Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 372 Zhao She's Plan
March 12th, eldest son.

Zhang Yu led a large army to the battle, and soldiers and generals continued to join him along the way. When the eldest son of Shangdang went to camp, Zhang Yang had already led 5,000 Heyang troops to wait for him.

Zhang Yu led the civil and military officers to inspect the camp and asked, "Mr. Zhang has sent out 5,000 soldiers and horses. Who is left in Henei to defend it?"

"My Lord, I will leave my general Sui Gu to defend Xiuwu, and Wang Zhengxiang (Wang Chen) will be in charge of all military and political affairs in the county." Zhang Yang said, "Yanzhou is now in ruins, and there are Zhang Miao and Lu Bu as internal supporters, so Yuan Xi should be unable to cross the river and harass Henei."

Zhang Yu smiled and said, "Now that you can send out 5,000 soldiers and leave Sui Gu to lead the troops to defend Xiuwu, it seems that Mr. Zhang has a lot of troops under his command."

Zhang Yang chuckled and said, "When the two Yuans caused chaos in the capital, they took in many refugees and deserters from Henan. They were worried that there would be no danger in Henei, so they organized them into garrison troops. They trained during the off-season and cultivated during the busy season. Now the Heyang Army is self-sufficient, and all the taxes in the county are transferred to the General's Mansion. There is no need to supply the Heyang Army anymore."

"As for the troops?"

Zhang Yang stretched out a finger and gestured in front of Zhang Yu.

"There are 10,000 soldiers now?"

"No!"

Zhang Yang said proudly, "In addition to the 5,000 elite soldiers, the Heyang Army also has 10,000 households of garrison soldiers. A thousand households are assigned to build forts and docks along the river and the port. Every year, they pay grain instead of cloth, but cattle and tools. The army gets five points, and the household gets five points. Now, if Yuan's army invades Henei, the garrison soldiers can defend themselves."

"Ten thousand households of garrison soldiers?"

Zhang Yu was immediately shocked. In Shangdang, due to the decline of the people and the shortage of soldiers and horses, he arranged Zhang Yang to be in charge of farming. Now Zhang Yang has been in Hanoi for five years, and he did not expect to achieve such results, which surprised Zhang Yu.

"There are 10,000 soldiers, and their population should be no less than 40,000 men and women. The refugees from the capital alone can number 10,000 households." Zhang Yuhu asked suspiciously, "I wonder who proposed the idea of sending cattle to cultivate land to my uncle, and who is in charge of it?"

Seeing that Zhang Yu could tell at a glance that someone was offering him advice, Zhang Yang was surprised and asked, "How do you know that the strategy of cultivating the land was offered and managed by someone else?"

Zhang Yu smiled and said, "My uncle doesn't like to study. He is aloof and likes martial arts. The ingenious strategy of farming today was definitely not from my uncle. Someone must have suggested it to my uncle, and I accepted it."

Zhang Yu had always known Zhang Yang's military and political abilities. He was rough-mannered, had a basic understanding of civil affairs, and was OK at leading troops in battles, but now he was asked to do delicate work. If he said that there was no one to guide him and take charge of the farming affairs, Zhang Yu would not believe it.

"Your Excellency is wise!"

Zhang Yang was full of admiration and said truthfully: "I did not intend to hide the talents and knowledge, but I wanted to let you know my achievements in governing Henei, so that no one would say that I was promoted because of my marriage."

"My uncle has the ability to discern good policies, and he is quick to follow good advice. He has selected talented people to cultivate the land, which is a great achievement!"

Zhang Yu laughed and said, "I always select my generals based on their talents. If you don't have the talent to manage Henei, how can I dare to hand over this strategic place to you?"

Zhang Yang was under considerable pressure from public opinion in the Shanxi army. He was not present for every victory, but was also involved in every promotion, so it was inevitable that people would gossip about him.

Seeing that Zhang Yu recognized him, Zhang Yang felt relieved and said, "To be honest, when I first arrived in Henei, there were many wastelands in Henei because of the rebellious army looting the countryside. Yang continued the old policy of Shangdang and cultivated land in Henei, but there were no rules or details."

"When Li Jue was in chaos in the capital, Yang recruited refugees from Hongnong to cultivate land and found a scholar from Hongnong named Dong Yu. Dong Yu was a man of few words and liked to study classics. He advised me to adopt the strategy of cultivating land. I was amazed by his talent and appointed him as the chief clerk to manage the farming affairs. I also had the surrendered general Sui Gu from Heishan to assist him."

