Chapter Thirty-Nine Summary

  Apart from arranging for Luo Yingjie to sort out the documents, Xiao Tianjian gathered everyone together as soon as he returned to their base, and they began discussing the lessons they learned from this battle against Sha Er Bao. Whether old or new members, everyone had to share their thoughts on this battle.

  Xiao Tianjian originally disliked the company's habit of summarizing and discussing after doing something, but later found that reasonable summary discussions can indeed help some people who don't think make progress. So he applied this habit to his current era, in order to let his subordinates clearly understand the fundamental reason why they won battles.

  "I think this time we won big because of Xiao Tianjian's arrangements, I'm completely convinced by his command! This is all thanks to him, otherwise, our group wouldn't have stood a chance!" Zhao Er Liu was the first to speak up, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he attributed all the credit to Xiao Tianjian.

  Sycophant! This is the definition that Xiao Tianjian gave to Zhao Er'lu in his heart, but he did not stop Zhao Er'lu from speaking. After all, this guy said so, and it was also a way of establishing prestige for him. He had no reason to deny this fact. The higher his prestige, the better. This is also a manifestation of Zhao Er'lu's value when working under Xiao Tianjian. So, Xiao Tianjian endured Zhao Er'lu's flattery with a thick face.

  "I think the reason we won this fight against Sha Er Bao is that we have discipline, we advance and retreat together, while they are like a swarm of bees, chaotic and unable to work together. Even with more people, they couldn't make an impact and could only be forced to fight by us. Later, some of them were so scared that they wet their pants and ran away in disarray! That's why we were able to win despite being outnumbered!" Feng Gouzi said after flattering Zhao Er Liu and Xiao Tianjian for a while, expressing his opinion.

  Xiao Tianjian nodded, thinking that Feng Gouzzi was still a promising guy, after all, the vision of being a hoodlum is wider, and naturally the brain is more flexible, so he nodded at Feng Gouzzi.

  Their discussion made those new partners very uncomfortable, because they belonged to the defeated side. They were more in number but were beaten by Xiao Tianjian's smaller team, so naturally, they had nothing to be proud of. Therefore, these people all lowered their heads and didn't speak, except for a few clever ones who followed Zhao Erdui in flattering Xiao Tianjian, saying that it was because of Xiao Tianjian's exceptional leadership that he led his team to victory over them.

  As for their words, Xiao Tianjian naturally didn't care and continued to ask if they had anything else to summarize.

  They were all talking and discussing, the winners were beaming with joy, while the losers were dejected. They talked for half a day but no one mentioned the main point again.

  Xiao Tianjian furrowed his brow, listening to their nonsense, and finally fixed his gaze on a newly captured person, asking him: "Yan Zhongxi! I've heard you say before that you used to be an official soldier, can you tell us something?"

  The man who was called out raised his Chinese-character face, this person is considered to be a relatively sturdy one, with a gloomy expression on his face and a very stiff expression. Upon hearing Xiao Tianjian call out his name, he thought for a moment before opening his mouth to say: "As the defeated general, I have nothing good to say! Xiao's control of the situation is indeed formidable, able to keep his subordinates from panicking in the face of danger, clearly much better than that Sha person's abilities. Otherwise, we wouldn't have lost so miserably!"

  However, Xiaoxiao felt that the brothers who had been training with him before were somewhat neglectful of their training. When it was time to go into battle, some people were still afraid to advance and only acted because they were forced to. It's just that they happened to encounter this incompetent guy named Sha. If they had encountered a stronger team, Xiaoxiao might not have had such a good outcome!

  "Get out of here! What did you say? How dare you be so rude to us, the masters of the kitchen! Do you believe I'll chop you up?" Zhao Erduo jumped up at once, drew his waist knife and pointed it at Yan Zhongxi, scolding him loudly.

  The other old brothers of Xiao Tianjian also pointed at Yan Chongxi and scolded him loudly. Someone shouted: "You're nothing! Our boss led us to fight against the government army, last time we killed more than 20 government soldiers with just over 10 people! You don't believe it? Ask the brothers from Zhaojiabao!"

  Those individuals from Zhaojiabao also nodded in agreement, saying they had witnessed it with their own eyes and were the ones saved by Xiao Tianjian that time. In a short while, many people stood up to curse Yan Chongxi loudly.

  Yan Chongxi heard that Xiao Tianjian and the others had actually managed to defeat a larger group, killing over twenty government soldiers. His expression showed some surprise, but he still looked unconvinced, sticking out his neck in argument: "You scold me, I'll say it too! Those government soldiers were definitely just a mob, if they'd met my old border troops, you guys would've definitely lost! Just when our archers shot at you, you were already getting disorganized. If the shotgun fire hadn't been so intense, you would've lost long ago! Our side's archers had no one in command and too few people, if there were a few more people and someone to lead them, you guys would've definitely lost miserably!"

