Liu Bei was officially appointed by the Han Emperor as General Zuo, and theoretically had the power to appoint some low-level officials by the Kaifu itself, rather than princes such as Sun Quan, and there was an additional "performance" procedure when appointing officials.

Under Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei's military positions were partial generals, and they were the lowest generals like General Pi, and the official positions of these two were appointed by Cao Ying in the name of Emperor Han that year, and they can be said to be "justifiable" Han officials. At this time, Zhao Yun's official position was General Yamen, which was created by Liu Bei himself, and his position was equivalent to that of General Bi, higher than General Pi and General Zhonglang.

Compared with a large number of high-level generals under Cao Ying, Liu Bei's camp is somewhat shabby, but this can't be helped, Cao Ying's family has a big business, hundreds of thousands of troops under his hands, and he has the capital of General Dafeng. And Liu Bei is only 20,000 people here, even if the official titles of Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and others are mentioned, it is of no practical significance, but it will make people laugh at him for being poor and pretending.

Huang Zhong, an old Liu Biao of Changsha, also had an inglorious resume of surrendering to Cao Ying, as for Wei Yan, he is just a white-bodied tyrant who doesn't even have an official title, and the two new Shun generations, even if they are indeed talented, but what reason does Liu Bei have to immediately mention them to an official position at the same level as Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.

"Lord, what the hell is going on?" Mi Zhu seemed to be displeased when he heard Liu Bei's tone, and he was energetic again for a while.

"See for yourself." Liu Bei threw the letter to him.

Mi Zhu took the letter and read it carefully, a sneer quietly flashed on the old man's face, pretended to think deeply for a moment, and frowned: "Huang Zhong was forced to surrender, so it is enough for him to still lead the post of Zhonglang general." And this Wei Yan, although he has conquered Guiyang County, is only an unknown person after all, and he should be rewarded, but it seems that there is something wrong with promoting him from a white body to a general all of a sudden. ”

It's not just inappropriate, Liu Feng's letter of recommendation, in Liu Bei's opinion, is clearly to borrow chickens to lay eggs, and to win over the second general Huang Wei with his father's reward.

Liu Bei snorted coldly: "This stinky boy, last time he was going to use a discord strategy, and he wrote me a letter to persuade me to retire, but now it hasn't been long yet, and his brain is confused again, it seems that although he has some qualifications to be a general, but after all, he is only a martial artist." ”

Liu Bei's displeased performance was in Mi Zhu's arms, and he hurriedly said: "Since this is the case, then the second general of Huang Wei should not be rewarded, otherwise how can he convince other generals." ”

Liu Bei's eyes closed, he pondered for a long time, and said: "These two people can't be unrewarded, otherwise it will only chill the hearts of those who have not returned." In this case, you can quickly draw up a letter of appointment for me, appoint Wei Yan as the commander of the battle, and at the same time give Huang Zhong a bounty of thirty and one hundred horses. As for Ah Feng, he really has merit in winning the second county of Xiangdong, so he will be promoted to be a Zhonglang general, and the rest of the meritorious people will be rewarded according to their merits. ”

…………

Linxiang City, the camp of the Southern Expeditionary Army.

Ten days ago, Liu Bei's document appointing Liu Ba as the Taishou of Changsha arrived, and this Jiangnan genius officially took office, so Liu Feng gave up the Taishou Mansion and moved to the barracks. At the same time, another Guiyang Taishou Ma Liang also gladly accepted Liu Bei's conquest, and was on his way to Guiyang County at this time.

In order to ensure military control of Guiyang, Liu Feng specially ordered Chen Zhi to lead an army of 500 to escort Ma Liang to Guiyang to take office, and recalled Wei Yan's headquarters to Changsha. After breaking with Liu Bei, Changsha was bound to be hit by Liu Bei's key blows, and Liu Bei had to concentrate his main force and all the generals who could fight in order to be able to resist Liu Bei's attack.

Liu Bei had 20,000 regular troops under his command, and if you add the county soldiers added after conquering Wuling and Lingling, the number of troops will reach nearly 30,000, although the combat effectiveness of these 30,000 soldiers and horses is far inferior to the 30,000 Wu troops besieging Jiangling, but it is already a rather formidable opponent for Liu Feng.

Therefore, after Liu Feng took Changsha, he launched an army expansion operation in full swing.

After Han Xuan's death, nearly 5,000 soldiers in Changsha County all surrendered, but the combat effectiveness of these 5,000 people was really not flattering, most of them were not only not equipped with armor and other armor, but they did not even have decent formal training once a year, and a considerable number of them were just farmers recruited at zero time, and their physical fitness was uneven, and many of them were not suitable for being soldiers.

Among the 5,000 county soldiers, the ones who can really be put on the table to fight, that is, the more than 1,500 soldiers and horses deployed by Han Xuan in the administrative office, except for the 300 people who died in the civil strife, the remaining more than 1,200 people were all incorporated by Liu Feng, that is to say, the soldiers and horses that Liu Feng can directly command have risen from 800 to 2,000.

These 2,000 people were compiled by Liu Feng into four songs, of which 500 of the Jiaqu were all descendants of the people he brought from Jiangxia, which belonged to the pro-guard song and was directly commanded by Liu Feng. The remaining 300 people were mixed with the newly surrendered Changsha soldiers and reorganized into three songs, B, C, and D, Ding Qu was led by Chen Zhi, who had already set off to escort Ma Liang south to Guiyang, and B and C were led by Ma Tan as commander.

As for the newly attached Huang Wei and the two, they originally each had nearly five hundred, under the instruction of Liu Feng, Huang Zhong recruited troops in Changsha, and Wei Yan annexed some of the county soldiers who could fight after conquering Guiyang, and the number of the two of them reached one thousand in a short time, that is, the number of two songs.

After about three months of army expansion, the number of horses that Liu Feng could command at this time had risen rapidly from the original 800 to 4,000. Of course, the increase in the number of troops does not mean that the quality will also increase, if you want to train 4,000 soldiers and horses into an army capable of fighting a war, it will take a certain amount of time, and Liu Ba and Ma Liang have just taken office, Liu Feng must give them more time to build the second county of Xiangdong into a base that can support his own battle with Liu Bei.

Soon after the completion of the reorganization of the army, Liu Feng specially set up a small banquet in the camp and invited Huang Zhong and Wei Yan to come to the banquet, which was also the first time he had invited them to a separate banquet after he ambushed the two generals.

After a few rounds of wine, the atmosphere of the small banquet gradually became harmonious.

Liu Feng saw that the time was almost up, so he smiled and said: "General Huang Lao and Wen Chang are both useful generals, I have sent a letter to recommend to my father that General Huang Lao is a partial general, and Wen Chang is a general, although with the talents of the two, the partial position is a little wronged, but this is also the highest position I can win for you, I hope you can understand." ”

As soon as these words came out, the two of them suddenly showed surprise and gratitude. It's no wonder that a lieutenant general who has been a lieutenant general for more than ten years was suddenly promoted two levels in a row, and the other was a white body and became a general.

What's more, Liu Feng himself is still a captain, but he can recommend the two of them to be generals, such a bearing and courtesy heart is really something he has never seen in his life.

At this moment, Huang Wei and the others are not grateful enough, how can they complain. At that moment, the two of them were moved, and each toasted Liu Feng to express their gratitude.

Seeing that the two of them were moved and excited and joyful because of the sharp promotion of their official positions, the time had come, Liu Feng secretly glanced at the people who served him left and right.

After a while, a personal soldier hurriedly entered and said nervously: "The eldest prince of Qiqi, the lord has an urgent order to send it." ”