Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 208 Taking stock of family assets
After returning to Jinyang, Zhang Yu was basically in a semi-vacation state.

Having not tasted meat for several months, Zhang Yu indulged himself greatly in the month around the New Year, and had sex with all his wives and concubines, just to see who would get pregnant this year.

In addition to raising babies, Zhang Yu was thinking about how to expand his army and which generals to select for promotion.

"The Mayi Commandery governs 18000 households, of which about 4300 are Han Chinese and 13700 are Hu Chinese; Yanmen governs 25600 households and 4520 county soldiers."

Zhong Yao pointed to the household registration of the two counties in the northern border and said, "There are 43600 households in the prefectures and counties. If one man is drafted from every four households, 10900 soldiers and horses can be sent. Yanmen County can send 6400 soldiers, and Mayi Prefecture can send 4500 soldiers."

"Not counting the registered households in Xihe, there are 51734 households in Taiyuan County, 40800 households in Shangdang County, and 43500 households in Henei County. The registered households in the three counties total 136034 households. If one man is drafted from every four households, there will be 34000 people serving in the military. Therefore, when all the states are fighting, soldiers can be dispatched, or even up to ."

Now Zhong Yao recalculated the household registration and calculated a total of 50,000 infantry and cavalry for Zhang Yu, which surprised Zhang Yu. From the thousand people entering Shangdang the year before last, it has almost reached Zhong Yao's original idea. With the combined land of the Three Jins and 50,000 armored soldiers, who can fight for the world?
"If we can really raise an army of 50,000, we can take care of Guanxi and Hebei. Among the heroes in the Central Plains today, except Dong Zhuo, we need not be afraid of Yuan Shao, Gongsun Zan, Liu Dai and the like!" Guo Tu said with a smile.

Zhong Yao stroked his beard and said, "The prefectures and counties in the Central Plains are rich and numerous. When the heroes fought against each other, the soldiers they used were mostly foot soldiers and few armored soldiers. If we mobilize 50,000 people to go to war now, they will only be a mob, not even as good as 20,000 armored soldiers and brave men."

Zhang Liao agreed with this and said, "A hundred cavalrymen can defeat a thousand men, and a thousand cavalrymen can defeat ten thousand men. The quality of the troops is not what matters. Besides, there are many newly relocated people in our prefectures. We should not mobilize them and neglect their farming. We should let the old and weak farm and transport military supplies for the army; let the strong and fit train themselves and follow you on the expedition!"

Zhang Liao then cupped his hands and said, "So in my opinion, it would be better to select the best and strongest men from the 50,000 men, form a school of 1,000 men, and five schools form an army, mixing infantry and cavalry."

"Captain Zhang's words are the views of a good general!"

Xin Pi said: "Since you organized the army in Taiyuan, you have often led your own troops to the battlefield, sometimes with two, three, four or five thousand. In the past, you had more than enough to dominate the states and counties. But if you want to compete with Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao, Gongsun Zan, Liu Dai and the like, you should select the best troops."

"Selecting elite troops is not enough!"

Guo Tu shook his head and said, "In the past, Zhao She and Tian Dan discussed military affairs. Tian Dan said that 30,000 soldiers were enough to dominate the world, but Zhao She thought that it would take more than 100,000 soldiers, or even 200,000 soldiers to pacify the world."

"This is the difference between the kingly way and the tyrannical way!"

Zhang Yu was touched and said, "Tian Dan wanted to be the hegemon, so he said that if he had 30,000 strong soldiers, he could intimidate the world. However, since the seven kingdoms coexisted, 30,000 soldiers could win for a while, but they could not annex the counties and kingdoms. That's why Zhao She said 200,000 soldiers would bring peace to the world."

"It seems that the counties of Bingzhou can mobilize 50,000 soldiers, but this is less than the 30,000 soldiers mentioned by Tian Dan, and even less than the 200,000 soldiers mentioned by Zhao She. Among them, less than 10,000 are capable of fighting."

The reason why Zhao She and Tian Dan had different views on military affairs was essentially because they had different starting points. Tian Dan wanted to win the battle and help the country achieve the foundation of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period; but Zhao She had seen that the times had changed, and he not only wanted to defeat the enemy, but also to fight a war to destroy the country.

