Chapter 3 Troubled Times Descend Section 33 The Journey of Steel

Along the way, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were trying their best to imitate the marching method of the wolf horse. Strictly speaking, there are not many people who can ride horses in the village bravery, and they all staggered east and west on their horses, and as a result, all the infantry combat capabilities we had trained with great difficulty were lost, and the newly established cavalry had no combat power. All Attack decreases instead of rising.

Fortunately, we defeated the most powerful Zhang Niujiao of the Jizhou Yellow Turban Army, and at present, there are wolf cavalry with strong attack power in our formation, and the Yellow Turban soldiers who fled everywhere have made us famous, and along the way, there are really not many Yellow Turban troops who dare to attack us.

After walking for a while, seeing the Yellow Turban Army around us fleeing in all directions as soon as they saw us, Yuan Tan's courage increased greatly, and he patted his horse to my side with a heroic posture, and said eagerly: "Lord Liu, the Yellow Turbans around are like ants, why don't we take the road to clean them up." ”

Well, if the little ones want to play, just play. Looking at Liu Hun, who was also gearing up, I said lovingly: "Hun'er, you take those 98 horsemen and follow Yuan Gongzi to clean up the yellow scarves." ”

Yuan Tan was overjoyed, and said as he wished: "Okay, I'll recruit the family, and we'll go and kill the Quartet." ”

I beckoned to stop Yuan Tan and said earnestly, "Do you know why I only let these grooms go with you?" 98 men, plus my righteous son and you, but a hundred horsemen. Hundreds of horsemen and thieves showed Yuan Gongzi's courage and martial arts. ”

A trace of fear flashed on Yuan Tan's face, I looked at Yuan Tan with trusting eyes, and then solemnly told Liu Hun: "Hun'er, you take care of Yuan Gongzi, if Yuan Gongzi is injured, don't come back, cut your neck yourself and let the entourage bring it back." ”

After speaking, looking at Liu Hun's indifferent expression, my heart tightened, don't let this kid sell Yuan Tan. I said sharply: "You remember for me and take care of Yuan Gongzi." Liu Hun immediately bowed and took the order.

At this time, Yuan Tan was still a little hesitant, I jumped off the horse, pulled my mount, and said to him lovingly: "Yuan Gongzi, this horse I ride is one in a thousand miles, follow me for a long time, you ride this horse, remember my words: can't fight, run." There are very few Yellow Turban cavalry, even if there are cavalry, they can't outrun this horse, as long as you run towards our Chinese army, who dares to provoke you? ”

When Yuan Tan heard this, he was completely relieved, jumped on my horse heroically, and cheered away with Liu Hun.

Looking at their distant figures, Tian Feng said worriedly: "The lord let them go, and he didn't tell them not to stay too far away from our brigade, besides, let Yuan Gongzi take a child and 98 horsemen out of battle, I am afraid that they will return when they encounter bandits, not only will they not get credit, but it will make people laugh." Yuan Gongzi has a small amount of energy, if he hates the lord because of this, wouldn't it be troublesome. ”

He looked at me incredulously and said, "My lord must have a deep meaning in doing this, but I can't think of any benefit from doing so." ”

I smiled slightly and replied with emotion: "You think like this, you are underestimating Liu Hun, this kid, this kid is a big ghost, and he never wants to let himself suffer." The groom he brought with him must have been a warrior who was selected among the clan and was familiar with bow horses, otherwise how would he dare to carry 300 good horses to Zhuo County in this time of chaos. As for no more, no less, only 98 people, it is also meaningful. ”

Then, I briefly explained to them the Izumo Law, which was to behead more than 100 people without the approval of the Senate and the lord of the castle. This guy only brought 98 people, plus he himself was only 99 people, so he passed by the punishment.

After pondering for a while, I also told the two military advisors about Liu Hun's betrayal of Izumo and his final subjugation by me, and explained to them the reason for forgiving Liu Hun by the way, hoping that they would not discriminate against Liu Hun because of his alien status. When the two advisors heard my explanation, they looked at each other with deep worry in their eyes.

