Zhao Hanzhang asked: "What about Xianbei and the Xiongnu?"
Chen Wu paused for a moment, and finally gritted his teeth and said: "It's okay to beat them, but in addition to food and grass, Zhao Jiajun also needs to give me thirty horses."
Their entire begging army didn't have a few horses, but they had dozens of cows, which were specially used to pull the wounded and the old and the weak. If they couldn't find anyone to hire them, they would have to kill the cows.
The Xianbei and the Xiongnu were both brave and famous for their cavalry. Naturally, they couldn't be defeated by cavalry. Chen Wu didn't think he could train more powerful cavalry than them.
He had his own way of fighting, and he asked Zhao Hanzhang for thirty horses to convey the message.
The cavalry is fast, so he needs more and faster scouts.
Zhao Hanzhang didn't even ask him about his style of play and just agreed.
Chen Wu's heart sank, he really beat Xianbei and the Xiongnu.
Chen Wu twitched his lips and planned to order more food and grass, "Then does General Zhao want to fight Xianbei or Xiongnu?"
If it were the Xiongnu, he could ask for slightly less, but Xianbei would have to raise the price, but... Xianbei hasn't done much recently, has he?
Why go to Xianbei?
Zhao Hanzhang said: "I want to hire you to guard my land."
Chen Shi's eyes widened and he couldn't help but lean forward, "Then how do you calculate this food and grass?"
Perhaps because he was afraid that Zhao Hanzhang would regret it, Chen Shidao said: "Defense consumes much less food and grass every day than attacking. I can reduce it by another 20%."
Zhao Hanzhang said: "I want you to guard Gucheng."
Gucheng is not very far from here. It can be reached in a day's walk in the direction of Luoyang. However, Gucheng is very small and cannot stop the Xiongnu and Xianbei at all. Moreover, Luoyang has natural dangers. The meaning of Gucheng's existence is more like
outpost.
Enemies can be discovered in advance and warned in advance.
If it is just for the purpose of warning, two teams of troops are sent here. Two hundred soldiers are enough, so why spend a lot of money to hire them?
Chen Shi hinted: "General Zhao, I have five thousand people here, and I need a lot of food and grass every day."
Zhao Hanzhang said: "Every month I will give you a batch of food and grass. This year, I will give you one catty of food per soldier per day."
Chen Shi rolled his eyes and asked: "General Zhao will hire us next year? How will the price be calculated next year?"
"I will give you a piece of land in Gucheng for you to cultivate."
Chen Shi had already expected it, so he couldn't help but swallowed his saliva and asked: "What kind of seeds, farm tools, and if Ruogucheng is attacked..."
Zhao Hanzhang said: "I will provide the seeds, and we will work out a solution together with the farm tools. If Gucheng is attacked, Luoyang will naturally not sit idly by."
Chen Shi was excited, but he still thought carefully.
Is there no place for the beggar army to stay and settle down to farm?
They have it. Now Dajin is full of abandoned fields and even houses and cities. They can farm wherever they find a place.
But you may not reap what you sow, let alone live in peace.
First, they do not have enough seeds for farming;
Second, they did not have the food and grass to support them from sowing to harvest;
Third, they could not stop the rebels who were trying to steal food from them.
This rebel army includes but is not limited to the Xiongnu, Xianbei, the garrison of the city next door, the lords of various forts, and the wandering refugee army.
Has Chen Wu never farmed?
It was because they had worked so hard for a year that the food they harvested was not even enough for the soldiers. More people died of starvation than died on the battlefield. That’s why they chose to wander around begging and fight to earn money to buy food and grass.
.
Although people will die, the number of deaths is better than staying in one place and starving to death.
It's not that there are no forces that want to subdue them, and they themselves are willing to be subdued, but things always go against their wishes.
The King of East China Sea once wanted to accept them, but he had many soldiers and horses. Although the beggar army could fight, it only had five or six thousand people, so the King of East China Sea was not very fond of them.
Moreover, he can let other armies capture good men and sell them to subsidize military expenditures, so how can he possibly provide enough food and grass for the begging army?
So the beggar army stayed with King Donghai for less than a month and then left.
The King of East China Sea can't even support them, let alone other forces.
Chen Wu hinted at Zhao Hanzhang and said: "General Zhao, even if you only count the consumption of five thousand soldiers, you still have to give me five thousand kilograms of grain a day, which is a lot. Are you sure you want to hire me for a year?"
Zhao Hanzhang nodded and said: "OK!"
Chen Wu: "The condition is just to keep the soil?"
"Yes, it's just to defend the territory," Zhao Hanzhang said: "If there is an order to expand the territory, I will pay another price."
This condition was so generous that Chen Wu did not dare to accept it for a while. He said, "I have to discuss it with my subordinates."
Zhao Hanzhang expressed his understanding and stood up and said: "Reply me before sunset. I will leave back to Luoyang early tomorrow morning."
Chen Wu should come down.
As soon as she left, he immediately called Feng Long and others in, and said calmly: "Do you think there is any conspiracy here?"
Feng Long also had this suspicion, "Then Zhao Hanzhang is not easy to deal with. The news I received before was from their Yuzhou Army. I don't know whether it is true or false. If it is false, I don't know what the situation is in Luoyang now. If it is true,
, then her methods are too clever and ruthless, will we be sold and have to count the money to her?"
Li Tou didn't think too much and asked: "Apart from our life, what else can we calculate?"
Feng Long: "What if the plot is our lives?"
Chen Wu squatted on the ground and thought. After a while, he shook his head and said, "No, I think I still have some ability to recognize people. She doesn't look like a bad person."
Feng Long believed him and immediately said: "Then do it."
"Yes, let's do it. Looking forward and backward is not what a man does," Li Tou lowered his voice, "and if we don't make money, people in the army will starve to death."
When Chen Wu heard this, he made up his mind, "Okay, just follow her!"
Feng Long said with some extravagant hope: "What if you settle down this time?"
Even Chen Wu and Li Tou started thinking about it.
However, they dare not think too deeply, fearing that the greater their hopes, the greater their disappointment.
Not long after Zhao Hanzhang returned to the camp where he was stationed, he received a reply from Chen Wu. She raised her lips and was very satisfied.
Zeng Yue and Yuan Li were both puzzled, "Girl, we have provided so much food and grass. We can obviously recruit refugees to train our troops ourselves, so why do we have to hire them?"
In fact, there is no shortage of soldiers. There are refugees everywhere. As long as you have food and money, you can recruit many people by raising your arms.
Soldiers trained by oneself are different, and their loyalty is not stronger than soldiers hired from outside?
Zhao Hanzhang said: "Recruiting troops by yourself requires not only food, but also weapons, armor, and training of generals to lead the troops. It consumes an unknown amount of manpower and material resources."
"And now, we only need to provide enough food and grass to harvest a brave army, why not do it?"
They all felt that the beggar army was hired, an outsider, and would not be loyal, but they forgot that she actually had an employment relationship with the soldiers she had trained herself.
Once they are dispersed, they will naturally throw themselves into the arms of others to survive. Does she still expect them to sacrifice their lives for her?
The beggar army is very trustworthy. As long as they give money, they will stick to their mission even if they are disabled. They are no worse than the pro-army.
If these people are put to good use, they will be a great weapon.