Cao Cao was stunned for a moment, and then his expression became even more gloomy, but he didn't know that at this time Le Jin was already surrounded by Lu Bu's men in Fan County. If he hadn't had the responsibility of guarding Fan County, he would have retreated long ago. When he received the news of Cao Cao's defeat, he would definitely Will evacuate directly to Chenliu.
"There are less than fifty people left in the 63,000-strong army..." Cao Cao murmured to himself. These 63,000 people can be said to be all the food he had in Nanyang, the richest country in the world. He spent more than a year fighting with Yuan Shu. The veterans who have been trained in successive battles can be said to be Cao Cao's trump card that has gathered all his efforts, and he does not want to lose them all in one fell swoop.
"Lord, if you run out of soldiers, you can recruit them again. If you run out of weapons and equipment, you can cast them again. As long as you return to Yanzhou, Wen Ruo will definitely handle these things." Cheng Yu moved Xun Yu out without hesitation. Only Xun Yu can save the situation, and the others have no hope at all.
"Let's go back to Yanzhou!" Cao Cao didn't say much. Cheng Yu didn't know the truth and thought there was still food in Nanyang. Cao Cao couldn't know better.
[Alas, without two years of savings, it is impossible to have another fight with Liu Xuande this time. Nanyang is known as the richest place in the world, and it is possible to train such a team of more than 70,000 people in one year with all the efforts. troops, there will never be such a good opportunity in the world. ] Xun You thought with great bitterness in his heart that more than 60,000 veterans who had seen blood and were fully equipped with armor were just buried in the Xuzhou Plain.
[Wen Ruo is not invincible. A clever woman cannot make a meal without rice. After ruining this wave of veterans, we have no way to participate in any battles in the short term. Moreover, with the remaining tens of thousands of veterans and more than 100,000 soldiers stationed in Yanzhou, we can't even defend Yanzhou. It's all a problem. Without years of training and more than five battles, it's impossible to have so many veterans. 】
Cao Cao took the lead, thinking painfully in his heart, among the more than 60,000 veterans who had seen blood, Xun Wenruo had recruited a full 100,000 new troops. During the battles with Yuan Shu, he could always replenish the 100,000 troops with field troops. Until now, These more than 70,000 people barely survived!
Now except for 10,000 people who were given to Cao Ren to garrison Wancheng and 3,000 people who were given to Le Jin to garrison Fan County, the remaining 60,000 people were all destroyed in Liu Bei's hands.
[Even if there is a bumper harvest this year, the new army can only support it now. At the earliest, even if there is no loss of military rations, the first batch of veterans who have barely completed training will not be available until April next year. 】
Thinking of this, Xun You felt a sense of despair. The number of veterans left in Yanzhou who could fight was only fifteen thousand at most. As for the one hundred thousand garrison soldiers, that was just a scary number. They probably even had auxiliary soldiers on the battlefield. The level is not even high enough.
[If this year's harvest is as good as last year, things will turn around. Otherwise, our army will have to train new soldiers and guard against Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, and Liu Bei's attack on Yanzhou, and food will not be available at all. 】
Cao Cao looked at the sky bitterly and silently prayed for good weather this year. Otherwise, he would have to abandon most of Yanzhou and have no troops available. The troops on hand could not defend the entire Yanzhou mainland, or even defend Nanyang. Chen If you stay, all three places in Yingchuan have their shortcomings.
[I hope my uncle can think of a solution. This is no longer a problem with the generals, but a real lack of troops, and the entire Yanzhou is in danger. ] Xun You thought about it for a while and finally gave up helplessly. As he said, there were no more troops, and the entire Yanzhou was completely out of troops.
[It seems that the only way to do this is to sign off the young and strong first and find a way to overcome this difficulty. However, if we want to use the new army to defend the entire Yanzhou, we cannot defend it without 300,000 people. The 300,000 new troops need food and grass...]
Cao Cao's face was pale. Even if he emptied the Hedong Wei family and the Chenliu Wei family, it would be impossible to raise an army of 300,000. Thinking about it, he still had to train, buy new weapons and equipment, and maintain the weapons and equipment. Cao Cao He understood deeply that it would be impossible for him to recover for more than a year.
[How did Liu Xuande manage to raise so many soldiers? His field soldiers have been training. How could he have so much food? He also provided universal education and greatly improved the welfare of his soldiers. ] Xun You frowned. He had not noticed it before because he was not careful. Now he thinks about how Liu Bei managed to raise an army of 130,000.
Liu Bei was completely unaware of Xun You and Cao Cao's concerns. He was currently hosting a banquet to celebrate his great victory. For Liu Bei, having killed Cao Cao, captured more than 40,000 Cao Cao troops, and enough armor and weapons to arm more than 60,000 people was enough for Liu Bei. A new army of more than 60,000 people with complete armor and weapons can be drawn out at any time.
It is said that Liu Bei is different from Cao Cao. His field soldiers also spent a lot of food and grass on training.
Although the training intensity of the garrison soldiers will only reach half the level of regular soldiers, there are still hundreds of thousands of garrison soldiers after all.
As long as necessary, Yu Jin can directly select strong young adults from hundreds of thousands of field soldiers, conduct intensive training for more than a month, and then integrate more than 60,000 people into the former veteran regiment, and then Organize all the soldiers under the entire rule.
The new legion, with two-thirds of the veterans as its backbone, will not reduce its combat effectiveness at all. In other words, Liu Bei can no longer worry about weapons, equipment and recruits this time, and can directly draw 60,000 people from the field soldiers to build a new legion. This guy Cao Cao successfully allowed Liu Bei to solve the next problem of regular army construction.
Tao Qian, who was lying on the hospital bed on the other side, listened to the information Chen Deng read and waved his hand to indicate that Chen Deng could leave.
By this time, Tao Qian had taken many things lightly. Cao Cao must not have received any news from him, and Liu Xuande really never thought about interfering in Xuzhou's affairs. He really couldn't stand Cao Cao's behavior. Cao Cao fought tooth and nail.
[Alas, if I had known this today, why would I have changed my mind at first? 】 Tao Qian was lying on the hospital bed and already knew that he might not last long, "Fortunately, Liu Xuande is indeed a kind man. If Xuzhou is handed over to him, my second son will be fine under his protection. It's good or bad." 】
Tao Qian thought with some guilt that even when a person is about to die, his words are good. Tao Qian, who planned for his son, has now completely figured it out. What he wants now is nothing more than the future generations of his family, so why not just go with the flow and make things happen? Xuzhou was given to Liu Bei. Since Liu Bei also didn't like those aristocratic families who regarded the people as pigs and dogs, there was no conflict between their ideas.
[Cao Bao, you are such a good Cao Bao, your death is not a pity. Liu Xuande must not take action against your family if he wants to appease Xuzhou, so I will cleanse Xuzhou of those evils for Liu Xuande first, and let them go downstairs to accompany you! ] Tao Qian's eyes flashed with cold light. He had been restricting the family before, but he didn't want to be pecked by geese all day long. How could he let these scourges continue to exist.
[Liu Xuande, that's all I can help you. I hope you won't be deceived by aristocratic families like me. There's not much I, Tao Qian, can do for you before I die! 】Tao Qian sat up, his whole body was extremely weak, but his eyes were full of energy. The aristocratic families in Xuzhou had hindered him for many years, how could they continue to create obstacles for his next term. (To be continued.)