Tian Feng spoke first, and persuaded worriedly: "What the lord said, dividing his power, being alone, and restraining his people, although it is a good way, there is still a hidden danger, the lord has not yet started a family, if the lord has a family, the lord and his son will inevitably be younger than the righteous son, and there will be worries about seizing the heir in the future, and the lord must not be unguarded." ”

I was silent, but I didn't think so. What I have done I have not done for future generations to enjoy? Rich for only three generations, instead of letting future generations tremble and hold this country, it is better to retire and become a rich man and live a safe and happy life. As long as I set up a set of mechanisms to curb the expansion of public power and protect the interests of private power. Let individuals have the right to enjoy their own property and the right to pursue a free life, so that society will enter a virtuous circle, and the nation will continue to grow stronger. However, these words cannot be said now, and after they are said to them, I am afraid that as subordinates, they will lose their fighting spirit and hope of struggle.

Fu Zhu was silent for a while, and asked tentatively with a smile: "The lord used to have a favorite woman, and the lord's parents were engaged to the lord." ”

What do you do, do you want to be a matchmaker? Is it a beauty?

However, looking at them looking at me with blank eyes, I couldn't bear to refuse, desperately recalling history, it seems that Jian Yong mentioned in my memory that Liu Bei's mother had ordered a family for him, but Liu Bei has been more difficult, and he is wandering around, in history, it seems that Liu Bei did not have the ability to marry this woman home until he became An Xiwei, or Xia Micheng. It's a pity that the status of women in that era was low, and in the war and wandering, Liu Bei's wife died several times, only in Xiaopei's concubine, Mrs. Gan, because she gave birth to Liu Chan, and Mrs. Mi because she brought 3,000 families to marry, left a brief mark in history. And the woman's name is drowned in the long river of history.

Thinking of this era, women get married in their teens, and the woman has to wait for Liu Bei to wait until she is in her 20s, I feel a little unbearable, so I nodded slightly and replied: "Mother seems to have booked a door for me, this matter is more clear, wait for me to settle down, let Xianhe take the woman through the door." ”

Tian Feng immediately turned his horse and said enthusiastically: "The soldiers are in chaos, and I don't know if the woman is still in the local area, so I'll go to Xianhe and ask." ”

After a while, Tian Feng hurriedly ran over and said happily: "Lord, please let Chen Qun be in charge of the rear camp first, the lord will allocate 500 soldiers and horses to me, and I will go to Zhongshan with Xianhe." ”

Oh, it turns out that the woman is in Zhongshan Country. I reluctantly agreed: "Fu Hao, Bingyuan's soldiers and horses are well-trained, I will let Bingyuan accompany you, let Bingyuan's soldiers change into horses, and you can take the woman to Zhuoxian for resettlement first." ”

After Tian Feng agreed, he hurriedly pulled Guan Hai on the road. Seeing him so enthusiastic, I couldn't help but smile bitterly in my heart.

That night, we camped between Bohai and Leling, according to our current marching speed, we can reach Leling at noon tomorrow, if we don't stop in Leling City, we can camp in Jieshi that night. Since Tai Shi Ci can catch up with us by land, I estimate that the reinforcements from land and water have also arrived in Jieshi early.

That night, I convened the generals to discuss in the big tent, and the generals sat together, and before we could speak, Yuan Tan broke in with excitement on his face and announced loudly: "Lord Liu, the little nephew pursued the Yellow Turban thieves today and beheaded dozens of people. ”

I immediately put on a smile on my face, jumped up and took his hand, and said excitedly, "Come, tell me about your heroic deeds." ”

When a child does what he thinks is a hero, he always likes to show off to adults, and it is good for me to let him show off when the generals in my account are gathered, and satisfy his vanity as a hero. I immediately made an enthusiastic expression and kept asking him about the battle, and I praised him from time to time.

