In the county guard's mansion, although the county officials had not slept all night, they did not show any tiredness, and they all waited nervously.

Ever since Chen Xu led a thousand soldiers and horses to rob the camp, they began to fidget.

Although 1,000 soldiers and horses is not much, it is not a small number compared to the total number of soldiers and horses in the county.

If the camp robbery fails, it will not only be a great blow to the strength of Puyang City, but also greatly reduce the morale of the soldiers and horses in the city. If the Yellow Turban Army takes advantage of the situation to seize the city, the day when Puyang City will be broken is not far away.

"Report!"

A hurried voice sounded, and the restless county officials, all of whom were shaken by their spirits, rushed to the door, surrounded the communication soldiers, and inquired about the battle situation.

The signal soldier was so taken aback by so many officials that he began to tremble even when he spoke.

Qiao Mao listened for a long time and didn't understand what the signal soldier was saying, dismissed everyone, and said unhappily: "I can't even understand what I said, how could the army choose you to be a signal soldier?" ”

When the communication soldier heard this, he was startled, and hurriedly knelt on the ground, and his speech actually became clear: "Your Excellency, General Chen robbed the camp, broke the thief army, beheaded more than a thousand, burned countless Yellow Turban army grain and grass, and now he is returning triumphantly with the army. ”

When everyone heard this, they finally put their hearts at ease, and couldn't help but high-five and praise: "Zhuang Wenzhao!" ”

Qiao Yu was also very happy, but he was not carried away by the victory, and hurriedly asked, "What about the casualties of our army?" ”

The signal soldier did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly replied: "Our army suffered more than 300 minor wounds, 25 seriously wounded, and 163 killed in battle. ”

When the county officials heard this, they stopped cheering, and their faces were full of doubt.

It is said that the difference between the casualties of friend and foe is almost ten times, and they should be happy.

But since the camp was successfully robbed, it shows that the Yellow Turban Army is defenseless, and it is a little incomprehensible that there are so many casualties when the enemy army is defenseless.

However, victory is victory after all, although everyone has doubts, their faces are still beaming.

The Yellow Turban Army suffered such a big defeat and ran out of food and grass, and the threat to Puyang City would drop a lot.

……

Today, the east gate of Puyang City is wide open, and the city is covered with red colors. Dongjun guarded the bridge and took the county officials out of the city to greet Chen Xu.

The county treasury has been empty, and many local tycoons who have moved into Puyang City have pooled money to prepare to reward meritorious soldiers and compensate the dead soldiers.

Chen Xu said to Qiao Mao as early as before leaving: "If you want to hold Puyang, you must make the soldiers use their lives; If a soldier is to use his life, the reward of a meritorious soldier must not be dereed. ”

"Now, although the county treasury is empty, the wealth of the family is very large, and Qiao Jun may wish to borrow from these people. It must be known that the Yellow Turban Army hates the warriors, and if the city is broken, these people will definitely have no chickens and dogs left in their homes. ”

After Qiao Mao heard Chen Xu's suggestion, she was overjoyed.

He had always been worried about the lack of food in the county, and if the nobles could pay to reward the meritorious soldiers, the county could also borrow some grain and grass from them.

It must be known that the Han Kingdom is so poor that the people are rich, and the rich are the nobles and strong.

After Qiao Mao summoned the powerful scholars and the wealthy families of Puyang, he told everyone his intention to borrow money and grain.

At first, everyone was unwilling, and when Qiao Yu said something out loud, everyone began to donate generously.

Qiao Yu said: "The Yellow Turban thief hated the strong and powerful of the Shi clan and was jealous of the rich. Everywhere they went, they were like locusts crossing the border, and the local rich and powerful were slaughtered, and their savings for generations were snatched away. ”

"Puyang City and your life are already closely related. My father, Ren Dongjun, was the Taishou of Dongjun for all these years, and he was sympathetic and loving to the people, and he was deeply praised by the people. Acting with the Yellow Turban Army, even if the city is broken, my father and son can still save their lives. But I don't know who can help collect the corpses? ”

Qiao Yu's words were more serious, and many people began to look at him angrily, but after they thought about it carefully, they suddenly felt like they were in a state of death.

With the actions of the Yellow Turban Army, if Puyang City is really destroyed, they will definitely not escape the slaughter.

In contrast, although the Yellow Turban Army is a thief, for those officials who are famous and praised by the people, they are often innocent.

Although the Qiao clan led the army to resist the Yellow Turban, with his prestige among the people, he would not necessarily lose his life when the city was broken.

And what will happen to others is unimaginable.

After all, now it is different from the princes of later generations to compete for hegemony, no matter how the princes fight each other, they are all representing the interests of the noble clan and the powerful, even if the city is broken, as long as these people present change their banners, the other party will not dare to persecute them too much.

Otherwise, it is an enemy of the world's noble clans and heroes, and without the support of these people, it is difficult for the princes to take the world.

After thinking about these things, although these people were in pain, they all made generous statements: "The county is in trouble, how can we sit idly by?" Willing to live and die with Puyang. ”

In this era, although there is no saying that 'there are eggs under the nest', everyone understands this truth.

If Puyang City is really breached, the fate of these people will be miserable, and they have to cut their flesh for the sake of their own lives.

Thinking of the mountains of money and food that were now piled up in the warehouse, Qiao Mao felt very good, although he had nominally borrowed from these people, but he never planned to pay it back.

Although Qiao Mao is also a scholar clan, he does not have a good impression of those scholars who loot money and cause trouble in the township. He was finally able to take off a piece of meat from the maggots in these countries, how could he spit it out again?

