Chapter 3: On Military Affairs (Part II)

  Di Yu saw Zhe Yan rush towards him and bow, nodded: "My intention is not just you to practice, all the healthy people in this valley - including those twenty or so robust women also need to practice! Those with great strength will practice swords, those who are agile will practice spears, those with good eyesight will practice bows and arrows, and women will practice short weapons."

  Zhe Yan was taken aback, and Yang Yingqi clapped his hands and said: "Great! This way, those idle people won't worry about having nowhere to vent their energy."

  Di Yu said, "Ouyang has been in constant contact with those Khitan soldiers these days. It's hard to say how they will deal with us now, but it's always good to be prepared and have a stronger power of our own."

  Yang Yingqi said, "Those trapped here are all border people. The local customs have always been rough and simple. Most people understand a thing or two, but when they gather together, they become nothing more than a mob!"

  Di Yu smiled slightly and said, "It's up to us how we train them. The cultivation of a team is not simple, nor is it complicated. The most important thing is to make them listen to orders and know when to advance and retreat. With these two things, the team can basically fight. As for marching, deploying troops, and camping, these principles should be followed according to the situation, terrain, strength, and circumstances. How to divide labor and how to cooperate can all be learned." As he spoke, he drew a rough diagram of a 500-man camp on the ground. Yang Kaiyuan saw it and said, "I think I've seen this diagram somewhere before."

  Di Yu smiled slightly and said: "This is an ancient method, but it has been modified somewhat by now."

  Yang Yingqi looked at it and said: "Is this for us hundreds of people to cross?"

  Di Yuqi said: "Do you also understand military strategy?"

  "I don't understand, I'm just guessing." Yang Yingqi said: "I am looking at the way you distribute the number of people. The ones in the front, in auxiliary positions, in protective positions, and in support positions are all corresponding to our valley's strongest, second strongest, women, craftsmen, and quantity one by one, so I said it that way."

  Di Yu was overjoyed and said, "You actually have such insight! It seems that as long as I tell you the details of marching and camping one by one, and after two more years of training, you will be able to take charge on your own."

  Yang Yingqi snorted and said: "Take sole responsibility? Do you really want me to go to war? I'm not doing it! Isn't the current emperor of the Song Dynasty Emperor Huizong? Hmph, that emperor is beyond salvation! Helping this old man is absolutely hopeless! If we don't help him, who will the Zhao family help instead? Are they going to help the barbarians? That would be treason!" Yang Yingqi's words revealed a flaw - Huizong was the temple name of the current Song ruler, Emperor Zhao Ji (the name given to an emperor after death, when he is worshipped and honored in the ancestral temple), but this title had not appeared yet. However, these few sentences were spoken quickly, and others did not notice at first.

  Di Yu's expression turned gloomy after hearing Yang Yingqi's words, but Alu asked: "What is a Han traitor?"

  Yang Yingqi said: "We are Han people, betraying our own ethnic group is a traitor! However, you don't have to worry, you are Jurchen, haha, this title can't be bestowed upon you."

  "Regardless of whether they are Han people or not, they should not abandon their friends and clansmen!"

  Ouyang Shi chuckled and said, "The Jurchen people are indeed straightforward!" He asked Yang Yingqi, "Little guy, you don't do this and you don't do that, what do you want to do?"

  Yang Yingqi glanced at Zhe Yan and said, "I want to go back to Jiangnan, preferably to the two Guangs, find a place to do some business, and live a peaceful life." This sentence was actually true. If he didn't remember wrong, the land of the two Guangs should be relatively peaceful during his lifetime.

  Ouyang Yi smiled and said: "Really no energy."

  Yang Yingqi said: "And you?"

  Ouyang Shide said: "Me? I don't know. My family is in the shipping business, if I can make it back alive this time, maybe I'll go into the family's old trade."

  Di Yu sighed and said: "You may think so, but in the end, it's still up to fate!"

  Zhe Yan said: "It's better to take action than to just talk. Let's discuss everything after we've all left. What we need to do now is figure out how to thicken our own capital!"

  Di Yu and others nodded in agreement. Then, Zhao Yanpeng and Di Yu discussed how to organize and train, Yang Kaiyuan listened seriously on the side, and Ouyang Shi slowly admired Di Yu even more. Next, they were about to go their separate ways. Yang Yingqi said: "But how can we make these people listen to our command to practice martial arts? Although our starting point is for everyone's good, I'm afraid not everyone will understand and be willing to accept it. Forcing them to move, I'm afraid they won't have much enthusiasm."

  Ouyang Shuai said: "As long as they are afraid, then they will have... have the kind of 'crisis awareness' you mentioned. Hmm, this word is not bad."

  "A sense of crisis?" Yang Yingqi said: "Your meaning is to let them think that the Khitan people will be unfavorable to us?"

  Ouyang Shidao said, "The Khitan people may be unfavorable to us - so far this is just a guess among the few of us, but it can be used. However, if we say it directly, it's not suitable, and it may cause confusion instead."

