Zhu Nao

Tian Chou knew very well that during the past month or so, the Shu people had placed a lot of secret agents in various miscellaneous armies under him, and he had been working hard to capture these secret agents, and he had indeed successfully captured many of them, but it was a pity He has no way to cure this mess.

To put it bluntly, the reason why the motley army is a motley army is that apart from the factional struggles that make them untrustworthy by the owner, the more important thing is that these troops themselves cannot be put on the table.If there were really troops with strict military management and fierce fighting among them, Tao Bei would have paid a lot of money and high positions for his own use. If he couldn't take them in, he would get rid of them as soon as possible.

Many of these miscellaneous troops were formed during the most chaotic years of the world. A group of bandits or a village of strong people gathered together to raise the banner of rebellion, collect scattered soldiers, and gradually condense into a huge team.In order to expand their influence, they often randomly recruit people and forcibly recruit people.For the leaders of the army, the more people they have under their command, the greater their leverage in negotiating with the imperial court.For such an army, Tao Bei found it too laborious to eradicate it seriously, and it was too disgusting to bring it back under his banner, so he put it on hold.And how could the army drawn up like this not be chaotic?

It's not that Tian Chou's ability is insufficient, but that the stall he took over is too bad, and Da Luo Jinxian can't do anything about it.

Tian Chou couldn't manage the huge number of soldiers, so he could only manage the officers well, so that order could be maintained in the chaos.Originally, his method was also very good. He accurately grasped the minds of these officers. How big it is, it arouses their yearning heart even more.

Tian Chou asked himself that he had done it very carefully.He purposely conducted a detailed investigation of each officer, keeping everything from their military experience to their preferences in mind, so when he talked, he coaxed those officers to be submissive, believing that they were treated specially by him.On the way to the march and during the more than a month of fighting, he also continued to appease and win over the officers, not daring to neglect any side.

Not only that, but in the formation of troops, he also changed the positions of the troops every few days, so as to prevent different troops from staying together and colluding with news; in the process of passing news, he also deliberately deceived He always praised the army that had just come down from the battlefield, but he deliberately belittled the results in front of other troops to reassure other troops.

He did everything he could do, thinking that even if he couldn't control these armies with ease, at least it would not be a problem to complete the mission that Tao Bei entrusted him with both sides.But who would have expected that just a month later, there would be such a rumor in the army, which dealt a heavy blow to his hard-earned military spirit!

Li Bu, the commander of the Yunzhou Army, was still aggressive in front of him: "General Tian, ​​is it possible that I was right? Can you still count on the promise you made to me that day? If you can't, heh! Then don't blame me... "

Before he finished speaking, Tian Chou slammed the table, and the teacups and teapots on the table jumped up and down, and there was a loud bang, which scared Li Bu back.

Tian Chou stood up abruptly, strode forward, and forced Li Bu in front of him, his eyes spit fire: "Don't blame you? What do you want to do? Do you still want to rebel?!"

His face was frosty, his eyes were blazing, and his aura was terrifying. Li Bu was so frightened that his legs went limp and he almost fell to the ground.He retreated subconsciously, but every time he took a step back, Tian Chou took a step forward, without giving him any chance to breathe.

"Unbelievable thing! What promise do you want me to give you? How dare you come to ask for my promise? I will send you to fight tomorrow. Do you want to attack Hulao Pass or Ruyang? It's your choice." ! As long as you can push back the Shu army's defense line for three miles, I will ask you to be the commander of Kaifeng tomorrow! Can you do it?!"

Li Bu was forced back to the wall by him, unable to get in a word.

"I have warned you again and again! You are not strict in governing the army, which has caused the Shu army's secret operations to be rampant, and rumors are everywhere in the army! If you don't catch the secret operations as soon as possible and quell the rumors, you still dare to come to me to make trouble! There is still something in your eyes! The word military law?!"

Li Bu was sprayed with saliva all over his face, but he didn't dare to wipe it off, his back was already pressed against the wall.

Tian Chou took another step forward, almost face-to-face with him, pointed to his nose and said: "You know, I really appreciate you, but I don't owe you! Commander Li, you are really, really great!" Let me down."

