Chapter 33: The Stormy Weather of Yu Guan (12)

  Apart from summarizing the experience of the battle, Li Chengzhong was very satisfied with the performance of officers and soldiers at all levels in this battle. It can be said that their performance far exceeded Li Chengzhong's expectations, and they did not look like a new army that had just been formed for less than half a month. Therefore, in the military meeting, he eagerly praised the merits of the war.

  In this defense battle, the most difficult task was the archery team. The opponent of the archery team was the Khitan archer. According to everyone's consensus, these Khitan archers all had the quality of a god shooter, and even in the entire Khitan tribe, it is estimated that they were also among the best, and their number should not be many. However, the Pingzhou army's archery team was all new recruits, although most of them had contact with bows and arrows outside the pass, but after all, they could not compare with the elite of the Khitan archers. In this battle, the performance of the archery team is not worth mentioning, they only shot down two Khitan auxiliary soldiers, but themselves suffered heavy casualties, six people died, two were seriously injured, and three were lightly injured, accounting for half of the losses of Pingzhou army inside Yuanguan!

  Li Chengzhong, however, was full of praise for Meng Xuzi and Jiao Chengqiao's archers during the military council. These archers, despite being outmatched in skill, knew that exposing themselves would likely mean death, yet they still fought fearlessly and even somewhat tragically against the Khitan archers below the fortress. This unyielding fighting spirit that disregarded sacrifice earned Li Chengzhong's great admiration, and although their military achievements were dismal, he ranked them first in military merit.

  Secondly, Zhong Si Lang's partners, their defensive points have never been breached, and most importantly, they proposed practical and feasible countermeasures in the face of war, not only completing their defensive tasks but also helping the entire army to stabilize the situation, achieving excellent results. Li Chengzhong highly praised this ability to adapt to changing circumstances, and in the military council, he encouraged and commended it with lavish praise, hoping that all officers at all levels would learn from it and strive to possess this ability.

  In addition, there was the knife shield team led by Zhou Kan Dao. They appeared at the critical moment of the city's crisis and dared to fight bravely, successfully making up for the defensive shortcomings. Li Cheng Zhong also gave high praise for this, using the famous phrase "stolen from later generations" to enthusiastically encourage all officers: "A unit that does not dare to engage in close combat with cold weapons and has no ability to do so will always be a second-rate unit! Only units that dare to face the enemy head-on and show their blades are considered to have a strong style, able to fight and win!" This speech delighted Zhou Kan Dao, who grinned for a long time without closing his mouth.

  Li Chengzhong made a detailed explanation of his approach to not evaluating military merit solely based on rank. He explained that in battle, every achievement is inseparable from the support of the entire team, and each combat unit has different tasks. Some people face the enemy head-on, some provide lateral support, and others coordinate from the side. No one can bear all the responsibilities of war alone. When evaluating military merit, it should be based on the role played, the progress of completing tasks, and the qualities demonstrated in the task. Moreover, he said that future evaluations of military merit will no longer be decided by him alone, but will be evaluated uniformly during military meetings. Additionally, he required each unit to recommend soldiers who showed bravery in this battle, to be considered for recognition at the military meeting.

  Li Chengzhong's thinking was not mature, with many details unclear and opaque, but he put forward a brand new system for evaluating military achievements. This system, as it continued to improve in the future, gradually revealed its enormous power, becoming one of the three most important military systems under Li Chengzhong's command, laying the foundation for a modern army.

  Liu Jinhou stood on the earthen platform newly built by the civilian workers, gazing excitedly at Li Chengzhong in front of him. As a soldier who performed outstandingly in this defensive battle, Liu Jinhou was ranked first among the rewarded soldiers for his merit of killing three Khitan men.

  Li Chengzhong publicly read out the memorial to merit drafted by Feng Dao in front of nearly two hundred soldiers and one hundred civilians, in which Liu Jintou was named and promoted to Wuchang. This not only made him the first Wuchang among the various groups within the Yuanguan Nei Jia Du and Yi Du, but also the first Wuchang in the entire Pingzhou Army. At the same time, Li Chengzhong proposed in the memorial to promote Liu Jintou as a probationary Shichang, with the rank of Peiren Deputy Lieutenant, ninth grade lower.

  If appointing a non-commissioned officer like Wu Zhang as the inspector of the army was still justifiable, then promoting Liu Jintou to be the inspector of the battalion and deputy commander would be far beyond his authority. At that time, Feng Dao and Jiang Miao, Zhang Xingzhong and other officers reminded Li Chengzhong to reconsider, but Li Chengzhong thought he was only making a suggestion, and the final appointment power still rested with the military commander Zhou Zhiyuan and the governor Zhang Zaigi.

  At this moment, he emotionally faced the hundreds of eyes below and loudly said: "Someone asked me, if the military commander and the governor's office do not agree with this proposal, how will it end? Here, I want to say in front of you all that if even Liu Jinhou, such an excellent soldier, does not have the qualifications to receive this notice, then who has the qualifications?! I believe in the vision of Commander Zhou and Governor Zhang, I firmly believe in their determination to defend against the invasion of the Hu people. I also ask you to have faith in me, Li Chengzhong. In the future, one day, not only Liu Jinhou brothers, but more of you will also receive official notice due to outstanding achievements, Pingzhou Army will not only firmly guard Yunguan and Pingzhou, we will return to Yingzhou and take back our homeland!

