Shen Chen's request for military training was naturally not a whim.

Now it is the second year of Xingping, 195 AD, and next year Zhang Ji will come to attack Nanyang.

Moreover, Nanyang itself is not a happy land, and a large number of yellow turban remnants are hidden in the surrounding Funiu Mountain and Dabie Mountain, which often harass the villagers.

For example, He Yi, Liu Bi, Huang Shao, He Man and others all have tens of thousands of people and are stationed in the mountainous areas of Runan, Nanyang and other places.

There are countless small-scale Yellow Turban cottages and villages scattered in the forest, and there are even other bandits and homeless people.

What Nanyang lacks now is not land, but population.

Since the end of the Han Dynasty, the population of Nanyang has been halved, and abandoned land is everywhere.

If you can train soldiers, you will have a certain ability to protect yourself, and second, you can accept the homeless people and Runan Yellow Turbans to strengthen yourself.

This method was not pioneered by Shen Chen, but was currently the case with most of the manor landlords in the late Han Dynasty.

According to historical records, after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, starting from Jizhou, the owners of manors in various places were in danger, so they recruited displaced people, trained soldiers, and built a large number of dock forts and manors in order to defend themselves.

The most typical example is Zhou Yu and Lu Su, one is a bureaucratic family, and the other is a local tycoon, both of whom used this way to train soldiers and horses to stand in troubled times.

Later, when Sun Ce pacified Jiangdong, he only borrowed a thousand people from Yuan Shu, because he had a small relationship with Zhou Yu, and Zhou Yu's uncle was Danyang Taishou, as soon as Sun Ce came to Jiangdong, he immediately got their response, and with their help, he pulled up a team of tens of thousands of people at once.

The Shen Chen family is just an ordinary small local family, unlike Zhou Yu and Lu Su, who are from a powerful family, even if they rely on the Deng family, they cannot get the support of power because the Deng family has no official position.

So he can only find another way and choose a more stupid way to grow stronger.

Taking advantage of the fact that the manure technology can greatly improve grain production, if you can train soldiers, you can slowly annex the scattered Yellow Turban villages around and absorb the displaced people.

At the same time, a large number of fields are used to store grain and grass, and after there is food, it can attract more people to join and gradually grow.

However, military training is not a simple matter, in addition to training methods, there are also weapons and equipment, which are not only available for farming, but also need economic development.

Therefore, Shen Chen planned to focus on Tuntian, supplemented by porcelain and iron trade to improve himself.

The development of porcelain in the Han Dynasty was actually very good, but they were all ordinary yellow clay ceramics, and the best was Jiangdong white porcelain, so Jiangdong porcelain was also very famous, and more exquisite colored porcelain could not appear until the Tang Dynasty.

And Shen Chen just knew these techniques, which was enough to amaze those Han Dynasty nobles.

After finalizing the details with the clan elders, Shen Chen planned the details of the training, and he required that the selected fifty soldiers must be those who dare to die and dare to fight hard, and they must also be paved with steel-like discipline and good food.

Logistics were provided by the clan, and since the bumper harvest, Shen Chen stipulated that all families must hand over one-tenth of the grain and save it as public property.

This is equivalent to using more than 1,000 acres of land, almost seven or eight thousand stone rations per year, to feed professional soldiers, which is more than enough.

At that time, according to the consumption of nearly three stone of grain per month for a professional soldier, fifty people only needed less than two thousand stone a year.

Most of the rest of the grain was to be sold and exchanged for salt, livestock, iron, armor, bows and arrows, and horses to feed the troops.

In ancient society, unless it was a peasant uprising army like the Yellow Turban Army, it would cost a lot of money to raise a group of elite soldiers.

For example, the cost of the armor of a Shenwu right army in the Song Dynasty was 58 guan, plus horses and weapons, and the price of a piece of equipment was more than 100 guan and close to 200 guan.

From the Eastern Han Dynasty to the time of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, the regular army had less than 50,000 northern troops, and the imperial court almost went bankrupt in order to support these people.

But as the saying goes, you get what you pay for, and it was with these tens of thousands of people that Emperor Ling of Han was able to quell the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

Dong Zhuo was also able to set off such a big storm because he took the opportunity to control the Northern Army and the Eight Armies of the West Park when he entered Luoyang.

Therefore, although fifty people are not many, if they are armed according to the regular army, then the combat effectiveness is still very considerable.

The average 500 Yellow Turban soldiers encountered it head-on, and it was estimated that they would all have to be defeated by these 50 people.

This is also in line with the current characteristics of the small number of clans and the need for some elite soldiers to protect the safety of the clan.

The command of the team was handed over to Deng Zhao, Shen Zhen and other veterans, and the training method was also handed over to them, and Shen Chen was just for reference.

Because the training method of China's iron and steel army in later generations actually had no reference value in the Han Dynasty, that army was a soldier of the people, with faith and discipline, and a tenacious style of fighting.

In the Han Dynasty, when you mentioned faith to the feudal army, it was better to tell them how much money you would be rewarded for destroying the enemy.

After making this series of plans, Shen Chen finally left the clan and went to Xiangyang.

At the beginning of May, amid the farewell of the family members and clan elders, Shen Chen and the sixth uncle got into a car pulled by two donkeys and slowly headed south.

Only Deng Hong brought a slave who drove the car.

Xinye is actually very close to Xiangyang, only less than 200 miles, and it only takes seven or eight hours to go all the way south by boat.

In addition, Liu Biao deployed a large number of troops in the surrounding area, so it was still very safe to go from the south of Wancheng to Xiangyang.

