Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 22 Zilong is closer
Inside the tent, Liu Bei withdrew his gaze from the generals.

He laughed and said, “During the Spring and Autumn Period, the nobles of Song State kept tigers and leopards in a pen without seeing the outside world. One day, due to carelessness of the keepers, the ferocious tigers and leopards were released.

I thought the tiger and leopard would die under the fangs of the beast, but unexpectedly, the tiger and leopard were frightened by the rabbit and retreated back into the fence, thus saving the life of the keeper. "

Liu Bei laughed and asked, "Can you tell me why?"

Han Mu, who was born as a county lieutenant in Gaotang and had a long face and gray beard, thought for a moment and said, "Maybe it has never seen a rabbit before. Even the beasts were frightened by its sudden appearance and ran away with its tail between its legs."

"That's true." Liu Bei nodded in agreement. "The beast doesn't know it's a beast, and the rabbit doesn't know it's a rabbit."

"But there is a difference between humans and wild animals. Wild animals cannot analyze when they are frightened. But humans can decide whether to hunt or not through calm analysis even if they see prey that they don't know the depth of."

Liu Bei saw that the generals and captains seemed to be thinking about something.

So he patiently explained: "For example, the Yellow Turban Army is now very powerful, with a total of 300,000 people from all over the country."

"They may seem to have a large population, but they have a fatal weakness. They do not produce anything and only rely on looting to feed themselves. They have never faced a strong army, so they can be defeated even if they have a large population."

"May I ask, sir, how should we defeat them?" Zhao Zhen asked.

Previously, Liu Bei only talked about luring the enemy but didn't mention how to defeat the enemy. Otherwise, why would everyone be worried? They were afraid that luring the enemy too much would backfire.

Liu Bei smiled and said, "During the Battle of Julu, Qin generals Zhang Han and Wang Li led 400,000 Qin troops to station at Julu. Xiang Yu destroyed Wang Li by first cutting off his access roads and cutting off his food supply, and then divided the Qin troops led by Wang Li into nine groups and defeated them one by one."

"Using the superior to attack the inferior instead of attacking the enemy from behind, we strangled the enemy's throat and neck, and thus won a great victory in the Battle of Julu."

All the generals and captains immediately realized that the prince wanted to emulate Xiang Yu in destroying Wang Li, not by fighting 300,000 men on the battlefield, but by using quick attacks and slowly destroying them one by one.

It's not that everyone underestimated the Yellow Turban Army. In terms of organization and marching, most of the Yellow Turbans came from farmers and had not undergone rigorous training, so they could never be compared with the Han Army.

Although they are not the Chu army of the past, the Yellow Turbans are not the Qin army of the past. If this strategy is implemented, it will surely be effective.

Unexpectedly, the brave Xiang Ji used to use a strategy to defeat the enemy by dividing them into groups, instead of rushing forward directly after burning his boats.

Liu Bei was not surprised that his generals were surprised by what they saw.

Military officers were born in humble backgrounds, so they had to fight on the front lines. It was very rare for children of noble families to fight on the battlefield.

Therefore, there were only a handful of literate people in the military camp, and those who had the opportunity to read history books were definitely not from ordinary wealthy families. Many wealthy families might not be able to collect entire history books, and many official families could only collect fragments.

It is already quite good that there are still a few fragments of stories about the late Qin Dynasty hundreds of years ago that have been passed down.

At least we know who Xiang Ji is, otherwise Liu Bei would have to explain it from the beginning.

Liu Bei said to everyone: "No matter how old the strategy is, as long as it is adapted to local conditions, it can be used again. It is also possible to apply the past to the present."

In order to lure the enemy, Liu Bei also sent people to spread the news that Pingyuan County was extremely rich and that the granaries had enough corn to feed 200,000 people for a year, in order to attract the Yellow Turbans to fight him.

After being encouraged by Liu Bei, the generals also became more determined and moved forward.

They knew very well that it would be dangerous if they lacked confidence in themselves before a battle. Fighting on the battlefield requires ruthlessness and fearlessness, and the more ruthless you are, the more likely you are to survive.

