Ten miles outside the west gate of Pengcheng is the place where Xuzhou's Western Expeditionary Army gathered its troops.
These days, Mi Fang has been busy selecting soldiers from the Xuzhou Army to organize and coordinate. According to Tao Qian's designation, the Western Expedition Army has a minimum strength of 1,000 cavalry, 2,000 infantry, 1,000 crossbowmen, and 1,000 sword and shield soldiers.
people, four school captains, three captains, and fifteen dubos went out together to fight.
It's easy to say, but it's not easy to do. The Western Expedition Alliance has a lot to do with it, and it also affects the face of a state, so Mi Fang naturally can't be vague when it comes to selecting personnel.
First of all, the selection of military leaders and captains cannot be Cao Bao's direct descendants in the Chinese army. They must be relatively innocent... Furthermore, the soldiers and horses accompanying the army must be Kong Wu who is strong and good at fighting. Although Mi Fang has read some military books, she can't do it alone.
It was my first time to take on a leading role, and I was very busy.
Of course, these things have nothing to do with the pottery merchant. Firstly, the potter does not know how to run an army and has no experience in running an army. Secondly, his identity is to supervise the army. What does the supervisor do?
The pottery merchant understood the word literally and believed that the supervisor should supervise the work of others.
People who supervise other people's work generally do not work.
"My eldest son, this is the list of our personnel for this expedition. It ranges from four captains and three captains to captains. Please take a look at it, eldest son."
Mi Fang is quite sensible. If the potter doesn't work, he won't work, but Mi Fang should report as usual.
Tao Qian took it over and gave it a casual glance. He didn't know anyone on it, and it was useless to look at it. There were only three things he cared about most right now.
"Brother Mi, before leaving for the expedition, I want to confirm a few things with you."
Mi Fang asked: "What are your orders, eldest son?"
"Don't dare to give orders. You are the commander-in-chief, and I am the supervisor. The army is controlled by you, not by me... But before we go on an expedition, I have three things to make sure. The first is whether there is enough food and grass."
Mi Fang chuckled and said: "Young Master, don't worry about this. I made a special trip to Cao Yu's Mansion yesterday. Cang Cao has specially prepared 80,000 dendrobium grains for this expedition, which will be supplied to the West in batches every month.
The length of the expedition is currently unknown, so we ordered Cansao to have sufficient supplies, at least within the short route."
The pottery merchant nodded upon hearing this. Mi Zhu was in charge of the money and grain in Xuzhou, and all Cao Cao officials and officials directly obeyed him. The leader of this western expedition was his younger brother. Mi Zhu would definitely do his best to supply the rear.
"The second thing is about personnel affairs..." Tao Shang slowly patted the personnel list that Mi Fang handed him just now, and said: "I don't know any of these people, but Brother Mi also knows that Xuzhou's military affairs have always been
It is run by General Cao Bao, and General Cao is opposed to this alliance, so the people above...?"
Mi Fang said with a sad face: "My eldest son, to be fair, there are four captains and three captains. I have tried to avoid General Cao's direct subordinates in the army, but after all, General Cao has always been in charge of military affairs, so I chose these few
, my investigation should not have anything to do with him, but I can’t say for sure whether there really is a relationship, after all, not everything about human relationships can be found out..."
Tao Shang shook his head and said: "It doesn't matter if you have something to do with General Cao. Even his people can be brought over for your use. You are the commander-in-chief of an army. Once these people have some thoughts during the expedition, it will be in trouble."
.”
Mi Fang seemed a little distressed: "My eldest son, I have never known these people before. How could it be so easy to get them from General Cao..."
The potter let out a long sigh. He couldn't understand the problem, so he had to split the brains open and try hard to understand.
The potter patiently guided him: "Brother Mi, in human nature, there are two desires that are most difficult to control. One is called fear and the other is greed. As long as you make good use of these two points, you can conquer these people in just one night.
between."
"What are you doing?" Mi Fang's expression was cute, revealing her uneducated nature to the fullest.
It's really playing the piano to a cow.
"Brother Mi, do you have money?"
When it came to money, Mi Fang's back instantly stiffened, and her chin seemed to rise into the clouds: "Speaking of other things, my Mi family really doesn't have... money, but there is plenty!"
