Dragon Ball, simultaneously traversing countless worlds

It's fair to say that Zhang Xian, Zhang Di, and Gao Tuoshan didn't come to attack Luo Yan; they were clearly there to give him reinforcements.

Luo Yan remained completely calm in the face of the three rebel groups attacking the city. He spent his days sitting in his mansion, meditating, circulating his qi, and tending to Caesar.

Occasionally, he would make decisions on the affairs of Daming Prefecture, teach talented soldiers to practice magic, or invent tools to improve the living standards of the people of Daming Prefecture.

They completely ignored the march of Gao Tuoshan and his two companions, leaving the defense and city guarding to Chuan Ying and his men.

Killing people is such a simple thing. Wearing a mecha, as long as you raise your hand and strike, Gao Tuoshan and the others will be dead without a doubt. It's not worth paying any attention to them.

On the contrary, handling government affairs, especially those complex and far-reaching matters that cannot be resolved by violence, is much more difficult.

In some cases involving Iron Eagles, Luo Yan had no choice but to handle them.

For example, there was a case where an Iron Eagle Warrior, dressed in armor, helped an elderly person with no children to plow the fields.

His superior learned of this and wanted to punish the soldier for defiling the precious armor. The soldier disagreed and appealed to Luo Yan.

The ordinary people of Daming Prefecture under Xu Churen's rule were fine, but when it came to the Iron Eagle Warriors, it was clear that only Luo Yan could make the decision.

Luo Yan finally praised the soldier's actions, commending him for his willingness to do practical things for the people, and promoted him to centurion.

When this story spread, Luo Yan and his army's reputation soared in Daming Prefecture. The Iron Eagle Warriors were no longer just cold-blooded killing machines; they became more compassionate and closer to the people.

Now, when the Iron Eagle Warriors patrol the streets, some mischievous children dare to surround them and curiously touch their armor.

This demonstrates Luo Yan's effectiveness in handling government affairs.

Besides handling government affairs, Luo Yan spent the last few days, while waiting for the rebels to assemble their army, cultivating a group of modern talents.

Through magical infusion, he directly instilled a wealth of modern knowledge into the minds of thousands of people, and then provided them with funds to set up factories or teach in various parts of Daming Prefecture according to their own ideas.

With Luo Yan's support, government officials gave the green light, and many people, relying on their knowledge far ahead of their time, set up cement plants, glass factories, and started iron smelting and coking businesses, recruiting a large number of workers and making money together.

The commerce of Daming Prefecture was revitalized by the emergence of these factories.

The Song Dynasty was a very prosperous commercial dynasty, and Daming Prefecture, as a secondary capital, was quite prosperous in Hebei when it did not suffer from famine or riots.

Wealthy merchants flocked to this place, and after discovering the business opportunities here, they didn't need Luo Yan to promote it at all. They were all eager to sell the products produced by the Daming Prefecture factory all over the country.

Luo Yan did not stop the merchant's actions.

In ancient times, the spread of new technologies, new cultures, and new ideas often relied heavily on commercial activity.

In ancient times, Luo Yan couldn't very well have a megaphone, grab someone by the ear, and shout next to them to promote the goodness of his territory and the brilliance of his new technologies and ideas.

At this point, merchants would be needed to promote the products for him. If the merchants praised the products of Daming Prefecture and others bought them and found them to be good, they would agree with what the merchants said, think that Daming Prefecture was indeed good, and then develop a longing for Daming Prefecture.

This is similar to China in the 1970s and 80s. People felt that the goods imported from Japan and other countries were much better than those produced in their own countries, and they subconsciously assumed that other countries had strong technology and were developed in all aspects.

These people, by using high-quality foreign goods, develop a sense of superiority, which in turn leads to a sense of identification, identifying with all aspects of Japan and Taiwan.

Even though Japan and Taiwan have become increasingly ugly in modern times, there are still people who don't believe the facts and keep praising them.

This tactic of exploiting a person's sense of superiority to gain approval is nothing short of a bloodless form of warfare.

While competition between nations is possible, it is also commonplace in business.

Take a fruit machine company as an example. Their products give customers a sense of superiority, which earns them recognition.

Everyone agrees with him, so naturally even if a certain fruit machine farts, people will praise it. It's obvious that environmental protection is being used as an excuse to extort money from you, and people are still happy to accept it.

What Luo Yan is doing now is cultivating a sense of superiority among the people of Daming Prefecture and fostering a sense of identity among the people of other prefectures in the Song Dynasty.

