Chapter 7161 3 wins

Chapter 7161 A Win-Win-Win
"Perhaps you guys are really not very good at fighting. To be honest, apart from the elite troops from Danyang who came from elsewhere, the rest of your Xuzhou soldiers seem to be pretty bad. My wife tells me about history, saying that Xuzhou is usually the place where people are being attacked, or where two large armies from other places are fighting for control of Xuzhou. It's rare for Xuzhou to be fighting other things." Zhao Ying said with a hint of teasing.

These words left Huang Tao speechless, but upon reflection, Xuzhou seemed to have always been the one being attacked, so it wasn't entirely wrong.

"Running fast is one thing, but when it comes to really getting involved in a large army, survival skills are what really matter. Tao, take my advice, you should focus on improving your survivability." Zhao Ying smiled when he saw Huang Tao looking thoughtful and not arguing.

"Stop talking. I have the ability to take someone's place. Even you can't take me down." Huang Tao glanced at Zhao Ying. It was true that he couldn't beat these few Jizhou bastards in front of him, but to say that these few Jizhou bastards could take him down would be going too far.

“Your ‘Shadow Strike’ is vulnerable to arrows. We found a guy in Jizhou who can counter that move. We have people in Jizhou who can learn things like Light Chasing Arrow or Mirror Image Pursuit.” Zhao Ying said with a grin. “So, Tao, take my advice. You should go and handle logistics. Leave the front lines to us.”

Meanwhile, a few muscular men from Jizhou secretly moved to a corner of the outer court, forming a semi-encirclement around Huang Tao. As mentioned before, the veterans of Jizhou were truly formidable in both strength and numbers. Even if Sun Er were surrounded by this group, he would be kicked around in circles.

Oh, from a certain perspective, Sun Er is now also a veteran of Jizhou, which makes things even more complicated.

“It seems that this is indeed the final battle.” Zena’s gaze fell on Ananda, and he poured all his thoughts into the light.

“That’s normal. Doesn’t this just prove that our Kushan bureaucrats were right? It’s a good thing.” Anada replied rather calmly. “Zena, are you afraid?”

“You’re surrounded by a bunch of bastards who’re no different from beasts. It would be a miracle if you weren’t afraid at all. I think if I were to break through the barrier and have a group of these guys get close, I’d have to be careful too,” Zena replied with an annoyed look. Ananda was also helpless upon hearing this.

The veterans who have survived to this day on the Kushan side are already among the elite. They are true survivors of countless battles, possessing keen insight and sound judgment. More importantly, they have an abundance of luck and the courage to fight to the death.

After all, the Han dynasty's strength was extremely abnormal. Every Kushan veteran who has survived to this day has a unique skill. The brutal environment really did kill the Kushan veterans. However, it was also because of this brutal environment that all the surviving Kushan veterans were true elites.

On the contrary, the veterans of the Han Dynasty had an exaggerated survival rate due to their armor, win rate, and other factors. However, their average combat strength was slightly weaker than that of the Kushan veterans. After all, the margin for error was high, and it was difficult for such extreme situations to occur. Most of them had various ways to skip classes.

Especially the Shield Guards. The elite veterans who came from the Shield Guards were considered a disgrace to their rank in terms of attack power. However, as the number of Shield Guards increased, this group did not feel ashamed of their attack power, but rather took pride in it. They relied on exaggerated armor, muscle-building needles, heavy high-intensity weapons, and so on to achieve combat power that was absolutely no weaker than other types of veterans of the same rank in group battles.

High defense, strong survivability, tall and strong, high fault tolerance – that's how shameless it is.

If that were all there was to it, Zena and the other top veterans of the Kushan Empire could accept reality, and might even make a few sarcastic remarks. Although such sarcastic remarks might be somewhat like sour grapes, at least they could still offer some criticism.