  A group of old brothers, upon hearing this, jumped up one by one, rolled up their sleeves and cursed loudly as they really went to teach a lesson to Yan Chongxi who had spoken out of turn.

  The scene suddenly became chaotic, and Yan Chongxi's eyes revealed a fearful expression, but he still refused to back down. However, following Xiao Tianjian's loud roar, the crowd returned to their original seats.

  "Shut up, all of you! Today is the day for Yan brothers to speak out, what are you doing? You bunch of good-for-nothings, do you still have any respect for me in your eyes? And since they've followed me, from now on, they're our own brothers. Are you trying to disappoint them with this behavior? Sit back down! From now on, we won't allow anyone to distinguish between 'you' and 'me', whoever disobeys will face my wrath!" Xiao Tianjian stood up, shouting sternly.

  Zhao the Second Donkey, who had been jumping around with joy, suddenly slumped down and slipped into the crowd. The others looked at Xiao Tianjian, who had spoken up, and immediately quieted down, sitting back down obediently, but still looking disgruntled on their faces.

  "Yan brothers! You're absolutely right, after all, you've seen the big picture. Today, whatever you have to say, just say it! Good medicine tastes bitter, but can save lives; faithful words are hard to hear, but can awaken people!"

  "These guys won a battle and they've all forgotten their own names, don't bother with them! Let's speak straightforwardly!" Xiao Tianjian bowed his hands to Yan Zhongxi, speaking sincerely. Although he felt that Yan Zhongxi was somewhat exaggerating, at present he lacked people with some military experience, and seeing that Yan Zhongxi spoke reasonably, he needed someone like him to point out a thing or two and correct his own shortcomings in training troops. Therefore, he showed unusual politeness towards Yan Zhongxi.

  Yan Chongxi was worried that those guys would rush up and beat him, but now Xiao Tianjian has stopped them and is being very polite to himself. He really admires Xiao Tianjian's demeanor and also feels a bit grateful to him.

  He hastily bowed his head and saluted Xiao Tianjian, saying: "Thank you for your protection! In fact, it's already rare for the governor to be able to do so much. Even ordinary officials would find it difficult to achieve this level of accomplishment. I, Yan Mou, am still deeply impressed! Just now, I was indeed impertinent in my words, and I hope the governor will forgive me!"

  "No need to be polite! You're absolutely right! I, Xiao Mou, am still a person who can listen to advice. Go ahead and speak your mind! Whether what you say is right or wrong, I, Xiao Mou, won't blame you!" Xiao Tianjian raised his hand to let him dispense with the formalities, and continued to encourage him.

  Since you're willing to listen, I'll be bold and speak my mind!

  This time, Zhang Panshi brought people to fight us... Oh no! It's going to fight the surname Sha! Apparently, these brothers have all been trained by Zhang Panshi. I don't know how long Zhang Panshi has been training them, but at present, there is still a lack of it. However, fortunately, the military discipline of these brothers is still quite strict, so compared to the surname Sha, they have a great advantage! This is also the reason why the surname Sha was defeated by Zhang Panshi with so many people!

  In addition to the palm disk, the long spear passed on to the brothers is also extremely powerful and impressive. Even some border troops may not be able to exert such sharp power with their long spears!

  However, I still want to say that Commander Qi once said that the most valuable soldiers are those with diverse skills. But among the brothers trained by Zhang Sanfeng, there were only long spear holders and sword and shield holders, and the number of sword and shield holders arranged by Zhang was a bit too small. Sword and shield holders are the vanguard of the army, when the enemy's archers shoot arrows, the long spear holders can't protect themselves at all, they can only be protected by the sword and shield holders. So this time Zhang Sanfeng defeated Sha Erlao with some luck!

  If Sha's men had a few more archers, or if they had some command, with the strength of the palm-plate soldiers, no matter how strict the military discipline was, they would not be able to withstand the loss and ultimately could not approach us. It is even less likely that they would be able to advance in unison with long-handled spears to kill our enemies!

  So, in order to win, the number of knife shields must be increased to cover the entire vanguard. Otherwise, if you encounter a stronger enemy, the palm plate and the brothers may not have such good luck!

  Of course, it would be even better if there were some archers holding the tray. If there are no archers, then there should be bird guns. Unfortunately, these bird guns are really too easy to explode, otherwise they would be a good weapon!

  Xia Er Bao's words really hit Xiao Tian Jian's heart, he immediately applauded and praised: "Yan brothers said it well! It's really good! Hehe! After listening to your words, Xiao certain benefited a lot!

