During the seven or eight days of his separate operation with Li Su, Lu Su took the initiative to collect a lot of information.

At this moment, Li Su created an opportunity for him to show his performance. Of course, Lu Su must cheer up and try to show his talents:

"The commander of the Good Education Commission learned that there are three main families of Danyang's heroes, all of whom were from Shanyue chiefs, who were occupied by the north of Jiangbei and traded with the court.

The largest one is Zheng Bao, who is based on Chaohu; Zhang Duo, who is based on Jinghu; Xu Gan, who is based on Shanyangchi. These three families have thousands of soldiers who are waiting to be sold. The rest of the forces are less than a thousand soldiers, which is not worth worrying.

In previous years, if the Danyang soldiers were needed by the imperial court, if Zhu Jun, the Right Central Army general, came here to recruit more than 10,000 soldiers three years ago, resulting in the expensive soldiers, they would make money together.

Later, the Yellow Turban was flattened and the demand decreased. Some small chiefs could not hold on, so they wanted to lower the price and sell it at a low price to grab the business. At this time, Zheng Bao would attack each other privately, and his troops controlled the source of troops and stabilize the price of troops."

Lu Su told the story in a casual manner, and it was the first time Wu Qiuyi and Li Su heard the details, so even Li Su was amazed.

Judging from the way these heroes occupy the entrenched forces, they all occupy a large lake like the mercenaries of Liangshanpo in later generations, waiting for Zhao'an to hire.

Who said that people in the Han Dynasty could not do business?

Zheng Bao is just the chief of a large tribe of Shanyue. Everyone knows the simple truth of "Whoever dares to play a price war with me at a discount, I will destroy him" to regulate the supply and demand relationship so as not to have too many sources of goods, buyers are too strong.

Li Su couldn't help but ask curiously: "In this way, Zheng Bao is quite prestigious among the Shanyue tribes of Danyang and Guangling generation? Since he wants to control the supply of troops, then those tribes he has merged into cannot be sold out for a while, wouldn't he still have to support him?"

Lu Su immediately explained: "That's true, so these heroes wanted to occupy the big swamp. Because Yangzhou is vast and sparsely populated, most of the officials sent by the court are northerners, and they are not suitable for the wet places in swamps. The locals in Shanyue can farm on their own by the marsh.

The imperial court's taxes and labor services for the people of Shanyue were lighter, and it was mostly a ban. Every year, the wealthy chief paid some mountain goods, which was considered as paying the tax. Therefore, Zheng Bao's farming around Chaohu was enough to support his tribes. In the years of rampantness, he would even invade Hefei County."

When Li Su heard this, he had to sigh that the Shanyue people's range of activities is so large now.

Later generations read historical books and emphasized Sun Quan's achievements in naturalizing Shanyue. He thought that Shanyue was the most south of Kuaiji, such as Jiangxi and Hu Jian.

Unexpectedly, during the Zhongping period, the northernmost to Hefei were all the activities of Shanyue people!

It is probably because Cao and Sun fought many times in Hefei, including Luxuwu, that the local Shanyue people were wiped out and moved away.

Moreover, local tyrants are good at sailing boats and boats, coming and going like the wind, and they have many water camps, so they refuse to guard along the lake and lakeside, so most of the officers and soldiers turn a blind eye—

For those lakes with blocked water veins between the river, the officers and soldiers could not drive ships from other places. If they wanted to suppress the bandits, they had to build ships in the local area, or rely on the smallest small boat that was easy to carry. The rich men could not defeat them, as long as they hid in the lake, the officers and soldiers would be caught blindly.

Wu Qiuyi didn't have so much leisure. He only cared about his recruitment mission, so he interrupted Lu Su and asked straight to the point: "Stop talking about these things, then just talk about how Sun Jian recruited soldiers three months ago. Who did he win over and who did he suppress?"

