Mang Shusheng's Ink Painting Practice

Chapter 154 Military Talent
Zhao Yifu is a person who either doesn't do something or tries his best to do it well.

He stood in the middle of the camp waiting for the troops to gather, while he closed his eyes slightly and sank into the sea of ​​consciousness, where he found the note "Fate Gathering" from Emperor Wenheng.

He clicked it without hesitation and selected [Military Way].

In fact, with his current understanding, he has already understood that this "Military Way" is just a simple military operation, which is different from the "Military Strategists" that people often talk about. The "Military Strategists" theory is not only about military combat, but also about national affairs and people's livelihood, which is more extensive.

He originally thought it was just a narrow subject to study, but when he clicked in, he discovered that there were even more branches...

[Command], [Logistics], and [Drills].

These three items are indeed the most important contents of commanding troops and fighting wars. He feels that if Miss Zhou can have this system, she will definitely be able to achieve her dream.

After thinking about it, he felt that he definitely didn't need to conduct a [drill] this time. However, since he was going to send troops out overnight and was almost destined to fight to support the war, he would definitely need the qualities of [command] and [logistics].

What he needed to look at now was the overnight march, so he immediately looked at [Command].

There are sub-options under [Command]: [Morale], [March], [Battleground], [Land War], and [Naval War].

There are five small options. Morale and marching are self-explanatory. Land battle and water battle are also clear at a glance. The word "Lin Zhen" means "Lin Zhen" but it should actually mean "changing formation" or "responding to changes".

Zhao Yifu looked at the five options and without thinking, added Yang and spiritual energy to the [March] item, which was what he needed most at the moment.

The next moment, [March] was filled.

He suddenly understood that, in fact, the entire [Military Dao] did not consume more energy than the [Martial Arts Holy Body], it was just that its sub-items were more detailed.

The next moment, his head was filled with the summaries of various experiences in commanding marches... From commanding ten people, fifty people, one hundred people, five hundred people, one thousand people... to commanding one hundred thousand people, all the marching experiences appeared in Zhao Yifu's place.

These are all Emperor Wenheng's own summaries of leading troops. He is indeed very experienced.

However, Zhao Yifu had a deep regret hidden in his heart... He had gained the experience of leading troops from Emperor Wenchang. It would have been much better if he could learn from the 'Military Immortal'.

I always feel that Emperor Wenheng's swordsmanship is good, and his martial arts body is also very good, but his military skills are ultimately lacking a bit of meaning...

He even disliked it.

But think about it, after all, he has the ability to command a troop of 100,000 people.

After feeling the loss of Yang and spiritual energy, Zhao Yifu found that if it was a sub-item like [March], he could upgrade five more.

There's nothing much to say about this, just raise the [Morale] quickly.

Then he discovered something amazing, that is, this [Morale] option is actually divided into multiple levels, including commanding ten people, fifty people, one hundred people... up to three hundred thousand people.

Being able to command an army of 100,000 men on the march and yet maintain the morale of an army of 300,000?

I have to say that Emperor Wenheng is quite something.

Zhao Yifu rushed to the top in one breath and found that he did not gain any experience, but something like an instinct... that is, knowing the general emotional direction of his soldiers.

I see, this is how they maintain morale...

Zhao Yifu nodded secretly.

Looking at the soldiers in front of him now, he could vaguely feel that the morale of these thousand militiamen was generally stable.

This was the case even when they were told to march suddenly. This was because of Zhao Yifu's prestige and Wu Zhong's strict training on a daily basis.

Zhao Yifu looked at Wu Zhong with satisfaction and said, "Uncle Wu, I didn't expect you to be able to train soldiers."

Wu Zhong said embarrassedly, "In fact, the moves that the young master taught are good. Many of these militiamen also practice martial arts. After practicing the young master's moves, they can actually see significant improvement. Therefore, no one dares to be lazy. They are all grateful."

Zhao Yifu nodded and continued to close his eyes and click on his talent.

There is still some Yang and spiritual energy left, and I can choose "four talents".

Considering that he would have to command the battle next, Zhao Yifu did not hesitate and lit up the [Land Combat] talent again.

