As soon as Cao Zhen said this, Fei Yao asked, "General, this seems a little inappropriate, right?"
"What's wrong?" Du Xi asked.
Du Xi took over the words that Cao Zhen should have answered, and Cao Zhen was happy to let Du Xi do it for him. If the general did everything, what would he, the general's chief secretary, do?
Fei Yao answered as if he knew everything: "Before the war started, there were only 20,000 foreign troops and 20,000 soldiers from prefectures and counties in Longyou. Later, Your Majesty sent Qian Zhao and Zhu Gai to transfer 20,000 troops to Chang'an, which makes 60,000."
"Last year when the Shu rebels invaded, Your Majesty ordered Chen Huqi to transfer 10,000 troops from Jingzhou. All together, there are 70,000 troops."
Fei Yao coughed lightly and said, "We have 70,000 soldiers. After the losses in Longyou, the battle of Lueyang, the battles for Chiting and Hanzhong, we have suffered heavy losses."
"But after all, 30,000 of them were transferred from Jingzhou and Yangzhou. Don't they need to be returned?"
"Return?" Cao Zhen laughed and waved his hands violently: "Return what? Is Gong Wei stupid?"
"They are all soldiers of the Wei Dynasty. Not to mention that they have been transferred to Guanxi, even if they are not in Guanxi, can't I, the general, command them?"
Fei Yao cupped his hands and said, "I am also thinking about the general."
"The 12,000 soldiers at the Grand Marshal's place are easy to deal with. Jingzhou already has few soldiers, and Chen Huqi has transferred another 18,000 soldiers twice... What if he complains to Your Majesty?"
"Go ahead and sue me." Cao Zhen didn't care. "When I was fighting in Huainan and Guanxi, Chen Qun stayed in Xiangyang and didn't do anything. What's wrong with sending some troops out?"
"Don't talk about this anymore."
"Yes." Fei Yao smiled awkwardly and cupped his hands.
Du Xi continued, "Just now Gong Wei said there were more than 50,000 soldiers. If we look at it in detail, it should be 56,000."
"Excluding the 9,000 county soldiers from Yongzhou, the 2,000 county soldiers from Qinzhou, and the 7,000 county soldiers from Liangzhou, the total number is 18,000."
"There are 36,000 foreign troops, but only 3,500 are in Chencang." Du Xi counted them one by one: "Guo Huai has 15,000 in Hanzhong, and Lu Pan has 5,000 in Wuxing. The remaining 10,000 or so followed Zhang He back to Qishan."
After the calculation, Du Xi raised his head and said seriously: "It is true that we do not have the troops to return Jing and Yang states."
"Yes, what is there to return?" Cao Zhen added.
Du Xi turned around and asked, "But the Qiang soldiers are not included. Lu Xun leads 10,000 Qiang soldiers in Dazhong, and the remaining vacancies can only be filled from the Qiang people."
Cao Zhen said: "When I was in Shanggui, I saw the 10,000 'elite' soldiers selected by Lu Xun. It would be good if their fighting power could match half of that of the county soldiers."
"If we want to use Qiang soldiers for field battles, I'm afraid it's wishful thinking in the short term. But if we train them for a season or two, it shouldn't be a problem to use them to defend the city."
Du Xi nodded and said, "General, you are right. Fortunately, there are many Qiang people, and we can always pick out some young and strong men who can be used."
"It has been agreed that Guo Huai will be supplemented with 10,000 Qiang soldiers. What about Zhang He?"
"Zhang He," Cao Zhen smacked his lips, "Give Qinzhou 30,000 reinforcements?"
Fei Yao turned his head to look at Cao Zhen: "Lu Xun already has 10,000 troops, so we need to give Zhang Zhengxi another 6,000 or 7,000?"
"Lu Xun is not counted." Cao Zhen said, "I don't know how he persuaded Your Majesty to receive such treatment. Just let him stay in Dazhong with 10,000 people and leave him alone."
Du Xi replied, "Then send another 16,000 Qiang soldiers to Zhang He. The total number of recruits will be 26,000."
Cao Zhen nodded: "That's the number."
To be honest, there was some discussion among the army about Your Majesty's generous reward to Lu Xun.
First of all, he was a surrendered general.
Since Lu Xun lost all of Sun Quan's coffin capital in Huainan, he was not highly regarded by the military circles of the Wei Dynasty.
After the surprise attack on Baishui Pass and the chance of victory for Chiting, Lu Xun's reputation improved a little, but overall it was still negative and he was labeled as a minister who was lucky to get promoted.
Since he surrendered after being captured, he is not as good as Huang Quan and Huang Gongheng.
There is no way around it. Perhaps only the emperor himself understands that Lu Xun is truly a rare talent, a talent who has nothing to do with any forces or groups in the Wei Dynasty.
The second is that the reward is too great.
Lu Xun's titles of General Protector of Qiang and Marquis of Wu were not a big deal, as the Wei Dynasty had a tradition of treating surrendered generals with favor. They could just be put aside.
