Chapter 141 He is here

Chapter 141 He is back
In the old garden of Cao Wei in the northwest of Luoyang, a hunting operation with a strong military flavor is nearing its end.

Shao Xun gathered 70% of the four Silver Spear Army's forces and half of the Long Sword Army's men. A total of 2,000 soldiers shouted loudly and advanced and retreated together in the mountains, forests and grasslands.

Even some of the imperial guards' trusted followers came, such as Huang Biao, Yu An, Zhang Gu, Wu Qian, Qin San, Zheng Dong and others.

They had been in the army for more than a year and had each developed some close confidants, numbering in the hundreds.

Together with the more than one thousand farmhands from Jingu Garden, Shao Garden and Pan Garden, there were nearly four thousand soldiers gathered in this place - the farmhands usually farmed and produced food for Shao Xun, but during the winter when they were idle, it was necessary to pull them out for training.

“Sir, the soldiers with silver spears and long swords are all wearing iron armor, almost the same as the 3,000 men under Wang Bing’s command.” Huang Biao said as he skillfully prepared his prey.

He is really envious.

Most of the soldiers led by the palace general were lightly armored soldiers.

It's not that there weren't any armors at all, but there were very few. Among more than 5,000 people, there were at most 300 or 400 sets. The rest, at least one-third, were bare-armored, and the rest wore other kinds of armor.

To put it bluntly, the 20,000 troops led by the four generals in the palace are the main force of the central army in terms of numbers, but not in terms of strength.

Wang Bing was the Lieutenant General of the Tiger Guards, leading the Right Guard Vanguard Battalion, which had 3,000 heavily armored infantrymen, many of whom were veteran soldiers from the central army. These were the real main force of the imperial guards.

Huang Biao looked down on Wang Bing, but who could blame him for being the descendant of Wang Lang and Wang Situ?
"Wang Bing returned from Hongnong a few years ago." Shao Xun, who was also roasting prey, said casually, "He worked hard over there, guarding the fort and leaving the enemy helpless. When the bandits retreated, he even went out of the city to pursue them. He has made progress."

If you make progress, others will also make progress. After all, even the emperor went from listening to the croaking of toads to eating toads. Nothing is immutable.

"What's the point of Wang Bing's further progress?" Huang Biao said disdainfully: "Isn't it just a good family background?"

"Nothing is set in stone." Shao Xun said, "Follow me, there will be opportunities. Our group will have a day to shine."

It is extremely difficult for a military and political group composed mainly of lower-class people to rise in this world.

They could only occupy places where the power of the gentry was not strong, or where the power of the gentry was originally strong but was later severely weakened. Only these two types of places could provide them with opportunities when they were just starting out.

Shao Xun saw it very clearly.

If Sima Yue were to be appointed as the governor of Yingchuan now, he would not be able to do the job and might not even be able to collect taxes.

It would be better to be the prefect of Xiangcheng because the power of the aristocratic families there is relatively weak.

But regardless, he had no choice.

They could only try their best to unite some of the gentry, attack other parts, and then create a new class through a designed political and economic system.

At least, Chen Yougen, Huang Biao and others were very interested in the big picture that Shao Xun had painted.

Relying on military merit to gain benefits, regardless of background, this is the only choice for Chen, Huang and others.

From the perspective of fundamental interests, it is difficult for them to betray.

In addition to fundamental interests, personal feelings are also needed to maintain the relationship.

Shao Xun handed a piece of roasted meat to Huang Biao and said, "We've been busy all morning, let's eat something first."

"Thank you, sir." Huang Biao wiped his dirty hands on his military uniform, took the plate and said.

Cheers came from not far away.

Shao Xun looked over and saw that someone from the Changjian Army had shot a fox on horseback.

"Someone come here!" Shao Xun shouted.

"My lord, please give me your orders." Tang Jian went hunting, and now Wu Qian followed Shao Xun.

"Forget it, I'll do it myself." Shao Xun wiped his hands, walked to a carriage, took out a piece of brocade and held it in his hand.

A moment later, the knight of the Long Sword Army came galloping over, dismounted and presented the prey, saying: "I present this to the general."

"You are the leader of the team, Chang Can, right? You are indeed a good boy." Shao Xun said with a smile, "How can I take away the prey you hunted without authorization? Is your mother used to living in Yushanwu?"

Chang Can's voice choked up when he heard this, and he said, "The general has asked a doctor to see him, and he is much better now. My mother has always told me to die for the general."

"What do you mean by death? It's bad luck." Shao Xun laughed loudly, walked forward and pulled Chang Can up, saying: "I value warriors the most in my life. Remember, warriors don't need to kneel before me. We will be rich and prosperous together in the future, and never mention the word death again."

Shao Xun picked up the prey and looked at it, then said, "Give the meat to the boys and let us eat together. You can take the skin back and make something for your mother. If it's not enough, come to me."

After that, Shao Xun draped the brocade on Chang Can again and said, "Here's your reward. Ride your horse around for everyone to see. In my opinion, brave men should be rewarded handsomely, regardless of their origins."

Chang Can wiped away his tears, put on a brocade robe, mounted his horse, and galloped around proudly.

Others who saw this were extremely jealous.

That piece of brocade looked very valuable and worth a lot of money. It was not available in the silk shop and had never been sold.

Chang Can, a veteran thief, could actually get the high-end goods that only nobles could have. How could he not be envious? Suddenly, everyone was brave and rushed to be the first. The birds and beasts were in bad luck.

