Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 310 New Rules for Suppressing the Rebellion

Using deception to lure the enemy is a common and ubiquitous tactic, and it is also the most widely applicable operation.

However, Liu Bei was never afraid of his enemies using such ingenious schemes.

Zhang Hong's swindling skills weren't high enough to easily fool Liu Bei.

After all, Liu Bei had always cooperated with cunning old foxes like Jia Xu.

Moreover, when it comes to ingenious strategies, Liu Bei himself was no less capable than anyone else.

In fact, Liu Bei's weakness was conventional warfare—he had not learned military tactics before his time travel, and his current skills were actually learned from Duan Jiong, but the learning period was very short, and at that time he was not able to engage in large-scale battles.

The mobilization and deployment of large armies, such as simultaneously controlling the actions of multiple troops numbering tens of thousands, was not Liu Bei's forte.

Back then, Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju were very capable of controlling multiple troops and carrying out large-scale operations simultaneously in Youzhou. Liu Bei knew that it would be extremely difficult to achieve the same level of capability.

In other respects, Liu Bei could easily defeat Zhang Chun, but when it comes to such a large-scale mobilization, Zhang Chun's clan had participated in and witnessed countless battles on the border. Whether in terms of family tradition or the coordination and cooperation of clan members and retainers, they were indeed superior to Liu Bei.

Because these days there are no telephones, no instant messaging, and war is not like playing a game; it's not something that can be effectively executed just by considering everything.

Communicating orders relies on people running errands, military orders rely on written communication, and assigning tasks depends on the subordinates' ability to understand them in sync; otherwise, things could easily fall apart.

Just like what happened between Zhang Baiqi and Jiu Chi in Beixin City, it wasn't that the two of them had a problem with their abilities, but rather that their ways of thinking were different and they couldn't coordinate when dividing up tasks.

Everything has to be done by people.

In particular, the management connection between the middle and lower levels needs to be handled by educated people; otherwise, even military orders cannot be properly broken down and transmitted.

From generals, to colonels, to commanders, to platoon leaders, to squad leaders, and finally to squad leaders...

Commands need to be relayed through many levels, and the specific arrangements involved at each level are different, requiring decomposition layer by layer.

Just like the order Liu Bei gave to Guan Yu to reinforce Qu County, while also being wary of spies planted by the enemy.

Guan Yu naturally assigned different tasks to his three division commanders. These tasks were not "reinforcing Qu County", but rather specific tasks for each division, including what to do, how to do it, where to attack, and how to attack.

The tasks assigned by the commanders to their subordinate marquises were to be assigned to specific pavilions, bridges, streams, and hilltops...

What Qu Hou needed to convey to the team leaders was that we were responsible for this hilltop, each team was responsible for which side, and what methods they would use...

The squad leader gave orders to the sergeants: who went up the mountain, who climbed the trees, who went into the houses, who carried supplies, and who collected the bodies...

When the order reaches the corporal, it still needs to be broken down and distributed to the five men, but it no longer needs to be communicated in writing.

Each level requires interpretation, and once the troops disperse, subsequent military orders must be transmitted in writing—all those above the rank of platoon leader or squad leader must be literate, must have sufficient comprehension and task breakdown abilities, and must have a synchronized way of thinking; otherwise, close collaboration is impossible.

Being "cultured" and having "synchronized thinking" are the core of execution.

—This is the advantage of wealthy and powerful families.

Only wealthy and established families have enough "cultured individuals with the same way of thinking and the ability to collaborate synchronously" to provide stable and efficient middle-level coordination.

For example, powerful families like the Yuan and Kong families had tens of thousands of members, including thousands of clansmen and nearly ten thousand retainers, most of whom were educated.

These people all come from the same school, have similar ways of thinking, similar methods of doing things, have undergone the same long-term training, and have the same behavioral patterns...

The most important thing is to have enough people from the same school with basically the same way of thinking. Only in this way can effective collaboration be formed when deconstructing tasks step by step.

