Soldiers come to the world

Xu Shu hurried into the big tent, bowed and saluted, "I have something to report to Zhou Mu!"

Liu Jing glanced at Jia Xu, Jia Xu understood, smiled at Xu Shu, walked out of the tent with his hands behind his back, Liu Jing waved his hand to Xu Shu and said with a smile: "Yuan Zhi, please sit down and talk!"

Xu Shu sat down, cupped his hands again and said, "I want to talk to Zhou Mu about the prisoners of war."

"Chang Shi must be very surprised. There are 10,000+ laborers. This is a huge wealth from heaven."

"no!"

Xu Shu shook his head and said, "On the contrary, I feel very distressed, because we can't support so many people, and Jiangxia doesn't have so much land for them to cultivate."

Liu Jing couldn't help but be a bit dumbfounded. He remembered that Xu Shu complained to him about the serious shortage of manpower in Wuchang last time, and now he complained about too many prisoners of war.

Xu Shu seemed to understand Liu Jing's thoughts, and sighed: "I said that the more labor, the better, but this time Zhou Mu actually captured 16 prisoners of war, which is far beyond Jiang Xia's ability to bear. In fact, we only need Twenty to thirty thousand labor is enough."

After a pause, Xu Shu continued: "In fact, most of these prisoners of war are farmers in the north. The state shepherd should consider releasing them. Everyone is grateful. This will lay the foundation for us to gain the support of the people at the bottom when we march into the Central Plains. I hope State shepherds can have a longer-term vision."

Liu Jing laughed, "It turns out that Yuan Zhi is also a man of benevolence and righteousness."

Xu Shu blushed, "Although I didn't agree with Zhou Mu's release of [-] prisoners of war from Cao's army, it was because Jiangxia was short of labor at that time. But now that Chibi has won a great victory, we need to make long-term plans and release the prisoners of war. Sending them back to the north and letting them return to their hometowns to reunite with their families will not only win the hearts of the people, but also win the support of the major noble families in the north, this is a long-term deal."

"But I plan to select [-] elite soldiers from the soldiers to supplement my troops."

"It's okay to have 3 soldiers. I think it's better to put the rest of the soldiers back."

Liu Jing walked a few steps with his hands behind his back, then turned around and asked, "Why did Yuan Zhi say he would be able to win the support of the northern gentry?"

Xu Shu hesitated and said: "Before I came, I happened to have a chat with Sima Yi. When talking about the current situation in the north, he said that most of the farmers in the north are attached to the gentry, and the small gentry are attached to the big gentry. These prisoners of war are actually the foundation of the gentry. .

Cao Cao’s Southern Expedition used the power of the whole country, and it was also widely opposed by the gentry. Kong Rong was killed, that is, Cao Cao was banned from killing one hundred, and the gentry were not allowed to oppose the Southern Expedition. Although no one dared to oppose it, the dissatisfaction was there heart.

The defeat of Cao Cao this time will inevitably shake his foundation in the north, and the return of state herd prisoners of war will also give hope to the northern gentry. I believe that state animal husbandry will gain politically. "

Liu Jing nodded and spoke very deeply. He really wanted to have a good talk with Sima Yi.

"Let me think about the matter of the prisoners of war. I'm not in a hurry. In addition, I have one more thing I want Yuan Zhi to help with. It's about capturing Jiangling."

Speaking of this, Liu Jing smiled all over his face, but for some reason, Xu Shu always felt that there was nothing good in this smile.

. . . . . . . . .

In the afternoon, Liu Jing summoned generals above Yajiang and more than a dozen civil officials to discuss the plan to attack Jiangling. Although the generals including Huang Zhong all demanded to march to Jiangling immediately, they were unanimously opposed by the civil officials headed by Xu Shu.

In the big tent, Xu Shu and Wei Yan were facing each other. Xu Shu said sharply: "General Wei only thinks about fighting, but he doesn't consider the feelings of the people in Jiangxia, and doesn't consider whether Jiangxia can withstand such a large-scale war? I might as well tell General Wei the truth, Wuchang 110 of the 99 granaries have been emptied, and the food supply in the refugee camp is extremely tight, and they can only provide porridge every day, why I came to Chibi in such a hurry, it was because Jiang Xia was about to lose it!"

Liu Jing, who was sitting in the upper position, remained silent. He originally wanted to ask Xu Shu to share his worries, but he didn't expect Xu Shu to agree. Xu Shu himself did not agree to continue fighting.

