Guo Jia said politely, but he did not hide the contempt or even provocation in it.

Zhang Yan was very confused. He understood Guo Jia's intention. The personal guards he brought were all elites of the Black Mountain Army. Most of them could be fully armed and marched twenty miles within an hour. This standard was not high. But the problem was that this could only be the vast majority, not everyone. If even they could not meet all the requirements, Guo Jia would not believe it. Naturally, he would not have the capital to bargain.

As far as rationality is concerned, he should not agree to Guo Jia, but he is reluctant to give up this opportunity. Wu's military weapons are famous all over the world, and even the old armor replaced by Tao is a rare thing, let alone the amazing number. Wu has an army of 200,000 to 300,000, and Tao's old armor replaced by Tao is at least tens of thousands. Even if you get a discount, you can get 5,000 sets, which is a shocking fortune.

Zhang Yan repeatedly weighed the pros and cons, but finally agreed to Guo Jia's request. The reason why he came in person was to fight for more benefits. Now the interests are in front of him, and he has no reason to not want them, even if there are only three hundred sets.

"Then please give me some advice." Zhang Yan gritted her teeth and agreed to Guo Jia's challenge.

Guo Jia nodded. "The Grand Marshal came from afar, probably too hungry. Should I eat something first and then try again?"

Zhang Yan's cheeks twitched, and her eyes swept over the fruit, wine and food displayed on the table in front of her, and gritted her teeth. "No need, the hardships in the mountains are common, and we have long been used to it."

Guo Jia did not insist and asked him to go to the baggage camp to get spare armor. Taking advantage of this time, Zhang Fang asked Zhang Yan in confusion why he didn't let the soldiers eat something and try again. They still had dinner in the morning, and it was already afternoon, and his stomach was empty. Zhang Yan smiled bitterly. Of course he knew this, but his family knew that based on the wine and food on the table, Wu's financial and material resources exceeded their imagination. Even he had to try to control himself to avoid making mistakes. How could his subordinates resist the temptation of wine and food?

If Guo Jia has arranged a sumptuous meal but his subordinates can't control themselves and eat too much, and then they will be embarrassed if they run away and vomit.

It was not long, and the armor was taken, and it was filled with more than a dozen cars. Guo Jia didn't want to waste time, so he brought four hundred sets in one go. Looking at the armor that had been repaired with a little wear mark, Zhang Yan threw all his vigilance aside, wishing that his son Zhang Fang would also take the test. However, he had been rolling on the edge of the knife for many years, and he still had the vigilance he deserved. He ordered his subordinates to dress neatly and set off in batches, with a hundred people in a team, and half an hour apart, so that there would be at least a hundred people around him. If Guo Jia had evil intentions, he would not be able to fight back.

Guo Jia saw it and smiled without saying a word. He just ordered people to make a good decision and not let people who set out at different times get mixed up.

The test took half a day, and when the last group of people ran back, it was already dark. Guo Jia ordered people to prepare dinner to welcome Zhang Yan and his son and celebrate the achievements, but Zhang Yan had a taste of 300 people in total. There were only 200 people who could complete the twenty-mile march within one hour, and nearly 40% of them failed to achieve the expected goals, which made Zhang Yan very embarrassed.

The reason is also very simple: hungry, especially the last batch of people who set out. They looked at Guo Jia and Zhang Yan and swallowed the rich wine and food in front of him for a long time, but could not eat a single bite. This torture had a great blow to them, causing more than half of them to fail to meet the standards.

Guo Jia is very generous and let those who fail to meet the standards take off their armor and give it to you as a gift for the meeting, so it is not easy to come here.

The soldiers were very happy and thanked each other repeatedly, but Zhang Yan was so embarrassed that she was so embarrassed that she was so ashamed. At the reception banquet, Guo Jia made an exception and drank two glasses. When she learned that Guo Jia had quit drinking and usually did not drink alcohol, Zhang Yan was very moved. She put down her guard and revealed the situation of the Black Mountain Army.

When the Black Mountain Army was at its peak, there were nearly one million people, but after years of war, the population decreased seriously, and casualties were one thing. The biggest problem was that there was insufficient food and lack of medical treatment and medicine. After each war, there would be a large number of personnel reductions. Some were captured, some fled, and some died. Now there are less than 300,000 people who are still in the mountains, and only 20,000 to 30,000 people can be fought. If the Wu army standards are followed, there will be even fewer, and it is estimated that only 5,000 or 6,000 people will be there.

Half of these five or six thousand are under Zhang Fang, and are Zhang Yan's direct power. The rest are scattered in the hands of other leaders, with the most thousands, the few hundred, and even dozens of people. Last year, Yanzhou and Jizhou were pacified one after another, and many people became interested. When they thought of Yanzhou and Jizhou settled in and farmed safely, they just disagree and missed the opportunity.

Today, Zhu Huan led his troops into Hanoi and implemented a new policy in Hanoi, and planned to teach the fields dictatedly. The Montenegro army could no longer hold back, fearing that they would miss this opportunity. As soon as Guo Jia sent an invitation, Zhang Yan came in person.

After hearing this, Guo Jia gave Zhang Yan a suggestion, you don’t have to settle in Hanoi, you can go to Henan, specifically, near Luoyang. Luoyang is the capital, and the King of Wu is also considering establishing the capital of Luoyang, but Luoyang has too few household registrations and a large amount of idle land. If the Black Mountain Army is willing to move to Luoyang, not only will Luoyang have an additional 200,000 to 300,000 household registrations at once, but also select some soldiers from them.

