Xiangyang at night is a beautiful and prosperous scene. Pavilions and pavilions, tall tower dwellings, beside the Xiangjiang River like a jade belt, reflecting the brilliance of the stars and moon, looking from afar, like the heavenly palace; The streets and alleys are noisy, although it is late, the city is still very lively, food vendors are distributed on both sides of the street, all kinds of shouts and shouts one after another, and the aroma of countless kinds of snacks is mixed in the air; Talented and beautiful women stroll through the streets, friends and relatives talk and laugh, naughty children chase and play with windmills; The lanterns of the Red Mansion and the Green Hall are hung high, and the melodious and moving singing is floating in the night.

In the Yamen of the Assassin History, the lights were still on, and Zhuge Liang was kneeling under the lamp to read the handwritten letter from Zhang Lang that had just been sent. Zhang Liao sat on the left in civilian clothes and looked at Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang put down the letter, frowned, and said, "This method is a little damaged!" Hmph, it must have been Jia Xu's idea! ”

Zhang Liao clenched his fists and asked, "Military advisor, what instructions does the lord have?" ”

Zhuge Liang said: "The lord wants us to use the lawsuits of the Kuai family, the Wang family, the Xiao family and the Cai family to confiscate all the family wealth of these three families!" ”

Zhang Liao snorted coldly, "These scholars have repeatedly fought against the generals, and they should have been copied a long time ago!" ”

Zhuge Liang frowned and muttered: "In this way, after the general rules the world in the future, I am afraid that there will be no more scholars in the world!" Is it better or worse to have a world without gentry? ”

Zhang Liao asked, "The military advisor does not approve of the general's approach?" ”

Zhuge Liang shook his head, "No! Judging from the current situation, it seems that this is the only way to solve the problem of money and food! It's just that this method can't solve the problem in the long run, and it doesn't cure the symptoms! ”

Zhang Liao asked, "What does the military advisor think is the way to cure the root cause?" ”

"Of course, it is to develop agriculture and promote trade. It's just that with our current situation, even if it develops in various places, it will be difficult to support the consumption of a million troops. Therefore, the general's approach to the nobles is also inevitable! Hey, who told these nobles that they themselves are not interesting! After thinking about it, "I have to talk to Mrs. Cai about the specific method!" Looking at Zhang Liao, "Wenyuan, how is the recruitment and training of recruits going?" ”

Zhang Liao said with a smile: "It's very smooth, 80,000 recruits have been called up and are training outside the city, and they will definitely be able to replenish the major legions in two months." He frowned, "Xiangyang soldiers can be trained to be excellent foot soldiers and archers, but it is difficult to train into fierce cavalry!" ”

Zhuge Liang said with a smile: "One side of the water and soil supports one side of the people, Xiangyang has many handsome men since ancient times, can fight on foot, can fight with bows, and can fight with water, but it is not suitable for horse fighting." It doesn't matter, the cavalry has its own sweet and cool soldiers! ”

Zhang Liao nodded.

Zhuge Liang said: "The training work of the people's army has to be done with more effort. ”

Zhang Liao said: "This is within the scope of the subordinate, although the sergeant can rest assured." However, the shortfall in armor and armor is very large, when will the military advisor fill it for me? Zhuge Liang said: "I have applied to the lord, and the lord has already given instructions, but it will take a while for the armory field to be produced, and there are too many places to need ordnance and armor now!" By the way, there are more than 30,000 sets of old armor and weapons in the Xiangyang warehouse, so Wen Yuan will use them first. Zhang Liao smiled and hugged his fists and said, "Then thank you to the military advisor!" Zhuge Liang smiled bitterly: "I'm really not good at being a thorn in this Jing Xiang history!" Zhang Liao laughed.

……

Xuchang, Prime Minister's Mansion.

Cao Cao looked at the report in his hand with a satisfied expression, and Guo Jia and Xun Yu stood aside.

Cao Cao put down the report in his hand and nodded: "Very good!" This batch of money and food will be collected, and the expenses for the pension and replenishment of recruits will be available! Guo Jia smiled and said: "This is just the income of Guantian Juntun and the income of taxes in various places, in addition, the scholars from all over the country have donated generously, and the total amount will not be lower than our own income!" ”

Cao Cao laughed, "Okay, good! That's our biggest advantage! The land is vast, the wealth of the population is inexhaustible, and the support of the nobles is added! We can bear the loss of a million soldiers and horses, but he Lu Bu can't stand it! ”

Xun Yu smiled: "What the prime minister said is extremely true! However, the prime minister also said a little less, the prime minister is the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, and he holds the banner of the Han Dynasty to conquer the Quartet, this is the will of heaven, and the will of heaven cannot be violated! ”

Cao Cao nodded sympathetically, "Not bad! It is the will of heaven that cannot be violated! He looked at Guo Jia and asked, "How is the recruitment and training of recruits progressing?" Guo Jia hugged his fists and said: "One qiē shun lì, within three months, my army will be able to restore fù neatness again!" There is one thing that needs to be decided by the prime minister, Guan Yu Karasuma people! ”

Cao Cao understood what Guo Jia meant, and thought: "In this attack, although the Karasuma people did not play much of a role, they also calculated their strength. In this way, send Xun Yu as an envoy and bring 500,000 loads of grain and grass to reward the Karasuma people. ”

Guo Jia said with admiration: "The lord is wise, in this way, the Karasuma people will work harder next time!" ”

Cao Cao smiled slightly.

……

Chaisang, Houfu.

Sun Jian looked at the report in front of him, his brows furrowed, and he looked nerve-wracked. Zhou Yu, Lu Su, and Zhang Zhao stood on the left and right sides below.

Sun Jian asked very depressedly: "Why do you only have so much money and food?" ”

Zhang Zhao hugged his fists and said: "The county guards everywhere have done their best, and I ask the lord to forgive me." ”

Sun Jian looked at the report, frowned and said depressedly: "With these money and grain, plus the taxes collected by Zijing, we can only maintain an army of 500,000!" Glancing at the three of them, "Isn't there a way to get more money?" ”

Zhou Yu hugged his fists and said: "You can form an army of 800,000 in a short time, but it can't last, and the gains outweigh the losses." I have an idea that we can follow Lu Bu's example and promote the civilian army system, integrate all the men of school age in the territory into the civilian army, train them regularly, and mobilize them all if necessary! In this way, we can get a large number of usable troops in wartime, and we don't need to bear too much burden in peacetime! ”

Sun Jian pondered for a moment, looked at Lu Su and Zhang Zhao, and asked, "What do you two think?" ”

Lu Su hugged his fists and said: "My subordinates think that Gong Jin's strategy is very good, killing two birds with one stone!" Zhang Zhao also said: "At present, this is the only feasible way!" ”

Sun Jian saw that Lu Su and Zhang Zhao all agreed, so he said to Zhou Yu: "The matter of training the people's army will be handed over to Gongjin!" "No."

……

Eyes turned back to Chang'an.

In the early morning mist, a cavalry team of 1,000 people left Chang'an and set foot on the official road to the west. This is Zhang Lang's team to inspect various places, the number is not large, only a thousand tiger Ben iron cavalry accompanying the escort, Hu Ben's eight generals Xiao Long, Yang Kun and other leaders, as well as Zhang Lang's second wife, Dong Ying. Dong Ying was dressed in leather armor, with a cloak on her shoulders, a spear in her hand, a sword hanging from her waist, straddle a rouge horse, wearing a red tasseled helmet on her head, a delicate face revealing a compelling heroic spirit, a bow horse red face, very moving, she followed Zhang Lang's side.