The method of military training was left behind, and Wang Xu did not participate in the specific military training matters.
After all, he is not a professional. Some things cannot be understood by watching two TV series. Interfering hastily will be counterproductive.
What Wang Xu needs to do is not to shout slogans to the new recruits, but to let them know who their coach is.
In this aspect, he started from two points. One of them was to learn from Yuan Shikai and pay the soldiers with his own hands. The other was to go to the military camp every day to ask for help and chat with the soldiers at the bottom.
For middle-level officers, they eat and live together. They must eat dinner in the military camp every day and live in the military camp at night.
There are more than 200 officers at the rank of captain in the military camp. Each captain leads two battalions of 1,000 men and one guard battalion of 500 men.
Further down, there are 500 officers at the rank of thousands, and 5,000 at the rank of centurions.
Captain, captain of thousands, captain of centurions are mid-level officers in the army.
For these people, Wang Xu would even take the initiative to help and write letters home for them.
While writing the letter, if someone sends money, Wang Xu will send the same amount to their families in the name of the chief.
If there is no money sent, Wang Xu will also buy some appropriately so that the families of these people can buy some firewood, rice, oil and salt.
As for the upper-level officers, Qin Yun and Qin Wu, as well as the partial generals in the Forbidden Army, Wang Xu did not show any favors. He only improved the food appropriately so that they could eat, wear, and use better than ordinary soldiers and middle-class soldiers.
Lower-ranking officers are better, to show a sense of superiority.
In terms of money, Wang Xu is very poor.
It's not that he is stingy with money, but that these generals from the Forbidden Army are all generals. Even if they are not rich, they are not as short of money as the middle and lower-level officers.
Moreover, these people were from well-known families, so small favors would not work for them. Instead, they would be easily sued to the emperor, saying that he had bad intentions by wooing senior generals in the army.
As for the government affairs of the Ishikawa Prefecture, Wang Xu basically delegated power.
There are only two things he focuses on, one is to promote the planting of corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes, and the other is to pay close attention to border trade.
The former is food and the latter is money.
With money, food, and an army at his disposal, no one in the Ishikawa Prefecture would dare to challenge him.
Regarding border trade, Wang Xu not only protected the merchants, but also provided them with certain loans in the name of the government.
There is only one request, he wants information about the barbarian tribes.
The barbarians are a whole, but concretely they exist in the form of individual tribes.
Which tribe this tribe has good relations with and which tribe has enmity with that tribe are all Wang Xu's focus.
Similarly, the population gap between tribes, the gap between rich and poor, geographical location, the number of warriors in the tribe, and the reserve of soldiers and armor are all the basis for these businessmen to inquire.
This is not difficult, barbarians are martial and have the habit of showing off their force.
The human caravan went with goods and exchanged precious salt, cloth, fine wine, and luxury goods for animal skins and medicinal materials that they did not need. In their opinion, they made money.
Whenever a caravan arrives, especially a caravan of a certain size, each tribe will hold a bonfire festival.
They sing and dance around the campfire, and invite the caravan to watch the tribal warriors perform. After a few glasses of strong wine, if you don't ask them, they will tell you the truth, even if you don't want to hear it.
The barbarians did not have the habit of concealing the strength of their armies. He said that he had five thousand soldiers capable of fighting, which meant that he had five thousand warriors who could fight well.
The human race is different. For example, the flower growers of later generations said that they only had 1,700 fighter jets.
In fact, Qingdao Air Force Base alone has more than 800 fighter jets. We can't just put half of the country's aircraft in Qingdao.
Thinking about it, I know that is impossible. Judging from the urine properties of flower growers, doubling or tripling the official amount would probably be similar to the actual amount.
Therefore, barbarians who do business with humans often find themselves baffled.
For example, a caravan carrying salt to trade wants to exchange a pound of salt for twelve furs.
The barbarians talk too much, and then the shopkeeper of the human caravan will say, salt is precious, and if you want to exchange a pound of salt for ten skins, I will lose money at all.
