Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 89: Terrifying the Mountains and Rivers
The mule and horse team led by Li Guo went ahead - this was a cavalry team temporarily formed by the Qihuo Army.

Rather than being cavalry, they were more like infantry riding inferior horses, mules and donkeys.

He led hundreds of "cavalry teams" and quickly crossed dozens of miles to reach the battlefield.

As the ruined officers' and soldiers' camp gradually appeared in his sight, Li Guo smelled the foul odor of dead bodies and burnt things in the air.

The air seemed to have been scorched by a fire for several hours, and there was an obvious wall of temperature dividing the two, with the scorching summer in front and the cold late autumn behind.

He continued to ride forward on his warhorse, and all he saw were the corpses of soldiers and livestock.

The dilapidated carriages were overturned, the half-burned flags fluttered in the wind, black smoke rose from the burned tents and bonfires, officers and soldiers who had died in various ways were lying in a mess, and the newly injured war horses lay on the ground and wailed.

Are these the masterpieces of the 800 brave warriors of the Qihuo Army?

He galloped on the battlefield strewn with corpses, carefully searching for the figures of the old soldiers of the Beggar Army. Every hundred steps or so, he could see the figures of old soldiers of the Beggar Army traveling together.

Several people dragged the prisoners who had lost their armor and weapons slowly back. Some people threw a bunch of things they picked up into the bag. Some people pressed the prisoners under them and beat them up. Some people ordered the prisoners to carry large and small bags for them. Some people even recognized Li Guo and waved to him.

Each of them had white cloth wrapped around their forehead and arms.

Although the cloth strips had been stained black with blood and mud, Li Guo could still tell from the common characteristics of these people that they were the Beggars Army.

Because they were beating the prisoners.

That's right.

Although the Qihuo Army was known as the "Buddhist Army", that was only in comparison with the officers and soldiers with poor military discipline, and it did not mean that the soldiers of the "Buddhist Army" had no temper.

They rarely killed surrendered soldiers unless they could no longer stop fighting, and beating prisoners was their favorite way to vent their anger.

According to the Beggar Army, sparing the lives of the defeated soldiers is already their greatest mercy. Otherwise, the enemy soldiers would be arrogant and crazy before the battle, and if they lost, they could survive by surrendering. That would be too comfortable. The defeated soldiers must be given a little suffering to tell everyone that there will be a price to pay for being an enemy of the Beggar Army.

For the prisoners who were beaten, being scolded and beaten was bearable. As long as they were not killed, anything was acceptable.

As time went by, the main infantry of the Qihuo Army gradually arrived, and the scattered veterans of the Qihuo Army also came back one after another with prisoners.

But there is something wrong with the number of veterans in the Beggar Army. Has their number increased?

Li Guo rubbed his eyes and counted several times based on the obvious features of the white cloth, but it was still wrong.

It was clearly eight hundred brave warriors who risked their lives to fight, but when they counted them carefully, there were actually more than a thousand of them.

Every old soldier in the Beggar Army has a temperament different from ordinary people. When compared with the government troops, they are like wolves and dogs. The former are brave and ferocious, with their tails down, and can be distinguished at a glance.

It's like when you see a familiar move in a martial arts novel, you know which school or sect it comes from. When you see the "Iron Mountain Backrest", you know it comes from Kunquan. It's hard not to recognize it.

How is it that in a war, not only are there no casualties, but the number is almost doubled?
It’s impossible that the extra veterans emerged from the mud, right?
Li Guo shook his head. He really couldn't understand the way the Beggars' Army did things. Sometimes they were serious and brave, and sometimes they were funny and weird. They always did something shocking, but he could always get it done.

Last night, eight hundred veteran soldiers attacked the government army camp. Not only did they achieve a resounding victory, but they also gained hundreds of more troops as the battle went on.

Could it be that the Beggar Army is really destined to be the one chosen by heaven, and that everything they do is blessed by gods?
With the assistance of the main force of the Qihuo Army, matters related to counting supplies and reorganizing the surrendered soldiers were handled quickly.

In this battle, 800 veterans of the Qihuo Army defeated tens of thousands of government troops, wounded or killed 7,000 people, captured 18,000 people, and countless soldiers escaped. However, their own casualties increased by 400 people. After the war, there were only more than 1,200 veterans of the Qihuo Army left.

The captured food and fodder was enough to feed tens of thousands of troops for a month, and the horses, donkeys, and mules that were slowly collected totaled over 4,000. There was also an innumerable amount of gold, silver, valuables, cattle, sheep, chickens, pigs, weapons, armor, carriages, carts, tents, flags, and other supplies.

Li Guo felt a little embarrassed when the coalition forces were distributing the spoils.

He was unable to participate in the battle to defend Xi County because he belonged to the main force and was ready to fight the government troops in the field at any time.

