Chapter 16: The End of the Military Council MeetingThe end of the military council meeting was nothing more than a bunch of empty words, such as "I hope you all will work together to overcome this national crisis." Everyone dispersed after receiving their orders.The campfires flickered in the darkness, casting shadows on the tents. I rubbed my temples, which were numb from the long meeting, and began to patrol the camp with the guards. Along the way, soldiers who recognized me or not would nod their heads in respect, and some even looked excited and moved. I had read about famous generals like Yue Fei, who would personally inspect the camp defenses and care for the soldiers' well-being. This was one of the ways to govern an army, although it was a bit troublesome, but effective for ordinary soldiers.I had read many biographies of historical figures, and I could still recall some details. As I patrolled the camp, my mind wandered back to the knowledge I had gained from sneaking into the enemy's camp a few days ago.Our army used the Six Flower Formation, which was one of the most common formations in the Tang Dynasty. It was invented by General Li Jing, who took the Eight Trigrams Formation as its basis and developed it during battles against the Turkic cavalry. The formation consisted of seven armies, with the central army forming a circle and the outer six armies forming squares. Each square had a smaller Six Flower Formation inside, which could provide support to each other in case of an attack.Anyway, I won't go into details about the various formations like the Five Elements Formation, Four Symbols Formation, Seven Stars Linked Formation, Eight Gates Formation, etc. Just thinking about them made my head spin.In battle, the cavalry formation was called "jumping and scattering," with intervals of 30 steps between each unit (depending on the length of their weapons). The infantry defense formation was called "stationary queue." The attacking formation had intervals of 10 steps between each unit...I rubbed my temples again and looked out at the refugees sitting around the campfires outside. The wind carried the sounds of children crying and old people sighing, which were much better than the wailing from the previous night.After the food robbery incident, I took the opportunity to lecture them on the importance of discipline and order. (Teaching them that even good deeds require proper methods, otherwise they might turn into disasters.) But the real problem still needed a solution. In the end, I came up with a temporary plan: to recruit able-bodied men from among the refugees to work in exchange for food rations. When necessary, they could also supplement our military losses. Although they lacked training, they could handle auxiliary tasks like digging trenches and transporting supplies. During battles, they could also provide moral support by shouting slogans behind the lines.It was a pretty good use of resources.The remaining old and weak refugees were organized into units of 100 people, with leaders elected from among themselves. A small number of soldiers were assigned to assist them in maintaining order, which helped prevent chaos and bullying within the refugee group. During battles, they could also conduct organized retreats, avoiding the chaos that would ensue when the enemy approached.I had dealt with these refugees according to this method ever since they joined us.Suddenly, a eunuch official ran up to me, panting for breath. I recognized him as one of the loyal dogs who always followed the emperor around."Your Excellency is hard to find," he said. "The Emperor has summoned you."During my interactions with these eunuchs, such as High General Gao Lishi, Eunuch-in-Charge Yuan Siyi, and others, I had made sure to show them respect and courtesy on the surface. As a result, they treated me relatively well, although they were not very powerful but could still cause trouble. Most of them were good at remembering grudges, so even though I didn't have to deal with them now, it was better to be safe than sorry.I didn't want to end up like Yuan Chonghuan, who had fought bravely for the Ming Dynasty but was eventually executed as a traitor due to the machinations of these eunuchs.