Chapter Thirty-Six: Underlings
These young generals were covered in blood, but most of it was the enemy's. Their faces were flushed with excitement from killing and making achievements. I looked at them and thought to myself, "It's clear that you're being sent to fight to the death, yet you're still so enthusiastic. I'm really impressed." But what I said out loud was: "The autumn chill is heavy, hurry up and change into some dry clothes, then come back and report to me. This is a critical moment when we need all hands on deck, I don't want any of my top generals falling ill." As I looked at their moved expressions, I recalled something an old man named Carnegie once said...
One of the qualities of a leader is being able to remember everyone's name and strengths. I am working towards this direction.
To be honest, the so-called honor of soldiers and the righteousness of the nation in this era don't have much significance to me. Most of what I do is still for my own sake, after all, no matter how capable a person is, their power is limited, they need some reliable subordinates to get things done. These guys might just become my trusted followers in the future.
The leader of the group, a certain Wu, was once the head of the capital's garrison and had a promising future as the youngest colonel in the five imperial guards. However, he offended a member of the Yang family who was out having fun at night while on patrol, and was subsequently reassigned to the postal relay station to oversee the delivery of lychees for the empress dowager from Lingnan. What surprised me was his unwavering dedication to duty - despite being worn out from traveling, he continued to pursue our army's trail after learning that Chang'an had fallen and the emperor's whereabouts were unknown, finally catching up with us after the mutiny ended. Although the old emperor and others no longer had an appetite for lychees, my little girl and I each ate a bowl as dinner, but I was moved by his dedication to duty and grateful for the lychees, so I recruited him as one of my subordinates, and he is now one of the two deputy commanders of the central army, serving as the left deputy commander.
When I saw Wen Feng, who was completely different from others and had no connection with the military before, he was originally a guard of a wealthy family in the capital. In an enemy sneak attack, he showed excellent martial arts skills. When we arrived, we found that he was desperately protecting a woman, and the bodies of the enemy soldiers who tried to rush past him were piled up around him. He was recruited into the army like others. For him, I had great kindness to him, not only giving him fame, status, and future prospects but also helping him get the consent of the uncle of the miss he had been secretly in love with for a long time by asking the noble Ta Sun Gong to witness it (I didn't do things that would make others feel uneasy or unhappy. I just found two sturdy brothers to "discuss" with his family, and they solved the problem. As the saying goes, "a scholar meets a soldier, and reason is not clear." In chaotic times, human life is cheap. To use the words of those two brothers, even if he wanted his wife, he wouldn't dare fart, let alone anything else. He obediently wrote a divorce letter and brought her out). So he was grateful to me and devoted himself to serving me wholeheartedly.
The youngest among them, Yu Hong, was the one who made me scratch my head and smile. He also looked the least like a soldier among my new subordinates, of course, that was before he picked up his weapon. His delicate appearance belied his strength, as a member of the Crown Prince's Three Guards, specifically the Ze Qiang (responsible for leading the way in ceremonies), originally from the Zhong Lei Camp. During one battle, the enemy broke through their formation and the camp's officer fled in fear. I randomly pointed to him, and he ended up displaying extraordinary bravery, not only leading the new recruits of the Zhong Lei Camp but also killing the fleeing officer and beheading over a dozen enemy soldiers, turning the tide of the battle. He was subsequently promoted three ranks to become one of the Twenty-Four Guards.
Huangfu Guo, from the former Crown Prince's Left Guard Rate Fu Dian Military Affairs, is a direct descendant of a general's family, his father being a close friend of the Crown Prince, and one of the most famous generals of his time, along with Geshu Han and Gao Xianzhi. He followed his father to many battles and inherited excellent martial arts and strategic skills from his family. Unfortunately, due to his connection to the Crown Prince, he currently holds the position of Right Lang General in charge of the three departments of Law, Merit, and Official Ranks, ranking third after my deputy Left Lang General Wei Tuo, who is in charge of the overall security affairs.
That Wei Boyu, who was gesticulating to his subordinates with a torrent of words, is another typical example. He comes from a hereditary military family on the border and has little physical strength, but he has been trained in martial arts since childhood. He once traveled as a swordsman in the Western Regions and has extensive experience. His reputation can be considered that of my fellow townsman. After returning home, he inherited his father's career, entered the border army, and accumulated merits until he became the commander of the border army. He has rich experience in fighting against foreign enemies. When the Anshi Rebellion broke out, he was eager to establish his name and led a few personal soldiers to leave their post privately and return to Chang'an to report for duty. If it weren't for the fact that we happened to meet him, the commander would have been executed for abandoning his post and leaving his duties without permission. However, at that time, people were needed, and it was difficult to find someone with long-term military experience. At that court meeting, he was pardoned on the grounds of having a patriotic heart. Now he serves as the right Sima of the Central Army. His official position is not low, but he often leads his subordinates to charge forward himself, which has a bit of a competitive flavor compared to that silent and taciturn commander of the vanguard, Xie Sui.
The other four Lang will, five Bie will, ten departmental all Wei six Cao Can Jun as well as twenty-five school Wei Liu Changzhou, Lv Xiyong, Gao Dafu and others, although their experiences and backgrounds are different, they have good performances in terms of being familiar with bows and horses, calm and wise, rich in experience or good at handling affairs. In the words of some people, they can be regarded as my trusted followers.
After all that, in their eyes, I, this adult, except for being a bit strange in temperament, am still quite reliable and trustworthy, not caring about my background, especially after knowing the legendary experience of rising from a small soldier under Geshu Han's command.
