A problem that I thought was extremely difficult was actually solved like this?
Regardless of anything else, more than 80% of the more than 4,000 soldiers under Li Chengzhi's command are Chao Naqingzhuang. These people are going to fight with Li Chengzhi, how can there be no casualties?
We are all young and strong in the clan. If one dies, one will be missing. Who wouldn’t feel sad?
But not only did the squires not make any noise or get angry, but they actually took the initiative to think about Li Chengzhi?
There is indeed a difference between this person and other people...
After everyone dispersed, Zhang Jingzhi was still sulking: "A bunch of fools, they really don't know what is good and what is good!"
Guo Cunxin suddenly burst out laughing: "Human nature is the most difficult to withstand speculation... It is not uncommon for fathers and sons, husbands and wives, and brothers to have rifts and even break up and turn against each other due to interests, let alone outsiders? Why should you be angry?"
Zhang Jingzhi paused after hearing this and asked in surprise: "Isn't this something you can tell?"
Guo is a Confucian heirloom, and filial piety, loyalty, trustworthiness, propriety, justice, integrity, and shame are the foundation of his life, but what he just said is similar to the words of the Legalists?
It is not an exaggeration to say that it violates a paradox.
"It's Chengzhi!" Guo Cunxin said with a smile, "I don't know how he realized it!"
Is it Li Chengzhi?
Zhang Jingzhi's thoughts moved slightly: "Human nature is the worst thing that can't stand speculation? This sounds quite reasonable!"
Guo Cunxin couldn’t laugh or cry.
I just said that there are differences between people, and now it’s here in the blink of an eye?
It would be rebellious to put it on yourself, but it makes sense to change it to Li Chengzhi?
If I tell you the second half of the sentence, you won’t think this way: the so-called loyalty is just because you don’t have enough chips to betray your judgment.
This is an extreme distortion of Xunzi's "On Evil Nature", believing that as long as the benefits are sufficient, no one will dare to betray him.
No one taught him, how did he learn it?
Guo Cunxin sighed and changed the topic: "Today's battle is really bizarre. If it weren't for the evidence of Duke Yanrong (Yang Shu), I wouldn't believe it even to death.
The first two times were nothing more than luck, but what about this time?
Can a battle involving nearly ten thousand people be attributed to luck?"
"How can every big victory depend on luck?"
Zhang Jingzhi laughed and said: "His victory this time seems incredible, but it is natural... Even if Li Wenzhong did not abandon the battle and flee, but chose to fight to the death, the result would still be the same in the end. The only difference is that there is no loss.
If there is such a huge disparity, the number of captured enemies will not be so huge..."
After a pause, he sighed sadly: "Not to mention Li Wenzhong, even if it were me, I would only end up defeated against your nephew!"
Guo Cunxin was overjoyed when he heard this: "So powerful?"
"It's not that he's great... huh? He's indeed great!" Zhang Jingzhi explained, "To put it bluntly, it's all about using money to assemble equipment, morale, and logistics. And he also has great righteousness... Dare I ask what Liu Huiwang does?
What compares to him?
Not to mention a group of rebels, even the imperial court cannot be as desperate as he is. Could it be that after this battle, the rest of the life will be miserable? This is not how soldiers are raised, and they will not last long..."
Guo Cunxin secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
This should be the fundamental reason why Zhang Jingzhi, Yang Shu and others admire Li Chengzhi and think that he will never be disloyal?
Because Li Chengzhi is only responsible for military affairs, he neither feeds the people nor occupies land. All supplies depend on donations, and he will soon have to rely on the government. Once he loses this sense of justice and cuts off supplies, his soldiers will be like
Rootless Piaoping......
But will it last forever?
Not necessarily.
God knows where the money that Li Chengzhi spent like running water came from, and it is not that it never comes back.
In the blink of an eye, he has acquired thousands of war horses?
That meteorite iron sword is definitely not the "more than a hundred" that Li Chengzhi said.
There is not a word of truth in this nephew's mouth.
Fortunately, he is determined and has a long-term vision. He will not be easily fooled by others, nor will he be willing to be manipulated by others.
It doesn’t have to be a rebellion. Wouldn’t it be better to be granted a posthumous title immediately?
……
The cold spring is coming!
The sky is getting slightly brighter, and fish bellies are already appearing in the eastern sky, whitening for a while.
The branches and grass blades are covered with white frost, and the water in the stone urn at the head of the city is still frozen with a thin layer of ice.
Several soldiers breathed in the white mist, held their guns in their arms, and walked back and forth on the top of the city to ward off the cold.
There are still a few spinning winches, preparing to open the city gate and let the farmers out of the city to farm.
I don’t know who whispered: "Here we come..."
All the soldiers stopped and looked eastward.
Facing the morning light, I saw the shadow of a white dragon, winding for several miles, heading towards the county seat.
