Chapter 158: Showing Family Assets

Chapter 158: Showing Family Assets

Chapter 158: Showing Family Assets

There are plum blossoms blooming in the corner of the courtyard in Jinmenwu.

The three of them sat in the courtyard. The warm sunshine of early spring fell on them, but it was not that cold.

Le came to the bedroom and looked for utensils for making tea.

The fort had just been built and there were no servants, so we had to do everything ourselves.

But there was a faint smile on Le's face, as if her husband's friends were visiting and she was the hostess to entertain them.

The bedroom was rather shabby and it was her first time entering one. She searched around and tripped.

Le was startled and gently picked up the brick, preparing to put it back in its place.

Suddenly, her hand stopped, because on the back of the brick, there were big "乐" characters carved.

She paused for a long time, put the brick back as if nothing had happened, then found the teapot and tea set and went to make tea.

In the courtyard, Shao Xun talked freely: "The King of East Yan brought many Bingzhou people eastward, Hebei will definitely be in chaos."

Lu Zhi did not comment.

The people of Bingzhou brought over by Wang Teng of Eastern Yan seemed to be refugees, but they were not.

This group of people was organized, and most of them were young and strong. There were even many Bingzhou soldiers among them, such as the state generals Tian Zhen, Tian Lan, Ren Zhi, Qi Ji, Li Yun, Bo Sheng, etc. They obeyed the command of the government and were called the "Beggar Army."

It is wrong to say that they are a refugee army.

Because the orthodox refugee army would be suppressed by the government army, the beggar army would not only not be suppressed, but the government would also provide financial support such as food and weapons.

To put it bluntly, the former Bingzhou governor personally took them to Hebei to beg for food.

Seeing that Lu Zhi didn't say anything, Shao Xun was too lazy to say more. He just said briefly, "The remaining wealth of the King of Chengdu in Hebei is not infinitely squandered."

After hearing what he said, Lu Zhi also shook his head.

"If this is not possible, can you help me with something?" Shao Xun asked.

"What's the matter?" Lu Zhi asked.

"Ji County Governor Yu Gong has 10,000 soldiers under his command." Shao Xun said, "He is in Sizhou and has nothing to do with Hebei. If the generals do not enter Ji County, Yu Gong will naturally not be interested in going out to wipe out the enemy."

Lu Zhi thought for a long time, and finally nodded.

The most fearful thing for the Hebei "righteous army" is to be attacked from both sides. If Ji County does not interfere with them, that would be the best. Moreover, they attacked Ji County last year but failed to capture it. On the contrary, Yangping County and other counties were all conquered.

The reason is known. Yu Chen, the governor of Ji County, was more cautious. He did not use the soldiers of the local nobles and powerful families in a hurry. Instead, he used the 1,000 Kingdom troops he brought with him as the backbone, recruited brave men, and defended the city. Although it was a bit embarrassing, it was finally held.

Now a year has passed, and Yu Chen has slowly opened up the situation in the local area. Some nobles and powerful people have offered money and food, allowing Yu Chen to raise 3,000 soldiers. This county is indeed not easy to fight, and there is no need to force it.

Yu Liang heard people talking about his father and immediately wanted to speak.

Shao Xun patted his hands and signaled for silence.

Yu Liang finally quieted down.

Lu Zhi watched silently, thinking that although Shao Xun was not accepted by the scholars in Yuefu, he did not waste his time in the past few years in vain. At least he gained the goodwill of the Mi, Yu and Xu families, and had prestige among their younger generation, which was not easy.

"If you generals can't stay in Hebei, you can come to Liang County to find me." Shao Xun said again.

Hearing this, Lu Zhi shook his head and said, "I'm afraid they won't come until they are at their wit's end. Besides, they may not listen to me. We can only do our best."

Shao Xun nodded, just as he expected.

He has only shown off a little bit of his wealth now, but do others really know how much wealth he has? This is not certain. Even Yu Liang and Mi Huang do not know how many soldiers and civilians he controls.

"What are Mr. Lu's plans for the future?" Shao Xun asked.

Lu Zhi glanced at him with a half-smile and said, "Maybe he will go to the Grand Tutor to seek a job."