Lu Su did a lot of intelligence work: "Sun Taishou joined forces with Zheng Bao. At that time, he also brought his own soldiers to siege Xu Gan, who was ranked third in the force, and defeated most of the Xu Gan tribe. Now, there are only more than a thousand elite soldiers left by cadres Xu. Zhang Duo also tended to help Xu Gan at that time, and suffered a slight loss.

In addition, Zheng Bao also took the opportunity to destroy several other tribes, captured their captives, and then dealt with them to Sun Jian. Zheng Bao gave Sun Jian a little cheaper because Sun Jian was standing side by side with him."

Wu Qiuyi frowned after hearing this: "As a result, if we join forces with Zheng Bao again, there may not be many enemies of Zheng Bao to capture. Could it be that we really have to take tough measures to start the operation... How did you find out so clearly about these news?"

Lu Su: "I have a good friend I made during my study tour, named Liu Ye, with his courtesy name Ziyang, and was born after King Fuling, the sixth son of Emperor Guangwu. He was a little older than me. He was a local. In order to facilitate negotiations with the government, Zheng Bao held some Han family relatives in Huairou in the local area. The brother Liu had no choice but to be held hostage by him. I visited Brother Liu this time and asked about his situation in detail, so I know very well."

Wu Qiuyi was happy: "Zheng Bao didn't know that you had contacted Liu Ye? He didn't have any doubts, right?"

Lu Su: "Zheng Bao monitored Brother Liu very strictly, and he should have known that someone visited him. However... no one has planned Zheng Bao for many years, and he probably thought I was helping the Chief Inspector to find out the price."

Wu Qiuyi was stunned and felt that this was indeed the case.

Although Zheng Bao is a wealthy chief, he is even more a businessman. If a merchant wants to sell military sources, he must allow his subordinates to keep in touch with the outside world to exchange market conditions.

How can you be suspicious and not allow potential buyers to ask for the price?

Wu Qiu Yi was suspicious and felt his scalp numb.

If you join forces with Zheng Bao, there is no room for provocation, so you have to endure Zheng Bao’s high price and may not be able to buy enough people.

If you turn against Zheng Bao, Wu Qiuyi will only bring 300 troops this time, plus the twenty personal soldiers who Li Suyou almost ignored. Zheng Bao's troops were originally at least 5,000. After joining forces with Sun Jian to expand for a wave, it may have expanded to nearly 10,000 people.

It is so difficult to directly destroy Zheng Bao and surrender his people.

Wu Qiuyi's only advantage is that he holds He Jin's Junshi and Liu Yu's orders. If he supports Zhang Duo and Xu Gan in the name of the general, he may instigate the defeated generals of Zheng Bao from these two families to work as a front-end.

But these powerful chiefs are mostly cunning and don’t know if they are willing to exert some strength. If they are just good at fighting a tailwind, their usefulness will not be too great.

After thinking about it, Wu Qiu Yi humbly asked Li Su's opinion: "Li Biejia, what do you think? Should we connect with Zheng Bao, or do we join the other weak people to gamble on the great achievements of Zheng Bao?"

Li Su didn't understand military affairs very much, and he didn't dare to say anything: "Su didn't know the military, so it was inconvenient to make decisions on his behalf. You have to look at the Duwei's thoughts first, how many soldiers and horses are needed to defeat Zheng Bao?

Only by knowing the strength and scale we need can I help you calculate how to win over and divide, so as to gather enough forces to defeat the enemy. If you really can't get enough, you can only join forces with Zheng Bao and endure the high price."

Li Su's suggestion was very steadily stated, and it sounded very comfortable, whether it was Wuqiu Yi or Guan Yu.

After all, no general likes literati to point fingers at combat strategies.

Li Su said: You can do the battle yourself, I am only responsible for helping you attract sponsorship and divide the enemy.

Wu Qiu Yi said with relief: "If Zheng Bao really had nearly 10,000 Danyang soldiers, I would probably have to be 4,000 or 5,000. Only by relying on the appeal of the court's mission can I be sure to win. After all, Danyang soldiers are all elite soldiers in the world, unlike ordinary bandits.

