The winter snow melts quietly, and the spring breeze rises secretly. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 infoAt the turn of winter and spring, the world has entered the sixth year of Jian'an. At this moment, several major forces in the world are still continuing their previous year's events: Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, the two strongest men in the world, are still looking at each other on the edge of the Yellow River, and all 200,000 troops are spending this year's New Year's Day in a tense confrontation; The south was a little calm, and Liu Zhang, Liu Biao, and Sun Quan didn't make much movement. It's just that Zhou Yu under Sun Quan's account quickly returned to his station Poyang after attending the funeral of Sun Ce, the last lord of Jiangdong, and trained his soldiers and horses again. Obviously, what he can't forget is still Jiang Xia in Liu Biao's hands.

"Seize Jiangxia, avenge your father, compete is my brother's wish, and then have the foundation to dominate the world." This is the wish of all the generals from Sun Quan to Zhou Yu in Jiangdong. For Jiangdong, if it wants to develop, it must seize the land of Jingzhou and obtain the people and wealth of Jingzhou. Although the land in Jiangdong is fertile, the population is too small, which really limits their development. And Jingzhou around them is undoubtedly their best target. They gritted their teeth and reddened like a pack of hungry wolves, ready to show their sharp fangs at the first point of defense against Jingzhou, Jiang Xia.

As a result, the atmosphere in Jiangxia became tense again. For that enemy to the east, no one dared to underestimate the guy known as Mijoro. Most of the people in Jiangxia were in the midst of the war of armament, and under the panic of the people, they ushered in the spring of the sixth year of Jian'an. Although the Jiangxia people's New Year's Day was not so good because of the preparation for war, they were somewhat accustomed to it, and as one of the gateways to Xiangyang, Jiangxia almost became a barracks city.

However, Jiangxia also has a place where he is not nervous. For example, the four northern counties that had just experienced the war, under the leadership of their commander-in-chief Li Sheng, were doing post-war recovery work as if nothing had happened. Even when his subordinates advised him that Jiangxia's situation was already very dangerous, and asked him to carefully prepare for the Jiangdong army, he still turned a deaf ear and let those nervous generals go to normal training.

"Don't worry, the enemy won't come along. Now everything is centered on post-war construction. We have to restore Xiyang again. Li Sheng smiled and said to them: "In addition to normal training, the soldiers in your hands must be called at any time, and I have some things for you to complete." ”

"What's the matter?" He asked.

It's just that Li Sheng smiled: "Don't talk about it now, you will understand when the time comes." In short, you are soldiers, and everything must be arranged according to orders. ”

At this point, although everyone is dissatisfied, they can only continue with peace of mind.

In fact, the reason why they have the idea of going to war is not that they are warlike and are not accustomed to a peaceful life. Rather, after a period of "special" training, they feel that their level has improved greatly, and it seems to be several times stronger. However, they don't know how strong they are, and they are eager to test their level with a battle.

The "special" training was formulated by Li Sheng. From the beginning of the row to the weight-bearing long-distance running and raid drills, Li Sheng's 3,000 men and horses, in the three months after the battle, not only did not take it easy, but because of this unheard-of high-intensity training, they fell into the abyss of pain. All the soldiers who participated in the training were as tired as dogs every day. At the end of the day, there was only one thing they could do, and that was to quickly go back to their tents and fall asleep on their beds.

At first, the crowd didn't understand the purpose of the training, and they were really disgusted by such a tiring training method.

They denounced Li Sheng's plan as "a training plan for tired people!" ”

They kept making suggestions to Li Sheng, intending to cancel the implementation of this plan, but their suggestions were suppressed in Li Sheng's cold and firm words: "You are all my subordinates, you must obey my orders. Give me a month, and I'll have nothing to say if you still have such thoughts in a month! ”

Under such coercion, although they were unwilling, they had no way to do it. Because they are all soldiers, they are all soldiers who cannot bargain under orders.

A month later, the most basic training was over. Although only the platoon part of Li Sheng's training program and some "light" weight-bearing training were completed, the soldiers who participated in the training and the generals who watched them train felt the difference in each of them.

