Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 69 Military Discussion
Wang Li was efficient and soon more than 20 team leaders and logistics managers arrived. They smiled and greeted each other while still outside the curtain, and Zhao Huaian could hear them clearly inside the curtain.

Zhao Huaian is now considered a small military leader, and he has learned a lot of the advantages and bad habits that military leaders should have.

In Baoyi City, he basically did not set up any organization above the team level. Now there are thousands of people in the army, and there are twenty-two team leaders alone.

However, after dividing the left and right wings, Zhao Huaian placed a total of six teams, including the Beiwei Left and Right Teams, Bashan, Guide, Tieshou, and Tuqi, directly under his command.

The Iron Beasts were established after Zhao Huaian promoted Han Qiong during the ambush at Xianren Fort. All fifty members of his team were modeled after Han Qiong, wearing three layers of armor and wielding heavy weapons such as bone clubs, heavy axes, and iron maces. They were all heavy infantry.

The Tuqi were based on Guo Congyun's companion cavalry, and absorbed the defeated troops from Yanhai, Boye and other places as well as more than 20 Nanzhao knights, with a total number of about 40 cavalrymen.

Among them, Guo Congyun led thirty cavalrymen to escort Zhao Huaian, for the purpose of delivering orders and pursuing the enemy, while Ding Huaiyi led ten elite cavalrymen for patrol, serving as the eyes and ears of the entire city, responsible for reconnaissance and espionage during marches and before battles.

Although these six teams only have 300 people, they have gathered the best of the entire city.

But even though the elite of each team had been transferred to six teams, Zhao Huaian was still very cunning. He divided the remaining sixteen teams into two wings, but did not appoint an officer. Instead, he made each team leader directly responsible to Zhao Huaian.

It can be said that the Baoyidu organization at that time had clear hierarchies below the team level. Both the team and the gang had two positive and negative ranks, and then below the gang there was a flag chief, whose position was the same as that of two squad leaders.

In other words, in a gang of no more than ten people, there are two chief and deputy chiefs, one flag chief, and two sergeants. The number of actual soldiers is the same as the number of small leaders.

Above the team level, there are twenty-two people in total, all of whom are at the same level and are directly responsible to Zhao Huaian. It can be said that except for Zhao Huaian, the only one who can mobilize all of them is Zhao Huaian. No matter how good the person below is, he can only command fifty people.

Zhao Huaian certainly understood that doing so would put enormous pressure on management. With more than 20 people reporting directly to him, it would take an hour just to complete the reports each day.

But the longer he stayed in this era, the more Zhao Huaian realized that sacrificing this little time was necessary.

Nowadays, soldiers really dare to dream of becoming military leaders if they have fifty soldiers, and dare to dream of becoming military governors if they have a thousand soldiers. They are so energetic to the extreme.

Zhao Huaian is such a person, so he also understands that the people below him will think the same way.

Now Zhao Huaian has indeed won the hearts of the soldiers. Relying on large amounts of wine, meat, money, and concern for them, as well as giving them enough emotional value, and promising them everything, Zhao Huaian can confidently say that he has the thousand people in Baoyi under his control.

But we should be prepared for the worst. What we are doing now is to serve as a fuse for that worst. Once something unspeakable happens, the traitor has only fifty soldiers at most. How can he accomplish anything?

But even after doing this, Zhao Huaian was still not at ease.

Now the six teams directly under his headquarters are actually equivalent to the internal troops of the vassal state, and the remaining sixteen teams are equivalent to the external troops of the vassal state.

In addition to the six direct teams, he also has a team of people. These are Zhao Huaian's disciples, adopted sons, and close associates who have not yet completed their apprenticeship. They either hold armor for Zhao Huaian or carry a stool for him. In short, these people provide Zhao Huaian with everything he eats and uses.

Then these people lived in the same tent with Zhao Huaian, and they were also the group of people Zhao Huaian trusted the most.

They were all called "Yishelang" by Zhao Huaian, and they all kowtowed and swore an oath to Zhao Huaian.

It can be said that Zhao Huaian is really a master at drawing circles. There is a circle outside, another circle inside, and then another circle inside the innermost circle.

With this triple insurance, no matter what lunatic sharpens his knife at night, he will never be able to kill him outside his tent without his knowledge.

……

At this moment, Zhao Huaian nodded, and his adopted son Zhao Wenzhong, who was guarding the side of the curtain, went out in armor and called all the captains to come in.

Because spring has begun to return these days, and to facilitate meetings, Zhao Huaian's squadron set up a curtain using bamboo poles to enclose an open space.

At this time, seven or eight braziers had been set up in Makuuchi, burning charcoal that had just been smoldered during the day, making the open space in Makuuchi warm and bright.

Afterwards, under the leadership of Zhao Wenzhong, Han Tong, Zhang Dai, Lu Zhongyuan, Gao Renhou and others entered one after another.

They were all wearing armor and holding helmets, and sat on the stools on the left and right sides of Zhao Huaian.

There is no need to arrange seats. Just sit in the order of left and right wings, and then teams one to eight.

At this moment, Wang Jin, who was sitting first on the left side of Zhao Huaian, was the leader of the mountain-pulling team. His troops were all armored soldiers, and were often used to break through enemy lines.

Zhao Huaian respected Wang Jin very much, and he had saved Wang Jin's life, so he was personally willing to promote Wang Jin as his right-hand man.

And Wang Jin is indeed a man of great ability. Not only is he an extraordinary warrior, but he is also able to win the hearts of the people and share the joys and sorrows with his subordinates. This is extremely rare among the warriors of the Tang army today.

