The Empress Kneels in Her Palace to Admit Her Mistakes After Slaying Her Ways in the Female-Oriented

Ten miles outside Sifang City, Ren Tianye led his well-organized army, advancing in an orderly manner.

"Report!"

A messenger rushed over: "General, some people have come to seek refuge. They claim to be mountain bandits from the surrounding area, but they were originally border troops. They also say that they had corresponded with you, General, long ago."

"Oh?" Ren Tianye was surprised. He had indeed been exchanging messages with the border troops scattered throughout the northern frontier and had invited them to Yunji City, but due to various concerns, they had not yet taken any action.

Now, you've come to seek refuge with us?

I wonder which border army it is?

"Please come here!"

Soon, a burly general, clad in cloth armor and wielding a tiger-headed wolf-tooth spear, strode in with five or six personal guards.

Upon seeing the person's appearance, Ren Tianye immediately knew who this person was, even though he had never seen them before.

Stone Tiger!

Among the northern border troops, besides the Chifeng Army, there were other famous and fierce warriors who were people he had once tried to win over.

"General, I, Shi Hu, have come to pledge my allegiance."

Shi Hu was very respectful.

He threw the tiger-headed wolf-tooth spear to the ground, immediately knelt down, and performed the rites of a subordinate, his posture extremely respectful.

Ren Tianye dismounted, kindly helped him up, and said with a smile, "General Shi Hu, you are too kind."

"Why did you suddenly come to me for help?"

"Could it be that they've changed their minds?"

Ren Tianye asked the question, but in his heart he was pondering.

The biggest reason why we have been unable to recruit Shi Hu is that his original official rank was too low; he was only a guerrilla general, while Shi Hu was a deputy general.

They definitely couldn't accept it psychologically.

This happened so suddenly, there must be a reason.

"Alas, General Ren, I was blind to your greatness!" Shi Hu was clearly a straightforward man, and without beating around the bush, he directly stated the reason: "I previously thought that General Ren, you were merely a minor guerrilla general, how could you possibly command me?"

"But now it seems that it was all due to the tyrannical court burying talent."

"General Ren, you captured Yunji City and utterly defeated the Imperial Guards. How many people can achieve such feats?"

"I, who pride myself on being a military commander and possess extraordinary abilities, have ended up as an outlaw, lacking armor, weapons, and even a warhorse, being chased and killed by a mere small city!"

"If I don't come to General Ren's aid soon, I'll have no choice but to go to the Yellow Springs."

Ren Tianye immediately understood.

It seems that life is tough for bandits.

He laughed and said, "In that case, General Shi Hu, please join me. Let's take over the Great Yu land. By the way, General Shi Hu, how many men did you bring with you?"

"About ten thousand men!" Shi Hu said. "Six thousand of them were former border troops, whom I gathered and assembled on Taoyuan Mountain nearby. The rest were all mountain bandits from the surrounding mountains, whom I wiped out."

"However, I have given them some basic training. Although their combat strength is still not as good as our border troops, they can still put up a fight if they are armed and ready to fight."

Ren Tianye was overjoyed.

He currently has about 10,000 men, and Shi Hu has sent another 10,000, so he now has 20,000 troops.

We'll be even more confident in attacking Sifang City.

"Sigh..." Shi Hu sighed again, "Anyway, I've figured it out. Being a bandit means death, and conquering the world means death, so I might as well follow General Ren and conquer the world together."

"The brothers below think the same way."

"It's a pity that it was rushed, otherwise I could have recruited tens of thousands more troops for you, General Ren."

Ren Tianye was startled: "Tens of thousands? General Shi Hu, are you joking?"

"General Ren, I've come to pledge my allegiance to you, so of course I'm sincere. How could I be joking?" Shi Hu immediately replied, "As far as I know, there are many deserters among the border troops in the north, and many of them have become mountain bandits. They've all been beaten up recently!"

