Chapter 258: A Million-Strong Army

"One million!"

A million elite soldiers, all with at least three years of service, were definitely a crack force.

"My Lord, are we going to mobilize the troops?"

Zang Ba couldn't help but ask; he was somewhat disappointed that he hadn't been chosen as the commander-in-chief for the mobilization to Wu Jun.

"Mobilize? What does Wenruo think?"

"The Donghai Ling currently has ample military supplies; it is time to expand a little."

Upon hearing this, Xun Huo did not refuse; after all, the Donghai Ling was not like other warlords who lacked grain and soldiers. The Donghai Ling lacked nothing; what it lacked was territory and population.

"Then where does Wenruo think we should take?"

Su Fan continued to ask upon hearing this; he also had thoughts of making a move, as all the warlords in the world were expanding.

They in the Donghai Ling could also continue to make a move; for one, it would boost his reputation, and secondly, it could temper his troops.

Of his million-strong army, half had never truly been on a battlefield. Nowadays, in Donghai Commandery and the surrounding thousand-mile radius, mountain bandits and outlaws had long since been wiped clean.

Even the wild beasts of the Huang Ye could only hole up in the mountains and rivers.

Donghai Commandery was wealthy and its trade routes were prosperous, yet there were no mountain bandits or outlaws.

Over these years, the number of bandits and mountain thieves who had died at the hands of the Donghai Ling army was no less than a hundred thousand.

Any bandit would tremble at the mere mention of the Donghai Ling.

However, there was still a difference between mountain bandits and a real army.

Although the Donghai Ling's army, especially the regular troops, underwent training that might exceed ten years of training for other warlords in just one year.

Yet, having never seen blood, they were ultimately still a bit weak.

Therefore, Su Fan had no objections to letting the new recruits see blood.

"Then how about choosing Pengcheng Jun? There are several clans in Pengcheng Jun that hold power, and they often intercept and extort the merchant caravans traveling to our Donghai Ling."

"Those clans are close to the Yuan Family; it would be better to take them down and also serve as a warning to others in Xuzhou!"

Xun Huo said after a moment of silence.

Kill the chicken to warn the monkey; Su Fan nodded upon hearing this.

Two years ago, Tao Qian of Xuzhou had already voiced his intention to entrust Xuzhou to Su Fan. At that time, some people opposed it, especially the Cao Clan and the Chen Clan of Xiapi.

Of course, the Xiapi Cao Clan was not Cao Cao's Cao Clan, but the Cao Clan of Cao Bao, that big buffoon.

Naturally, just because Cao Bao was a big buffoon did not mean the Cao Clan's power was not strong. In terms of influence among noble families, the Xiapi Cao Clan exceeded Cao Cao's family.

The influence of Xiapi was even above that of the Chen Clan.

With both major clans opposing it, Su Fan's entry into Xiapi became empty talk. Of course, at the time, Su Fan had not even thought about going to Xiapi.

The Cao Clan opposed it because they had ambitions for Xiapi and Xuzhou; they hoped to succeed Tao Qian's position.

Although they had no desire to contend for hegemony, if they could control a province, it would be a great boost to the family's development.

At the same time, no matter which warlord dominated Zhongyuan in the future, they would be unable to ignore the Cao Clan.

As for the Chen Clan, they had looked down on Su Fan at the time. Although Su Fan had shown a little bit of his skill during the campaign against Dong, he was still not highly regarded by the Chen Clan.

Su Fan had been unhappy about this at the time, but he had been unable to attend to it then.

Now it was different; his strength had taken shape, and Yuan Shu and Sun Jian were locked in a life-and-death struggle, unable to pay him any mind.

Within Zhongyuan, there was currently no power that could oppose him. Cao Cao of Yanzhou had been developing slowly over the past two years, and his strength was not bad.

He had successively occupied the three commanderies of Chenliu, Dongjun, and Jiyin Jun, with over three hundred thousand troops.

He could be considered a warlord of no small stature.

Although Su Fan had snatched away many of the strategists and generals who originally belonged to Cao, especially the strategists—almost all of Cao's five great strategists were with him now.

But Cao was worthy of being that man; even without those strategists, he was still able to develop.

It could only be said that Cao was indeed formidable; even among the many emperors in history, Cao's ability could be ranked at the forefront.

In both internal affairs and military affairs, Cao was not weak. If the maximum score was one hundred, the peak-era Cao could reach ninety in both categories.

Double ninety—it could be said that among the more than four hundred emperors in history, those who could achieve this were truly few and far between.

There were many emperors whose internal affairs and military skills exceeded Cao's. In terms of military affairs, whether it was Li Shimin, Zhu Yuanzhang, or Zhu Di, they were absolutely no worse than Cao, and one might even say they were perhaps above him.

After all, Cao did not unify the world until his death.

Perhaps the military talent of the Great Zhao was close to Cao's.

As for internal affairs, then Qin Dada and Liu Dada would certainly exceed him.

However, Cao's abilities were balanced. Qin Dada's internal affairs were maxed out, but in terms of military affairs, there were no great performances.

After all, Qin Dada almost never led troops in battle. Although he unified the Six States, that was achieved by famous generals like Wang Jian.

You could say Qin Dada had military talent, but if you wanted to say he exceeded Cao and the others, then Su Fan did not agree.

But regardless, Cao's ability, placed among the emperors of successive dynasties, could at least be considered to be in the top twenty.

Therefore, even without those strategists to devise plans for him, he was still able to develop, though it would be unlikely for him to achieve what he did in history.

Now with three hundred thousand troops, unifying Yanzhou might not be a problem, but wanting to expand further, whether into Yuzhou or Xuzhou, was impossible for him.

The strength of Yuan Shu in Yuzhou far exceeded his; if they were to clash head-on, it would be very difficult for Cao to win.

Just like Sun Jian now, in the battle for Yangzhou, he was gradually falling into a disadvantage.

At this moment, the foundation made Yuan Shu's win rate increase infinitely.

Cao Cao's family background might be a bit stronger than Sun Jian's, but not by much. In history, if he hadn't had Xun Huo, it was truly uncertain whether he could have broken out.

Moreover, the early-stage Cao was not very formidable in terms of strategy. The matter of slaughtering cities—if it were any other ambitious ruler, they would never have done such a thing.

Because the slaughter of cities caused Cao's reputation to drop significantly, and the conquest of Xuzhou also took a great deal of effort.

If he hadn't slaughtered the cities at that time, then the noble families of Xuzhou might have surrendered upon sight, just like in Jingzhou later on.

Therefore, looking around, there were not many people left around Su Fan who could threaten him now; even if several major warlords joined forces, he had no major concerns.

The fighting between Yuan Shu and Sun Jian over these past two years has consumed quite a lot of their strength.

It is also very unlikely that the two sides will join forces.

Therefore, he can also make a move, first take Xuzhou, and then sit and wait for the final outcome between Sun Jian and Yuan Shu.

As for Cao, to tell the truth, the upper limit of Yanzhou is right there; Yanzhou was ravaged too severely by the Yellow Turbans.

It has no potential left; the entire population of Yanzhou is not even ten million, just a few million or so.

How much potential could it have?

The upper limit is just like that; even if Cao had heaven-defying abilities, there would be no way, just like Zhuge Wuhou.

Moreover, Su Fan does not believe that Cao can compare to Zhuge Wuhou.

If we are talking about a perfect talent, Zhuge is the top-tier one; if Zhuge were an emperor, he would definitely rank among the very best, and there are almost only those few who could surpass him.

However, even Zhuge could not turn the tide with Yizhou, so it is impossible for Cao as well.