My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 401 Father and Son Duet
Logically, since Liu Bei was so satisfied, Liu Feng wouldn't have interfered. However, the problem was that this army was too important; if anything happened in the north, they would be the first to be deployed.

Therefore, this unit not only requires outstanding combat strength, but also outstanding generals and commanders, and most importantly, they must be able to put Liu Feng and his son at ease.

Liu Feng felt that Liu Bei's arrangement was still somewhat lacking.

Although Guan Yu was skilled at training troops, he shouldn't be treated like this, given only Yellow Turban followers.

Seeing the hesitation on Liu Feng's face, Liu Bei asked directly, "Feng'er, what are your thoughts? If you don't speak now, when will you?"

Since his father didn't care, Liu Feng didn't stand on ceremony and replied directly, "Father, please forgive me. In my opinion, although Second Uncle has the demeanor of a great general and the talent of a regional commander, he still needs the assistance of other generals. Although He Yi and Liu Pi are capable, they are not fierce generals and lack wisdom. I'm afraid they will be unable to help Second Uncle."

After listening to Liu Feng's words, Liu Bei fell into deep thought.

Indeed, as Liu Feng said, He Yi, Liu Pi, and others were not capable enough and would probably hold Guan Yu back.

Then Liu Bei asked, "In your opinion, who should be assigned to Guan Yu? Should he be transferred from your command?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Feng became anxious and quickly refused, saying, "I myself lack talent, Father, you cannot exploit me any further."

Liu Bei rolled his eyes at him, annoyed: "Then tell me, who should be transferred to Yun Chang?"

Liu Feng reminded him, "When did Father forget about Uncles Guorang and Zijing?"

Liu Bei then realized that his eldest son wanted to sow discord between Tian Yu and Qian Zhao.

After careful consideration, Liu Bei slowly nodded. Tian Yu and Qian Zhao were both from Youzhou, true childhood friends and fellow villagers. Moreover, they had known Yun Chang for a long time and got along well. Furthermore, their abilities were far superior to He Yi and Liu Pi, making them indeed much more suitable than the other two.

After thinking it through, Liu Bei confirmed, "So you want Guo Rang and Zi Jing to go and assist Guan Yu?"

To everyone's surprise, Liu Feng shook his head and then explained, "You can choose one of the two options. Alternatively, you can transfer Zang Xuangao to your second uncle's command."

Before Liu Bei could ask, Liu Feng continued to explain: "Third Uncle also needs to train a strategic force here. The number of people can be small, but it should be around 20,000. We need one of Uncles Guo Rang or Zi Jing to serve as deputy general."

Liu Bei then realized that his eldest son's arrangement was indeed far superior to his own.

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were Liu Bei's trusted brothers, while Tian Yu, Qian Zhao, and Zhao Yun were the next level of reserve officers.

Tian Yu and Qian Zhao are shrewd and capable, skilled in both literature and martial arts. Serving as deputy generals for Guan Yu and Zhang Fei is not only very suitable, but it can also hone their talents and enable them to play a crucial role at critical moments, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

Zang Ba was a skilled and brave warrior, far more capable than He Yi and Liu Pi. After joining Guan Yu's command, he was the perfect front-line commander.

In this way, the equipment of Guan Yu's strategic mobile force was almost complete, only lacking a suitable recruit.

Given Guan Yu's arrogance, if this person wasn't someone he was satisfied with when joining the army, it would probably be the same as not having him at all, and might even have a negative effect.

Liu Bei nodded and, following Liu Feng's suggestion, decided: "In that case, let Guo Rang go to serve under Yun Chang. He and Yun Chang have always been on good terms and get along very well, so it's good that they can be together. As for Zi Jing, he is also my brother, so he can go to Yi De's side and serve as Yi De's deputy general."

From Liu Bei's words, it can be seen that his trust and closeness to Qian Zhao was greater than that to Zhao Yun.

There are many reasons for this, including the childhood friendship, Qian Zhao's higher social standing as a member of a prestigious family in Youzhou, and the fact that Qian Zhao has higher emotional intelligence than Zhao Yun.

Fortunately, Qian Zhao and Zhao Yun had no conflict, so at worst, the four brothers would become five.

Even the most arrogant and difficult Guan Yu affirmed Zhao Yun's abilities; the others were minor issues.

Tian Yu and Zang Ba's forces are now both large groups of six thousand men each, totaling twelve thousand men. Guan Yu's main force has eight thousand, Guan Ping two thousand, Zhou Cang two thousand, Pei Yi two thousand, and He Luan two thousand, totaling twenty-eight thousand men, which is two thousand short of thirty thousand.

After thinking for a moment, Liu Feng suggested, "Father, why not also transfer Gong Du's two thousand men there, making a total of thirty thousand men?"

Liu Bei readily agreed.

Following that, Liu Feng spoke of Zhang Fei's troops: "Third Uncle is stationed in Donghai, which can provide support to Lu and Langya counties at any time. At the same time, it can also support Yanzhou through Lu and Qingzhou through Langya. However, these two places are more likely to be secondary battlefields. I think 20,000 men are sufficient."

