"Is what His Highness said true?"
Wu Chengju looked shocked, with huge surprise on his face.
At this time, Guan Cheng was sitting in the main seat in the post house, the tea in his hand was steaming, and the smile on his face was dim.
Gong Zhiming, Buwang, Cao Wuming and others were sitting on the left and right, and everyone's faces were equally wonderful at this time.
Guan Cheng took a sip of tea and put down the cup before nodding lightly and saying, "Yes, you heard me right. My aunt agreed to help. It happened that the Crown Prince of Liang came back and agreed after a while."
"But Your Highness, will such a major matter be revealed in the future?"
Guan Cheng smiled and took out a scroll of bamboo slips and said, "It has the seal and annotation of the Crown Prince of Liang on it, it's true."
The look of surprise on Wu Chengju's face turned into joy and he said quickly: "In that case, I can start tomorrow, and I can take care of all the preparations on the way."
Guan Cheng nodded and said: "What Wu Sima said is true, but I think if there is such a good opportunity, it is better to wait a few more days."
"Your Highness, the military is the foundation of the country, and the people are the cornerstone of the country. Although Liang is a fourth-class vassal state, there are huge Chu and powerful Song countries around Liang. The number of soldiers in Liang is only more than 70,000, but you can agree with your highness. Recruiting troops in Liang Kingdom?"
"In this way, the population of Liang will be lost, and the soldiers will be recruited from good families."
Guan Cheng shook his head and said: "Bu Yousi's concerns are not unreasonable, but think about it, I have to wait thousands of miles to go west. How many good family members with families and cultivated land are willing to abandon their families and children to follow us to win a fortune?" An unknown future?”
When everyone heard this, they suddenly felt that it made sense, and then cast their doubtful eyes over.
Guan Cheng did not give up, and continued: "There are very few children from good families who are willing to follow us. The reason why the Crown Prince of Liang dared to say that he was thinking of this, so I thought there should be some homeless people signing up, so First of all, it is somewhat of a good thing for Liang Guo."
"Bu Yousi, go find the map of Liang Kingdom and hang it up, and send capable people to guard the courtyard gate."
Everyone was confused and whispered among themselves.
Soon Bu Wang came in holding a map, hanging it in the middle, and presented a thin wooden stick.
Guan Chengcheng took it, stood in front of the picture frame and smiled at everyone and said: "Everyone come closer and take a look."
"The terrain of Liang Kingdom is long and narrow. The widest point from north to south is less than a hundred miles, but the length from east to west is more than 600 miles. And we are currently here, Hecheng County, Hedu County, the easternmost county of Liang Kingdom."
Guan Cheng gently clicked the position on the map with the wooden stick in his hand, then slowly moved westward and said: "The entire territory of the Liang Kingdom is along the Shouyan Mountains, which is more than 600 miles from east to west. There are thousands of hills on both sides, and there are countless bandits and bandits during this period, and there are many dangerous places among them."
Guan Cheng randomly drew circles at several points, put down the wooden stick and continued to everyone: "It is not that the leaders of the Liang Kingdom have never thought about purging the country, but the Liang Kingdom is a bit interesting and has friction with the surrounding countries, so the Liang Kingdom The country's main military forces are scattered along the borders, so they are powerless against the large and small mountains within the territory."
"As a result, the situation in the Liang Kingdom is tight on the outside and loose on the inside. This is one of the reasons why the Liang Kingdom had more than 70,000 troops but repeatedly tolerated the provocations of the Jin Kingdom and finally let it go."
"The banditry within the territory has been a headache since the day the Liang Kingdom was separated. The 600-mile-long road in the Shouyan Mountains is both the lifeblood of the Liang Kingdom and the fishbone that runs from east to west."
"So our army's main target this time is these people!"
The wooden stick in Guan Cheng's hand once again drew a huge circle on the map.
"Suppressing bandits?"
"No, to be precise, it's subjugation!"
Guan Cheng put down the wooden stick in his hand and sat down on the main seat again and said to everyone: "I already knew before that the ten largest mountains in Liang State must have at least a thousand troops. And here we go to the west. More than three hundred miles away, Yingchou Stream is the junction of Pingkang, Liangze and Huijun. It has steep mountains and dangerous terrain, as well as two large rivers, Meishui and Longjiang. It is the largest mountain in Liang State. The bandits are here, with more than ten thousand men and horses!"
Everyone gasped when they heard this.
Thousands of people!
Ten thousand people can serve as an army!
The entire Liang Kingdom only has seven armies, and a group of bandits is equivalent to one-seventh of the Liang Kingdom's troops?
Guan Cheng looked at his subordinates and continued: "The Liang Kingdom occupies eight counties and fifty-eight counties. Among the nine fourth-level sub-states of Datong, it is only a little stronger than the Shu Kingdom, but its population is a full 30%, nearly 30% more than that of the Shu Kingdom. One million, the registered military strength is more than 73,000, but the number of large and small bandits in the territory is as high as 60,000!"
"Sixty thousand!"
Niu Cheng in the hall exclaimed, but no one blamed him for being rude, everyone looked in disbelief.
Niu Cheng was originally a company commander in the Jin army. Guan Cheng was captured during the first night attack. He originally thought he would die, but he didn't want Guan Cheng to praise his courage and spare his life, and then showed some courtesy.
Niu Cheng is a bachelor. He has enough to eat and the whole family is not hungry. He is a bastard on the battlefield. Although he is a company commander, the people above him will not care about him. Guan Cheng's status is scary for ordinary people. He had no airs at all, and he was very kind to the elderly and children when he met him. All his actions moved this bastard inexplicably, so he decided to follow him. Now he still holds the position of company commander under Guan Cheng, but he only has less than fifty people under his command. , all need to be recruited and supplemented by themselves.
