Chapter 70: The Great Tang Princess Li Wuyou (Part 1)
It is said that "the wind rises from the end of the green duckweed, and dances under the pine and cypress". All hidden dangers arise from some small places that people did not notice at first.
Zhou Wenbo had truly poured his heart and soul into this new army, exhausting his mind to thoroughly build it into a powerful force that would be loyal enough to him.
Subdue them with power, and show them kindness.
Zhou Wenbo applied the leadership skills he had gained from his past life to his new recruits in his first army, and was satisfied with the good results. Many of the new recruits were full of enthusiasm and looked up to Zhou Wenbo with gratitude, and also developed a sense of collective identity and honor for the Hu Tiger Army.
There is still a lot of work to be done, but Zhou Wenbo doesn't have much time left.
It has been nearly twenty days since Meng Zhi-Xiang bid farewell, and the Western Sichuan Governor is probably approaching Chengdu. If everything goes smoothly, Prince Wei Li Ji-Yong will return to the capital in a month, and he must find a way to influence Li Ji-Yong's thoughts before his return.
It is impossible to expect Empress Liu to take action again. Although Empress Liu was the birth mother of Prince of Wei Li Jichong, he had already established his own power base. As a prince determined to become the second emperor of the Later Tang dynasty, he must have had his own judgment on the situation.
Zhou Wenbo hastened to rebuild the army and had already achieved preliminary results, in order to enable the Zhao Guo Gongfu to have sufficient deterrent power, so that even if Li Jixi brought unfavorable news to the Zhao Guo Gongfu, his own side would not be completely defeated.
If the worst-case scenario were to occur, the best strategy would be to take advantage of the opportunity to leave Luoyang and relocate the entire Zhao State government and army to the Huai River front line, striving to make a name for themselves in the process of confronting the Yang Wu State on the opposite bank of the Huai River, and ultimately seizing the land south of the Yangtze River as the foundation for their own kingdom.
Of course, if he could temporarily win over Wei Wang Li Jitao as an ally, that would be the best result for Zhao Guogong. He could also quickly expand his army to its limit of 5,000 men in this situation and truly train them into a strong military through actual combat. In this way, the Zhao Guogong Mansion could once again take center stage on the Later Tang power stage in a very short period of time.
Zhou Wenbo will set out for the capital in five days, and it's unclear when he'll be able to return again, so before leaving, he must exceptionally promote a batch of people to let them take power.
Zhou Wenbo really wished he already possessed S-level appraisal skills, so he could take a good look at how loyal his newly recruited subordinates were to him.
However, the fact is that apart from having a relatively high level of trust in Liu Meng and Cui Hao, his trust in people like Hua Qing, Duan Shichen, and Li Mutang was still at a very low level, which is also the most basic caution for someone who wants to achieve great things.
In this era, the military is simply a person's **, if what you entrust to others is not reliable, it's like your ** being pinched in someone else's hand, they can play with you however they want, and you have no power to fight back.
However, Zhou Wenbo has already done his best to the extreme limit. It's already very difficult for him to teach military training and other contents. He was just a writer in his previous life, not a special soldier. The army is about to undergo next-step training, but Zhou Wenbo doesn't understand it at all. He can only rely on the few generals he has recruited to command this army.
Zhou Wenbo thought repeatedly and finally made up his mind. In order to pursue a perfect victory, he had to take a gamble.
In fact, it was also because of the confidence that the system gave him that he could make such a bold decision.
With this mysterious trump card that no one knows, Zhou Wenbo believes that even if he falls miserably, he can still get back up and stand at the top of the world, overlooking all the mountains below!
Zhou Wenbo sat in the main tent of the military camp and ordered someone to go and summon Li Mutang to come.
When Li Mutang's tall figure walked into the big tent under the golden sunlight, Zhou Wenbo's mood suddenly changed. He was no longer nervous and tense as before, but rather felt as if he were treating a neighbor to a cup of clear tea, feeling relaxed and at ease.
"Is Mo Tang here? Please sit down quickly." Zhou Wenbo asked warmly.
"What did the Duke of Guo summon me for, I wonder what instructions he has?" Li Mutang seemed to have guessed the intention behind Zhou Wenbo's summons, and sat down calmly in front of him with a composed expression.
"How old is Mu Tang this year?" Zhou Wenbo was delighted to find that the military commander did not, like scholars, insist on a courtesy name; he would actually get angry if you called him by his given name.