However, the Han Dynasty's "correct" strategy of accumulating numbers made it easier to survive, even though their average strength was slightly lower than that of the Kushan Empire under the same basic conditions. They simply had too many survivors!
As a result, by sheer numbers, the Han dynasty was in no way inferior to the Kushan dynasty at the highest level, and perhaps even surpassed it. To draw an analogy, a harsh environment can produce enough elite figures, but because the number is too small, the elites cultivated in a milder environment are easily overwhelmed.

To draw an analogy, it's like a feudalistic iron-blooded warrior encountering a socialist loser. He fights with all his might, only to find that the loser, with his inherent aura, has crushed all his efforts.

This is extremely hopeless and frustrating.

Zena originally thought his strength was already incredibly powerful, but after arriving in the Han Dynasty, he realized that there were even more incredible things here. It was all about sheer numbers, and in the end, geniuses and prodigies emerged by chance, which forced them to catch up with the combat power that could only be achieved in the brutal environment where victory meant certain death.

Zena had no temper whatsoever with this.

"When the verification is carried out in the five northern provinces, the southern provinces and counties need to coordinate the allocation of relevant resources." Zhuge Liang instructed the southern governors, led by Liao Li. The others did not say anything upon hearing this, and the matter was settled in a very calm manner. Not even a member of a powerful family stepped forward.

In the eyes of these governors of various prefectures, it was only natural for them to send laborers to transport grain when the five northern prefectures sent troops. They also knew where to send the grain and how to transport it. The only problem was whether such a large-scale troop mobilization would delay the farming season, and if it did, how to deal with it and whether compensation should be given.

Well, in the past, if soldiers were sent out, there would be no compensation for delaying the farming season due to the special nature of the conscription system. After all, it was military service, an obligation. But now the country has money and enough food production, and officials at all levels are willing to spend a little money to settle things.

After all, compared to creating public resentment and causing local unrest, providing some money, food, and supplies and reducing the workload is beneficial to everyone.

However, considering that one of the goals of the Three-Five Plan was to promote small-scale mechanized agricultural tools, coupled with this troop deployment verification and the unavoidable situation of conscripting laborers, the governors of various prefectures naturally understood the logic behind this operation.

It's obvious that Chen Xi wanted to solve several problems at the same time while doing one thing.

At present, the Han Dynasty's state-run farms and plantations have been mechanized. The local people are not very clear about the effects, but the high-ranking officials in various prefectures and counties are relatively clear about them. Not to mention the increase in production, the efficiency alone is frightening to these people.

Even the most basic semi-manual machinery is about ten times faster than normal manual harvesting and seed removal, but its adoption among the general public is not rapid.

On the one hand, the price of machinery is indeed quite expensive, and unlike necessities like plows, which Chen Xi can directly subsidize, most other agricultural machinery is not needed by the people who are used to the previous way of farming, unless Chen Xi is willing to fully fund it.

On the other hand, the current agricultural machinery is more about improving efficiency than improving necessity. For farmers who don't have much to do, the process of harvesting, drying, and threshing is itself a testament to their hard work throughout the year.

When the grain was poured into straw mats for storage, many elderly people who had suffered all their lives were able to feel a sense of satisfaction that they had food to eat and would no longer have to go hungry.

The saying "having food in hand means having peace of mind" perfectly describes this situation.

Therefore, the promotion of agricultural machinery was directly met with resistance from both price and public opinion. In addition, the production volume was already insufficient in the early stages, so ordinary people rarely had access to these things on a large scale.

This stuff was primarily used by state-owned farms and plantations throughout the Central Plains.

However, this was the previous test of the deployment of a million-strong army. According to the principle that each soldier needs three times the number of laborers to handle logistical issues, then a million-strong army would require approximately three million able-bodied laborers. This would certainly affect local agricultural production.

With so many young and middle-aged people leaving, the locals have no choice but to use agricultural machinery if they want to cultivate the same amount of land. In this way, the young people go out and agricultural machinery is successfully promoted, which is a win-win situation.