After becoming wealthy through commercial prosperity, the people of Daming Prefecture developed a sense of superiority by comparing themselves to the miserable lives of the people of the surrounding Song Dynasty. Once they did, it became many times more difficult to persuade them to leave Luo Yan's command and return to the embrace of the Zhao Song Dynasty.

Once the world is at peace, if everyone believes that Luo Yan's policies are superior, then the people's hearts will be with him, and he will be invincible.

Chapter 214 An Army of 500,000 Men Attacks

In Mingzhou, Hebei, Zhang Di, who had gathered 100,000 people, finally met Gao Tuoshan and Zhang Xian's troops.

Gao Tuoshan had 300,000 troops, and Zhang Di's forces had grown from 50,000 to 100,000.

The three groups converged, and the number of people surged to 500,000.

Although all three were lured by the Jin soldiers' warhorses to attack Luo Yan's territory, they did not work together as a whole.

With Gao Tuoshan having the numerical advantage, Zhang Di and Zhang Xian huddled together, fearing that their troops would be absorbed by Gao Tuoshan.

However, their worries are somewhat unnecessary at this point.

Gao Tuoshan claimed to have an army of 300,000, but in reality, most of them were the elderly, the weak, the sick, the disabled, and the refugees he had coerced.

There are only 20,000 veterans who have actually fought one or two battles.

After a year of leading troops, Gao Tuoshan realized that in war, more people are not necessarily better. At least, supporting an army of 300,000, his logistical and supply pressure was much greater than that of Zhang Xian and Zhang Di.

Even though he constantly plundered local grain in Qing, Xu, Yi, and Mi prefectures, he still couldn't satisfy the hunger of 300,000 displaced people.

If he fails to capture Daming Prefecture this time, and continues to wander around aimlessly with so many people, he fears that one day when he wakes up, he will be beheaded by his starving subordinates.

Gao Tuoshan was deep in thought. He figured that if he really couldn't take Daming Prefecture, he would kill as many refugees as possible, making more of these good-for-nothing cannon fodder die, thus saving his troops' food supplies.

Despite his intention to reduce personnel, Gao Tuoshan had no intention of incorporating Zhang Xian and Zhang Di's troops. Even their elite units were not something Gao Tuoshan wanted to take in.

At this crucial juncture in the attack on Daming Prefecture, betraying an ally and incorporating his men into his ranks—who knows if those recruited troops might rebel during the siege?

Maintaining a balance of power among the three groups is currently the best option.

When the three rebel kings met, they exchanged pleasantries and then began to formulate a plan.

Mingzhou is not far from Daming Prefecture. You can reach Daming Prefecture directly by passing through Feixiang and Weixian and then crossing the Zhanghe River.

The Zhanghe River is a tributary of the Bangsha River, which is a tributary of the Weihe River, a tributary of the Yellow River. The river is flat and easy to cross, so there is no need to worry about being attacked by enemies on the other side while crossing.

Even though the Zhang River was not wide, the soldiers were basically powerless to resist when they swam across it.

If the enemy were to fire arrows at this moment, all the soldiers swimming across would be killed.

Therefore, the three rebel kings conspired to cut down the surrounding trees, build pontoon bridges, and send their three armies across the river from three different sections to guard against Luo Yan's attack.

However, all three of their precautions were ineffective.

Because Luo Yan's army had not laid any defenses on the Zhang River, their vanguard easily crossed the river.

The vanguard of three thousand men immediately regrouped after crossing the river, standing ready and waiting for the three rebel kings to cross.

Gao Tuoshan and his men crossed the pontoon bridge and stood on the opposite bank of the Zhang River. They laughed loudly, "This brat Luo Yan doesn't understand military affairs. He let us cross the river so easily. I think taking Daming Prefecture is just around the corner."

“Brother Gao is right. Luo Yan’s reputation is undeserved. It is probably only because the Song army is too incompetent that this child has become famous.”

The three rebel kings were aware of the incompetence of the Song army, after all, they had encountered quite a few government troops since their rebellion, and each time they had easily defeated the Song army.

The fact that the Song army in Daming Prefecture was so incompetent that a mere child could capture the city still left them speechless.

"I was too cautious before. If I had known that Xu Churen and He Guan were so incompetent, I should have taken Daming Prefecture long ago," Zhang Di said regretfully.

The three rebel kings easily crossed the river, in high spirits, feeling that the battle was in their grasp. Daming Prefecture had become easy prey, and each of them was calculating their own gains.