The reason why the Black Mountain Army lacks enough soldiers is not that it is not that it is not that it is young and strong, but that it is that the young and strong lacks physical strength due to long-term food shortage. As long as they settle down, they can eat a full meal, and then provide appropriate training, that is, in one or two years, those who are weak and unable to serve as soldiers can recover their physical strength and become soldiers. This is the case, both the Yellow Turbans in Yuzhou and the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou.

For Zhang Yan, this is also a good thing. With ten thousand main forces in hand, Zhang Yan naturally has the corresponding position and becomes an indispensable general of the Wu Kingdom and has a certain voice. In order to enhance the persuasion, Guo Jia mentioned Liu Pi, Gong Du, Wu Ba, Guan Hai and others. Liu Pi is now in Xiangyang, Gong Du is in Jingnan, Wu Ba is in Runan, and Guan Hai is in Beihai. They live a very comfortable life, with food and drink, and food and clothing.

After hearing this, Zhang Yan nodded repeatedly. He had contacted these people, especially Gong Du, who had visited him in Heishan. He was willing to accept Guo Jia's suggestions, but this matter was not something he could decide by himself, and he still needed to go back and discuss with other leaders.

Guo Jia agreed.

After receiving Guo Jia's report, Sun Ce quickly met Zhang Yan and his son. Most of the conditions had been agreed upon, and Zhang Yan was also ready to pay tribute. When he saw Sun Ce, he took the initiative to pay a visit. Sun Ce was very polite, helped them up, made a few words, and said some polite words like long-term reverence. He reminisced with Zhang Fang, as if he had met his old friends again, and gave each of them a set of armor and swords.

Zhang Yan and his son were moved by Sun Ce's approachableness and burst into tears. They held the sword armor and didn't know what to say.

——

After lingering for several days, Zhang Yan and his son returned to Heishan and brought back a thousand sets of infantry equipment.

Sun Ce asked them to form an elite infantry with a scale of thousands of people, with Zhang Fang as the general and a hundred people as the unit, to assist the MIIS to collect intelligence, draw maps, and carry out small-scale combat missions. In order to strengthen their combat effectiveness, Sun Ce selected ten tiger soldiers who were proficient in mountain combat in the camp to help Zhang Fang conduct short-term training.

With Sun Ce's support, no one could shake Zhang Yan's influence in the Heishan army. Wulu, Kuqiu, Yu Du and others expressed their support for Zhang Yan's decision, and mobilized elite troops to prepare for the battle. Yu Zhong packed his luggage, withdrew from Heishan in batches, and settled in Luoyang. Only a small number of people were left to harvest the crops in the mountains and provide military rations for Zhang Fang and others.

With the elite guide and protection led by Zhang Fang, the activities of the MIIS were in full swing. Various information was sent to Luoyang and were sorted out by the MIIS before being provided to Sun Shangxiang. With the increase of information, the situation near Tianjing Pass gradually became clear in Sun Shangxiang's mind. After repeated discussions with Lu Xun and Xu Jie, Sun Shangxiang proposed a bold idea: first get Tianjing Pass, then take Hancheng.

In addition to the terrain, another important reason why Hancheng is difficult to conquer is that the terrain is not lost. As long as the terrain is in hand, even if the terrain is conquered, they can break through and retreat from the terrain to Shangdang - although this is just their wishful thinking. If the terrain pass is captured, the rear road of Bicheng will be cut off, and it is likely that it will collapse without attacking. Otherwise, after capturing Bicheng, it will still have to confront each other for years and consume money and food in vain.

Lu Xun and Xu Jie thought this plan was feasible, and at least they could try it. The courtyard was locked in a valley, and was limited by the terrain. They could not use the army to attack head-on, and they could only use elite troops to win. This is in line with the Wu army's combat habits. Now with the Black Mountain Army's assistance, the possibility of success is still quite high.

In order to ensure that Sun Ce could agree to this plan, Sun Shangxiang personally rushed to Mengjin camp and reported to Sun Ce.

After listening to Sun Shangxiang's report, Sun Ce asked Sun Shangxiang a question: Who led his troops to attack?

Sun Shangxiang, who had been talking nonsense, hesitated, bit her lip, blinked her eyes, and said for a while: "I."

"Give me a reason."

Sun Shangxiang was a little nervous, but she still gave her reasons. According to the information provided by the Military Information Department, Linghu Shao, the guard general of the Taiyuan Pass, was from Taiyuan. He had obeyed orders under Yuan Shao's account and had little military experience. But his wife was Wang Ling's sister. In addition, it was easy to defend and difficult to attack in Tianjing Pass, so Wang Ling arranged for him to be the guard general, hoping that he could make a contribution to it.

For such a person and such a barrier, this arrangement seems safe, but it is actually a flaw. It is just that this flaw is relatively hidden. Since it has been discovered, it is worth a try.

As for her own battle, it was because she heard that Linghu Shao liked to study, advocated morality, and had a strong literary atmosphere, especially despising women, and disagreed with the Wu Kingdom's praise of equality between men and women. If she led the Yulin Guard to fight, she ordered some Yulin Guards to pretend to be the wife and daughter of the common people and sneak into Guanzhong. At that time, the internal and external cooperation will be in great possibility of success in the pass.

"Where are you?"

Sun Shangxiang grinned and felt a little embarrassed. "I originally wanted to go there myself, but Bo Yan and Ajie disagreed. They said that they grew up in the military camp and had too much murderous aura and could not play an ordinary person, so I stopped entering the pass and commanded outside the pass."

Sun Ce pinched Sun Shangxiang's nose. "I'm sure. But you have to be mentally prepared. The Military Advisory Office may not agree to your plan. In addition, I will give you a suggestion to transfer Lu Xiaohuan to the war. Some of her subordinates are from Bingzhou."
Chapter completed!