Liu Bei nodded: "That's right. Yide's own troops now number eight thousand. We can transfer Huang Shao, Liu Jiang, Zhang Peng, Qiao Rui, Li Feng, and Yue Jiu's troops to strengthen them, bringing the total to twenty thousand."

"My father's arrangements were very appropriate."

Liu Feng nodded in agreement and added, "However, compared to Second Uncle, Third Uncle needs to put in more effort to arrange for someone to join the army."

Unlike Guan Yu, Zhang Fei's admiration for scholars was deeply ingrained. If Zhang Fei were paired with a tactical expert like Xun You, Guo Jia, or Liu Ye who was adept at seizing opportunities in battle, the result would be twice as effective with half the effort.

Now that Xun You has become Liu Bei's chief strategist, he naturally cannot leave.

Guo Jia, who was in charge of intelligence and spies, was too busy to spare any attention for others.

Only Liu Ye is worth using.

As expected, Liu Bei also thought of Liu Ye, which was similar to Liu Feng's opinion.

"Let Liu Ziyang take the military post."

Liu Bei had made his decision and appointed Zhang Fei as a military advisor.

The selection of recruits for Guan Yu's troops was a headache not only for Liu Bei, but also for Liu Feng.

Currently, Lu Su seems to be the most suitable candidate.

Liu Feng tentatively asked, "Father, why don't we let Mr. Zijing take over for a while?"

Liu Bei was somewhat reluctant, but having no other options, he finally nodded and said, "Very well, let Zijing temporarily serve as the military advisor under Yunchang."

“Father, the troops you personally lead also need to be replenished.”

Liu Feng then offered his suggestions.

Liu Bei now has 4,000 personal guards, plus Xiahou Bo, Zhuo Ying, and Bo Shi Ren, each with 4,000 men, for a total of 16,000 men.

This force was sufficient, even enormous, in the past, but it is now clearly somewhat weak.

At this time, Guan Yu commanded 30,000 troops as the strategic reserve. Liu Bei's personal troops must have numbered no less than 30,000. Adding Zhang Fei's 20,000 troops, there were already 80,000 field troops.

This force is almost equal to the total strength of the Xuzhou Army before its expansion last year.

Expanding the army is not something that can be done casually. The main reasons why Liu Feng and his son were able to expand their army so smoothly several times were twofold: first, they had ample money, food, and military equipment to keep up with the needs of the expansion; and second, they had enough talented people.

With this expansion of the army, Liu Feng's forces would inevitably have to rely on the savings of Jiangdong and the Sun family.

This was an unexpected benefit that Liu Feng hadn't anticipated. The surrender of the Sun family brought Liu Feng a complete system of generals, from high-ranking generals like Sun Ce, Wu Jing, and Sun Ben to mid-level generals like Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, and Zhu Zhi, and down to lower-ranking officers.

The Sun family's inheritance alone was enough for Liu Feng to expand his army by more than 40,000 men without lacking officers.

In addition, the four major clans of Wu County, the powerful families of Danyang, Yan Baihu and other minor warlords also provided a lot of manpower. Together with Liu Feng's original team and the newcomers from Xuzhou and Yuzhou, this force was enough to break up and digest Sun Jun's legacy.

Therefore, Liu Feng ultimately did not transfer some of Sun Quan's core troops to Liu Bei's command.

After all, Sun Jun's core troops were indeed much more capable than those under Yuan Shu's command and the Yellow Turbans of Runan and Yingchuan.

"Father, is it possible to transfer the six ministries of He Yi, He Man, Zhang Xun, Liang Gang, Ji Ling, and Qi Ji to our command?"

Liu Feng suggested, "Father currently only has a little over ten thousand men under his command, which is indeed too few. Moreover, this force is directly under Father's command and can also be used as the general reserve."

He Yi had four thousand men under his command, while He Man had two thousand, both of whom were elites carefully selected from the Yellow Turban Army.

Zhang Xun, Ji Ling, Liang Gang, and Qi Ji were all generals in Yuan Shu's army. In the original timeline, they fought against Cao Cao's army and held out for more than half a year. It can be seen that although they were ultimately defeated and killed, they were quite capable.

After all, their opponent was a fierce general of Cao Cao's army, and the commander of the opposing side was Cao Cao himself.

Although these people are not very capable, they are more than qualified to serve as captains of a battalion.

Moreover, Yuan Shu's army also had their old subordinates. Even though their elite troops had been withdrawn and their organization had been disrupted, they still had some advantages in terms of team cohesion.

In this way, Liu Bei's personally led army reached the standard of 30,000 men. With the addition of Guan Yu's army 200 miles away, Liu Bei suddenly had a large army of 60,000 men in the Central Plains.

Liu Bei undoubtedly heeded Liu Feng's advice; in fact, he himself had long harbored the idea of ​​expanding his army.

Now that his eldest son has taken the initiative to suggest it, it really hits the nail on the head.

However, Liu Bei remembered something and hesitated, saying, "If that's the case, wouldn't I and Yide overlap?"

Liu Feng laughed. His father was being stubborn; he thought the army would be stationed in Tancheng.