When Yuan Tanzheng was talking about foaming at the mouth, Liu Hun lifted the curtain and walked in. As soon as Yuan Tan saw Liu Hun coming in, he immediately said a little unnaturally: "Children don't play outside, what are you doing in this military tent?" Liu Hun said with a cute face: "Haha, I'm going to play in my father's tent." After speaking, he jumped up to me, attached his little face to my thigh, and lay on the ground and grimaced at Yuan Tan.

Yuan Tan was helpless and hastily ended his narrative. I immediately reminded me with a big fuss: "Yuan Gongzi, you have exterminated countless yellow turbans along the way and made such great achievements, does your father know?" ”

Yuan Tan said with a regretful face: "It's a pity that the yellow scarves are making trouble everywhere and blocking the road, otherwise, I will definitely inform my father." ”

I looked at Yuan Tan meaningfully, and said with relish: "How can you not tell Yuan Gong about such a big thing?" In this case, you draft a letter, and Captain Zou and I will send someone to deliver it for you. You can tell your father that you have made great contributions to the eradication of the Yellow Turban, and Captain Zou and I are about to go to the table to show you your merits. Your father must be proud of you when he knows this. ”

When Yuan Tan heard this, he smiled and said, "Okay, I'll go write a letter." ”

I took a deep look at Zou Jing, nodded sincerely and replied, "Okay, let Captain Zou go with you and help you think about the wording." ”

can have the opportunity to get along with Yuan Shao's eldest son and help him, how can Zou Jing let go of such an opportunity. As soon as my words fell, Zou Jing immediately couldn't wait to get up and agree. took Yuan Tan's hand and ran out of the big tent.

The world finally quieted down, and we all breathed a sigh of relief, and everyone looked at each other and smiled.

Unexpectedly, it was Liu Hun who broke the silence in the tent first, and he cautiously tentatively spoke: "Father, this person is very bold, today's battle, at the beginning, always thinking of escaping, and then everywhere wants to be the first, if you go through the battle formation again, then you will be a big enemy." Father will not let him fight tomorrow, he will think that victory is easy, and in the future, whenever he encounters a battle array, he will definitely take advantage of the enemy's danger, so that victory is easy. ”

As soon as Liu Hun said this, the generals of the whole account were shocked. It is rare to be able to show such terrible scheming at a young age, and to predict the growth of a person from his small behavior. In the midst of everyone's chaotic praise, Frustrated Zhi hid his face in the dark shadow and observed Liu Hun coldly. By commenting on Yuan Tan this time, Liu Hun established his status, and people did not dare to look at him as young from now on. This has become more and more alarming.

glanced at the generals in the tent and took in the expressions of everyone. I said slowly: "Tomorrow's march, with Ziyi as the guide, we will rush to Leling, and settle Yuan Tan in Leling, Zou Jing's army and the baggage battalion will be stationed in Leling, and our whole army will immediately transfer to Jieshi, and after we receive the fleet of reinforcements, we will notify the rear battalion to rush to Jieshi." Yun Chang, the wings are still the left and right wings, do you have any questions? ”

Guan Yu frowned and said: "The soldiers are not familiar with the saddle horse, today's march, there are many abrasions on the two strands, can you rest for a day, and then march on a fast horse tomorrow." ”

Next to him, Zhang Fei also nodded vigorously in agreement.

I categorically rejected this idea: "A day when the army is out consumes a lot of food and grass. Besides, if the Izumo reinforcements can't wait for us, they will start attacking inland. When we arrived, they put together the team and boarded the ship, wasting a day and delaying things. Why don't we rush to Jieshi first, meet up with the reinforcements, and then rest for a day after forming the army, so that we can get acquainted with each other, and we can organize the team and board the ship. ”

Guan Yu sighed and said fascinatedly: "Ziyi, seeing that your wolf army is acting in a uniform manner and is mighty, I don't know how you trained this steel journey, it's really enviable." ”

Oh, it's not easy to make Guan Yu, who has always been arrogant, say words of admiration. Although Guan Yu didn't say it explicitly, he obviously meant to ask for advice, which surprised me, who was familiar with history. On the side, Zhang Fei also looked at Tai Shici with wide eyes, expecting to listen to him explain the way to govern the army.