"They've got a new look!" On the playground after the end of this month, looking at this face that did not become more and more determined, everyone had such thoughts in their hearts. They admired Li Sheng, who had invented this whole set of unbelievable training methods. In the face of fruitful results, they are all looking forward to the next training.

Three months later, the soldiers of Xiyang were completed. When everyone looked at the drill ground again, they always felt that these three thousand upright teachers had a terrifying aura of slaughter. Although it was implicit, the momentum contained in it made Huang Zhong and Wei Yan, masters like Huang Zhong and Wei Yan who did not change color in the face of 100,000 iron horsemen.

"It's a strong army." At that time, Wei Yan, who was arrogant, spoke with joy: "If you give me 100,000 troops like this, I can sweep the world for Zixu!" This is naturally an exaggeration, but it also shows Wei Yan's confidence in this specially trained army from another aspect.

However, the strength of the army must be tested by war after all, and when the news came that Jiangdong might attack Jiangxia again, Huang Zhong and Wei Yan were very eager to try. They wanted this team to go to the battlefield in Jiangxia to give it a try, so that they could come up with the answer that might be most satisfactory to them.

For these, Li Sheng naturally understands very well. But he clearly knew the historical events at this time, and clearly understood that although Jiangdong was putting on a posture of wanting to fight, in the past two years, he felt that there was no possibility of attacking Jiangxia again.

And according to the information from the Surabaya side and sorted out by Luo Zhao: last year's battle had already caused Jiangdong's troops to suffer a lot of losses. There are few people in Jiangdong, and it is not so easy to replenish the troops. In addition, after the old monarch passed and the new monarch succeeded to the throne, all work must be made by the new monarch to become proficient again. If you rashly launch an attack on Jiangxia, all you can get is a bigger defeat than last year. This is something that outweighs the loss in Jiangdong, and it is also something that Jiangdong's heroes will never allow to happen. In terms of the average quality of civil and military officials, the group of people in Jiangdong is definitely much better than the group in Jingzhou, and it is impossible for them to fail to see this.

Since it is impossible to fight in the east, there is no need for me to send this group of tiger and wolf divisions stupidly. After all, his power is still small now, and if he reveals such a force in vain, he is afraid that he will be forcibly taken away. This is something I don't want to see. Moreover, although the bandit forces in the four counties under his jurisdiction have been basically eliminated, the northern part of the four counties near Dabie Mountain is still not very quiet. The Yellow Turban forces in the Dabie Mountains will also invade the south from time to time, repeatedly preventing the development of their own forces. Li Sheng is very annoying about the "flies" who harass him like this. A while ago, because the training of the troops was still in progress, he had to endure this for a while. But now that the troops have been trained, he has the heart to go north to Runan and wipe out all these damn guys entrenched in the mountains.

"On the side of the couch, there is no room for others to sleep soundly!" If Li Sheng wants to develop the four northern counties centered on Xiyang, he must solve the harassment from the direction of Runan.

However, Li Sheng's eyes are not solely on addressing the threat from the north. For him, the threat from Runan is an external threat, while dealing with the lives of the people in the four northern counties is an internal worry. If Li Sheng wants to clean up the Yellow Turban Army in Runan, he must first settle down the four northern counties under his control.

After all, the invasion of Runan was Li Sheng's own battle plan, and it itself could not get the support of Jingzhou and Xiangyang, so all the expenses incurred by Li Sheng after sending troops must be borne by the four northern counties. If the problem of the four northern counties is not dealt with first, then after Li Sheng dispatches troops, it is very likely that there will be a situation of unrest in the rear. This is an issue that will threaten the safety of Li Sheng's troops, and he will definitely not ignore this point.

At the same time as the special training of the army, the reform of Xiyang was also carried out rapidly.

When the war ended last year, it was late autumn, and the **** for nearly two months in a row made the crops that were not growing very well helplessly rot in the ground. The people were scattered in order to escape the war, so naturally they did not have the time to harvest their fruits. And when everything is settled, the best harvest season has already been missed.

When the winter arrives after autumn, the nearly 30,000 people who remain in the four northern counties are already facing the dilemma of having no clothing, no food and no shelter. Under the increasingly cold temperatures, many people are huddled in the corners of houses in various county towns shivering. They didn't have any idea about the arrival of winter, their hearts were just full of despair.

