After convincing Zhang Zhongjing, and the former also promised to invite some Taoist people with medical skills to go to the East China Sea Territory for Su Fan, Su Fan made the right trip.
And on the second day, news came from An Xiao that Taishi Ci, who sent troops to Wu Commandery, had beheaded Yan Baihu's head, and Wu Commandery had captured it.
This can be described as a double happiness.
Su Fan was still very happy.
Before conquering Wu County, everyone had already decided on it, but now that it can be won so easily, it is still very good.
According to the news from An Xiao, Taishi Ci led a group of generals to capture the city in less than two months. Wujun had no power to resist, so he was pushed back by Taishi Ciping.
In several battles, no soldiers or horses were lost, and the number of casualties was only less than 6,000.
These are casualties, not deaths.
There are not many doctors in Su Fandonghai Territory, that's because most of the doctors have been taken away by the military.
It can be said that each battalion is equipped with a considerable number of military doctors, so of the 6,000 casualties, probably two-thirds will survive.
As for whether they can continue to develop in the military, it depends on whether their injuries are serious, but even if they retire.
Su Fan also made arrangements in advance.
Almost all of these retired sergeants have become village chiefs or village elders in village communities, and some serve as militia officers in the village, training militiamen.
And another advantage of doing this is that with these people in control of the village community, Su Fan's control over the local area will be tighter.
In the past, imperial power did not go to the countryside, but it was different in the East China Sea Territory.
It goes without saying that soldiers who have retired from the army will support Su Fan even if they retire. It is almost impossible for the big families in your area to win over them.
Taishi Ci's battle was also quite beautiful.
Winning Wu County means that Su Fan once again has a place to develop. Especially since there are no big families in Wu County, he can continue to develop and strengthen according to the outline of the East China Sea Territory.
Unfortunately, the key is population.
Su Fan also started to be greedy for Yuzhou.
Although Yuzhou is not as big as Xuzhou and Yangzhou, almost most of the essence of the Central Plains is here.
The population here is dense. In this county of Runan, during the reign of Emperor Ling, official statistics counted four million households and a population of nearly 30 million.
This is only official statistics. If you include those hidden by major aristocratic families and some hidden houses outside the city, the population may not be less than 40 million.
Even after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the population has greatly decreased, but according to Su Fan's estimation, Runan County now has a population of at least 2,000.
The entire Yuzhou should have a population of nearly 50 million.
If all these people come under his rule, then his strength will increase explosively.
Among other princes in the world, in terms of his ability to convert demographic dividend into strength, he is unparalleled.
No one can match it.
The more people there are, the stronger he will be, and if he explodes his troops, his mobilization power will be even more terrifying.
Other princes may explode their troops. What emerges are miscellaneous troops, which may be slightly less powerful than the auxiliary troops.
But he is different.
The population of Yuzhou made him envious, but the population of Xuzhou was slightly inferior. According to his estimation, the population of Xuzhou, including those hidden by the wealthy families, was probably less than 20 million.
Although Xuzhou itself is wealthy, its population is not large, and due to the ravages of the Yellow Turbans, the population is even smaller.
In addition, he has been absorbing it over the years, so excluding Donghai County, the combined population of the other counties in Xuzhou is probably at most several million more than Donghai County.
The Donghai County here naturally includes the Donghai Territory.
Donghai Territory has a population of tens of millions, and Donghai County has about two to three million people. This is also due to the development of Donghai Territory, business is booming, and most of the wealthy merchant families have moved to Donghai County.
Otherwise, Donghai County would have been pretty good if it had a population of one million at the beginning.
However, most of Yuzhou today is still in the hands of Yuan Shu, and Yuan Shu is still the largest prince in the south or the Central Plains.
Fighting with him would not be of much benefit to Su Fan.
After all, Yuan Shu can't be solved so easily. Yuan Shu is not Yan Baihu, crooked melons and split dates, and he doesn't even have two or three generals.
There are not many top generals under Yuan Shu's command, and even Ji Ling cannot be ranked among the top twenty in the Three Kingdoms at the end of Han Dynasty.
But to be honest, Su Fan had seen Yuan Shu's army, and the army commanded by Hefei Ji Lingtong was not Yuan Shu's elite.
But the officers in the army are quite good. At least in Su Fan's view, for the same middle-level officers, Sun Jian is not necessarily better than Yuan Shu.
This is also the strength of the Yuan family. Maybe he cannot find some top generals, but the middle-level officers, with their strong backgrounds, are quite attractive.
Most of these people come from rough backgrounds, and their foresight is not high. In their eyes, the Yuan family is a high-ranking family, and it is definitely their luck to be able to take refuge in the Yuan family.
Hefei's partial army is like this, Yuan Shu's main force must also be more powerful.
No matter how bad the evaluation of Yuan Shu was in history, later generations on the Internet also said that he was completely mentally retarded.
But Su Fan would not recognize Yuan Shu based on these.
If you really think that Yuan Shu is like this, he is mentally retarded.
As a direct disciple of the Yuan family, Yuan Shu has been trained as an elite since he was a child. Among Yuan Shu, even most of the clan elders recognize him instead of Yuan Shao, which shows that he is capable.
If it is true that Yuan Shao can be suppressed just by relying on his status as a direct descendant, it is simply impossible.
If you don't have any outstanding points, it's really a joke if you want to gain a foothold.
The aristocratic family has existed for thousands of years and has its own promotion channels. Those who are capable are promoted and those who are mediocre are demoted. This is an inevitable result.
He is really a mediocre person, who dares to let him rise to the top.
In a head-to-head fight with Yuan Shu, Su Fan was confident that he could kill him, but he would definitely suffer losses, and the losses would definitely not be too small.
Su Fan can also bear these, but I am afraid that in the future, the surrounding princes will be wary of him and even join forces to block it.
At that time, his development will inevitably be restrained and slowed down, which is not something Su Fan can bear.
He can accept Yuan Shu's expansion of power, but he cannot accept his own development and transformation, because if he simply develops, he is confident that no one in the world can match him.
It only took a few years for the East China Sea Territory to develop to this day, and less than ten years from its construction to now.
In the next ten years, he believes that the strength of the East China Sea Territory will be several times greater than it is now.
Why can Yuan Shu be compared with him? At least in this regard, he can say that everyone here is his younger brother.