At this time, a huge amount of land combat experience came together, and he found that there were actually other subdivisions under [Land Combat].

For example, he gained experience in commanding an army of 80,000 soldiers, including small categories of single-type soldiers such as 80,000 sword soldiers, 50,000 archers, 80,000 long soldiers, 50,000 shield soldiers, and 30,000 cavalry.

There are different types of troops, but the total number of troops under command can only reach 80,000.

Therefore, when actually commanding the troops, one needs to carefully study the combination of various arms. But in any case, Zhao Yifu currently only needs to command a thousand miscellaneous soldiers, which is more than enough.

Of course, the flaws are obvious: he has the ability to suppress the morale of 300,000 people, but can only manage the march of 100,000 people and command the battle of 80,000 people...

Zhao Yifu was very sure that although this big man had a high historical status, his military ability was not top-notch.

No, it's still top-notch.

Zhao Yifu looked curiously at the [Water War] option that was currently unused.

After some understanding, he found that this option could also give him the ability to command 80,000 naval forces.

Eighty thousand ground forces and eighty thousand naval forces, these two can actually be commanded in parallel!
In other words, he can maintain the command of an army of 160,000 on land and sea!
Speaking of the army alone, Wen Heng is not the strongest in history, and the same is true when it comes to the navy alone... But when it comes to both land and sea, this comprehensive capability is hard for anyone to match.

Zhao Yifu suddenly realized that the real strength of the boss lies in balance.

Thinking of this, he felt relieved, but at the same time he felt ashamed of his previous disgust.

With three talent points left, Zhao Yifu no longer looked at [Leadership] this time. He still had to solve his own urgent problems.

He clicked on the [Logistics] talent.

It turns out that this talent category also has branches: escort, military construction, city building, camping, and overall planning.

At first glance, it is classified as a 'civil servant'.

In this category, what Zhao Yifu values ​​most is "camping", which is closely related to marching.

As a lot of camping experience flooded into his mind, Zhao Yifu immediately grasped the relevant information.

This is indeed very useful. It also includes a lot of content on terrain observation, which is quite inspiring for Zhao Yifu.

But Zhao Yifu felt that the other options in the [Logistics] category were not so necessary.

There were still two chances to choose. Zhao Yifu felt that he might as well keep these Yang and spiritual energy and make up for it if he found anything missing during the action.

This [Military Dao] talent was actually a summary of Emperor Wenheng's lifelong military experience during his time on earth. At least for Zhao Yifu, it was sufficient for now.

At this moment, he suddenly felt a huge influx of yang and spiritual energy.

Although it is not as much as the previous "tens of thousands of dads", it is still as much as "three or four thousand dads".

At this time, Ying Cong saw his cat painting.

Zhao Yi Fu was secretly delighted. It seemed that it wouldn't take long for him to learn all of Emperor Wenheng's experience in commanding troops.

He is now beginning to like this way of learning, it saves so much effort.

The next moment, he suddenly opened his eyes.

To be honest, his martial arts strength is now greatly influenced by Emperor Wenheng. The heavy and sharp power he has learned from the way of the sword alone has instantly boosted his momentum in commanding troops.

So when he raised his eyes, the originally noisy training ground immediately became quiet.

These thousand newly trained soldiers didn't dare to say a word.

Zhao Yifu nodded slightly. He didn't say anything long, but said calmly, "Everyone, follow me!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he mounted a warhorse and trotted out of the camp gate.

The miscellaneous soldiers immediately followed under the leadership of their respective commanders.

Zhao Yifu sat up straight, turned his head slightly to look behind him, and was surprised to find that everyone's morale was even higher.

Maybe he used his true energy when he gave orders just now, so that everyone could hear his military orders.

No wonder many powerful generals have loud voices, and the morale of the subordinates of loud-voiced generals is generally not low.

Marching at night is actually a very dangerous thing.

So Zhao Yifu personally led the way.

He rode the horse for a while and then stopped because he found that the horse's physical strength was not as good as his. Should he be asked to carry the horse while running?

He walked alone, but he would never let the soldiers ignore his presence, because he would keep breathing heavily, reminding those behind him to be careful about the depth of their steps and to pay attention to whether there were people falling behind.

