After a brief rest, Xiao Tianci ordered people to carry the injured soldiers on one horse. As for the dead soldiers, it was difficult to take away under the current circumstances, so he had to ask people to collect them all together and burn them all.

"Is that okay?" Xiao Tianci rode on his horse, glanced at Xiao Xue beside him, and said with concern.

Xiao Xue looked at him inexplicably, then smiled, "Are you still those daughters of mine? Today's battle can only be considered a warm-up for me. Little Monkey, when I was fighting with the regular army of the Ming Empire, you were still drinking milk."

"You... OK." Xiao Tianci turned his head speechlessly. At this time, Dian Wei walked over with a lonely look on his face.

"Come on evil, are you okay?" Xiao Tianci asked softly when he knew he was in a bad mood.

Dian Wei shook his head, stared at the direction where Xiao Ruyi escaped, "Lord, I'm fine, I'm just a little uncomfortable for a moment."

"The corpse-wrapped horse leather, this is the case on the battlefield. Why do you have to be like that little woman when you come?" Xiao Tianci patted his shoulder and comforted him, "You should feel happy because they are all heroes. They died for honor. After I go back, I will personally ask someone to engrave their names on the Hero Monument, so that all the people in Xingye City will know them and know their deeds. I believe they will rest in peace with honor."

"Haha, it's better what my lord said. My old Dian is not very educated. Everything is arranged by your lord." After hearing this, Dian Wei touched his head with his hand and smiled foolishly, and his emotions seemed to have recovered a little.

"Lord." Cao Chun walked over.

"Zihe, is there something wrong?" Xiao Tianci turned his head and looked at him.

"Well, lord, I just cleaned up the battlefield and found that more than a hundred wounded soldiers from the enemy were still there. I don't know what to do?" Cao Chun nodded and said.

"Oh, can these people still act?"

"Basically, they are seriously injured soldiers who are difficult to move, and those who can move will run away long ago."

"That's it..." Xiao Tianci thought for a while, then suddenly gritted his teeth and said hard, "Kill all these people and burn them."

"Yes." Cao Chun was stunned, looked at Xiao Tianci, and then responded.

"It seems that your heart is cruel enough." Xiao Xue looked at him inexplicably, as if she was a little surprised by the order given by Xiao Tian.

"Hmph! Extraordinary times and extraordinary means. Now we are in danger, and these hundreds of wounded soldiers are completely burdens." Xiao Tianci snorted coldly, raised his head and looked around, shouting loudly, "Everything is more fast, hurry up and leave here."

"promise!"

.....

On August 26, 2133, the mainland calendar, sunny day.

Xiao Tianci and his group finally returned to Xingye City. After settling the wounded soldiers, Xiao Tianci immediately summoned several of his military and political supervisors to discuss the upcoming war.

At the meeting, Xiao Tianci first introduced the journey to the capital, commended the soldiers injured and sacrificed in the Changfeng Mansion this time, and ordered 10,000 kingdom gold coins to be allocated from the city lord's mansion to be distributed as material rewards.

At the same time, Xiao Tianci harshly criticized the shortcomings and weaknesses exposed by the troops in this battle. He pointed out that through this battle, it can be seen that the troops still have shortcomings in training, and the cooperation between the troops is not tacit enough. These are absolutely fatal in the battlefield. Finally, he asked the heads of each unit to seize the time, find out the shortcomings of his own troops, conduct targeted training, and be prepared to welcome the war.

At the meeting, the two military chiefs Zhang Liao and Cao Chun proposed the suggestion of expanding troops. Although the regular troops in Xingye City have reached a scale of 100,000, this force is definitely not enough to deal with the upcoming expansion and battles, and the expansion plan is imperative.

Regarding the suggestions of the two of them, the first military advisor Jia Xu selectively expressed support. According to the information he had, Xiao Shiyun's subordinates had about 80,000 private soldiers. These private soldiers were stationed in Changfeng Mansion and several surrounding prefectures, forming a restraining force on the entire Xingye City. Although Xiao Tianci and others almost destroyed Xiao Ruyi's 30,000 soldiers, their Xingye City was still at a disadvantage. Moreover, Xiao Shiyun, as the kingdom's general, also had more than 800,000 troops in several prefectures including Tianqingzhou, Sifangzhou, Ganyunzhou, etc. According to spies, these garrisons have been quietly mobilized to Tianqingzhou. It is estimated that the first batch of soldiers reaching Tianqingzhou would have more than 100,000.

However, some people still put forward different opinions. Although Zhang Jingting did not explicitly object to the military expansion plan, he released a lot of data, which has proved that the large-scale military expansion has had a huge impact on the development of Xingye City.

His words directly angered Cao Chun, who was in a fierce temper, and the two officials, one army and one politics, broke out in a fierce quarrel.