As usual, the armor and weapons were handed over to the armor department, other spoils of war were given to the warehouse department, and the achievements were recorded by the achievement department. The people in charge of the central army were responsible for cleaning up the battlefield. These days, we had to respond to the pursuing troops every day, with our armor not leaving our bodies and our belts not being untied. Although there was a rotation, everyone accumulated considerable fatigue. I continued to inspect and at the same time comforted the soldiers who passed by, saying a few words of consolation. It was completely different from the desperate atmosphere after the initial defeat when we had fled in disarray.
The situation in the army is much better now, to know that at the beginning, due to unfamiliarity or lack of experience, the promotion and replacement rate of the company commanders was as high as the mortality rate (including those who were executed for cowardice), especially those old veterans from the Imperial Guard, now standing in front of me are all good guys who have survived many battles.
Among them were also the still-swollen Tǔ Tuó and the subtly-expressing Yǔ Wén, leaving me to sigh in admiration. The Northern Garrison's six armies as well as those inner camps weren't entirely composed of incompetent individuals; at least they could be called the "Five Tigers of the Northern Army". Apart from their background and methods, they indeed had some genuine skills, otherwise I wouldn't have let them take on so many dangerous missions that easily encountered enemies. On their bodies, apart from more scars, no one was seen to have fallen, clearly not a coincidence. Moreover, in the heat of battle, life-and-death struggles couldn't tolerate their divided attention and sloppy work; what they lacked was only real combat experience.
It's the same for others, the battlefield is the best teacher, and the death of comrades is the best education. Many newcomers who survived matured in this way.
At most, three encounters can occur in a day. Fortunately, the pursuing troops that encountered continuously were not very strong, and the scale was not stronger than my first battle. Although there were some problems due to quality and coordination, under my advantage of being outnumbered, most of them became opportunities for me to practice my skills without any danger, allowing me to make up for a lot of experience in actual combat, and also made my subordinates gradually get familiar with the situation. The temporary makeshift army's soldiers' cooperation also gradually improved.
But what puzzles me is that in the history I remembered, there was no mention of Tang Xuanzong's westward escape being pursued by so many soldiers with such urgency. Could it be because of my appearance, easily blocking many pursuers? As a result, the old emperor put his mind at ease and walked slowly with the large group of people. Conveniently collecting scattered ministers along the way. They walked for more than half a month.
Under the command of Xi Da Xingying, Zhong Jun Dudu led the expedition to conquer the left route. Sun Yanxiu, the commander of the vanguard camp, was directly under the command of the leopard flag swift cavalry brigade. He used his helmet to scoop up clear water and poured it over his beloved horse and his own armor, cursing the hateful weather and the unfortunate encounter. However, he completely overlooked the human figure hidden behind the trees, covered with grass branches, and the faint reflection of the green-painted weapons.
For several days, they had been pursuing the fleeing king day and night, but ended up encountering the most humiliating thing in their lives at the Ma Wei Yi ruins, which was even worse than being ambushed. The "souvenirs" left behind by thousands of people after eating and digesting poorly were washed away by the rain, and under the trampling of horses' hooves, they had been splashing around for days, overflowing with yellow water and fat. Almost everyone got sick, and as time passed, the smell spread out in the sun, making those old soldiers who were used to licking blood from their knives vomit even the food they had eaten the night before.
Finally, when they saw water, they refused to move forward again, letting people and horses go down to the river to clean up. Only a small number of men remained on guard.
The water washed over his face, which had been worn out from days of rushing about in the wind and dust. A sense of comfort washed over him, but the complexity of the situation made him feel a twinge of unease - it was too quiet. His men were entering the water, making a big splash, but not a single bird took flight. Just as he was about to give an order, his eyes caught sight of a flash of metal on the opposite bank. A sense of alarm rose up in him, and with a loud buzzing noise, he plunged into the water. The sound of arrows hitting the water and the cries of men and horses filled the air, all mixed together. He felt a sharp pain in his left abdomen and knew he had been hit by an arrow. Without time to check, he hid behind a dead horse and shouted for his men to counterattack. The enemy was caught off guard and suffered heavy casualties. His comrades, who had been through many battles, showed their bravery as they charged forward, dodging and weaving between the arrows. They were not well-prepared, however, and many of them fell to the ground, hit by the hail of arrows. Those who managed to avoid the arrows and make it to the riverbank were met with a group of straw men who had been hiding in the trees, armed with silver-tipped spears. The men and horses that had been hit by arrows fell to the ground, staining the water a deep red. He watched in horror as he grabbed hold of an abandoned horse and charged forward, using his momentum to create a brief opening in the enemy's lines. With another loud buzzing noise and cries of despair, he showed off his exceptional horsemanship, dodging between the trees and avoiding the spears that were thrusting out from among the branches. In the bloody chaos, he saw the enemy's faces twisted in panic as he trampled them underfoot, striking down at the men who were hiding behind the spears. His knife flashed through the air, sending up a fountain of blood. As he turned his horse to charge deeper into the enemy's lines, trying to inflict more casualties, he was suddenly grabbed by an enormous force and thrown off his horse, landing heavily on the ground. He spat out a mouthful of blood as he fell, and in the corner of his eye, he saw that many of his soldiers had also been caught by some unseen force and were falling off their horses. As he lost consciousness, surrounded by the darkness and the cold pain of swords and spears, one thought flashed through his mind - "the reins".
Originally supposed to update two days ago, but it seems like something went wrong with the server.
