I practiced magic in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 78 I Became the Leader [Edit]

"Yes, this thing is indeed made of wool, and it has been equipped in large quantities in the eight battalions of the Northern Army. If you don't believe it, you can ask for it yourself."

"We don't dare."

Wei Ji immediately expressed his opinion, his expression was so urgent that he was completely different from before.

This is because the largest ranch in Hedong County is the property of Anyi Wei family. The large amount of wool produced every year is thrown away as useless garbage. Not only does it not bring any income, but it also costs money to deal with.

If waste can be turned into treasure, it will bring unimaginable huge benefits to the Wei family.

Some other wealthy families and clans who raised large flocks of sheep were also interested, but they found it hard to imagine that Wang Jing would be so kind as to take them with him to make money?
Obviously, they still proceed from the perspective of commercial interests, so they can't understand Wang Jing's operations.

Monopolizing wool production can indeed bring huge profits, but recruiting and training weavers, purchasing wool and other raw materials all require costs, not only financially but also in terms of time.

The world is about to fall into chaos. How can Wang Jing have the time to slowly do business and make money?

What he needs now is stability in Hedong and the support of local native forces, and this requires tying them to his chariot.

What bond can be greater than that of common interests?
What's more, the development ceiling of the wool textile industry is there. Instead of eating alone, it is better to build a regional industrial chain, quickly expand the base, and after mastering the industry's discourse power, expand in all directions with the highest efficiency.

Whether in war or business, a single person can never match the tactics of a pack of wolves.

Moreover, after giving the noble families in Hedong a blow to establish their authority, they should also be given some benefits, so that they can be justified when they are needed to contribute in the future.

Seeing that the atmosphere at the scene had eased greatly, Wang Ling started talking about the topic that everyone was most concerned about: "I am willing to provide you with the production process and equipment of the raw materials, but it is not free. I think everyone can understand, right?"

"Your Excellency, please feel free to speak. We are not the kind of people who don't know what is good for us."

Afterwards, Wang Ling began to negotiate the terms, mainly promising to help the local noble families and wealthy families establish workshops to produce woolen materials, sell them wool spinning machines, and help them train weavers.

Of course, these all require money or food in exchange. After a heated debate, the two sides finally agreed on the specific transaction price.

This banquet ended in a happy ending for everyone.

After all, many people benefited from it, so their original hostility towards Wang Jing was completely changed, and many affairs of Hedong County were willing to cooperate with the administration of the prefectural government.

After this incident, Wang Jing finally had a stable rear base, and he settled the big and small factions and forces in Hedong County, making himself the leader of this emerging interest group.

At the same time, he also recruited a group of talented people, such as Wei Ji from Anyi Wei family and Jia Kui from Xiangling Jia family, who all formally joined Wang Jing's camp and worked for him.

After receiving strong support from the local noble families and wealthy families in Hedong, Wang Ling immediately had plenty of money and grain, allowing him to take the opportunity to gather refugees and begin to govern the internal affairs of Hedong County. According to Wang Jing's plan, the military farming work was carried out in an orderly manner.

Fifteen miles outside Yuwang City, Wang Ling was holding a blueprint and explaining to Wang Jing: "My lord, please look, there were originally three villages here, but they were ruined due to the looting of the Baibo Army. I plan to build the first military settlement here."

Wang Jing stood on a high place and looked down at the collapsed houses in the distance due to the raging war. He felt a little heavy in his heart: "Let's start the construction as soon as possible. It's winter now, and we need to gather as many refugees as possible to cultivate the land."

The Baibo Army claimed to be an army of volunteers and their main members were farmers, but they were ruthless when dealing with ordinary people.

Although the actions of the Baibo Army seemed to be a resistance to injustice, they were actually no different from those of bandits. Some of their actions were even more excessive than those of bandits, and massacring villages and destroying counties was a piece of cake.

One hundred thousand Baibo troops ravaged the entire Hedong County, affecting more than 500,000 people. Many women, children and the elderly died in the war, and there were nearly 200,000 homeless refugees.

If these refugees are not pacified, they will become potential dangers.

You know, when people are desperate, they can do anything.

