In the mountains and forests of Nanhuang, after some repairs, Zhao Cheng's soldiers and generals have regained some vigor.
Fortunately, they are all veterans and have long been accustomed to this kind of intense war. If they were new recruits and encountered such a battle with a death rate as high as 50%, their morale would have collapsed long ago.
Only the old soldiers, who are used to life and death, have been rewarded for their meritorious service, and have been promoted, can still maintain a certain degree of combat effectiveness.
But it would be impossible to experience such an intense bloody battle again in a short period of time.
In this era, usually in a big war, if the death rate exceeds 10%, the army will be defeated, and there will be no use for the governor.
If you are an elite person, you can reach 15%.
As for the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, the best among the best can reach 30%.
This is also a limit. There is a limit to a person's psychological endurance. Then there is the herd mentality. On the battlefield, even a determined warrior will subconsciously follow after seeing his surrounding companions begin to retreat.
Once inertia is formed, it is the so-called defeat.
Even the seemingly lowest 10% are all warriors who are brave and good at fighting. Most of them are from the time when the dynasty was first established, and then they are the soldiers and horses in the hands of the powerful in troubled times. As for the soldiers and horses of the imperial court, in the prosperous times, they will begin to
It went downhill, and by the end of the year, 90% of the troops were either neglecting training or simply wasting their pay.
Among such soldiers and horses, most of them are sons of nobles who use their weapons to make up the numbers. You can let them compete for credit, but if they really go to the battlefield, they will be the first ones to run. In this case, the death rate will be about 5%, and the army will collapse.
Zhao Cheng knew that in the battle when he killed Wu Yuan, he was able to achieve a 50% loss without being defeated. This was the result of many factors.
On the one hand, the forest is deep and there is nowhere to escape. If you get separated in this deep forest, it will be difficult to survive.
On the other hand, before the battle began, Zhao Chenggong forced everyone to keep only food and water for one day and destroy all the rest. From the beginning, everyone's escape route was cut off.
And this thing of breaking the cauldron and sinking the boat is not something that can be used easily. Once it is not used well, it will easily cause the soldiers and horses under him to mutiny. However, Zhao Cheng has a small number of people under his command and a large number of rewards, so he can suppress the restless hearts.
Come down.
It's Taoism.
In this world, although Taoism is difficult to manifest, it still has a great influence on the spirit. It can stimulate one's fighting spirit and blood, making the people under his command brave and fearless of death. It can be called the ancient version of stimulants.
In modern wars, many countries, in the absence of spiritual beliefs, like to distribute various drugs to soldiers to maintain combat effectiveness.
Of course, an army will undoubtedly be the strongest if it works both mentally and physically.
Back then, there was such a priestly army in the Western world. Through brainwashing and drugs, a two-pronged approach, even if the death rate exceeded 80%, it could still fight to the death without retreating.
However, such an army was later abandoned.
On the one hand, the cost is high. The resources spent by a priestly army are enough to support dozens or hundreds of cannon fodder. On the other hand, the belief is firm, which is not a good thing for the powerful.
The cost is high and difficult to control. Although it has the advantage of strong combat effectiveness, apart from this, it is all disadvantages.
The Taoism used by Zhao Cheng can be regarded as a kind of temporary brainwashing.
Before the battle, he first asked all the soldiers to sit quietly and recite the Huangtian Sutra together. He was using Taoism to guide them, and finally achieved success.
It can be said that his ability to kill Wu Yuan with such little strength in this battle was not due to luck, but to sufficient preparation.
And it is also indispensable.
The same method will not work if used continuously in a short period of time.
However, after killing Wu Yuan, the road ahead will be brighter and brighter.
Wu Yuan's calamity was the death calamity of his body, and it was also the greatest calamity. Although the number of people involved was only more than a hundred people, and the place was only in this small mountain forest. Compared to the entire world, it was only about the size of a palm.
The place is simply not as majestic as the vast world and the splendor of the stars.
But if you really want to compare, it is precisely because there are few people in the small land and lack of room for change that it tests the strength more.
After the soldiers recovered somewhat, Zhao Cheng was not in a hurry to leave. Instead, he summoned his own soldiers and the captains to ask for advice.
Asking for advice in the military is a very common thing, but just because it is common, it becomes important.
There are two types of asking for advice. One is asking for advice when the person in charge has already made a decision in his mind and is well-informed. It may seem like asking, but it is actually a means of establishing prestige.
There is another way, which is that the way forward is really unclear, so it is time to ask the generals for advice.
Zhao Cheng is naturally the first type at this moment.
Their group now only has a total of more than fifty people, but at this moment, more than a dozen people came at once and stood on both sides.
From the positions, we can also see the distance between them. The one closest to Zhao Cheng is Wei Ye, the personal soldier who initially followed Zhao Cheng. He is just a personal soldier and does not have any official position, but anyone with a discerning eye can
It can be seen that this situation is only temporary. As long as he makes no mistakes in the future, his future will be the brightest.
Indeed, in the military, everything seems to be based on merit, but in many cases, whether meritorious service can be achieved depends on the thoughts of the superiors.
When serving a superior, the most important thing is not merit, but love.
If there is love, even if you make a big mistake, you can still be forgiven. If there is no love, the greater the credit, the faster you will die.
After Wei Ye, there is Wang Shouzheng. His morale has been temporarily suppressed, but the dragon can hide and rise. As long as the dragon's energy has not dissipated, the current situation is just a temporary trough. Being dormant does not mean giving up.
Just for next time, it will be even higher.
The one who perseveres is the dragon.
Zhao Cheng just looked at this with cold eyes.
The more you suppress things like dragon species, unless you crush them to death, it won't be that easy to make them work for you.
In reality, Ming Taizu was suppressed by his adoptive father in various ways when he just started. He managed to accumulate some strength several times, but it was easily taken away by the superiors, and he was almost killed.
But such setbacks not only did not destroy him, but instead tempered his firm mind.
Even without the previous suppression and training, Ming Taizu might not have been able to found a country and rule the world later.
Of course, this is not a celebration of suffering.
There is an essential difference between suffering and grinding. Suffering is passively enduring all kinds of suffering in life, while grinding is the setbacks encountered while constantly moving towards a goal.
In Wang Shouzheng's situation, if he didn't kill him, he would have to defeat him three times before he could cut off his dragon energy. According to the law, it only takes three times. After three times, the dragon energy will be gone. It can be said that the destiny has been lost.
It's not that there is no chance to transform into a dragon again, it's just that there is less help from heaven and earth. In this world, everyone can be called a dragon. As long as they have strength, they can condense dragon energy even if they don't have innate dragon energy.
The one with strong soldiers and horses is the emperor!
