Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 89 Transfer Order
On an auspicious day, after a grand feast and rigorous training, 50,000 soldiers and an equal number of laborers marched in a grand procession to Yazhou City.

Yazhou has always been an important stronghold for the Tang Dynasty in defending against the Tibetans and the Nanzhao Kingdom. It must be captured no matter what, otherwise the fertile land of the Chengdu Plain will never have peace.

Therefore, no matter how far the war goes, Yazhou will always be a place that the Tang army will inevitably take.

Previously, Gao Pian led 5,000 infantry and cavalry in pursuit to Yazhou, but only managed to defeat a portion of the Nanzhao army and failed to capture the city.

Now, in the second month of spring, Gao Pian has once again mobilized a large army, and is bound to unleash his thunderous wrath.

To support this decisive battle, the Western Sichuan government exhausted its treasury, with the Ministry of Finance allocating 300,000 strings of cash and grain to the front lines. The carts and horses transporting supplies from Chengdu to the front lines stretched as far as the eye could see.

Tens of thousands of laborers from six prefectures worked day and night along this supply line to provide for the needs of the 50,000 Tang troops fighting on the front lines.

These laborers and local militias were already on the verge of bankruptcy, but when the county sent laborers down, they still came to support the front lines.

After all, life would only get better if the Nanzhao people were driven away.

Yes, that's what the local powerful officials all say.

So the people, who were already suffering from the ravages of war, gritted their teeth and persevered, hoping that they could just endure it a little longer.

……

Among the southward-bound army, Bao Yidu marched listlessly along the winding, long snake.

The reward from the envoy only kept the brothers' enthusiasm going for half an hour. The tedious and boring march really left Bao Yi and his men with little energy.

Zhao Da stood on the donkey cart, watching the procession beside him carrying flags, rifles, and heads down as they hurried along.

He didn't say much, didn't scold, and didn't even try to inspire anyone.

People's energy is limited, especially for the officers and soldiers of Baoyidu. Although these soldiers eat well, it's just rice with dried radish and pickles. When rewarded, they get a meal of mutton. It's unrealistic to expect them to be constantly motivated.

Of course, Zhao Da could also use his prestige to drive others, but prestige is like a piggy bank; you can only spend money when you need it if you keep depositing money into it.

The prestige that Zhao Da had cultivated with so much emotion and money was not meant for this.

As usual, several other staff members were also sitting in Zhao Da's donkey cart.

Besides Wang Duo, Zhang Guinian, and Xue Hang, there was another newcomer, He Weidao, a scholar from Qiongzhou who was rescued by Zhao Da from the livestock pen of the general.

Zhao Da interviewed this person. This kid is indeed worthy of studying the Spring and Autumn Annals. He is a bit cunning and has a great talent for power struggles. Therefore, Zhao Da promoted him to a military post.

He Weidao's dream of rising from a slave to a military advisor could only be realized under Zhao Da's command.

He Weidao was naturally aware of this situation, so although he arrived late to Baoyidu, he worked the hardest.

His actions forced Wang Duo, Zhang Guinian, and Xue Hang to become more proactive.

Zhao was delighted with this, believing that introducing a "catfish" (a metaphor for a disruptive force) is indeed a good way to improve performance, no matter where you are.

Zhao Da was standing in front of the donkey cart when he suddenly heard Xue Hang say something from behind:

"My lord Bao Yidu is indeed full of vigor and spirit, and you have indeed trained your troops well."

Yes, since Zhao Da was promoted to Right Wing Military Commander, he can now be addressed as "Commander". In just four months since arriving in the Tang Dynasty, Zhao Da has risen from a lowly soldier to a mid-to-high-ranking military commander, a remarkable achievement.

Zhao Da was stunned for a moment after hearing this. He turned around and was about to scold Xue Hang, but he saw that the people on the donkey cart were nodding.

Zhao Da hesitated for a moment, then turned around and asked:
“How come you see?”