At this time, he couldn't help but admire his uncle, Qiao Xuan's eyes were really vicious, and he could see Chen Xu's talent at once, Wen Neng Anbang, Wu Neng Dingguo.

There was a lot of dust on the road, and when I looked around, I saw a big flag with the word 'Chen' fluttering in the wind.

Qiao Mao was overjoyed in her heart, and said to everyone: "Come with me to meet Wen Zhao." ”

Qiao Mao now really regards Chen Xu as his own junior, otherwise he would not have affectionately called Chen Xu's words, but should have said 'welcome General Chen'.

Although Chen Xu is only the leader of the rebel army and deserves the title of 'general', for the sake of sound, many generals whose official positions do not reach the level of 'general' are often called 'generals'.

The soldiers of the county who returned triumphantly saw Taishou personally leading people out of the city to greet them, and they held their heads high one by one, their faces full of pride.

……

This victory, for Dongjun, who has not been in battle for a long time, is tantamount to an unprecedented victory.

Especially at this juncture when the Yellow Turban Army invaded the prefectures and counties and broke the officers and soldiers, this victory is of extraordinary significance.

On the school ground, more than 800 soldiers who robbed the camp stood proudly, all of them showing hope.

Qiao Mao stood on the stage and read aloud: "Chen Xu, the leader of the rebel army, led the army to break the yellow scarf, rewarded 100 gold, 10 silk horses, a strong bow with two stones, and a good horse. ”

Today's official positions of the Han Dynasty, especially those with real power that can lead troops, although Qiao Mao is the Taishou of Dongjun, he cannot be rewarded at will.

However, Chen Xu has made a contribution after all, if he does not reward him, it is unreasonable, so he compensates Chen Xu in other aspects.

The county's reward for Chen Xu is not heavy, 100 gold is equivalent to 9,600 yuan, which is not much, but ten silk horses are at least worth more than 10,000 yuan.

Before Chen Xu went into battle, although he used a two-stone strong bow, after all, it was owned by the county, and now it was given to him, and it will become his personal belongings in the future. Although the price of the bow is relatively cheap, the two-stone strong bow is worth a lot of money.

The more important reward is the good horse, a good horse is hard to find, and it is worth at least 200,000 yuan.

After rewarding Chen Xu, Qiao Mao continued to read: "Chen Jing led his troops to burn the enemy's grain and grass, rewarded 100 gold, 10 silk horses, and recorded a great merit. ”

"Chen Hu fought bravely to kill the enemy, killed more than ten thieves, rewarded fifty gold, and five silk horses."

"The rest of the soldiers, whoever kills one of the enemy, will be rewarded with five thousand."

"For the war dead, the pension is 10,000 yuan."

……

The rewards for soldiers in the county are very small. Qiao Mao had just reported the results of the reward, and the soldiers were in an uproar.

If you kill one enemy, you will be rewarded with 5,000 yuan; The bereavement pension for the war dead is only 10,000 yuan.

Now that wars are raging, even the cheapest corn costs 400 yuan per stone, and even if a family of five saves money and consumes other aspects, 10,000 yuan is not enough for a year.

And this money was bought by the soldiers in exchange for their lives.

You must know that before the Yellow Turban Uprising, if you kill a thief, you can go to the government to receive a reward of 50,000 yuan; If you catch it alive, you can even get a reward of 100,000 yuan.

In comparison, how scarce is the reward that soldiers get for killing the enemy today?

Chen Xu saw that the soldiers were all indignant, and secretly said that it was not good, so he hurriedly asked: "Lord County Guard, why is the reward for the soldiers so small?" ”

At this time, Chen Xu couldn't care about anything else, if he didn't ask for an explanation for the soldiers, his prestige in the army would definitely plummet, and how could he lead the army in the future.

Qiao Mao smiled bitterly, and had to bite the bullet and said: "There is not much money and grain left in the county treasury, and you will be rewarded with 5,000 yuan for killing one enemy, and now you will behead 1,000 yuan, and you will have to take out 5 million yuan, such a reward, if you completely annihilate yourself, the reward alone will cost 75 million yuan." ”

"Although the government borrowed a lot of money and grain from the county sergeant clan and Haoqiang, such a reward is already stretched, and if the reward is more, the county will not be able to support it at all."

Chen Xu realized that he had miscalculated at this time, he didn't expect that fighting a war would cost so much money.

If you follow the algorithm of killing thieves and receiving rewards before the Yellow Turban Uprising, a head is 50,000 yuan, and 10,000 enemies are killed, and the reward alone will cost 500 million yuan. Coupled with the consumption of food, grass, armor, and post-war pensions, this is an astronomical amount.

At this time, he understood why Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty attacked the Xiongnu in the north, and actually consumed the wealth accumulated by the Han Empire for several generations, which caused the anger of the heavens and the resentment of the people, and the rebel army rose in all directions. If it weren't for Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, I am afraid that the Han Empire would have perished long ago.

At this time, he also understood why Sun Tzu said in the Art of War: Soldiers are expensive, speed is not expensive, and they are not expensive for a long time.

It's not that soldiers can't fight a protracted war, but no country can afford to fight a protracted war, and after a war, the amount of money and food consumed every day is astronomical.

In the post-Three Kingdoms era, Zhuge Liang went out of Qishan seven times, and Jiang Wei invaded the Central Plains nine times. Every time the two of them waste national strength, but they return in vain, it is no wonder that the national strength of Shu is stronger than that of Eastern Wu, but it will be the first to lose the country.

Not only Chen Xu, but even those soldiers who had never read a book also understood what a huge number 75 million was, and if it was really completely annihilated, the money and food consumed in the county would even be several 75 million.

For a time, there was silence on the school field.