Only a family like this can organize such a large-scale operation at the same time.

For example, cutting off the land and water routes to Luoyang at the same time would cause Luoyang to run out of food.

For example, at the same time, they organized the surrounding counties of Qingzhou to surround Qingzhou, attempting to cut off the emperor's decrees.

A thousand cultural figures working in unison can organize 100,000 people; only when tens of thousands of cultural figures work in unison can a million people be effectively organized.

But right now, Liu Bei only has about a thousand literate men under his command, and that's only because he's been running night schools in the army to teach literacy.

If we're really talking about cultured people who have actually received a proper education, there are probably only about a hundred of them.

Moreover, apart from the unified training that Liu Bei consistently implemented within his own army, the others did not possess the same mindset and methodology; they were simply willing to follow Liu Bei—they came together from all over the country, and their thinking and behavioral habits were different.

This certainly makes it impossible to carry out large-scale operations.

This is the disadvantage of coming from a poor family.

Only Liu Bei's own army, which had always been trained in a unified manner, possessed a truly high level of execution capability.

Apart from the military, other matters are actually difficult to coordinate on a large scale. Jia Xu's flood control was essentially based on the military's execution capabilities, and the military settlements were subsequently established.

Acknowledging one's own shortcomings and recognizing the strengths of one's opponents, and finding ways to make up for one's weaknesses, is a fundamental principle in doing things.

To compensate for the lack of mid-level talent in his own forces, Liu Bei had to establish an academy and, in the name of Liu Xie, the legitimate emperor, transform the Jixia Academy into an official institution of learning.

They fund and cultivate a group of cultured individuals from the same lineage, sharing similar thought patterns and identifying with their own ideology. —Controlling culture and education is essentially controlling thought patterns, and this is the true way to control the world. This is also why prestigious families seek to control the right to interpret scriptures.

At the same time, in order to make up for his own lack of power, Liu Bei had to protect Liu Xie, preserve the last dignity and prestige of the Han Dynasty, and maintain the basic vitality of the Han Dynasty. He could not allow the whole world to fall into a situation of warlords rising up and killing each other. Otherwise, Liu Bei would have no chance to cultivate his followers.

To achieve anything, one must have a builder's mindset, accept the imperfections of the world, correct mistakes while preserving vitality, and devote oneself to building up those imperfections in order to make the world a better place.

You can't just cut off your head to treat a headache, can you?

If you only think, "This world is terrible, so we should kill them all and start over," this kind of violent, destructive mindset will only make the world worse.

Throughout history, the warring states fought each other for decades. From the beginning of the Zhongping era to the end of the Jian'an era, nearly 60 million Han Chinese were reduced to just over 10 million. In the end, who benefited?
Those foreign tribes are just waiting for the Han people to fight amongst themselves and die out!
Moreover, the warring states only benefited powerful families and clans, but not Liu Bei—powerful families and clans naturally had enough mid-level talents, but Liu Bei did not!
Furthermore, preserving Liu Xie's and the dignity of the Han Dynasty would allow Liu Bei to obtain true supreme authority.

—This authority is actually higher than that of the emperor.

Because it offers greater freedom.

The emperor is part of the existing rules, and if new rules are to be created, the emperor himself will inevitably be bound—Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling have already proven this.

But Liu Bei didn't need to...

Liu Bei could break the rules, rebuild them, and not be bound by them.

Because it is the emperor who is bound.

……

Now, Liu Bei is about to establish another new set of rules.

Que Xuan proclaimed himself emperor, which was of course completely unforgivable. Under the banner of "purging the emperor's inner circle," only the ringleaders could be punished, but proclaiming oneself emperor was a completely different matter. Everyone associated with Que Xuan had to be executed, otherwise anyone could "recommend" an emperor.

Que Xuan's subordinates and clansmen must have been aware of the consequences. In other words, if the rebellion were to be quelled normally, all of Que Xuan's men would fight to the death, making it difficult to resolve the battle quickly.