Fighting with blood and strength is not only about being cruel to others, but also to yourself. Only if you are not afraid of death can you not die easily.

On the other hand, if you are timid and afraid to fight to the death, you will be more likely to lose your life on the battlefield. The enemy only wants to kill people to survive, and if you are cruel and unwilling to do so, you will become a victim of the sword.

As Liu Bei expected, this fake reinforcement tactic caused great fear in the Yellow Turban Army in Linji County. That night, more than a dozen of them broke through the siege in the darkness and disappeared. It seemed that the entire Qingzhou would be disturbed in a few days.

……

At dusk, when the sun sets, flags are everywhere in the plains and the horns sound.

Inside the wide camp, soldiers standing in formation, wearing armor and holding weapons, stared ahead expressionlessly.

In addition, there are teams of auxiliary soldiers who are training seriously.

Liu Bei stood on the high platform and looked down. The crowds of people were extremely spectacular.

On weekdays, auxiliary soldiers are mostly responsible for building camps, transporting armor and supplies, escorting food and fodder, and cooking. They mainly do miscellaneous work to solve the trivial matters of the soldiers.

However, they are sometimes involved in battles, but their combat capabilities are far inferior to those of combat soldiers.

Soldiers of the Han army served one year as auxiliary soldiers, and more than three years as combat soldiers.

Previously, many auxiliary soldiers went to the battlefield just to get by, until Liu Bei increased the difference in treatment between combat soldiers and auxiliary soldiers, which made them jealous. They all wanted to strengthen their training to become combat soldiers specializing in fighting.

Even when the enemy was being confused, many auxiliary soldiers volunteered to do the work, and were not afraid of the hard work and wanted to practice more every day so that they could form a skilled military formation to fight the enemy.

Seeing that they were eager to make progress, Liu Bei did not reject their request, so he divided the auxiliary soldiers into four groups. In addition to training, each group would take turns to pretend to attack the city walls to see blood.

A water boiler built in a wooden shed in the military camp.

Zhang Fei and Han Mu stood side by side. When they were thirsty during training, they came here to get some water to drink.

There are dozens of places like this in the entire army, and boilers are used to boil water pumped from wells every day for drinking by the entire army.

Although Zhang Fei didn't understand why his elder brother was so sure that drinking too much raw water would cause diarrhea, he issued a military order that no one was allowed to drink raw water.

The firewood camp, which was responsible for logistics, was asked to cut more wood and boil water, which led to a shortage of firewood nearby. The laborers had to go several miles away to chop wood to ensure that there was no shortage of firewood and charcoal.

All the cow and horse dung must be collected and dried in the sun so that it can be used as fuel.

After drinking the water, Zhang Fei suddenly asked Han Mu, "Brother has been very close to Zilong recently. I guess he is planning something. Old Han, do you know the reason?"

Han Mu came from a very humble background and was promoted to county lieutenant when he was nearly fifty years old, so he did not have a courtesy name, so Zhang Fei had to call him by his surname.

Because he was methodical and extremely steady in his work, he was appreciated and promoted by Liu Bei. Also valued by Liu Bei was Zhao Zhen, a relative of Zhao Yun who came from Changshan to join him. Both of them are currently captains in charge of 800 men.

Han Mu shook his head and said, "Third General, I am currently in charge of the auxiliary soldiers and military equipment. I am so busy every day that I wish I could be two people. How can I have time to inquire about this information?"

"If you want to know, just go ask the Lord of the Mansion. You are his third brother. What can you get out of asking me, Old Han?"

Zhang Fei's eyes widened as he said, "Old Han, what you said is so boring. If I had the convenience to ask, I would have asked a long time ago. I think my brother might have forgotten about me and regarded Zilong as his third brother."

Zhang Fei pulled the kerchief tied on his head, his tone quite dissatisfied.

Han Mu couldn't help laughing after hearing this, and said with a sigh: "The third general really has a very good relationship with the Lord of the Mansion."

(End of this chapter)