Chapter 241

Xi Zhicai clearly and logically laid out the general situation of the world today, especially the troop deployments of the various major warlords.

Especially those threatening warlords, such as Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Gongsun Zan, and so on.

For the military strength of every one of their houses, the Dark Owl had rough intelligence; although not completely accurate, it was not far off.

Su Fan placed great importance on intelligence.

When Su Fan established the organization known as the Dark Owl, he spent a significant amount of money and grain; the expenses of the Dark Owl, in particular, were terrifying.

After all, for some people to infiltrate the enemy's interior, it would be impossible without money and grain.

The Dark Owl was comparable to the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Of course, he had no intention of monitoring the hundred officials; the Dark Owl was primarily outward-facing, much like the CIA of Uncle Sam on Earth in later generations.

"I never imagined that Sun Jian, without a sound, would actually have so many troops—five hundred thousand. How did Yuan Shu let him develop like that?"

Upon hearing Xi Zhicai state Sun Jian's troop numbers, the group of military officers present were all somewhat surprised.

Everyone was no stranger to Sun Jian, especially in the last two years, as Sun Jian had been quite active.

Ever since the campaign against Dong ended and he returned to Changsha Commandery, Sun Jian had been sharpening his weapons and feeding his horses, then joined forces with Yuan Shu to attack Liu Biao.

Over these past two years, Liu Biao had not lived comfortably because he was attacked from both front and rear; in the end, Nanyang Commandery was mostly seized by Yuan Shu, and Jiangxia Commandery was also mostly seized by Sun Jian.

It was only after the various noble clans of Jingzhou cooperated sincerely that they managed to block the two of them.

Coupled with other warlords in southern Jingzhou beginning to threaten Changsha, Sun Jian eventually gave up on continuing to attack Jiangxia and instead turned around to invade Yuzhang Jun; in a short span of half a year, he took Yuzhang Jun and continued to march on Lujiang Commandery.

Sun Jian's rapid progress was something many had not expected; after all, everyone had always thought of Sun Jian as Yuan Shu's underling, and in many instances, Sun Jian followed Yuan Shu's orders.

As a result, Sun Jian's strength was now almost catching up to Yuan Shu's, which surprised everyone, especially the attack on Lujiang Commandery, which left everyone somewhat astonished.

Lujiang was Yuan Shu's base, and the Prefect of Lujiang had long since clearly supported Yuan Shu.

When an underling rebels, the boss is naturally furious.

Therefore, at this moment, Yuan Shu and Sun Jian suddenly clashing, and bringing out an army of five hundred thousand all at once, still shocked many people.

If you said that the Yuan brothers or Liu Bei and the like brought out hundreds of thousands of troops, it would not be surprising, as the Yuan Clan had that foundation, and people like Liu Biao had long since become the governor of a province; they had that confidence.

Sun Jian's family background was not strong, and previously he had to rely on Yuan Shu's support to confront Jiangxia.

Yet, as soon as he took Yuzhang Jun, he brought out an army of five hundred thousand; clearly, it was not simple, and these five hundred thousand troops were not entirely new recruits.

"However, now that Sun Jian and Yuan Shu have clashed, this good show has also begun."

The military officers present, upon hearing the detailed situation, all grinned.

Yuan Shu's strength was indeed very strong, even stronger than Yuan Shao's; after all, he had the support of the majority of the Yuan Clan's elders.

Runan itself was a major commandery of the world, and coupled with half of Yuzhou falling into his hands early on, he also took the majority of Nanyang.

Most of the essence of Zhongyuan was in his hands; with money and grain, he naturally did not lack troops.

Having frantically expanded his military over these years, his forces had now reached a maddening total of over three million.

In terms of troop numbers, he was absolutely the greatest.

Of course, while the quantity was the greatest, the quality was hard to say.

The military officers under his command were not particularly famous; the only major general was merely second-rate.

Of course, due to the Yuan Clan's foundation, there was no shortage of low-to-mid-level military officers, and there were quite a few in the Qi Refining Realm, though most were only at the early stage of Qi Refining.

Xi Zhicai pointed out all of this information one by one.

As a result, those present became increasingly pessimistic about Yuan Shu.

Although Yuan Shu had many troops—five or six times that of Sun Jian—everyone knew that a weak general leads a weak army.

Some of the officers present had personally witnessed Sun Jian's strength; he was a fierce general at the solid Refining Gang Level 6.

There were not many in the world who could compare to him.

At the same time, he had four great fierce generals under his command, including Huang Gai, and it was said that his son, Sun Ce, was even hailed as the Little Bawang.

If the Yuan Clan did not have fierce generals capable of blocking someone like Sun Jian, they would likely suffer a great loss if a real war broke out.

Liu Biao had deep personal experience with this point, though it had improved much later after the three brothers of Liu Bei arrived.

Now that the three brothers were garrisoned in Jiangxia, that was also the reason Sun Jian had retreated.

The role of fierce generals was still quite significant.

If one sets aside military strategy, whoever has the stronger fierce generals often has a greater chance of victory.

"Let them fight like dogs; this gives us an opportunity."

Aside from a few pure fierce generals like Xu Chu, Pan Feng, and Zhou Tai, the many military officers present all possessed some foresight.

Moreover, in Donghai Ling, Su Fan had specifically founded an academy similar to a military lecture hall, dedicated to training officers, whether they were low-level or mid-to-high-level officers.

Su Fan understood that if every officer in an army possessed a certain level of knowledge and even a shred of military strategy, it would be absolutely terrifying.

Although Su Fan advocated for that kind of overwhelming offensive style, it did not mean he did not want his army to be even stronger.

The reason the staff system of later generations was able to flourish was because armies needed officers with strategic acumen.

Staff officers were actually modeled after the strategists of ancient times.

And to a certain extent, staff officers could replace the main general leading the troops; once the main general was in danger, the staff officer could immediately take over.

Su Fan did not bring out the staff system because the timing was not yet ripe, but he was still very willing to train officers.

Su Fan did not lack military strategy either, and people like Xi Zhicai, Guo Jia, and Xun You all practiced the path of the Military School as a secondary study.

Perhaps you might not be able to have them lead troops into battle, but as staff officers, they were absolutely top-tier, and acting as teachers was not a problem at all.

The faculty strength of the military lecture hall was absolutely very powerful.

And after several years of systematic teaching, the officers under Su Fan, while not all becoming famous generals, had their horizons greatly broadened.

Knowledge was monopolized by noble clans, and most military officers came from humble backgrounds, having no access to the Inheritance of military strategy at all.

Why did Guan Yu like reading the Spring and Autumn Annals of Zuo in history? It was because the Zuo Zhuan was a chronological history book, and some of the content recorded within involved military combat situations.

Because of the meticulous detail of the Zuo Zhuan, it was called a military book that was not a military book; Wu Qi also became a famous general of his generation because he inherited the Zuo Zhuan.

Given Guan Yu's background, it was destined that he would find it difficult to come into contact with high-level Militarystrategy Inheritance.

One must know that Militarystrategy is even rarer than many classics of Confucianism; it is something that noble families and great clans cherish even more, and it is almost never revealed to outsiders.