Huang An came back with the military scrolls, and Zuo Du's family members were also inside. Behind him were dozens of veterans from Xiliang, and their families were among them. When they met, they couldn't help but hug each other.
burst into tears.
Huang An was so surprised that after Zuo Du wiped away his tears, he slapped him on the shoulder and said, "I still want to give you a surprise. How did you know we were back?"
After Huang An received all the military documents that were willing to come to Luoyang with him, he was eager to return. This time he not only brought back the military documents of the Xiliang Army, but also brought back the documents for Zhang Guiyuan and Zhao Hanzhang to help each other.
This is a formal document of alliance, it is not just a casual talk, it is of great significance.
With this document, Zhao Hanzhang can do a lot. For example, she needs to work with Zhang Gui to ensure that the communication and trade routes between the two places are smooth.
Back in Luoyang, Huang An took the military documents to the Xiliang military camp, while Zhao Xin took the documents to see Zhao Hanzhang.
Zhao Hanzhang held this document, his eyes seemed to shine like the sun.
She turned to Ji Yuan and asked, "Has the food we bought come back?"
Ji Yuan raised his head and glanced at her before saying, "I came back this morning, and the cloth is also back."
After all, we need to prepare things for the Dragon Boat Festival. It will be the Dragon Boat Festival in one day, so the caravan going out does not dare to neglect it.
"Okay!" Zhao Hanzhang said: "After the Dragon Boat Festival, let Erlang go with the caravan and let Yumen Pass be opened for both of us."
Xin Zhao: "Erlang? Is he inappropriate?"
He said: "This is just a caravan. Erlang now holds the position of Nanyang County Sheriff. Even if he doesn't dislike it, the caravan needs people with quick minds. Erlang is not suitable, right?"
Zhao Hanzhang and Ji Yuan looked at him together. Zhao Hanzhang said: "Who said I want Erlang to be the caravan manager?"
"I just asked him to take Zhao Jiajun for a walk outside Chang'an and escort the caravan by the way."
Zhao Xin was embarrassed and found that his thinking was still too shallow.
Ji Yuan: "How many troops and horses do you want to give him?"
"Deploy three thousand from Xin'an and two thousand from my own soldiers to give him."
Xin Zhao found that not only did he think shallowly, he was also timid.
Can the five thousand Zhao army, or the elite soldiers around Zhao Hanzhang and Zhao Erlang, be able to defeat Chang'an?
It is impossible to conquer Chang'an, but we can easily capture the cities around Yongzhou and open up trade routes at the same time.
Zhao Hanzhang walked to the map, clicked on a small area on the map and said, "Isn't this road difficult to walk?"
Zhao Xin, who had just walked over, nodded and said with deep understanding: "There are refugees and bandits everywhere. Not to mention ordinary caravans, even larger caravans have a hard time getting across. We are going back because we have the protection of the Xiliang Army."
They are all elites, so they don't dare to provoke them."
Zhao Xin sighed: "Even if a large clan of thousands of people migrate together, they may be scattered by refugees and bandits along this road, and then the whole clan will be wiped out."
He said in a low voice: "I heard that when Luoyang was in trouble, some Luoyang nobles fled to the west. There were thousands of people in the family. In the end, only about a hundred people made it to Chang'an alive."
"The rest either became refugees or died." It was precisely because of seeing such a miserable situation that Xin Zhao felt chilled in his heart, feeling that he had seen the future of the Zhao family.
The Zhao family is bigger than that gentry clan, but how big is it? If Yuzhou cannot be saved, the Zhao family will one day have to flee, and they may be separated on the road.
Zhao Hanzhang was not sad. He looked at this section of the road and pondered. After a while, he said: "Take them all!"
Ji Yuan said: "But we don't have enough money and food, and there are so many cities that require a lot of soldiers and horses to garrison, and we don't have enough manpower."
Don't look at the four armies stationed around Luoyang now. In fact, there are not many. Such a large land had nearly a million people at its most prosperous time. But now, including all the soldiers, officials and civilians, there are only 130,000 or 40,000.
That's all.
There are only 30,000 soldiers among them. If they are scattered, once there is an invasion from outside, the soldiers and horses in Yongzhou will not be able to quickly return to support.
Therefore, Ji Yuan does not recommend spreading the troops any further.
"Then we won't collect refugees and recruit troops according to the previous policy," Zhao Hanzhang said hard-hearted: "Set up military posts along the road and station troops to drive away the refugees and bandits."
The cost of raising soldiers is different from that of raising refugees. The cost of raising one soldier can help ten refugees.
So this time she did not recruit troops, nor did she occupy the entire city and station troops. Instead, she directly set up military posts, and stationed them for anywhere from 20 to 500 yuan at a time. The soldiers in the posts would watch and help each other. As long as something went wrong at one point, the soldiers in front and behind would be there.
Everyone can help.
This will cost a lot less.
Ji Yuan thought for a while and felt that this method could be tried. However, "Where should we drive them?"
Zhao Hanzhang lowered his eyes and said: "If they are willing to move to Luoyang, we will accept them in Luoyang. If they are not willing, they will either settle there themselves or go to Chang'an or Shu."
"There are only five shi in a military post, that is fifty people. This military post is not easy to set up," Ji Yuan said: "They dare to rush into the nobles with thousands of people. Once they target the military post, even our soldiers will be killed."
After training, I will not be their opponent."
Zhao Hanzhang lowered his eyes and said in a dull voice: "We have recruited a lot of new soldiers during this period. General Beigong always said that training troops cannot be done by oneself, but requires seeing blood. In this case, this road should be used for their training."
Zhao Xinxin felt chilled. If the thieves on this road came to train troops, a lot of people would die, right?
In the past, Zhao Hanzhang would choose to capture bandits into the army and serve as soldiers directly, rarely killing people.
Zhao Xin was about to speak but stopped.
Zhao Hanzhang looked at him with bright eyes, "Brother, do you have a better way?"
Xin Zhao: "Didn't you recruit the envoys into the army before? Why did you choose to suppress them this time?"
Zhao Hanzhang sighed: "Raising troops requires money and food. I am short of money now, so I can only eliminate them instead of recruit them. However, if my clan brother can find a way to increase the income, I may be able to establish two more armies."
In other words, as long as she has money, she will choose to recruit people instead of eradicate them.
Xin Zhao lowered his eyes and said nothing. After a while, he bowed and left.
Ji Yuan was dumbfounded, "You think he has something to do?"
Zhao Hanzhang: "Let's try it. It doesn't cost any money."
Anyway, she cleared it up first, "Please come over with Xie Shi. This time he and Erlang sent out troops together. First, they killed the thieves who had committed heinous crimes along the way and had piled up many lives on their hands. The rest were left to them slowly."
Train your troops slowly."
It's still a long time, it depends on whether Xin Zhao can find a way to open source for the army. Anyway, she and Professor Fu are temporarily helpless.
They did everything they could and kept making money, but they always spent more than they earned.
Ji Yuan thought about it for a while and then said: "In this way, Mr. Xinlang is more compassionate than Mr. Kuanlang."
"Sir, how can you tell that Zhao Kuan has a compassionate heart?" Zhao Hanzhang was about to speak when he heard loud crying faintly coming from the street.
Zhao Hanzhang was angry, "I knew he was not merciful at all, why did he come to me crying again? Didn't he ask them to find Zhao Kuan?"
Ji Yuan said without changing his expression: "Obviously, Zhao Kuan kicked them back again. The girl is right, he has no compassion at all."