Zhao Da lacked experience in leading a force of a thousand men. At this moment, Zhao Liu and Wang Duo, who had been in the army for seven or eight years, or even longer, began to evaluate their own officers and soldiers in Baoyidu from their own perspective.

It is meaningless to talk about samurai, because each city and army has its own samurai, who are skilled in battle and often undertake the majority of the troops' assault tasks.

Therefore, in the Tang army's regional military camps, there was often a thousand-man team, with three hundred as the main attack force, three hundred capable of defensive duties, and the rest only able to transport supplies.

However, due to Zhao Da's military management philosophy, he required each unit to be 100% combat-ready soldiers, and he was very strict about this aspect.

So even though the Baoyi were in a lax marching state, they still marched according to the unit's organization, with flags and drums clearly marked, spears in hand, and armor hanging on the supply wagons, ready to deal with any emergencies at any time.

Zhao Liu, Wang Duo, and others realized from this point that Bao Yidu's true fighting strength was no weaker than that of the Yellow-Headed Army within the vassal state.

Zhao Huai'an was initially skeptical, but then he saw a familiar group of five men walk past his donkey cart and called out to them:

"Xiao Fu, come here for a moment."

Yes, this Xiao Fu is Fu San, Fu Tong, Zhou Dexing's subordinate who guarded the granary in Qiongzhou.

As Fu San passed by Zhao Da, his chest puffed out. Suddenly hearing his own general calling him, he rushed over, excitedly saying:

"Dudu, you still remember Fu San!"

Zhao Da didn't speak, but Zhao Liu next to him laughed;

"We will never forget every soldier under his command!"

Zhao Liu's words were well said, and Zhao Huai'an rarely gave him a thumbs up. Then he asked:
How has the march been?

Fu Tong puffed out her chest and replied loudly:
“It’s not tiring to walk at all. The cloth shoes that were issued to us are much easier to walk in than the straw sandals we used to wear. Our feet don’t hurt at all.” After saying that, Fu Tong lifted the shoes on her feet. They were a pair of cloth shoes, one of the many warehouses that Bao Yi had seized in Qiongzhou.

Zhao Huai'an noticed this detail for the first time. After all, he had never worn straw sandals in his two lives, so how would he know how big the difference was between walking in straw sandals and walking shoes?
Zhao Da then asked Fu Tong for more details and roughly figured out that walking in cloth shoes could cover one-third more distance than walking in straw sandals, and was also faster.

Now Zhao Huai'an finally took the little cloth shoes in front of him seriously.

It seems that the combat effectiveness of the troops is not as simple as just shouting slogans and paying salaries; everything lies in these details.

Zhao Huai'an made a note of this, then comforted Fu San and sent him back.

Fu Tong straightened her chest once again, stepped back, and led her teammates to continue moving forward.

Watching Fu Tong's departing figure, Zhao Huai'an smiled. This Fu San always liked to puff out his chest, which was quite amusing.

With explanations from his staff and firsthand accounts from Fu Tong, a low-ranking official, Zhao Da finally began to correct his judgment.

Perhaps this is the wisdom of collective discussion: it's not that a group is necessarily wiser than an individual, but rather that it allows decision-makers to discover more blind spots in information and make more correct decisions.

At this moment, Zhao Da has grown again.

The group chatted for a while longer, mainly discussing the condition of the team's armor, the maintenance of their weapons, the reserves of supplies, and the morale of the troops.

These were mainly spoken by Wang Duo. At that time, the staff of the four departments could not be distinguished, so Wang Duo, the chief secretary, was in charge of all of them. He had a hard time during this period.

In addition, He Weidao, a local, added a detail: he said that every February, Yazhou and Lizhou would experience torrential rains, and the Dadu River would also flood, so the army needed to prepare more raincoats to cope with such extreme weather.

Zhao Da hadn't thought of this before, so he asked Wang Duo to write it down and to search for raincoats as soon as they arrived at the supply point.

And so, Bao Yidu's small team of advisors sat on the small donkey cart, discussing and arranging the follow-up matters without realizing it.

In the early stages of a startup, team efficiency must be this high.

