At first, Yan Rou just watched as Cecilia selected the soldiers.
After selecting ten, Yan Rou thought, 'Does the Provincial Governor want to train some personal guards?' That was good.
After selecting thirty, Yan Rou thought, 'The number of guards is a bit too much.'
After selecting fifty, Yan Rou thought, 'Fifty, no more.' Those who were selected were all veterans with great potential. He couldn't bear it!
Cecilia didn't stop. She selected more than seventy soldiers from the first three rows and then went to the fourth row.
Yan Rou took a deep breath. 'I'll bear it.'
After Cecilia selected a hundred soldiers, Yan Rou finally couldn't bear it anymore.
"Provincial Governor, what's the meaning of this?"
Bai Xiaowen smiled and said, "When I came back from Jizhou, I received an order from my third brother to select soldiers from the Youzhou army and train them into elite soldiers to support the battle in Guandu. General Yan, don't have any opinions about my father's orders. "
Yan Rou was terrified when he heard this. "I don't dare."
He wasn't Yuan Shao's confidant, so he naturally wouldn't complain to him.
After all, Bai Xiaowen was Yuan Shao's son. Even though he was held back by the civil and military officials under his command, if he really wanted to put aside his pride and do something, he could still achieve great things.
As a hunter, Bai Xiaowen's bottom line was obviously much lower than the previous Second Young Master Yuan, and his face was much thicker!
Cecilia's selection speed was getting faster and faster. In the end, she selected six hundred soldiers from the five thousand soldiers.
Yan Rou said with a bitter face, "Provincial Governor, the five thousand soldiers under my command are registered. Now that six hundred people are missing, it's hard to explain when there's a review in the future. "
"General Yan, don't worry. I'll allow you to recruit new soldiers in the countryside of Youzhou to make up for the six hundred empty soldiers. All of this is to defeat Traitor Cao. I won't forget General Yan's contribution. "Bai Xiaowen was in a good mood.
Yan Rou sighed. During the last conscription, about seventy to eighty percent of the elite soldiers under his command had been taken away. Now, the second young master of the Yuan family had sent this female general, who had sharp eyes, to take away six hundred strong soldiers. Now, the four thousand soldiers under his command were basically like dogs with broken backs. Their combat power plummeted.
No matter how diligent he was in recruiting soldiers, he couldn't catch up with these fierce veterans who had been on the battlefield.
However, the Second Young Master Yuan promised to make up for the gap, so he didn't go too far..
Yan Rou took the opportunity to ask for money and rations: "Provincial Governor, it's fine to recruit soldiers, but you have to give them some money to settle down. Also, for the new soldiers, military equipment and rations have to be prepared. This is not a small expense. Would Daren please give this general an official document so that I can ask Zhao Rong, Daren? "
"No need. How much do you need to recruit soldiers? I'll give it to you. There's no need to look for Zhao Rong."
If Yan Rou went to find Zhao Rong, he would definitely be suspicious because he had never heard of Yuan Shao's order to recruit more soldiers. Furthermore, Yuan Shao's orders were required to withdraw the money and provisions. If Zhao Rong went to ask Yuan Shao for instructions, the plan would be exposed and Bai Xiaowen's surprise attack mission would be ruined.
Bai Xiaowen knew that he could not avoid this sum of money. The rules of the Spiriters' Realm would not allow him to poach from the Youzhou army so recklessly without accomplishing anything.
Poaching a group of veterans and spending money to recruit new soldiers for Yan Rou was the biggest benefit of Yuan Xi's identity.
Bai Xiaowen gave Yan Rou ten taels of gold (about two thousand four hundred strings of cash) for the new soldiers. He finally appeased this old subordinate of Liu Yu.
But it was all worth it. The winged cavalry was one of the strongest soldiers in the Cain Realm. In the Three Kingdoms Realm, they should be considered elite soldiers. At the very least, they wouldn't lose to Tao Qian's Danyang soldiers or Big Ear Liu's White Nightmare soldiers.
Bai Xiaowen continued to write orders for the armory and the stables to provide a batch of warhorses as soon as possible.
Of course, this wasn't free. Bai Xiaowen had to pay for all the money he needed. Again, he couldn't use the money stored in the Youzhou treasury. Otherwise, Zhao Rong would ask for Yuan Shao's permission.
The only good thing was that the armory and the stables wouldn't make a profit from the provincial governor. They would provide the warhorses at close to cost.
"Cecilia, calculate how much it will cost to train a winged cavalry soldier?" Bai Xiaowen asked.
Cecilia said, "A set of armor made of fifty refined steel will cost thirty strings of cash. I hope that the spears, sabers, and arrowheads can be made of hundred refined steel. It will also cost thirty strings of cash. A warhorse will cost ten strings of cash. Plus three months' worth of food and the horse's food, it will cost ten strings of cash. That's eighty strings of cash. "
"That's expensive." Bai Xiaowen was mentally prepared, but he was still shocked when he heard the number. The twenty thousand strings of cash he got from his brother-in-law was only enough to train three hundred winged cavalry soldiers!
Cecilia frowned and said, "A winged cavalry soldier armed like this will definitely be a top-notch elite. Although I don't know how powerful the Ferocious Cavalry is, Dior, I believe that my winged cavalry soldiers won't lose to any of the elite soldiers from the Three Kingdoms! "
After pausing for a moment, Cecilia reached out and smoothed out Bai Xiaowen's worried expression. "Dior, if there's no other way, I can lower the budget. The armor will cost thirty refined steel, the spears and sabers will cost fifty refined steel … This way, we can save about twenty to thirty strings of cash for each winged cavalry soldier. "
"No, we must use the best weapons and equipment to train a truly elite soldier." Bai Xiaowen shook his head and said, "For a surprise attack on Xu Du, quality is more important than quantity! We'll train three hundred winged cavalry soldiers for now. When Old Han sends the money from the Tian family over, we should be able to train another batch. In short, I'll think of a solution for the money. "
Since he chose six hundred veterans, Bai Xiaowen thought that he could train at least six hundred winged cavalry soldiers! A group of six hundred elite soldiers was already an elite force that couldn't be underestimated in the Three Kingdoms era.
It must be known that it was easy to recruit soldiers, but hard to train them. The cost of maintaining an elite soldier was even greater. In the Three Kingdoms, there was no power that could maintain such a large number of elite soldiers. According to the information that Bai Xiaowen looked up, Gongsun Zan's White Horse Cavalry had a total of three thousand soldiers, while Gao Shun's Formation Breaker (heavy infantry) only had seven hundred soldiers.
Bai Xiaowen didn't need to spend the long-term cost of training an army. He himself couldn't stay in the Three Kingdoms for more than a year, so three months of food was more than enough. This was an advantage that couldn't be considered an advantage.
In Beiping City, Bai Xiaowen oversaw for a day. Cecilia's training was also on track.
Although Zhao Rong, Jiao Tan, and the other subordinates of Yuan Shao saw General Bai Sanniang (Cecilia) training new soldiers, they naturally didn't meddle in other people's business. First of all, the number of soldiers was small, and second of all, they didn't use Youzhou's money and soldiers.
Bai Xiaowen, however, wasn't someone who could stay idle. After the training was on track, he immediately summoned Yan Rou.
Eye of Evolution
Eye of Evolution
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