Prepare for Battle 28

  Chen Cang's situation is indeed not optimistic. For the impending Liangzhou rebellion, Gao Fei still needs to make some positive responses. He doesn't want to linger in this poor place, he wants to take advantage of his mastery of historical knowledge to successfully suppress this rebellion and then rely on his own strength to become a governor or state pastor. He will no longer believe those greedy little people.

  The second day after taking office, Gaofei took Zhao Yun and Xia Houlan out of the city to head west. First, they would observe the terrain and then come up with a positive response plan. In his impression, there was a person named Hao Zhao in the Three Kingdoms who used 3,000 Wei soldiers to tightly guard Chen Cang and resisted Zhuge Liang's tens of thousands of troops. He believed he could do it too, and even better than Hao Zhao, after all, he was a modern man with knowledge far surpassing that of ancient people.

  The majestic Chen Cang City was built on the mountain, sandwiched between two mountains. The area inside the city was also carved out, so it can't be compared to cities on flat land, which is also why it's so small. After leaving the west gate, Gao Fei and others ran along the mountain path for two miles before turning back to look at the west gate of Chen Cang City. They saw that the west gate was like a checkpoint carded between the two mountains, and the south and north sides of the city were steep cliffs, making it impossible for ordinary people to climb up and peek at Chen Cang, which is also its unique feature.

  Gao Fei looked around again, the mountain path was not wide, and six horses could walk side by side, to some extent, it restricted the situation of the large army's siege, no wonder Zhuge Liang's hundreds of thousands of troops were unable to take down a Chen Cang guarded by only 3,000 people, although there were many people, they couldn't be deployed.

  After carefully observing the geographical advantages of Chen Cang City, Gao Fei finally had a plan in mind. He smiled and said to Zhao Yun and Xia Houlan: "Let's go take a look ahead."

  Gao Fei led Zhao Yun and Xiahou Lan along the mountain path westward, the road also becoming increasingly wide, only to suddenly become narrow when approaching Chen Cang City. The more he looked, the more confident he became, thinking that if he had two thousand soldiers, even tens of thousands of Liangzhou rebels came to attack, he could still defend Chen Cang City.

  Along the way, there were also several small villages where hundreds of people lived, with larger ones having over a hundred households and smaller ones having more than ten households. Thinking that these villagers on the west side of Chen Cang might become victims, he decided to first relocate these villagers to the east side of Chen Cang to live.

  By noon, Gao Fei returned to Chen Cang City with Zhao Yun and Xia Houlan. As soon as he entered the county government office, he saw Ma Jiu and a strong man standing together.

  Ma Jiu and the strong man saw Gao Fei arrive, and hastily bowed: "Greetings, Lord Hou!"

  He took a glance at the sturdy man, who was about 23 or 24 years old, with a square face and a few strands of black whiskers on his chin. The official uniform he wore seemed a bit too small for him, barely covering his broad chest, and some dark chest hair poked out from the collar. He stood at around 185 cm tall, exuding an air of agility. After sizing him up, Gao Fei asked, "Are you the county constable?"

  The sturdy man nodded and bowed: "I am Hua Xiong, at your service, Your Excellency!"

  "Hua Xiong?" Gao Fei was slightly taken aback, not expecting to run into Hua Xiong as soon as he arrived in Guanzhong. Moreover, it was a legitimate encounter with his own subordinate. How could he be considered a famous figure if not for him? If not for him, how would Guan Yu have become famous overnight?

  "Yes, Lord Hou, I had some family matters at home yesterday, so I didn't come to welcome you. Please forgive me!" Huaxiong was quite polite and also very respectful to Gaofei.

  Gao Fei took a step forward and walked into the hall, saying to Hua Xiong and Ma Jiu: "Come in, both of you. I have something to instruct you to do."

  As soon as they entered the hall, Cao Cao sat down and said loudly: "Hua Xiong, Ma Chao, I have a task for you to complete. If you do well, you will be heavily rewarded."

  Hua Xiong and Ma Chao's faces lit up with joy, and they immediately said: "Your Excellency, please give your orders, we are willing to die for you!"

  Gao Fei cleared his throat and said loudly, "Within ten days, you two must relocate all the civilians west of Chen Cang City to the east side of the city, and recruit 2,000 militia. Any questions?"

  Hua Xiong and Ma Chao exchanged a glance, both their faces showing difficulty, but they did not dare to disobey, so they just stood there, unable to respond or remain silent.

  "If there's something difficult, just say it out loud, I'll think of a way to solve it!"

  Hua Xiong said: "Reporting to the lord, relocating the civilians is not a big problem. The locals didn't like living there anyway, and they would be delighted to move to the east of the city. However... recruiting two thousand village braves is quite tricky..."

  "What kind of trick is this?"

  Hua Xiong said: "Lord Hou, the entire Chen Cang has only about 1,000 households and a population of over 4,000 people. The vast majority are old, weak, women and children. Even if there are strong ones, they may not be willing to join the militia... Lord Hou, I dare to ask, what is the purpose of recruiting 2,000 militiamen?"

  "It's close to Liangzhou, once the Qiang and Hu tribes rebel, they will attack Sanfu with great force, and Chen Cang will be the first to bear the brunt. I want to be prepared for any situation, recruit local brave warriors, train them into soldiers, and also defend Chen Cang." Gao Fei said brightly.

