I, Liu Bian, Sanxing Han Dynasty

Chapter 22 June

After Dong Zhuo learned of Sun Jian's appearance from his subordinates, he understood Sun Jian's destination. He was one step late, one step behind and one step behind.

On the day Sun Jian arrived in Chencang, Huangfu Song led his army to Chang'an.

Just like the choices made by Beigong Boyu and Li Wenhou in the past, the kingdom finally gave up on the difficult-to-break Hebei County City, leaving only five thousand people camped outside the city.

He adopted the strategy of Li Shen and Li Xiangru, and under the banner of "kill the eunuchs to clear away the evil on the side of the emperor", he led an army of about 100,000 soldiers, who had been threatened by signs in recent times, with high morale, and entered Sanfu along the Wei River.

Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun join forces, and they still need to lead the new with the old and continue to train the new soldiers.

With support from Luoyang, they strategically chose to defend and counterattack. At present, the money recovered from Liangzhou has accumulated more than 400 million including the contribution of the ten permanent servants. At least so far, time is on their side.

Since Emperor Guangwu stopped his troops and allowed the people to rest, the recruitment system replaced the conscription system.

The military recruitment system has two ways to attract good families. One is to provide food, accommodation and money in return, and the other is to reduce or reduce the corvee at home.

Calculated based on an army of 40,000.

At present, millet and wheat cost about 200 qian per dan, and the average soldier spends about 20 dan per year, plus salt, black beans, vinegar cloth, etc., which costs about 4,500 qian per year.

In addition, the soldiers' clothing and other miscellaneous items for the whole year must also be taken into account. In total, the court spent nearly 8,000 yuan on an ordinary soldier a year. If these 40,000 people were regarded as ordinary soldiers, it would still cost 320 million yuan a year. Ten million dollars.

Each war horse consumes three stones and one or two liters of food per month, and nearly 8,000 yuan in a year.

The 40,000-strong army brought about 10,000 war horses. With such a simple addition, 400 million yuan was gone.

This does not include the losses on the food transportation road. Fortunately, it is not too far from Luoyang and other places to Chang'an. However, if Liangzhou is invaded, the price of food cannot be calculated as two hundred yuan.

In short, without considering subsequent military awards and death compensation, with more than 400 million yuan today, Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun can last at least one year in Sanfu.

In actual circumstances, Sanfu's city granary and Chencang all stocked grain.

In particular, Chencang is not only an important transfer station for grain transportation in Bashu, but also a public warehouse for storing grain. Even after years of war, Chencang still stores more than 700,000 shi of grain.

The most expensive military expenditure is actually the equipment of the soldiers, but most of these can be replenished in the arsenal, and the war horses are also provided by the servants.

As a former servant, before he left office and became a former general, if Zhu Jun said that he did not use his power to select some high-quality war horses for the army, I am afraid no one would believe it.

Liu Bian was very clear about Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun's established strategy, which they analyzed at the military meeting the night before departure. The rebels were able to quickly capture Longxi and Hanyang, and their morale was high. It was time to avoid their edge and take advantage of the opportunity.

At that time, Emperor Ling had no objection. Liu Bian only needed to ensure that Emperor Ling would not have the idea of ​​​​changing generals on the spot.

All he could do was to ensure that the army would not catch fire in the backyard.

This will be a war that cannot be ended in a short time.

On this day, Liu Bian finished listening to Liang Hu's class in Dongguan and asked Liang Hu: "Master Liang is full of knowledge and has no intention of pursuing an official career?"

Liang Hu sighed and said nothing.

When Liu Bian saw this, he was convinced that Liang Hu was not pure-hearted. He said: "I intend to ask General Chariot and Cavalry to recommend Master Liang as Yilang, but I don't know if Master Liang will feel aggrieved."

"What Your Highness said is true to my wishes, and I dare not refuse it."

Of course Liang Hu didn't feel aggrieved, but as a teacher, he still had a bit of a literary character, and he had never been able to let go of his airs and take the initiative to speak. When Liu Bian mentioned it, he immediately agreed. Speaking of which, although Liang Hu was Liu Bian's teacher, strictly speaking, he could only be regarded as an enlightenment teacher, and relatively speaking, he was not very important.

Before teaching Liu Bian, he was just a waiter at the Public Transport Department. It is somewhat similar to Li Bai's waiting for imperial edict in the Hanlin Academy, and he can also meet the emperor because of his skills.

But if you want to go one step further and become a serious official who really handles government affairs, it will be difficult.

Li Bai is prone to getting into trouble because he likes drinking. Liang Hu was not as talented as Li Bai. He was best at calligraphy but was useless as an official. Although the emperor knew about him, he had no intention of reusing him.

For Liu Bian, Liang Hu became a "reserve cadre" Yilang, which allowed him to have more access to news from the previous dynasty, so that he would not only have Yutangdian as a stable channel for obtaining outside news.

After his classes were over, Liu Bian went to Yutang Hall as usual.

Previously, Liu Bian mentioned to Emperor Ling that Liu Xie should go to Dongguan to study. Emperor Ling vowed that he would go to Empress Dowager Dong and tell her that it would be done.

The result was obvious. Emperor Ling was rejected by Empress Dowager Dong because Liu Xie was still young, and she only agreed to find a learned eunuch to come to Yongle Palace to enlighten Liu Xie.

This was not in line with Emperor Ling's original intention of wanting his brothers to get closer, but he couldn't get over Empress Dowager Dong, so he had no choice but to do this.

Afterwards, Emperor Ling was even a little embarrassed to speak to Liu Bian, so he informed Liu Bian of the follow-up through Zhang Rang.

……

In a blink of an eye, it’s June and the weather is getting warmer.

In places such as Sanfu and Liangzhou, the winter wheat planted during last autumn and winter has already reached harvest time. Huangfu Song led the army to confront the rebels in Meiyang County, Youfufeng, with Zhu Jun supporting from the side and rear.

The kingdom led people to besiege Chencang for more than a month, but could not capture it.

As the harvest season approaches, the cavalry from both sides engage in skirmishes one after another in the fields.

After suffering several losses earlier, Wang Guo, Han Sui and others finally learned of the existence of the double stirrups.

The rebels have high military quality, and Longxi is also a good horse producing area, but without the help of the central dynasty, logistics has always been poor.

By the time they were equipped with double stirrups, the new recruits in the Han cavalry had gained a lot of experience under Huangfu Song's arrangement.

However, the newly harvested wheat has greatly supplemented the rebels' food supply, and the confrontation will continue.

On the other hand, with the help of the unoccupied areas of Anding County, the imperial court finally established contact with Hebei County.

The biggest problem in Ji County is the lack of food, but under Fu Xie's planning, relying on the bravery of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei and the mobility of the cavalry, they can always find opportunities to rob the rebels of food.

It's just that the rebels have begun to change their response methods. They no longer blindly station troops outside the city to defend to the death, but have begun to use methods such as setting up decoys and ambushes. The next battle will further test the commander's strategy.

On this day, Liu Bian came to Yutang Hall. It was supposed to be the time for Emperor Ling to deal with official documents, but Zhang Rang was the only one left in the hall.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty was a little tired yesterday. Now he is sleeping in the back of the palace. Your Majesty left a decree before going to bed. Your Majesty can summon Lu Shangshu to assist in reviewing the following memorials and official documents."

Liu Bian understood immediately. The weather was warm and Emperor Ling had a lot of fun last night.

(End of this chapter)