After they had finished dealing with most of the important matters, Zhao Liu suddenly chuckled and told a piece of gossip.

He said to the group:
"Do you know why the crown prince of Nanzhao is going back with us to restore his kingdom?"

After asking the question, Zhao Liu didn't wait for a reply and began to speak:
"After we sent Longshun to Commander Yang, the King of Nanzhao deposed the crown prince and replaced him with his younger brother. Oh, and that's not all. Don't be fooled by Longshun's short stature and gentle manner; he's actually quite fierce!"

Then Zhao Liu told everyone the gossip he had heard from his fellow villagers in Changwu Army.

It turned out that when Long Shun was sent to Gao Pian, Gao Pian had just captured a general from Nanzhao. In order to find out the truth about Nanzhao, Gao Pian assigned this task to Long Shun.

Unexpectedly, Long Shun was too lazy to persuade him and began to torture the Nanzhao general. First, he peeled off the man's scalp, then blinded him. When he later learned from the man that his father had abandoned him, Long Shun became even more furious.

He personally cut off the ears of the Nanzhao general and presented them to Gao Pian. Then, after the man was on the verge of death, he cut off his limbs and slit his throat.

Zhao Liu recounted the story he had heard from the villagers of Changwu Army in a vivid and detailed manner. Because of his exceptionally smooth delivery, several of the staff members present felt a chill run down their spines.

Goodness, is Long Shun really that ruthless?

Zhao Da stroked his short beard, noticing that his subordinates seemed somewhat frightened, and directly scolded Zhao Liu:

"I sent you running around, not to inquire about these things. Didn't Liu Xin and Liu Zhijun want to come to our army? How did you handle that?"

Zhao Liu felt sorry for Zhao Da when he talked about this. Zhao Da really didn't know how to do business. He went to ask for people, but in the end he was persuaded by them and the Yanhai Army took advantage of him. They said that if he wanted to change his military status, it would cost two hundred strings of cash per person, no discounts.

He had initially tried to delay, but Zhao scolded him again, which finally made him pay the money.

He then informed Zhao Da of the progress:

"The Yanhai Army is very accommodating. They've already given us Liu Xin's military register. Little Liu and his brothers in his camp are having drinks, probably planning to bring a few men with them, so they haven't returned to their posts yet. It's just that the Ganhuai Army is a bit of a problem. Back then, Sanlang was probably just trying to fool us, saying that 200 guan wasn't enough and that he'd only release the men if we had 10 warhorses."

So, Zhao Liu thought about it and said maybe we should forget about it, but to his surprise, Zhao Da didn't hesitate at all when he heard this:
"I'll have Lao Guo go with you later, and give him ten warhorses. If Sanlang tries to play tricks on us again then, it won't be fun."

Zhao Liu clicked his tongue in amazement. Zhao Da was making money faster and faster, but he was spending it even faster.

Ten warhorses for one person? That's incredibly daring. He finally managed to buy those warhorses from Liu Xin, and now he's given them all away.

However, he had figured out Zhao Da's temperament. He knew that when Zhao Da wanted to do something, he shouldn't ask why, but just how to do it.

So Zhao Liu nodded and prepared to take care of it later.

Who would have thought that Zhao Huai'an couldn't even wait that long and urged him on:
"Don't sit there. I'll have Lao Guo take you to the reformatory right now and bring Xiao Liu back quickly."

After saying that, Zhao Huai'an glanced at Guo Congyun in the distance and beckoned him over.

Just then, a knight carrying a command flag and holding a feathered proclamation galloped from the rear of the column towards Zhao Huai'an, shouting:

"Right Wing Military Commander Zhao Huai'an, listen to my order: your troops are to immediately proceed to Jidong Pass and open up the passage to Yazhou."

Zhao Huai'an took the urgent dispatch, glanced at it, and indeed it bore Yang Qingfu's seal. He loudly replied:
"I will obey your orders."

A moment later, the entire Baoyidu force accelerated and headed southwest towards Jidong Pass.

(End of this chapter)