Of course, these are just the things that these governors and prefects can see. There is something deeper: if efficiency is not improved and these young men can be freed up, even if Chen Xi arranges jobs for these people in state-owned factories, they will eventually be dragged back to their hometowns by their former lifestyles.

However, if these young and strong men are no longer needed for farming in their hometown, then when they return to their hometown, their parents will most likely not want them to be idle and loafing around all day. Therefore, it would be only natural to find them a job.

And just then, there happened to be a factory. Isn't that perfect? ​​A win-win situation, no, a win-win-win situation!

Upon reviewing the plan, Zhuge Liang had only one thought: Chen Xi's work was truly interconnected, with each step leading to one goal, and he would accomplish seven or eight objectives in a single task. It would be a miracle if his efficiency wasn't high.

However, Zhuge Liang did not explain to the bureaucrats who did not expect the subsequent actions. He simply glanced at Chen Gong and saw that the man's eyes were shining, so he knew that this guy understood almost everything.

Zhuge Liang withdrew his gaze from Chen Gong and stopped dwelling on whether officials at all levels fully understood the plan. After all, there was nothing wrong with their ideas; Chen Xi's transfer plan itself was based on the idea of ​​promoting agricultural machinery.

The only problem is that the scale is not the one million currently being proclaimed, but three million. That is, including laborers, the entire Han Dynasty would need to mobilize about ten million able-bodied men.

This was actually Zhuge Liang's way of considering the current speed of development of transportation and logistics in the Han Dynasty, which could greatly reduce the number of laborers. In addition, it would also allow most laborers to stay in their own counties. If Sun Qian and Jian Yong hadn't worked so hard on these things in recent years, the manpower needed would have been even greater.

After all, when a large number of able-bodied men leave the local counties, the already excessive demand for resources will increase further due to the increased average travel distance, thus entering a vicious cycle that leads to an increase in the number of able-bodied men needed until the next equilibrium point is reached.

Even with Chen Xi's efforts over the years, Zhuge Liang estimated that the expedition of three million elite troops would require two to three times that number of civilian laborers to support it from the rear. In total, no matter how many able-bodied men were mobilized, the number would be in the tens of millions.

This scale is extremely exaggerated for Zhuge Liang, but considering the current total population of 80 million in the Han Dynasty, it is something that, while difficult, is not impossible for Zhuge Liang at his current level. Moreover, this refers to Zhuge Liang himself, not the even stronger Chen Xi.

After all, in official history, when Zhuge Liang launched his first Northern Expedition, the number of people he mobilized, including laborers, was about one-tenth of the total population of Sichuan.

Chen Xi's percentage has increased to about one-ninth to one-eighth. This level might be considered aggressive and detrimental to the country for others, but for Zhuge Liang, it was still a level that could be achieved with some effort.

Regardless of the circumstances, nearly ten million able-bodied men were being drawn away, and the war between the Han dynasty and the Kushans could not possibly be completed in one or two months. Considering the time required for marching, it would take at least a year in total. Such a long war would inevitably force the people of the Central Plains to promote the use of agricultural machinery.

Of course, to be honest, Zhuge Liang felt that Chen Xi was being a bit too extreme in this matter. The mobilization of ten million able-bodied people would have a huge impact on the country's overall production and life. Even if there were so-called mechanical energy to replace these able-bodied people to some extent, it would probably still cause a lot of problems. However, Zhuge Liang was not comfortable saying this to Chen Xi.

Zhuge Liang also realized that this move might be the fastest and most effective way to deal with the Kushan Empire. As for all other methods of slowly cutting flesh with a dull knife, for an empire like the Kushan, they would only be wounds that do not kill it. Considering the output of the Indus-Ganges River Basin and the continuous bleeding, the Kushan Empire should be able to hold out for a long time.

On the other hand, even though the Han aristocratic families and court officials did not offer any suggestions regarding the war between the Han and the nobility, it was still entirely predictable that they did not want Liu Bei to continue the war, or at least not to achieve a quick victory. After all, at this point, these people were basically unprepared for Liu Bei to win the war.

