Johime Three Kingdoms

Chapter 56 Strategic Objectives
"Shuchun Jiang Qin/Exit Cai Zhou Tai, pay homage to the lord!" Jiang Qin and Zhou Tai took back their armor at the same time and bowed down.

"Get up quickly... with the help of Youping and Gongyi, we can defeat the four counties in Jiangdong!" Bai Tu praised without any money.

Gan Ning curled his lips as he watched.

Although we are all water thieves, there are still differences - if Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin don't treat water thieves well, they will either go home and be honest people, or they will take a gamble and join a prince. If there is no special opportunity, they don't know how long it will take. Only then can he become a captain... And if Gan Ning doesn't work hard to become a water thief, he can only go back to his hometown, accept the recommendation from his family, and become a county magistrate with a rank of [-] stone or something. After a few years, he may be able to become a prefect, but Not happy at all.

It is this difference that makes Bai Tu's appreciation have completely different value in their eyes.

However, Jiang Qin and Zhou Tai did not immediately kneel down unconditionally and asked Bai Tu about their old subordinates.

Gan Ning also mentioned before that not everyone may be able to join the army, but they will definitely be properly arranged - this is Bai Tu's promise, and Gan Ning doesn't know how to arrange it.

Anyway, if these people are simply released to free range, they will not commit crimes, but most of them will idle around and disturb their masters in the village after spending all their severance pay.

"Don't worry, you two. From now on, our State Animal Husbandry Office in Yangzhou will have a Ministry of Works, which will require a large number of workers, and all benefits will be favorable. A few hundred people...are just a drop in the bucket." Bai Tu said.

"Ministry of Industry? My lord, you mean... you want them to work as craftsmen?" Jiang Qin was still a little worried that these guys were clumsy and would end up doing hard labor.

"Don't worry, you can learn it if you don't know it. Just like papermaking and printing, others can't do it before... There are jobs even if you can't learn it. The Ministry of Industry will be a very important department in the future... Well, it's a very important yamen, allocating labor The kind where workers are in short supply," Bai Tu said.

"Thank you for taking care of me, lord!" Jiang Qin said immediately.

At this point, the first fight with Yuan Shu was finally over.

Baitu also talks about merit and rewards, with Chen Gong and Lu Bu taking the first place, Gan Ning second, Ding Feng, Zhou Tai, Jiang Qin... all also have their own rewards.

At the same time, in addition to the prisoners brought back by Gan Ning and others, the [-] troops brought by Zhang Xun from Jiangdong, and the more than [-] prisoners from Bai Tu, some were recovered one after another...

As for the Ji Zao soldiers who cannot be retrieved and are not killed on the spot, they will dissipate after a period of time. Instead, the Ji Zao soldiers who died in the battle need to be dealt with.

As for the captives, who were more than all the troops he had in his hands, after discussing with Chen Gong, Bai Tu decided to appoint them—otherwise, he could choose to divide them into service workers.

When commanding the captured army, the officers will not be able to act immediately, and they are more likely to be incited due to the influence of their origin. For example, if Bai Tu immediately uses them to attack Huainan, they will be easily instigated by the other party's generals to defect.

But now Bai Tu is eager to take advantage of Yuan Shu's painful beating to conquer the four Jiangdong counties as soon as possible, so he doesn't want to waste these troops.

All officers below Dubo in the army were demoted and appointed, and the corps commanders who could not be demoted, as well as the generals above Dubo who could not be trusted, were dismissed. Killing prisoners was an absolute no-no in Bai Tu's eyes, so he took them all away. Cheng Jina, directly overdraw the manpower, destroy the military symbols, and then... complete Qu'a's household registration, and become an ordinary person from now on.

Of course, Bai Tu read the list of junior generals above Dubbo several times to make sure that none of them looked familiar...

Then there were the hundreds of water thieves brought by Gan Ning who could join the army... no, the soldiers, Bai Tu also directly mixed them into the army, and was not afraid of the subordinates who accounted for less than one-third of the grassroots. matter.

Bai Tu was also in the army and declared to the Huainan troops - don't miss Huainan. Soon, Jiujiang and Lujiang, which should be part of Yangzhou, will also return to the rule of Zhou Mu!

