No military general doesn't want to have more soldiers under his command, and Zhang Wu is no exception.

After confirming that the Datong garrison will not only expand the army immediately, but also have sufficient and excellent soldiers to expand the army. Zhang Wu continued to shift his gaze to the Chinese book in his hand as if he had been beaten with chicken blood, with a face full of excitement.

At this time, Zhou Shuyuan was not idle, pointing to the document in Zhang Wu's hand and said: "After the Datong Mansion garrison completes the expansion, in order to ensure that the troops have a few troops that can be pulled out, the remaining 4,000 people selected by the Tiger and Leopard Army will all be gathered together to form a team of 4,000 people, and will no longer be dispersed. ”

"As for the 1,000 veterans out of 4,000 people, they are also independently organized into a thousand people...."

"As for the newly recruited 11,000 recruits, after supplementing some of the low-level officers drawn from the Haw Par Army, they will be independently organized into 11,000 teams for training..."

Wei Zheng's purpose in doing this is self-evident, first of all, to gather all the veterans in the garrison of Datong Mansion together, and Zhang Wu personally commanded it, giving Zhang Wu a subordinate army that obeys his orders, so that Zhang Wu can feel the goodwill of the General Military Mansion.

Secondly, the remaining 14,000 garrisons, after losing these veterans, will become a new army without any mark. With a large number of Haw Par Army officers joining this group of recruits, Zhang Wu can be sure that it will not be long before this huge recruit unit will be completely engraved with the mark of the Chief Soldier and become a force that is completely subordinate to the General Soldier just like the Haw Par Army.

Although Zhang Wu, who was sitting in front of Zhou Shuyuan, saw the Tao in it, he didn't say much.

After all. He has publicly expressed his allegiance to Wei Zheng in front of all civil and military officials in Datong Mansion. In this case. If you oppose Wei Zheng at this time, you will offend Wei Zheng and sue Wei Zheng, and the allegiance you have done is not sincere.

At that time, he will not only lose the command of the troops, but also lose his future, and he will no longer have a foothold in Datong Mansion.

To know. The general army of Datong Mansion that he faced was not an ordinary imperial general, but a local powerful general with a large number of private troops, who was not even afraid of the imperial court supervisors, and had multiple identities.

Therefore, from the time Zhang Wu made the decision to defect to Wei Zheng, Zhang Wu was ready to be deprived of military power step by step. Because, only in this way, can he be recruited as a newcomer. After being trusted by Wei Zheng, he can become Wei Zheng's henchman, just like Wang Feng and others. Under the command of Wei Zheng, he can command the Tiger and Leopard Army, which has strong combat effectiveness.

So. Facing Zhou Shuyuan's inquiring gaze at him, Zhou Shuyuan replied without thinking: "Lord Zhou, I don't have any opinion on this army expansion and reorganization plan..."

Seeing that Zhang Wu, a general who is so familiar with current affairs, Zhou Shuyuan also showed a smile on his face.

As for Zhou Shuyuan's heart, he was even more determined to pull Zhang Wu under Wei Zheng and become his true colleague.

Of course, Zhou Shuyuan did not express his thoughts at this time. Instead, he planned to have an open-hearted conversation with Zhang Wu in front of him, so that Zhang Wu would know Wei Zheng's lofty ambitions, and then see Zhang Wu's reaction.

So, Zhou Shuyuan, who was smiling, met Zhang Wu's gaze and continued to introduce.

"In addition to the strength and strength of the troops, the biggest concern of General Zhang is the issue of the troops' salaries. In order to make a comparison between the troops in Datong Province, after the completion of the expansion of the garrison in Datong Province, the salaries of officers and men at all levels will be distributed according to eighty percent of the officers and men of the Haw Par Army at the same level..."

When he heard the word 'eighty percent', Zhang Wu's facial expression, which was still excited, instantly became solemn.

Seeing this, Zhou Shuyuan hurriedly smiled and said, "General Zhang, don't underestimate this eighty..."

"In our Tiger and Leopard Army, the salaries of all the soldiers are more than 20% of the border troops of the imperial court, not to mention the local garrisons in the Guannai. I can tell you for sure that even if you pay everyone according to the 80% ratio of the Haw Par Army, the food and salary you get in your hands will far exceed what you usually get..."

At the beginning, Zhang Wu's first thought was that the general army planned to deduct the military salary of the Datong garrison, and use these military salaries to raise the tiger and leopard army.

As a general in command of the army, Zhang Wu was very aware of the tremendous impact that the deduction of military salaries might have on the morale and combat effectiveness of the troops. Therefore, before hearing the explanation, Zhang Wu's brows subconsciously furrowed.

However, after he listened to Zhou Shuyuan's explanation, his frowning brows not only did not show the slightest sign of relaxation, but wrinkled even deeper. Not only that, but a trace of heartfelt worry also surfaced on his face.