Tai Shi Ci smiled humbly and said, "Ci is stupid, but fortunately he was able to lead the wolf ride. These armies were first founded by the lord, and then trained by General Guan Bingyuan, Ci is just a success because of people, as for the way to govern the army, Ci is learning from the lord, and I hope that the lord will give more advice in the future. ”

As soon as Tai Shici's words fell, Zhang Fei, who was anxious, immediately shouted: "Guan Hai, this kid has this ability, where is he, he is idle now, and he won't train my team." Big brother, I'm going to get him out. Zhang Fei got up as he spoke, ready to leave the account.

I immediately scolded Zhang Fei unhappily: "Yide, why do you treat Bingyuan like this, Guan Bingyuan and Tian Junshi went out to do things for me, and they are not in the camp these days." Besides, how can your soldiers always look to others if they are not trained themselves? Sit down with me. ”

Zhang Fei muttered and sat on the side, Guan Yu sighed ashamedly: "Guan Bingyuan's talent, it seems that I underestimated the heroes of the world too much in the past." "The arrogant Guan Yu has always looked down on Guan Hai, who doesn't know a few big characters and is a bandit, as for Zhang Fei, who is straightforward, he lacks the eyes of his heart, although he attracts the same straightforward Guan Hai, but he often relies on his strength and bullies Guan Hai, and now he understands that Guan Hai, who is usually silent, still has a set of ways to govern the army in his stomach, and he is immediately impressed.

I explained to Guan Zhang and the two in a hurry: "I have explained to you many times in the past few days, as long as you work hard in the future, you will definitely be able to train an iron brigade."

When Zhang Fei heard this, he immediately jumped up with joy: "Big brother, are you saying that if we train soldiers according to the method you said, we can also train an army like the wolf horse?" ”

I shook my head and rejected Zhang Fei's idea: "It's easy to train an iron army, but it's difficult to train an army like the Wolf Rider." The Wolf Cavalry is a full-attack army that is somewhere between the Archers and the Iron Cavalry. The soldiers were dressed in unicorn soft armor, and were a light armored unit like the archers, but with a half-cut cuirass and a helmet with face protection, which made it look like a heavy armored unit. This kind of unit has both the long-range attack power of archers and the assault power of heavily armored cavalry, we call it the assault cavalry. ”

I then sighed and added: "The wolf cavalry was originally a personal escort led by me, as a commando cavalry, both skilled in archers and horses and proficient in ironclad sprinting tactics, training is quite time-consuming, and the cost is also quite huge. ”

From the shadows, he asked, "Why did the lord think about training such an army that day?" ”

I smiled embarrassedly, and replied lightly: "In the war-torn land of Youzhou, non-strong soldiers cannot protect Izumo City, and the way of horse warfare is just the alternating use of archers and heavy iron cavalry." When the opponent's formation is loose, I will use the heavy iron cavalry to attack and crush the opponent's formation. If the opponent is in a dense formation to prevent the onslaught of the iron cavalry, I will attack with the archers and kill the dense enemy troops. If the opponent disperses the formation in order to deal with the attack of my archers, then it is the time for my iron cavalry to attack.

Originally, I trained two troops, one as an archer—now a wolf horseman—and one as an iron cavalry—now the Izumo Thunder Horse. However, since my senior brother Gao Shun commanded the thunder cavalry, the heavy iron cavalry was officially formed into an army, and the senior brother's attack was ferocious, like thunder and fire sweeping the ground, like lightning and roaring, like mercury pouring, like a torrential rain and waves, every attack was broken. Since then, it is often Guan Bingyuan who leads the wolf cavalry to attack and the front, and my senior brother Gao Shun delivers the final blow to end the battle.

