12dz Chapter 244 Wang Lang Takes Action
Chapter 244 Wang Lang Takes Action
Although they disliked the Xiliang organization, they did not want to be cannon fodder for either side, so they decided to wait and see. As for the remaining people, they showed great hostility towards Yuan Shao's entry into Yongzhou.
Some of these people believed that Yuan Shao and the Xiliang organization were both ruthless and cunning, while others were used to being local tyrants and were not used to or willing to suddenly submit to another person.
The most important thing in this world is freedom, isn't it? Unfortunately, they don't know that there's another part to that statement: freedom is relative.
Yuan Shao finally sent out his troops, and the happiest person was Chen Er. Before that, they were thinking about whether they should try to find a way to urge Yuan Shao to send out his troops as soon as possible.
Even if we don't want to occupy the entire Yongzhou, we should at least let Yuan Shao occupy some areas and then confront the Xiliang organization and Liu Bei, thereby weakening the strength of the three. I didn't expect Yuan Shao to make his move so quickly, which actually saves us some trouble.
Chen Er immediately ordered Li Zhong to have the intelligence department's spies infiltrated in Yongzhou create obstacles for Yuan Shao, preventing him from obtaining Yongzhou too easily.
After Gongsun Zan's death, Yongzhou was in disarray. If Yuan Shao hadn't been given some obstacles, his military campaign would likely have been a resounding victory, with little resistance.
After all, Yuan Shao had nearly 100,000 men under his command. The largest local tyrant in Yongzhou only had the power of one or two counties. How many troops could he possibly have? This was not a problem for Yuan Shao's army.
"No, we can't just give them to Zilong's cavalry."
Suddenly, Chen Er realized something: Zhao Yun, who was on his expedition, didn't have any infantry. How could that be? After conquering the Western Regions, they would still need to defend them. They should provide Zhao Yun with some infantry, otherwise, the cavalry would have to dismount due to a lack of sufficient infantry to defend the newly conquered territory, which would be a huge waste of resources.
Chen Er put down the intelligence in his hand, called Wang Hui in, and asked him to pass on a message to the General Staff, saying that it was his order to have the General Staff select no less than two divisions of infantry to form a special combat team to support Zhao Yun along his advance path.
This team should try to select soldiers who have no family burdens, or soldiers who already have children or whose families are willing to follow the organization.
After all, they were going to be stationed in the Western Regions permanently. With the current level of transportation, this distance was almost a permanent separation. At the very least, they would not see each other for several years. Chen Er did not want his subordinates' families to be torn apart, as that would make his conscience uneasy.
Upon receiving Chen Er's order, Xi Zhicai and the others almost instantly understood Chen Er's intention, and they immediately formed an order and issued it to their respective organizations.
Let each organization select its own people, but registration should be voluntary as much as possible, and no forced orders should be given.
After the order was issued to various organizations, it immediately sparked discussions among the soldiers. Almost everyone's first thought was that Chen Er was going to form a secret combat team. Otherwise, why would he require that soldiers have as few family members as possible or that their family members could sign up to participate along with the soldiers of the organization?
Even the organizing officers are like this. Of course, the senior generals all understand what's going on, but they can't say it out loud, since it relates to the future strategy of the autonomous region.
If they were to leak the information that the higher-ups were forming a force to garrison the Western Regions, wouldn't that immediately expose the true intentions of Zhao Yun's troops on the northern grasslands?
It should be noted that before Zhao Yun set out on his expedition, he declared that due to the growing threat of grassland bandits, in order to ensure the safety of merchants in the self-governed region, Zhao Yun was ordered by the General Staff Department of the State Council of the self-governed region to carry out a thorough extermination of the bandits in the northern grasslands and provide merchants in the self-governed region with a good business environment.
To keep the true strategic intentions secret as much as possible, two days later, Chen Er simply spread the word that he was going to form a new experimental combat team to conduct closed training and test new equipment and tactics! That's how it is with deception; sometimes, when you tell a lie, people will take it as the truth, won't they?
Wang Lang was once a general under Gongsun Zan. He was the first infantry division commander after Gongsun Zan's organizational reforms. As for why he, who was not well-known, was able to become the first general under Gongsun Zan, we do not know.
What we know is that Wang Lang is now the de facto ruler of the Xianyang-Fufeng area. Although he has always acted as the commander of the First Infantry Division, in reality, the number of troops under Wang Lang's command has far exceeded one division.
During the time that Gongsun Zan was away, Wang Lang quickly absorbed the remaining former Gongsun Zan's troops around his defense zone. The number of organized teams he controlled had reached two regular organized divisions. With the addition of the local county soldiers, it was reasonable for him to call himself an organization.
However, Wang Lang did not do so, because he understood that his time as a local tyrant would eventually come to an end. It seemed that he controlled tens of thousands of troops and two prefectures, and he was powerful and influential.
But only Wang Lang himself knew that this was nothing but a mirage. Any powerful force could easily destroy him because he lacked the most important thing for a force: autonomy. Although Wang Lang controlled two prefectures and had a team of 20,000 to 30,000 men, he did not have an arms factory.
This means that his team cannot be effectively replenished. Although the technology for forging flintlock weapons is not difficult, manufacturing weapons is never a simple matter.
Wang Lang's craftsmen could make weapons, but the most important part of flintlock weapons, the barrel, could only be produced by hand in the absence of machine production. With the manpower and resources of the two counties under Wang Lang's control, they could only produce a maximum of twenty or thirty flintlock weapons per month. It was better than nothing, though, and could replace the scrapped weapons in the organization.
When Wang Lang learned of Yuan Shao's military expedition, he realized it was time to make a decision. However, he still had the resources to manage two counties and tens of thousands of troops. He didn't want to surrender easily. Waiting for the right price was a basic quality of an opportunist.
This is why Wang Lang became the first soldier general under Gongsun Zan, because he was the first general to defect to Gongsun Zan's command, when he was just a captain.
Wang Lang wanted to surrender, but he also wanted to preserve his current business empire. At the same time, he also needed to persuade his men, which was no easy task.
Upon receiving news that Yuan Shao's large army had already reached Chang'an, Wang Lang quickly summoned his key men to discuss their next move.
"What do you think we should do?" Wang Lang asked in a deep voice, looking at his brothers. "I don't want to hide anything from you. Yuan Shao's large organization has at least 60 to 70,000 people. This time, we have no choice but to choose."
"Big brother, just tell us what you want us to do! I, Lao Yang, will listen to you. I'll go wherever you tell me to go."