The two are not in opposition, but in a hierarchical relationship. A country must first have 30,000 capable soldiers to fight and win winnable battles before it can plan for an army of 200,000.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen and Wu Xiang had an in-depth discussion about the Liaodong troops. Chongzhen asked Wu Xiang whether there were really 80,000 troops in Liaodong. Wu Xiang said that although there were 80,000 troops, there were actually only 30,000 troops. Chongzhen then asked whether the 30,000 troops were brave men. Wu Xiang replied with shame that there were only 3,000 people who could really fight.

As for the Jurchens, the Jurchen Eight Banners established by Nurhaci and Huang Taiji, without the Han Army Banner, had only 40,000 soldiers. It took the addition of 10,000 Han Army firearms soldiers to reach the level of 50,000.

As for Zhao She's mention of 200,000 people to pacify the world, it does not mean that all of them must be elite soldiers, but that the elite soldiers need to be equipped with auxiliary soldiers to be responsible for a series of tasks such as besieging cities, maintaining public order, and guarding food and grass.

Therefore, it is obvious that Zhang Yu's most critical task now is not to train 50,000 men, but to select the best and strongest men from the 50,000 men and train them into an iron army that can win battles and occupy as much territory as possible for him. Then he will have another 200,000 soldiers and horses to conquer the world for him.

Seeing that Zhang Yu had an idea, Guo Tu asked, "There are many new people in Bingzhou now. May I ask how many soldiers and horses do you need?"

Zhang Yu looked at the household registration data on the case and said, "The household registration of all counties in Bingzhou is combined, and there are about 180,000 households, with a population of nearly one million. If one man is selected from every 100 people, 10,000 soldiers will not affect farming. However, in this era of great strife, soldiers and horses are indispensable."

"So in my opinion, we can select 20,000 troops from the 45,000 soldiers and divide them into 20 battalions, with five battalions forming an army. They will be assigned numbers and mixed with infantry and cavalry, and either appointed as the chief general or the military commander. The remaining 25,000 will be stationed in the counties and towns, and they will all be tested and trained, and they will be offered as warriors."

"Twenty thousand infantry and cavalry will do!"

Zhong Yao nodded slightly and said, "Your Excellency will lead 20,000 men to the battle, and 20,000 to 30,000 men will stay behind to assist with the conscription of civilians to transport food and grass for the army. If the enemy takes advantage of the situation and attacks, there are still soldiers and horses in the state to resist."

The number of troops that can be mobilized does not mean the number of troops that will be used in the expedition. Maintaining public order, escorting food and grass, and all aspects related to the military require manpower.

"How will the four armies be organized?" Zhang Liao asked. Zhang Yu pondered for a moment and said, "Each county will first establish its own army, and then select the best and strongest soldiers from the county soldiers to form an army. The prefectures and counties in the northern border will form an army with Yunzhong as the title; the three counties of Henei, Shangdang, and Taiyuan will each form an army, with Heyang, Gaoping, and Huguo as the titles respectively."

"The Yunzhong Army will be stationed in Mayi, the Heyang Army will be stationed in Yewang, the Gaoping Army will be stationed in Huguan, and the Huguo Army will be stationed in Jinyang. Lü Fan will take over as the commander-in-chief of the Huguo Army, and General Zhang Liao will lead the Gaoping Army. The Yunzhong Army will be led by General Li Song, and General Zhang Yang will lead the Heyang Army."

"As for the subordinate captains and colonels, I will assess and appoint them one by one."

Zhang Yu looked around at the civil and military officials in the hall and asked, "Do you have any objections?"

Everyone had no objection, but they looked at Lü Fan. They didn't expect Lü Fan to surpass Hao Zhao and replace Zhang Yu as the general of the National Defense Army. After all, Hao Zhao had followed Zhang Yu for ten years. In terms of close relationship, Hao Zhao must be more trusted by Zhang Yu.

In fact, the reason why Lü Fan was able to win the trust of Zhang Yu was that Lü Fan volunteered to be the military commander and invited Lu Zhi to help Zhang Yu. Therefore, Zhang Yu promoted Lü Fan to take charge of the National Defense Army.