In that era, probably no general would march like this, but the thousand people led by Zhao Yifu were completely conquered by him during the march, or in other words, they were integrated into one another.

They were familiar with Zhao Yifu's appearance and voice, and were used to following his orders and showing his concern, to the point of unconditional obedience.

In the middle of the night, Zhao Yifu managed to make this ragtag army march fifty miles at night!
Even though the official road was easier to travel, it is undeniable that Zhao Yifu has initially demonstrated his ability to command troops.

There was a reason for such a hasty plundering. There was no way to save the villages that had already been looted. Along the way, we did encounter villages that had been looted and were left with no grass.

His goal was to prevent those people from leaving the city to plunder again!
At this time, because of his previous Yin Shen leaving his body, he had a global picture of the entire Yuzhou.

At least last night, the distribution of the bandits in the entire Yuzhou was still in his mind.

He went to a bandit camp... or rather a temporary gathering point. When he investigated last night, there was only the outline of a camp.

As for now...

The air was filled with the smell of alcohol, and there were even sounds of women screaming and thieves reveling.

They were tired after robbing for most of the night, so they came here to 'rest'.

Zhao Yifu's voice reached every soldier under his command. He said, "Yuzhou has been ravaged. It will soon be our home."

"Perhaps holding onto Xiaoliupo would be a safer decision, but why should we let the flames of war burn to our doorstep?"

"For the sake of your loved ones, for the sake of your parents, wives and children, kill these man-eating beasts outside your homes!"

It was a short speech, but it illustrated the stakes.

At this moment, the morale of the thousand soldiers suddenly rose.

Then Zhao Yifu waved his hand and said, "Attack from the east. Do not touch innocent people and take no prisoners."

The next moment, he walked towards the camp first.

Soon, some local militiamen passed by him and rushed directly into the camp.

This camp looked like it was built haphazardly, with almost no layout to speak of. The east side was even a huge hole...

They probably didn't expect someone to come and kill them at this time.

Zhao Yifu walked calmly among them, allowing his soldiers to act freely.

Because these militiamen are led by children from prominent families, their execution capabilities are very good, at least at the grassroots level.

The enemy was completely unprepared, and the entire camp was captured in just a quarter of an hour, with almost no decent resistance.

Even the enemy's main generals were mostly drunk and couldn't even hold their swords, so there was naturally no need to think about resistance.

Zhao Yifu stood at the gate of the camp and waited for a while, and immediately someone came to report: "Your Excellency County Lord Zhao, there are a total of 400 people here. In addition to those from Jingshan, there are a few people with curly brown and yellow hair who don't look like native Chinese." Zhao Yifu understood, as he had already discovered something when the Yin Shen investigated earlier.

He said, "Those are all spies from the Liao Kingdom in the north... But this time we won't take any prisoners, so let's kill them all."

"Yes!"

The men took the order and left.

Zhao Yifu decided to take the responsibility for this murder.

When Zhao Yifu saw those people with northern characteristics, he knew that this was the Liao Kingdom's unique military training model.

Let the new recruits burn, kill and loot, and cultivate their ruthlessness as quickly as possible so that they can quickly form combat effectiveness.

This was an action completely aimed at destruction, which Zhao Yifu found deeply disgusting.

"Take good care of the captured civilians. Brothers, take turns resting, but don't take off your armor. Allow me to consider our next move."

Zhao Yifu gave orders quickly.

The leaders of each family followed the order and left.

By this time, it was already dawn, and the militiamen used the supplies looted from the camp to quickly cook a meal to replenish their consumption.

Zhao Yifu sent the man with a mustache to continue the investigation.

He found that these rebels were poorly prepared, or rather, their defenses in the south were very poor, and they mainly deployed tight defenses in the direction of Jingshan Province in the northeast.

I guess he was scared by the beating from his teacher Zhou.

At the same time, Zhao Yifu also estimated the number of rebels entering Yuzhou, which was about 8,000 to 10,000.

Of course, their number was not enough to match that of a thousand people, but except for the three thousand people deployed on the Jingshan border, the rest of the ten thousand people were scattered around looting.

