How to reorganize the army is actually directly related to another question.
That is, how many soldiers should Qing Province support?
Ultimately, soldiers are supported by the common people.
A soldier not only needs the people to pay grain to feed him, but also needs craftsmen to forge weapons and equipment for him, healers to treat his injuries, and laborers to transport food and supplies for him...
If the soldier-to-civilian ratio is too high, the burden on the common people will be heavy, their lives will be difficult, and internal problems are very likely to erupt.
If the soldier-to-civilian ratio is too low, the common people will have no burden, but at the same time, there will not be enough soldiers to command.
There are two boundaries in this.
One hundred to one, and forty to one.
If the soldier-to-civilian ratio is less than one hundred to one, that is, every one hundred common people, or more, support one soldier, then basically it will not cause any impact on the lives of the common people.
If it is higher than forty to one, that belongs to over-militarization.
It is necessary to severely exploit the common people to support the army.
Of course, the army here refers to regular troops who are completely disengaged from production and are only responsible for combat.
Those who are nominally soldiers, but are actually logistics laborers, or garrison soldiers who are not completely disengaged from production, are not included in this category.
Because they themselves are also part of supporting the regular army.
Otherwise, Yan Province would have collapsed long ago.
During the campaign against Dong Zhuo, the forces under Bao Xin, Cao Cao, Liu Dai, Bridge Mao, Prefect Zhang Miao, and Yuan Yi were all recruited locally in Yan Province.
Although Yan Province had two more commanderies than Qing Province in terms of administrative divisions, the total population of the two provinces was similar, both around four million.
These Lords together raised an army of over one hundred thousand, which had already exceeded the forty-to-one red line.
If they were all regular troops disengaged from production, I'm afraid that before Dong Zhuo could act, the people of Yan Province would have been shouting 'The Heavens are dead, the Yellow Heavens shall rise! '
During the previous discussion, Xun You's suggestion was to support an army of fifty thousand at a ratio of eighty to one.
After all, ever since Yu the Great established the Nine Provinces, Ji Province has always had the reputation of being the head of the Nine Provinces.
Although Zhang Jiao caused a stir in Central Stability 1, and the Black Mountain Yellow Turbans also operated for several years, leading to a decrease in Ji Province's population, it has not yet fully recovered to the level of the Guanghe era.
But Ji Province still has a population of over five million, and its war potential is enormous.
To completely take over Ji Province, at least fifty thousand troops are needed.
Originally, Zhang Xin still had doubts about this.
After Yuan Shao's invasion, the people of Qing Province had already been exploited several times.
They couldn't even guaranty that they would have food at home during the lean season next year, let alone support a large army?
But ever since Zhang Liao transported all the money and grain from the aristocratic families back, he had no more doubts in his heart.
With so much money and grain, let alone fifty thousand troops, even one hundred thousand troops could be supported for one or two years without problem!
With the plan decided, Zhang Xin acted immediately.
The first to be reorganized were Xu Rong's Xiliang Soldiers.
During the campaign against Dong Zhuo, Zhang Xin received nearly twenty thousand surrendered Xiliang Soldiers in total.
Later, when withdrawing the troops, due to the long distance, he was worried that the morale of the Xiliang Soldiers would be unstable and cause a mutiny, so he let them choose whether to stay or return.
Nearly three thousand people chose to stay.
These Xiliang Soldiers were elites in battle, but their military discipline was terrible.
So Zhang Xin transferred some people from the Yellow Turban Old Guard and interspersed them among them, which not only replenished Xu Rong's three thousand men but also allowed the Yellow Turban Old Guard to teach the Xiliang Soldiers military discipline and strengthen his control over the Xiliang Soldiers.
Killing three birds with one stone.
Xu Rong was very pleasantly surprised by this.
In his heart, as a defeated General who came to surrender, the reason he could still lead an army independently was because Zhang Xin's subordinates temporarily had no one who understood better how to maximize the combat power of the Xiliang Soldiers.
What he feared most was that Zhang Xin would guard against him and refuse to replenish his troops.
Once the Xiliang Soldiers were all dead, he would have no value to Zhang Xin.
But what he didn't expect was thatace.
With this lineup...
How could Yuan Shao and Han Fu fight him?
Just then, a personal guard walked into the central army tent.
"Lord, General Niujiao requests an audience."