Dong Yu, courtesy name Jizhi, was from Huayin, Hongnong. His parents died when he was young, and he depended on his elder brother Dong Jizhong for support. When Li Jue entered Guanzhong, Dong Yu and his brother crossed the Yellow River to the north and took refuge in Henei.

After arriving in Hanoi, he and his brother were recruited by Zhang Yang as soldiers to work in the fields. However, because Dong Yu loved to study, he often read books while farming, and did not change his behavior even when he was ridiculed. Zhang Yang was very surprised when he learned about Dong Yu's deeds, and specially invited Dong Yu to talk.

During the conversation, Dong Yu took the opportunity to propose the strategy of military farming to Zhang Yang and corrected a series of unreasonable policies of Zhang Yang in military farming, which made Zhang Yang admire him very much. From then on, he handed the matter of military farming to Dong Yu.

After Dong Yu came to power, he organized the army and formulated detailed rules for military farming. In particular, in order to expand the military farming troops, Dong Yu asked Zhang Yang to send people south to recruit refugees on a large scale while Cao and Lu were fighting for Yanzhou. In addition to recruiting refugees from other sources, there were tens of thousands of military farming households.

"Dong Jizheng is a talented person, but now he is confined to the position of chief clerk and cannot make full use of his achievements!" Zhang Yu praised.

Zhang Yang said: "If you admire Dong Yu, you might as well transfer him to the general's mansion to assist you."

Zhang Yu thought for a moment and said, "Now that the Henei military farm has made some achievements, how can we transfer the senior officials away from their posts? First, we recommend Dong Yu as the military farm commander to be in charge of the Henei military farm affairs, so as to realize his merits in advising and farming. In the future, he will be directly under the Heyang Army and the General's Office."

"Yang Daidong Yu would like to thank you!" Zhang Yang said.

Zhang Yu has many good farmers under his command, such as Du Ji, Sima Lang, Sima Zhi, Su Ze, Shen Tu Bei, etc. If Dong is hastily transferred to Anyi, not only will there be no suitable official position, but it will also delay the production of the Hanoi Tuntian, so it is better to promote him instead of changing his position.

"My uncle has been cultivating land in Henei for several years. How much military supplies have you stored now?" Zhang Yu asked with a smile.

Zhang Yang raised his voice, fearing that everyone would not know, and said: "The Heyang military treasury now has 300,000 dan of grain, which is stored in Caicheng, Henei, for your use in the campaign against Yuan Shao. Your Excellency can send an order to Henei, and then Governor Wang can dispatch corvée labor to deliver the military supplies."

Military farming is not an easy task. Don’t be fooled by the history books that boast that Cao Cao had one million grains of grain in his first year of military farming. In fact, if Cao Cao had one million grains of grain every year, he would not have fallen into a state of food shortage during the Battle of Guandu.

However, one thing is true, Cao Cao's military farming system provided Cao Wei with a large amount of military rations, but stable production had to wait until after the Battle of Guandu.

As for why military farming did not produce results quickly, the reason is not difficult to understand. Cao Cao implemented military farming in 196, and the Battle of Guandu began in the winter of 199. The success of military farming cannot be achieved in a few months or a year, but at least two years. After Guandu, Cao Cao was able to carry out expeditions every year, thanks to the stable output of military farming.

Therefore, Zhang Yang was in Hanoi for four or five years. Excluding the time spent on laying the groundwork, his stable output was only for two years. Now he can have 30 dan of military rations, which can be regarded as a great achievement.

Zhang Yu wanted to praise Zhang Yang's achievements, so he said to the civil and military officials around him with a smile: "The two prefectures and counties in Shanxi produced 700,000 dan of grain. Now Mr. Zhang has donated 300,000 dan of grain, accounting for half of the grain of the prefectures and counties. How can you say that Mr. Zhang has made no contribution in defending Henei?"

Zhang Yu had 700,000 dan of grain stored in his Shangdang residence. With the addition of 300,000 dan of grain provided by Zhang Yang, the total amount would be one million dan, enough for Zhang Yu to keep his troops going for most of half a year.

"Mr. Zhang has made great contributions in defending Henei. Now he has donated 300,000 grains. With a total of one million grains and soldiers, our army is no longer afraid of Hebei!" Guo Tu responded.