"This year I will be forty-two." Li Murong replied calmly, although he didn't know why Zhou Wenbo would start by asking his age.
"It's been eighteen years since the fall of the Tang Dynasty, a dynasty that once unified China and lasted for two hundred and eighty-nine years, has finally disappeared like the Qin and Han dynasties." Zhou Wenbo said this as if he were chatting with friends, his tone light and casual.
"The great Tang may have perished, but the people still remember the glory and legitimacy of the Li Tang. Even the Li family of Hedong had to usurp the name of Tang in order to maintain their rule over the Central Plains." As soon as he mentioned the Li Tang, it was as if he had touched upon the reverse scales of Li Muzhen, and he did not care about the taboos he committed in his words, but directly expressed his own views.
He got excited, just in case you didn't react. Zhou Wenbo muttered to himself and continued: "In the past, Qin Shi Huang swept across the six directions and unified the world. However, in the 'Historical Records' written by Taishi Gong, it is said that 'although Chu has only three households, the fall of Qin will be due to Chu.' The King of Western Chu, Xiang Yu, indeed later broke into Xianyang, set fire to Epang Palace, and destroyed the Great Qin. I wonder if there are heroes in Li Tang who can imitate the King of Western Chu and re-establish the Great Tang?"
Li Mutang heard these words, his emotions were already extremely agitated, his chest was heaving unevenly, and the whole person was about to suffocate from holding back all the violent emotions hidden in his heart.
However, he eventually controlled it with his strong willpower and slowly calmed down.
"After a long time, he slowly said: 'It's impossible now, the Tang imperial family has been destroyed. Nowadays, the world is full of jackals and wolves, everyone sees small gains and forgets great righteousness, there are no longer any benevolent people or loyal officials! Although Zhu Liang has been destroyed, it is already impossible for the Tang to rise again!'"
Li Mutang, although a military general, was not an illiterate fool. It had been eighteen years since the fall of the Tang Dynasty, and people's attitudes towards these remnants of the Tang Dynasty were getting worse with each passing year, to the point where they had to change their names and surnames in order to survive like flies and dogs. Even among these remnants, many had already forgotten the glory of the Tang Dynasty and began to pursue fame and wealth like the jackals that Li Mutang despised most.
The man is not dead, but his blood has run cold.
With a heart to kill the bandits, but no strength to save the sky.
That's Li Mutang's current situation.
Zhou Wenbo saw Li Mutang finish this sentence with a tone of grief and indignation, as if he had lost all his strength, and his originally robust body also looked somewhat hunched.
He had no choice but to continue asking: "I don't know why a hero like Mu Tang would choose to stay in my humble Zhao Guo Gong Fu. With Mu Tang's skills, I'm afraid any strong military town in the world would welcome him with open arms. Now that my Zhao Guo Gong Fu is struggling and its future uncertain, I really can't think of any reason why Mu Tang would come to rely on me."
Li Mutang suddenly lifted his head, and he was surprised to find that the eyes of the young man in front of him seemed to be bright and wise as if they could see through everything. What he didn't expect even more was that the young man would directly bring up this topic in front of him.
"Because... the maid Hong Zhuang by Princess Yu's side." After a long hesitation, Li Mu Tang finally chose to tell the truth. He really wanted to surrender to Zhou Wenbo at this moment, and he was afraid that the extremely clever young man in front of him would choose not to trust him because of his concealment. Moreover, speaking out would probably help the princess's situation instead.
"Oh? Why?" Ren Zhou Wenbo had been guessing for days, but he never thought that Li Mutang's reason for coming to surrender would be the red wedding.
"Red Makeup, originally named Li Wuyou, is the niece of the last emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yu, and the granddaughter of Emperor Zhaozong of Tang. She is also the only heir of my master, Li De. After Li Yu was controlled by Zhu Wen like a puppet, our master Li De escaped from the capital with our help and declared himself emperor in Hebei, vowing to overthrow the Later Liang Dynasty and restore the Tang Dynasty. Unfortunately, five years ago, our only hiding place was betrayed, and under the siege of the Liang army, our master and mistress were killed, and the princess fell into enemy hands. Fortunately, I had previously changed the princess's clothes with those of a maid, so she did not attract the attention of the Liang army. Later, when the Jin army defeated the Liang, the princess finally arrived at your esteemed residence."
Li Mutang having opened his mouth naturally told this tortuous story clearly.