Therefore, a swift victory would benefit everyone in Liu Bei's faction. As for the impact of deploying millions of able-bodied men, Zhuge Liang would do his best to mitigate it. If all else fails, there's always Chen Xi!
"The above is the relevant information regarding the troop movements in the five northern prefectures in the eleventh year of Yuanfeng." Zhuge Liang closed the wooden folder in his hand, thus concluding the core content of today's grand court assembly. There will be some other discussions later, but Zhuge Liang no longer needs to personally explain them at the grand court assembly.

"Everyone, please leave. You can hold your local meetings at the Weiyang Side Hall, which has been arranged. Remember to attend the banquet tonight," Liu Tong said somewhat slowly.

If yesterday's court assembly was a moment of daze for Chen Xi after he presented his congratulatory gifts, then today's court assembly was a moment of daze for Liu Tong after he questioned Chen Xi.

So much so that when Liu Tong stood up to announce the evening banquet after the afternoon court session ended, he was somewhat slow to react.

That's right. Yesterday's court assembly only provided lunch, and everyone had to go home in the evening to celebrate the New Year. Today, after the court assembly, there will be a formal banquet. The previous relatively inhumane practice has finally been revised at Chen Xi's request. After all, it's the New Year, isn't it better to eat and drink at home?
"What's wrong with the princess?" Jia Xu sneaked over again and asked Chen Xi with some surprise when he saw Liu Tong's slow reaction.

"You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?" Chen Xi said irritably. "What happened to you this morning?"

"Is the Prime Minister checking up on us?" Jia Xu said with a laugh.

Chen Xi chuckled upon hearing this, "What's wrong? Am I, the prime minister, not qualified to check up on things?"

"The Three Dukes are prestigious and respected positions, how can they be subject to inspections?" Jia Xu said with a hint of sarcasm. Hearing this, Chen Xi smiled and didn't ask Jia Xu what was going on. Similarly, Jia Xu didn't ask Chen Xi about Liu Tong.

Although Jia Xu, who had fled to Liu Bei's side, deeply felt that the reason Liu Tong was mentally confused and slow to react was because Chen Xi must have said something nonsense again. After all, other people would not dare to talk nonsense to Liu Tong, and with Liu Tong's brain, ordinary words would have little effect. Only Chen Xi would occasionally come up with some explosive remarks to Liu Tong, which would completely confuse him.

After Jia Xu slipped away, Chen Xi glanced at Liu Tong, who was sitting in the main seat, out of the corner of his eye. He noticed that Liu Tong seemed a little dazed. Then, recalling what he had been rambling about today, he realized that he hadn't said anything inappropriate.

"Kongming, did I say anything inappropriate today?" Chen Xi asked Zhuge Liang with some curiosity. Zhuge Liang looked Chen Xi up and down and shook his head.

"I think sometimes it's better to ask directly. Trying to guess what the princess is thinking will only lead you astray," Zhuge Liang suggested formally. "Speaking of which, can we pack the leftovers from the banquet?"

"Why do you always ask if you can take away whatever you eat?" Chen Xi said with a hint of helplessness. "As a marquis, your wife should be attending the banquet. Even though she's not here, the Empress is still hosting a banquet, and the food is no different."

Although there is no empress and Si Niang is completely useless, Si Niang is extremely professional when it comes to hosting banquets. She performs exceptionally well every year. It can be said that among all the major events each year, Si Niang's performance as the empress is only at the New Year's Eve banquet, where she is elegant and noble!
"Compared to you wealthy and powerful families, I am indeed far inferior in this respect, so if I have the chance to try your food, I should bring more with me," Zhuge Liang said with a smile, without any hint of embarrassment, but rather with a touch of teasing.

Headache. I need to start working on my drafts. I'm heading south to escape the cold, but I don't have any drafts yet.