"The victory of the Northern Expedition came at the right time, if this good news is spread to the battalion, it will definitely boost the morale of the whole army!"

The moment he finished reading the letter in his hand, Jia Xu said with a smile.

Li Zhi nodded and agreed: "The words of the military advisor are very true. Such a great victory should be reported to the officers and men of the whole army, ask for merit for General Zhou Yu, and congratulate from afar! ”

"Congratulations, please?" Li Li was stunned and responded, and said with a smile: "There is no need to ask for merit, I am in front of me, and I am thinking about how to reward Zhou Yu for his meritorious deeds!" As for celebrating, at present, the strong enemy is pressing the border, our army has lost one after another, losing cities and land, and it is indeed a bit inappropriate to set up a banquet to celebrate the success at this time. Let's make a note of it for now, and wait until the end of the war to reward it and save you trouble. Hehehe! ”

Jia Xu nodded happily and exclaimed: "General Zhou Yu is indeed good, both wise and brave, although he is young and has little qualifications, he has repeatedly performed miraculous feats and made great achievements. In Weichen's view, if General Huan Fei is the first general of our army, then General Zhou Yu is the first general of our army who is the best at using soldiers, and he can be called handsome! ”

"Oh? Wen He doesn't often praise people, but this time he has such a high evaluation of Zhou Yu, which really surprises me. Li Li looked slightly stunned and smiled knowingly.

After Jia Xu heard this, he solemnly affirmed: "The lord's words are serious. What Weichen said was not to compliment General Gongjin, but to speak directly and seek truth from facts. When General Zhou Yu first joined our army, I also doubted his ability to command the army, and even complained that the lord trusted him too much, so that he was entrusted with a heavy task when he first followed the lord to the expedition, and he was in charge of an army alone, and was fully responsible for the Northern Expedition. For this reason, I was very worried, and I wanted to advise the lord not to pull out the seedlings to help them grow, so that Zhou Yu had to bear great pressure when he first arrived, and I was worried that he would not be able to bear it and affect the soldiers of the Northern Expedition.

It turns out. The original decision of the lord was wise, knowing people well, appointing people on the basis of merit, and the exceptional promotion of General Zhou Yu was not an impulse, but a prudent decision after careful consideration.

In the first battle of Chiyang City, our Northern Expedition army was victorious, and the morale of the army was stabilized under the first battle, so that the soldiers firmly believed that our army would be able to completely defeat the barbarian army and win the final victory. In the following month, Zhou Yu led the army to defeat consecutive battles. However, every defeat is a defeat without a defeat, and the casualties are not large, and although the defeat will inevitably affect morale, it cannot shake the confidence of our army in victory. Sure enough, there was a battle in the Valley of the Green Wolf. Our army won a complete victory, and the first battle laid the victory of the Northern Expedition. Postwar. Only then did the officers and men of the whole army truly realize General Zhou Yu's ability to command the troops. It is not an exaggeration to call it a god to use soldiers, so the officers and men of our army can be regarded as happy and convincing to recognize General Zhou Yu. ”

After a pause in his tone, Jia Xu said with deep feelings: "Now that General Zhou Yu has recovered the lost territory of Hetao and completely destroyed the Southern Xiongnu, this means that the land of the four counties in the northwest of Bingzhou has been pocketed, namely Shuofang County, Shangjun, Wuyuan Army and Yanmen County. The land of these four counties was originally occupied by barbarians. Shuofang, Shangjun and Wuyuan counties were occupied by the Southern Xiongnu, Yanmen County was attacked by the Xianbei in the west, and most of the city fell into the hands of the Xianbei people, but the Southern Xiongnu and the Xianbei in the west were completely lost in the battle of the Green Wolf Valley.

Now the Xiongnu royal court has been captured by our army. The Xiongnu were destroyed, and Xianbei in the west, which was entrenched in Wuyuan and Yanmen County, was bound to be frightened and fled in the wilderness. In this way, our army not only recovered the lost territory of the Hetao, but then was able to take advantage of the situation to collect the four counties in the northwest of the state, which was equivalent to capturing most of the state in one fell swoop. Next, Zhou Yu led the victorious army to take advantage of the situation to attack the hinterland of Bingzhou - Taiyuan County, if the battle is smooth, it is very likely to take the entire territory of Bingzhou in one fell swoop. As long as the annexed states are under the rule of the lord, even if the princes and allied forces can capture the counties of Sili, there is nothing to fear, because the counties of Sili are already exposed under the iron hooves of our army, and sooner or later they will be the fat meat on our lips. Therefore, Weichen believes that the victory of the Northern Expedition is extremely beneficial to our army's battle in the Central Plains, and as long as the annexation of states is in our hands, Si Li will not be able to escape. ”

After a detailed analysis of the current situation, Jia Xu finally said his original intention: "Therefore, the victory of the Northern Expedition is very important to our army, General Zhou Yu has made great contributions, and the Lord should be rewarded." The next battle of Bingzhou was completely different from the previous battle against the barbarian army, after all, Bingzhou was the territory of our Han Dynasty, and the enemies faced by General Zhou Yu were all Han officials who had been sealed by the Son of Heaven.