After doing this a few times, Guan Bingyuan became competitive, and also let the wolf cavalry practice the art of stabbing attacks, so the wolf cavalry became what it is now. When the Wolf Rider attacks with a short bow, it is an archer cavalry that uses a special short bow made of Izumo Castle's mild steel, which uses steel wire as a bowstring to quickly shoot arrows up to 200 paces, when the enemy has to evacuate the formation due to the attack of the archers. The wolf rider put down the short bow in his hand, put on his helmet and armor, held his spear, and attacked the opponent's evacuation formation.

In addition, the spear held by the wolf rider is also specially made, with dents and stop grooves on the shaft, which allows the archer to wear the copper finger sleeve used for archery and charge with the spear. In this way, it takes two years to train an archer, and another year to train them in the art of stabbing immediately, and it takes another year for qualified soldiers to enter the wolf cavalry, and they also need to tailor helmets and face armor for them, which is both time-consuming and labor-intensive, with the wealth of Izumo City, but it is armed with 3,000 assault cavalry, of which 1,000 have not yet been trained, which is difficult. ”

Everyone showed a sudden look, and my heart moved, and an idea suddenly came to mind. I will train these two overlord-level fierce generals to resemble the cavalry with powerful assault ability like the Thunder Cavalry. In the event of a battle, let the light cavalry of the Tianma tribe under the command of Guan Hai attack and disturb the outside, and the wolf cavalry led by Tai Shi Ci covered and attacked, and chiseled through the enemy formation with the bravery of Guan and Zhang. As for myself, I led the infantry to form a solid and stable Chinese army's main formation, wouldn't it be more flexible when the formation changes?

Thinking of this, I pretended to sigh and said: "Although the wolf cavalry is fierce, when it comes to breaking the formation and defeating the enemy, charging into battle, it depends on the thunder cavalry. ”

After saying this, Tai Shici, who had seen the power of the thunder horse, was silent, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were all indignant on their faces, their faces were full of yearning, Chen Qun was at a loss, and Liu Hun was full of fear. I added another fire and said proudly: "But when it comes to flexible tactics, in today's world, the wolf rider recognizes the second, and no one dares to recognize the first." When the wolf rides against the enemy, it initially wanders outside the enemy formation, hitting the enemy with bows and arrows, such as the wolves serving the enemy's left and right, if the enemy pursues, it is like a pack of wolves fighting and retreating, if the enemy retreats, it is like a wolf biting, gradually breaking the enemy formation, if the enemy is in chaos, then if the wolf pounces on the enemy, rushes the enemy formation. Hence the name Wolf Ride. ”

Hearing my words, Taishi Ciyi would be in his heart, and he couldn't stop nodding yes. He was nodding yes to the wolf pack tactics, but Guan Yu and Zhang Fei mistakenly thought that he was nodding to the praise of the unparalleled in the world, and the two of them became more and more embarrassed.

As soon as my words fell, Guan Yu immediately said not to be outdone: "Big brother, the training of wolf riding is indeed complicated, and it is not easy to learn, but if it comes to learning the skill of charging into battle of thunder riding, although I and other Xiangyong are not trained enough now, I don't think it is worse than Lei Qi, if I am given a period of training, I can also attack every invincible." ”

Zhang Fei was also arrogantly shouting: "Second brother is right, eldest brother, if you give me some time to train, I will also train a thunder horse for you." ”

"Good", I exclaimed loudly: "The two virtuous brothers have this ambition, and of course the eldest brother supports it." Yide, your two Jin Xu (word Linglong) and Zhang Jian (word Xin He) are all from the Izumo City Forward Battalion, that is, the predecessor of Lei Qi, they have all experienced the training methods of Lei Qi, you just let them train the soldiers, since they have both passed the lieutenant assessment, they will use the military horn in the army, the second brother only needs to learn the change of military orders and military horns, learn to command these two lieutenants, and let the lieutenants below command. In this way, the military formation is available. ”

Hearing this, Guan Yu's eyes lit up, and he nodded knowingly. It seems that he must have had a headache for many days to command every non-commissioned officer, and when he heard that he only needs to command the middle-level lieutenants, let the lieutenants control the non-commissioned officers below, and the non-commissioned officers control the soldiers, in this way, the command problem has been greatly simplified, and he immediately suddenly realized.