Wang Ling had followed Wang Jing to quell the Yellow Turban Rebellion in Runan, Yuzhou, so he had naturally witnessed how terrible war was. He knew that refugees needed relief, otherwise the rebellion would never end. Even if the Northern Army killed people in blood, it would not be able to completely eradicate the rebellion. The only fundamental solution was to appease people's hearts and let them live and work in peace.

"Second brother, these refugees must be dealt with as soon as possible, otherwise something bad may happen."

Wang Jing certainly understood the seriousness of the matter: "In the past, Lu Zhi, Zhu Jun, and Huangfu Song put down the Yellow Turban Rebellion, killing hundreds of thousands of people. Why is the rebellion happening again now? It is useless to only remove the lesions but not the root causes. The slightest disaster will cause the old problems to recur. We should take this as a warning."

Wang Ling felt the same way. "Second brother is right. Long before the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, signs of chaos had already appeared in various places. At that time, even in Jizhou, the number one province in the world, there were millions of refugees. Even if there is no Zhang Jiao, there are ox horns and deer horns. If we call out from a high place, the rioters who can't survive will respond in droves, like weeds in a wasteland, which can never be completely removed or killed."

Perhaps the ancients did not know what the Little Ice Age was, but they could definitely feel the cooling climate and constant disasters such as floods and droughts.

The common people who depended on the weather for their livelihood worked hard on the land but could not get the expected harvest. They also had to face all kinds of exorbitant taxes and levies. In the end, they could not eat enough, had to sell their wives and children, and people even began to starve to death everywhere.

At this time, aristocratic families and powerful families took advantage of the situation and desperately engaged in land annexation, creating a large number of landless refugees, which further aggravated the unrest and turmoil in the entire society.

When most of the people find they can no longer survive, an uprising will naturally break out, dragging the powerful and wealthy with them to their deaths.

Wang Ling was still unclear about the seriousness of the matter, but Wang Jing knew it very well. It was precisely because of the various natural disasters, man-made disasters and class contradictions at the end of the Han Dynasty that the Han people's territory was eventually trampled by the iron hooves of the Hu people. From then on, the mountains and rivers changed hands, the country was lost, and it was even on the verge of national extinction.

Since Wang Jing has already taken root in this world, he will never allow such a thing to happen: "Forget it, I will do what Lu Zhi and his people dare not do. Yanyun, you have a heavy burden on your shoulders, you have to stabilize Hedong for me."

"Don't worry, second brother. Ling will help you protect this Hedong foundation even if he is shattered to pieces."

"Haha, I won't tear you to pieces. You must live well and work with me to create a peaceful and prosperous world."

Then Wang Jing called Xu Huang over and said, "Gongming, I have an important task to entrust to you."

"My lord, please give me your orders!"

Xu Huang felt the heavy trust and his expression became serious.

Wang Jing then handed a blueprint to Xu Huang: "This is a bastion. I have marked all the parameters. Soon a group of craftsmen from Luoyang will assist you in completing this project. You must follow the requirements in the blueprint. I need you, Gongming, to build a Hedong camp for me."

Wang Jing only understood the concept of the bastion's design, but with the help of Mohism's god-level mechanical device, the Mo Lion, and Mohism's knowledge of the study of things, building a bastion was not a difficult task.

Hedong was often harassed by the Hu people, so it was very necessary to build a bastion.

Not to mention that the world is about to collapse and the Han Dynasty has declined to the extreme.

The Xianbei, the Southern Xiongnu, and the various northern Hu tribes were all eyeing the Central Plains with ambitions.

If Wang Jing wanted to dominate the world, only 10,000 troops were not enough, so he needed to set up a military base in Hedong and recruit a large number of soldiers locally. He completely regarded the Hedong camp as the first trial model to facilitate the establishment of similar military institutions in other states and counties in the future.

Xu Huang, who was born in Hedong, had a calm and steady character and was solid and reliable, so Wang Jing gave this matter to him.

Xu Huang glanced at the requirements in the blueprint and couldn't help but smack his lips: "My lord, if we really want to build it according to the requirements above, the cost of this barracks will be sky-high."

There are no other disadvantages to the construction of a bastion except that it is expensive.

What Wang Jing lacked the most at this time was money. He waved his hand with great generosity and said, "I have plenty of money. Gongming, just do what you want with it."

Just kidding, Wang Jing, who "inherited" Emperor Ling's legacy, might be short of food, but he will never be short of money.