His eyes were cloudy, mixed with disappointment, sadness, and anger, which made Li Bu's heart tremble.

He finally backed away a few steps, and Li Bu, who was so intimidated by him that he didn't even dare to breathe, exhaled several times, and finally dared to raise his hand to wipe the spittle and cold sweat off his face.

It should be known that Tian Chou has galloped on the battlefield for more than ten years, even though he is usually gentle and refined, he is a real fierce tiger.When a paper tiger like Li Bu met a real tiger, he would naturally pale in comparison.

At this moment, Li Bu no longer had the domineering look just now, he was disturbed by Tian Chou's words, and he began to doubt himself.Are those rumors really just rumors?Did Tian Chou originally plan to value him?Now he let Tian Chou down?Will Tian Chou reuse him?

With these doubts, Li Bu lost all confidence when he spoke again: "Uh... General Tian..."

Tian Chou glanced over coldly.

Li Bu stammered, "Xing, maybe I misheard the rumors, but... you can't blame me. So many brothers under my command have entrusted their fortunes and lives to me, so I have to think about them." .” He forced a flattering smile, “General Tian, ​​you should understand me, right?”

Tian Chou sneered in his heart.Does a person like Li Bu really want to be worthy of the wealth and lives of those soldiers?No, he just hoped that he could gain more benefits for himself with those lives!

However, Tian Chou didn't argue with him anymore, and only issued an order to expel the guest coldly: "I still have military affairs to do. Commander Li, if you have nothing else to do, please do it yourself."

Li Bu scratched his head anxiously: "No, General Tian, ​​you...I...do you still count on what you said earlier?"

Tian Chou's expression was impeccable: "That depends on your performance."

"Of course, I will behave well. But General Tian..."

He still wanted to pester, so Tian Chou issued an order to evict the guest coldly: "Commander Li, I am exhausted today. Before my patience is exhausted, I can give you another chance. If you are still pestering... then Don't blame me for being rude!"

Li Bu was dumbfounded.

He didn't dare to annoy Tian Chou any more, so he had to salute and leave dejectedly.As soon as he left the room, Tian Chou hurriedly told the soldiers: "Find an excuse and take him out from the south." There were other officers outside asking to see him, and Tian Chou didn't want the two sides to meet face to face.

The soldiers hurriedly chased them out.

Tian Chou wiped his face wearily.This Li Bu is a guy who sees no rabbits and does not scatter eagles. Although he was temporarily shocked today, he doesn't know how long he will be shocked.But now is not the time to worry about him, there are still people waiting behind.

So Tian Chou sighed first, then forcibly pulled himself together, and said, "Bring the next one in..."

……

After Tian Chou appeased the officers of the miscellaneous army, it was already dark.However, he did not go to rest, but called his confidant officers and staff to discuss.

After all the people arrived, the rumors recently circulated among General Tian Chou told everyone.After hearing this, everyone looked at each other in blank dismay.

"General Tian," one of the staff suggested, "It seems that we must increase the number of supervisors and the intensity of supervision, and crack down on the secret operations of the Shu army. We can't let them spread rumors like this anymore. Otherwise, it will lead to disaster sooner or later."

Tian Chou shook his head helplessly and said: "No one knows how many people the Shu army has deployed. I'm afraid that if there are more supervising troops, it will be difficult to stop them."

As the saying goes, blocking is worse than sparse, and blocking is the most useless means to deal with rumors.During this period of time, the supervising troops in the various armies have been completely outnumbered. Whenever they hear something that seems to be a rumor, they immediately look for the spreader and arrest people everywhere.They did catch a lot of secret agents, but they also caught a lot of ordinary soldiers by mistake.This has already made the officers of the various armies very dissatisfied.Originally, those officers were unwilling to allow Tian Chou to intervene too much in their military affairs, and even suspected that Tian Chou used this method to control their army.He will install more supervisors, I am afraid that those officers will be the first to disagree.

All the staff members looked at each other in blank dismay.

Tian Chou said: "After thinking about it, the Shu army probably already knew my method, so they spread such rumors. Even if I can stabilize those people temporarily, I'm afraid it won't last long."