However, it would be great to win over Zhang Duo and Xu Gan, who could each help more than a thousand soldiers. They were all defeated by Sun Jian just now, and the gap was too big. What should I do?"

Li Su thought about it and this meant that there was still a gap of at least three thousand elite soldiers.

Moreover, if you just barely win, it doesn’t make much sense. You are here to recruit soldiers, and those who die are all money.

If both sides fight and the dog's brains are slammed, it is inevitable that they will form a deep hatred. Even if the Danyang soldiers do not hold grudges, it will not be easy to control them in the future.

Therefore, you must be confident that you are overwhelming than Zheng Bao to easily eliminate and incorporate the editor.

Li Su suggested: "In my opinion, since the gap is so big, it is better to pretend to be Xu Zhengbao first and be willing to accept his high price and ask Zijing to show his kindness through Liu Ye first. The lieutenant will pay tens of millions of dollars to recruit a thousand elite soldiers from Zhengbao. Even if he will turn against Zhengbao in the future, he will lose one thousand elite soldiers, and we will have one thousand more elite soldiers, one will grow and the other will grow. Wouldn't it be nice to use Zhengbao's soldiers to kill Zhengbao?"

Wu Qiu Yi felt a little chilled: "This... if the money and food allocated by Zheng Bao at present is not enough to recruit 1,500 people, and the order is to recruit at least 3,000 people, otherwise the crime of liability will be investigated. Isn't it good to spend most of the money in one go?

Moreover, even if the Danyang soldiers do not miss the old master, they will work hard for anyone who hires them, but they will turn around and attack the old master within a few days. What if there is a mutiny?"

Li Su Zhizhu said in her arms: "It doesn't matter if you give more money. Zheng Bao sold the people at a high price. Not all the money was given to the soldiers as a settlement fee. The excess must be Zheng Bao's own personal pocket. Since we have made preparations to turn against each other, if we kill Zheng Bao, then will the money be seized and returned to us?

As for whether the fear of immediately commanding the Danyang soldiers to fight back and kill the former leader would cause a mutiny, I think it can be avoided - as long as we buy people, we choose a little, and try to choose those who were originally affiliated with Zhang Duo and Xu Gan two or three months ago, who became prisoners of war because of the battle with Zheng Bao.

These soldiers do not belong to the same Shanyue tribe as Zheng Bao, so they are not loyal to Zheng Bao. We command them to attack and kill Zheng Bao. As long as we allow the final division of Zheng Bao's property, the soldiers will definitely use their lives."

Wu Qiuyi couldn't help but nodded: "This is indeed the case, but do you have a way to identify those soldiers who belong to Zheng Bao's headquarters when recruiting troops, or Zhang Duo and Xu Gan's old subordinates?"

Li Su did not answer directly, but turned to Lu Su very realistically: "Zijing, do you know where the tribes of Zheng, Zhang, Xu and others live? Are there any dialects different? Can you tell which tribe they belong to through the accent of the Danyang soldiers?"

Lu Su was standing by and answered immediately after hearing this: "It can be heard that many of Zheng Bao's troops have pure Lujiang County and Danyang County accents, while Zhang Duo's troops have a Kuaiji accent, while Xu has a local accent in Guangling."

When Li Su heard this, he looked at Wu Qiuyi, and Wu Qiuyi nodded and acquiesced.

Li Su then ordered on his behalf: "Zijing, then you should first lead two hundred personal soldiers to protect you, bring money to contact Liu Ye, and show his goodwill to Zheng Bao to recruit soldiers, but he should explain to Zheng Bao and allow us to select the source of soldiers.

You don’t have to choose too much, just choose according to the unit. As long as the soldiers in a garrison are mostly Zhang Duo and Xu Gan’s old subordinates, you can bring them in. We should lie to the outside world that our purpose of recruiting soldiers is to choose to pick up smart and powerful people to avoid suspicion.”

"I will receive the order!" Lu Su was a little excited when he thought that he could manage a procurement project worth tens of millions of dollars.
Chapter completed!