Black lines are starting to appear on the potter's head, look at your poor moral character.
"Okay, then you go back home and prepare more gold and silk. You and I will have a banquet in the commander's tent tonight to entertain the generals who are accompanying the army."
Without waiting for Mi Fang to answer, Tao Shang added: "There is a third thing... which is our marching route."
Before he finished speaking, Mi Fang became energetic.
"Young Master, I have already thought about this, please come with me!"
The two of them came to the large wooden platform in the middle of the commander's tent. There was a leather map about five feet square spread on it, with the names of states, counties, cities, and mountains and rivers dotted on it.
"My eldest son, according to the general's opinion, there are currently four places where the princes will gather for alliance, namely Hanoi, Suanzao, Yingchuan, and Luyang. These four places are where the main princes gather to station troops, but the princes will definitely choose in the end.
It is a meeting place for alliance. In my humble opinion, Yuan Shu in Luyang is powerful and close to us. We might as well go to Luyang to meet with him first. On the one hand, we can get the protection of a strong army, and on the other hand, we can
I have made good friends with Yuan Shu, what do you think the eldest son wants?"
The pottery merchant shook his head decisively and said, "I won't go."
"Huh?" Mi Fang didn't expect that her proposal would be rejected by the pottery merchant. She asked weakly: "Why?"
The potter raised two fingers: "There are two points. First, among the princes, the most powerful ones are Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu. They are in harmony with each other from the south to the north. But as the saying goes, there is no room for two tigers in one mountain, these two brothers will fall out sooner or later. We now have too many
It is neither good nor necessary to get close to Yuan Shao or Yuan Shu. Secondly, Yuan Shu is stronger than us. We went to him just to be driven by him. If Yuan Shu takes us as a vanguard and takes advantage of us and orders us to overcome difficulties, we still don't want to go.
Go? When the strength is unbalanced, if you go, you will be humiliating yourself."
Of course, there is also the most important third point, which the pottery merchant cannot tell Mi Fang...
As everyone knows in later generations, Yuan Shu once cut off Sun Jian's food supply in the battle against Dong, and his character was extremely low, so he should do as little as possible to keep company with wolves.
Mi Fang's eyes widened. Throughout the morning, Tao Shang clearly analyzed the expedition from food and grass logistics, to personnel application, to the marching route. His thinking speed was much higher than his own.
No wonder the eldest brother Mi Zhu treated him differently when he went to Mi Mansion last time. Now that he looks at him, he is really awesome.
"The eldest son is indeed very wise and far-reaching. I am deeply impressed by you! If we don't go to Luyang, then where will we go?" Mi Fang's attitude was obviously more flattering.
The pottery merchant lowered his head and looked at the map carefully. To be honest, the map of the Han Dynasty contained too little information, and most of the places were inaccurately marked, and the routes were rough. Fortunately, the pottery merchant had reviewed it when he was a senior editor in his previous life.
The maps of each province are listed in the album, and you have a general impression of the geography in your mind.
The potter's hand was drawing back and forth on the map while thinking... Xuzhou now belongs to Jiangsu Province in later generations, and Luoyang, where Dong Zhuo is located, is in the west of Henan Province, separated by the entire Henan region. Cao Cao's jujubes stationed in Luoyang are
In the northeast, Yuan Shao stationed troops in Hanoi to the north of Luoyang, Yuan Shu stationed troops in Luyang to the south of Luoyang, and Kong Yu stationed troops in Yingchuan to the south of Xuchang... In terms of distance, it should be the farthest from Dong Zhuo, but it is the closest to Xuzhou.
…
"Go to Yingchuan, meet Kong Niao first! Then act according to the situation!"
"Kong Ni?" Mi Fang said strangely: "It is said that Kong Ni is a talkative person with no military talent. He has just been appointed as the governor of Yuzhou. He has few major generals and is not as strong as us. Let's go find him... It's true.
Very beneficial.”
The pottery merchant smiled and shook his head: "It's because he is weaker than us. If we go there, he will feel that we value him. In this way, Kong Miao will also value us. If we value us, we will have the opportunity to get stuck from him."