  Yang Yingqi hesitated for a moment and said: "Your meaning is to create this atmosphere through some means."

  Ouyang Shidao said: "That's right."

  "In principle, it's correct, but specifically how to do it well depends on grasping a certain degree."

  Ouyang Yi smiled and said: "Don't worry, I'll take care of this matter."

  Two days later, the atmosphere in the valley began to tense up, with people constantly whispering to each other. On the third day, Zhang Lao Yu ran over and mysteriously asked Zhe Yan Chong: "Zhe Gongzi, I heard that the Khitan people are going to take action against us, is it true?"

  "Who told you?" Zhang Yan was taken aback and asked.

  Zhang Lao Yu said: "I don't know, but everyone is saying so."

  Zhe Yan suddenly came back to his senses and immediately knew that it was Ou Yang Shi who had played a trick on him. He said, "Nothing's going on! Just focus on forging your iron."

  Zhang Lao Yu said: "If it weren't for the Khitan people wanting to harm us, why would you have us forge weapons, young master?"

  "That's just in case!"

  Zhang Lao Yu said: "To prevent any possibility, that is to say the Khitan people may indeed be unfavorable to us?"

  Zhe Yan Chong said: "Everything is still unclear. Don't talk nonsense. But rest assured, even if the Khitan people have ulterior motives, I will have a way to deal with it."

  Zhang Lao Yu had just left when several more team leaders came running to ask about the situation. One of them said, "Zhe Gongzi, regardless of whether this matter is true or false, we can't just wait around and do nothing until we die."

  "What should we do then?" Zhang Yan asked hastily.

  The captain said: "This... I don't know either."

  Zhe Yan Chong said: "This matter can be big or small. You pass on the order to let all twenty-five team leaders come, we will discuss it."

  The atmosphere of the meeting was quite tense, and after Zhēn Yànchōng had calmed everyone down for a while, he said: "Alright, from tomorrow on, I and Mr. Dí will teach you all martial arts! If the Khitan people don't cause any trouble, that's best, but if things really go wrong, we won't be helpless either!"

  Twenty-five team leaders responded in unison. In recent days, under Ouyang Shi's arrangement, Aru had indeed shown off a few skills, and everyone had also heard that he was Diwu's apprentice, who had only learned for a few months and was already so capable. If all 500 people could practice to Aru's level, there would be nothing to fear.

  The next day, the people who had recovered were organized into small teams of ten, each with two leaders, one chief and one deputy. Di Yu and Zhe Yan Chong, who were well-versed in both martial arts and military strategy, trained them. Ouyang Shi, Yang Kaiyuan, and Alu Man also practiced martial arts while learning to lead a team. Ouyang Shi was someone who had been tossed about in the rivers and lakes since he was young, and what he learned from Di Yu were systematic theories. Yang Kaiyuan, on the other hand, was the opposite of Ouyang Shi - he understood some military strategy but had not experienced real battles, so Di Yu slowly stirred up his memories and understanding of military books, and applied them in practice.

  As for Yang Yingqi, although he said he had no interest in it, he also knew that a bookworm could not survive in this chaotic world. Therefore, he spent a lot of time every day practicing martial arts and discussing military strategy. Although he had never formally studied any military tactics, military science and management science originally have something in common. At least he had read "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu more than once.

  Di Yu saw that they had all made rapid progress and sighed, "In a few more months, there will be little left for me to teach. However, the most formidable military strategies and martial techniques are not something that can be taught, but rather something that is forged through battle. What level you will eventually reach depends on your innate talent and experience."

  For some time, Ou Yang and his deputy Liu Qi had been keeping a close eye on the valley mouth, and those lazy sentinel soldiers did not notice anything unusual happening in the valley. They were used to getting information about the situation inside the valley through Ou Yang. The population in the valley had already decreased to less than 600 people, but Ou Yang told them that the plague was under control, and only a dozen or so people had died in the valley in more than a month. Those soldiers did not suspect him either, and the supply of rations did not decrease much. These food supplies were naturally not enough for 800 people, but they were enough to fill the bellies of more than 500 people.

  Now it can be confirmed that before Ou Yang was in control of the situation, someone in the valley must have informed the Khitan people about the number of refugees in the valley. However, the person who informed the Khitans did not seem to have a good relationship with them either, because after Ou Yang took control of the valley entrance, the lazy attitude of the Khitan soldiers did not change much, and they did not show much interest in interfering with the affairs inside the valley.

  "Are these the descendants of Yelü Abaoji's cavalry?" Yang Yingqi, who occasionally came to the valley mouth, thought: "If their ancestors were also like this, with such a heroic spirit and style, it would be strange if they could not roam freely in the great desert!"

  However, for those who had informed the Khitan people, he felt it necessary to dig them out, just like Ouyang Xiu did, otherwise, they would always feel that there was a thorn stuck in their back.