Shao Xun laughed. He liked to see this. Warriors like money and beauty, but they also need respect and recognition.

In such troubled times, it is the most incredible thing that warriors are treated harshly, but it is still the norm.

Humans are emotional animals, and warriors have tempers and personalities. Rewarding them with money and bonding them with gratitude are both essential.

"General, if we want to march west, do we really need to take them with us?" Wu Qian followed behind Shao Xun and asked softly.

"Not only them, but also a part of the Silver Spear Army. Do you think good soldiers can be trained just by training?" Shao Xun asked back.

Wu Qian had been in the army for many years, so how could he not know? He just couldn't bear it. He just said, "The Long Sword Army is fine, they are all desperate criminals who love blood and blades. The Silver Spear Army has a lot of new recruits..."

"They are a mix of old and new, not all new recruits." Shao Xun said, "I only brought one group of people, supplemented by 400 long sword warriors. Drills are fake after all. Even if they line up to practice martial arts, the soldiers know that they will not really fight. But the Western Expedition is different. This is a real fight. Even if it is not their turn to fight, as long as they go, they will gain something."

Commonly known as feeling the atmosphere of the battlefield.

It is difficult to achieve this effect in training, but in a real battlefield, even if you just stand there and don't get to fight, the psychological training should not be underestimated.

Of course, there are more reasons than that.

Thinking of this, Shao Xun sighed and despised himself at the same time. He had thought before that if Sima Yue didn't take the initiative to let him go, he would definitely not go. When the time came, he also succumbed to reality.

He now wanted to plunder wealth and add to his own small business.

Last year, the three major estates, Shaoyuan, Panyuan and Jinguyuan, made great efforts to gather refugees, occupy abandoned farmland, and cultivate the land vigorously. But in the end, there were only more than 1100 farmhands, who produced a little over 524 hu of grain in a year and raised livestock of all sizes.

However, these three estates were stable grain-producing machines, much better than Yunzhong, Kinmen and Tanshan Sanwu - these three estates only produced more than 392 hu of grain and raised livestock in a whole year, but their income was not enough to cover their expenses.

However, Yushanwu is an exception.

This is a mature fortress, although a little dilapidated, but the fields and ditches are ready. Last year, another batch of refugees were sent there, plus the people who surrendered from Yangdi County, there are now more than 2700 farmhands, producing more than 590 hu of grain, and livestock.

The Silver Spear Army still had 721 oxen in its hands, and the Long Sword Army had more than a thousand horses and mules - most of which had been returned to the people of Luoyang.

If we don’t count the military equipment and cash (silk, money, gold and silver utensils), the above are almost Shao Xun’s main assets.

A rough calculation showed that the food shortage last year was at least 200,000 hu. After deducting the 70,000 hu of grain from the commander of Hongnongwu, there was still a lot of debt - the financial deterioration was not unrelated to his active collection of refugees.

In the end, they could only pay the debt with money and thousands of military weapons seized from Liu Qiao and his son, and that was still not enough, so they also used tens of thousands of bushels of millet seized from Liu Qiao's troops on the battlefield to almost make up for the deficit. With the few remaining resources, they bought some materials for the early construction of Kinmenwu this year.

Fortunately, the three major gardens and Yushanwu planted winter wheat after the autumn harvest last year, and can plant a season of miscellaneous grains after the summer harvest. This year's food gap will be greatly reduced, provided that no new refugees are accepted.

But how could this be possible? Yuzhou was in chaos, and countless refugees flocked to Henan County. Shao Xun could not control himself at all and tried every means to gather some of them.

He even recruited student soldiers this year, mainly from Liang State in Yuzhou, which was severely ravaged by the Xianbei. A total of 155 young men aged ten to fifteen will be placed in Jingu Garden to study, train and work.

Therefore, no matter for which reason, he had to make more money.

A horse will not be fat without night grass, and a man will not be rich without windfall.

There's no way around it. Ambitious people are like this, always troubled by financial problems because their desires are too strong.

But since they are going to Guanzhong to make money, there are some things that cannot be done by the imperial guards, and private troops are more appropriate.

Anyway, these days there are too many people who bring their private armies to fight for their lords. No one would say anything if Shao Xun led a thousand men to fight. On the contrary, they would praise him for his loyalty and bravery.

After the hunt, everyone sat together happily, roasting meat and cooking soup, having a great time.

The newly recruited soldiers gradually integrated into this new collective.

Having money to earn and meat to eat, isn’t that much better than the past?

In February, Shao Xun visited Cao's military headquarters twice and drank and chatted with a group of neglected shogunate officials.

During this period, he also invited Wang Hu, Duan Liang, He Lun, Wang Bing, Chen Jing, Miao Yuan and other generals of the imperial guards to a banquet to further deepen their relationship.

He also did not forget his old subordinates from the Wang Guojun and found opportunities to arrange a few meals for them.

The whole month of February was spent in this way of eating and drinking, and it was not without gain. At least his friendship with the generals of the imperial guards was further deepened - at least that was the surface.

In March of the third year of Yongxing (306) - this time the emperor did not change the reign title - Shao Xun led his troops to guard the palace. It was also at this time that he received news that Sikong was leading more than troops north to Luoyang.

Emperor Sima Zhong remained indifferent, only feeling a little uneasy subconsciously, but it did not affect his eating of the cake.

Queen Yang Xianrong was like a female beast forced into a corner, with all her hair standing on end.

One year and seven months later, Sima Yue was finally returning to the center of power in this world.

Luoyang is likely to usher in a new round of political reshuffle.

(End of this chapter)