Only now did Liu Jing realize the seriousness of the problem. The main reason was that there were too many fugitives. Jiangxia had gathered more than 50 people, and almost one Jiangxia could afford half of the people in Jingzhou.

At the same time, he had to pay for the rations of the [-] troops and the [-] militia. If it weren't for the food savings in the past and the good harvest this year, Jiang Xia would not be able to win this war at all.

Of course, Liu Jing also knew that there were some loopholes in Xu Shu's words. For example, there were only 110% of the [-] granaries in stock, and it was only because Xu Shu wanted to help him that he confused the concept.

Wei Yan's face was flushed with anger, and his eyes glared with anger. He stared at Xu Shu fiercely and said, "This time, we have seized 20 shi of grain in the Chibi victory. Isn't that enough?"

"But you also captured 10,000+ troops, and feeding them would also cost a lot of food. Didn't General Wei think about it?" Xu Shu retorted bluntly.

"This....."

Wei Yan was at a loss for words, his mind was in a mess, he couldn't think of refuting Xu Shu's words for a while, so he could only stare at Xu Shu fiercely, at this moment Gan Ning was about to get up to answer, when Huang Zhong pulled him, Gan Ning was stunned and looked at Xu Shu in puzzlement. Huang Zhong, Huang Zhong gave him a wink, although Gan Ning didn't quite understand, he didn't stand up anymore.

There was a moment of silence in the big tent, Li Jun got up and saluted and said: "I want to say that although there is a shortage of food, it is not impossible to solve it. We have seized a lot of money and materials, especially 10,000+ livestock, which are the most precious in the south. Wealth, you can entrust merchants to go to Qichun County and Jiujiang County to exchange food, so that there will be a guarantee of military food to continue fighting, what does Xu Changshi think?"

"But even going to Qichun County and Jiujiang County to exchange food will take time, at least a month. How can there be such a simple thing?"

"Okay, let's stop arguing!"

Seeing that the time was ripe, Liu Jing finally spoke. The big tent fell silent immediately. Xu Shu saluted and sat down slowly. Liu Jing said to Wei Yan again: "General Wei, please sit down first!"

Wei Yan gave Xu Shu a hard look, and had to sit down. Liu Jing then slowly said to everyone: "Jiangling must be fought, but we also have to consider the bearing capacity of the place, so I decided to adopt General Li's plan and use livestock to fight Neighboring counties are exchanging grain, of course it will take some time, so let’s do it! One hundred thousand militias were disbanded and went home to save food, and the army rested for half a month.”

Speaking of this, Liu Jing asked Xu Shu again, "I can only delay for half a month at most, is that okay?"

Xu Shu nodded helplessly, "Okay! Just half a month."

"Then it's decided."

Liu Jing got up and said to the generals: "After half a month, the army will march towards Jiangling!"

． ． ． ． ． ． ．

Huang Zhong was in charge of guarding the Chibi camp. He was ordered to come to Jiangbei to attend the military meeting in the afternoon. He was about to return to his tent when Gan Ning chased him up from behind, "Old general, please stay!"

"General Gan, what's the matter?" Huang Zhong asked with a slight smile.

"During the argument just now, why did the old general stop me?"

"This..." Huang Zhong hesitated for a moment, shook his head and said, "It's really nothing?"

Gan Ning saw Huang Zhong's hesitation, and said sternly, "Is there anything else General Huang can't say to me?"

Huang Zhong had no choice but to point to his big tent, "Let's talk in the tent!"

The two entered and sat down, Huang Zhong said slowly: "You have to speak first, what I'm saying now, General Gan must not pass it on."

"Don't worry, old general, I am a sensible person."

Only then did Huang Zhong ask with a smile: "General Wei was so mad today that he didn't hear the loophole in Xu Shu's words. Did General Gan hear it?"

Gan Ning nodded, "We have seized 20 shi of grain. It is impossible to use all of it to feed the prisoners of war. It would be good to give them [-] shi of grain. Why are our people starving, but the prisoners of war can eat enough? So Xu Changshi said There is a problem with words."

"That's right. Not only are there loopholes in this sentence, there are also loopholes in other words. For example, the government has no food, but the local farmers in Jiangxia have food. There are also many big families and wealthy households in Changsha County. If you don’t accumulate enough grain, why go to a neighboring county to exchange for grain, wouldn’t it be enough to exchange grain in your own hands?”