But it was at this time that Li Sheng's appearance and the various means he adopted pulled these hungry people back from despair. In order to prevent the people of these four counties from starving to death, Li Sheng used his power to impose a series of measures on the four northern counties:

First of all, he concentrated the remaining people in the four counties in the two cities of Xiyang and Yinxian, registered and counted the remaining population of the four counties, and at the same time used the business relations of Surabaya and his own contact with the upper class of Xiangyang to raise a large amount of grain, cotton wool and other materials in the two cities. Not only was there enough food for these people to eat every day, but also enough cotton wool for them to make single clothes for their immediate use in the winter, which initially stabilized the panicked and desperate hearts of these people.

After a month of free food, the people's bodies recovered slightly, and they no longer looked like they fell to the ground when they were blown by the wind. As a result, Li Sheng changed from free food to cash-for-work: first explained his current difficulties to the people to win their sympathy for him, and then launched a set of plans he had formulated, explaining that this was not only to alleviate his own economic difficulties, but also to solve the problems of the hometown in which they are currently living.

The cash-for-work program is huge. Even when it was first formulated, Shi Tao, who discussed this issue with Li Sheng, was frightened by such a huge plan.

"Can you finish it?" Shi Tao pointed to the incredulous ones listed by Li Sheng and said.

"Except for a few necessary items. We'll just have to make a rough idea of the rest. Li Sheng said with a smile: "This plan is what we must complete in the next few years." Once completed, our foundation in Jiangxia will be laid, and no matter what changes occur in Jiangxia in the future, we will be able to hold it steadily. ”

"But it seems to be very difficult for us to get this done. The first is the problem of insufficient manpower, and the second is the problem of money, food and grass. Shi Tao frowned tightly.

"Manpower is not an issue. As far as I know, a large number of northern refugees come across the Dabie Mountains near the New Year Pass every year. In the past, because of the chaos in the four northern counties, these people left Jiangxia and went directly to the Jiangling area of Xiangyang, but now because we stabilize here, we also have the possibility of leaving them behind. If all this is done well, I am afraid that by next year, our population will be twice as large as it is now. Li Sheng explained with a smile and calmness.

"But the money?" Shi Tao's face did not change because of Li Sheng's explanation: "Recruiting more people can certainly solve the problem of lack of manpower, but recruiting more people will also further deepen our financial problems." Although we got a lot of food and grass through the relationship between Surabaya and Xiangyang, it was only enough for more than 30,000 of us to spend one winter. If you want to recruit more people, that's just a sentence - no money. ”

"That's not a problem either." Li Sheng still had a smile on his face: "You seem to have forgotten that we still have a lot of money to use." ”

"Huh?" Shi Tao was taken aback, and then reacted quickly: "You mean what was seized from those people?" ”

"Yes." Li Sheng nodded: "These are all things that those thieves have snatched from the four counties over the years, there is money and treasures." A few days ago, I asked the people of Surabaya to take stock of these things, and sold all the things that should be sold, and the money obtained was about 50 million gold, which was enough for us to use for a while. After all, what we do is not completely in and out. Houses can be sold and rented, workshops can be used to make what we need, roads can be built to bring us closer to the outside world, and it will be much easier for us to attract merchants. ”

"That's right." The gloom on Shi Tao's face finally dissipated, and his brows stretched, revealing a long-lost smile: "Zixu is really amazing." "He is very familiar with Li Sheng and understands very well what kind of person Li Sheng is. When Li Sheng said that everyone should not be so restrained in getting along, he was the one who did it the most thoroughly. When there were no outsiders, he still treated Li Sheng as a friend as before, so that Li Sheng did not feel that he had become a loner at all.

Li Sheng did not have many men under him, so everyone had a heavy responsibility: he entrusted the army completely to his four masters, leaving them in charge of training; He completely handed over the political affairs to Shi Tao and asked him to organize the corresponding people to complete it; He handed over the security in the territory to his three brothers, Song De was in charge of the rural security between Xiyang and Yin County, Zhou Li was in charge of the security of Xiyang, and Zhou Rui was in charge of the security of Yin County; The most important monitoring and intelligence work is still entrusted to Luo Zhao; As for Li Sheng, he is responsible for the overall planning, and there is another master Zhang Ji who has no apprenticeship by his side to help him plan it. Zhang Ji is a person who is involved in miscellaneous studies. Although he is a little older, his ability to accept new things is still very advanced, he can easily understand what Li Sheng is thinking, and it is naturally easy to talk to Li Sheng.