  Hua Xiong said: "Lord Hou, I'm afraid I'm not capable enough to help you share your worries and difficulties. Two thousand militiamen are really too many; it's not just a matter of ten days, even two months may not be enough to recruit them all in Youfufeng... unless..."

  "What's wrong?" Gaofei asked hastily.

  "Unless recruitment is carried out within the borders of Liangzhou, it may be possible to gather two thousand militiamen." Hua Xiong said slowly, "The people of Liangzhou often live among the Qiang and Hu tribes, the customs are fierce, and everyone practices martial arts. In the past two years, the harvest in Liangzhou has not been good, many civilians have become swordsmen for those wealthy landowners who own fortresses to protect their homes. If Master Hou really wants to recruit two thousand militiamen, he can do so within the borders of Liangzhou. Moreover, as soon as recruitment begins on one side, they can be deployed into battle on the other side, which is much better than retraining two thousand ordinary civilians."

  Gao Fei thought this was a great idea, with a hint of mercenary flair. He pondered that he didn't have much wealth, thinking to himself that if he had spent 60-70 million on this broken place and just sat on it, he would be furious. If only he had been smarter at the time and hadn't spent so much money, but instead left some aside, perhaps with that money he could recruit 2,000 mercenaries and still have plenty to spare. He thought of this and asked Hua Xiong: "How much does a cavalryman cost?"

  Hua Xiong replied with a smile: "Ten thousand yuan per person per month."

  "A hundred thousand taels of silver?" Gao Fei was extremely shocked, because he knew that during the Han Dynasty, one jin of gold was equivalent to 10,000 wu qian coins. One person's 10,000 taels would be two million taels for 2,000 people, which is also equal to 2,000 jin of gold. Moreover, the rebellion might not happen for another two months, so where could he get an additional 3,000 jin of gold? Currently, all his family's assets combined were less than 1,000 jin of gold.

  Hua Xiong saw Gao Fei's astonished expression and smiled, saying: "Duke, in the past, perhaps each person would only need 500 coins, but times are different now. In order to fill their stomachs, a horse knife hand from Liangzhou is worth this price!"

  "Alright, alright, I know. You go down first and relocate the people from the west of the city to the east. We'll talk about the militia later."

  Hua Xiong and Ma Chao exclaimed in unison: "Yes! Your Excellency, we take our leave!"

  Gao Feng said: "Hua Xiong, do your best from now on and follow me, I won't treat you unfairly."

  Hua Xiong happily nodded and then turned around and left.

  "Ah!"

  Zhoa Yun heard Gao Fei let out a deep sigh and said: "Your Lordship, I think you don't need to worry about the village warriors' affairs."

  Gao Fei exclaimed "Oh!" and looked at Zhao Yun in surprise, having overlooked the presence of this Tiger General by his side. He asked: "Do you have a better idea?"

  Zhao Yun said: "General, you are from Longxi, Liangzhou, aren't you?"

  Gao Fei nodded and replied: "Right, what does this have to do with recruiting local militiamen?"

  Zhao Yun smiled slightly and said calmly, "From Chen Cang to Longxi, the distance is not far. Since you are from Longxi, why don't you return home in style? This way, you can also recruit brave warriors from your hometown, and they will be your clansmen. They won't ask you for money, will they?"

  Gao Feng was suddenly enlightened by Zhao Yun's pointing, and after being delighted, he slapped his thigh and immediately stood up. He put his arm around Zhao Yun and said excitedly: "Zi Long, you've helped me out of a big trouble! How could I not have thought of it?"

  Zhao Yun humbly said: "Your Excellency is overpraising me. Even if I don't say it, Your Excellency will think of it."

  Gao Fei burst out laughing and said to Xia Houlan: "Go and call Liao Hua and Lu Heng!"

  Xiahou Lan nodded and immediately ran out of the hall. When he came back, Liao Hua and Lu Xiang also followed him in.

  "What did Master Hou summon us for?" Liao Hua and Lu Heng asked in unison as they bowed.

  Gao Fei said: "I'm going to take a long trip, and everything in the Chen Cang will be temporarily handed over to you two for joint processing. You must do your best, except for handling the big event of migrating the people well, also properly rectify those yamen runners. County Wei Hua Xiong is a talented person, you two should get close to him."

  Liao Hua and Lu Xiang replied in unison: "Yes!"

  Gao Fei said to Xia Houlan: "You go and let Pei Yuanshao, Bian Xi make good preparations, tomorrow we will return home together."

  Xiahou Lan asked: "Can I follow you, Master Hou?"

  Gao said: "Of course, you and Zi Long will go, Liao Hua, Lu Xiang, Zhou Cang, Guan Yu, and Fei An will stay in Chen Cang."

  Xiahou Lan smiled and said: "I understand, I will go and instruct them."

  Liao Hua and Lu Heng both asked in unison: "Is the Marquis returning to Longxi?"

  "Ah, let's head back home and recruit some new troops along the way." Gao Fei had his own plans, bringing Pei Yuanshao was for his own convenience on the road to eat and drink, who made Pei Yuanshao's culinary skills good? Zhao Yun and Xiahou Lan were now his bodyguards, of course they would be brought along, but as for bringing Bian Xi, that had a deeper meaning.