My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 114 Post-War Reward
After Zang Ba entered Tancheng, good news came one after another.

First, Chen Deng took advantage of the situation to move north and take over Yangdu and Linyi counties, successfully encircling Ju County.

Subsequently, Ju County sent troops out of the city to reward them, expressing their intention to surrender.

The next day, Xiao Jian surrendered, and Ju County opened its gates.

After Ju County fell, all the counties in northern Langya surrendered upon hearing the news. They reported three times a day, and within four days, they all sent congratulatory messages and submitted to the prefecture.

Chen Deng then redeployed his original troops to Ju County, while the main army returned to the capital, advancing by both land and water, and went back to Tancheng.

On the way there, the boat was traveling against the current, but on the way back, it was going downstream and was much faster.

In just five days, the army had arrived in Tancheng.

In early April, spring is in full bloom.

The Xuzhou army pacified Langya and returned in triumph.

Governor Liu Bei went five miles out of Tancheng to welcome Chen Deng and rewarded the entire army.

Each soldier was issued half a bolt of hemp cloth, half a shi of millet, and fifty coins. Officers and soldiers of all ranks received additional rewards.

Furthermore, tonight we will reward the entire army. Each unit will be given ten catties of meat, a jar of wine, and three days of leave. The whole army will celebrate.

Don't underestimate this amount of money. A bolt of hemp cloth is worth 300 coins, and a bushel of millet costs 200 coins. This means that each soldier can receive 300 coins.

Don't underestimate these three hundred coins. In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the salaries of soldiers in prefectures and counties were very low, with a monthly salary of only the equivalent of one hundred and twenty coins for rice.

Unlike the Western Han Dynasty, the commandery soldiers were a state-organized force. Although their treatment was not as good as that of the central army, it was still the standard for commandery officials. In addition to their annual salary, they were also given rewards and bonuses from time to time.

In addition, once you participate in the battle, you can also share in the spoils.

Therefore, during the Western Han Dynasty, everyone considered joining the army an honor. To become a soldier, one had to participate in the military examinations held by the prefectures and kingdoms; those who failed could not join. Archery skills, in particular, were of paramount importance. Sharpshooters and strong archers were treated with the utmost respect, and high-ranking officials from the prefectures and counties would even invite them with the courtesy due to honored guests.

The situation was quite different during the Eastern Han Dynasty. Although the Eastern Han Dynasty followed the Western Han Dynasty and implemented a dual system of conscription and recruitment, it was still very different.

However, due to changes in the political system, the Eastern Han Dynasty could no longer extend its reach to the lower strata of society as it could in the Western Han Dynasty.

The powerful clans of the Eastern Han Dynasty had taken root and gradually become a huge malignant tumor, constantly absorbing the nourishment of the Han Dynasty.

Therefore, the fiscal revenue of the Eastern Han Dynasty began to decline from the mid-period onwards, which led to the serious collapse of the Eastern Han military service system. On the one hand, this resulted in the continuous downsizing of the central army, which was reduced from the main force of war to the backbone of the war effort.

From being able to launch direct expeditions at the beginning, the system changed to temporarily recruiting good men from the Sanhe and Guanzhong regions to join the army when large-scale wars were needed, and then using the existing Northern Army as the lowest-ranking officers for temporary expansion.

Therefore, apart from the regular army in Luoyang, whose treatment could be barely maintained, even the treatment of the border troops had declined significantly. As for conscripted soldiers, they received no pay; their only reward was the right to divide the spoils of war and the imperial court's reward after a victory.

As for inland prefectures and kingdoms like Xuzhou, where Liu Bei was located, the situation was even worse.

At the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Guangwu completely abolished the system of military units in prefectures and counties, so that the inland prefectures and counties were free from war for two hundred years.

Even though the Eastern Han central government had to reinstate the system of commandery and kingdom soldiers during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the system was too small, and the training and core personnel had been lost. The commandery and kingdom soldiers had completely degenerated into weaklings, even inferior to the Yellow Turban soldiers who had some combat experience.

What's worse is that these county soldiers, because they were not officially employed, received very poor treatment. They were barely able to feed themselves and were even unable to support their families.

Worse still, this bad habit became the norm as warlord conflicts raged, with the main forces of various warlords receiving the same treatment as soldiers from prefectures and kingdoms. Furthermore, the prolonged famines meant that many people were willing to join the army just to have food, greatly reducing the difficulty of recruitment for warlords and further lowering the treatment of their soldiers.

Of course, in order to improve the combat effectiveness of their armies, local warlords also improved the treatment of their troops, but this was limited to the core troops.

