Chapter 372

"Alas!"

Xu Rong shook his head with a look of regret: "I sympathize with you too! But it's a pity! My Lord thinks your character is corrupt and your abilities are quite average, so he doesn't think much of you at all. Therefore, please go die!"

"Drag them out!"

"Yes!"

Several personal guards immediately dragged Li Jue and Guo Si away.

"No!"

"Xu Rong! You will not die a good death!"

"Xu Rong! I curse you....."

"Pfft!!"

"Ah!!"

In the end, amidst their screams, Li Jue and Guo Si were beheaded and died unnatural deaths.

Xu Rong remained unmoved.

Jia Xu, standing to the side, teased with a smile: "General Xu, are you not sad at all? Actually, the Lord didn't say he had to kill them, did he?"

"These people were, after all, your old friends! There's no need to be so heartless!"

"Hehe! Mr. Wenhe, please don't tease me!"

Xu Rong shook his head with a smile: "I don't believe you don't know how terrible my relationship with Li Jue and Guo Si was when I was under Dong Zhuo!"

"I defected to Dong Zhuo halfway through, and among the many Xiliang Army generals, everyone else was from Xiliang, while I was the only one from Youzhou;"

"I naturally had a rift with them, and it was difficult to integrate into them or be accepted by them;"

"In the past, I suffered no small amount of exclusion and suppression from them. Our relationship was very poor. Calling them old friends is just nonsense;"

"Plus, their character is truly not good, and the Lord didn't say I had to keep them. If I don't kill them, should I keep them to cause me trouble in the future?"

If the situation hadn't prevented it before, he would have wanted to get rid of Li Jue and Guo Si long ago. Now that he had the chance, how could he let it go?

Not having them sliced into a thousand pieces was already his tolerance and magnanimity.

Furthermore, he could see the Lord's attitude toward evil people through the Lord's new policies. How could he make such a low-level mistake?

Li Jue and Guo Si were definitely guys who committed all kinds of evil.

Burning, killing, and looting—they had a hand in every one of them.

They were definitely not innocent, even if they died ten thousand times.

"Haha! Just a joke! Just a joke!"

Jia Xu was also amused: "Indeed! People like Li Jue and Guo Si who were born in Xiliang are relatively xenophobic, or rather, all people are basically relatively xenophobic and like to group together;"

"In the past, I was only not truly targeted because I didn't fight or compete and was relatively low-key, unlike you, General, whose ability was too strong and who wasn't someone who flattered or fawned. Being excluded and suppressed was even more normal!"

"They were afraid that you, General, would steal their share of the credit and merit!"

Therefore, sometimes, having strong ability is not necessarily a completely good thing.

If not handled well, it can instead become a bad thing.

"Yes!"

Xu Rong nodded with empathy: "That was exactly why I suffered no small amount of exclusion and bullying from them;"

"As for you, Sir, it's not just because you were low-key and didn't fight or compete that you didn't suffer their harassment, but rather you even received their courtesy;"

"The key is that you, Sir, are well-versed in human nature and are a person with real ability who could help Li Jue and Guo Si!"

"These guys are all pig-brained and always had times when they needed you, Sir, to help them think of ways and offer ideas. Therefore, I used to envy your situation in the past."

Comparing people to people is often really incomparable.

Even now, Jia Xu's treatment under Su Xuan was higher than his.

His future ceiling was also very likely higher than his.

Xu Rong was not jealous, because he felt that with Jia Xu's ability, this was what he deserved.

He was never a jealous person.

In his view, one should enjoy benefits according to one's ability; only then is it fair.

And Su Xuan's side happened to implement this set of rules, which suited his taste.

"Haha! That's true!"

Jia Xu smiled knowingly and continued: "For the next few years, we will likely be working together! I hope we can get along happily!"

"Naturally!"

Xu Rong nodded affirmatively: "I will need you, Sir, to give me more guidance in the future! You know, I have no problem commanding troops, but government affairs and strategy are not my strengths!"

"These will likely all need you, Sir, to grasp!"

"In this way, we can avoid failing to meet the Lord's requirements and disappointing him!"

This was related to merit rewards and such, so it absolutely could not be neglected.

"By the way! Sir, we have now taken Chang'ancheng, killed Li Jue and Guo Si, and taken over the more than 100, 00 Xiliang soldiers in Chang'ancheng!"

"What should we do next? Do you have a detailed and stable plan, Sir?"

