Chapter 583

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

Xu Rong remained unmoved.

Seeing this, Jia Xu, who was standing to the side, joked with a smile: "General Xu, aren't you even a little bit sad? Actually, the Lord didn't say that he had to kill them, did he?"

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

"Hehe! Mr. Wenhe, 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 generals, everyone else was from Xiliang, while only I was from Youzhou;"

"There was a natural rift between us, making it 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 indeed not good, and the Lord didn't say he wanted to keep them. If I don't kill them, should I keep them to cause me trouble later?"

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

Not having them slow-sliced to death was already his tolerance and magnanimity.

Furthermore, he could see the Lord's attitude toward villains from the Lord's new policies; how could he make such a low-level mistake?

Li Jue and Guo Si could definitely be called guys who committed all kinds of evil.

Burning, killing, and looting—they hadn't missed a single one.

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

"Haha! Just joking! Just joking!"

Jia Xu was also amused: "Indeed! Li Jue, Guo Si, and those people from Xiliang are all quite xenophobic, or rather, all people are basically xenophobic and like to group together;"

"In the past, I was only not truly targeted because I didn't fight or compete and kept a low profile, unlike you, General. Your ability was too strong, and you weren't someone who flattered or fawned, so it was even more normal for you to be excluded and suppressed!"

"They were terrified that you would steal their share of the credit and achievements!"

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

If handled poorly, it can instead become a bad thing.

"That's right!"

Xu Rong nodded with empathy: "That was exactly why I suffered so much exclusion and bullying from them;"

"On the other hand, you, Mr. Wenhe, it wasn't just because you kept a low profile and didn't fight or compete that you weren't harassed by them, but rather you even received their courtesy;"

"The key is that you are proficient in human nature and are a person with true ability who can help Li Jue and Guo Si!"

"These guys are all pig-brained and always had times when they needed you, Mr. Wenhe, to help them think of ways and provide ideas. Therefore, I used to envy your situation very much."

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 highly likely to be higher than his.

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

He had never been a jealous person.

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

And Su Xuan's subordinates happened to implement this set, 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!"

"That goes without saying!"

Xu Rong nodded affirmatively: "I will need you to provide more guidance in the future, Mr. Wenhe! You know, I have no problem commanding troops, but political affairs and strategy are not my strengths!"

"These will likely all need you to grasp, Mr. Wenhe!"

"Only in this way can we avoid failing to complete the Lord's mission requirements and disappointing the Lord!"

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

"By the way! Mr. Wenhe, now that we have taken Changancheng, killed Li Jue and Guo Si, and taken over the more than 100,000 Xiliang soldiers in Changancheng!"

"What should we do next? Do you have a detailed and sound plan, Mr. Wenhe?"

Xu Rong asked further.

"Naturally!"

Jia Xu nodded affirmatively: "The most urgent task at the moment is to complete the reorganization of the Xiliang soldiers in the city as quickly as possible, to fully control and digest them, and to 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 Secret Guards, they have already begun to stir since Dong Zhuo was killed!"

"Now that Li Jue and Guo Si have been captured 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 only them, but the Xiongnu and Qiang people in the north... will likely be eyeing us covetously in the future!"

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

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

"The Lord really cannot provide many civil officials to govern the local areas, but the Lord is not lacking at all in officers to train troops;"

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

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

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

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

"Mr. Wenhe's words are like gold and jade!"

Xu Rong's eyes lit up, and he felt that the thoughts in his mind were clearing up: "After your analysis, Mr. Wenhe, I instantly feel that completing the Lord's mission doesn't seem so difficult anymore!"

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

"Not only officers to train the troops, but we are also very short of grain 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 and money in the future to allow us to have enough money and food to support the nearly 200,000 troops under our command?"

One must know, this is 200,000!

The Lord's subordinates at most have this number.

Now that Guanzhong is broken, the population loss is severe, and the land is left uncultivated, restoring production in the short term is a problem.

"This is not a big problem either!"

Jia Xu looked calm: "Regarding this point, we can take two steps;"

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

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

"As for the number of people, having 100,000 troops is the limit!"

"Even, it might not be necessary to keep 100,000; 50,000 to 80,000 should be about right!"

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

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

"Nor can we get full resource support from the Lord's side, so the combat power of the troops under our command is definitely not as good as the Lord's main force, and the growth rate is also the same!"

"Therefore, the number of people can be a bit more lenient; let's set 100,000 as the standard!"

"However, I must remind you, General Xu, that in the process of reorganization, you must gradually clarify military discipline and let the troops under our command 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 external wars;"

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

"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 subordinates;"

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

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

The Xiliang Army of the past, while called an army, would not be inappropriate to call them bandits and thieves.

If it were a normal situation, these people, even if they weren't all sent to build bridges and roads or do engineering, would definitely not be allowed to remain in Su Xuan's army.

But now that this hasn't happened yet, and it's not convenient to integrate 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.