Chapter Thirty-Eight: Before the Formation

  Because in the early years, when playing games like "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", I also imagined driving those heroes and generals to conquer all directions, pointing at mountains and rivers. But I didn't think that now it's not too far from my dreams. Although I haven't reached the level of laughing at thousands of troops and horses, pointing at the world, being surrounded by many helmeted and armored subordinates, countless halberd-wielding soldiers guarding, and overseeing the group mountains is also a very impressive thing, with a heroic spirit full of "who is the great general, I'm afraid it's Ho Ye", my heart surging with excitement for the upcoming battle, I couldn't help but feel a lump in my throat and want to express myself, reciting Chen Yi Marshal's "Three Absolute Beauties of Mei Ridge".

  How is your mood today?

  Entrepreneurship is difficult and has many battles.

  He went to Quan Tai to gather his old troops

  Ten million banners beheaded Yan Luo.

  Ten years of war in the northern country

  This head will be hung at the national gate.

  After you die, many of your friends will be very sad.

  Good news arrives on paper money

  Feeling too melancholic again, I recited Qiu Jin's poem.

  Ten thousand miles riding on clouds going and coming back, alone by the East Sea bringing spring thunder.

  Endure the painting's color change, willing to let the mountains and rivers turn to ashes.

  Turbid wine cannot dispel national worries; saving the times requires relying on outstanding talents.

  With ten million heads piled high, I must retrieve the power of yin and yang.

  While alive, he was a hero among men; in death, he is a mighty spirit.

  Even now I think of Xiang Yu and refuse to cross the river to the east.

  After a stunned expression, thunderous applause echoed through the sky. "This time, we will invite old colleagues to the Spring Platform, and ten million flags will be used to kill Yan Luo." The oldest of the generals, Gao Dafu, looked at the gentleman's unimpressed expression with genuine admiration. (He had thought that this gentleman was just a bit too lucky, but now it seemed that his poetry revealed his true character, which was superior to others.) The younger officers' eyes showed undisguised fervor, joy, praise, and admiration.

  Amazing words spread just as quickly, and in a short time, several places burst out with the same kind of exclamations: "Ten million flags beheaded Yan Luo, who can produce such poetic lines? This child really has the innate talent of a general!"

  "When alive, he was a hero among men; when dead, a mighty ghost. This is indeed a grand and heroic spirit, to be able to utter such words, showing the demeanor of a great general. Guan Yu has really gone blind."

  This morning, poetry and literature are in vogue, and everyone is good at it. As the saying goes, "Poetry can reveal one's heart and character." Amidst the thunderous applause, Yuwen Shu gazed at that spirited person, his heart filled with a mix of emotions. From his poetry, he sensed an air of great generals, a heroic spirit that cannot be achieved through simple experiences. Even Yuwen Shu, who deeply resented him, couldn't help but feel admiration.

  In the end, everyone was deceived by this guy who pretends to be a pig but is actually a tiger (using Mr. Liang's words), and thought he was careless and didn't care about anything. But in fact, he was clearer than anyone else in his heart. The rumors that spread below about him being unreasonable and vengeful were all fake, perhaps it was exactly what he wanted to happen, and when doing these things, he was very clear-headed. Maybe this is his true self now.

  All the disasters started with this sudden appearance of a guy, what a waste of his own reputation as Zhuge Liang in the tiger's den. Who would have thought that even the five tigers of the Northern Army had their moments of being suppressed? This person took advantage of the peaceful times to gain favor from the Emperor and occupied an important position, enjoying great prestige, but did things without following reason or logic, making it difficult for others to deal with him even if they wanted to. His own brothers suffered losses due to his actions. Moreover, his idle and corrupt behavior all day long attracted that troublesome princess and a large group of princes who followed him around every day, making it hard for anyone with ulterior motives to get close to him.

  The people he uses are all sorts of people, and the one in charge of military law, Huangfu Gao, is actually a person of the crown prince, but he is not on the same path as himself. He was pulled over with a right lang general position and has been pretending to be loyal every day, hoping that something would happen to him. The deputy general Wei Tiao, who is mainly in charge of affairs, is cautious in his work, and his father and brother are not simple goods that can be easily dismissed; those mountain bandits regard him as a god, the most loyal running dog, and the new people he promoted have complex backgrounds and are mostly afraid that the world will not be chaotic. Not to mention that many of the troops who came to join him halfway are looking up to people like Xie Si, and they won't buy his account at all. Now, through the name of reorganization, he is cleaning up the old forces of the Northern Army, making it even more difficult for him to find fault.

  Originally, because of his incredibly good luck, he was arrogant and domineering but no one could bring him down. Several times, carefully laid plans were avoided by him as if by chance. Later, the person in charge ended up being left in a precarious situation.

  After much effort, they managed to get Taizong close to him, intending to use Taizong's hand to gather evidence of his disrespect. At the very least, with his arrogant personality, he would definitely offend Taizong and create some trouble. Unexpectedly, however, he ended up winning Taizong over.

  They went to great lengths to get the Crown Prince to witness his misdeeds, but instead, the Crown Prince praised him excessively and wanted to win him over. Seeing that their own people were being taken care of by him in large numbers, some other members of the Northern Army also defected to his side due to the Crown Prince's influence, leaving their own power increasingly weak.