Another staff member said: "The general might as well offer rewards to high-ranking officials and generous salaries publicly to encourage all troops to strive for merit. As for the official positions offered for rewards, we can make another fuss when the rewards are fulfilled. After all, the most urgent task right now is to appease the hearts of the soldiers."

At first, Tian Chou was unwilling to publicly offer a reward because he knew that his promises were empty words.Once made public, but not honored in the future, it will affect his reputation as a general.But there are many ways in the officialdom. If they really want to seal a miscellaneous army as the commander of Kaifeng in the future, they can open another military station in Kaifeng, appoint a new official to take power, and transfer the power of the commander of Kaifeng to the new commander. Officials who are not allowed to use it will naturally empty out the people they don't want to use.These methods are all Tao Bei's strengths, even if Tian Chou pokes the basket, Tao Bei will have a way to end it for him.

However, regarding this suggestion, Tian Chou spat: "Those idiots don't see rabbits and don't spread eagles. If I really offered a reward publicly, how many of them would put their minds on the battlefield to fight against the enemy? It will only be used to attack each other That's all!"

The staff was dumbfounded again.Indeed, a group of mediocre people only think of winning by suppressing their opponents, so why bother to fight hard?At that time, I'm afraid that if they don't deal with the Shu army, they will really start a civil war first.

This doesn't work, that doesn't work either, how can this game be broken?

Tian Chou said: "If we continue to delay, I am afraid that the Shu people will have more cunning means to shake the morale of our army. Therefore, I want to make a quick decision and launch a full-scale attack as soon as possible!"

When this statement came out, everyone was shocked.

Originally, Tian Chou was fighting a war of attrition, marching from both sides of Hulao Pass and Ruyang, forcing the Shu army to divide its troops into two garrisons.He launched an attack every few days, forcing the Shu army to mobilize more troops and continuously strengthen the fortifications.The longer the delay, the more food and grass will be consumed on both sides.

If a full-scale attack is launched and the tactics of fighting a sea of ​​​​people, facing an army of 12, the Shu army is bound to be unable to resist, and it is very likely that they will be forced to retreat and give up Ruyang.Of course, after capturing Ruyang with such reckless tactics, they would also be severely injured, unable to further expand the results of the battle, and they would not even be able to defend for a long time.Sooner or later, the Shu army will regroup and fight back.The battle will become more intense, and the time for the final end will be brought forward.

In other words, Tian Chou changed his thinking from consuming food and grass to consuming soldiers and horses. Since he can't stabilize the current situation for a long time, he simply asked both sides to increase casualties!

——This idea is indeed very good, but the biggest difficulty is, how could those motley troops be willing to fight when they knew it was an absolute battle?Tian Chou can coax soldiers and horses all the way.But can he coax seven or eight people and tens of thousands of troops into battle at the same time? !This difficulty is too great!

Facing everyone's worried eyes, Tian Chou said: "For now, this is the best way I can think of to attack the Shu army. I will try my best to persuade those idiots, and you can think about it for me."

During this period of time, Tian Chou kept in contact with various miscellaneous armies, which also allowed him to deepen his understanding of each army.He knew which set those officers followed, and which method was more persuasive.

And to persuade the army to launch a full-scale attack, what he must do is to convince every officer that they are the ones who can take the most advantage in the war.This requires Tian Chou's extremely strong ability to deploy troops, extremely powerful eloquence, and the means to win people's hearts.

The only thing that made Tian Chou feel gratified was that those miscellaneous soldiers were born reckless, and most of them only knew how to work hard, but not many were proficient in tactics, so it would not be so difficult to fool them.

So everyone came to the sand table, deduced various plans, until the sky was bright, and burned out several candles, they finally settled on a general plan for the use of troops.

After dawn, all the people who stayed up all night were exhausted and had to go back to rest.Tian Chou warned: "Remember, this matter must be kept secret and must not be mentioned to anyone. Once we make a plan, I will use the fastest time to convince people from all walks of life, and immediately go to war with the Shu army! The army is full of Shu soldiers. Military eyes and ears, the news must not be leaked!"

The people in the room were all the people he trusted the most, so they naturally understood the reason, and they all left after agreeing to each other.