At the same time, focusing on the present, Baitu also ordered Zhonglang General Gan Ning to be the prefect of Danyang, with [-] troops stationed in Danyang County in order to completely control it. After that, he can recruit [-] new recruits in spring and summer and train the navy in Wuhu.

Chen Gong was ordered to be the prefect of Wujun, and he led five thousand troops and two thousand from Qu'a's old army. He attacked Yan Baihu in the south and captured the whole territory of Wujun.

As for Yuzhang and Kuaiji, Bai Tu was not worried. As long as Danyang could be recaptured and Yuzhang could be connected to Bai Tu's administrative seat again, Hua Xin had no reason to oppose him, the official official of the imperial court and a "great Confucian" Zhou Mu.

In the same way, as long as Yan Baihu of Wu County is eliminated, the famous Wang Lang should also come directly to surrender - this is the benefit brought by Bai Tu's reputation. This kind of great Confucian scholar who has no intention of separatism poses no threat to Bai Tu.

As for Hua Xin's county magistrates and other officials at all levels who had emptied him, Bai Tu had no other way for the time being.

In fact, this is also a constraint brought by the "aristocratic families". These local officials in Yuzhang are not spies sent by Yuan Shu, but an extension of the power of the local aristocratic families.

They supported Yuan Shu, which is why Hua Xin's decrees could not leave the government.

For the time being, Bai Tu has no better solution, but in the future... Bai Tu will have many solutions, and papermaking and printing are just appetizers!

Originally, Bai Tu had hesitated about whether to do the opposite - let Gan Ning go to Kuaiji, and then directly train the navy, or navy, in Kuaiji.

In this way, whether you go north to Liaodong or south to search for Yizhou after success, there will be huge strategic benefits.

After just a slight hesitation, Bai Tu still put the naval plan on hold - building a long-distance voyage would require a lot of manpower and material investment. Even after unifying Jiangdong, it was not something that could be done.

More importantly, Bai Tu remembered something...

If we calculate the time, Yuan Shu should be proclaimed emperor next year, and after Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor, a major event happened - a severe drought occurred in Huainan that winter!

Moreover, a once-in-a-century drought, coupled with the man-made disaster caused by Yuan Shu's rebellion, directly caused the population of Huainan to drop sharply. In the words of history books, "people eat each other."

How severe is this drought?
Not only were the people destitute, but even the army could not hold on in Huainan - the armies of Cao Cao, Lu Bu and Sun Ce who originally besieged the puppet emperor Yuan Shu had to withdraw from Huainan.

The drought had the effect of "strengthening the walls and clearing the wilderness", which made Cao Cao, who held the heart of the Central Plains, unable to sustain the consumption of food and grass!
So in the end, Yuan Shu was not defeated and killed, but he died on the road with hardship and hatred after escaping from Shouchun...

Bai Tu was in the hard drive and could not find any specific information about the severe drought, but a simple guess is that this drought completely devastated Huainan, which is still prosperous now. It was not until Deng Ai built Huainan as the granary of the Wei State that he could start over. It is impossible for natural and man-made disasters to revitalize Jiangdong without affecting it.

Moreover, Bai Tu's goal cannot be "to be alone". He must take the opportunity to conquer Jiujiang and Lujiang. Even...if the people in Guangling and Runan are also suffering from drought, Bai Tu will also have to help Liu Bei and Cao Cao share the burden.

It can be said that in history, whether it was Cao Cao, Lu Bu, or Sun Ce, it was precisely because they had no food that they left Huainan to be picked up for free. They did not dare to touch this "burden" and could only take over nine of the ten households next year. Empty Huainan.

Therefore, whether it is frying and pouring steel, whether it is a heavy crossbow on a sea ship, or whether it is a magical weapon or armor, it is not as important as food at this time!

With the current agricultural technology in the Jiangdong area, rice and wheat are usually rotated and two crops are harvested a year. Most of the spring plowing has already been carried out. If a severe drought starts next winter, there will not be much time left for Bai Tu...

Capture the four counties of Jiangdong as soon as possible, and then frantically stockpile grain is the only option!

(End of this chapter)