Hao Zhao's words still won Zhang Yu's trust. Now he was appointed as a captain, commanding 2,000 infantry and cavalry, and serving as Zhang Yang's deputy general.

In addition, Xu Chu and Gao Shun were appointed as captains and belonged to the National Protection Army. Zhao Yun, who had previously defected to Zhang Yu, was appointed to replace Zhang Liao in command of the armored cavalry and led a thousand cavalrymen, also belonging to the National Protection Army.

The situation of the Huguo Army was the same as that of Heyang and Gaoping counties. Among the 4 infantry and cavalry, there were 1 infantry and 3 cavalry, with an infantry-cavalry ratio of 2:. The Yunzhong Army was an exception, because it was close to the border, there were quite a lot of Hu soldiers and horses, so the infantry-cavalry ratio was :, or -.

Although the infantry in the four armies were called infantry, Zhang Yu was considering whether to equip each person with a pack horse or a camel to improve the army's carrying capacity and ability to march quickly. As for bows and arrows, Zhang Yu decided to give each person a bow.

Judging from the equipment configuration of the four armies, Zhang Yu was completely aiming for the template of elite troops. Therefore, if the four armies can form combat effectiveness, there will be very few northern princes who can be Zhang Yu's opponent.

Seeing that everyone had no objection to the personnel matters, Zhang Yu pulled out a piece of cloth from the table and had someone hand it to Zhong Yao.

"Yuan Chang, an army of 5,000 people has all the weapons they need on the silk. I wonder if we can gather enough money for four armies?" Zhang Yu asked.

"One bow, three bowstrings, thirty arrows, a packhorse or a camel, a ring-handled sword, a spear, ropes, daggers, axes... Six out of ten men were wearing armor."

Looking at the standard armor and weapons that Zhang Yu provided for individual soldiers, Zhong Yao couldn't help but gasp.

One-tenth of the bows, one-tenth of the horses, and six-tenths of the armor. For 20,000 people, that would be 12,000 sets of armor, 15,000 pack horses or camels, 20,000 bows, 60,000 strings, and 600,000 arrows.

Such luxurious equipment is probably only equipped by the Imperial Guards. How can we get it now?

Zhong Yao smiled bitterly and said, "Sir, in the Bingzhou arsenal, there are perhaps 20,000 bows and crossbows, and 20,000 spears are no problem. The rest needs to be prepared. However, horses and armor are in short supply, so it is difficult to do what you want."

"Of the two items, since Bingzhou is close to the border, horses may be able to be obtained, but armor is really difficult to obtain. Now we need to recruit blacksmiths to forge weapons and armor, and it will take a long time, at least one or two years, to obtain the armor you need."

Zhang Yu said, knowing that it would take a lot of time and effort to forge armor, "I have given you the power to govern Bingzhou. Now everything will be planned by Yuan Chang. You can first gather armor and soldiers for the National Defense Army, then the Yunzhong and Gaoping armies, and the Heyang Army can be the last one."

Since the Heyang Army was close to the Central Plains, it would first defend Henei and would only go with Zhang Yu when necessary, so it could be supplied with armor and horses last. However, since the Huguo Army had the foundation of the Xianzhen Camp, it did not need much additional supplies, and the key was the Yunzhong and Gaoping Armies.

Seeing Zhang Yu's words, Zhong Yao stood up and saluted, promising: "Each county has its own craftsmen, so now we can let each county prepare its own armor. I will let Taiyuan cast iron armor to supply the elite soldiers of the three armies. All counties will work together to try to gather all the equipment needed by the four armies for you by the end of the year."

"good!"

Seeing Zhong Yao's assurance, Zhang Yu felt much more at ease.

As time came to the third year of Chuping (192 AD), the situation of conflict in the world would inevitably continue to intensify.

The Huns entrenched on the northern Shaanxi Plateau, Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan fighting fiercely in Hebei, and Dong Zhuo in Guanzhong will be the directions in which he will send his troops.

Whether this year's achievements can be good depends on the current expansion of the army. If the troops are available, it will not be a problem for me to conquer the Xiongnu in the west and stabilize Hebei in the east!

(End of this chapter)