As the saying goes: if the name is not right, it is not good. General Zhou Yu is only the general of Zuo Zhonglang and the chief general of the Northern Expeditionary Army at the moment, and his official rank is not enough, and the weight of what he says is naturally insufficient, and it is difficult to recruit and merge the counties and counties to guard and assassinate the history. Therefore, the lord can temporarily record the exploits of the generals of the Northern Expedition and reward them after the war, except for General Zhou Yu, who must be given a certain authority and official position, and given him the right to act cheaply, so as to ensure that our army can collect and annex the entire territory of the state in the shortest possible time. Weichen dared to admonish, please think twice. ”

In Jia Xu's elaboration, he always regarded himself as a micro-minister, as if he regarded Li Li as a king. In fact, not only Jia Xu is like this, Li Xuan, Li Ru, Guo Jia and others also regard themselves as courtiers, so as to show their hearts to Li Li.

Since Li Li was promoted to the general of the hussars, he has been above the three dukes, and then received an edict to ride the luan, hold the sword of the Son of Heaven, and punish crimes on behalf of heaven. It is a group of cronies and strategists around Li Li who change their words silently, often calling themselves micro-ministers, and Li Li seems to have never paid attention to these inconspicuous details of the title, and he is noncommittal about it. However, the generals under Li Li did not change their words, and still regarded themselves as the last generals, obviously because they were used to it, and they were far less delicate and detail-oriented than the Wenchen strategists.

Jia Xu's words reminded Li Li that Zhou Yu should indeed be given the official position and authority he deserved, otherwise it would be disadvantageous to the war.

After thinking about it for a while, Li Li bowed his head lightly and said with a smile: "Wenhe is reasonable. Zhou Yu led the troops outside, and he had faced a barbarian army before, and the size of the official position did not matter, but now that he was fighting and merging with the state, he really needed enough authority, otherwise the county guards of the state might not believe the promise he made. Time is running out, and we must make a decision as soon as possible so as not to delay the war. ”

After a pause in his voice, Li Li instructed Li Zhi: "Order Li Xuan, please entitle Zhou Yu as the general of Anbei and the marquis of Wuxiang, and be fully responsible for the war in the state, and the soldiers of the three counties of Beidi County, Anding County and Hanyang County are all under Zhou Yu's dispatch." He presided over the government affairs of Hetao and the state, reorganized the county government soldiers, and the administrative decree was the same as that of Liangzhou, so as to restore the people's livelihood.

In addition, Zhou Yu was ordered. Zhang Liao was ordered to lead 5,000 Jin Qiwei to come to Anyi camp from the Shangdang of Bingzhou, and recruit Xu Chu, Chen Dao, He Man and other generals to come to Anyi with the army. Ordered to go to Bei to select 20,000 people from the Xiongnu prisoners of war, form Shuofeng war cavalry, and return to Anyi with Zhang Liao, and listen to the army! ”

"No, the last general will obey!" Li Zhi bowed in response and immediately turned to leave.

Seeing Li Zhi leave, Jia Xu's expression changed slightly, and he said in surprise: "Lord, it seems that there is something wrong with the official title of General Zhou Yu this time!" These are all the official titles of Major General Li Xian. Wouldn't this change of Zhou Yu be tantamount to the dismissal of the major general from his military post for no reason? ”

"Hehehe!" After Li Li heard this, he smiled dumbly and said: "My younger brother is busy with his wedding right now, and he has no time to take care of the military and politics, not to mention that he is the Taishou of the Northland." It's just the name of General Anbei. This time, Northland County was invaded by the barbarian army, and he bore some responsibility. He was not punished before. Now it's time to settle accounts after the autumn and punish them together. ”

Speaking of this, Li Li smiled happily: "In the past two years, his political achievements have been acceptable, but there are also unsatisfactory places. After this battle, transfer him out of Northland County and rest well. Give him three months to get married. Over the years, he has been following me on his expeditions, almost never stopping to rest, and suffering from running around. Now he has finally started a family, and I am the eldest brother. How can he endlessly drive his brother to serve the battlefield? ”

Jia Xu said softly thoughtfully: "What the lord said is good. At the age of fifteen, the young general followed the lord to fight on the battlefield, and he has never made a mistake, he is diligent, conscientious, and has never complained. Now that the big wedding is coming, the young general really needs to rest for a while, and after the big wedding, the lord has his own arrangements. I don't know if what Weichen said is true? ”

Li Li bowed slightly, then looked at Jia Xu and smiled, but did not give a positive answer.