Raiding the government army camp at night was a "suicidal" assault adventure that the Qihuo Army absolutely wanted to take part in, but he was unable to participate in the battle because it was an uncertain harassment operation and it was not appropriate to bring the main force.

He thought over and over again but could not figure out what qualifications he had to distribute the spoils. The only thing he did was to escort food and supplies to the county town on a regular basis, which was considered as fulfilling the duties of a "grain transport officer."

Even if the generals of the Qihuo Army did not care about these trivial matters and wanted to commend him, he would not have the face to accept the money, food and soldiers given to him.

So after Li Guo repeatedly refused, the Qihuo Army had no choice but to accept all the captives and most of the money, food and supplies, and only allocated some money, food and weapons as rewards to Li Guo's troops.

The Qihuo Army selected the best from among 18,000 prisoners, and incorporated 9,000 into combat units. The rest were disbanded and reorganized, and temporarily detained in prisoner camps in various counties for forced labor for a period of time.

When the captives are trustworthy, they will be allocated land for military settlement.

In this way, excluding Li Guo's troops, the entire combat force of the Qihuo Army has reached more than 27,000 people.

"Should we rest for a day before crossing the river to lift the siege of Xi County?" Li Guo pointed out that the battle was not over yet.

"No, the battle in Xi County is over. Our army has won a great victory. Our army arrived outside the city through the secret passage dug in Xi County. At the same time as our army attacked the government troops at night, they also attacked the besieging troops at the same time and succeeded. They are now recruiting the defeated soldiers and counting the spoils."

"The siege is over, and Xi County has won?"

Li Guo was puzzled. He and the main force of the Qihuo Army had been stationed in Gwangju. In addition to the news he had received earlier that the gentry and landlords were ready to organize their clansmen and militia to revolt, he sent people to evacuate the surrounding people.

The second was in the early morning when the commander of the Qihuo Army asked him to prepare for departure and lead the army out before dawn.

In addition, he and several generals of the Qihuo Army have not received any updated battle reports from Xi County in recent days.

why?
The commander of the Qihuo Army can always do this, as if he is using a secret technique, and complete the information exchange without a messenger?
"Hahahahahaha... Xi County has been relieved, and the government troops have been defeated. Our army has won a great victory in this battle, and the crisis in southern Henan has been resolved in one battle. Now the government troops can only retreat to the city, and half of Henan is now in the hands of our beggar army."

Young Li Laiheng was very excited, as if he saw a brand new regime rising.

He had followed his adoptive father to fight under the King of Rebellion in the past, but he never had a base to stay. After today's battle, they were finally promoted from "roving bandits" who had been on the move for many years to "seated bandits" who ruled a local area.

There are hundreds of thousands of people in the five states and counties in total. If one in ten men is selected, 10,000 to 20,000 soldiers can be mobilized.

Combined with the coalition's current strength, it would have thousands of elite troops and tens of thousands of auxiliary forces. With such a force, attacking the prefectural capital, or even the provincial capital, would be a piece of cake. But why haven't the Qihuo Army, after fighting so hard for so long, planned to claim the throne?

Some rebel armies rushed to proclaim themselves emperors as soon as they had captured a few counties, and conferred titles on a bunch of princes and ministers, some of whom wished they had more princes and ministers than the imperial court.

However, the Beggars' Army was much more cautious and steady than those impatient rebel armies, and they showed no sign of becoming king even after their victory.

There is indeed no rush to proclaim oneself emperor, but one should at least declare to the world that he is the king, establish his own government, and hold his own imperial examinations to select talents, right?

If a military group wants to transform into a local government, the first thing they have to do is to hold an imperial examination and recruit talents from all over the world to fill the gaps in the government affairs under their rule. Only in this way can they sort out a series of national affairs such as administration, justice, taxation, conscription, transportation, etc.

At present, the Beggar Army is severely beating up the local tyrants and dividing their land, and publicly trying a group of garrison officials and wealthy families, which has completely offended the local wealthy families.

You have to know that those who can read and write these days are at least from wealthy upper-middle class families. Only a very few who are struggling can embark on a bright road with luck and noble people.

Without the support of intellectuals, it would be difficult for a regime to control the grassroots.

A bunch of crude warriors who conquered the land couldn't even read, had no idea how to govern their territory, and simply relied on crude and crude methods of governance to barely survive...

As a result, Li Laiheng felt that he could ease the tension with the gentry a little, and make some laws with them, and use them to regulate the new order under his rule - which would protect the interests of the poor and gain the support of scholars.

Li Laiheng knew that his adoptive father was an honest and kind man, and he also knew that his own army was the Chuang Army, an outsider faction to the Qihuo Army, and he could not interfere in such important political affairs as "claiming the throne" and "holding imperial examinations to select scholars."

But that didn't stop him from making a few subtle remarks, saying that it was getting colder in autumn and that the commander of the Qihuo Army should put on more clothes. Other colors didn't look good, so it would be better to choose a yellow robe, which would definitely keep him warm.

