After rushing for a day, he arrived at Gepi in the afterglow of the sunset. Sun Ce sent Gu Hui to greet him. Ma Riyi and Gu Hui had already met each other. They were very good at talking at Junyi. At this moment, Ma Riyi felt very cordial and very at ease when they met again. Gu Hui said that General Sun had already prepared a reception banquet after receiving the news, but he heard that Ma Gong's itinerary was rushed and his journey was tiring. He decided to let you rest for two days first and wait until you recovered before receiving the imperial edict.

Ma Riying was really too tired and just wanted to lie down at this moment. He also knew that Sun Ce was busy with military affairs and had no interest in mingling with him, so he was happy to have a good rest. Ma Chao was interested and specially took Gu Hui to find a few nurses who were familiar with massage to serve Ma Riying, and then he took Bai Lishi to the water pavilion.

Liu Hu had already come back early. Sun Ce learned about the general situation. When he saw Ma Chao, he comforted him a few words and gave Ma Chao two days off to let him rest. Ma Chao responded and reported to Sun Ce some of the situation along the way, especially the people entrusted him with the inn. After hearing this, Sun Ce was intrigued and asked Ma Chao to sit down and tell him what happened.

After Ma Chao finished speaking, he said to Sun Ce, "General, I met many young people in the post house. They were all very disgusted with Yuan Shao's invasion and were also willing to kill the enemy. I heard that we are elites around the general, and came to ask for martial arts early in the morning, and some people asked for war techniques, and there was a strong sense of war. I think the people's hearts are available, but their combat skills are a little weak and they are powerless."

Sun Ce understood that Cangci's new military farming method was mainly concentrated around Pingyu County. It has not yet expanded to the north of Ruyang, and the time has not yet been achieved. Other people also organized martial arts during the slack farming period, but only practiced and had not experienced real battle formations. Compared with professional troops like Ma Chao who have both practical experience and plenty of time to practice martial arts, the gap is definitely big.

But in fact, the gap is not as big as Ma Chao thought. Under the military system of the whole people, the strength of ordinary soldiers is almost the same. After arriving at the military camp, they will strengthen training and improve their combat effectiveness, but the individual combat skills will not be greatly improved. The reason why the whole people are soldiers is gradually abolished is that their combat skills are not as good as the professional soldiers recruited. Marked by the abolition of the county and state capital test, the Eastern Han Dynasty has basically abolished the entire people's soldiers since its founding and adopted the recruitment system. Yuzhou is located in the Central Plains and is close to Luoyang. It is normal for the people here to not be accustomed to the battle formation.

Poor mountains and rivers produce unruly people, and poor mountains and rivers produce elite soldiers. In any rich land, there are usually many famous scholars and few famous generals.

However, if you guard the fort, dozens of people will deal with one or two people, and hundreds of people will still have a chance of winning. If someone guides you, gather the young and strong, and then equip them with basic weapons, you can still exert considerable combat effectiveness.

Sun Ce asked Zhuge Liang to call Guo Jia and said his thoughts. Guo Jia was also having a headache. The rafts penetrated into the hinterland of Yuzhou, which was not the groups Ma Chao saw. In fact, the situation in Liang, Chen and Yingchuan was more serious than that in Runan. These rafts had more than a hundred people, at least ten people, and even only three or five people. They came and went like the wind and could not catch them. They sent large troops to expel them, and the infantry could not catch up, and there were not so many cavalrymen. They were exhausted and rushed to Yuan Shao. He had no practical solution, and he could only treat them as inevitable losses in the war.

He reminded Sun Ce not to be kind to women, but because he was worried that Sun Ce would not bear to be harmed by ordinary people, so he launched anger, destroyed the established combat plan, consumed his precious troops in vain, and lost the ability to launch a large-scale counterattack in the end.

"The general wants ordinary people to fight back against the Hu cavalry? Then the casualties may be relatively large."

"So we don't force it, we just encourage it." Sun Ce explained his intention. "Yingchuan, Chen State, including most of Chenliu, has more than ten counties affected. If you rely solely on the defense of the county and state troops and stationed troops, you cannot be fully equipped everywhere and send cavalry to run. It is better to mobilize these people, act within your ability and act at the right time. You can kill one or the other, at least better than passive defense? When you encounter a counterattack or even ambush, these Hu cavalry should be restrained a little. As for casualties..." Sun Ce breathed a sigh of relief. "Since it is inevitable, they can only choose to die in battle or bow their heads and kill."

Guo Jia shook his feather fan and nodded in agreement. "Yes, the world is in chaos, and the Central Plains has become a place of war. No one can survive alone. Not only should the scholars and officials value martial arts, but ordinary people should also strengthen their military preparations. It's just in a hurry..." His eyes suddenly flashed. "General, we can arrange retired soldiers who are disabled due to injuries and cannot fight again to various counties to serve as pavilions, post leaders, etc. They are well-versed in battle formations, can guide the people to fight, and can also get a salary, and their lives are settled."

Sun Ce laughed. "This plan is very good, so I will act according to this from now on. Hehe, I want to let Yuan Shao fall into the vast ocean of people's war, like a rat crossing the street, everyone shouts and beats him."

"Hahaha..." Guo Jia and Ma Chao also burst into laughter.

After solving a hidden danger in his heart, Sun Ce was in a good mood. He has been worried about this problem these days, and now he has finally found a solution, and he has killed two birds with one stone. Appointing disabled veterans as grassroots officials such as pavilion commanders, post office commanders, and village chiefs can not only improve the combat effectiveness of ordinary people, but also allow his influence to penetrate the people. In every war, the scouts were a battalion with relatively high casualties, and these people were directly under his command, with strong centripetal force. With them scattered at the grassroots level, his prestige will be stronger and his rule will be stronger.

"Yuan Shao's cavalry was mainly Hu people, so we called this order the killing of Hu. Cut down a thorn to avoid a year of labor, no..." Sun Ce paused and decided to increase the reward. "I don't have to pay the whole family a year of taxes and service, and even food is not required. There are more than ten counties, 30,000 to 50,000 households, and Yuan Shao only has more than 10,000 cavalry. I am willing to exchange the income of these more than ten counties for the heads of the ten thousand Hu cavalry."

Zhuge Liang was writing quickly, and when he heard this sentence, he interrupted his mouth. "General, it is easy to calculate by mouth, and there will be differences in calculations by households, which may lead to unfairness. Maybe someone will take advantage of it, which will violate the general's original intention."

Sun Ce felt it was reasonable. "Then what you said, I'm afraid that it wouldn't be enough to just reward yourself."

Zhuge Liang thought for a while. "It's better to do this, not stick to households and limit the number of people. With the family of five as the standard, kill a Hu cavalry, exempt five people from labor, and reduce the rent of 100 acres of land. These rights are given to the enemy killers. How can he allocate the quota? That's his business." Zhuge Liang pinched his fingers and calculated quickly. "In this case, a Hu cavalry's head is about 20,000 to 30,000 yuan. Even if ten people work together to kill one, each can be divided into two or three thousand, which can not only inspire the brave to kill the enemy, but also not make ordinary people too risky, so as not to suffer too much casualties."

Sun Ce glanced at Zhuge Liang, then looked at Guo Jia. Guo Jia smiled knowingly and nodded, "General, I think Kong Ming's suggestion is good."

"Whether it is good, we have to let the military advisers discuss it again, and then look at the implementation effect. Kong Ming, since you mentioned this suggestion, you can explain to the military advisers and listen to their opinions. Be careful, some people have a bad temper and their mouths are still smelly."
Chapter completed!