Chapter 204: Logical Genius Zhang Fei
Facing Zhang Fei's questioning, Jin Mao had no choice but to explain: "Yide, the first to fifth battalions are not ordinary teams."

"That is my main force, and only my trusted men can hold important posts."

Zhang Fei was not convinced and asked, "Then how come Guan Er has three battalions under his command?"

Indeed, Guan Yu's thousand heavily-armored shield soldiers came from the third battalion. Jin Mao was negligent and forgot about this matter.

"It `s my mistake."

Jin Mao once again took the initiative to admit his mistake and said, "Zhi Cai, replace the soldiers for Guan Yu."

"Wait a minute!" Zhang Fei's loud voice scared Xi Zhicai.

"Sir, do you mean that if I acknowledge you as my lord, I can become the captain of the second battalion?"

Jin Mao nodded and said, "That's right."

Zhang Fei opened his mouth as wide as a lotus flower and was about to bow down to pay his respects.

Guan Yu was quick to grab Zhang Fei and asked, "What are you doing?!"

Zhang Fei said seriously, "I pay my respects to you, my Lord."

Guan Yu first apologized to everyone present, then asked in a low voice: "You and I both recognize my elder brother as our master, how can we recognize someone else?!"

"This is not right!" Zhang Fei shouted, "Brother is our sworn brother, I treat him like my own brother."

"We are all brothers, so how can there be any distinction between the primary and the secondary?"

Theoretically speaking, this is indeed the case.

Guan Yu suddenly became anxious: "Have you forgotten the oath you made?"

"I haven't forgotten it." Zhang Fei recited it again: "I don't ask to be born on the same day of the same month of the same year, but I ask to die on the same day of the same month of the same year!"

Guan Yu was so angry that he said, "Then you still..."

Zhang Fei looked at Guan Yu with wise eyes and said, "Second Guan, are you confused?"

"The envoy is so good to you, but you have no intention of repaying him?"

Guan Yu's face turned purple, and he didn't know if it was because he was angry: "One thing is another, it's not the same thing!"

Zhang Fei was surprised and asked, "Why is it not the same thing?"

"Why don't we three brothers recognize you as our master together?"

Ah this!

Not to mention Guan Yu, even Jin Mao was shocked by Zhang Fei's remarks.

If I could recruit the three brothers Liu, Guan and Zhang, the picture would be so beautiful that I can’t even imagine it.

Guan Yu was completely confused. If he thought about the problem in Zhang Fei's words, it seemed like there was nothing wrong with it. But if there was no problem, Guan Yu couldn't accept it.

For a moment, Guan Yu was trapped by the logical genius Zhang Fei.

"Guan Lao Er, do you recognize the master?"

Zhang Fei urged: "Even if you don't admit it, I will!"

Guan Yu's face was full of confusion. Counting the time, he had been in Yangzhou for almost a year and a half. He and his elder brother Liu Bei were rarely together and had not communicated for a long time.

Now Zhang Fei wants to drag these three people into the water. Even if Guan Yu is extremely reluctant, he cannot stop it without Liu Bei's persuasion.

Seeing Zhang Fei paying homage and recognizing Jin Mao as his master, Guan Yu felt empty inside and didn't know what to do.

Fortunately, Jin Mao was so happy that he did not notice Guan Yu's abnormality.

Even if I knew, I wouldn't force it.

No matter how much you force it, it will be useless. Guan Yu is the loyal and righteous Guan Erye, and it is impossible for him to agree to such an absurd request.

"Good good!"

Zhang Fei's ceremony of recognizing his master was too hasty. When Jin Mao reacted, the corners of his mouth curled up to the sky.

"From now on, Zhang Yide will be my Second Battalion Captain!"

"Oh, right!" Jin Mao slapped his forehead, almost forgetting the most important thing: "Yide, I have to put up with you for a while."

"It is a military convention that even if you acknowledge your master, you still have to serve as a temporary replacement until you have accumulated enough military merits before you can be promoted to a regular position!"

Zhang Fei was so happy that he clapped his hands and shouted, "Great!"

"My Lord, I am your general now. I must give you a greeting gift, right?"

Jin Mao was very happy and responded casually: "Just tell me, no matter what you want, I will satisfy you!"

"hey-hey."

Zhang Fei rubbed his hands and said, "You said it yourself! Don't regret it!"

"I want to replace the entire Second Battalion with cavalry!"

"That won't work!" Jin Mao shook his head decisively and said, "Change the conditions."

Zhang Fei started to act like a spoiled brat: "My lord, how can you go back on your word?"

"This is what you just promised me!"

Jin Mao couldn't stand the rough man's coquettishness, so he said, "How about this, in view of your excellent performance, I will give you an extra cavalry of 500 people, but I also have a request!"

Zhang Fei was very satisfied to have cavalry, and nodded repeatedly: "You say!"

"I will assign you a deputy general to help govern together."

Jin Mao asked, "Who do you want?"

Zhang Fei also knew that this was a common practice in the army, so he pointed out the man by name and said, "Wu Ning! This guy suits my taste."

