soldiers, facing an opponent with cavalry advantage, it is doomed that victory is a small victory, and defeat is a big defeat. Yuzhou is a horse and a flat river, and the foot soldiers are always a passive side, and they must be mainly defended and supplemented by offense. It's hard to kill a lot of opponents, but once the opponent seizes the opportunity, the casualties are very staggering.

After repeated discussions, Cangci proposed a revised draft: the garrison should be used as the local army, responsible for holding the strategically important county towns or fortresses, and the scope should be mainly in the county, and the long-distance travel should be avoided as much as possible. After the main force of the existing professional troops stripped away from the task of defending the city, they were fully responsible for mobile operations in the entire theater of operations. When necessary, troops can be mobilized to take charge of logistics or directly participate in the battle and take up some auxiliary combat tasks.

After reading this draft amendment, Sun Ce was much more relieved. These people are the elite of this era, and when they are organized in the right way and given the right tools, they can play a role beyond his expectations. They may not know the results of the scholar system or the government military system, but they basically saw the disadvantages of this system by rational deduction and made a judgment based on data.

As a staff officer, he was already impressed to be able to do this. No wonder Guo Jia said that Pang Tong can fly alone, in fact, what he said is not only that Pang Tong has the ability to take charge alone, but also because the collective wisdom of the military strategy department is becoming more and more important, Pang Tong as a single military strategy is no longer so important, and he should give full play to the ability to lead a military strategy department.

After Cang Ci finished speaking, he saluted Sun Ce, and waited nervously for Sun Ce's ruling. Sun Ce exchanged views with Guo Jia, Pang Tong, Zhang Cheng and others, and decided to try it out for a while. Zhang Cheng stood up, raised his hand, and signaled everyone to be quiet.

"After the discussion between the general and Guo Xianjiu, Pang Junmou and me, and then synthesizing your opinions, I give a ruling opinion on behalf of the Military Planning Department: Cang Xiaoren's plan can solve the problem of insufficient troops in Yuzhou, and it will be tried on a trial basis, and all the military strategies who participated in the discussion of this plan will be credited once, and a banquet of sheep wine will be rewarded, and the money will be 20,000, and Cang Xiaoren will be promoted to a full-time military planner."

"Good!" Some military advisers applauded loudly, others also cheered, and many people stepped forward to congratulate Cangci. Cangci was very excited, and a little at a loss. He was only a trainee strategist for a short time, and it was already bold to make a suggestion to Guo Jia, but he didn't expect Guo Jia to recommend him directly to Sun Ce, and Sun Ce accepted his opinion and promoted him on the spot.

"Thank you, General." Cang Ci parted the crowd, came to Sun Ce, and bowed down. That day, the words were inappropriate, and Ci was deeply disturbed by the general's collision. I also ask the general for forgiveness. ”

Sun Ce smiled. "It's okay to hit me, I'm going to pay a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye at most. You'd better hope that this plan is feasible and do it with your heart, if the trial results are not good, how glorious you are this year, and how humiliated you will be in the future. ”

Cang Ci rubbed his head in embarrassment. "Don't worry, general, I will do my best."

Sun Ce nodded with satisfaction. Cang Ci is still young, even if he makes a mistake, it doesn't matter, I'm afraid he won't dare to make a mistake. Knowing that there is a risk and daring to do it, this is the real courage to do anything. Patting the head when making a decision, patting the chest before doing things, and patting the ass after making a mistake are not useful for that kind of official.

"Pang Yingchuan has a "Commentary on Salt and Iron", you can take a look, there is some money and grain in it......"

Sun Ce was halfway through speaking, and suddenly found that Guo Jia and the others were invariably showing mysterious smiles, and he was puzzled for a while. Guo Jia waved his hand and asked people to bring a few rolls of paper. "General, this is the "Commentary on Salt and Iron" that we sent someone to copy, because everyone is vying to read it, so we copy it according to the volume and take turns to read it. In order to prepare this report, Cangci and the others have almost turned over these documents these days. I have a suggestion, don't wait for them to finalize it, just print the first draft first, collect comments, and then publish a revised version in a few years, and take everyone's feedback in, isn't it better than the two of them behind closed doors? ”

Sun Ce felt justified and nodded again and again.

A young man squeezed over from the crowd and said loudly: "General, I have a suggestion, "The Theory of the Hidden Husband" is closer to the current situation than "The Theory of Salt and Iron", if the military strategists can be familiar with this book, participate in current affairs, and proofread and explain, the benefit will not be worse than that of "The Theory of Salt and Iron". ”

Sun Ce looked at the boy. The boy was about seventeen or eighteen years old, very thin and average-looking, but his eyes were very bright. He had the impression that he had met somewhere, but had not spoken formally to him.

"You ......"

"Shanyang Zhongchangtong."