Lu Bu: My wife comes from two thousand years later

In the minds of the bandits, young and strong men are soldiers and combat power!

After hearing the number of people reported by Zhang Yan, Zhang Mo's eyebrows couldn't help but fall, and she said truthfully, "With the grain reserves in Bingzhou, we can't support so many people before next autumn harvest."

Zhang Yan also knew that it would be difficult to accommodate so many people at once, so he asked, "How many can be accommodated at most?"

"What do you mean? If we can't support them, are we going to just let them fend for themselves?" Zhang Mo looked up at him.

Zhang Yan said, "There's an unwritten rule in the Taihang Mountains: if there's really no food, the first to go are the elderly over fifty, followed by girls under ten."

Zhang Mo had actually known about the bandits' custom of abandoning the old and weak for a long time. When Qu Yi cleared out Jingxing, the old, weak, women and children whose young and strong men were killed were ruthlessly abandoned by their leader.

Back then, Zhang Mo was able to risk her life to leave the village to rescue them, and she was also able to take in the elderly and weak. There was no reason to let those people starve to death today.

"Bingzhou doesn't have that much food, but they actually sincerely surrendered to me. How could I let them starve to death?"

"Alas... there's nothing I can do!" She waved her hand, a hint of helplessness in her clear and beautiful eyes, "This fairy can only take you to rob food."

Helpless? He clearly saw the full force of a bandit. Three black lines on Zhang Yan's forehead. He had always led his men to rob others, so why was he now being led by others to rob? And this was a beautiful young lady?

Xu Chu looked very proud. The Taihang bandit leader wanted to follow Amo to plunder. Amo finally became the real boss of Black Mountain!

Fa Zheng's face was filled with pride. His sister was both good and evil. When she was in a good mood, she was as gentle and kind as a fairy, but when she was in a bad mood, she was even scarier than jackals, tigers and leopards. He silently lit three incense sticks for Ma Teng and Han Sui in his heart.

"Where are you going to rob? Jizhou will be yours soon, are you going to rob yourself?" Zhang Yan asked doubtfully.

"Do you think I'm a fool?" Zhang Mo rolled her eyes at him.

"Who are you robbing then?"

"Steal other people's food!"

"Who?"

Zhang Mo kept it a secret, "I'll tell you later. Now, let's talk about recruiting the Black Mountain soldiers."

Zhang Yan patted his chest and said proudly, "How many troops are needed? Fairy, just tell me directly. This is what we do in Black Mountain."

At this time, a servant brought up tea. Zhang Mo served a cup to Zhang Yan and asked Xu Chu and Fa Zheng to sit down and drink tea. She picked up a cup and took a sip.

"Honestly, the soldiers in your headquarters are barely combat-capable, but those in the other villages are just strong young men, not soldiers. They can be used to bolster the morale during sieges, but if it's a field battle, having so many of them will simply cause chaos, consume food, hinder our progress, and ultimately lead to our deaths."

She said it with a look of disgust, and Zhang Yan curled his lips, obviously disagreeing with her point of view. His Black Mountain relied on its large number of people and its strong momentum, using its numbers to bully the weak. With tens of thousands of troops standing there, they could scare the enemy soldiers into submission.

Of course, except for the Bingzhou cavalry.

Zhang Mo didn't care about Zhang Yan's disagreement. She put down her teacup, thought for a moment, and said, "How about this? Go back and pick out 10,000 elite soldiers from your camp and station them outside Jinyang City. Come with me to plunder food. Then, pick out strong and healthy men from the young and strong men in each camp and combine them with your remaining soldiers, making a total of 60,000. First, practice basic military discipline and rules, and then go to Sheguo County to help me scare Yuan's army."

Zhang Yan replied, "Of course! With Heishan's help, I can help you reach Yecheng in less than a month."

He then asked, "When will we start the grain robbery?"

"It depends on the situation. We need to see when the enemy will send out their troops. Only when they arrive can we rob them of their food supplies."

Zhang Yan nodded. "Now that the deal is settled, could you please give us some food first?"

"General Zhang won't go back on his word, will he?"

Although Zhang Yan always kept his word, she could not rely on the reputation of others for the safety of Bingzhou. What if she gave Zhang Yan food and grass, and then went back on his word and raised an army to attack Bingzhou? Wouldn't that be like slitting her own throat?

Zhang Yan said, "Such a major matter cannot be decided with just a few words. You decide what to do, and I will obey."

Zhang Mo smiled and said, "General, you are a straightforward man, so I won't beat around the bush. I currently cannot accommodate hundreds of thousands of bandits like you, nor do I have that much land to allocate to you. I can only enroll you as households after the war in Jizhou is over, so for now, you can only stay in the mountain stronghold."

"However, staying in the mountains could lead to rebellion at any time. Of course, I trust your character, General, but you may not be able to control all the bandits. Now that Changshan State in Jizhou has been incorporated into Bingzhou, everyone on both sides of Taihang is ours. You no longer need to be on guard against anyone. If you truly wish to become a good person, as a token of your sincerity, you should tear down all the gates and walls, and then personally lead 10,000 troops to Jinyang."

"As for food and fodder, I will provide them to those who are sent to invade the country. I will also send people to transport more food to the various camps to alleviate your famine. What do you think, General?"

Once the gates of the village are demolished, if there is a rebellion, the Bingzhou army will be able to wipe out the village in an instant. Of course, if someone secretly rebuilds the gate during this period, it can only be treated as a rebellion.

However, she asked Zhang Yan to mix the young and strong men from each village together, so that even if some villages wanted to rebel, they could not do so unless Zhang Yan took the lead.

Zhang Yan had no objection to this and said, "The fairy has commanded me, and I will obey. I will go back and have the gate of the village demolished."

"Yes! We should hurry up and reorganize the young and strong. I'm afraid they will send troops soon."

"Got it!" Zhang Yan bowed again, "If nothing else, I'll take my leave now!"

"Goodbye, General!" Zhang Mo stood up to see him off.

After sending Zhang Yan away, Zhang Mo had someone fetch a detailed map of Liangzhou and Sili, and sat on the sofa to examine it carefully. Fa Zheng stood nearby, puzzled, and said, "Even if Ma Teng and Han Sui really sent troops, a couple of months' worth of food and fodder for tens of thousands of soldiers and horses would be nothing compared to the hundreds of thousands of Black Mountain bandits. Sister, you've taken in so many people all at once, and Tongguan has been absorbing refugees too. They won't last until next year!"

"I know we can't hold out until next year, but Zhang Yan has led his men to surrender. If I refuse to let them in, they'll be left with nowhere else to turn and either plunder Bingzhou or flee to Yuan Shao or Gongsun Zan. I can't let these bandits become an obstacle to my army's conquest of Jizhou. It's better to recruit them and use them for my own benefit. As for the future... I'll figure it out later!"

"Since the famine this year, food is scarce almost everywhere in the world. What else can we do? Sister, you are not a real fairy who can conjure up a lot of food with just a magic trick."

Zhang Mo sighed softly, "Let's take it one step at a time. If there's really no other way, we can only... follow the Montenegrin rules."

But in fact, with the help of the Black Mountain army, the war in Jizhou will end faster and a lot of food and grass can be saved. You must know that during the battle, not only do the soldiers have to eat more and better than usual, but the war horses also have to be fed with fine feed before going into battle so that they can run on the battlefield. The daily rations of a horse are equivalent to those of three or four soldiers, so ending the war as soon as possible can save more food and grass and feed more people.