Jin Mao nodded and said, "Wu Ning has enough experience, but he has no military achievements, so he is not enough to convince the public."

"How about this? From now on, your two battle achievements will be counted together. What do you think?"

Zhang Fei was conflicted. It was too unfair to give him half of the credit.

"If you agree, from now on you two will have the same rewards and punishments, and share the responsibility."

Jin Mao was afraid that Zhang Fei would cause trouble, which would be hilarious, so he resorted to this desperate measure.

"Any action requires the consent of two people."

Zhang Fei had a bitter face: "My lord, you still don't trust me!"

Jin Mao had no choice but to explain: "It's not that I don't trust your loyalty, it's that I don't trust your ability!"

"I'll be grateful if you don't cause me any more trouble!"

When these words were spoken, all the generals burst into laughter. Apparently, Zhang Fei was well-known in the army for causing trouble.

Zhang Fei had no choice but to accept this.

Since Zhang Fei took over as the captain of the second battalion, Dong Xi could also return to the personal guard.

Dong Xian didn't care about the demotion. He knew his own weight very well. Leading troops in battle was not his strong point. Charging into battle was his specialty.

Jin Mao did not surrender too harshly. Instead, he allowed Dong Xi to resume his position as deputy general of the imperial guards.

Even though Shiraishi was always busy with Shinto affairs, Jin Mao would keep the position of the commander of the Imperial Guard for him, unless Shiraishi died.

Dian Wei was promoted from an ordinary personal soldier to a bodyguard personal soldier, and was able to stand behind Jin Mao with Dong Xi.

The rewards and punishments for generals have ended.

The next step is to count the spoils and award rewards, pensions and salaries to the soldiers in each unit.

First, let me report Zhang Fei’s battle results first.

"We killed 512 Cao's soldiers, captured 803, and captured 1,287 young and strong war horses."

"Seven hundred and twenty-five horses were injured or killed, and a total of five hundred and sixty-two horses were lost."

This is the first time that the number of war horses has increased significantly, and they are young and strong horses, which can greatly improve the cavalry in the army.

War horses were as valuable as the sports cars of later generations. If they got bumped or scratched, they could no longer go to the battlefield. If they were damaged, they could only be used for general purposes.

For example, horses used for riding, or pulling carriages, etc.

War horses cannot be bred simply by breeding. It requires professionals using professional techniques to train real war horses.

This is also the reason why war horses are rare. Not every horse can become a war horse, and not all war horses are born war horses.

This is different from raising pigs.

"Cao's army camp seized more than 7,000 sets of armor"

"Among them, only 2,111 sets are complete armor, 1,738 sets are cloth armor, and the remaining 3,334 sets are half armor or broken armor." Listening to Xi Zhicai's report, Jin Mao nodded and said, "The broken armor will be sent to Guangling County for repair, and the usable armor will be given to the five main battalions and the navy first."

Next comes the highlight of this seizure.

"A total of 2,076 pedal-drawn crossbows and 3,109 arm-drawn crossbows were seized from the Jingzhou Navy."

"Four thousand and five sets of full body armor and one thousand nine hundred sets of cloth armor."

"Five tower ships were burned, five were captured intact, 81 Mengchong warships were captured, and the remaining large and small warships were 317."

Jin Mao sighed: "Jingzhou is so damn rich!"

These crossbows and warships alone provided an epic reinforcement to the Jinmao navy.

It seems that we have to expand the recruitment of water army again.

However, it was not just the navy that had their eyes on this batch of equipment; all the other main camps were also very envious.

These are all crossbows!
Even the worst arm-drawn crossbow has an effective range of two hundred steps, and can even throw missiles up to three hundred steps, which is much stronger than a bow!

If you step on the crossbow, leaving aside the operability, just talking about the range, the effective range is 300 steps, and the projectile range can even reach 500 steps.

What is this concept?
The starting distance for a cavalry charge is about three hundred steps.

That is to say, when two armies are facing each other, the cavalry will be hit by a wave of strong crossbow fire as soon as they start. The strong crossbow does not care whether you wear armor or not. Unless you can wear double armor, the crossbow will make a hole in you.

Therefore, everyone wanted these more than 5,000 crossbows.

Huang Gai, the admiral of the navy, spoke first: "My lord, the navy has less than 2,000 archers and crossbowmen. Zhou Tai and I each have less than 800 archers and crossbowmen."

"If the navy is not strong enough, how can we dominate the river and resist powerful enemies?"

"Please, my lord, send two thousand strong crossbows and naval forces. I guarantee that we will be invincible on the Yangtze River and the Huai River!"

Huang Gai was not that greedy and knew that he would not be able to eat it all.

Even so, some people jumped out.

The captain of the first battalion, Ling Cao, mocked: "Aren't you afraid that the wind will blow your tongue away?"

"Excluding the boatman, the navy only has 7,000 men in total, and it takes two people to operate a powerful crossbow."

"What? Not only do you want a powerful crossbow, but you also want the lord to recruit soldiers for you?"

"That's right!" Zhang Fei, who had just become the captain of the second battalion, immediately became so close to Ling Cao that they seemed like they were wearing the same pants.

