My younger brother Lü Fengxian

Chapter 258: The Army Goes to the Frontier
After Lu Yi returned to Hebei, the first thing he did was to arrange for Gao Shun to personally lead a team to deliver the horses given by his cheap father-in-law and the war horses of the Hutuo tribe captured in the defense of Luwu a few months ago to Zhen Shi. He also exchanged them for a considerable amount of grain, which completely solved the food shortage problem in Pingcheng this year.

I dare not say how many more there are, but apart from the 10,000 people in Luwu, it is no problem to support another 40,000 to 50,000 people in Pingcheng.

In addition to the endless grain carts, there were also thousands of refugees, including the elderly and children, who followed Gao Shun back to Pingcheng.

These refugees were originally among the tens of thousands of refugees outside Zhongshan City.

Their composition is complex, including people from Hebei as well as people from the Central Plains and the capital area.

Although they looked thin and tired, most of them were young and strong men.

There is no other way. It is very difficult for the elderly, women and children to persist in this precarious process of wandering and fleeing famine.

The last time Lu Yi went to Zhongshan, he was very jealous of these refugees.

These people can recover immediately if they are well fed for a month or two. There is basically no Han Chinese who doesn't know how to farm.

These people are all young and strong.

Whether it is to be recruited into the military settlement to reclaim land and pay grain for Lu Yi, or to be incorporated into Lu Yi's private army after being assessed, both are excellent choices.

These people are living in a precarious situation, struggling to survive, and you only need to pay a little to gain their loyalty.

Therefore, Lu Yi specially arranged for Gao Shun to sell his horse in exchange for food and then contact these refugees. If there were people who were willing to give up their household registration and hide under Lu Yi's command, no matter how old or young, as long as they followed the caravan back to Pingcheng, Lu Yi would accept them.

It now seems that Gao Shun carried out Lu Yi's orders very well.

His trip to Zhongshan was quite fruitful.

As many as four or five thousand refugees followed Gao Shun all the way to Pingcheng to settle down.

This made Lu Yi's strength increase dramatically in an instant.

As long as Lu Yi takes good care of these four or five thousand people, they will be able to recover quickly like Gao Lan, who was in a similar condition as them.

And Lu Yi could also select strong and brave men from them to expand the army by another two or three hundred people.

The distorted ratio of soldiers to civilians in Luwu was by no means normal.

Generally speaking, supporting one soldier for every ten people is considered to be excessive military spending.

Normally, it would take at least twenty people to support one soldier in order to be considered sustainable.

Previously, the ratio of military to civilians in Luwu was close to one to five.

To support one soldier with five people is already like exhausting the resources.

If Lu Yi had not had the lucrative horse smuggling trade to back him up, he would have been defeated long ago with just such elite soldiers.

Now as his power grows, his subsequent military strategies will become more regular and reasonable.

The demands on the population will also become greater and greater.

Therefore, although Lu Yi incorporated four to five thousand refugees in one day, he was still not satisfied.

Next, Lu Yi ordered Chen Gong to open up and collect the hungry people around Pingcheng.

As long as the person was honest and had no bad habits, he would welcome anyone, regardless of gender, age or status.

It is a fact that most of those who have survived the Xianbei's rampage for more than half a year are young and middle-aged men.

Most of the elderly, the weak and women had a miserable ending and could not survive until now.

Besides, these people can’t eat much food.

Therefore, there was no need for Lu Yi to ruin his still decent reputation for this little bit of food.

Of course, if you are a ruffian who just wants to live a life of idleness and wait for death, don't even think about getting away with it with Lu Yi.

During the more than one year that Lu Yi has been managing Luwu, he has accumulated a lot of experience in management, and he has many ways to deal with these bad apples.

For a while, Pingcheng under Lu Yi's rule was like a population black hole, constantly siphoning off the population from nearby prefectures and counties that already had sparse populations.

But Chen Gong was somewhat worried about Lu Yi's order.

"Sir, although we have enough food now, if we recruit civilians without restraint, will it be detrimental to the county lord if the court hears about it?"

"What Gongtai said is very true!"

Lu Yi nodded when he heard this, but the expression on his face was very relaxed.

"If we had robbed people so blatantly in the past, even if the court didn't care, the surrounding counties would not have let us do whatever we wanted."

"After all, population is also a very important factor in the evaluation of officials. If the population drops significantly during their tenure, it will have a great impact on their future."

"But things are different now."

"These refugees cannot reproduce in a short period of time, but they have to consume a huge amount of food all day long."

