Zhu Nao

two months later.

In the Arhat Hall of Daxuantian Temple in Fenyang, Henry Zhang sat on the first seat, and several ministers of Xuantian Sect sat side by side on both sides.The hall was dimly lit and the atmosphere was oppressive.

"The Shu army and the Yanzhou army have been parading in Yichuan for three days," one person said anxiously, "I heard that next month, they will go to Ji County for another military parade..."

"What the hell are they trying to do?" Another person said angrily, "Who do you want to frighten by fighting and repeating military parades?"

"They released rumors that the head of the teacher must be taken, and that all believers of our religion should not be lightly forgiven. In my opinion, they want to deter believers with this, let them betray our religion, and weaken our power."

"It's very possible. That Zhu Nao is the best at deceiving people. He can think of using drama to deceive the people, and he can also think of using deterrence to intimidate believers."

Listening to the discussions of several people, Henry Zhang looked gloomy and did not speak.

Someone said worriedly: "Right now, people in Taiyuan are panic-stricken. There is no way to go on like this..."

"Master," one person suggested: "We should expand the army as soon as possible. Otherwise, if Zhu Nao and Xie Wuji really send troops to fight, we will be powerless to resist. At that time, we can only flee in a hurry, which will make people laugh."

Someone retorted: "But even if we expand the army, we will not be able to defeat the Shu army and the Yanzhou army at all! How can we expect to use troops to deal with them? We still have to find ways to instigate their subordinates as before. Disintegrate their morale and turn them into a mess."

"I'm afraid that before they disperse, our believers will disperse. In any case, we have to expand the army as soon as possible, and training takes time! Now our Xuantian Sect has spread all over the north, invaded the Central Plains, and will go south in the future The lands of Jiangnan, Jingchu, and Bashu can no longer be what they used to be. Sooner or later we need an army capable of conscripting and fighting, and it’s not too late to do this!"

"Yes, sooner rather than later!"

There was a lot of discussion among the people, and the majority were in favor of expanding the army.

In fact, if Zhu Nao and Xie Wuji called directly, they wouldn't think about it anymore, they would pack up and flee for their lives first.But now Zhu Nao and Xie Wuji only put pressure on them, but gave them room to think, and they couldn't help but think of resistance - after all, running is possible, but if you don't have to run, of course it's best not to run.Taiyuan is the place where they made their fortune and where their power took root the deepest.If they fled to other places, they would have to fight with the local forces, and many things would have to start all over again, which was really a last resort.

Facing the suggestion of his subordinates to expand the army, Henry Zhang just frowned more and more tightly, and still did not make a sound.

Before that, he had little standing army on hand.Because if there is a need to fight, he can immediately gather tens of thousands of believers with a single order.After the battle, these tens of thousands of believers went back to farming.Not only did he not need to spend money to raise soldiers, but most of the spoils that these soldiers robbed had to be handed over to him.With such a good thing, why does he need a standing army?

But obviously, these mobs couldn't deal with Zhu Nao and Xie Wuji.And as the subordinates said, although they had dealt with many forces before, those forces were not successful, so they could easily win.But now the power of Xuantian Sect is rapidly expanding, and the princes of all walks of life in the world are also annexing each other. In the future, the enemies they encounter will become stronger and stronger, even stronger than Zhu Nao and Xie Wuji.If they don't have a powerful army in their hands, they will struggle sooner or later.

However, if he really wanted to expand the standing army, he could imagine countless troubles that would follow.

The soldiers of the standing army are serious soldiers. You can't wait until the battle is about to be called up, and you have to train on weekdays.The rations and living expenses of these soldiers will be a considerable expense.

The army also needs weapons, siege equipment, defensive equipment, etc. Although he has snatched a lot of these from the enemies he defeated before, it is not enough and has to be purchased separately.

In fact, the matter of money is easy to talk about. He obtained a lot of money by burning, killing, looting and deceiving believers.However, the biggest trouble that raising an army will bring him is that he has to start making longer-term and more comprehensive plans.

In fact, Henry Zhang and Guo Jinli are quite similar. He can have what he is today, thanks to luck.At the beginning, he just wanted to coax three or five fools to work for him in order to get ill-gotten gains.And Xuantianjiao rode the wind and waves all the way, and there were tens of thousands of believers in an instant, which was unexpected by Henry Zhang himself.