I turned my head and solemnly said to Guan Yu: "The two lieutenants under Yun Chang are also talents, these two are taken in by me from Qingzhou since I was a child, so they are both given the surname Liu, among which the lieutenant officer Liu Yuan, the word Haoping, graduated from the cavalry department of the Izumo City Military Academy, although the martial arts are mediocre and the intelligence is mediocre, but the victory is to be able to endure, and is good at planning night raids and rushing attacks. Another lieutenant Liu Hao, with thick words, is good at using a Zhu Ying gun, has a calm personality, usually speaks little, and is good at defense (recommended by book friends in the next chapter), one of these two is good at attacking and the other is good at defending, and Wangyun is good at using it. ”

The lieutenants assigned to Guan and Zhang are all carefully selected by me, Zhang Fei's two lieutenants are both aggressive, and Guan Yu's lieutenants are both conspiracy types, and I believe that Zhang Fei's wisdom is enough to create a conspiracy if it is developed. And Guan Yu can't do it, he is proud and disdains tricks, if there are no conspiracy people around him to protect him, he will be assassinated. I specially reminded him in advance that the two lieutenants were in charge, so that if he encountered a predicament, thinking of my words today, he might be able to solve the predicament.

Taking a breath of relief, I said with anticipation and confidence: "When we arrive at Jieshi, we also have reinforcements for lieutenants, among which Yun Chang is good at training, (conspirators) who are good at siege are assigned to Yide, and Chen Qun is good at logistics. ”

Hearing this, Tai Shi Ci bowed and said yes. We then conscientiously discussed the march for tomorrow. By the time Yuan Tan and Zou Jing came to my big tent with the written letter, all the generals had dispersed, and only me and Fu Zhu were still discussing miscellaneous matters.

I took the letter, glanced at it curriedly, and was startled by the exaggeration in it. After four battles in Jizhou, we became nine battles in the letter, of which Yuan Tan participated in four battles, including two battles against Zhang Niujiao, Yuan Tan alone beheaded thousands of people, and we defeated a total of 1 million yellow turbans.

I was completely defeated by this letter, and I shuddered at the smug looks on these two men. 300,000 old and weak women and children before and after, the Yellow Turban Army with only 70,000 or 80,000 people who can fight, simple weapons, extensive command, and low combat effectiveness, is it said that there are millions of people, can the court believe it? Isn't this a satellite to report a yield of 10,000 catties per mu?

Hey, let him go. I turned my head and asked Zou Jing casually: "Captain Zou, has the letter to the imperial court been written?" ”

Zou Jing immediately took out the letter and presented it, and I took a closer look, and the content of the letter was probably similar to that in Yuan Tan's letter. I just focused on the credit of me and Zou Jing. I nodded and returned the letter to Zou Jing.

Zou Jing took the letter and kindly proposed: "Does Xuande Gong also sign a name in the letter?" ”

Even the signature, in what capacity to sign this name, now I am just a false title. But this point can't be known to Yuan Tan, lest this kid have a crooked heart. Besides, I still want to develop in Qingzhou, and I don't want to be bound by Youzhou.

So, I shook my head and refused. Then he shouted: "Bring a pen, wait for me to write a letter to Yuan Gong, congratulations on having a good son." ”

Yuan Tan Yixi, although he doesn't care about my heroic name on the surface, but in his heart he is proud of my approval. I know that Yuan Shao, who is a chicken-bellied person, must not be angry that my heroic reputation is greater than his, so he must make a look of disdain on the surface, but as soon as this letter arrives, he will inevitably show off everywhere, just to make a name for me.

With a stroke of my pen, I finished writing this letter, and there was only one sentence in the letter: "Giving birth to a son should be like Yuan Xiansi (Yuan Tan)", signed: Liu Bei Liu Xuande of Zhuo County.