This makes sense.

The mustache returned and reported, "Master, we have already found out that there are only 300 soldiers defending the area in the direction of Qi County."

Zhao Yifu nodded calmly, then ordered: "Brothers, we should quickly attack Qi County and then spend the night in Qi County."

The militia cheered and responded to the order.

Then the group set off again and marched quickly towards Qi County.

As for the innocent women who were abducted, they were given some food and allowed to keep up with the march.

It doesn't matter if someone leaves with other ideas.

After another half day's march, Qie County came into view.

Zhao Yifu ordered his men to raise the flags captured during the night raid on the camp, and then they rushed forward in a noisy manner.

It's a subtle thing to say. The militiamen did not have a uniform, and the rebels also did not have a uniform.

As a result, when the mob saw the random soldiers, they really thought they were their own people.

The defenders on the city wall didn't realize something was wrong until they got close to the city gate, but it was too late to close the city gate.

Zhao Yi Fu rushed to the front alone. Seeing that the city gate was about to close, he rushed forward and put his hands on both sides of the city gate, and forced the gate open with his own strength.

There were four or five people pushing the door on each side, but the combined strength of eight or nine people was not as great as his.

"color!"

The militia cheered and rushed into the county town with high morale, and then quickly occupied the strategic positions in the city.

Zhao Yifu just "pushed the door" from beginning to end, but the soldiers he led were howling and their morale was high, while the rebels collapsed and fled.

The recovery of Qi County was simple.

Then Zhao Yifu sent out Little Mustache and a group of detective cats, and called out the local wealthy people one by one.

Military supplies are a very important matter. If he wants to continue fighting, he must obtain enough military supplies from these big players.

However, things were not so smooth this time.

In Fenglin County, he conquered all the big families with thundering means, which enabled him to have the final say and gain full support in Fenglin County.

But now...

These rebels also did not touch the interests of the wealthy, and asked them to spend some military funds to buy peace. But now that Zhao Yifu has recovered Qi County, these people are unwilling to give up their money.

Looking at these big families who spoke nice words but kept crying poor and were unwilling to provide military supplies, Zhao Yifu became angry but did not take any tough measures.

[We raided their homes, so why don’t you raid their homes and investigate them?]

Someone watching the 'live broadcast' was furious, and the honorable Emperor felt betrayed.

Zhao Yifu crushed a piece of ink in his sleeve and let it fall onto the drawing paper in the space between his sleeves.

"How can I care about them now? Besides, this place isn't under my jurisdiction. Bringing in militiamen to suppress the bandits is already overstepping my authority. If I continue this killing spree, I'll be annoyed to death by the censors."

"You already know about these people's situation. After I've sorted out the affairs of Yuzhou, why don't you personally issue an imperial decree to make the final decision?"

That side was coaxed.

Ying Cong said: [Okay, I will definitely send someone to deal with this properly.]

[It's a shame. If I hadn't just promoted you, I wouldn't have let you run the affairs of Yuzhou.]

Zhao Yifu said helplessly: "Alright, these are just trivial matters. Since I can't get supplies here, I can only pursue a quick victory."

Ying Cong worriedly said, "A quick victory? I certainly hope for a quick victory, but I also know that we shouldn't rush into battle..."

Zhao Yifu smiled. "What are you thinking? It's not that I look down on them. They're just a bunch of ragtag troops formed by a makeshift team. I don't need to be cautious with such an enemy."

[It's getting late, you should get some rest and stop staying up late.]

Ying Cong agreed reluctantly, but he actually felt warm in his heart.

This seemingly casual concern actually gives people the most intimate feeling.

After finishing the conversation, Zhao Yifu waved his sleeves, no longer showing any good face, and ordered his men to take these wealthy people away.

When the wealthy families saw that he suddenly became serious, they knew that they had offended the county magistrate of the neighboring county.

However, many of them disagreed. After all, Zhao Yi Fu was only the magistrate of a neighboring county and had no control over them.