You can still vaguely hear the sound of ruts breaking through thin ice and the sound of war horses neighing.
"Really here?" Several soldiers cheered.
"If you don't want to be whipped, just keep silent!" She yelled and cursed several times, kicking and beating the soldiers, "Why don't you open the door quickly... You two, go to the county government office to report..."
There was a flurry of noise on the city wall, and then there was no sound again.
Several soldiers looked at the approaching team with feverish eyes.
A group of farmers who had just left the city gate, pulling oxen and plows, also subconsciously stopped.
When the first ray of morning light breaks through the clouds, the earth seems to be sprinkled with a layer of golden light. The sun shines on the tips of the spears, the white armor, and the horses, until the width of the entire team is revealed.
"The white one...is the white-armored soldier...the white-armored soldier is back..."
"Look, there are people behind the car. They are not wearing white armor, and their hands are tied..."
"They are not our people, they are prisoners...Is this a victory?"
"Win? Win..."
A group of farmers were so happy that they threw away their things and started shouting and jumping. They didn't even chase the cows after they were frightened.
"Haha, we are not the ones shouting this time..." A soldier laughed strangely, squeezed to Shi Chang's side, and asked happily and excitedly, "It's really a great victory, why are there so many prisoners?"
"How does grandpa know?" Shichang cursed with a smile, held up the awning with his hands, and looked hard.
Looking at this formation, it seems that there are two or three times more people than before the expedition?
Is it possible that there were five or six thousand prisoners in this battle alone?
Shi Chang suddenly laughed: How is that possible...
But as the team got closer and closer, the smile on Shi Chang's face slowly disappeared, and his eyes opened wider and wider.
I fucked his eldest mother, and there were really five or six thousand prisoners?
……
A farmer came into the city to announce the good news, and the soldiers guarding the gate did not stop him. Immediately, most people in the city knew the news of the victorious army returning. The whole county was like a pot exploding. The streets were full of people, all shouting for help.
Go out of the city to meet the army.
Guo Cunxin has a headache.
No wonder Li Chengzhi repeatedly emphasized in the emergency report that he should try not to make any noise to avoid causing confusion.
Fortunately, we were prepared and it was already bright. If it had been night, we might have been trampled to death.
"The four gates are closed, but the people are allowed to go to the city to watch..."
Zhang Jingzhi had been through a lot for a long time, so it was not surprising at all. He told the soldiers guarding the city, then turned to look at the villagers and said with a smile: "Gentlemen, would you like to follow me out of the city to meet the army?" Everyone responded: "Of course I am willing!"
Some people are also wondering: Why did Zhang Jingzhi suddenly become so generous and didn't even hold grudges for what happened last night?
Maybe it’s because of the big victory...
Thirty or forty township party gentry surrounded Zhang Jingzhi and Guo Cunxin and marched out of the city.
Offer three animals, sacrifice to heaven and earth, worship the country, sue the ancestral temple, thank the military leader...
After all this work, it was already noon. Li Chengzhi was covered in sweat and felt more tired than fighting.
But when you go to the countryside, you have to follow the local customs. When you go on an expedition, you can use the excuse of unexpectedly facing the enemy to hide away. After you return to the army after winning a victory, this trick is unavoidable no matter what.
Fortunately, it is only a county, and Li Chengzhi is confident enough that he does not need to sacrifice prisoners. Otherwise, this ritual would have to be done for at least three days.
There was another banquet at noon. Fortunately, Li Chengzhi used the excuse that there were too many prisoners and had to arrange camp as soon as possible to escape, and just had a drink with everyone.
Even so, after eating at least two kilograms, I feel so dizzy that I can fall asleep as soon as I tilt my head.
Marching all night is really not that tiring...
After finally finishing the socializing, taking advantage of Zhang Jingzhi's gift to the squire, Li Chengzhi pulled Guo Cunxin aside and asked in a low voice: "Why is Yang Shu so aware of Chao Na's situation?"
He thought about it all the way.
If Yang Shu knew Jingyang and the Hu family well, it would be fair to say that, after all, he was the Prime Minister of a county, and he could calculate with his mind but not with care. It would be fair to say that the Hu family arranged a few informants around Hu Duo. But understanding Chao Na and even himself so well is like putting a pair of eyes on himself, which is really hard to explain.
Regardless of the rest, how did he know that a knife can be exchanged for ten horses?
At that time, Hu Baozong was still in Gaoping Town. It was impossible for him to make a special trip to write a letter to his family just for this trivial matter.
There was also the matter of Zhang Jingzhi’s coming out of the mountain, Hu Baozong didn’t even know about it...
After much deliberation, Li Chengzhi could only guess that besides Hu Baozong, there were people around him who were informing Yang Shu, and they were very close people.
"You don't know?" Guo Cunxin looked at him in surprise.