Compared with the beginning of the Han turmoil, when the princes were everywhere and divided in all directions, now there are only 9 princes left in the world.
Yuan Shao, all the vast land north of the Yellow River was in his hands. Externally, he showed goodwill to Karasuma, and exchanged grain, silk, beauties, and fine wine with Karasuma for peace, as well as war horses; internally, he recruited troops, rectified armaments, and raised an army of 400,000 people, becoming the entire The veritable first prince in the world.
Cao Cao, at this time, had completely secured Yanzhou, Silizhou, and Yuzhou. Cao Cao's territory, located in the center of the Central Plains, was at the core of the dispute and was originally the most difficult to develop. However, he has accumulated a high reputation since the princes' crusade against Dong Zhuo. People of insight have joined him one after another, and his strength has grown like a snowball. Finally, Cao Cao overcame obstacles all the way and defeated many princes who were originally stronger than him. From small to large, he grew to a hundred thousand soldiers and horses, dominating one side.
Dong Zhuo was originally the most powerful prince in the world. Unfortunately, he went against the grain and was eventually driven out of Luoyang by the eighteen princes. He finally managed to defend Chang'an. Afterwards, he took Lu Bu as the commander-in-chief and Li Ru as the military adviser, and went north to conquer Ma Teng. In the face of the powerful military force, Ma Teng expressed his surrender to Dong Zhuo. After defeating the Qiang tribe in Xiliang, Lu Bu returned in triumph and began to fight against Cao Cao for Dong Zhuo. But for some unknown reason, the God of War, who fought in and out of the eighteen princes as if he were in an uninhabited territory, galloped through Bingzhou and Xiliang, and made Wuwan and the Qiang tribe fearful, was stopped outside Hangu Pass, and suffered many defeats. If you win less, you will not be able to enter Luoyang. But no matter what, Dong Zhuo still held an army of 150,000 people, held the emperor hostage, and lived happily.
Liu Bei began to rise to prominence since the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Unfortunately, although he was famous far and wide, he had no way out in the late Han Dynasty when corrupt officials were rampant and eunuchs were dictatorial. He became an official several times, resigned several times, and became homeless. Fortunately, the emperor paid off. When Cao Cao attacked Tao Qian, he borrowed 3,000 troops from Gongsun Zan to rescue him. After the crisis was resolved, Tao Qian felt that his ability could not stand in this troubled world. After hearing about Liu Bei's reputation for a long time, he also Grateful for his rescue, he finally gave Xuzhou to Liu Bei. Liu Bei took Xuzhou like a fish in water, and heroes from all over the country came here to see it. However, Liu Bei seemed to be focused on developing Xuzhou. He had 60,000 elite soldiers but did not make any mistakes with the neighboring princes.
Liu Biao occupied Jingzhou and enjoyed himself behind closed doors. He was old and had no ambition to make progress.
Liu Zhang had neither the ambition to conquer the world nor the talent. He just inherited his father Liu Yan's legacy and stayed in Yizhou.
Yuan Shu occupied half of Yangzhou with 100,000 troops, but he just sat in Shouchun City dreaming of becoming emperor.
Zhang Lu, occupying a strategic position in Hanzhong, was stuck between Dong Zhuo and Liu Zhang and struggled to maintain his position.
Sun Ce occupied Jiangdong, regained his father Sun Jian's legacy, and began to build up a strong army to prepare for hegemony in the world. When he raised his army from Lujiang, he scraped together only 10,000 troops. However, in less than a year, he captured most of Jiangdong, and his army grew to 60,000. This shocked the princes who were ready to watch the excitement. Eyeballs everywhere. After that, Sun Ce was determined to reform, recruit talents, and made shocking moves. The "Qi Min Law" and "One Tax Law" directly forced the Jiangdong family to rebel, and a good show of local armed forces hunting down local princes was staged in the hinterland of Jiangdong. However, Sun Ce survived, and the Jiangdong family had their heads rolling and blood flowing like rivers.
The world is in chaos, but amid the chaos it is gradually moving toward unity.
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When a ray of early morning sunlight shines into the house through the window sill, Ji Shu leisurely opens his hazy sleepy eyes.
What caught the eye was Yueying's lazy sleeping face. She was curled up in her arms like a kitten, and she felt an unreal sense of satisfaction. Of course, the ripples of a night are not enough for outsiders to understand. Ji Shu smiled and kissed Yueying's forehead before gently getting up.
The servants hired by the mansion had already prepared meals. After Ji Shu had a delicious breakfast, he rode to the prefect's mansion.
When Sun Ce ordered the killing of the rebellious family, it can be said that he was unanimously criticized by all the princes in the world. Although it was not painful, he still needed to appease the people's hearts. Especially Ji Shu, who was aware of the pressure of public opinion, never dared to take it lightly. He was quite busy for a few days.