The generals of the Qihuo Army understood his hint, but they all said that there was no rush.

If he could not break into the capital and kill Chongzhen's son, what difference would it make whether he was called a king or not? Those gentry and scholars who were loyal to the Ming Dynasty would never support unorthodox rebellion.

"As for the strategy of easing relations with the gentry, that's absolutely unacceptable! This time, the torture of the captives has revealed many treacherous individuals hiding under our rule. Among them are some who appear subservient and honestly cooperate in paying taxes, but secretly collude with the government and the military to fight against us!"

"Even if we treat them with respect and courtesy, they will still regard us as crude rebels and will never participate in the imperial examinations we organize.

Besides, we don’t want these pedantic scholars to be officials, so as not to pollute our new environment.”

"Fuck these traitors! I'm going to kill them all, chop them into pieces, and cook them into a pot of minced meat for the traitors to eat!"

"Use the sandalwood torture. A sharp stake is driven into the back and comes out through the mouth."

"Yeah! I love this!"

The commander-in-chief and generals of the Qihuo Army began to discuss excitedly again.

Hanging street lamps, splitting earthworms vertically, pouring molten iron into ant holes and boiling them in a pot, lighting sky lanterns, slow slicing of death, and extermination of nine generations of a family...

Whenever they talked about the cruel methods to be used to kill rebels and evil gentry, they were more excited than anyone else. They wanted to catch an unlucky guy on the spot to satisfy their desire, which gave Li and his son a headache.

Although the Beggar Army's hatred for the powerful and evil gentry was sky-high, Li Guo could also understand it.

He guessed that the generals and officers of the Beggar Army must be poor people from poor backgrounds, who were bullied by powerful gentry since childhood, or were forced to lose their families by their masters. So when they saw evil people doing evil, they wanted to eliminate the evil, avenge their former weakness, and fill the regret in their hearts.

"After this battle, many soldiers have made great contributions. We should hold a celebration banquet to reward them." The commander of the Qihuo Army suggested.

"It's better to pursue the enemy while they are victorious. Once the enemy flees back to Runing, it will be difficult for us to capture the city." Another veteran of the Qihuo Army retorted.

"We have absorbed a lot of surrendered soldiers from Xi County. If we don't reorganize and digest them for a few days before going into battle, aren't you afraid that they will stab us in the back?

Besides, after our tens of thousands of troops are reorganized, we can surround Runing. Even if we can't take it immediately, we can still take the opportunity to surround it and attack its reinforcements."

"Oh—really! When the enemy reinforcements arrive, we will lead our army straight at them and catch them off guard. Then we will continue to besiege the city and continue to fight the reinforcements."

"So, we should take a long-term view and not be obsessed with the petty gains in front of us. We should just respond to whatever the government troops do."

Li Guo listened with great interest. Every time he heard the Beggars discuss military affairs, there would be some "good ideas" that would make his eyes light up.

Although most of the strategies and tactics in the world are in ancient historical books and some military manuals, few of them have been learned and used anytime and anywhere.

However, the Qihuo Army seemed to share a common brain of "military strategies and ideas". Whenever they talked about military deployment, they could come up with some thought-provoking ideas.

Even when implementing some tactical plans with little hope, the generals of the Qihuo Army would lead the troops themselves instead of sending militia and other side troops to serve as cannon fodder.

Just as Li Guo was sighing at how convincing the Beggar Army's fighting was, he saw a group of veteran Beggar Army soldiers who were eating suddenly put down their bowls and screamed in surprise, "New version updated", some sitting and some standing, gesturing with their hands in the air.

More than a thousand people raised their hands and wrote in the air at the same time, which looked exactly like a sacrifice ceremony at a cult. Even though Li Guo had seen it several times, he was still frightened by this sudden and strange behavior.

He really wanted to ask, next time you do this, could you please give us advance notice?

However, the players could not hear Li Guo’s inner thoughts and were completely focused on the new version of the game that had just been updated.

The main changes are "new main lines, side lines, special tasks", "new player entry notification", "professional focus subdivision", "battle group unit" and so on.

New content added to the original main mission of attacking southern Henan:

The goal of capturing Runing City was to kill the vassal king and seize his money, food and property.

Cooperate with the upcoming cadre team to connect with the grassroots administration, judicial and taxation work in the five states and counties.

"New Player Entry Notification": In the future, the maximum number of newly added players in recent times will be announced regularly at regular intervals to facilitate players to recruit new players and form groups.

For example, today, a few hours after players successfully attacked the government army camp at night and defeated the government army besieging the city in Xi County through tunnels, the game released a large number of activation codes and welcomed 800 new players.

Players of each profession are frantically recruiting new players in the main base, hoping to add fresh blood to their own gameplay.

(End of this chapter)