"Yuan Benchu ​​is in Hebei, with a population of more than four million, enough to raise an army of four to five million. This battle is a battle of national destiny between Dachu and Northern Zhao. They will go all out, except for leaving the necessary

The troops and horses are stationed outside, and the rest of the soldiers will definitely participate in the battle. The Zhao army we will face in the future will probably number about 350,000, which is huge!" Tian Feng said in a deep voice.

"No, Yuan Hao, you still missed at least two hundred thousand." Guo Jia narrowed his eyes slightly and said.

"Two hundred thousand? Where did you get two hundred thousand?" Tian Feng asked with a frown.

"Aristocratic families." Jia Xu said in a cold tone: "There are many aristocratic families in Hebei, and there are countless private soldiers. If they help Yuan Benchu, it will not be easy to add 200,000 more soldiers."

"Hebei Aristocratic Family? Now that the situation in the world is so clear, they will still do their best to help Yuan Benzhu?" Tian Feng said in disbelief.

"Then it depends on what kind of price Yuan Benchu ​​can offer. As long as the benefits are generous enough, the Hebei family will not begrudge these young men. After all, if we dominate the world in the future, their private soldiers and gangsters will not be able to keep it. If

If Yuan Benzhu really spends a lot of money, he must not fail to take action given the greedy character of these aristocratic families." Guo Jia chuckled rather disdainfully.

"But even if the aristocratic families help, these 200,000 are all new soldiers. Even if they join the battlefield, it will be good without causing trouble. How can they form a fighting force?" Tian Feng said.

The number of soldiers is important, but a certain degree of training is also essential. At least they must become qualified soldiers and be able to form combat capabilities. Otherwise, if they do not obey orders or are afraid to move forward on the battlefield, it will do more harm than good to the army.

.If the momentum is taken away first, it can easily lead to a collapse.

Especially for an army with a scale of hundreds of thousands, the minimum elite level of the soldiers is even more demanding. Otherwise, a defeat of a hundred people can easily lead to a defeat of ten thousand people, leading to the defeat of the army.

"You are saying this, but who knows what Yuan Benchu ​​is hiding. You must know that Yuan Benchu's talent as a monarch has not been revealed yet. You must know that even in the difficult situation of the decisive battle with Gongsun Zan, Yuan Shao did not use his trump card.

It must be reserved for us. Just think about Cao Cao during the Battle of Qingzhou. Not to mention Gao Lan is here. If it doesn't work, these soldiers only need a little training and Gao Lan's legionary talents to be listed in the central army.

It forms a considerable fighting force." Xun You said.

"We cannot place our hopes of victory on the enemy's weakness. This battle is of vital importance and we must be cautious." Yuan Shi said solemnly.

"Although there has been no large-scale recruitment expansion in Da Chu since the founding of the country in the past few years, General Ling Ling has also recruited a lot of troops. Now there are about 900,000 soldiers, including 250,000 navy troops and 650,000 army troops.

The army needs about 100,000 troops to suppress Yizhou and the southwest countries, and Xiliang and the countries in the Western Regions need about 80,000. In order to ensure safety and prevent Yuan Shao from taking the opportunity to go south to the Central Plains after the defeat, another 100,000 elites are needed to cooperate with the navy.

To blockade the Yellow River, Liaodong also needs 50,000 elite troops. Although other prefectures and counties are relatively stable, they also need a certain amount of troops to cooperate with the local security forces and reserve forces. If these zeros and zeros add up, for the sake of safety, at least

There are 450,000 troops that cannot be moved. The available troops are only 200,000." After taking stock of the situation of all parties in Dachu, Tian Feng gave a series of data while trying to be safe.

"But if Yuan Benchu ​​has nearly 600,000 soldiers under his command in the Hebei War, as Feng Xiao and Wen He said, it is best that the army we lead should not be less than 400,000, leaving a vacancy of about 200,000 soldiers."

"Since the Central Plains is about to fall into our hands, it's time to recruit more soldiers on a large scale." Yuan Shu heard the implication of Tian Feng's words and said directly.

