The Three Kingdoms: The Oath of the Peach Garden, the Rise of the Han Dynasty

Li Chang faced the group of misfit villagers, took out a rough earthenware bowl and a pair of wooden chopsticks, and walked to the front of the line.

"Everyone, don't rush to take sides,"

Li Chang raised his bowl and chopsticks and shouted loudly:

"You all know the guys who make a living, right?"

The local militia were taken aback for a moment, then burst into laughter: "We know each other!"

One clueless young man even pointed at the bowl and exclaimed, "I just ate!"

Li Chang nodded: "Okay, the hand that holds the bowl is your left hand; the hand that holds the chopsticks is your right hand. From today onwards, remember only this one thing, even if you're left-handed!"

He held up the bowl: "This is the left."

He picked up his chopsticks again: "This is the right."

"When I say 'left,' raise your left hand; when I say 'right,' raise your right hand. Those who raise the wrong hand will stay and practice for an extra half hour."

The villagers looked at each other in bewilderment: What's so difficult about this?

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei exchanged a puzzled glance, wondering what their fourth brother was up to.

But after only a moment's thought, they understood instantly!

He exclaimed, "Fourth Brother, what a brilliant idea!"

"Left!" Li Chang suddenly shouted.

Whoosh!

Half of the people in the room raised their left hands, 30% raised their right hands, and 20% looked around to see what others were raising before raising their hands themselves.

The only burly man in the front row, who was quite a rare sight, immediately raised his right hand with a smug look on his face. But when he looked around, his face turned bright red.

"You, step forward," Li Chang said, pointing at him.

The burly man stepped forward, steeling himself.

"What's your name?"

My name is Wang Daniu.

"So confident, are you left-handed?"

"No, no." Wang Daniu blushed and lowered his head.

"Wang Daniu, which hand is left?"

"...I'll try again!"

"Left!"

Wang Daniu immediately raised his right hand, paused for a moment, and then hurriedly switched to his left hand.

A burst of suppressed laughter erupted in the audience.

"right!"

Wang Daniu was stunned again. This time he raised his left hand, then his right, and finally both hands, looking at Li Chang with an innocent expression.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

The laughter finally broke out, and the entire training ground erupted in laughter.

Li Chang didn't laugh. He walked up to Wang Daniu and patted him on the shoulder: "Wang Daniu, you just made five mistakes. Do you know what that means?"

Wang Daniu hung his head: "Practice for another half hour..."

"Very good," Li Chang nodded, "For half an hour, you will only practice 'left' and 'right'. Can you do that?"

"Yes! I definitely can!" Wang Daniu shouted.

"Return to the team."

Li Chang faced the audience again. This time, no one laughed. More than a thousand pairs of eyes were intently watching this thin scholar.

"Divide into groups of ten or five, and appoint small leaders," Li Chang said, turning to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.

"Five men form a squad, headed by a squad leader; ten men form a platoon, headed by a platoon leader. The squad leader remembers the four men under his command, and the platoon leader remembers the two squad leaders under his command. They don't need to be literate, just recognize people."

He paused, then shouted, "From this day forward, three military rules will be established: if the drum doesn't advance, the gong won't retreat, and the squad leader or platoon leader can kick you on the spot."

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei immediately understood and, after receiving a look from Li Chang, stepped forward to add:

"Good work, and there's a reward! The group with the neatest formation will each get an extra piece of fat, about the size of a palm, from the cook tonight. The top performer for three consecutive days gets an extra meal!"

The entire room fell silent for three seconds.

Then, more than a thousand pairs of eyes turned green!

……

That evening at dinner, in front of everyone, the cook placed ten pieces of glistening fatty meat into the bowls of ten people, one by one.

The ten men stood tall and proud, like generals who had won a battle.

Wang Daniu wasn't among them. He held his bowl, gazing longingly at the meat in other people's bowls, and took a big bite of his own coarse grain rice.

"Tomorrow! Tomorrow I must eat that piece of meat! I must be able to tell left from right!"

Several men nearby also made the same vow at the same time.

Zhang Fei was astonished. He leaned close to Li Chang's ear and whispered, "Fourth Brother, I thought you were a gentleman, how could you use such methods..."

He gave a thumbs-up, then felt it wasn't quite right, "He's even better at manipulating people than I am when I'm selling my body."

Before Li Chang could answer, Liu Bei looked thoughtfully at the village militiamen whose eyes were gleaming with greed, and slowly said:

"This isn't about tactics; it's about caring for people! This is benevolence!"