"The old general is right!"

Gan Ning sighed, and he realized that there were many loopholes hidden in it, and he hadn't heard it, but he was still a bit puzzled, and said, "In this case, why didn't the old general let me tell?"

"That's the problem. You can hear it. Could it be that Zhou Mu is so shrewd that he doesn't understand?"

Gan Ning was stunned, and after a while, he finally came to his senses, "The old general said that delaying the attack on Jiangling is actually the intention of the state shepherd?"

"It must be so, he just used Xu Changshi to object."

Although Huang Zhong is a military commander, after all, he has been involved in the Jingzhou officialdom for decades, and he understands the world better than Wei Yan, Gan Ning and other up-and-comers. He saw the tacit understanding between Liu Jing and Xu Shu, and realized that he should not talk too much .

"But... why didn't Zhou Mu tell everyone clearly?" Gan Ning was still a little puzzled.

Huang Zhong said indifferently: "Zhou Mu must have some unavoidable difficulties, and he didn't want his subordinates to know, so Xu Changshi objected."

Speaking of this, Huang Zhong said earnestly: "General Gan, there is one thing you have to remember. He is the lord, and we'd better not know too much about the lord's thoughts. As a general, we only need to execute orders, and don't try to Change the Lord's decision."

"The old general is right!" Gan Ning said with a wry smile.

"I found that we did a very bad job on this point. The generals all wanted to express their thoughts in front of the state pastor and tried to influence the state pastor's decision. Therefore, I think the state pastor is actually using this incident to remind us that it is time to come. It's time for a change."

Gan Ning silently nodded, he finally understood a little bit.

In fact, there is another sentence that Huang Zhong did not say, that is Wei Yan, I am afraid that his life in the future will not be too easy, at least it will not be satisfactory, Huang Zhong understands it very well, but this must not be said.

． ． ． ． ． ． ． ．

In the big tent, Liu Jing stood on the map with his hands behind his back and thought about his next plan alone. For the future, he had already decided on the general direction, but he still had to consider the details.

Especially now, he has a myriad of things to do, to capture Jiangling, restore Xiangyang and Fancheng, and take back Anlu County, these are all imminent matters.

More importantly, he had to deal with the relationship between Jiang Xia and Jing Nan. Victory in the Chibi War also meant breaking the previous balance.

Then if a new balance is established, Sun Quan wants to capture the four counties in southern Jing, but he hopes that Liu Bei can restrain the Jiangdong Army for him, so that he can concentrate on capturing Nanyang and Hanzhong.

But Liu Jing had to consider the possibility of an alliance between Liu Bei and Sun Quan. The relationship here was intricate and difficult to make a decision for a while.

But at this time, Liu Jing was a little worried about the Yuan family in Hebei. When Cao Cao returned to the Central Plains, he would definitely concentrate on destroying the revival of the Yuan family.

The revival of the Yuan family is extremely important to Liu Jing's westward expansion strategy. He hopes that the Yuan family can hold Cao Cao in the Central Plains for him so that he can fully expand westward. For this reason, he needs to help Yuan's,

While he was thinking for a long time, Liu Min appeared at the door and bowed to Liu Jing, "Is Zhou Mu looking for me?"

Liu Jing laughed quickly and said, "Come in and sit down, I really need you."

Liu Min came here with Xu Shu, he sat down somewhat restrained, Liu Jing smiled slightly: "I heard that you are engaged, congratulations!"

Liu Min's fiancée is Jia Yingxue, Jia Xu's youngest daughter. When Liu Min and Li Fu went to Yecheng to rescue Jia Xu's family, Jia Xu's mother and wife fell in love with this young man who was knowledgeable and capable. He is Liu Xian's nephew, and he is well-matched, so not long ago, Kuai Liang acted as a matchmaker, and the marriage was settled.

Liu Min blushed, "Thank you Zhou Mu!"

Liu Jing pondered for a while and said: "I came to you because I have a major task for you."

Liu Min got up quickly, cupped his hands and said, "Please order from the state pastor!"

"Don't be so nervous!"

Liu Jing chuckled, waved his hands repeatedly to let him sit down, looked at Liu Min's calm eyes, and then Liu Jing said slowly: "I want you to go to Xiliang for me."