Hedong has developed commerce. It is located between the two capitals and is a key point between the east and the west. It is a must-pass place for trade and transportation between Chang'an and Luoyang. There are not many things here that you cannot buy with money. Some building materials can be bought directly with money.

Of course, the most important thing is to have the army in hand so that you can suppress the villains and prevent others from taking advantage of the situation after the bastion is built.

At this time, Wang Jing had over 10,000 soldiers under his command, and all of them were elite troops who had been carefully selected. Looking at it from a world-class perspective, it was a first-class strong army, and it surpassed most people at the starting stage.

The three protagonists of the Three Kingdoms, at this time Cao Cao was still in Luoyang preparing to assassinate Dong Zhuo, and Liu Bei was still hanging out with his senior brother Gongsun Zan in Youzhou, and his official position was just a small Sima of a separate department.

As for Sun Jian, he was still in Changsha suppressing a rebellion and was too busy to do anything else.

However, Wang Jing had already successfully seized the initiative by taking every step carefully and was far ahead of the three heroes.

Although it is said that quality is more important than quantity, it is a pipe dream for 10,000 men to conquer the world, so Wang Jing has always wanted a base that can continuously supply new blood. When the Hedong camp is completed, it is estimated that Wang Jing will be able to recruit 20,000 to 30,000 new soldiers in a year, which will become his capital for dominating the world.

After arranging matters concerning developments in the rear, Wang Jing's attention returned to the battle situation on the front line.

On November 21st, the north wind was howling.

The Baibo Army, which had been under strict blockade throughout the winter and had its living space constantly squeezed, was now extremely weak.

People in Baibo Valley were in panic.

Hu Cai spat fiercely, his face full of resentment and anger: "Old Guo, we can't wait like this any longer!"

Guo Da also sighed: "There is no chance now. If we go out and fight the government troops, we might lose, and more likely we will die without a complete body."

He emphasized the word "death" very heavily. It was because he had been under too much pressure in recent days.

Hu Cai pointed at the increasingly weak soldiers behind him and shouted angrily at Guo: "Wait, wait, look at how hungry our brothers are. If we wait any longer, we will just have to wait to die here!"

There are 50,000 to 60,000 people in Baibo Valley, but none of them are productive. They all have big bellies and need to eat as soon as they open their eyes. How can they be supported?
The food that they had looted from the counties had long been eaten up in the heavy snow that blocked the mountains. If they continued to wait like this, they would probably not be able to fight the government troops even if they wanted to.

Not to mention that in Baibo Valley, there is not even a shortage of necessities like salt. You know, Hedong is rich in salt and iron.

Guo Da also understood that the Baibo Army was in a very bad situation and had no choice but to fight to the death in order to have a chance of survival.

"Then prepare to fight to the death. If we win, we will have wealth and honor. If we lose, we will just die. In this damn world, why should we fear death?"

Rebellion is a life of risking one's life. Who would rebel if they were afraid of death?

At this moment, the ruthlessness in the hearts of Guo Da, Hu Cai and other Baibo people was completely aroused.

The Baibo Army moved out in full force, ready to break out of Xihe County with murderous intent. Tens of thousands of troops swept towards Hedong, ready for a decisive battle.

Hedong County, the headquarters of the Northern Army.

Wang Jing got the news immediately and laughed, "Guo Da and Hu Cai are really restless. In this way, we only need to destroy these rebels and appease the people, and Hedong will be stable."

Yan Hu and Yan Xing were delighted when they heard this: "My Lord, is there another big battle to fight?"

Wang Jing nodded: "That's right, this battle is a decisive battle. The Baibo bandit army is short of food and grass. If they are defeated, they will die. In this battle, our army can achieve success in one battle and recover the entire territory."

"Pass on my order, the entire army will march north to hunt with the Hu Cavalry Camp in the wild!"

"Yes!"

As soon as the military order was given, troops and horses rushed towards Xihe County like a tide.

Xihe County, thirty miles southeast of Taiping County.

Zhang Liao led a thousand cavalrymen from the Hu Cavalry Camp and arrived at the battlefield first. Seeing tens of thousands of enemy troops all over the mountains and facing a dark crowd with no end in sight, there was no fear in his eyes. Instead, they were burning with excitement, and he showed an attitude of eagerness to try.