From Sui Gu in the past to Que Xuan now, or Chang Xi of Mount Tai, there are always some fools in this world who can't see things clearly. They think that being an emperor is the best thing in the world, and that having an army means you can rule the world...

Anyway, that's how crude the thinking is. They didn't even figure out the order of things... At least they had to unify the world before they were qualified to call themselves emperor. Who the hell would recognize a nobody like that, calling himself the Son of Heaven in a village?
But that's exactly what the enemy wanted—to deliberately fund those foolish, self-proclaimed emperors who were just small fry, forcing Liu Bei to constantly entangle himself with them.

Anyway, there are a lot of fools like this. They think that a famous person in the world wants to "rely on them" after receiving a sum of money, and they get arrogant very quickly.

Liu Bei did indeed need to send troops to quell the rebellion, but he did not want to get bogged down in a long-term campaign of suppressing the rebellion. However, he also needed to quickly deal with the local warlords. So what should he do?

Of course, we should let the enemy deal with the bandit leader on their own.

After sending Guan Yu, Liu Bei led his army south and sent out a "tender notice" to all the important towns of Xuzhou, including Tancheng County, Guangling County, Huaipu, Huaiyin, and Sheyang, as well as to all the powerful families and clans.

Yes, it's about quelling the rebellion through bidding...

Especially since Cao Cao had already become the General Who Subdues Rebels after participating in the Guandong Rebellion, perhaps Zhang Chao would not refuse to be the General Who Destroys the Enemy to lead troops to quell the rebellion.

Want to bleach your skin?

On behalf of the Emperor, Liu Bei is giving you this opportunity!

However... to clear one's name, get promoted, make money, and become a general, one must definitely compete for the position!

It needs to be rolled up...

As for those powerful clans who have soldiers and provisions but no opportunity, or those aristocratic families who are not convinced by Liu Bei, you don't need to join Liu Bei. You can bid for the contracts yourselves. Joint bidding within the state is allowed!

The matter of establishing a prefectural school in Xuzhou was also put out to tender!
Joint bidding is also allowed!

Previously, officials were recommended and appointed, and orders were issued to launch campaigns. This was a single-line assignment logic after authorization and military command—essentially a task allocation logic.

Now, the entire Han Dynasty can no longer authorize and appoint soldiers; they are all private armies belonging to various families.

This kind of assignment makes it difficult to motivate people. Some people will watch the show with an attitude of "it's none of my business," while others will shirk responsibility and obstruct. Those who are assigned the task are eager to make contributions but often lack the ability to mobilize other forces.

Therefore, Liu Bei took a one-step approach and implemented a bidding competition – the 'Son of Heaven' designated the rebels, publicly issued tender documents, and clearly stated what official positions and titles would be obtained at each stage, what costs would be incurred and what benefits would be gained, with the risks and profits clearly outlined.

Unlike before, when credit was awarded later, and it was uncertain whether or not a reward would be given, or how it would be given... there was even a possibility of being punished.

Now everything is clearly listed, just like the military merits in Liu Bei's army—after suppressing the rebel army of Que Xuan, the person who made the greatest contribution by leading the main force was given the title of General Who Destroys the Enemy, enfeoffed as a county marquis, and all previous crimes were pardoned.

He was credited with the greatest contribution to logistics, and was appointed Prefect of Xiapi and Marquis of Guannei.
He could be granted titles such as General of the Vanguard, Marquis of a Pavilion, etc., for beheading the enemy and achieving other merits.

Everything is clear and transparent, and the bidding process is fair and transparent, with no deception of the young or old.

If someone has the ability to bid but doesn't participate in the bidding, then the emperor has reason to be suspicious—and thus, the next designated traitor, the next target to be listed in the tender documents, will emerge...

Xu Shu put a lot of effort into this matter. He was quick-witted and wrote the tender document very clearly.

The key point is that Liu Bei wasn't trying to cheat anyone; his own troops would be the main force, so there was no risk in bidding for this project!
(End of this chapter)