As his name suggests, Niu Cheng is tall and strong, and his wide-eyed eyes really look like bull's eyes.
"Hey, 60,000 people, this Liang country... this..."
Niu Cheng was speechless and could not speak. You must know that the original Jin Kingdom only had 50,000 troops in total. This was already a bit militaristic.
It is known that there are more than 60,000 bandits in one country.
"Have all the people in Liang Kingdom become bandits?"
No one paid any attention to Niu Cheng's words, they were all deep in thought.
My family knows their own affairs, so do they have to rely on these seven or eight hundred people to suppress the bandits?
Suppressing more than 60,000 bandits?
Are you kidding me?
Bu Wang stood up and bowed, and said angrily: "So this prince of Liang Kingdom has no good intentions at all!"
"That's right. The Crown Prince of Liang clearly wants to kill me!" Cao Buyi stood up and shouted loudly.
In Guan Cheng's team, Cao Busuo is considered a relative and Cao Ling'er's cousin. He dares to say some things without using his brain.
For a moment, the room became dead silent with these words. Cao Buyu was a little confused and looked at everyone in confusion. Finally, he sat down uneasily and did not dare to speak.
conspiracy!
These are two words that linger in the minds of many people.
The atmosphere in the room was a bit solemn, and even a rough guy like Niu Cheng had a slightly worried look on his face.
After a long time, Bu Wang broke the silence and asked: "Your Highness, the Crown Prince of Liang's intentions are unknown, so it would be best for us to leave early!"
As soon as this statement came out, there was a burst of echoes.
But Guan Cheng calmly shook his head and said: "The Crown Prince of Liang Kingdom does not have any good intentions. Gu is the King of Datong. According to etiquette, it is not an exaggeration for the Crown Prince of Liang Kingdom to personally lead troops to escort Gu's motorcade. , but isn’t this an era when etiquette has collapsed and music has collapsed, everything depends on strength.”
"If we don't talk about the distance, let's talk about the Kingdom of Jin. Why did the Jin Kingdom, a mere fifth-level prince, dare to directly send troops to attack? The main reason is that the Jin Kingdom has a powerful country like Zhou Wei as the backstage and it is inevitable to act arrogantly. However, the Liang Kingdom cannot do that. Although there are certain He has great strength, but there are too many strong enemies around him, so he doesn’t dare.”
"And you guys have overlooked something."
Everyone was puzzled and all their eyes were focused.
Guan Cheng took a sip of tea before continuing: "The old lord of the Liang Kingdom has more than one son. The current crown prince of the Liang Kingdom is not the eldest son, but his wife, Aunt Jinghui, is the Princess of Datong and the Queen Mother of the King of Chu. My dear sister, this is a huge political capital."
"But as the relationship between Chu and Liang becomes more subtle, opportunities for the eldest son seem to have arisen, especially as he has been extremely active in recent times."
"If His Royal Highness wants to stabilize his position, he needs a certain amount of support both at home and abroad."
"Speaking of which, I have been favored by Aunt Jinghui. The Crown Prince of Liang has sent three waves of envoys to Chu during this period. The two aunts Jinghui and Jinghui have a good relationship. This is naturally worth making a big fuss about."
"If you persuade the Queen Mother of Chu State and have Qiang Chu as your backing, then the crown prince's position will be as secure as Mount Tai."
Everyone was shocked when they heard that the Crown Prince of Liang was quite scheming, but His Highness King Jin was so old now that he could see through the Crown Prince of Liang so easily.
The people present were either fighting men in the army or people who used to hunt and pick hoes. It was normal for them to react slowly in this kind of fight.
"This Crown Prince of Liang is not stupid either. This is an out-and-out conspiracy to defeat us. As long as we want to grow stronger, we must eat such a seemingly poisonous piece of meat! And we have to eat it all! Eat as much as possible!”
"No one is born willing to bear infamy. I don't believe that there are more than 60,000 people who don't have some righteous people. Even so, what about the reputation after death?"
"So our main goal will change next."
Guan Cheng didn't seem to care how much poison the food in front of him contained or whether it was fatal, but he was full of confidence.
This overflowing confidence gave everyone who was originally dull a glimmer of hope.
"Soldiers must be recruited, but good family members must not be recruited. Our first target is the unconcerned people who are willing to go west with us, followed by orphans, half-grown boys, who can be taken away with some food. Again They are refugees, but they must be honest and simple, and those who have committed crimes must not be considered."
"I'll give you three days to recruit soldiers. You can recruit as many as you can. But each person who applies will be given a thousand dollars first, which will be counted as settlement expenses, and then tell them that they will be paid at least three hundred dollars a month."
"No, Your Highness!" Bu Wang immediately stood up to interrupt the objection.
"Oh? Why?" Guan Cheng asked calmly, as if he had expected it.
"Your Highness, the monthly salary of standing soldiers is only two hundred yuan. This is enough for a family of four to live. Your Highness's three hundred monthly salary is already benevolent and righteous enough. And the settlement allowance is unheard of. Such a high standard is okay now. , but if there are many soldiers in the future, it will be a huge expenditure. Besides, a thousand dollars is enough to attract many people, so it is inevitable that some people will fish in troubled waters!"
Guan Cheng waved his hand and said: "From now on, we will travel thousands of miles to Huoyang County, so we should be given a higher salary. Besides, how can we recruit our own troops in Liang State without some attractive conditions?"
"As for those who fish in troubled waters, don't be careful. Datong's military law is not a vegetarian. If you take it, you must abide by the law. Otherwise, what is the use of the sword in your hands?"
"This matter has been decided!"
