The First Military Division of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 267 Arms Race
Chapter 270 IX Arms Race

If the areas occupied by Cao Cao were all in the hinterland of the Central Plains and did not border the sea, otherwise Chen Ziming would definitely send a naval fleet to hang around Cao Cao's gate if there was nothing to do.

Liu Bei's group suddenly expanded its army, which terrified the princes of the world, especially Cao Cao, who took over Liu Bei's bag, heard that Liu Bei wanted to expand his army by one million, and hurriedly discussed countermeasures with all civil and military forces.

The final result is that Cao Cao also expanded his army, otherwise, once Liu Bei's army is formed, the target of the attack may be Cao Cao who stands in front of Liu Bei.

According to the situation in various places provided by Xun Yu, Cao Cao ordered to expand the number of troops to more than 60.

You must know that Cao Cao is now sitting in Yuzhou, Yanzhou and Nanyang counties, but the population under his rule is more than 600 million. It turns out that these places have more than such a population, but the perennial wars have caused a large number of population loss, and a large part of them fled to Xuzhou and other places, and then Liu Bei got him to Fuzhou and other places.

With a population of more than 600 million, 60 soldiers are recruited. This ratio is already very scary. The production technology of this era has determined that a large number of young and strong must be left for agricultural production. Otherwise, not to mention the food needed by hundreds of thousands of troops, even the common people It's hard to be self-sufficient.

Fortunately, because Chen Ziming developed a large number of grain planting technologies, which greatly increased grain production, it was barely acceptable for a population of 600 million to feed 60 soldiers and horses.

Because Liu Bei stationed troops in the south, west, and north of Yanzhou, Cao Cao had no choice but to move his political center from Yanzhou Chenliu to Nanyang. There was no way, even Yuzhou was not very safe. The army did not fail to provoke Cao Cao's soldiers stationed there. Behind Zhang Jaw were Xu Huang and Gao Lan, both of whom were well-known and fierce generals.

In the end, Cao Cao ordered General Cao Hong to lead 20 troops to sit in Yanzhou, Cao Ren led 20 troops to sit in Yuzhou, and the rest of the troops were concentrated in Nanyang, because Cao Cao's strategic intentions were already obvious, that is, Jingzhou or Sili Prefecture, and the only way to win In two places, Cao Cao is qualified to compete with Liu Bei.

But how could Liu Bei let Cao Cao sit big? There are 50 troops on the borders of Yanzhou and Yuzhou alone. As long as Cao Cao dares to move Jingzhou or Sili Prefecture, the 50 troops will attack Yanzhou and Yuzhou from all sides.

There is also a major event that caused a sensation in the world, that is, Cao Cao paid a lot of money to recruit craftsmen, and the high salary paid made many craftsmen working in the Linzi factory shine.

The status of a craftsman has been very high under Chen Ziming's vigorous promotion. Although he is still not as good as a scholar, he is much higher than a businessman and is very respected.

Now Cao Cao has come out again, directly raising the status of a craftsman to the same status as a scholar, because the treatment of small officials in many places is no more than that.

Craftsmen from all over the world rushed to Nanyang after knowing Cao Cao's great generosity. Even some craftsmen from Qingzhou and Xuzhou did not hesitate to leave their high wages and went to Nanyang with their families, because Cao Cao specifically stated that the craftsmen who passed under Liu Bei's rule would be paid double. If the workmanship is good, he may even be directly appointed as an official.

Many princes in the world have the intention of blocking it, but unfortunately there are too many roads to enter Cao Cao's territory, and it is not difficult at all.Chen Ziming was furious when he heard the news. He worked so hard to train such a good craftsman, and he was able to make Cao Cao cheaper.

However, Chen Ziming was relieved that very few artisans from Liu Bei went to join Cao Cao. Compared with the artisans trained in the past few years, those who left were only drizzle, and none of the great artisans left.

Of course, they can't do without. For this kind of craftsmen who master advanced technology, they are registered in the register. If they go to the enemy, that is death.

Soon, all the princes of the world knew why Cao Cao went crazy and spent a lot of money to recruit craftsmen, because although he formed an army of 60, his weapons and equipment could not keep up. Many soldiers didn't even have weapons, and they were all training with wooden sticks.

Moreover, many of the weapons owned by Cao Cao's soldiers and horses are old weapons, which can be completely eliminated and cannot be used for combat at all.

On the other hand, Liu Bei's army is all equipped with the latest weapons, and they are the most advanced. Many soldiers even wear armor. Although they are all simple armor, they are countless times stronger than Cao Cao's soldiers and horses.

Cao Cao is in a hurry, with such strength, how can he be Liu Bei's opponent, and Liu Bei's military division industry is too developed, and the required weapons are ready before the million-strong army is recruited.

What also made Cao Cao terrified was that Liu Bei's army was not only equipped with brand new weapons, but also had many special weapons, which were very terrifying, and made Cao Cao jealous. He wanted to find some craftsmen who could make those advanced weapons from Liu Bei.

It can be said that Liu Bei's army now has the strength to crush Cao Cao. If it weren't for the fact that there are too many recruits this year, the combat effectiveness has not yet been formed, and the fighters are not very mature. Chen Ziming even wants to fight Cao Cao now.

But I can only think about it, if we really want to fight Cao Cao, at least we must mobilize most of Liu Bei's soldiers and horses, and the other soldiers and horses will also move south, and be prepared to fight Sun Ce at the same time.

Because Chen Ziming had just received a secret report from the secret guard, Cao Cao sent Xun You to Yangzhou to discuss the alliance with Sun Ce. The purpose of the alliance between Cao and Sun is known to everyone, to deal with the powerful Liu Bei together, and to protect themselves.

Like Cao Cao, the ambitious Sun Ce also recruited a large number of troops in the Jiangdong area, and directly expanded the Yangtze River Navy to 20, divided into four divisions, and strictly protected Jiangdong.

The most important thing is that Sun Ce recruited many Shanyue people and formed an elite army composed entirely of Shanyue people. The combat effectiveness is very strong, especially in mountain warfare, it is almost invincible.

Then Sun Ce conscripted [-] soldiers from Jiaozhou, all the young and strong from the hundreds of ethnic groups in Jiaozhou, and made Jiaozhou completely surrender under Sun Ce's feet.

Now Sun Ce is not inferior to Cao Cao in strength, and there is a danger of the Yangtze River. Unless Liu Bei goes all out to attack, it will be difficult to destroy Sun Ce, who has become a general trend.

In addition to Sun Ce and Cao Cao, powerful princes such as Liu Biao of Jingzhou, Liu Zhang of Yizhou, and Ma Teng of Liangzhou felt the pressure brought by Liu Bei.

Liu Biao of Jingzhou was defeated in Nanyang last year, lost troops and lost generals, and his strength dropped greatly. Now all the soldiers and horses in his hands add up to nearly 20, and Xinye has [-].

But from Chen Ziming's point of view, with such a small number of people, whether it is Cao Cao or Sun Ce, it is not a matter of minutes to clean up. If Cao Cao and Sun Ce felt the pressure from Liu Bei and did not dare to move around, otherwise Jingzhou might have changed hands. .

(End of this chapter)