Li Sheng now controls the territory of four counties in Jiangxia County. Although his official position is still the small Xiyang County Order, under Liu Biao's secret order, he has obtained the right to take charge of the four counties. The four counties in the northern part of Jiangxia have long been troubled by years of banditry, and capturing them is a burden for Jingzhou. Liu Biao obviously didn't want to bear such a burden, so he handed over the burden directly to Li Sheng, and he wanted Li Sheng to deal with this messy situation.

Li Sheng's current stall is not very large, and he does not need too many people. Although his subordinates are a little busier at the moment, they can generally get used to it. But Li Sheng was not satisfied, and after assigning each person's tasks and calming down and thinking about it, he was surprised to find that he still lacked a talent, a talent with whom he could discuss the military affairs.

"It seems that there is still a lack of a military advisor!" Li Sheng thought as he held his chin. He felt as if he was going to invite Xu Shu.

The situation I encountered in Xiyang was very different from what I had expected before I set off. Before leaving, Li Sheng never thought that he would meet such an opponent in Xiyang. Although Liu Ji, Zhou Yan, Zhang Wu, and Chen Sun can only be said to be nobodies in history, Li Sheng, who personally fought with them and understood their actions in front of and behind the scenes, understood what the level of these people was after all.

Li Sheng does not think that he is completely relying on his own ability to win now, because he understands that in the basic relationship between our strong enemy and weak enemy, "enemy weakness" also accounts for a large part of the proportion here. Whether it is the Yellow Turban Army or Liu Zhou's private soldiers, they cannot be compared with Jingzhou in their own hands in terms of equipment and training. Although the level of several generals in Jingzhou, such as Cai Mao, Zhang Yun, and Huang Zu, was not very good, their level of military training was undoubtedly first-class. The 2,500 soldiers they handed over to Li Sheng were already high enough to be called first-class soldiers.

If the forces on Xiyang's side are a group of goats led by a lion, then the troops on Li Sheng's side can be called a group of wolves led by a lion. Regardless of the difference in the command ability of the two sides, in terms of the level of soldiers on both sides, the soldiers on Li Sheng's side were far stronger than the Xiyang thief army. With such a big gap, Xiyang's side was able to end up with a more satisfactory ending in the end, which is enough to prove that Zhang Wu and Chen Sun's abilities are not as bad as they imagined.

Li Sheng thought that it was a relatively reluctant thing for him to win over them, and he saw that he was lacking and wanted to find a master to help him. When he left Xiangyang, several of his classmates such as Cui Hao, Shi Tao, Xu Shu, etc., all had the intention to follow him, but because of the situation at the time and the estimation of the next difficulties, Li Sheng chose Shi Tao, who was good at government affairs, among the three.

After all, as far as the situation at that time was concerned, Li Sheng thought that he didn't need to communicate with other forces with his weak forces, so he naturally didn't need the help of the sociable Cui Hao, and Xu Shu was not an urgent need because he was in charge of learning military books and battle strategies. Li Sheng thinks that in military affairs, those schemes and the like, he can also deal with some of them.

However, when the territory obtained was greatly beyond his expectations - he thought that there was only one county, but he did not want to get four counties now, and the intertwining of various forces was very complicated, coupled with the addition of the Yellow Turban Army in the north, he had to deal with the enemy whose strength was far above him. All of this made Li Sheng feel that he was lacking manpower at the moment, he thought back to his current situation, and finally decided to pull his classmates over:

Cui Hao, let him be a "political commissar", let him be responsible for the pacification of the people in the territory and the coordination of various forces; Xu Shu, let him join the army and think of more schemes for me. As for Kong Ming and Shi Yuan, they are not in consideration for the time being. Li Sheng clearly understands that his two relatives, who are about the same age as himself, are studying at the right moment. Li Sheng didn't want to let them interrupt their studies to help him because of his own affairs. He didn't want to "kill the chicken for the eggs".