"The situation in Hebei, especially in Bingzhou and Youzhou, is similar to that in Pingcheng. Officials in the surrounding counties and prefectures can hardly protect themselves, so how can they take care of so many refugees?"

"Moreover, they couldn't kill these people like the Xianbei did, so they could only watch these hungry refugees gather around the city."

"But once there are more people, there will be more things to do and the situation will become more complicated."

"They are worried about these refugees gathering to cause trouble, and they are too busy sending them to the sea, so why would they worry about us absorbing the population?"

"Not to mention that they themselves are worried that the news that they cannot accommodate the refugees will be known to the court. Even if the court sends officials to conduct a thorough investigation, they will still cover for us for the sake of their official hats. Therefore, the public official can feel free to recruit people!"

Lu Yi talked freely, but suddenly his tone changed.

"What's more, a disaster much bigger than the refugees will happen in a few months. When that happens, the imperial court will definitely not focus on the small refugees and the small border town of Pingcheng."

"Disaster?"

Chen Gong was stunned when he heard this and asked in confusion.

Seeing this, Lu Yi did not hide anything from him and immediately told him everything he had seen and heard during his trip to the grassland.

"What! The Southern Xiongnu Chanyu is also planning a rebellion?"

Chen Gong was shocked when he heard this, and besides being shocked, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

"The Southern Xiongnu have been subject to the Han Dynasty for more than a hundred years, but now they have rebelled. Now that the Han Dynasty is weak, the Xiongnu Chanyu Jiang Qu has become restless. It seems that these days are really troubled times!"

"The Hu people are treacherous and are nothing more than wolves!"

"When the Han is strong, they will be servile and dependent; when the Han is weak, they will rise up and attack."

"I have long known that the Hu people are restless. It is beyond my expectation that Jiang Qu can endure until now before taking action!"

Lu Yi sneered when he heard this.

"If Jiang Qu had been quiet all along, he could have become a rich and distinguished man."

"But now he is recruiting soldiers and expanding his military, as if he is preparing to rebel against the Han Dynasty and establish his own regime. Although I am only the head of a small county on the border, I will never allow him to become powerful!"

"I intend to report this to the court, and then gather military forces and lead the people to the south of the desert to contact the tribes in the center of the Southern Xiongnu who are oriented to the court, and jointly attack Jiang Qu."

"Oh!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Gong couldn't help but reveal admiration on his face.

"If the county lord can quell the Xiongnu rebellion, it will be a great thing for the country and the people!" "However, even though the Xiongnu are becoming more and more restless now, and several generations of Chanyu have been killed by the Xiongnu Protector General, I am afraid that even if you kill Jiang Qu with your great military prowess, there will be other Xiongnu people who continue to cause chaos."

But as he spoke, Chen Gong couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

"Haha, I only said that I want to deal with Jiang Qu, but I didn't say that I want to deal with him all at once!"

Lu Yi chuckled when he heard this.

"Does your Excellency mean to promote the division of the Southern Xiongnu?"

Chen Gong was also a rare wise man in the world. After thinking for a moment, he immediately understood Lu Yi's idea.

"Not bad!"

After Lu Yi looked at Chen Gong with appreciation, he continued to add.

"Rather than having us Han people waste the lives of many soldiers to quell the rebellions of the Hu people again and again, it is better to let the Hu people fight each other."

"In this way, the Hu people who are caught in civil strife will not only have no energy to go south to plunder our Bingzhou, but they themselves will also become weaker in the fierce internal struggles."

"Although the Xiongnu were a vassal state of the Han Dynasty, they were essentially no different from the Xianbei people."

"It's not that they don't want to invade the Central Plains like the Xianbei did this year, but they just don't have the power to do so right now."

"One day in the future, when the Han people are weak and the Xiongnu people are strong, the so-called vassal relationship will be nothing but a piece of paper and can be torn up at any time."

"Therefore, it is better to eliminate this evil wolf in advance!"

"When they are fighting among themselves, we can seize this golden opportunity to expand our power. When Jiang Qu is exhausted, we can sit back and reap the benefits!"

"Your Excellency is right. I look forward to that day!"

Chen Gong was moved by the grand idea that Lu Yi described, and his heart was filled with excitement.

Although it was a turbulent time, the Liu Han Dynasty had been passed down for 400 years, and the biggest dream of most Han people was to emulate heroes like Huo Qubing and Wei Qing to fight against foreign races and spread the country's prestige abroad.

Cao Cao’s biggest dream now is to become the Western General of the Han Dynasty, completely pacify the Western Qiang and the Western Regions, and gain fame before and after his death.

Chen Gong was no less capable.

