Chapter 617

Chen LuoZi's reasoning ultimately still could not out-argue Xu Zengyi's reasoning, losing very thoroughly.

The Prefect of Dingzhou, this high official, ultimately still landed steadily on his head.

The half-year deadline he himself proposed naturally became empty talk.

The Prefect's selection was decided, but merely having a Prefect was still not enough.

As the saying goes, a good hero needs three helpers; without assistance, Chen Luozi's abilities might, like Yang Yu, carve out a territory single-handedly in Dingzhou, but this would undoubtedly lengthen the progress of all items, increasing time cost.

Chen Wuji cannot wait.

In Nan Jun, this grand game of chess has reached the tense moment to strike a heavy blow; the rear must not drag its feet.

After several people discussed it, Chen Wuji finally chose Xu Zhang and Wei Shu as Chen Luozi's deputies.

Xu Zhang, this not-so-old man, has a careful mind and handles affairs prudently, able to partner with Chen Luozi. Wei Shu is familiar with Dingzhou's situation, and also capable both literarily and militarily, able to command the Dingzhou Garrison.

"Then the second matter." Chen Wuji shifted his somewhat stiff buttocks, took a sip of tea, "I have already promised Hu Bu Gui command of the troops, but where will these troops come from?"

"Qingzhou Troops!" Chen Luozi almost blurted out.

Xu Zengyi slightly nodded, "I agree with Lao Jiu's proposal to transfer the Qingzhou Conscripts over; it's just right."

"This is definitely the best solution; we don't have any troops to give him now; the original Dingzhou troops certainly cannot continue to be led by him." Chen Luozi said, "These existing Bīngmǎ, regardless of whose forces they oppose, nobody will be happy."

Chen Wuji nodded, "The Qingzhou Conscripts number over ten thousand; giving them all to Hu Bu Gui would be too many."

"Certainly too many. Although Hu Bu Gui has fame abroad, we just thought of countermeasures, but given his previous words, no matter how we guard against it, it's never excessive; don't give him such great authority all at once." Chen Luozi said.

"What do you think is an appropriate amount to give?" Chen Wuji asked.

Hu Bu Gui's earlier display of sincerity actually made everyone, including Chen Wuji, already wary of him; Dingzhou, Chen Wuji wants, needs, Hu Bu Gui this person he also wants to use, but feeling reassured is also not reassured.

"I think five thousand is about right, what do you think, sir?" Chen Luozi turned his head and asked.

Xu Zengyi pinched a fresh mint leaf, folded it a few times and tossed it into his mouth, pondered a moment, then asked: "Five thousand... my lord, how many Dingzhou Conscripts could there be?"

"Let me look, I haven't even had a chance to look yet!" Chen Wuji raised his hand and pointed at the box on the ground; Chen Wushuang standing at the door stepped forward briskly and moved the box to Chen Wuji's left side.

Chen Wuji flipped through Dingzhou's yellow register: "370,000 households, 710,000 individuals, 27,000 militia."

"Hiss... Dingzhou's population and military strength are quite large; no wonder Lu Ping'an, frustrated and defeated, failed to capture it after several attempts; with such a populace base, it's indeed somewhat difficult for Lu Ping'an's then strength to take it."

"370,000 households, 710,000 individuals—this number, I suspect there's moisture, it's not real. The true population should be far above this figure; averaging less than two persons per household is unlikely."

In this era, three-person households are relatively rare.

Even ordinary commoners living in poverty usually have at least two or three children at home.

Whether for incense or because they're bored at night and just fool around with procreation, in this era it's a fact that every household generally has many children.

On average, a prefecture's households have fewer than two persons; it's simply impossible.

Dingzhou's actual population is definitely over one million.

This population figure is roughly comparable to Qingzhou and Hezhou; the other prefectures of Nan Jun are all younger siblings, they must lag behind.

"It's definitely false; someone concealed the report." Xu Zengyi said.

"370,000 households, it's impossible for over 100,000 households to have only one person. Even if we subtract 100,000 households, leaving 270,000 households, a total population of over 700,000 is still somewhat low. However, these matters are not urgent for now; when Lao Jiu arrives in Dingzhou to inspect the fields, things will become clear."

"I think we should still give all the Qingzhou Conscripts to Hu Bu Gui; he surrendered with such great sincerity, my lord must not suppress his status and authority too much, which would be detrimental to popular sentiment and also to the lord's reputation."

"Ten thousand Bīngmǎ, plus the position of Commander of Troops, would be about right."

Chen Wuji had also been considering this issue earlier, but Hu Bu Gui is far more dangerous than Lu Ping'an, which makes him more cautious, wanting to be thorough, which is indeed somewhat difficult.

Chen Luozi and Xu Zengyi hold completely opposite views; he rebutted, saying: "I think in this matter, Mr. Xu should not be overly concerned with reputation and popular sentiment. Lu Ping'an is a Strategist, now he merely leads a cadet; although he did not surrender, his attitude is actually quite good, roughly equivalent to surrender."

"This cannot be generalized." Xu Zengyi shook his head.

"My lord currently needs this prestige, needs the remaining prefectures of Nan Jun and other prefectures to surrender upon hearing the news. Hu Bu Gui and Dingzhou are the horse bones my lord needs to buy with a thousand gold; this matter absolutely cannot be rushed."

"In itself, my lord's current status is already doubted by the world; if he is again stingy over Hu Bu Gui's matter, those prefectures originally preparing to surrender might hesitate."

"This person Hu Bu Gui indeed needs to be guarded against a bit, but we cannot guard against him in these matters."

Chen Wuji made up his mind: "What Mr. Xu said makes sense; give him the Commander of Troops position and all the Qingzhou Conscripts, so he can form his own army. This horse bone indeed needs to be bought; this caution now will have too great an impact on our future."

Chen Luozi said no more, then turned to ask: "Then how should we handle Dingzhou's 27,000 people?"

Chen Wuji, somewhat irritable, vigorously grabbed two handfuls of his forehead: "Bringing up this matter makes people lose hair; this sudden outbreak of nearly 40,000 troops truly makes it impossible to support."

Adding these conscripts, his total forces have now steadily exceeded 100,000.

A 100,000-strong army is absolutely the confidence on the ground of Nan Jun.

Even if all the other prefectures' forces were added together, they might still not reach this number.

But it also poses a severe test for Chen Wuji's purse!

It truly is impossible to support.

Xu Zengyi smiled: "My lord, for the time being you need not worry about this; Dingzhou's huge population means its treasury should be fairly ample; a little supplementation will surely see us safely through the year."

"Right, I need to check what's going on with Dingzhou's treasury!" Chen Wuji quickly flipped through the bamboo slips and silk documents in the box, taking out the record of the treasury's grain and money.

But don't let them guess here and there, only to find Dingzhou's treasury empty enough to drive a cart through—that would be rather embarrassing for his mother.