  What you said is not wrong, these old brothers of mine are indeed still quite ordinary in their training, after all the earliest ones among them have only been training for a month at most, and half of the brothers have received less than ten days of training, so they rushed into battle, hence there are many inadequacies!

  I also arranged too few sword and shield bearers, this is my mistake! In the future, I will select more brothers to serve as sword and shield bearers! Presumably next time we encounter such a battle, we won't suffer such a great loss again!"

  After listening to Xiao Tianjian's words, Yan Chongxi's eyes suddenly widened. This statement really surprised him. He had always thought that Xiao Tianjian's subordinates had undergone at least half a year or even longer training, but he never expected that these people had only received less than a month of training and could still form such a team. This was really hard for Yan Chongxi to accept.

  "Did these brothers only receive less than a month of training?" Yan Chongxi asked Xiao Tianjian with some disbelief.

  "That's for sure! We've only been practicing with Master Pan for so long, and I'm the one who followed him the earliest. How could Master Pan cheat you?" Zhao Erlu hastily cut in, continuing to answer Yan Chongxi.

  The rest of the people also nodded, and Li Duanzhu said in a low voice: "I, Li Duanzhu, was still a blacksmith at Zhaojia Fort more than ten days ago. I've only been following Zhang Sanfeng for over ten days. Zhang Sanfeng didn't deceive you!"

  Xiao Tianjian nodded slightly with a hint of a smile at Yan Chongxi.

  Yan Zhongxi was truly not daring to underestimate Xiao Tianjian again, and he quickly knelt down and said: "The master of the plate is indeed a divine person! Please forgive my offense! I am really a mediocre person! Please forgive me, Master Plate!"

  "Haha! Brother Yan is too polite! What you said is indeed correct, how could I blame you? Alright! Today I'll also summarize the experience of this battle against Sha!"

  Actually, this time we won the battle, and the first credit should go to Shi Yan. If it weren't for Shi Yan catching Liu Si, we wouldn't have understood the situation with Sha so well! So we gained the upper hand in this battle, winning by knowing ourselves and our enemies! This intelligence is the foundation of our victory!

  Second, we won by avoiding the real and striking the virtual! The surname Sha occupies the geographical advantage. If he closes the door and doesn't come out, then even if we all have three heads and six arms, it would be absolutely impossible to win this battle. I hid my true intentions and pretended to be false, only bringing a small number of people to provoke the surname Sha out of the village. This was when we lined up outside the village to meet the enemy, making him give up his geographical advantage first!

  Third is discipline! When you all go to battle, remember our rules and the feelings among brothers, face the enemy together in life and death at the critical moment. Even if facing the opponent's bows and arrows, you all risk your lives without retreating, let alone fleeing from the battlefield. This is the credit of every brother! I, Xiao, feel deeply gratified about this! Therefore, the biggest reason for this victory lies in our discipline being far stronger than that of the enemy! This point is more important than any other!

  Of course, our morale is also much higher than that of our opponents. We have achieved unity of purpose and are willing to sacrifice ourselves to destroy the enemy!

  These are the reasons why we have won a complete victory!

  However, we also have shortcomings, that is what Brother Yan said earlier. Although our morale is high, we lack combat experience, and some people are still afraid to go into battle, and even dare not advance! Fortunately, no major disaster was brewed, otherwise, if the opponent is slightly stronger, we would give them an opportunity to take advantage of us, and this battle would be a big loss for us!

  Moreover, the inadequacy of our sword and shield formation made us extremely passive. Under the attack of their three archers, we almost collapsed. This is my fault, I didn't prepare thoroughly!

  So overall, we still need to make improvements on these long and short ones. This exercise needs to be stricter in order to work. Additionally, we also need to add some knife shield hand configurations!

  Remember, discipline is above all else. Without it, everything is empty talk. If we don't have this, then in the future when we go into battle, we will be the ones being hunted down!

  And to the newly arrived brothers, I'm sure it's not pleasant to be hunted down! After this defeat, you should also think carefully about why you were defeated by us! Yesterday you all saw it, and today you all heard it, why we can win with fewer people. Since you followed me, Xiao, you must remember the rules that have been set, they are to be executed, not just talked about. My requirements for discipline will be very strict, those who violate them will be severely punished. I hope you all remember!

  Everyone nodded after listening, and the old brothers immediately stood up habitually, clapped their legs together, straightened their waists and shouted loudly: "Remember! Boss!"

  The neat movements and responses made the newcomers' hearts skip a beat again, and they hastily followed suit, shouting "Got it, boss!..." However, their voices sounded somewhat weak and disorganized, which made those old brothers feel a little complacent.

  46,000-word big chapter update! Smash the vote! Collect, there's another update this afternoon!)

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