"I think the strong crossbows should be given to the main battalion. Is that right?"

Unfortunately, Zhang Fei could not see the situation clearly. Most of the soldiers here were from counties and prefectures, while the captains of the third and fourth battalions of the main camp were still vacant and had been led by the deputy general.

Then, the county soldiers began clamoring for stronger crossbows again.

"Okay! Shut up, everyone!"

Finally, Jin Mao made the final decision: "Each naval unit will recruit another thousand men, for a total of 4,000 crossbowmen."

"The entire army will deploy 4,000 crossbows to equip the navy."

"The strong crossbows form their own army, and are temporarily under the control of the personal guards."

Good things should be in your own hands.

Jin Mao continued, "This battle will be considered a competition, and everyone will be promoted according to their military achievements."

"The number of Imperial Guards will be increased to 3,000."

"The original 800 personal guards formed a separate army, and we will select 200 more to form a 1,000-man army, with Dong Xi in charge of leading it."

"Recruit 2,000 new personal guards to form a strong crossbow army, and I will lead it temporarily."

Jin Mao put forward a requirement: "In order to join the Strong Crossbow Army, in addition to having sufficient military merits, you also need to have extraordinary physical strength."

"The person I want can string a crossbow by himself."

Jin Mao had an idea in his mind: what it would be like to have a long-range firepower unit in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

At that time, we can get some catapults and pair them with powerful crossbows. When attacking a city, as long as we have enough equipment, no fortified city will be able to stop us.

With such powerful firepower, what strategy is needed? Wouldn’t it be better to just push forward?

You still have to have dreams, and wait until they come true.

...

Even after Yuan Shu fled back to his own camp, he still felt uneasy.

Cao Cao and Cai Mao's 15,000 men were defeated, so how could he stop Jin Mao with only 8,000 men?

Moreover, they lost two thousand war horses, which greatly reduced their combat effectiveness.

Yuan Shu really had no confidence in fighting this battle with Jin Mao.

But he was also afraid that Jinmao would rear-end him during his escape, which would cause even greater losses.

When Yuan Shu asked this question to Yan Xiang and Yang Hong, the two looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

The battle hasn't even started yet, but our lord has already started to back down, just like before.

There is obviously an opportunity to cooperate with Cao Cao. Even if we can't win, there will definitely be no problem in checking and balancing him.

He just won't cooperate. He won't cooperate even when he's looking for women every day!

When the time came, I began to regret it.

Alas, it’s because he is our own lord.

At this moment.

Yuan Shu received a report that the brothers Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan, leading more than 300 cavalrymen, passed by Yuan Shu's camp.

"Have it!"

Yuan Shu's eyes lit up and he said, "Come here! Capture these people!"

Yan Xiang immediately understood what Yuan Shu wanted to do and hurriedly stopped him, saying, "My lord, you can't do that!"

"Cao Mengde is a hero. You will only provoke him by doing this. The gain will not outweigh the loss!"

Yuan Shu disagreed and said, "Stop talking nonsense!"

"Cao Man has been beaten like a stray dog, and is in constant fear. How can he have the energy to take revenge?"

"The most urgent task is to stabilize Yangzhou Mu and allow our troops to evacuate safely."

Yan Xiang wanted to persuade him again, but Yuan Shu said impatiently: "I am tired and need to rest."

Yan Xiang was isolated and helpless, and was extremely resentful.

...

The next day.

When Jin Mao learned that Yuan Shu's men were bringing three generals under Cao Cao, Cao Ren, Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan, he almost dropped his jaw in shock.

It's a coincidence.

Yuan Shu originally only wanted to capture the two brothers Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan alive, but he didn't expect that Cai Mao and Cao Ren were also among them.

So they just wiped out all of them and only let Cai Mao return to Nanyang County.

Even if Cai Mao was defeated, Yuan Shu did not want to offend the gentry in Jingzhou.

It was different for Cao Cao. The gap between their identities and status was huge and they were far away from each other. Yuan Shu didn't care and sent all to Jin Mao.

"Yangzhou Mu, the culprit is all here."

The visitor was Yang Hong, the second most important adviser under Yuan Shu. He put all the blame on Cao Cao.

Yang Hong was different from Yan Xiang. He would not give advice in an upright manner, but would rather follow Yuan Shu's wishes.

"Please, Governor of Yangzhou, show some mercy and let my master go."

Faced with Yang Hong's request, Jin Mao agreed without thinking.

In his eyes, Cao Cao was the most difficult person to deal with. Yuan Shu was just a dead bone in a tomb who would die sooner or later. Why bother about so many things?

But in the eyes of the counselors, it was completely incomprehensible.

Zhou Yu even jumped out and said, "No matter how powerful Cao Cao is, he is still an outsider and has little influence on the situation in Jingzhou."

"My lord, why do you have to let Yuan Shu, this fierce tiger, go back to the mountains?"

Yuan Shu? Tiger?
Jinmao really can't connect these two words together.

Is Yuan Shu so scary?
(End of this chapter)