Although today's Chu State has a population of only 30 million, which is not as high as that of the Han Dynasty at its peak, its productivity, tax revenue and annual grain harvest are several times that of the former. The Han Dynasty at its peak could maintain nearly 800,000 people.

Yuan Shu had no great financial pressure to recruit millions of soldiers.

In fact, if Yuan Shu had not been following the route of elite soldiers, with soldiers with the same combat power and equipment as Yuan Shao's men, Yuan Shu would not have any pressure at all to recruit two to three million.

Although it took Yuan Shu a lot of energy and time to fight against the aristocratic family, the benefits of success are also extremely obvious. The state-owned land has completely liberated the productivity of farmers. In this era when agriculture is most valued, this means that Yuan Shu can maintain

Working with millions of elites without any pressure.

"How much does your Majesty want to expand the army?"

"As for the naval force, due to Gong Jin, a new army was established earlier. It is enough now, so we will not recruit it for the time being. As for the army, this time we will expand the army by another 300,000 and replace it with the garrison of each county.

The elite soldiers they replaced will be transferred to the Central Plains to prepare for the battle in Hebei."

Although the shortage of soldiers was only 200,000, but considering that the Central Plains was now under control and Hebei was soon in sight, Yuan Shu simply recruited an additional 100,000 elite soldiers to guard these two places in the future.

"As a result, the standing combat strength our army needs to maintain will be 1.2 million. With such a large number of troops, once the world is calmed down and the swords and guns are returned to the treasury, it may not be a good thing." Zhang Zhao, who was in charge of internal affairs, couldn't help it.

said out loud.

With Chu's current tax revenue and grain, it was not a big deal to maintain such a large army. However, Zhang Zhao was still a little reluctant to spend money and grain on these soldiers who had nothing to fight.

"Although the world is peaceful, if you forget to fight, you will be in danger. Zibu, have you forgotten what I just said before?" Yuan Shu looked at Zhang Zhao with a smile: "If you only seek development without using weapons, over time the great Chu will become a

A fat sheep without the power to resist. If the surrounding alien races rise, what's the use of the country no matter how rich it is? It's just meat raised by other countries. Development and military strength cannot be relaxed, and they must go hand in hand."

"What's more, who said that after the world is peaceful, these soldiers will no longer have any use? You must know that there is an empire not far away from us. How can we allow others to sleep soundly beside the bed. From the ancient Daxia Dynasty to the present, every dynasty and every generation of our Han people

The territory of our country needs to be expanded a bit. Our Da Chu is naturally no exception, and Kushan is the first step in our expansion. If we want to annex such a huge empire, I still feel that 1.2 million soldiers are not enough!" Yuan Shu

road.

Zhang Zhao has the best internal affairs ability, but his temperament and overall outlook are somewhat inferior. The people present are basically the top think tanks in Chu, and they all approve of Yuan Shu's decision, so Zhang Zhao is a bit pedantic.

The old-fashioned person actually spoke out against it.

Tian Feng, who is also an internal affairs adviser, also expressed his affirmation of Yuan Shu's decision. It was he who proposed the army expansion. Yuan Shu had already expanded their sights to the entire world instead of the small places around the Han Dynasty. Naturally, they would not

Worry that these armies will be useless.

And strategists like Guo Jia and other strategists are even more supportive of this. Da Chu has so much money and food that it can’t be used up. Wouldn’t it be a waste not to recruit more soldiers? Anyway, we already know that there are so many powerful enemies in the world.

, at worst, fight them one by one, how many soldiers and horses are too many?

And even if there is a surplus of soldiers, at most there will be a loss of hundreds of thousands of young farmers! Now the domestic grain production has seriously exceeded the standard, and even if the country continues to maintain grain prices, they are still falling. Yuan Shu is already planning something to encourage farmers to switch to cash crops.

Or the plan to transform into industry and commerce. The disappearance of hundreds of thousands of young people working in agriculture will not affect agriculture at all.
Chapter completed!