For example, Cao Cao's personal guards and elite troops were able to receive military pay, mainly consisting of silk and grain, but the amount was far less than that of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Even after the founding of the Cao Wei dynasty, the treatment of the Cao Wei central army was not as good as that of the Northern Army of the Eastern Han dynasty, let alone compared with the Western Han dynasty.

Liu Bei initially employed the same strategy in Xuzhou, giving his most elite personal troops a monthly salary of 250 coins, while other main troops received only 200 to 220 coins.

As for the soldiers of the prefectures and kingdoms, and the Danyang soldiers under Cao Bao and Xu Dan, I'm sorry, they won't receive a single penny, only food.

Now Liu Feng directly distributed a reward of 300 coins per person, which is equivalent to adding a month and a half of the monthly salary to the elite soldiers. This is the first time that ordinary soldiers under Liu Bei have seen a reward. The soldiers of Xuzhou are naturally very happy.

Liu Bei paid a full six million coins for this, not even counting the large rewards given to his generals.

Liu Bei's newly replenished treasury suddenly became empty again.

Fortunately, Chen Deng also brought back six or seven million coins and hundreds of thousands of bushels of grain, especially the grain, which greatly relieved Liu Bei's pressure.

The Xuzhou army, having received the reward, shouted "Ten Thousand Victories!" three times, their morale soaring, much to Liu Bei's delight.

This is understandable. Since facing Cao Cao, the Xuzhou army has suffered repeated defeats and has never won a single battle. Even Lu You, another big shot in the Danyang army who was above Xu Dan and was truly on par with Cao Bao, was defeated and killed.

Xu Dan was merely promoted by Tao Qian to fill the vacancy left by Lü You, which gives you an idea of ​​how badly the Danyang army was defeated.

The complete defeats caused the morale of the Xuzhou army to plummet, especially the main force of the Danyang army that Liu Bei took over, which completely collapsed. On the contrary, Zang Ba's Taishan army was in a much better situation.

As a battlefield specialist, Zang Ba, who faced Cao Hong, diligently defended the city and did not suffer any losses.

Now that the Danyang army has utterly defeated the Taishan army, their morale and fighting spirit have naturally recovered.

The soldiers would realize that it wasn't that they were incompetent, but rather that Tao Gong's previous command had been ineffective, which naturally boosted their confidence.

After Liu Bei met Chen Deng, he held him tightly and refused to let go.

They traveled in the same carriage and sat at the same table; the smile on Liu Bei's face never disappeared.

Chen Deng's military campaign this time was truly impressive.

In just twenty days, they captured a prefecture and returned in triumph.

Of course, much of the credit goes to his son, but since Chen Deng was the nominal commander-in-chief, Liu Bei had no choice but to temporarily put his son in a difficult position.

Even before Liu Bei left the city, smoke was already rising from the chimneys in Tancheng, where enough wine, meat and food had been prepared, just waiting for the army to arrive so that a feast could be held immediately.

During the banquet, Liu Bei praised Chen Deng highly, but Chen Deng, contrary to his usual self, not only firmly declined the offer but also attributed the credit to others.

"This northern expedition against Zang Ba of Langya was entirely led by Your Excellency. You first devised the plan, then assigned tasks to the generals. The provisions and weapons were also largely procured by Your Excellency. During the battle, the generals fought bravely, and the soldiers were willing to give their lives without fear of death. This is truly the reason for our great victory. I am merely sitting at the table signing the agreement; how can I be worthy of such a great achievement?"

The two men, one praising enthusiastically and the other yielding lavishly, truly resembled a harmonious relationship between ruler and subject.

The more Chen Deng attributed the credit to Liu Bei, Mi Zhu, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, the more Liu Bei liked him. He even agreed with Liu Feng's words that Chen Yuanlong truly had the demeanor of a great general.

In this way, as long as Yuanlong is in Langya, I will have no more worries about facing the north.

That night, everyone enjoyed a feast.

The following day, Liu Bei recommended Chen Deng to be appointed as military supervisor and general of valiant might, with a rank equivalent to two thousand shi (a unit of grain), and appointed as governor of Dongguan, overseeing the military affairs of the three commanderies of Langya, Dongguan, and Jucheng.

Liu Bei directly handed over all military power of the entire Langya Commandery to Chen Deng.

Chen Deng was moved to tears and vowed to defend Langya to the death for Liu Bei.

Liu Bei, however, grasped Chen Deng's hand and said with deep affection, "To gain Yuanlong is to gain Langya. If Yuanlong thinks this way, then I would rather break my promise and become rich than let Yuanlong take over Dongguan."

“Yuanlong, remember this: Langya may be noble, but it is not even half as valuable as you. If Langya can be defended, please defend it for me. If Langya can be reinforced, then we will prepare to send troops from Tancheng to its aid. If Langya cannot be defended, Yuanlong, you may quickly retreat to Tancheng. With you and me, ruler and subject, together, what is there to worry about?”