Guan Yu remained silent for a moment, then stroked his beard and said in a low voice, "If there had been such fairness back in Hedong... things wouldn't have come to this..."

Before he finished speaking, his eyes lit up.

Zhang Fei scratched his head: "Alright, alright, you're all right. Anyway, I can see that Fourth Brother's brain works better than mine!"

On the fifth day, just as dawn was breaking, Li Changqing's clear commands rang out on the drill ground.

"Attention, everyone!"

More than a thousand local militiamen instinctively straightened their backs, put their feet together, and pressed their hands tightly against the seams of their trousers. Although their movements were still a little clumsy, the previous chaos was gone.

Li Chang stood on the earthen platform, looking at the nascent formation of the team below, and nodded slightly.

He did not copy the complex military training subjects of later generations, but only selected the most basic and practical ones: standing at attention, standing at ease, aligning, marching in step, and running, along with simple flag signals and commands.

He thought to himself:

These methods might be useless for the regular army that had been training for over a decade during the Three Kingdoms period, but for these local militias who were like blank slates, they were the quickest way to unite their hearts and minds and cultivate a habit of obeying orders.

He then explained to Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei beside him:

"Warfare is not about individual combat, but about a thousand people working together with one mind and obeying orders without question. As long as you can hit the target exactly where you're told, even a farmer can defeat ten times more of a rabble."

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were completely convinced; the results of their training over the past few days had thoroughly convinced them.

Li Chang-ding established the rule of "training every two days, combining training with combat". In the morning, they practiced military discipline and drills, in the afternoon they practiced combat skills, and in the evening they reviewed the gains and losses of the day.

Instead of profound military strategies, the rules are as straightforward as possible: "When you hear 'Forward!', lift your left foot; when you hear 'Halt!', stop immediately. Anyone who is even half a beat slow will be punished along with the entire team; anyone who performs well will share a meal with the whole team."

This simple and brutal system of collective rewards and punishments instantly united the disorganized village militia into a cohesive force.

No one wants to be a burden on the team and miss out on meat, nor does anyone want to be blamed by their teammates for holding them back.

In less than half a month, the scene on the training ground had been completely transformed.

There are no more crooked lines, no more noisy whispers.

At a single command, the thousand-strong column moved with perfect precision, turning left and right in unison. Their footsteps shook the ground slightly as they marched in unison, giving them the imposing presence of a regular army from afar.

Guan Yu stood aside, looking at the troops before him, stroking his long beard in silence for a long time.

His desire to conquer had long been burning, and only now did he truly understand what "strict obedience" meant.

Zhang Fei was utterly dumbfounded. He leaned close to Liu Bei and whispered, "Brother, can you believe it? These are the same peasants who couldn't even tell left from right just half a month ago? Fourth Brother's ability is simply Midas touch!"

Liu Bei's eyes were filled with relief and excitement. As he looked at Li Chang's back, he became more and more certain: "Having my fourth brother is better than having 100,000 soldiers!"

If it weren't for the fourth brother, I don't know how long they would have had to do their research on their own!

Just one month later, the 1,500 local militiamen had been completely transformed.

The troops were well-organized and disciplined, and their combat skills improved rapidly under the personal instruction of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.

Although they cannot compare to seasoned veterans, they are more than capable of dealing with ordinary mountain bandits and outlaws.

On this day, the four brothers gathered in the village to discuss matters.

"Now that our troops are beginning to have combat strength, we can't stay in Zhuojun training forever," Zhang Fei said first, his eyes full of urgency. "The Yellow Turban rebels are becoming increasingly rampant, and the surrounding villages are being plundered repeatedly. It's time for us to take action."

Guan Yu nodded in agreement: "Third brother is absolutely right. It's a good opportunity to use the bandit suppression as a chance to let the brothers see some blood and test their courage."

The two became more and more excited as they talked.

Zhang Fei was itching for a fight: "I've been itching for it for ages! Those bandits and outlaws, I'll take them down one by one with my spear, I guarantee I'll wipe them out completely!"

Upon hearing this, Li Chang smiled slightly and presented a plan he had already prepared:

"My three brothers, please be patient. If we go straight into the mountains to wipe out the bandits, the mountain roads are rugged, and the bandits are familiar with the terrain. We are likely to suffer losses and unnecessary casualties."

The tone suddenly shifts, and he suddenly appears with a vagina:

"Why not use a 'lure the snake out of its hole' tactic to draw the bandits into our territory for a fight?"

"Luring the snake out of its hole?" All three were taken aback.