The reason why Tancheng was chosen as the capital city was because Liu Bei only had one and a half counties, Donghai and Xiapi, at that time.

Tancheng is no longer suitable to be Liu Bei's main city.

Tancheng was passable within Donghai Commandery, but it was clearly too remote within Xuzhou. From the perspective of the entire southeast, Tancheng was too close to the border and had no natural defenses on all sides. Moreover, it was located in Xuzhou, a place of constant warfare, so it was definitely not a qualified main city.

Liu Feng had long wanted to persuade Liu Bei to move the main city. Moreover, Liu Bei had not returned to Tancheng for more than half a year since he left. Tancheng was mainly guarded by Zhang Fei, while Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong and others assisted Zhang Fei and acted as agents for government affairs.

Liu Feng currently has several places he is quite satisfied with, the first being Qiao County.

Although Qiao County was not the capital of Pei State, it was the capital of the entire Yu Province. It not only had well-developed land transportation, but was also an important town on the Chu River.

From a geographical perspective, Qiao County is bordered by the states of Liang and Chen to the north, Xuzhou to the east, and the Huai River to the south. Moreover, it is centrally located, economically developed, and has a large population, giving it many advantages.

On the contrary, Qiao County has very few shortcomings, but it has one very prominent and huge flaw: it is too close to Xiaopei.

Guan Yu's troops have already been stationed in Xiaopei. Thirty thousand men is a very large army. In peacetime, they would not even be all gathered in one place. Whether for resupply or for defense, they would be dispersed to surrounding cities and stationed separately.

Based on the standard of a 30,000-strong army, even Qiao County would be within this garrison area.

If a new army of 30,000 men were to be stationed in Qiao County at this time, it would undoubtedly place a huge burden on the local area, and would also affect mobilization efficiency should war break out.

After all, there is a limit to the number of laborers and supplies that a local area can provide, as well as a limit to the number of boats and vehicles that can travel on waterways and roads.

Actually, there is a place that is far more suitable than Qiao County, and it is quite perfect.

That is Shouchun City, where he and Liu Bei are currently located.

Shouchun was a well-connected place, with easy access to Runan, Guangling, and Xiapi via the Huai River. Moreover, compared to Qiao County, Shouchun was closer to the center of Liu Bei's territory.

Shouchun was not only a huge city, but also had an independent palace and branch cities. Yuan Shu was able to gather tens of thousands of troops in Shouchun year-round because of these infrastructure facilities.

The problem is that Liu Feng himself has taken a liking to Shouchun.

Liu Bei wanted to expand his army, and Liu Feng also wanted to expand his army.

Moreover, Shouchun has an excellent geographical location. Stationing a main force here would not only allow them to march north to support Liu Bei or even Cao Cao at any time, but also enable them to reach the Yangtze River at any time and sail upstream to conquer Jingzhou.

Moreover, Shouchun is located north of the Yangtze River, where the climate is much more comfortable than east of the river. It also has waterways such as the Huai River connecting it to Pei State and Pengcheng, from which it can obtain a large amount of military supplies.

If this place were given to Liu Bei, then Liu Feng would really have to retreat across the river.

After much deliberation, Liu Feng finally suggested, "Father, now that you are the Governor of Yu Province, you should naturally be stationed in Qiao County, the capital of Yu Province."

If Liu Bei were to personally oversee Qiao County, he would have to disperse Guan Yu's army.

Liu Feng continued, "Zang Xuangao's troops can continue to be stationed in Rencheng, while Uncle Guorang will be transferred to Lu State to replace Uncle Zijing back in Tancheng. At the same time, the troops under the Second Uncle can also be divided into Guanping, Zhoucang and other parts to be stationed in Pengcheng and Feng County, so as to form a pincer movement."

Fengxian is only two and a half days' journey from Peixian, and by water it takes only half a day. Pengcheng is much farther away, a full five or six days' journey, but it is also connected by the Sishui River, and by water it takes one to two days.

This also has another advantage: although Qiao and Pei are not far apart, there is no major waterway connecting them.

This arrangement does, to a large extent, eliminate the previous flaw.

“Father, I will write a letter to His Highness Prince Chen and Prime Minister Luo, requesting that they allocate several counties for our army to garrison.”

Qiao County is located in the northwest corner of Pei State. Although it sits on the Huo River, it is only accessible by land, let alone the other two corners. Even the surrounding counties of Jianping, Dan County, and Zan County are only accessible by land.

On the contrary, Chengfu in Runan, Kuxian, Fule, Yangxia, Wuping and other counties in Chen State are not only close to Qiao County, but also located on the banks of the Chu River, making transportation very convenient. More importantly, except for Chengfu in Runan, all the other cities are located upstream of Qiao County.

In this way, Liu Bei's army's logistical supply lines would undoubtedly be more stable and robust.

If Liu Bei could gain the assistance of the State of Chen, the problem of being too close to Guan Yu's army could be alleviated to some extent, and he would also have the advantage of joining forces.

Given the current relationship between Liu Chong and Luo Jun and Liu Bei and his son, the difficulty should not be too great.

Even if it's just given to one or two counties, it can alleviate a significant amount of pressure.

(End of this chapter)