If Lu Yi could pacify the Huns, then as a member of Lu Yi's army, Chen Gong would naturally be proud of it.

"There will come a day!"

After patting Chen Gong on the shoulder, Lu Yi made arrangements for Pingcheng after leaving.

"After settling down today, I will go to other places to gather forces."

"After I leave, Gongtai will act as the county magistrate. I will leave you two hundred soldiers from the Xianzhen Camp in Pingcheng, but Gao Shun will also go out with me."

As Lu Yi spoke, he continued speaking after seeing Chen Gong looked embarrassed.

"Although the two of us are leaving, Gao Lan will remain to assist the public."

"Gao Lan is also a fierce general. He has few rivals in Bingzhou. Gongtai can rest assured!"

"In addition, we can first select a group of military garrison soldiers from among the refugees at a ratio of one person for every twenty people to assist the Xianzhen camp soldiers in defending Pingcheng. With the current population of nearly 10,000 in Pingcheng, we can recruit another 500 to 600 people. Together with the 200 Xianzhen camp soldiers who stayed behind, we will be able to protect Pingcheng!"

"If that's the case, I'll be relieved. I wish you a speedy and victorious return!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Gong nodded and bowed to Lu Yishen to accept the order.

Lu Yi led Gao Shun and six hundred soldiers from the Xianzhen Camp, and also borrowed four hundred young men from the Zhang family.

Then, he selected 500 elite soldiers from the 3,000 auxiliary troops of Luwu and put them under his command.

Afterwards, he secretly ordered Lu Bu to lead his 500 Han troops to join the battle.

The total number was two thousand.

Over the past few months, Luwu has been operating at almost full capacity under Lu Yi's orders, consuming almost all of the spoils from the Xianbei war and adding nearly a thousand sets of iron armor.

After adding the armor that the Xianzhen Camp already had and the previous inventory, the number just reached two thousand, which could reproduce some of the glory of Lu Yi's surprise troops during the Battle of Pingcheng.

This time, he planned to go out of the border with the caravan.

This caravan will not carry any goods except food and supplies.

After all, in addition to the horses promised by his father-in-law Hexutuo, if the war goes well, Lu Yi will also have considerable gains. Although he does not carry any goods, it will not delay his business trip and he may even make a fortune on his return trip.

Under Lu Yi's order, the Lu caravan was directly transformed into a baggage train on the spot.

This was also the core purpose when Lu Yi first started building the caravan.

It is good for the caravan to make money, but it is a secondary goal.

Therefore, no matter how much money you make, you must not forget the original purpose of construction.

Over the past year or so, although the caravan has done a good job in trading, under Lu Yi's special arrangement, the essential work of armed transportation has always been trained and developed.

Now the Lu family caravan has been transformed into an excellent baggage train.

Not only can we build roads through mountains and build bridges across rivers.

In addition, the baggage train of nearly a thousand people itself has a certain combat effectiveness, enough to match the same number of Hu people.

Lu Yi also selected a thousand men from Luwu's auxiliary troops to join the baggage train, greatly enhancing the combat effectiveness of the baggage train.

These two thousand combat soldiers and two thousand auxiliary soldiers are the entire combat force under Lu Yi's command now!

After nearly two years of hard work, Lu Yi finally had what it took to dominate the world.

This was different from the 3,000 armored cavalry he led when he was under Lu Zhi's command.

These two thousand armored cavalry and two thousand auxiliary soldiers were all his private soldiers.

Obey his orders and only his orders, and act and fight completely according to his will.

Although the number of people is not as many as the 3,000 in the previous period of the special forces, they are of the same lineage.

On the contrary, they are more united than when they were forced together before.

Therefore, they can display combat power that is no weaker than that of the period of Three Thousand Special Soldiers.

"Brother, you should lead your brothers to do what they want. Although Gongsun Zan is a hero in Youzhou, there is always some estrangement between us brothers in Bingzhou. Not only do we have to be on guard against them, but there are also some things that we cannot say in front of them. It will always be unpleasant."

Lu Bu, who came immediately after receiving Lu Yi's call, was very excited to see that his family had accumulated such a huge capital in just two years.

"Now, everyone present is a brother who eats from the same pot, so naturally we will work together!"

Gao Shun smiled and said affirmatively when he heard this.

"Haha, the three of us are always leading the caravan to do business, and I thought Big Brother had forgotten about us!"

"Now that I can follow my elder brother to the frontier to kill the Hu people, I have finally made it through!"

Hou Cheng, Wei Xu and Song Xian were also summoned by Lu Yi to be by his side, and they were very happy to hear this.

……

(End of this chapter)