Gao Tuoshan realized that whoever could capture Daming Prefecture first would gain the greatest benefit.

Speed ​​is of the essence in war. His elite troops have already crossed the river, but it will take several more hours for the remaining old, weak, sick, disabled, and supplies to cross.

Gao Tuoshan made a decision: he wanted to lead his elite troops, who had already crossed the river, to immediately launch a surprise attack on Daming Prefecture.

He lied to the other two rebel kings, claiming he was sending vanguard troops to investigate the defenses of Daming Prefecture, but in reality he gathered 20,000 elite troops and gradually sent them out of the sight of the two rebel kings in batches.

The troop movements at Gaotuo Mountain could not be kept secret from the other two. Zhang Xian and Zhang Di exchanged a glance and also secretly mobilized their troops, heading towards Daming Prefecture from another direction.

Thus, the three rebel kings abandoned their supplies, provisions, and logistical support, and only led their elite troops who had already crossed the river to attack.

Twenty thousand men from Gaotuo Mountain, plus five thousand men from Zhang Xian and Zhang Di, rushed towards Daming Prefecture.

On the Daming Prefecture side, the Iron Eagle Warriors, led by Chuan Ying, were divided into four groups, each led by several centurions, and stationed at the four city gates.

The Iron Eagle Warriors stood against the strong wind, like steel guards, vigilant against any disturbance.

Suddenly, Wu Ying, who was in charge of guarding the west gate, discovered an anomaly on the airborne life radar. Countless dense red dots gradually appeared a few kilometers west of Daming Prefecture.

Zooming in on the video, Wu Ying used the mecha to discover the vanguard force of 20,000 men led by Gao Tuoshan.

"After waiting for so long, these rebels have finally arrived. But why are there so few of them? Weren't they supposed to be a three-pronged army of 500,000? I bet they don't even have 50,000!"

Wu Ying twisted his neck, and with a 'clang', two high-frequency swords sprang from his arm.

"Fine, twenty thousand it is. That's enough for us to fight to the death."

Wu Ying raised his arms and shouted: "Fellow soldiers of the Western Army, the enemy has arrived! Follow me into battle!"

Behind him, a thousand Iron Eagle Warriors removed their masks, unsheathed their high-frequency swords, and raised their weapons, shouting.

For a moment, the air buzzed and hummed from the high-frequency vibrations, like thousands of bees dancing in the air.

The Iron Eagles expanded again, growing from one thousand to four thousand men.

The army consisted of a thousand men and was divided into four armies: the southeast, the northwest, and the southwest.

Wu Ying was the temporary commander leading the Iron Eagle Western Army in battle.

Daming Prefecture has a population of one million, and these three thousand newly recruited soldiers are all the best of the best, carefully selected.

After several days of rigorous training and practice, these elite soldiers were eager to make a name for themselves and achieve great things.

Luo Yan had given prior instructions that Gao Tuoshan and his men's elite troops should be killed directly without holding back.

These rebels roamed many prefectures in Hebei. The direct troops of Gao Tuoshan and the other two had committed countless atrocities. If all their direct troops were pulled out and killed, there might be some mistakes. But if they were killed one by one, there would definitely be many who escaped the net.

Since Luo Yan's uprising, the killings have not been heavy. He did not kill Cai You's troops or the troops in Junzhou. He basically incorporated them and then killed the most heinous ones.

His troops had never fought a hard-fought battle on the main battlefield, which meant that his troops had not yet forged a true military spirit and lacked cohesion.

This time, dealing with Gao Tuoshan and other rebels who were causing havoc in the countryside was a good opportunity for his troops to see blood and demonstrate the might and ferocity of the Iron Eagle Warriors.

With Luo Yan's words, Wu Ying and the other centurions and officers had no more scruples. They brandished their high-frequency swords, roared, opened the city gates, and charged toward the invading troops.

In the distance, Gao Tuoshan rode a fine horse, leading the way at the very front of the troops.

Behind him were hundreds of cavalry and tens of thousands of infantry.

These tens of thousands of rebel soldiers were mostly wearing Song army armor and carrying Song army weapons.

These were all spoils of war captured by Gao Tuoshan. When he first started his rebellion, his soldiers could only fight with machetes and bamboo spears. After several raids, he defeated the Song army in various prefectures and they were routed. He then managed to accumulate some wealth.

Gao Tuoshan's 20,000 elite troops, once donned standard armor, were still quite formidable; they could easily crush an equal number of Song soldiers.

As for confronting the Liao and Jin armies, that's beneath us.