Chen Deng was in tears, feeling that he had received such a master in this life, what more could he ask for?
Liu Bei and Chen Deng shared a deep bond here, while Liu Feng had long since fled.

Chen Deng was Liu Bei's confidant, and I could never catch up with him, so there was no point in wasting my energy.

The important thing is to take good care of your core base.

The first thing Liu Feng did was to go to Xu Sheng's camp.

At this time, Xu Sheng's troops were quite different from other Xuzhou armies.

Although everyone was drinking and making merry, they still observed military discipline. There was no trace of singers or dancers in the camp, nor any other random things.

This made Liu Feng quite happy.

Upon hearing of Liu Feng's arrival, Xu Sheng and Pan Zhang immediately came out to greet him.

Xu Sheng was alright, but Pan Zhang was a heavy drinker. Liu Feng originally thought that Pan Zhang must have been drunk long ago, but he didn't expect that although he was also full of the smell of alcohol, he was not drunk at all.

"See Young Master!"

Xu Sheng and Pan Zhang had long been impressed by Liu Feng, yet they were still amazed by the ease with which this great victory had been achieved. Although Chang Xi's Taishan army seemed vulnerable, Xu Sheng and Pan Zhang were not ignorant farmers; they had already discerned from various aspects that the Taishan army was by no means weak.

Even if it is not the world's top-tier army, it is at least much stronger than the troops of ordinary prefectures and counties.

Yet this very army, capable of dominating prefectures and counties, was slaughtered by its own side as easily as cutting melons and vegetables, and finally knelt down to beg for surrender.

Before going into battle, Xu Sheng and Pan Zhang, who had trained with their own troops, knew exactly what their army looked like.

Therefore, in the eyes of Xu Sheng and Pan Zhang, Liu Feng was no longer a boy, but a child prodigy, a child prodigy who was born with knowledge.

"Gentlemen, let the soldiers march out into formation. Today, I will fulfill my promise by appointing generals and rewarding all the soldiers!"

At Liu Feng's command, the entire camp sprang into action.

In just a quarter of an hour, all the soldiers had lined up in formation, waiting for Liu Feng's inspection.

Liu Feng arrived at the reviewing stand and looked at the thousand seeds, feeling quite pleased with himself.

With this great victory, he has obtained Liu Bei's permission to use these thousand men as seeds for expansion, making them a truly deserving First Division Battalion.

Xu Sheng will be promoted to Hengwei Colonel for his merits, while Pan Zhang will become a separate commander and continue to serve as Xu Sheng's deputy.

As for the soldiers, they will be selected from the surrendered soldiers of the Taishan Army.

Many of these men were experienced veterans, which were very valuable. The rest had been trained by the Taishan Army for a long time, so Liu Bei naturally wouldn't dismiss them.

The only downside was the reorganization and replacement of the various battalions, which was inevitable.

Liu Feng's force has expanded to two thousand men. Zhao Yun, Tian Yu, and Zhang Fei's battalion, which had five hundred men from Chen Deng's Sima unit, will naturally be prioritized to be replenished to a full strength of two thousand men.

This part alone requires 2,500 Taishan soldiers, so there's no worry about not being able to absorb them.

Liu Feng had already done the accounting before coming to the camp.

In this attack on Chang Xi, a total of 1,427 people were captured. Later, 62 more died from their injuries, leaving 1,365 people in the end.

This is the achievement of capturing prisoners.

The armor coverage rate of Changxi's army was relatively low, only 40%, and most of them wore leather armor.

The leather armor cost eight thousand coins per set. Some were damaged in the battle, so Liu Feng simply calculated an average price of five thousand coins per set, totaling eight hundred sets, which amounted to four million coins as spoils of war.

In addition to the spoils from Changxi's old stronghold in Zeng County, there were 800,000 coins, 23,000 shi of grain, and more than 1,000 bolts of various kinds of cloth and silk.

These are the biggest spoils of this expedition.

According to the rules that had been agreed upon long ago, 90% of these items were to be handed over to the state government first. The remaining items included 80 sets of leather armor, 80,000 coins, 2,300 shi of grain, and more than 100 bolts of various kinds of cloth and silk.

This can be considered a very large sum of money; if converted into cash, it totals more than 1.5 million coins.

It was divided into five parts, each containing 300,000 coins.

In this way, each soldier can receive at least three hundred coins, which is comparable to the governor's reward.

This doesn't even include other rewards. The wounded soldiers could receive an additional 500 coins to recover, but this time there were no casualties, so no one claimed the compensation. Therefore, the remaining money was put into the camp treasury.