But unlike Guo Jinli, although Henry Zhang sometimes gets carried away, he still has a bit of reason: even he himself doesn’t think that Xuantian Sect will eventually dominate the country.So the standing army in his hands is not as many as Shi An's entrusted to various places.He seems to enjoy extravagance in this Daxuantian Temple, but in fact he doesn't even bother to change the original Buddha statue, just so that he can pack up and leave at any time if he encounters trouble one day.

And once the army is raised, it will become too big to lose.When he was alone, he pouted his ass and burrowed into the sorghum field, but no one could find him.But it is not easy to run with an army of tens of thousands of people.Moreover, the recruited soldiers often want to stay in their hometown. If there is a good or bad thing, they may not be willing to follow him to escape, and maybe they will stab him instead!

Seeing that Henry Zhang had not expressed his position, the subordinates were a little uncertain, so they started talking again.

"Master, what worries do you have?"

"Master, you have to make a lot of preparations before recruiting soldiers, and you should make up your mind as soon as possible."

"Master, don't worry, it's not a problem to raise our money for military expenses now."

Henry Zhang faced his men, of course he would not say that he was ready to run away at any time.You must know that these people are following him, and they plan to rely on his Xuantian Sect to get ahead, they are rich and honorable!

He thought for a while, and said: "I always feel strange about this matter. Then Zhu Nao and Xie Wuji made rumors that they would destroy my Xuantian Sect. But they obviously have a large army at hand, why didn't they just fight directly? They are so arrogant, But they didn't really send troops, I think there might be some kind of conspiracy..."

After a short fight, Henry Zhang has realized that Zhu Nao is not an easy enemy to deal with.He also ordered people to investigate Jun Nao's deeds.It seems that Zhu Nao is a very lucky person. His opponents will always mess up their own way. For example, the former Yin Yuan Jilu of Chengdu was killed by the army he recruited, for example, Dong Jiang, the shepherd of Liangzhou, was killed by his adopted son. Lost his head, and for example not long ago, Changsha Yin's generals Wang Zhan and Huang Dongxuan defected to the enemy... If there was only one or two, maybe it was Zhu Nao's luck.But if this happens again and again, how can we know that the enemy's disintegration is not due to Zhu Nao's strategy?

If Zhu Nao really has such an ability, then what he is doing now is very likely to be setting himself a trap.If I really panicked and immediately went to recruit troops to expand my army, I'm afraid I'd be fooled by him!

Hearing what Henry Zhang said, his subordinates immediately looked at each other.

One person hurriedly explained: "Master, I don't know something. There have been rumors recently that Han Rushan, the governor of Jiangning Prefecture, is planning to proclaim himself emperor in Jiangning. Both Zhu Nao and Xie Wuji are ambitious people. They must be on the sidelines. They must be worrying about Han Rushan's affairs right now, and they don't have time to take care of us, so they can only scare us there."

"Exactly." Others echoed, "Then Han Rushan's ascension to the throne is an excellent opportunity for us. Presumably in the next few years, all the princes will go to crusade against Jiangnan and have no energy to deal with us. If we don't Hurry up and recruit troops now, before it will be too late!"

"Yes, Master, this must be done as early as possible."

Someone vaguely noticed Henry Zhang’s worries, stood up suddenly, came to the middle of the main hall, and said earnestly and loudly: “Master! We suffered such a setback in Yanzhou, tens of thousands of believers were killed, and the people in the church are already against each other Ah! Last month, the number of offerings sent from all over the world has decreased by [-]% compared to before! If Master doesn’t want to find ways to stabilize people’s hearts, I’m afraid that the ministries in various places will turn against each other!”

Henry Zhang: "..."

These words were poking at his heart, making his eyelids twitch violently.

It is not difficult to bluff the believers, as long as he continues to play tricks, there will always be people who will not understand.But it's the ministries that are not stupid who are doing things for him that are really difficult to coax.

Those ministries are not only not stupid, but also very shrewd. They help Henry Zhang win over believers and hand over money to Henry Zhang, all in order to use the banner of Xuantian Sect to seek benefits for themselves.The better Xuantian Sect develops, the harder those people work.But if they find out that the Xuantian Sect is not doing well and can no longer bring them enough benefits, then it will only be a blink of an eye for them to turn their faces.

