48 Private Soldiers

  After the rebel army retreated, a grand gathering was held in Chen Cang. Although it was winter, everyone's enthusiasm was not dampened at all. After the celebration banquet, Gao Fei personally went to visit Fu Shuo and Ge Xun.

  Fu Xie and Gai Xun were discussing how to write a report of victory to the imperial court. Seeing Gao Fei arrive, they both went out to greet him together, saying in unison: "The lord has come in person, we have failed to welcome you from afar, please forgive us."

  "Two gentlemen, no need to be so polite. I came here to ask you, do you know when General Huangfu's army will arrive?" Gao Fei had made up his mind to take out over a thousand men from the government army as his own private soldiers, and naturally wanted to know the exact arrival time of the pacification army, so that Lu Heng could make careful arrangements.

  Gai Xun said: "It will take at least a month, what's wrong, is the young master eager to go with General Huangfu to quell the rebellion?"

  Fu Xiu smiled and said, "Lord Hou, there's no need to be so anxious. Now that Lord Hou has used a mere few thousand men to hold off the rebel army of 100,000, this achievement we have not yet reported to the imperial court. If we write it up and send it out today, in about half a month, Lord Hou will likely receive another reward for his merits. When the time comes and the cavalry general's troops arrive, won't Lord Hou be able to achieve even more merit?"

  Gao Fei laughed and said: "Hehe, the two of you are right. However, according to the normal route of the Han army, from the He Luo area to San Fu, it shouldn't take a month's time?"

  Gai Xun said: "General Hou is also a seasoned military commander, doesn't he know the principle that 'before the troops move, the grain and fodder must be sent ahead'? It's easy to assemble an army of 100,000 elite soldiers, but when it comes to provisions and soldier's pay, we need to make some preparations. If there are no provisions or soldier's pay, even if the great army reaches the Three Auxiliaries, won't they starve to death?"

  Gao Fei understood after listening, that the war was about national power, and the consumption of national power in a war was enormous. He patted his own head and chuckled: "I was confused for a moment, I forgot this. Don't know if the two gentlemen have finished writing their battle report?"

  Fu Xiangdao said, "It's almost done, just let it simmer for a while and it'll be fine. Lord Hou has made great contributions this time, I'm afraid His Majesty will grant Lord Hou an additional one or two thousand households of fiefs."

  Gao Fei said: "The two of you are also not to be left out, I dare not take all the credit for myself. Please report the truth to His Majesty, and then I will not disturb you in writing the victory report. Farewell!"

  "Slowly, Lord Hou!" Fu Xie and Gai Xun said in unison as they bowed.

  In the following days, a "plague" suddenly broke out in Chen Cang, and people were constantly infected. This was no small matter, and the military doctor was at a loss for what to do. Gao Fei ordered that all 2,000 people who had been infected be relocated to the mountains west of Chen Cang, where they were strictly guarded. After several more days passed, all 2,000 people "died". Although the plague had been brought under control, in order to be on the safe side, Gao Fei personally led his attendants to handle the aftermath and listed the names of the deceased as martyrs who had died in battle, collecting a consolation fee from Fu Xie.

  October 1st, heavy snow.

  The mountains near Chen Cang were all covered with a thick layer of snow. Fifty miles northwest of Chen Cang City, there was a continuous Wu Yue Mountain, which was located at the junction of Youfufeng, Hanyang, and Wudu counties. The land was vast and sparsely populated, with many ridges and few fields. The residents in the mountains had moved to Chang'an before the Liangzhou rebels invaded the three auxiliary cities, and with the heavy snow in winter, it was even more rare for people to visit. For such a large mountain, hiding two thousand private soldiers was simply not a problem.

  Gao Fei trudged through the deep snow that reached his knees, walking slowly with Zhao Yun and Lu Heng in the mountains, their footsteps quiet. The distant shouts of soldiers could still be heard, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

  Lu Heng followed behind Gao Fei, admiring the beautiful snowy scenery while asking him: "Master Hou, how did you discover that there was a vast empty space here?"

  Gao Fei smiled and said, "Do you still remember the second day I arrived at Chen Cang, I took Zhao Yun and Xiahou Lan to inspect the terrain? It was that day when we discovered it. At that time, it was early autumn, the maple leaves in the mountains were red, and the scenery was breathtakingly beautiful. So, I climbed the mountain with Zhao Yun and Xiahou Lan, walked a short distance on a small path, and suddenly found that there was another cave in the mountains. I secretly remembered this place."

  Lu Hengdao said: "Lord Hou is truly brilliant, this way, there will be no mistakes at all. The suggestion I made earlier to transform the soldiers into civilians is not as safe as Lord Hou's method."

  "Hmm, I'm also afraid of getting into trouble. After all, they're all dead now. If someone finds out, wouldn't that be considered a resurrection? So I thought about it and decided to temporarily hide them in the mountains, where they can also receive training. From Huangfu Song to Chen Cang, and then from Chen Cang to pacify Liangzhou, at least several months will pass. As long as this private army trains diligently here, after a few months, they'll surely become an elite force."

  "Your Excellency is brilliant!"

  A group of people gradually walked towards the mountain, getting closer and closer to the source of the sound. When they finally climbed halfway up the mountain, their field of vision suddenly opened up, revealing a vast flat area about five miles in circumference, which could easily accommodate two thousand soldiers with plenty of room to spare.