"Now that you, General Ren, have established a powerful presence, it is better to pledge allegiance to you than to wander aimlessly in the mountains."

"If I go there personally and explain things to them with reason and emotion, many of them will surely be willing to serve General Ren!"

"After all, only General Ren has money, provisions, warhorses, and equipment!"

Ren Tianye's heart stirred slightly, and he smiled and said, "If that's the case, then I'll entrust this great achievement to you, General Shi Hu."

Shi Hu was taken aback for a moment, then said, "General Ren, what do you mean? Do you perhaps want me to recruit these border troops for you?"

"Not bad!" Ren Tianye didn't hide anything. Having dealt with the border troops a lot, he knew that the border troops still had a very simple and honest atmosphere, and they were people of their word.

He said, "Take a thousand men with you. If you can bring back ten thousand, I will appoint you as the garrison commander of the northern frontier."

"If you can bring back another 20,000 men, I will appoint you as a general of the four directions!"

"If you can bring back another 40,000 men, I will appoint you as the Deputy Commander of the Northern Frontier."

"If you can bring back another 60,000 men, I will appoint you as General Who Guards the North!"

Shi Hu was instantly smitten.

General Zhenbei!

This was already considered a high-ranking position in the Northern Frontier Army, a decision-making position, a position he would never have dared to dream of when he was in the border army.

His blood boiled, and he asked, "What if I bring back 100,000 men?"

"Then I'll go and pull the cow down from the sky."

Shi Hu was taken aback for a moment, then burst into laughter.

How many border troops had escaped from the northern frontier? Even including local troops and bandits, it wouldn't be easy to muster 100,000 men. He said, "General Ren, is it a deal?"

"It's a deal!" Ren Tianye said. "Not only that, when you recruit others, you can announce that ordinary soldiers who are willing to follow me will receive the same monthly salary of 2.5 taels of silver as the soldiers of Yunji City!"

"Warhorse equipment, logistical support, and the same treatment as the soldiers of Yunji City."

"Really?" Shi Hu's eyes lit up.

Having served in the border army for a long time, he knew all too well the allure of 2.5 months' salary to ordinary soldiers.

"When has this general ever uttered a lie?"

Shi Hu nodded. Ren Tianye's willingness to do such a thing for the families of eight hundred people was enough to show his character, so he no longer hesitated.

He said, "General, I only need to take one hundred men. This trip is for recruitment, not for fighting, so there is no need to bring so many people."

"Then, I will hand over the ten thousand men I brought to the General."

Soon, Shi Hu summoned the ten thousand men and handed them over to Ren Tianye. Ren Tianye then ordered the march to stop and made arrangements for them.

This allowed his army to expand to 20,000 men in an instant.

With these 20,000 men at our disposal, how could we possibly fail to take Sifang City?

"Report!"

Before this matter was completely resolved, a messenger rushed over: "General, someone has come to surrender, claiming to be sent by Li Botian, the deputy general of Sifang City."

"Bring them here!"

The man arrived quickly. He was dressed as a commoner, in tattered clothes, and looked very inconspicuous. However, Ren Tianye, who had been in the army for a long time, could tell at a glance that the man was a soldier.

"General Ren, I was sent by General Zhang Liang. General Zhang Liang intends to serve you and has sent a letter. Please read it."

Wang Ming had already returned to camp. He immediately took the document, checked it and found nothing wrong, mainly that there was no poison or anything like that, before handing it over to Ren Tianye.

Ren Tianye opened them and looked at them one by one.

This letter, written by Liang as Li Botian's deputy general, is sincere and even somewhat obsequious. The entire text expresses his earnest desire to serve Ren Tianye.

When Ren Tianye attacks Sifang City, he is willing to act as an inside agent to help Ren Tianye take Sifang City in one fell swoop.

There is only one requirement: their military dependents must be treated well.

As for the reasons...

That's because...

"Li Botian is going to pick up Su Xiu, so the attack is suspended?"

……