Zhao Yifu ignored these big families, but hurriedly ate something in the county government office, and then threw out a piece of ink... The ink block quickly spread out, condensed water vapor in the air to form an ink ball, and then formed a topographic map of the entire Yuzhou on the wall of the county government office.

He drew the distribution of the bandit troops in Yuzhou, and then made changes based on his own deductions to determine the current positions of the bandit troops in various places and their possible future movements.

These things were not included in the "Military Way" inheritance, but were compiled by him based on the information he had mastered and the military books he had read, combined with various marching experiences of the "Military Way".

It can be said that the entire situation in Yuzhou is under his control.

Perhaps even without Emperor Wenheng's inheritance of the "Military Way", he could have become a good commander with his own talent and learning ability... Of course, he might not have the mind to delve into this.

Just as Zhao Yifu was standing with his hands behind his back, deducing the battle situation, Xiaohu, who was guarding outside the door, suddenly reminded him, "Master, someone wants to see you."

Zhao Yifu was surprised: "Who is it? What's going on?"

Xiao Hu said, "He said he admired the master's heroic spirit and wanted to serve under him."

Zhao Yifu understood, so it was no wonder that Xiaohu would pass the message on to this person.

These cats all have one characteristic: they love to share their owners with others.

Zhao Yifu said, "Let him in."

A moment later, footsteps were heard. Zhao Yifu did not put on airs, but turned around and went outside to meet the person.

"I, Yang Zaixuan, pay my respects to Lord Zhao."

Zhao Yifu was quite surprised to see the man prostrating before him, as he was actually taller than him. He had grown a bit since opening his Martial Arts Saint Body, reaching about 1.92 meters tall, but Yang Zaixuan was probably about 1.98 meters tall.

He instantly thought of his 1.95-meter-tall sister... Hmm, it seems like he can marry his sister off?

Ahem, he quickly withdrew his thoughts.

He carefully examined Yang Zaixuan's figure and face, then smiled and said, "Your father just came here, didn't he?"

Yang Zaixuan was stunned for a moment, then nodded and said, "My father, Yang Jiye, was indeed summoned by the county lord just now."

"But my father is, after all, a countryman, without great ambition or foresight, and certainly not one who can appreciate the heroic spirit of County Lord Zhao."

"I just saw it with my own eyes. The county lord single-handedly opened the city gate. It was truly an unparalleled divine power. It was truly awe-inspiring."

"I have also been diligently studying literature and martial arts since I was young, and I am worried that I have no way to serve my country. Now I am willing to follow in your footsteps and serve you."

Zhao Yifu patted his shoulder and said, "Have you told your father about leaving home to serve me?"

Yang Zaixuan nodded and said, "Father neither opposed nor supported me. He just let me come because he saw that I wanted to come."

Zhao Yifu laughed and shook his head, saying, "Your father is actually very smart."

Then he said, "Then you can start by being my personal soldier."

Yang Zaixuan agreed excitedly.

Zhao Yifu had actually sensed Yang Zaixuan's physical strength through the action of patting his shoulder just now... There were indeed signs of years of exercise, and judging from the strength of his bones and muscles and muscle density, he was probably a gifted and powerful brother.

At this moment, a voice suddenly came from the nearby wall: "Master, we have detected that someone left the city overnight and tried to contact the rebels."

Zhao Yifu's eyes narrowed slightly.

Yang Zaixuan's expression changed, and he gritted his teeth and said, "I'll go get that bastard's head!"

Zhao Yifu held him back and said, "Don't worry, this is a good thing."

Yang Zaixuan showed a look of surprise.

Zhao Yifu looked at the shadows on the wall and said, "Tell them to pass on the message and keep an eye on the surrounding movements. Keep it confidential and don't disturb everyone's rest."

The dark shadow immediately obeyed the order and disappeared over the wall.

Yang Zaixuan then said thoughtfully, "County Lord... Is the Lord planning to call for reinforcements?"

Zhao Yifu looked at Yang Zaixuan in surprise. His purpose was very simple, but he didn't expect that this rough-looking man in front of him could actually see it.

He nodded with satisfaction and said, "You are very good."

He had decided to give the young man a chance.

Yang Zaixuan didn't know what his actions had won him and his family...

(End of this chapter)