  Behind this empty land is a steep mountain path that goes up to the clouds, and continuing along the mountain path can reach the top of the peak. The whole mountain has only this piece of flat land, and on the north side there is also a not-too-steep slope, with dense forests on the slope, and in front of the forest are several abandoned wooden houses, the original residents have long since gone, and near the broken wall there are some rock caves that can be inhabited, it's really a natural place for military training.

  Gao Fei, Lu Xiang, Zhao Yun and eight others arrived at the empty ground and saw two thousand soldiers divided into ten teams. Li Wenhou, Pang De, Hua Xiong, Liao Hua, Zhou Cang, Guan Yu, Bian Xi, Fei An, Pei Yuan Shao, and Xia Houlan each led a team to conduct different physical training exercises for the soldiers.

  Each team has 200 people, and the ten commanders are also personally selected by Gao Fei. He wants to build this private army into an ancient version of a special forces unit that can not only fight on horseback but also on land and in mountainous terrain. Later, they will be trained to be familiar with water and become all-around elites in cavalry, infantry, and naval warfare.

  As soon as everyone saw Gao Fei and the others arrive, they hastily stopped what they were doing and gathered together, bowing respectfully to Gao Fei: "Greetings, Your Excellency!"

  Gao Fei walked from the front to the back of the formation like a great general, inspecting this group of carefully selected warriors. After he was satisfied, he said: "From today on, your names will no longer be on the Han army's roll call. From now on, you are all real-life dead men! However, your military pay remains the same, and it is still twice that of the original Han army. Among you, there are my relatives from Xiangwu and fellow villagers, as well as cavalrymen and government soldiers. No matter where you come from in the future, I only want you to remember that this unit has only one name: Fei Yu!

  "Fly Feather! Fly Feather! Fly Feather!" Two thousand soldiers shouted in unison, waving their arms.

  Gao Fei, apart from selecting all the familiar bowmen, also paid attention to their willingness. He spent almost six days asking each of the two thousand people in front of him one by one, clearly telling them that they would become his private soldiers. If they were willing, they could stay; if not, he wouldn't force them. As a result, all two thousand people agreed. Gao Fei then hired them at twice the normal pay for Han military soldiers and had each person take a unified oath to be loyal to him for life.

  After all the preparations were done, Gaofei moved them all to this mountain and selected Li Wenhao, Pang De, Hua Xiong, Liao Hua, Zhou Cang, Guan Hai, Bian Xi, Fei An, Pei Yuanshao, and Xiahou Lan as the leaders of this army. He gave them official positions according to the Han army's organization and divided the 2,000 people into five units, each with 400 people. A military lieutenant was set up for each unit, with Li Wenhao, Pang De, Hua Xiong, Liao Hua, and Guan Hai serving as military marquises and concurrently as military lieutenants. Zhou Cang, Bian Xi, Fei An, Pei Yuanshao, and Xiahou Lan were also appointed as military marquises. As for the positions of garrison commander, team leader, squad leader, and platoon leader, they were all elected by the soldiers themselves. Everything was done according to the Han army's organization that the soldiers were familiar with.

  Gaofei himself thought for a while, then used the two words "Fei Yu" to formally give this unit that only pledged allegiance to one person a number. The origin of the number is of course taken from Gaofei's flying word and Zi Yu's feather word, doing so is equivalent to letting these soldiers thoroughly understand that they are their own private troops.

  Apart from this, Gao Fei also made Lu Heng the chief clerk, in charge of managing money, rations, weapons, equipment and other logistical matters. As for Zhao Yun, he didn't intend to give him any position, but kept him by his side as a personal bodyguard, concurrently serving as the martial arts consultant for this branch of troops.

  Now, seeing the flying feather troops in front of him, his joy is beyond words. In order to better train this team, he used the current military training courses for the troops and spent three days building a training base in this mountain, including wall-climbing, single-plank bridge-crossing, crawling, etc., all the physical training projects he saw on TV were built here with his own wisdom.

  Today is the first day of formal training for this troop, Gaofei personally came to give this troop a number, and brought with Zhao Yun and Lu Heng the settlement fees taken from Fu Xie. In order to be fair, he also took out an extra part and gave each person 10,000 yuan as a reward, including both the settlement fee and the meeting gift, treating everyone equally.

  Seeing the troops in front of him with such high morale, Gaofei truly felt like a general for the first time. He shouted loudly to the two thousand people in front of him: "Feiyu's soldiers, for these few months, I'll have you temporarily endure the hardships of training in this mountain. As long as there is time, I will personally come and train with you all. Although our equipment isn't very uniform right now, please rest assured that within a month, I will provide everything we need."

  "Long live the Master! Long live the Master!"

  Gao Fei smiled and immediately had Lu Heng distribute the rewards to these soldiers. After distributing the rewards, he began to conduct physical training with this group of soldiers to show his determination to share the same joys and hardships as them. Originally, this group of people had a high prestige in their hearts, but now they were even more fond of him. In the spare time after training, Gao Fei also told them jokes, taught them Sun Tzu's Art of War and Thirty-Six Stratagems, and told stories about ghosts, gods, and demons, making the soldiers feel his affability even more.

  In the evening, Gao Fei led Zhao Yun and Lu Heng down the mountain and rushed back to Chen Cang at the fastest speed. After all, Chen Cang still needed him to guard it, and he also had to think of ways to get some weapons and equipment from the Han army, otherwise how could his soldiers be trained well?