Xu Rong asked.

"Naturally!"

Jia Xu nodded affirmatively: "The most urgent thing at the moment is that we must complete the reorganization of the Xiliang Army in the city as quickly as possible, take complete control and digest them, and raise their combat power;"

"At the same time, we must send troops and people to bring the entire Guanzhong region under our control and stabilize these places;"

"To avoid further loss of population;"

"In addition, we must send people to western border cities like Chencang to strengthen defenses and guard against possible attacks from Han Sui and Ma Teng of Xiliang;"

"According to intelligence from the Dark Guards, they have been restless since Dong Zhuo was killed!"

"Now that Li Jue and Guo Si have been taken by us, if Han Sui and Ma Teng are not hurt by us and we don't show enough deterrence, they will not retreat."

"Even, not just them, the Xiongnu and Qiang people to the north... will likely be eyeing us covetously next!"

"Therefore, the top priority is to reorganize the army and prepare for war! Stabilize Guanzhong."

"Fortunately, with the Lord's secret support, it should be stabilized very quickly!"

"The Lord cannot provide many civil officials to govern the localities, but he is not short of officers to train the troops;"

"General, you might as well apply to the Lord for assistance immediately;"

"I believe that officers from the army will soon come to support us, helping us reorganize the troops as quickly as possible and let them form combat power."

Born in troubled times, troops are the most important thing.

As long as you have enough troops, sufficient grain, fodder, and military equipment, then other problems are not problems at all!

"Sir, your words are golden!"

Xu Rong's eyes lit up, and he felt that the thoughts in his head were clearing up: "After your analysis, Sir, I suddenly feel that completing the Lord's task doesn't seem so difficult!"

"Since that's the case, I will write to the Lord to ask for help now!"

"Not just officers to train the troops, we are also very short of grain, fodder, and military equipment. I hope the Lord can support us with a batch to meet our emergency needs!"

"By the way!"

Speaking of this, Xu Rong paused and looked at Jia Xu: "Mr. Wenhe! How are we going to obtain enough grain, fodder, and even money to support the nearly 200, 00 troops under our command?"

One must know, this is 200, 00!

The Lord's own side has at most this many.

Now Guanzhong is broken, the population loss is serious, and the land is abandoned. Restoring production in the short term is a problem.

"This is not a big problem either!"

Jia Xu said calmly: "Regarding this, we can take two steps;"

"First, take advantage of the opportunity to reorganize the army to discharge the old, weak, sick, and disabled who are over 40 or under 15;"

"Just keep the true young and strong elites in the army for reorganization!"

"As for the number of people, 100, 00 troops would be the limit!"

"Even, it might not be necessary to keep 100, 00; 50, 00 to 80, 00 should be about right!"

"Of course, the premise is that the combat power of these troops can be quickly improved;"

"However, considering that we are executing a secret agency mission this time and cannot expose our relationship with the Lord;"

"And we cannot get the full resource support from the Lord's side, the combat power of our troops is definitely not as good as the Lord's main force, and the growth speed is the same!"

"Therefore, we can be a bit more lenient with the numbers; let's set 100, 00 as the standard!"

"However, I must remind you, General Xu, that in the process of reorganization, you must gradually clarify military discipline and let our troops gradually move closer to the Lord's main force;"

"Among them, the black sheep in the army also need to be gradually identified and selected, reorganized into a separate army, and consumed in future foreign wars;"

"At the same time, those who perform well and have a clean background can also be identified and selected to form an army, and have the Lord sign a spiritual contract with them, training them truly toward the direction of the Lord's main elite force;"

"In this way, when we expose our identities in the future and return to the Lord's side, it will be easier and faster to integrate into the Lord's command;"

"These will definitely be a huge merit at that time, what do you think, General?"

It cannot be done too obviously, but it also cannot let these surrendered Xiliang soldiers continue as they did in the past!

The Xiliang Army of the past, while called an army, was actually no different from bandits and thieves.

Under normal circumstances, these people, even if not all sent to build bridges and roads or engage in engineering, would definitely not be allowed to remain in Su Xuan's army.

But now that hasn't happened yet, and it's not convenient to integrate them into Su Xuan's army, right?

Then we can only make do for now!

In other words, these surrendered Xiliang soldiers have been given a chance to turn over a new leaf; it just depends on whether they can grasp it themselves.

In any case, no one will remind them.