"In the military order just now, the lord ordered the Huns to surrender to the Huns to form the Shuofeng battalion, I don't know what the intention is?" Jia Xu asked with a laugh.

Li Li looked at Jia Xu with a smile and said with a smile: "Wen He doesn't seem to trust the Hun warriors very much, is he worried that they may not really surrender to me?" ”

"Lord Mingjian, I am indeed a little worried that these Hun troops may not be really used by me. There is a saying: the hearts of those who are not of my race will be different, and they have to guard against it! Jia Xu said frankly without scruples.

Li Li was slightly stunned when he heard this, and after thinking for a while, he muttered: "It is not unreasonable for Wen He to have this concern. However, the Southern Xiongnu people are not fierce beasts, and they are not alien in detail, but they have close contacts with our Han people. Since the Northern Xiongnu fled to the Western Regions, the Southern Xiongnu have been attached to our Han Dynasty, and more than half of their people have our Han blood, and even some of them are Han themselves. It is precisely because of this that I did not completely exterminate them, but deliberately annexed them and completely integrated them into our Han nation. As early as before the Northern Expedition, I instructed Zhou Yu and Lu Su to disperse all their tribesmen and tribes after the fall of the Xiongnu and go to the three states under my rule to resettle. From now on, there will be no more Huns in our Han territory, only Han Chinese.

Therefore, in the face of the Xiongnu surrender, we cannot avoid it and abandon it. On the contrary, we must mix and reorganize them into an army and use them for our use, so that we can integrate them into the Han nation as much as possible. If we still regard them as barbarian enemies and watch out for them everywhere, it is better to kill them all directly, so that they will be destroyed forever. It must be known that killing cannot solve all problems, and if our Han nation wants to prosper forever and stand forever, killing alone is not enough, but also must have a broad and tolerant heart. For those ethnic groups that are compatible with our Han people, we do not need to blindly tolerate them, but to conquer them, annex them, and then incorporate them into our people. ”

After a pause in his tone, Li Li said with deep feelings: "Only in this way can our Han nation survive thousands of years, shine with the sun and the moon, coexist with heaven and earth, and stand forever above the Oriental Shenzhou!" ”

Li Li's words were indeed motivated by feelings, and Jia Xu's rejection of the barbarians around the Han Dynasty was a reasonable thing. However, as a later generation, Li Li did not have such a strong sense of rejection, because the Wuhu Rebellion in the late Eastern Jin Dynasty and the North-South Rebellion, this chaotic period of more than 200 years was actually a process of ethnic integration, whether it was the Southern Xiongnu, Xianbei and Wuhuan, or Wulingman and Yizhou Nanban, they would eventually be integrated into the Han people. It's just that this process is very long, and it is not achieved overnight, during which it has to go through countless battles and conquests, which lasts for thousands of years.

Li Li never thought of integrating all the barbarians into the Han Chinese, but selectively conquered and surrendered, not for some of the barbarians entrenched overseas; For example, the Fuluohan, Goryeo, and Wajima barbarians, he advocated destroying if he could, killing if he could, and eliminating all evil.

Just when Li Li's thoughts were flying, Jia Xu nodded and said, "Since the lord has made a plan, Weichen should follow it." However, I still recommend that the lord should not use the barbarian generals to serve as the main generals of the Shuofeng battalion, and at present, our army is full of generals, and many generals can be qualified for the position of commander. Please think twice. ”

"Well, what Wen He said is exactly what I want." Li Li bowed his head happily and said with a smile: "At the beginning of the establishment of the Shuofeng Battalion, in line with the principle of making the best use of people's talents, Qubei was temporarily appointed as the chief general. Because he is more familiar with the situation of the Xiongnu prisoners of war than we are, it is undoubtedly a suitable person for him to choose the surrendered troops. This time, they were sent to participate in the battle, just to test their loyalty and combat power, and after the battle was over, they would be reorganized, and the generals would be readjusted. ”

"I see, my lord is wise!" Jia Xu happily responded, glanced at Li Li, smiled knowingly, and was completely relieved.

―――――――――― (To be continued)(To be continued......