The new residence of the Deng family was located on the north bank of the Shahe River, near Bishui, which later became known as the Tangzi River.

After crossing the river, Huyang County.

I walked for more than two hours in the donkey cart, almost from nine o'clock in the morning to two o'clock in the afternoon.

At the beginning, after gathering from the new village of Huangmenting, the south was barren, and after approaching Huyang County, I saw a large area of villages, pastorals, mulberry forests and ponds.

Deng Hong was wearing an ordinary scholar's robe and kneeling on the donkey cart, Shen Chen didn't have so many worries, he simply lay on the cart, and was about to fall apart by the bumps of the post road.

In this era, it is really not something that people can afford to hurry, and it is better to be shorter, and if you are farther away, whether you are riding a horse, riding a car, or walking, you will suffer.

Riding a horse and riding a car is a waste of buttocks, walking and running are waste legs and feet, and the only good way of transportation is to take a boat.

But if you get seasick, you're tortured when you go out.

Especially in the summer, it's even more uncomfortable than going to jail.

The two grandparents appeared in the township pavilion in the northwest of Huyang County, and they were still very popular with the villagers, and they came to see it one after another.

May is summer, and the last two summers have become hotter and hotter, and the farmland is close to the water, but because of the hotter and hotter weather, the water level has dropped so much that many villagers are digging canals.

Although millet seedlings and wheat seedlings are relatively drought-tolerant crops, no matter how drought-tolerant they are, they still need water.

When Shen Chen saw this scene, he thought for a moment and said to Deng Hong: "Uncle, do you want to give you a chance to make a name for yourself?" ”

"What?"

Deng Hong looked at Shen Chen vigilantly, his grandson had a lot of ideas, and he asked him last time if he wanted to find a daughter of the Xiangyang clan as his daughter-in-law, but now he didn't know what bad ideas he was thinking.

Shen Chen pointed to the distance and said: "I teach my uncle the keel waterwheel, and my uncle will teach the villagers to use it, and he will definitely be famous in the countryside." ”

"What's the use of being famous in the countryside?"

Deng Hong shrugged: "Only by becoming famous in Shilin can it be regarded as truly famous." ”

Shen Chen said with a smile: "It is very useful to be famous in the countryside, if we want to grow in Huangmen Pavilion, we have to absorb the people." After you teach them the keel waterwheel, the people of Huyang will be grateful and praise your fame, and the nearby township pavilions will know your fame. ”

"And then?"

"Then tell them that someone will attack Nanyang in the future, and if there is a war at that time, let them go north to join our township, won't there be more people in our township?"

"Someone will attack Nanyang in the future?"

Deng Hong suddenly keenly felt the meaning of Shen Chen's words.

It is true that he did not have much knowledge in the past because of his low knowledge, but after following his grandson for a long time, he was able to grasp the key points.

Shen Chen said with a smile: "Uncle Ancestor won't think that Jingzhou is a stable place. Don't hide it from my uncle, I feel that in a year or two at most, Nanyang will be in chaos, and our clan must be prepared at that time. ”

Zhang Ji attacked Nanyang, and Liu Biao ceded Wancheng to Zhang Xiu.

Subsequently, Cao Cao conquered Zhang Xiu several times, and each time Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao's combined forces suffered heavy losses, and the people north of Nanyang were also migrated by Cao Cao, including the Deng Ai family.

Not to mention that on the eve of the Battle of Chibi, Liu Cong surrendered to Cao Cao, Liu Bei fled south, and more than 100,000 people in Xinye followed, and the entire Nanyang was in chaos.

Therefore, from 196 A.D. to 208 A.D., the Nanyang area was not peaceful.

Large-scale wars were met by war between Zhang Xiu and Cao Cao, and small-scale wars also included the looting of the Yellow Turban Army and the battle of Cao Cao's attack on the Yellow Turbans in Runan.

Therefore, it is necessary to make many layouts before Nanyang is in chaos, so as to prepare for future growth.

"yes, I see."

Deng Hong heard Shen Chen's words and nodded thoughtfully.

The two men continued south.

There is no way to make a keel waterwheel now, Shen Chen plans to teach Deng Hong how to make it after he arrives in Xiangyang.

After it was made, he was asked to go to various places in Nanyang to teach this thing, and built it in Huyang, Xiangxiang, Pingshi, Yuyang and other places around the Shahe area where Huangmenting lived, so as to make it famous in the countryside.

By the time Zhang Ji's army moved south, it was believed that the fortresses and manors made by Huangmen Pavilion had already formed a certain defensive capability and could absorb more villagers.

The donkey cart was not slow, it traveled for more than five hours, and arrived outside Xiangyang at 7 o'clock in the evening at an average speed of 10 kilometers per hour.

However, it is impossible to enter the city today, so they can only live in Fancheng.

After approaching Xiangyang, along the way, Shen Chen saw a large number of displaced people migrating south, these are all good, it is said that the area of Shunyang, Liguo, near the direction of Wuguan, is now gathering nearly 100,000 people.

Last summer, there was a great drought in Guanzhong, and the price of grain was expensive, and the money was 500,000 yuan, and people in Kuan'an cannibalized each other.

Liu Xie wanted to open a warehouse to release grain, but the grain was embezzled, and Li Dao, Guo Yan and others even set up arson to rob the grain sent out by Liu Xie, causing a great famine.

At that time, there were still millions of people in Guanzhong, and countless deaths caused by hunger, and a large number of displaced people who could move to Guanzhong, Yizhou and Nanyang migrated to Guanzhong, Yizhou and Nanyang, which can be regarded as indirectly replenishing their population.