Jia Xu made his own choice, and Lu Bu also realized his knot in his heart. The next step is to have a happy host.

Although the wine and food prepared by Jia Xu for Shutong for Lu Bu may not be as exquisite as Yan Qing's house, Lu Bu was in a good mood and naturally he tasted whatever he wanted.

After drinking for three rounds, Jia Xu also took the initiative to speak: "The general defeated the Hu barbarians this time, so that the border counties in Bingzhou will be protected from the robbery of the Hu people. I think rewards are indispensable. I just don't know what the general's plans will be in the future?"

When Lu Bu was also excited when he heard Jia Xu say this.

He knew that Jia Xu wanted to show his abilities.

Since ancient times, when a strategist chooses a leader, the first thing he needs to do is to prove his ability, because only in this way can you convince others.

Like the general strategic policy of "deep roots to consolidate the foundation to control the world" proposed by Xun Yu in history after he surrendered to Cao Cao, the "Longzhong Pair" made by Zhuge Liang when he was preparing to surrender to Liu Bei, basically belongs to this list.

Compared with Xun Yu and Zhuge Liang and other strategists, Jia Xu may have been a little salty, but now it seems that he has not reached the point of being completely flat.

Thinking of this, Lu Bu also said bluntly: "The rewards in the court have already come down a few days ago. The emperor ordered me to be appointed as Duting Hou and the prefect of Wuyuan. In addition, the governor also has many rewards. As for future plans, I have not yet decided, but I don't know if Wenhe has any ideas?"

In fact, with Lu Bu's contribution, such a small reward must be considered small.

However, border wars in all dynasties are inevitable, and exaggerated results will occur, especially when the empire is in its twilight age. This situation is even more common, so most people just regard it as a joke for Lu Bu to defeat 300,000 barbarians.

Although Ding Yuan, the governor of Bingzhou, did not participate in this battle, he was close to the front line after all, so in Ding Yuan's view, Lu Bu may have faced more than 100,000 barbarians, and in the eyes of the ministers in the court, this data will be further reduced. In their opinion, a border general with no fame led more than 10,000 Bingzhou elite cavalry and could defeat tens of thousands of barbarians. As for 300,000, it was probably exaggerating the credit.

In short, no one thinks that the 300,000 barbarians in the battle report that Lu Bu reported were real.

In this case, although no one will take the initiative to expose the key points, the final reward must be based on their understanding.

Therefore, the rewards that Lu Bu received corresponded to the actual military merits, which were probably the same as defeating 40,000 to 50,000 Hu people.

Of course, Lu Bu didn't care about this situation either.

After all, his current strength is really a bit shocking, so it's better to be low-key.

If he exposes himself to the world now, he can imagine how much he will be targeted in the future.

Jia Xu finally got involved in the officialdom in Luoyang, so as soon as Lu Bu's reward was spoken out, Jia Xu instantly understood the key points.

However, he bowed and congratulated him: "Xu wants to congratulate the general. Although Duting Hou has a title of vain, the position of the Wuyuan Prefect has given the general a foundation from now on."

Although Lu Bu was the chief clerk of Bingzhou before, he seemed to be the second-ranked figure in Bingzhou on the surface, he actually had no real power. It was because Lu Bu's personal force was really against the will of heaven and his prestige in the Bingzhou army was unmatched, so Ding Yuan would pinch his nose and hand over the Bingzhou elite cavalry to commander Lu Bu.

But the prefect is different. The prefect is a real position of power.

At least, after becoming the prefect of Wuyuan, Lu Bu is no worse than Ding Yuan in terms of rank alone - yes, at this time, the actual rank of the prefect is higher than that of the governor.

The governor of a state can reach the heavenly voice directly from the top and supervise one side. It seems to be majestic, but in fact, in order to limit the governor's rights and prevent the governor from separating the party, the governor's rank is extremely low.

This also leads to the fact that although the governor of a state can supervise the prefects of each county, the prefects of each county are still higher than those of the governor.

Therefore, in a strict sense, the prefects of each county are the real power faction, while the governor is just an empty stance.

If the original historical progress was made, this situation would not be changed until the governor was changed to the state governor.

Although the governor supervises the affairs of a state like the governor, the governor holds the military and political power of a state, and is not comparable to the governor who only has the power to supervise.

The reason why Ding Yuan was able to control the power of Bingzhou as the governor of Bingzhou was more because Bingzhou was in the border and was invaded by the Hu people all year round. The nine counties of Bingzhou, especially the counties close to the north, had no prefect at all. Even if there were before, they died in the invasion of the Hu people.

Under such circumstances, Ding Yuan, the governor of Bingzhou, naturally took control of the military and political power of Bingzhou.

