Water Margin people

Chapter 1489: Abnormal Army

“Is that so?”

Wu Jie looked at Qi Huai'en without comment and spoke. He didn't believe that Qi Huai'en didn't have a detailed map, nor did he believe that so many Qingtang Zuo Siluo people couldn't put together a detailed map.

"Alright, I know everything. We are exhausted after traveling all the way here. We need to rest. Have someone prepare some wine and a banquet!"

Liu Qi looked at Qi Huai'en and spoke.

"Generals, please take a rest. I will have someone prepare the equipment right away!"

Qi Huai'en smiled and went out.

"There's something wrong with this guy!"

Liu Qi looked at Qi Huai'en who was leaving and whispered to Wu Jie.

"Well, I guess he's just pretending to submit, and he's still thinking about restoring his country!"

Wu Jie nodded and said that these impoverished foreign nobles all wanted to restore their country without exception.

"It seems that this matter is not easy to handle!"

Liu Qi sighed. He originally thought that he could just lead his troops to the plateau and capture cities. But now he saw that the soldiers around him were all traitors. This matter suddenly became too troublesome.

"If it were easy, His Majesty wouldn't have asked us to do it. If we succeed, we can be promoted to full general, build a battalion, and lead an army! If I'm not mistaken, we will probably build a plateau battalion and lead a plateau army!"

Wu Jie said, the Emperor of Qi was clear about rewards and punishments, and all rewards were related to the merits achieved. How could such a heavy promise be an easy thing to make?

Qi Huai'en soon came in with a banquet. A few roasted whole lambs and some bread were the best banquet.

Wu Jie and Liu Qi took their seats with smiles on their faces, and the banquet continued in laughter.

"The two generals have come from afar, let's have a drink!"

Qi Huai'en smiled and raised his glass while looking at Wu Jie and Liu Qi and the others echoed him.

However, Liu Qi and Wu Jie did not hold up their wine glasses.

"There is a rule in the Qi army that all soldiers must toast when they are outside!"

Liu Qi looked at Qi Huai'en and spoke in a cold voice.

These words instantly silenced the jubilant military tent. The smiles on everyone's faces froze, and the raised wine glasses seemed to be frozen.

"Haha, we have lived in a remote place for a long time and almost violated military regulations. It's a sin! A sin!"

Qi Huai'en put down his wine glass with an embarrassed look on his face and apologized.

"Ignorance is not a crime. Your Majesty is the most tolerant. He always gives a lenient sentence to first-time offenders, but the second time, he will be punished for both crimes!"

Wu Jie spoke.

Qi Huai'en's face was even more embarrassed. He thought that he just had to give in and apologize, but he didn't expect the two people in front of him to be so serious and not give him any face at all.

"I will learn this and will never do it again!"

Qi Huai'en smiled and clasped his fists.

"Since everyone is here today, let's talk business. His Majesty sent us here to solve the problem of fighting on the plateau! You are all from the plateau, so please share your opinions."

Wu Jie looked at everyone and spoke.

This sudden mention of business caught everyone off guard; they didn't expect that business would be discussed at the welcoming banquet that had just arrived.

"General, in my humble opinion, we should first capture Qingtang City and kill the rebels there!"

Qi Huai'en was the first to speak. Qingtang City was the capital of their Qingtang Tubo, but it has now been occupied by the Qiang people.

"Qingtang City? That's a bit far!"

Wu Jie looked at Qi Huai'en and spoke. From Qi Huai'en's words, he could conclude that Qi Huai'en had ulterior motives. Submission was just a temporary measure. The real purpose was to rebuild Qingtang Tubo.

"General, rest assured. We will fight bravely and kill the enemy." Qi Huai'en promised, and the others also promised.

"I'm afraid this matter needs to be carefully planned. The journey to Qingtang City is long, there are many cities in between, and there are also many enemies..."

Liu Qi talked about the troubles he encountered along the way.

Qi Huai'en was extremely persistent at this time, and gave solutions to all the problems along the way. He even explained that some tribes were loyal to them, Qingtang Zuo Silu, and as long as the army arrived, those tribes would surrender.

At the banquet, Qi Huai'en kept talking about his plans, and asked Wu Jie and Liu Qi for help, hoping to send troops as soon as possible. However, Wu Jie and Liu Qi did not respond, but just said that they needed to discuss it in detail.

After the banquet ended and Qi Huai'en and others left, Liu Qi sighed.

"As you expected, this guy wants to use Qi to restore his country!"

Liu Qi looked at Wu Jie and said.

"We have to find a way to divide them! Get a group of trustworthy soldiers!"

Wu Jie spoke.

"Any good ideas?"

Liu Qi quickly looked at Wu Jie and asked.

"You should have seen it just now. Not all of them are the remnants of the Qing Tang. Many of them are local Han people. It's just that they have lived here for a long time, so their skin is dark red!"

Wu Jie spoke up and said that through the conversation just now, he discovered some problems in the military camp and that people could not be judged solely by their appearance.

"Yes, indeed, you can tell from the accent and habits!"

Liu Qi spoke.

"Let's start from here and assign our people to different military units. His Majesty has given us an imperial decree to act at our convenience. It won't be a problem for us to assign some low-level officers positions."

"Through our people, we can screen the army in detail and distinguish the loyal from the disloyal. This way, we don't have to worry about Qi Huai'en and Qingtang Tubo anymore."

Wu Jie expressed his thoughts.

"That's a good idea! Let's arrange it tomorrow!"

Liu Qi immediately agreed, this was indeed the best and fastest way to control the army.

"In addition, we also need to have our own strategy and cannot listen to Qi Huai'en. Our main task is to ensure the logistics of the Western Army."

Wu Jie spoke.

"But the Hexi Corridor is too long. The tribes along the way rely on this trade route for looting. We can't protect such a long road."

Liu Qi spoke with a worried look on his face. He didn't feel much when he looked at the map, but when he saw the hugeness of the Qilian Mountains with his own eyes, he realized more and more how small he was.

"There's no need to attack them all. We just need to find the most powerful tribe on the plateau and make an example of them!"

Wu Jie spoke.

"Killing a chicken to scare the monkey? What a good plan!"

Liu Qi was overjoyed when he heard this, as this method could solve their predicament.

On the second day, Liu Qi announced new personnel appointments, which caused dissatisfaction among many people. They felt that it was not right to seize power as soon as he arrived.

But Liu Qi didn't care about them. Anyone who dared to oppose the imperial edict would be considered disobeying the order and be punished by death.

Qi Huai'en looked very ugly. If Liu Qi and Wu Jie just didn't give him face yesterday, then today they were a direct slap in the face.

"Damn it, how can it be like this all the time!"

Qi Huai'en looked at Liu Qi and Wu Jie with gritted teeth, but he didn't dare to say it out loud, because he didn't dare to rebel against the powerful State of Qi. He just wanted to recover his homeland. It was a plateau and people from the Central Plains were not used to living there. In the end, he would definitely be appointed to manage it, and in this way he would be restoring his country.

"The appointment has been issued. Everyone will get familiar with each other in the next few days. We will conduct an assessment in three days to see how strong the army is! Those who fail will be persuaded to return."

Wu Jie looked at the crowd and said that those who were willing to come to the border areas to serve as soldiers were those whose families could not make ends meet and who came to seek a way to make a living and were unwilling to leave easily.