Li Sheng is dreaming. It's just that he didn't just think about such a dream, but directly took action to do it. Towards New Year's Day, Li Sheng took the opportunity of writing home to ask Zhuge Liang to invite Cui Hao and Xu Shu, both of whom were a few years older than Kong Ming, and whose studies had almost been completed two years earlier. Li Sheng thought that inviting them over should not have any impact on them, not to mention that Li Sheng had already made a relevant agreement with them.

When it was almost New Year's Day, Zhuge Liang, Huang Shou, Li Zhong and others came from Xiangyang. While they brought Li Sheng a reunion, they also brought Li Sheng the news he wanted to know: Xu Shu and Cui Hao agreed to go out and prepared to come to Xiyang after the Lantern Festival.

"That's great news." Seeing his wife who had not seen him for a long time, and hearing that the thing he was most looking forward to had come to fruition, Li Sheng was also a little dizzy under the celebration of the festival.

Because of the holiday, Shi Tao went back to his hometown in Nanyang, and handed over the government affairs to Li Sheng. Originally, Li Sheng had a headache, but when he saw Kong Ming's arrival, he had a happy smile on his face. He threw all these things to Kong Ming, and said: "Let you exercise!" "Actually, he wants to be lazy.

was still forced to do such a thing during the Chinese New Year, and Zhuge Liang was still dissatisfied in his heart. However, after looking at the "Four Counties Development Plan" formulated by Li Sheng and the practical things that Shi Tao had done before, his slight dissatisfaction disappeared. The plan formulated by Li Sheng is a very large plan, and it takes into account many aspects. Although he was only temporarily taking over the task that Shi Tao was responsible for, he still didn't want any problems with this plan. It's certainly a challenge for him, and it's a bit of a difficult one. Faced with such a challenge, he was moved. He felt that everything was just as Li Sheng said - it was indeed an opportunity for himself to get exercised.

Zhuge Liang does have a strong ability in politics. After accepting the task handed over by Li Sheng, he did not immediately take office and give orders like his subordinates, but once again entrusted the things in his hands to Li Sheng, who was full of bitterness, and asked to go outside to investigate the situation. He believes that he must first familiarize himself with the situation in Xiyang and Yinxian before he can be qualified to manage the entire plan.

"Three days, give me three days to see what the various aspects of this plan are." Kong Ming said to Li Sheng.

"Three days?" Li Sheng flattened his mouth, full of helplessness and reluctance: "Then three days." I've been waiting for you to come back. His words were full of grievances, as if he was like a resentful woman who wanted to be dissatisfied, which made Zhuge Liang feel a little hairy.

Three days later, Kong Ming returned, bringing a ten-pound roll of bamboo slips.

"What's that?" Li Sheng asked him.

"The feelings and suggestions after the investigation in Xiyang in the past few days are all bad." Kong Ming said that he was about to open the bamboo slip wide open and point out the contents to Li Sheng.

"No need. You said it was a bad thing, don't I feel worse when I look at it again? Li Sheng's eyes couldn't help but dim when he heard Kong Ming's words, and he lowered his head in frustration: "There are still so many deficiencies?" Guangyuan didn't tell me. I thought I had a good plan. But I don't want to...... Alas, it seems that I really don't know anything! He breathed a little. The longer he spent with these celebrities from the three countries, the more Li Sheng felt his inadequacy. Although the blow brought by such a deficiency was not enough to make him give up his ambition to dominate the world, to a certain extent, it made him interestingly give up some aspects that he was not good at, such as specific military training, such as the coordination of the administration, such as the interaction with others, and so on......

After giving up so much, Li Sheng once again had a new understanding of his status and ability. He did not think that he could be compared with the good of his contemporaries in specific matters. He feels that he is only suitable to be a person who grasps everything from the overall situation, and is only suitable to use his extra vision and insight of more than 1,800 years, as well as his people-oriented thinking and mind, to develop things further on the basis of these outstanding talents, that is, to be a helmsman and promoter for everyone.

"Hehe, it seems that I was born to be a leader." After redefining his position and finding that he could still control the overall situation, Li Sheng's face showed a self-deprecating smile.