But what no one expected was that His Majesty also betrothed the princess to Lu Xun.
The political treatment that was like that of a royal family member was what shocked clan generals such as Cao Zhen and Cao Hong the most.
Even if you think so, since Your Majesty has already conferred such an appointment, who can challenge Your Majesty face to face? Who dares to do so? Since it is impossible to talk about it and difficult to control it, let Lu Xun stay in Dazhong.
Du Xi nodded: "We have a framework for military deployment and troop replenishment, and the next step is to work on emergency plans."
"Shi Zai," Du Xi turned to look at Deng Ai, "Hanzhong's defense was your advice. What suggestions do you have now?"
"General, Lord Du," Deng Ai said, bowing his hands, "I think that the general is in Chencang and controls the entire Guanxi area. How can we, the four of us and the ten officials in the government, accomplish this?"
"The general still has nearly 200 people in Luoyang. Why don't you call them all to Chencang?"
As soon as Deng Ai said this, the atmosphere in the hall immediately became quiet.
Cao Zhen and Du Xi were silent. Yang Dan reacted and said to his colleague who held the same position as him, "Shi Zai, we can put this matter aside for now. It won't be too late to decide on a strategy first and then recruit officials!"
"Why?" Deng Ai turned around and looked at Yang Tan. "It only takes more than ten days to get from Luoyang to Chencang. Why can't you come? If we recruit new people, it will probably take even longer."
Yang Dan smiled and said nothing, but he secretly complained in his heart.
Du Xi noticed Yang Dan's hidden smile, sighed and shook his head.
Yang Tan was reluctant to go into details, but Deng Ai was nominally under his command. In order to prevent Deng Ai from discussing the matter again, Du Xi still had to point it out.
"Shi Zai," Du Xi took a breath, "Do you think that since the general has come to Chencang, the government officials will also come to Chencang?"
Deng Ai sensed something was wrong, but when Du Xi asked, he still explained: "Maybe we don't need all of them. Half or one-third would be fine, right?"
"No one can come."
Du Xi explained helplessly: "Although the two hundred officials in the General's Mansion in Luoyang are subordinate to the General's Mansion and nominally the General's personal retainers, they are actually in charge of the military affairs of the entire Wei Dynasty."
"Your Majesty ordered the general to move to Chencang and entrusted him with the responsibility of supervising Guanxi. Now that the general has taken on the new post, it is not appropriate for him to have anything to do with the old one."
Du Xi looked at Deng Ai and said, "Shi Zai may not know that these two hundred officials are in charge of the military affairs of the entire Wei Dynasty, which is extremely complicated. Let alone transferring one-third, even transferring thirty or twenty people would be difficult."
"If we don't adjust one, we can show your majesty and the world that we are selfless. Besides, can't we, the four of us, and the ten officials outside, all be used?"
Deng Ai had never thought of this level. After hearing Du Xi's words, he stood up, bowed his hands and apologized, saying: "I am guilty of my words. I hope the general will forgive me."
Cao Zhen was also open-minded: "It doesn't matter. If Shi Zai doesn't understand or can't do it, Du Zixu and I can teach you."
"Don't make me teach you twice."
"Thank you, General." Deng Ai bowed again.
"Please sit down," Cao Zhen waved his hand, "We haven't discussed the emergency plan yet."
Deng Ai gathered his thoughts, sat down and said slowly: "The defense of the three cities in Hanzhong can be assured. The next focus is nothing more than Wujie facing Yinping and Wuxing in the north of Hanzhong."
"Although there was talk of stationing troops at Wuxing to defend against Shu, we haven't had time to start work yet."
"I suggest that we build a pass in Wuxing and a strong city in Wujie. These two things should be put on the agenda."
Cao Zhen responded, "Shi Zai is right. There are only these two gaps at the moment."
Deng Ai continued, "The area west of the Guan River is vast. From Chencang to Yangping Pass, it is 550 li. The distance from Qishan to Yangping Pass is also long."
"If there are police in Hanzhong or Wujie, the faster we dispatch troops, the more comfortable we will be in responding."
Du Xi turned to look at Deng Ai and asked: "How can we dispatch troops faster?"
Deng Ai said: "I have two plans."
“One is to store food in stages.”
"During the slack season every year, we will recruit corvée laborers from Qinzhou and Yongzhou to place grain and fodder in Qishan, Wuxing, and Hanzhong. Grain will be transported to the frontline once every six months, and the rest of the supplies can be transported at other times."
"If so, when a war breaks out, we can get rid of the logistical constraints and quickly advance to the front line to fight the enemy."
Cao Zhen nodded and said, "If so, we must first build up the military and build the pass."
Deng Ai continued: "Secondly, we can repair the military roads, build permanent camps along the military roads, and send people to maintain them on a daily basis."
"If so, we can save the trouble of setting up camp for reinforcements."
Deng Ai looked at Cao Zhen and said, "The area is far away. Only by preparing everything in advance can we reach there quickly when the battle comes." (End of this chapter)