Jia Xu stroked his beard and praised him, saying: "Mr. Zhang has the same merit as Kou Xun in governing Henei!"

"Don't dare!"

Seeing everyone praising him, Zhang Yang couldn't stop smiling. He kept saying humble words, but his expression showed that he was very pleased.

While Zhang Yu was inspecting the military camp, a scout came quickly with a hurried look on his face.

"Li Duliao's urgent report!"

"Ok?"

Zhang Yu opened the military newspaper, glanced through it, and subconsciously frowned.

Jia Xu observed his expression and asked, "Is it unfavorable for Li Du's Liao army to come out of Qingshan?"

“Yes and no!”

General Zhang Yu reported to his subordinates and said calmly, "The enemy has a large force in Yuanshi. Li Song led his troops and was defeated. He retreated to Qingshan, where he was ambushed by the enemy. Fortunately, Zilong led his troops to support him. He bluffed on the hill and repelled Zhang He's troops. This battle was defeated first and then won."

"Li Song lost three to four thousand soldiers, and Zhang He lost more than half of his men. Now the rescue efforts have been unsuccessful and the losses are heavy. Li Song has submitted a petition to apologize."

"According to the military report, if you want to lift the siege of Puwu, you may need to send more generals to support you," said Zhao Zi.

Guo Tu remained calm and said, "Now that General Li has been defeated, it would be better to replace him with a better general, such as Generals Xu Gongming and Zhang Wenyuan, to attack Zhang He."

Jia Xu glanced at Guo Tu and said, "We lost the battle first and then won. How can we call it a defeat? Moreover, Li Duliao is well versed in the geography of Taihang Mountains. If we replace the generals in the middle of the battle, it may be disadvantageous to the army. Besides, the army is going to the battle now, and we need people at the right time. We should not replace the generals and hurt their feelings."

"What Wenhe said makes sense. Although Li Song made the mistake of neglecting his military operations, he was able to put Zilong first and defeat Zhang He in times of crisis, which shows his ability to accept strategies. The merits and demerits offset each other, so we can just send a letter to give warnings." Zhang Yu said.

As he spoke, Zhang Yu looked at Xun You, who looked thoughtful, and asked, "Gongda is the commander-in-chief. Do you have any opinion now?"

"My lord, Li Du Liao has won a tragic victory. If we want to lift the siege of Puwu, we may have to start from Jingxing!" Xun You said.

"Jingxing took action?"

Zhang Yu immediately understood Xun You's intention and asked, "Gongda, do you mean to make a feint to the east and attack in the west?"

"Of course!"

Xun You said, "In the past, Zhao She lifted the siege of Que and lured the enemy in Handan, then sneaked out of the mountains and valleys and rushed to attack and defeat Qin. Now you want to lift the siege of Puwu, why not follow the previous move? Send troops to Fukou and Yili Du Liao, Yuan Shao will definitely respond to them in the west. And light troops actually go out of Jingxing, take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness, and defeat Yan Liang!"

"Now is the time to use the army, you must not hesitate!"

Jia Xu understood the deep meaning of Xun You's words and said, "In the past, Zhao She knew that the mountain was dangerous and steep, so he used two rats fighting for the road to illustrate courage and strategy. Now, if you want to help Puwu out of trouble, you can use this as an example to select generals."

Although Guo Tu hated Li Song for suing him, he considered the situation and said, "Li Duliao has a good reputation. If we follow Gongda's plan, we can send more troops to him to lure out the Ji army. And send a general to secretly leave Jingxing and attack Puwu, and we will surely be able to break the siege."

Seeing that his three counselors unanimously suggested the strategy of making a feint to the east and attacking in the west, Zhang Yu thought about the selection of his generals and said, "Wenyuan can defeat ten thousand enemies. If we want to attack Yan Liang now, only Wenyuan can do it. However, Wenyuan is in Huguan and will leave Maocheng soon. I am afraid it will be difficult for him to go north to Puwu."

Xun You pondered for a moment and said, "Yan Liang is known as a man who can defeat ten thousand enemies, but he is brave but lacks strategy. Why don't you send Man Chong north and bring some brave generals with him? He will surely win!"

"it is good!"

Zhang Yu did not hesitate and said, "Order Cheng Pu to lead the troops to rescue Li Song, and send Man Chong to the camp. I will personally teach you the military strategy."

"promise!"

(End of this chapter)