But soon, Jiangdong's affairs were no longer a topic of conversation among the people.
Yuan Shaoxing sent 400,000 troops to attack Cao Cao. The enemy was fierce, and Cao Cao quickly mobilized 80,000 troops to garrison Guandu Port.
Liu Bei knew that he was in trouble, so under Yuan Shao's huge pressure, Liu Bei agreed to Cao Cao's alliance and sent 20,000 troops to assist Cao Cao.
Even Dong Zhuo seemed a little worried that Yuan Shao was coming, so he actually asked Lu Bu, who was going on another expedition, to return to Chang'an.
Half a million troops suddenly gathered on both sides of the Yellow River, and the upcoming war attracted everyone's attention.
Of course, this had nothing to do with Sun Ce. He just discussed with Ji Shu and Zhou Yu and started to come up with a new policy.
Anyone who enlists in the army will be assigned a piece of land in their family and will be exempted from rent for one year.
If a soldier kills ten enemies and achieves military merit, he can become the owner of this land. After one year, he only needs to pay land tax. If he achieves military merit in the future, he will be rewarded.
If a soldier dies in battle, the land will still be transferred to the name of his family. If there is no male in the family to support the family business, his parents will be supported by the government for life. If he has children, the government will raise them until they are eighteen years old.
As the saying goes, if you survive a catastrophe, you will be blessed later.
The confiscated family assets filled Sun Ce's small treasury.
The issue of tax payment by aristocratic families that once troubled everyone is no longer a problem, because the land of the rebellious aristocratic families has now been confiscated, and the few remaining aristocratic families dare not say a word and pay taxes as they should. .
Sun Ce is now very wealthy.
This new policy immediately caused an uproar.
Countless young men and women poured into the registration office. In just half a month, the five counties in Jiangdong together recruited 20,000 recruits. At this point, registration gradually stopped.
"Let me form a new army?" Ji Shu was a little confused.
Generally speaking, except for the Tiger Roar Camp, which selects elites from other armies, most armies directly recruit new recruits, with veterans leading the new recruits. In this way, new recruits can grow up quickly, and veterans who have made meritorious deeds can gradually become non-commissioned officers and even generals.
Building a new army is like drawing on a blank piece of paper. The possibilities are endless, but it can also be a bit difficult to write.
Although 20,000 new recruits were recruited, it turned out that Ji Shu had only heard that Zhao Yun was asked to form a white horse army of 2,000 people. There are a little less people, but after all, war horses in the south are not that easy to buy. There are really some people but no horses, so Zhao Yun can only set up a framework first.
"Unlike Zilong, your team is made up of 5,000 miscellaneous troops surrendered by the family. I neither intend to kill them nor just let them go. I will give you another 1,000 old soldiers to form a 6,000-strong army. The new army will be led by you."
When Sun Ce said this, Ji Shu understood a little bit.
Many of these 5,000 people are private soldiers of aristocratic families and have some background. Although the others were servants and tenant farmers, they had at least experienced a fight and were not like the recruits who had just entered the battlefield and were unable to hold some knives steadily.
Coupled with a thousand old soldiers, they were reorganized and trained well. Although this new army has nothing outstanding yet, it does have some combat effectiveness.
As for how it will develop in the future?
Whether it is still a miscellaneous army, or it can be trained into an elite army, or even become the elite of Jiangdong Army, it all depends on how Ji Shu finalizes this army. Thinking of this, Ji Shu suddenly felt eager to give it a try.
"Okay! But according to the policy for other recruits, the descendants of those aristocratic families must also be included."
Sun Ce frowned slightly and did not agree to Ji Shu immediately.
"They committed a serious crime of participating in rebellion! If I don't kill them, letting them use their military exploits to atone for their freedom is already a lenient punishment."
Ji Shu asked, as if he had expressed his innocence to Sun Ce.
"You are risking your life on the battlefield! If you don't kill them, what kind of grace is it for letting them go to the battlefield?"
"Exerting great kindness will enable these future soldiers of yours to fight for you."
"Do you want me to hand you a motley army that is greedy for life and afraid of death, or an elite army that is willing to risk life and death?"
Seeing Sun Ce deep in thought, Ji Shu continued.
"Then we will remove the one-year rent exemption, but we must ensure that their families can all receive land."
"If you want the horse to run, you have to let it eat grass."
"Although you still look down upon them, who can say for sure what will happen in the future? Maybe they can give you a surprise?"
Looking at Ji Shu helplessly, Sun Ce finally nodded.
"It seems like you are a really good general. I'm just looking forward to seeing if you can train them into an elite force."