"The affairs of the Taifu's government are complicated, and there are no relatives or friends there. There is no point in going there." Shao Xun glanced at him and said, "Why not seek a post as a prefect? ​​Xiangcheng or Shunyang would be good."

When Sima Ying was at his most powerful, Lu Zhi was a third-rank Zhongshujian, holding great power. Turning around and becoming a prefect was admittedly a low position, but who made him "make a mistake" and be among those who were purged?
Lu Zhi did not answer directly, but asked: "General Xiang Wen has two armies under his command, the silver spear and the long sword. Can you see them?"

"Mr. Lu's arrival today is a coincidence." Shao Xun said with a smile, "The Long Sword Army is not here, but most of the Silver Spear Army has gathered here. Let's go and take a look at the foot of the mountain."

After saying this, he called Tang Jian and asked him to notify all the leaders to assemble their troops.

After the seventh day of the first lunar month, the Silver Spear Army ushered in a new round of expansion.

The original 392 officers and soldiers in the fourth building were expanded into the fourth and fifth buildings, totaling over people.

Among these less than 400 soldiers, most of them have two years of experience, and a small number have one year of experience. After the expansion, these two buildings will be mainly composed of new recruits, with veterans accounting for only one third.

Among the more than 1,800 soldiers in buildings one to three, two-thirds were one-year soldiers, more than 20% were two-year soldiers, and less than 10% were three or four-year soldiers.

The first building participated in the battle to massacre the Xianbei and suffered some losses. After replenishing the vacancies, its overall combat effectiveness should be the strongest among the five buildings.

Generally speaking, the first building has the strongest combat effectiveness, followed by the second and third buildings, and then the fourth and fifth buildings.

The sixth building will be established this year, probably in March or April.

Among the first batch of Donghai students, more than ten are over 15 years old, and among the second batch of Luoyang students, more than 20 are over 15 years old and have been studying for nearly three years. Among the third batch of Taiyuan students, a group will have studied for two years by April and are of the right age.

Together, these people could form a full building of 600 people according to the old structure.

The old rules are still to recruit new people with a blank slate. The student soldiers start from sergeant, squad leader, and team leader to hone their abilities. When the army is expanded after one to two years, they will be promoted to a higher level so that they can control more troops.

When he returned to Luoyang at the end of last year, Shao Xun also brought back a group of Chang'an people, mainly women and teenagers.

The Xianbei killed more than 10,000 people in Chang'an, and many young people became orphans.

Many women lost their loved ones, although they themselves survived.

These people voluntarily followed Shao Xun to Luoyang, and were gradually settled. The soldiers of the Silver Spear Army were really interested in these women who had suffered misfortune. They thought they were much prettier than girls from farm families, so they were very popular, and many couples had already gotten married.

Damn it, everyone is a thief.

A total of 168 Chang'an teenagers were organized into the fifth batch of student soldiers and officially received education this year. The first batch of Donghai, the second batch of Luoyang, the third batch of Taiyuan, the fourth batch of Liangguo, and the fifth batch of Chang'an have basically formed a complete echelon construction.

The number of students is quite large, and Shao Xun no longer even participates in specific teaching, but only makes plans and participates in management.

There are special people to teach calligraphy and calligraphy, and martial arts masters are hired for martial arts.

Shao Xun's role is more like that of a principal and dean of studies, and he is also responsible for solving students' life problems.

They continuously produce student soldiers who have a basic knowledge of literature and martial arts, start as low-level officers, slowly learn and improve, which is a bit like an industrial assembly line.

There is no doubt that the growth and expansion of the Silver Spear Army is a long process. At this stage, Shao Xun still relies mainly on ready-made teams such as the Imperial Army and the Long Sword Army to conquer the world, but he believes that one day the Silver Spear Army will take on the main responsibility and become his core force.

That time point might be when the world was at its most chaotic.

When Le came to the courtyard with the prepared tea, Shao, Lu and Yu had already left.

At this time, the sound of orderly footsteps could be heard at the foot of the mountain.

She quickly put down the tea, rushed into the bedroom, took down a wooden board from the wall, and looked down through the diamond-shaped window.