Because, according to the previous rules of the imperial court, it was never possible to pay the full amount of food.

The food and salary of the 15,000 garrison, after being deducted by the imperial court, finally fell into the Datong General Military Mansion, and it is already thankful that there are six achievements.

In other words, relying on the food and salary allocated by the imperial court, if the soldiers were paid full military salaries according to the rules, they could only feed 8,000 people at most. And this is the fundamental reason why the army eats empty salaries everywhere.

It's not that the generals don't want to raise soldiers, it's that the imperial court doesn't give these generals enough food and pay for them to raise soldiers.

According to this ratio, if the military salary paid by the chief soldier is higher than usual, it means that the garrison of Datong Mansion has more than 7,000 soldiers and needs the chief soldier to come out with the money to pay everyone.

And this, not counting the usual training expenses and living expenses of 7,000 soldiers ....

Although Zhang Wu did not make a detailed calculation, according to his own experience, the salary was definitely more than 400,000 taels.

400,000 taels of silver, plus the millions of taels of silver that need to be consumed every year to raise the tiger and leopard army, is the chief soldier so financial? You must know that from now on, the Haw Par Army stationed in Datong Mansion will not be able to get a tael of silver from the imperial court, and the military salary of the Haw Par Army is much higher than that of the official army......

Thinking of this, Zhang Wu couldn't help but remind: "Lord Zhou, will the salary for the soldiers be too high..."

"I think we just need to pay according to the standards of other officers and soldiers, and there is no need to pay everyone more."

Zhou Shuyuan shook his head and explained: "General Zhang, this is the genius of our chief soldier...."

"If the soldiers want to get such a high military salary, so that their families do not go hungry again and have food, then they can only serve as soldiers in our Datong Mansion, and they can only serve our general soldiers."

"This may not be obvious in a short period of time, but after a long time, it will definitely make the more than 10,000 soldiers of our Datong Mansion garrison have a sense of honor from the bottom of their hearts. Only when a unit has a sense of honor can it be called a unit with a soul. When the time comes, this team will not become an iron-blooded elite that cannot be defeated on the battlefield. ”

"Not only that, in order to continue to receive such a high salary, the soldiers will definitely support the general soldier regardless of their support and loyalty to the chief soldier."

"Because, only if the chief soldier is in Datong Mansion, everyone can get such a high military salary."

"You must know that the recruits we are about to expand are all from homeless people, and in their eyes, they have already died once, and the chief soldier is their savior. If they know that anyone wants to deprive them of their food and pay and deal with their savior, then they will definitely fight with this person to protect their money..."

At this time, Zhang Wu couldn't help but let out an exclamation in his heart: "What a clever way to buy people's hearts, step by step, interlocking....If things really develop in the direction that Zhou Shuyuan said, when the time comes, not only the Tiger and Leopard Army, but also the entire Datong Mansion garrison will become the private army of the Chief Soldier...."

An important minister of the imperial court held private soldiers with a total strength of more than 30,000 troops, and this person also had strong ambitions and was full of dissatisfaction with the imperial court...... Then the purpose of this person is self-evident ....

Thinking of this, Zhang Wu's heart subconsciously had a trace of fear. even regretted a little why he was so reckless in front of everyone to show his loyalty to Wei Zheng.

However, regret is regret, but Zhang Wu has no way back.

Because, the civil and military officials of the entire Datong Mansion believed in their eyes and believed that they were already the people of the general army.

Therefore, for the sake of his own future, he can only follow the chief soldier in front of him all the way to the dark.

Since he had already made a decision in his heart, Zhang Wu no longer cared about it, and looked at Zhou Shuyuan to express his worries: "Lord Zhou, I understand, this move of Lord General Bing is indeed very clever, and the general admires it very much." It's just...."

Seeing Zhang Wu who had a trace of concern in front of him, Zhou Shuyuan encouraged loudly: "General Zhang, I told you all the secret things, what other concerns do you have....I can tell you clearly, Lord General Bing attaches great importance to it." Not only that, but the true strength of the chief soldier is definitely beyond your imagination...."

After Zhang Wu showed a smile full of embarrassment on his face, he continued to Zhou Shuyuan: "Lord Zhou, if the soldiers are given food and salary according to the rules set by the Chief Soldier, the amount of silver that the General Soldier will consume on the military salary alone every year will exceed 1.5 million taels, does the General Soldier have the financial resources?" ”

Zhou Shuyuan nodded first, then shook his head, and then replied under Zhang Wu's incomprehensible gaze: "I don't know if Lord General Bing has the financial resources, but what I want to tell you is that Lord General Bing decided to spend more than 30,000 taels of food and salary on more than 30,000 soldiers every year, not 1.5 million taels as you said, but 2 million taels. ”

"Two million taels....how can there be so many...."As soon as Zhou Shuyuan finished speaking, an exclamation came out of Zhang Wu's mouth. (To be continued......)