  In the thunderous applause of hundreds of people under the stage, Liu Jinhou shed tears of happiness.

  At the commendation meeting inside Yu Guan, Li Chengzhong read out a total of nineteen commendations. Apart from Liu Jinhou, the remaining eighteen commendations commended eighteen soldiers who fought bravely in battle. They either killed one or two Khitan people during combat or made contributions to the final defense of the city at critical moments. All eighteen were awarded the position of Wu Zhang, and Li Chengzhong asked all officers and men to learn from the nineteen soldiers, including Liu Jinhou. In Li Chengzhong's words, these soldiers received a new title - "楷模" (paragon).

  In addition, Li Chengzhong announced that he would go to the Ministry of War and the Governor's Office to request merits for the combat groups that had achieved meritorious service! The term "combat group" is a very new term, but it is easy to understand. The combat groups that have achieved military merit include: Meng Xu Xing and Jiao Cheng Qiao's two garrison troops, Jia Du Zhong Si Lang's defensive team at the pass city, as well as Zhou Kan Dao's vanguard team under his command, which performed outstandingly in close combat, including Zhou Xiao Lang Dao's shield team.

  The report of the victory at Yu Guan was polished by Feng Dao and signed by Li Chengzhong, and soon arrived at the main camp of the Pingzhou army stationed west of Pingzhou City. Along with it came a cartload of Khitan heads, thirty-eight in all, which had been simply treated to prevent decay and were still recognizable as Khitan faces.

  General Zhou Zhiyu sat in the central military hall, carefully looking at the letter from Yu Guan in his hand, feeling extremely pleased. After finishing reading, he immediately ordered his personal guard Zhao Zaili to prepare horses quickly, and then the two of them rushed out of the camp, entered the city, and arrived at the Pingzhou Governor's Mansion.

  Zhang Zai of Ji had already received the letter written by Feng Dao, according to regulations, military reports and letters should be handed over to the soldiers' messenger, but it did not prevent him from understanding the whole process from Feng Dao's letter. When he learned that Zhou Zhiyuan was coming, he hurriedly went out to welcome him in person.

  After receiving the military report from Zhou Zhiyu, Zhang Zijie carefully read it again and verified it with the letter he had received earlier. He immediately understood in his heart that both articles were written by Feng Dao, and it seemed that there was no more mystery to this matter.

  The initial victory of the Yu Guan war not only curbed the Khitan people's momentum in invading Pingzhou, but also blocked the passage between the inner and outer passes, which was of great significance for the stability of the entire Pingzhou situation. Although there were not many beheaded, the impact was significant. For Zhang Zaiji, who had been worried about these days, this battle finally allowed him to sleep soundly, and he could devote more energy to ensuring the normal progress of autumn harvesting, increasing the reclamation of wasteland under Yishishan, and properly resettling tens of thousands of refugees. As for Zhou Zhiyuan, it was his first victory since arriving in Pingzhou, which had a very positive effect on maintaining his position in the heart of General Liu Ren'gong.

  Two top-ranking officials of Pingzhou's military and government exchanged a glance, suddenly unsure what to say next.

  Zhou Zhiyu was the first to break the silence that had suddenly turned from tension to relaxation, laughing and saying: "Fortunately, it's not a disappointment, finally allowing the people of Pingzhou to have some temporary peace."

  Zhang Zaiji also smiled and let out a long sigh: "These past few months, I really don't know how we made it through... Tonight can finally sleep soundly. Good question, brother, thanks to you having such capable men under your command, taking a batch of refugees who had been with the army for less than half a month and actually managing to hold down Yu Pass, and... haha, beheading 38 levels of enemy commanders... It's laughable to say it, but Pingzhou hasn't had a victory like this in two years, especially this year, all the news that came was unfavorable."

  Zhou Zhiyu was delighted and smiled, saying: "After all, you are a veteran of the southern expedition, when I brought more than 80 people at that time, you laughed at me, now look, how is it?"

  Zhang in Ji slightly embarrassed, said: "At that time the situation was urgent, I was worried in my heart, please don't blame me, good brother."

  Zhou Zhiyu waved his hand, indicating that there was no need to say more. After a moment of contemplation, he asked: "What does Yuan Li think about the matter requested in Li Cheng's letter?"

  Zhang slammed his hand on the table and said decisively, "No need to say more, I agree! This victory has lifted a weight off my mind, stabilized the border of Pingzhou, and calmed the hearts of the people. What's not to be allowed? Even Liu Jinhou, whom the memorial mentioned, can be directly appointed as a partner and given an official appointment. Why bother with the word 'inspection'? We sit safely in the rear while our soldiers face danger at the front. If we can't even grant this, then I'd rather not hold this office! And what about Li Chengzhong... I've noticed that your brother's camp still doesn't have any military officers above the rank of battalion commander. If you intend to cultivate this person, we can jointly petition the governor's office for a position as battalion commander and an official appointment with a noble title, so he won't be stuck with just the title of 'inspector', which is really awkward!"

  "Good! Yuan Li, you're indeed straightforward and don't have that rotten air of those poor scholars!"

  Zhang Zijin smiled wryly and said, "You still don't understand me? We grew up together in the past, but we just took different paths, one literary and one martial. Now you come to mock me. To tell the truth, I regret not joining the army back then. Only now, facing this chaotic situation with soldiers and horses everywhere, do I finally realize what 'a scholar is useless in a hundred ways' really means..."