From corporals and above, down to Xu Sheng, Pan Zhang, and even Liu Feng himself, everyone received an officer's reward.

Finally, and most importantly, came the rewards for merit.

For this campaign, a total of forty-two meritorious individuals were selected.

There were 160 soldiers standing in the first row, and the vast majority of the wounded were among them.

At that time, each row of the gun formation consisted of 160 men, divided into five columns, totaling 800 men.

The first row faced the enemy directly, experiencing the greatest pressure and suffering the most casualties. Among them, Niu Erleng and Wang Gui were awarded third-class merit for successfully saving an injured teammate.

At that time, someone around them was seriously injured and was about to collapse from exhaustion.

If he lies down, he is likely to be trampled by the soldiers behind him, which would worsen his injuries or even kill him.

The people next to him were Niu Erleng and Wang Gui.

The two men had a sudden inspiration. Each of them used the arm closest to the soldier to hold the other's arm, and then used their arms to hold the wounded man. In this way, they could continue to hold their spears and also use the strength of their arms to support the wounded man, thus saving his life.

This performance was so outstanding that Liu Feng specially commended him as a third-class meritorious official.

After announcing all this, Liu Feng asked the soldiers if they thought it was reasonable, and if there were any problems, they could raise them directly on the spot.

As a result, all the soldiers said they had no problem and were even very grateful to Liu Feng.

Liu Feng felt that the reward, which had already been reduced by more than half, still far exceeded the soldiers' expectations, giving them a pleasant surprise.

Liu Feng finally understood why the soldiers in this world were so eager to massacre cities: it was the greatest, and perhaps only, reward they could obtain.

Liu Feng stayed in the camp all day.

He personally handed out each reward to every soldier.

All soldiers present would receive at least 300 coins, those who were wounded would receive 800 coins, and those who performed meritorious service would receive an additional 500 coins.

Liu Feng had already prepared medals for Niu Erleng and Wang Gui, both recipients of the Third-Class Merit Award.

He led the two men up the mound, and amidst the curious and envious gazes of all the soldiers, Liu Feng stood before them and called out to the soldiers below: "The reason I am specifically commending them is because they saved their comrades. I want everyone to remember that on the battlefield, your comrades are your lives; without them, you cannot survive! As long as you do not violate military orders, cherishing and saving your comrades is saving yourselves."

Liu Feng knew that his soldiers might not understand what he was saying, but he still wanted to speak and encourage them.

Liu Feng hoped that these soldiers would have a better chance of survival and that he could improve the organization of his army as much as possible.

In war, every soldier is extremely insignificant; when they look around, all they see are their comrades.

Therefore, whether or not one trusts their comrades has an extremely significant impact on the organization of the army.

The more an army trusts its comrades, the higher its level of organization.

Like that one of the world's only armies in history, this extraordinary trust allows their initiative to reach its peak, so that even a single person dares to continue to complete combat missions.

Because of what?
Isn't it because they believe their comrades will come to their aid, and that their fighting will be a huge help to their comrades?
Liu Feng naturally dared not hope that a feudal army could imitate that army, but being able to move in that direction a little would still be a step forward and would enhance his own combat effectiveness, so why not?

In front of everyone, Liu Feng personally pinned the third-class merit medals on Wang Gui and Niu Erleng, and then even gave them a military salute.

Wang Gui and Niu Erleng were naturally dumbfounded by this scene, and the soldiers below the stage also erupted in a commotion.

Instead of comforting the soldiers below, Liu Feng patted Wang Gui and Niu Erleng on the shoulders forcefully.

"Well done, keep up the good work."

Wang Gui and Niu Erleng received a small, crude bronze medal, which was incomparable to medals from later generations.

Even such a crude bronze plaque, along with Liu Feng's courteous treatment, still made Wang Gui and Niu Erleng extremely excited, and even aroused the envy, jealousy, and even resentment of other soldiers.

The soldiers were intrigued by this special honor and reward, feeling both curious and envious, and they all wanted to receive one themselves.

This also gave Niu Erleng, Wang Gui, and others a strange feeling they had never experienced before.

This feeling is tingling and numb, as if floating on clouds, feeling weak and powerless, yet intoxicating.

In short, this feels really good!
Subsequently, each meritorious person will receive a reward of 500 coins, while Niu Erleng and Wang Gui, who received third-class merit, will receive an additional reward of 1,000 coins each, which is one string of cash.

The remaining 40,000 were put into the military treasury.

In this way, the camp treasury now held a total of 620,000 coins. Liu Feng took out 120,000 coins to purchase pork, beef, mutton, and fine wine to reward all the soldiers.

"May you be victorious, young master!"

Loud praises echoed throughout the camp and lingered for a long time.

(End of this chapter)