Now, Lu Bu has been named the prefect of Wuyuan. Not to mention the extra ones, at least in terms of status, he already has the capital to leave Ding Yuan alone.

It is precisely because of this that Jia Xu expressed his congratulations.

Facing Jia Xu's compliment, although Lu Bu felt happy, he still looked indifferent on the surface. He waved his hand casually and said lightly: "It's not worth mentioning. In this bitter and cold place in the extreme north, even if he becomes a prefect of a county, it is not very useful."

Seeing this, Jia Xu smiled slightly, but he saw through it and didn't say it out loud.

He said: "After that being said, after the general was named Wuyuan Prefect, he would not have to be hindered by governor Ding in the future, and he could let go of many things."

Hearing Jia Xu say this, Lu Bu also knew that Jia Xu was about to start performing, so he said directly: "Wenhe, please give me a try."

Although he had certain ideas about the future development, it was now the first time that Jia Xu had made suggestions after joining his camp, and he would definitely leave the stage for Jia Xu to perform.

Sure enough, seeing Lu Bu performing such a gesture, Jia Xu spoke unswervingly: "Since the general said that, Xu will talk about his humble opinion."

"Although the general had a position in the army before, he was the chief clerk of the Governor Ding's account. This is why the Governor Ding could be assured that the general was commanding the Bingzhou Jingqi. It can be said that if there was no such relationship, even if the general had no prestige in the Bingzhou army, the Governor Ding would not have allowed the general to command the Bingzhou Jingqi."

"However, to this day, the general is already the prefect of Wuyuan, and the previous ambiguous relationship between the general and the governor Ding naturally no longer exists. In this case, in his opinion, the first thing the general has to do is to completely distinguish the troops under his command from the troops of the governor Ding."

"After all, in the past, the general was nominally commanding the troops for Governor Ding, but in the future, the general's troops belong to the Governor Ding will have nothing to do with Governor Ding. I think Governor Ding is probably also aware of this. If Xu was not wrong, Governor Ding should have made some moves, right?"

Lu Bu nodded slightly.

Jia Xu was not wrong.

In fact, after the imperial court received the reward, Ding Yuan had already begun to remind Lu Bu openly and secretly that it was time to return the military power.

Because on the surface, Lu Bu's previous men were all Ding Yuan, the governor of Bingzhou. The reason why Lu Bu was able to command these men was because he was Ding Yuan's chief clerk.

Now that Lu Bu has become the prefect of Wuyuan, he naturally has to return these people and horses.

However, Ding Yuan also knew that although these men and horses were nominally his, in fact, a considerable number of the Bingzhou Army were brought out by Lu Bu.

So Ding Yuan did not ask Lu Bu to return all his men.

The total number of Bingzhou Army is about 80,000, of which 20,000 are independent Bingzhou elite cavalry, and the remaining 60,000 Bingzhou Army are basically infantrymen.

A large part of Lu Bu's influence in the Bingzhou army was among the Bingzhou elite cavalry.

As for the 60,000 infantrymen, most of them were loyal to Ding Yuan.

It can be said that as long as Lu Bu is willing, with his influence among the Bingzhou Jingqi, he can take at least 15,000 Bingzhou Jingqi.

But if Lu Bu really wants to do this, Ding Yuan will definitely not be happy.

After all, the essence of the Bingzhou Army lies in these 20,000 Bingzhou elite cavalry.

So Ding Yuan's meaning is roughly that Lu Bu can take away half of these 20,000 Bingzhou elite cavalry, and he must leave half of it. As compensation, he can divide 5,000 Bingzhou infantry to Lu Bu.

Lu Bu is almost acceptable for such a result.

Although he was at a loss on the surface - five thousand Bingzhou elite cavalry exchanged for five thousand Bingzhou army infantry, it would be a loss on anyone's part, but now it is not until the world is in chaos, and the order of the Han Dynasty still exists. Even in remote places like Bingzhou, it is still affected by the order of the Han Dynasty's officialdom.

In the officialdom, it is never about fighting and killing, but about human nature.

Five thousand Bingzhou elite cavalry exchanged for five thousand Bingzhou army infantry. It seemed that Lu Bu suffered a great loss, but he was able to completely separate himself through this.

Furthermore, Lu Bu will inevitably deal with Ding Yuan, the governor of Bingzhou in the future.

The most important thing is that in the battle of Lu Bu defeating the Hulu, the captured war horses were astronomical.

Therefore, as long as the main trunk of Bingzhou Jingqi is still there, even if it is distributed to Ding Yuan, Lu Bu can recruit people and expand them at any time.
Chapter completed!