When the barbarians heard this, they definitely couldn't do the deal. The other party couldn't afford to lose money in exchange for it.
As a result, the human race said again, oh, I will pay you in exchange for it, and we will just make friends. You don't have to be angry or not.
If the barbarians say no, it means no. They just take the things and leave without being replaced.
If the human race says no, it doesn't necessarily mean it can't be done. They will still change you and talk about how much money they lost while changing.
In fact, did he lose money?
It is impossible to lose money, he just made less money, and the loss is not the loss, but the part that earned you.
One pound of salt is worth two furs. If I sell it to you, I will get twelve furs, and I will earn ten furs.
He said he lost money after selling ten skins to you. In fact, he still made eight skins, but only two less from you. Ordinary barbarians with a single mind can't tell the difference between the so-called "skin" in the mouth of the human race.
What does it mean to lose money?
Of course, ordinary barbarians are easy to fool, but not those leaders.
The more powerful the tribe, the more the leader knows and the higher the wisdom, especially the tribe with shaman sacrifices. Those shamans who believe in barbarian gods are no worse than the most astute businessmen.
The good news is that shamans are God's servants and will not easily interfere with tribal government, and their status is aloof.
On weekdays, those who deal with human caravans are usually the trusted aides and heirs of tribal leaders, so there is room for maneuver.
While Wang Xu was training his troops, he was also instructing the caravans to provoke conflicts between different tribes as much as possible.
The effect is remarkable. In the face of interests, if you retreat, I will advance. If you are less, I will be more. It is impossible to be 100% fair.
The tribe in the west asked for five hundred jars of fine wine. As a result, when the caravan was in the tribe in the east, the wine sold to the tribe in the west was snatched up by the people in the tribe in the east. There is no doubt that this is a contradiction.
If it is two alliance tribes, there is still room for reconciliation. If it is two hostile tribes, this is an excuse to start a war.
Dissatisfaction is accumulated bit by bit. When one person, no one is left behind, and his dissatisfaction with another person or another tribe reaches its peak, he will inevitably take forceful action.
In modern times, some tribes in Africa can break out genocide in order to compete for humanitarian aid.
Speaking of barbarians, they are also composed of tribes of various sizes. In order to compete for the interests of human caravans, they also don't mind fighting.
There is no need to even provoke. Some tribes that have profited from caravan trade and become rich and powerful will increase their demand for territory due to their increased strength.
Large tribes developed little by little as small tribes devoured each other.
With strength and opportunity, these small and medium-sized tribes will also follow suit. In addition, many tribes have been hostile to each other for thousands of years and are feuds themselves, making it very easy for a war to break out.
What Wang Xu needs to do is to add fuel to the flames and make some tribes that are hostile to each other hate each other, and make some tribes that are friendly to each other no longer trust each other.
Similarly, he is also deliberately trying to win over some tribes, such as the tribes on the periphery of the barbarians. Because they are close to human territory, they will be infected with the customs of the human race to some extent.
These barbarians yearn for the life and civilization of the human race, but they do not have the strength to fight against them. As long as the corresponding conditions are given, they can easily become human spies.
In this regard, we can compare it with the US emperor.
The elites all over the world are running towards American imperialism, shouting for freedom. These people can even abandon their parents.
In comparison, the appearances of barbarians and humans are more similar than that of humans and demons. It is easier to win over them than to win over demons.
If there is one, then there are two. It is absolutely possible to use barbarism to control barbarism.
By then, maybe like a certain period of time, one human soldier can lead two barbarian soldiers in battle.
In the end, the barbarians fought the barbarians, and the human soldiers were in the minority.
However, just when Wang Xu was happily preparing to play slowly with the barbarians, a piece of bad news appeared.
In Jiaozhou, there was a remnant of the White Lotus Sect who was unwilling to fail. They gathered believers to revive and captured Tianshui County.