Xiao Tianci sat in the lobby without saying a word, but he was measuring the gains and losses after the expansion of the army.

"Lord, although our Xingye City has been developing rapidly for two years and has become much richer in finance, we are a small place after all, and our foundation is still very thin. We need a lot of labor in all aspects of construction. Now the indigenous people of Xingye City and the people migrating from all over the world are only 1.8 million, of which nearly one-third of the elderly, young, sick and disabled people have to be removed. Now the rapid development of Xingye City has attracted many large merchants to settle in, especially the opening of the Great Wilderness Forest Channel, the continuous transportation of iron ore, the mining of coal mines, the planting of fertile fields, etc., all require a large amount of labor." Zhang Jingting's face turned red and bowed to Xiao Tianci, saying, "Lord, if we expand our army in a large amount now, it will inevitably cause immeasurable losses to the development of the entire Xingye City."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Liao retorted directly, "Although Lord Zhang's words are reasonable, my Xingye City is about to face the pressure of hundreds of thousands of troops. The troops are so weak, how can I get enough eggs in the vast nest? When Xiao Shiyun's army marched straight into the sky, the development of Xingye City will be a wedding dress for others, even if it is better, it will be a wedding dress for others. This is already a battle of life and death. Without a strong army as a backing, even the most prosperous economy will be ruined. What do you think?"

"This..." Zhang Jingting hesitated for a while, and then said firmly, "General Zhang, you are really right. Now there are many crises, and you do need enough soldiers to be prepared. But you also need to see if the finances of our Xingye City can support a large number of military expansion? The population of the entire Xingye City with registered households is 1.8 million, and there are currently 100,000 soldiers. The finance can barely support it by 1 to 18. However, if it is expanded by 100,000 to 200,000, the finances may be really hard to bear."

"Okay, stop." Xiao Tianci finally spoke, looked up and glanced at the people below and said, "What you said makes sense. Your goals are actually the same. We all want to develop better in Starry Night City, but we are currently on the cusp of the storm, so I prefer to expand the army."

"Sir..." Zhang Jingting interrupted anxiously.

Xiao Tianci raised his hand and interrupted him and continued, "In fact, I have been thinking about whether to expand the army or not. If the army is expanded, it will lose the opportunity for the rapid development of Xingye City. If the army is not expanded, Xingye City will most likely be destroyed. This is indeed very contradictory, so I finally thought of a solution that is not a solution, which may be useful."

"Oh, lord, what's the solution?" The people below all looked at Xiao Tianci with surprise.

"Haha, it's very simple." Xiao Tianci stood up and walked down with his hands on his back. He said loudly, "I plan to implement the policy of being a soldier for all people. It is currently the wartime stage. The 100,000 regular troops remain unchanged for the time being. Other young and strong people engaged in planting, hunting, and mining are automatically converted into militia reserves. They participate in economic construction in their daily lives, participate in military training in their spare time, and take up weapons to defend their homes in wartime."

Xiao Tianci finished speaking, but there was silence below. All the people frowned and pondered. After a long time, Jia Xu nodded while touching the goatee with a smile, but Tian Feng said loudly, "Wonderful, the lord's militia reserve system is very good. He serves soldiers in wartime, serves the people in leisure, works in busyness, and trains in leisure. It can not only alleviate the financial difficulties caused by a large number of military expansion, but also organizes all the young and strong people in Xingye City to form a large number of troops. This strategy is actually the best strategy, and Yuan Hao admires it." After saying that, Tian Feng bowed to Xiao Tianci.

Xiao Tianci smiled faintly, felt relieved in his heart, and waved his hand, "So do you think this strategy is feasible?"

"It's feasible, I have no objection." Zhang Liao said.

"I have no objection to this method of lord." Zhang Jingting also shook his head.

Jia Xu didn't chew, but seeing his smile and nodding, it seemed that he was very sure of this plan, so Xiao Tianci finally made a decision.

After deciding on the next policy, Xiao Tianci took two steps and continued to ask, "Then it's time to prepare for military struggle. Wen Yuan, how many war horses are available to us at present?"

"Return to the lord, there are currently more than 38,000 horses in the horse farm, of which more than 10,000 can be used for war horses, not including the war horses that have been formed into cavalry." Zhang Liao replied.

"It's still a little less." Xiao Tianci shook his head, "In this way, send the ten thousand available war horses to the military camp. You can choose some civilians everywhere, so that they can hurry up and learn riding and shooting in their spare time. In addition, they can send people to the tribe of Xie. This time, buy more adult war horses, and the number should be more than 30,000. If the money is not enough, use weapons to exchange them."

"No!" Zhang Liao took his life.
Chapter completed!