Zhao Hanzhang asked, “What about the Xianbei and Xiongnu?”

Chen Wu paused, then finally gritted his teeth. “Fighting them is also acceptable, but besides provisions, the Zhao Family Army needs to give me thirty horses.”

Their entire Qihuo Army didn’t have many horses. They did have several dozen oxen, specifically for pulling the wounded and elderly and weak. If they couldn’t find anyone to hire them soon, they’d have to slaughter the oxen.

The Xianbei and Xiongnu were both fierce and famous for their cavalry. Using cavalry to fight them naturally wouldn’t work—Chen Wu didn’t think he could train cavalry more formidable than theirs.

He had his own fighting methods. Asking Zhao Hanzhang for thirty horses was for transmitting messages.

Cavalry was fast—he needed more and faster scouts.

Zhao Hanzhang didn’t ask about his tactics and immediately agreed.

Chen Wu’s heart sank. Were they really going to fight the Xianbei and Xiongnu?

Chen Wu forced a smile, planning to ask for more provisions. “So does General Zhao want to fight the Xianbei or the Xiongnu?”

If it was the Xiongnu, he could ask for slightly less. For the Xianbei, he’d have to raise the price more. However… the Xianbei hadn’t done anything recently, had they?

Why would they fight the Xianbei?

Zhao Hanzhang said, “I want to hire you to defend territory for me.”

Chen Shi’s eyes widened, and his body involuntarily leaned forward. “Then how do we calculate the provisions?”

Perhaps fearing Zhao Hanzhang would back out, Chen Shi said, “Defense requires much less daily provisions than offense. I can reduce it by another twenty percent.”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “I want you to defend Gucheng.”

Gucheng wasn’t very far from here—another day’s journey toward Luoyang would get them there. But Gucheng was very small and simply couldn’t stop the Xiongnu and Xianbei. Moreover, Luoyang itself had natural defenses, so Gucheng’s existence seemed more like an outpost.

It could provide early warning of enemies and give advance notice.

If it was just for warning, putting two squads of men there—two hundred soldiers—would be enough. Why would they spend a fortune hiring them?

Chen Shi hinted, “General Zhao, I have five thousand men here. The daily provisions needed aren’t small.”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “Each month I’ll give you a batch of provisions. This year, one soldier per day gets one jin of grain.”

Chen Shi rolled his eyes and asked, “Is General Zhao hiring us for next year too? How do we calculate next year’s price?”

“I’ll allocate you a plot of land in Gucheng for you to cultivate.”

Chen Shi had already anticipated this but still couldn’t help swallowing. “What about seeds, farming tools, and if Gucheng comes under attack…”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “I’ll provide the seeds. We’ll work together on farming tools. If Gucheng comes under attack, Luoyang naturally won’t stand by and watch.”

Chen Shi was excited inside but still thought carefully.

Didn’t the Qihuo Army have a place to settle and farm?

They did. Throughout Dajin, there were abandoned fields everywhere, even houses and cities. They could occupy any place and start farming.

But what they planted might not yield a harvest, and they couldn’t possibly live peacefully.

First, they didn’t have enough seeds to farm.

Second, they didn’t have provisions to sustain them from planting to harvest.

Third, they couldn’t fend off the chaotic troops competing with them for the grain harvest.

These chaotic troops included but weren’t limited to: Xiongnu, Xianbei, garrison troops from neighboring cities, various fortress lords, and wandering refugee armies.

Hadn’t Chen Wu tried farming?

He had. It was precisely because after a year of hard work, the food they harvested wasn’t even enough for the soldiers’ provisions, and more people died of starvation than died on the battlefield, that they chose to wander everywhere begging and fighting battles for others to earn money to buy provisions.

Although people still died, the death toll was better than staying in one place and starving.

It wasn’t that no powers wanted to subdue them; they themselves were willing to be subdued, yet things never worked out as hoped.

Prince Donghai had once wanted to take them in, but he had numerous troops. Although the Qihuo Army could fight, they only had five or six thousand men, so Prince Donghai didn’t value them highly.

Moreover, he could even allow his other armies to capture good people to sell to supplement military expenses—how could he possibly give the Qihuo Army sufficient provisions?

So the Qihuo Army stayed with Prince Donghai for less than a month before leaving.

Even Prince Donghai couldn’t support them, let alone other powers.

Chen Wu hinted to Zhao Hanzhang, “General Zhao, even calculating just the five thousand soldiers’ consumption, you’d need to give me five thousand jin of grain daily. That’s quite a lot. Are you certain you want to hire me for a year?”

Zhao Hanzhang nodded. “Certain!”

Chen Wu asked, “The condition is just defending territory?”

“Correct, just defending territory,” Zhao Hanzhang said. “If there’s an order deploying you to expand territory outward, I’ll pay separately.”

This condition was too generous, so much so that Chen Wu didn’t dare agree immediately. He said, “I need to discuss this with my subordinates.”

Zhao Hanzhang expressed understanding and stood up. “Give me an answer before sunset. I need to depart for Luoyang early tomorrow morning.”

Chen Wu acknowledged.

As soon as she left, he immediately called Feng Long and the others in, saying gravely, “Tell me, is there some conspiracy here?”

Feng Long shared this suspicion. “That Zhao Hanzhang isn’t easy to deal with. Those messages we received earlier were spread by their Yuzhou Army—we don’t know if they’re true or false. If false, who knows what’s happening in Luoyang now. If true, her methods are too sophisticated and ruthless. We might be sold and still count money for her.”

Li Tou didn’t think that much and asked, “Besides one life each, what else do we have that could be schemed against?”

Feng Long replied, “What if it’s our lives she’s scheming for?”

Chen Wu squatted on the ground thinking. After a long while, he shook his head. “No. I consider myself somewhat capable of judging character—she doesn’t seem like a bad person.”

Hearing this, Feng Long immediately said, “Then let’s do it.”

“Right, let’s do it. Being indecisive isn’t what real men do,” Li Tou lowered his voice. “And if we don’t earn provisions soon, people in the army will starve to death.”

Hearing this, Chen Wu made up his mind. “Alright, we’ll follow her!”

Feng Long said somewhat wistfully, “What if we actually settle down this time?”

Even Chen Wu and Li Tou started to imagine along with him.

However, they didn’t dare think too deeply, fearing that the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

Zhao Hanzhang had just returned to her encampment when she received Chen Wu’s reply. She curved her lips in a smile, very satisfied.

However, Zeng Yue and Yuan Li were both puzzled. “My lady, with these provisions, we could clearly recruit refugees and train soldiers ourselves. Why must we hire them?”

Soldiers weren’t actually scarce—there were refugees everywhere. As long as you had provisions and money, you could recruit many people with a single call to arms.

Training soldiers yourself was different—their loyalty would be incomparable to hired external soldiers, wouldn’t it?

Zhao Hanzhang said, “Recruiting soldiers yourself not only requires provisions but also weapons, armor, and cultivating generals to lead troops—the manpower and resources consumed are immeasurable.”

“But now, we only need to provide sufficient provisions to gain a fierce army. Why wouldn’t we do this?”

They all felt the Qihuo Army was hired, outsiders who wouldn’t be loyal. But they forgot that even the relationship with soldiers trained personally was actually an employment relationship.

Once scattered, they would naturally seek other patrons for survival. Did she expect them to die for her?

The Qihuo Army was very trustworthy. As long as they were paid, they would stick to their mission even if crippled—no worse than personal guards.

These people, used well, would become a great weapon.