Later, he privately asked Wang Jin why he assassinated the monk of Daci Temple. The answer was as Zhao Huaian expected, that is, to avenge one of his comrades.

The head monk of Daci Temple forced his comrade's family to death for a piece of land. After Wang Jin retreated to Shuangliu with the Sichuan-West Army, he wanted to find his comrade to reminisce about the past. After knowing this, he avenged his comrade without thinking.

Zhao Huaian had a strong intuition that Wang Jin must be his destined assistant, so Zhao Huaian did not treat such a heroic and righteous hero as an ordinary person.

Not only was Wang Jin directly promoted to team leader, but his position was also above all other generals.

There is no fixed rule for employing people; employing them depends on one's heart. For people like Lao Liu, he laughed, scolded, and laughed without restraint, which only made him more friendly; and for a great general like Wang Jin, Zhao Huaian respected and honored him, and gave him full honor.

……

Here, Wang Jin and others sat down. On the stool on the left, Lu Zhongyuan just lifted up his armor skirt and sat down, then smiled at Zhao Huaian in a flattering manner.

In this dynasty, the left is respected, but in the army it is the other way around, with the right being respected.

So Wang Jin sat on the lower right side of Zhao Huaian, above all the generals.

After everyone sat down, Zhao Huaian first chatted and laughed with everyone. When the atmosphere became lively, he talked about going to the big tent to challenge for a battle today.

As for his gift-giving and dancing, Zhao Da didn't mention a word.

When they heard that the general had been given the urgent task of attacking the city three times among the army of more than 10,000, everyone's attitude became more submissive.

After all, who doesn’t want to work under a generous, hard-working and promising leader?
Compared with the first two, having a promising future is even more important.

Many of the warriors present were no rookies, like Gao Renhou in the crowd. How could he not be fierce? He was the first to ascend the stage, and he won many battles, but in the end, didn't he still achieve nothing?
Whether or not one can make meritorious service is one thing, but having the ability but not being able to report it is another.

In the current situation, everyone is clear as day. Although the enemy troops in Qiongzhou are numerous, they have been cut off from their retreat routes and are now trapped.

At this time, making military achievements is like picking up something for free.

As a result, everyone became more motivated and eager to try.

This is exactly the effect Zhao Huaian wants. Sometimes it is not so important whether you have someone above you or not, but it is often very important whether the people below you think you have someone above you.

After a cough, Zhao Huaian began to make promises, saying that the Jiedushi and General Yang attached great importance to this battle, and the Jiedushi had just taken charge of the government and it was the time to recruit people. If we fight well, how could we not get enough rewards and official positions?
In a word, the project is a good project, and now all we need is for the brothers to work hard.

Sure enough, after Zhao Huaian's speech, the "simple" soldiers were stimulated and screamed again.

It was not until this time that Zhao Huaian began to arrange the military strategy in an orderly manner, including who would attack first tomorrow, who would be the second, who would be the third, and who would be the general reserve.

Then, what should be done if they won the previous time, what should be done if they were defeated the previous time, and after reaching the top of the city wall, they should immediately rush into the city and open the gate. Zhao Huaian explained all these in great detail, which impressed everyone.

These are exactly the results of Zhao Huaian's constant consultation in the army.

Unlike the warriors of this era, Zhao Huaian actually had a very low starting point. Many traditional warriors not only learned art, but also learned military tactics.

Moreover, each of these military commanders in the vassal states has a family background in learning. After all, the vassal states have been in existence for more than a hundred years, and the experience of the military commanders in the vassal states has been passed down from father to son, and has long been very mature.

But Zhao Huaian didn't understand any of this, but he had an advantage, which was that he had a learning ability far beyond his time. Even though he had only experienced a few major wars, Zhao Huaian's own military notes were already very thick.

He also loved to drink with the foreign warriors in the army, such as Li Shitai of the Zhongwu Army. This old guy was well versed in military tactics, and his family had been loyal and military generals for generations. It was said that his ancestors were generals when they were in Huaixi Town.

Zhao Huaian learned a lot of things from Li Shitai, and because Zhongwu does not border western Sichuan, Li Shitai has no intention of guarding against Zhao Huaian.

In his opinion, after the Zhongwu Army finished fighting and returned to rotation, he and Zhao Da might never see each other again.

In this way, Zhao Huaian learned a lot. On the one hand, he combined his own cognition to ponder and improve it, and truly learned the art of war according to the principle of "one copy, two modify, three surpass".

Here, after Zhao Huaian finished speaking, he asked the warriors present to discuss it together.

From the perspective of maintaining authority, he should have been the last to speak, but compared to authority, winning the battle is more important now.

The battle was won, everything was right.

Later all the generals spoke, and even Zhang Dai, who used to be a bandit, put forward a suggestion. He said that they could get a batch of straw rolls and push them forward when the time comes. This would not only block the arrows, but also set fire to the gate after pushing it to the city gate.

Zhao Huaian clapped his hands and gave direct feedback.

Very good, this suggestion is very insidious, use it.

In this way, everyone spoke enthusiastically and finally perfected the plan to leave the city tomorrow.

After the military meeting, Zhao Huaian did not keep anyone, and asked everyone to go back and give their respective military orders, so that the brothers could rest early.

When the place was empty, the old Mexican came over reluctantly and whispered something to Zhao Huaian.

At that moment, Zhao Da frowned.

(End of this chapter)