Even these people who are sitting next to Henry Zhang to advise him now, the reason why most of them support the expansion of the army, and they are extremely active in trying to persuade Henry Zhang is because they have no intention of accepting it as soon as it is good, and they are unwilling to pack up and run away .They also pointed to Henry Zhang's east wind going straight to Qingyun, chickens and dogs ascending to heaven!

If Henry Zhang still wants Xuantianjiao to continue, it is impossible for him to ignore the feelings of these people.Recruiting soldiers and forming an army may have to be done. The greatest significance of this matter is not whether he can compete against Zhu Nao and Xie Wuji, but that only in this way can he stabilize the morale of the army and make people willing to continue to do things for him.

Thinking of this, Henry Zhang suddenly started to have a headache.It seems that it is not after recruiting an army that he will face the problem of being too big to lose.But at this moment, as a master with hundreds of thousands of believers, he has already been roasted on the charcoal fire...

After a while, Henry Zhang pressed the corner of his forehead and said, "I see. Let me think about it again."

Everyone under him wanted to persuade him again, Henry Zhang raised his voice, and said impatiently: "Okay, I will make up my mind as soon as possible!"

=====

Yanzhou.

Xie Wuji came down from the school grounds and returned to the official mansion, Wu Cong greeted him.

"General," Wu Cong walked in behind him, "I just received the news from the Taiyuan Mansion that the Xuantian Sect has started recruiting troops."

"Oh?" Xie Wuji raised his eyebrows slightly, his eyes flickering.

When Zhu Nao first proposed the idea of ​​putting pressure on the Xuantian Sect to force them to expand their army, everyone was surprised.But soon he figured out the brilliance of his plan - Zhu Nao was forcing the Xuantian Sect to perish.

Of course, Henry Zhang has the means to play with people's hearts, but managing government affairs, forming an army, coordinating military rations, and formulating military discipline...everything is extremely difficult.Not to mention Henry Zhang and his group of magic sticks who only know about cheating and abducting, even if they let experienced officials handle these things, they will cause a lot of trouble, and if they are not careful, they may lead to disaster.

In the past few years, I don't know how many princes have been quietly annihilated in the struggle for hegemony, not because they died at the hands of the enemy, but because they made mistakes and dug their own graves.

And more importantly, although Henry Zhang has tens of thousands of believers, these believers seem to be very devout and can put their lives aside.But these people will believe in Xuantian Sect, which shows that most of them are actually people who want to get something for nothing.Joining the army is not enough to have a heart to sacrifice one's life, but one needs to endure hard training and abide by strict military discipline.How can those believers bear it?I'm afraid that within two days of practice, I will jump up and scold the weasel for harming people.

However, before Xie Wuji was happy, Wu Cong continued: "However, they only recruited [-] soldiers this time, and the recruitment conditions are strict. It seems that they want to train an elite army."

Xie Wuji was slightly taken aback: "Only recruit 2000 people?"

If Henry Zhang wanted to deal with them, how could 2000 people be enough?

Wu Cong nodded: "Yes. And..."

"And what?"

"Besides," Wu Cong looked puzzled, "the news came from Youzhou...'Dark Horse King' Wei Bian claimed to have received a dream from an immortal, and ordered him to send troops to protect the immortal driver. He will lead his army from Youzhou to Taiyuan in a few days , to help the Xuantian Sect against us..."

Xie Wuji was stunned.

That Wei Bian was originally a general in the Youzhou Army. During these years of chaos, he stood out from the chaos and took control of a Youzhou army.Because most of his cavalry rode dark horses to fight, he proclaimed himself the title of "Dark Horse King".

Youzhou is a place of bitter cold, and Wei Bian is not a political talent, he is just a general.Last year, the Guangjin Army fought against the Zhengzhou Army, and he was invited by the Governor of Guangjin to help the Guangjin Army defeat the Zhengzhou Army.Therefore, the governor of Guangjin government offered Wanguan money to express his gratitude.

Now Wei Bian suddenly announced that he would go to Taiyuan to escort Henry Zhang, which shows that Xuantian Sect has also given him enough benefits.

Obviously, Henry Zhang understood that he did not have the ability to govern the army, so he did not rush to recruit soldiers, but spent money to hire an army to help.Although it cost a lot of money, it also saved him a lot of trouble in recruiting soldiers.When the battle was over, he only had to send back the hired troops, and he was still at ease.

It seems that this person is really cunning...

Xie Wuji frowned slightly, thought for a moment, then changed the direction of his footsteps: "Let's go, find Zhufu Yin!"