Half an hour later, the main force of the Northern Army led by Wang Jing also arrived at the battlefield as agreed, and both sides directly deployed their battle formations in the field.

Those who advance will not retreat, and those who block will not give way. The curtain of a bloody battle is about to begin.

"Pity."

Wang Jing rode the famous horse Jueying, stood on a high slope, and looked into the distance at the battlefield ahead.

Zhang Liao couldn't help but be curious, so he rode forward and asked, "My lord, what are you regretting?"

Wang Jing sighed: "We are all Han people, but we are fighting against each other. I feel sorry for these Han people. They did not die in the war against foreign invasion, but were killed in the civil war. It is really sad and lamentable."

In history, the Baibo Army had a force of 100,000 and fought in the north and south of the Yellow River for ten years. Even people like Yang Feng and Han Xian took advantage of the situation to serve the king and became the main force to support the precarious Eastern Han regime and stabilize the situation in the world. They were entrusted with important tasks by Emperor Xian of Han, Liu Xie.

But Wang Jing now has to destroy them with his own hands, so he feels quite emotional.

However, Wang Jing did not regret it.

Let’s put an end to the troubled times and create an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity for China, starting with this battle!

It was freezing cold, but outside Baibo Valley the war was raging and the killing intent was intense.

Under the command of Guo Da and Hu Cai, the Baibo Army deployed their troops and launched a fierce attack on the Northern Army with a desperate fighting spirit.

The black sea of ​​people swept towards Wang Jing like a tide. These soldiers, in ragged clothes and with simple weapons, were filled with resentment and despair, and their hearts were filled with hatred and resentment, which gathered into a terrible torrent.

The resentment seemed to be tangible, impacting Wang Jing's consciousness.

The magic horn was blown, and the Baibo soldiers, who were originally too cold to stand, suddenly burst into fighting spirit and rushed forward with roars.

Xun You, as a military advisor, was on Wang Jing's left and whispered, "It seems that Guo Da is really going to fight to the death. This is the secret vocal technique in Huang Tian Dao Fa. It can summon up the remaining courage and boost morale within three quarters of an hour. But after three quarters of an hour, his physical strength will be exhausted, and by then even a child can easily kill him."

Having said that, it is not easy for ordinary government troops to survive this turbulent attack.

The soldiers of the Baibo Army were as strong as bulls, fighting hard. In front of the black crowd, the Northern Army suddenly became an isolated island, as if it could be submerged by the huge waves at any time.

Wang Jing, who was on horseback, looked carefree at this moment, and was even in the mood to chat and laugh with his men: "It seems that Guo Da and Hu Cai are not fools. They are quite methodical in command and dispatch. At least they have made full use of the Baibo Army's superior military strength. Using the majority to defeat the minority is the right way of military strategy."

Zhang Liao smiled proudly: "Even so, they are still vulnerable to our powerful army."

In the era of cold weapons, morale and physical strength are very important in battle.

A soldier without morale is no better than a farmer.

People who are exhausted are no better than young children and can only be slaughtered.

Therefore, the command ability of a general often determines the outcome of a battle. The larger the number of people involved in a battle, the more it depends on the general's command and dispatch ability.

Zhang Liao obviously had confidence in himself, and even more confidence in Wang Jing and the Northern Army.

"Kill!"

The Baibo Army, in a desperate situation, began their desperate fight. The fear of death awakened the wildness deep in their hearts.

Zhang Liao's expression became more serious: "The people of Hedong are indeed brave and courageous. It's a pity for these people."

Wang Jing placed his hand on the famous sword Chunjun and sighed, "What a pity."

Both of them were very discerning and naturally saw that the Hedong people had excellent physical fitness and high morale. If they could be formed into an army, they would surely shine and show their skills on the battlefield.

It’s a pity that now they each serve their own masters and have no choice but to draw their swords against each other.

But no matter how unfortunate it was, Wang Jing showed no mercy. He raised his hand and shouted, "Shoot!"

Before the two armies engaged in battle, under the command of Wang Jing, the crossbowmen from the Shesheng Battalion in the back row of the Northern Army raised their bows and crossbows and launched round after round of volleys.

In an instant, arrows were as dense as rain, and blood flowers bloomed in the formation of the Baibo Army. Just three rounds of volleys caused hundreds of casualties.

(End of this chapter)