  Later, it was simply laid out to be settled after autumn, and the servant had no life to rush about. Wanting to protest was useless, and the other party didn't care about you at all. When they met, they would smile and say nice things like "I believe in your ability" or "As the saying goes, those who are capable work harder", which made people want to vomit blood but couldn't get angry. They were given a belly full of grievances when they returned. Wanting to slack off was also not possible, as the other party's running dogs were watching closely, just waiting for you to slack off so they could deal with you.

  The fool who once disobeyed orders on the grounds of illness was suddenly summoned to his door for a seemingly sincere but actually fake consolation, and with one sentence "Take care of your illness", he was relieved of his military duties and dispersed his subordinates. He was sent to the middle army's logistics team to be idle. Even himself felt a sense of failure in front of him. You know how many familiar faces are around now.

  There's also Pei Jin, who is really infuriating. He had been warned not to confront this arrogant guy head-on, at least not while he's in power. But that impulsive guy, who claims to be one of the Five Tigers, has wasted all his past experiences roaming Chang'an. He couldn't bear the thought of being outdone by the younger brother of a former prime minister, so he recklessly challenged him, trying to assert his authority as the leader. Not only did he fail to stop himself from making a fool of himself, but he also dragged others down with him in his haste and miscalculation.

  I was really blind earlier, this guy who seemed careless and sloppy turned out to be deep and ruthless, able to seize the opportunity and force me to take action in front of everyone. As the commander of the first battalion, I made a mistake and lost face, being beaten with sticks in public, losing all dignity and prestige. If I had refused at the time, it would have been what that guy wanted, and maybe I would still be lying on the stretcher like Pei's second son, worried about being "accidentally" thrown away by his subordinates. That guy changed his face quickly after the fact, praising me with a smile, causing discord among the five tigers immediately. Although I explained that I had no choice, everyone understood this guy's intentions, but he repeatedly summoned me alone to chat, leaving a knot in my heart despite my explanations, truly a case of killing multiple birds with one stone.

  Now not only the prestige of his own Northern Army has been lost, but some people who have seen the wind and turned against him also realize that this sloppy-looking man is not as harmless as he looks. They naturally keep a distance from him, and since he made such an impudent move in front of the Emperor, not only did he not get punished, but he even got to take home a beautiful woman. Many people have begun to reevaluate his importance in the Emperor's heart, making their own situation increasingly difficult.

  It's not just about showing weakness on the surface, but also having to restrain myself and my brothers from causing trouble and giving others an excuse. It's really unbearable. Although I understand that confrontation is unwise and has no benefits, it's best to take a low-key approach and show a cooperative attitude, but the frustration is real.

  "Youwen" was called by that big shot, he felt a chill in his heart "Is it you again with some new trick?"

  "Lead the Dragon Guards, protect all the ministers and nobles around the Emperor, don't make any mistakes," he unexpectedly let out a sigh of relief, only to be assigned what seemed like a safe and easy task. "If there's anything amiss, don't bother coming back to see me, just kill yourself on the spot." The tone that brooked no argument made him involuntarily respond with "Yes, sir". But afterwards, when he thought about it more carefully, he realized that his group of people had been squeezed out and replaced by others, leaving only himself in charge of the Dragon Guards, which was now understaffed with less than 600 men. He still had to take care of thousands of royal family members and nobles, as well as maintain the Emperor's personal guard, a difficult and thankless task that would easily attract resentment. And on top of that, he was being squeezed to death by the order "don't bother coming back to see me, just kill yourself on the spot".

  "It's a matter of great importance, and I'm afraid that relying solely on my subordinates may not be enough," he said with a look of difficulty. "But since you insist, I'll give you two battalions." The man agreed readily, but somehow left him with an unpleasant feeling. "Alright, I'll give you the 5th and 6th Battalions of the Central Garrison," he thought to himself with a cold smile. These two battalions were actually made up of militiamen and soldiers who had committed offenses, totaling no more than a thousand men. They might be able to handle tasks like cutting trees and digging ditches, but if they were sent to protect someone, it was likely that he would still need to dispatch additional personnel to keep an eye on them and prevent any incidents from occurring. Otherwise, the misfortune would still fall on him, this commander. This official really had good intentions, didn't he?

  What a pain! A few days ago, the edge of the typhoon just grazed my hometown, and in that stormy rain, lightning flashed like fire. I was inspired by the cat's spirit, watching web novels while climbing the grid with enthusiasm. Suddenly, I heard a loud thunderclap on the roof, and the dark night became as bright as day. My heart was racing with fear, and when I came back to my senses, the computer screen went black. The beloved broadband cat only had two lights left, struggling to survive. After restarting the machine, there was no response online, and for a moment, my heart felt like it was cut by a knife. When the rain stopped, I urgently looked for customer service, and after several days, someone finally came to diagnose the problem. The cat was fine, but the network card had broken down. It turned out that on that day, a loud thunderclap caused dozens of computers in the building to break down, and the network cards collectively short-circuited and died. As a result, I've been queuing up to replace the card until now. Alas, how depressing!