A total of three thousand soldiers were marching in a line and forming a battle array in an open space.

They were wearing iron armor, with bows, quivers, and ring-handled swords on their waists, and a small round shield tied to their arms.

After a while, a slightly messy formation was formed.

Le leaned against the window, looked around, and finally found the man.

He was wearing a bright red military robe and golden armor, holding the reins of his horse in his left hand and holding his right hand high.

Wherever they arrived, someone would immediately take the lead in shouting.

The sound of "Wansheng" came one after another, never stopping, causing the birds and beasts on the mountain to become a little agitated, and causing the horses and carriages on the distant post road to subconsciously speed up their pace.

Le looked at it for a long time before quietly sealing the wooden board. Then she stood on a somewhat loose floor tile in the bedroom, tapping it with her embroidered shoes with a smile on her face.

Lu Zhize at the foot of the mountain was a little surprised.

Yu Liang opened his mouth wide, as if he was in a trance.

Three thousand soldiers?!
After several years of war, he was not completely ignorant of military affairs. At least, he knew that not everyone in a military formation needed to wear armor, and in many cases, only the first few rows of soldiers were needed to go into battle.

Three thousand soldiers wearing iron armor and ten thousand lightly armored or unarmored soldiers, that would make more than ten thousand soldiers, and they are quite regular ones.

No wonder, no wonder...

He suddenly felt a little envious. With the support of the Luoyang court and being a general of the imperial guards, his rise to fame was indeed fast.

However, he also knew that the young man had had a difficult journey and had five or six scars on his body.

All these assets were acquired at the cost of one's life.

The world is becoming more and more friendly to those who are willing to risk their lives.

If the children of aristocratic families still want to rely on their family's generations of accumulation to compete with them, they may not be able to win.

The amount of grain produced and the wealth gained by the aristocratic families each year are basically constant.

But these warriors were different. Sometimes they would suddenly become rich overnight, such as robbing the Xuchang armory and then gathering a terrifying number of troops.

"General Shao, you..." Lu Zhi was stunned for a long time, then suddenly shook his head and smiled bitterly, saying, "Even in Hebei, you are well-known. Before Gong Shifan was defeated, he didn't have this much wealth."

Shao Xun glanced at him.

As expected, Lu Zhi had connections with the rebel general in Hebei and even knew how much wealth Gong Shifan had.

"It's hard to compare with the generals in Hebei. I, a soldier of the Silver Spear Army, still can't get rid of the heavy labor. I can only be considered half-time. If one day I can focus on honing my skills, I can be a strong army." Shao Xun smiled and said, "What I said before is still valid. If the generals in Hebei are willing to come to Liang County, you are welcome."

Lu Zhi sighed, not knowing what he was thinking.

He is a smart man and is good at seeing the essence through phenomena.

What are the strengths of aristocratic families? Leaving aside their connections and power, their most important advantage is that they have many valuable talents.

In a large family with hundreds or even thousands of people, you can always find some talented people if you pick and choose.

Among the troops that have followed the family for several generations, there will also be some talented people.

Afterwards, they could use these talents to manage the local area, expand the military and prepare for war.

Shao Xun took another path, training talents in batches, using the teacher-student relationship as a bond and maintaining it with gratitude. Although the overall quality may not be as good as that of some aristocratic families, at least it is there.

This is a bit like a Hu tribe.

They were in much the same situation, using the nobles and slaves of their tribe as their backbone, expanding their forces and going on expeditions everywhere.

The quality of their talents is also hard to describe, similar to Shao Xun's, or even worse.

But as long as you can fight, it's fine.

Once you can fight, there will always be people who will come to you for help.

If Shao Xun had a greater reputation, a stronger army, and a good time, he might have risen to become a well-known warlord in the north.

I don’t know, I’m scared.

Lu Zhi was full of worries, and his stagnant heart was even more turbulent.

Shao Xun seemed to be showing him his wealth today, which meant that he no longer needed to keep his strength secret.

This person is quite ambitious.

However, for Lu Zhi, it may not be a bad thing.

(End of this chapter)