Isn't this right?
Two hundred and forty border troops defected, and Liu Chengzong was naturally full of joy.
But then I fell into deep worry.
Originally, all the armies in front of Baijiachuan were in chaos a few days ago, except that the mule battalion was arranged in an orderly manner.
Anyway, everyone else performed poorly, and only Gao Yingxiang's headquarters and his mule battalion were still standing in place.
It would not embarrass Gao Yingxiang.
He and Gao Yingxiang were not very close before, and even someone who was petty insisted that he and Gao Yingxiang were somewhat unhappy.
The so-called masters and disciples were helpless in prison back then, but now they are following the trend of working together to survive.
But Yang Yao, who came from nowhere, would make a fuss. If Liu Chengzong and Gao Yingxiang were exchanged, he would be very unhappy - who is the leader?
Using oneself to save others is called overestimating the host.
Together with Gao Yingxiang again, sooner or later the appearance seems to be in harmony but the spirit is far apart.
Snapped!
Gao Yingxiang slapped his palm heavily on the table, which startled Liu Chengzong. The hand he had just let go pressed on the handle of the knife again, thinking, I am worried about the appearance and the soul. Why don't you, Master Gao, even give me the appearance?
Who knew that Gao Yingxiang didn't look at him at all and pointed at Yang Yao: "Damn it, am I, Gao Yingxiang, so worthless?"
"Hahaha!" After saying that, he raised his head and laughed, patted Liu Chengzong on the shoulder and said: "Lion, good thing! Don't let people worship you all the time, accept these brothers soon... You must serve General Liu well in the future, otherwise We all blame you!"
This is the second time Liu Chengzong has seen Gao Yingxiang's strengths, which is still his grandeur.
If the same thing happens to others, few people can sincerely be happy for others.
Even congratulations against one's will are an act that goes against human nature.
Whether sincere or against his will, he is very generous.
After that, Gao Yingxiang saw that he didn't move, so he thought he was worried about food and grass, so he leaned forward and whispered: "It's okay, I still have food and grass here."
Liu Chengzong said nothing, stood up and retreated, bowing apologetically towards Gao Yingxiang and clasping his fists.
Gao Yingxiang raised his hand and patted his arm, pointed at Yang Yao, and looked like, "Just go ahead and do it, big brother will protect you."
He thought Liu Chengzong was grateful for the food and grass aid, but in fact Liu Chengzong was grateful for Gao Yingxiang's lessons.
Becoming a leader is easy.
When everyone doesn't know where to go, lead a way, and his opinion is the direction of the team.
But it is difficult to be a good leader. There are many people in the world who are born to be emperors and generals, but in the end they end up being betrayed by their relatives.
Quantity is important.
Liu Chengzong turned his head, stepped forward with some caution, helped Yang Yao up, and asked: "You said it was Mr. Bai who was originally from Gu, how did you find me?"
Yang Yao stood up. Liu Chengzong was younger than he thought. This made him unable to react for a moment. He paused before nodding. Knowing that he was asking about his origin, he clasped his fists and said, "The general was also a frontier soldier before. I owe you I won’t go into details about the pay. Last year in the twelfth lunar month, several deserters in the camp were caught by General Manager Qian on the Wanshou Festival and were chopped alive on the general platform.”
Oh, they were the frontier troops who mutinied in Guyuan last year.
Liu Chengzong nodded and glanced at Cao Yaogao and others sitting at the other table. He knew this very well. Their two teams of Yuhebao border troops were dismissed because of the incident in Guyuan.
Yang Yaodao: "My brothers killed Mr. Qian and attacked Sanshui and Yaozhou all the way. Later, we surrendered to the second brother Wang of Baishui. After the death of the second brother Wang, he was chased by the army and wandered around."
In fact, no need for Yang Yao to say, Liu Chengzong knew how many battles he had gone through just by looking at the scarred armor.
"When we were all desperate, we heard that the general was attacking the post city in the north to defeat the army and release the defeated soldiers without disturbing the people. We decided to defect and inquire along the way. We happened to see the Sky Monkey on the way and knew that the general was stationed here, so we came."
Liu Chengzong nodded secretly, which made sense. He said: "In these critical times, Mr. Yang Bai has defected to the second brother Wang. Do you recognize the brave general Song Shouzhen under his command?"
"Xiong General?"
Yang Yao recalled briefly, shook his head and said: "The brave men under Brother Wang are all our brothers. There is no brave general named Song Shouzhen, but there is a erhu player named Song, from Lehu in Yanzhou."
That's right.
Liu Chengzong no longer had any doubts in his mind. He stepped forward and pulled Yang Yao, cupping his hands and saying: "Yes, he is a Lehu. Since we are both brothers in the border army, Liu will rely on Brother Yang more in the future."
Everyone was very happy. Gao Yingxiang waved his hand and said: "Bring a few more bowls. Yingen and Tianhou will go outside the camp to arrange a camp for Mr. Yang's people. Then he will call all the leaders of Mr. Yang's team, and everyone will drink and eat meat. , and also let the lion get to know his new subordinates."
Zhongdou Xing and Shangtian Monkey took orders to go to work, and Yang Yao was also pulled to the table by Liu Chengzong.
Gao Yingxiang hesitated to speak, but finally couldn't hold it back. He looked at Yang Yao with a strange look while holding the wine bowl: "Mr. Yang, you... Lion, I'm not trying to pry through your brick wall, I really want to know, Yang Hasn’t Mr. Bai heard of Gao’s name?”
It's very strange. Mr. Gao has been running around in the four border towns for so many years. The Mongolians who escaped from his mouth fled into the Han Dynasty and all knew that they came to join me. Is it possible that he is only famous in Guyuan?
Yang Yao's answer was very official and polite: "The name of King Gao Chuang is as loud as thunder, and I have heard about it for a long time."
Gao Yingxiang paused, as if something was stuck in his throat. He adjusted his breath before recovering from the embarrassment. He leaned forward and looked at Yang Yao: "Then why don't you vote for me?"
This is what Gao Yingxiang is most confused about.
It's not that Liu Chengzong is not good, Liu Chengzong is very good, otherwise he wouldn't have gone to Shanxi to find someone.
But when it comes to taking refuge, isn’t it better to enjoy the shade under a big tree?
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Wang Jiayin is a big tree and Gao Yingxiang is also a big tree, but Liu Shishi is a dangerous wall. It is safe to go to others, but it is dangerous to go to Liu Chengzong.
It's not surprising that Yang Yao and his gang specifically sought out Liu Chengzong. After all, they were all frontier soldiers and naturally had a higher foundation of trust.
But Gao Yingxiang was obviously here, so it was impossible for the monkey in the sky not to mention him, and Yang Yao still didn't even look at him.
He wanted to know what went wrong here.
Gao Yingxiang looked at Liu Chengzong first, then at Yang Yao, and explained: "This has nothing to do with you voting for Liu Shizi. It means that no matter how many people vote for Liu Shishi or Sky Monkey in the future, it doesn't matter. That's because everyone has their own ambitions! It's just Gao Must know..."
He sat upright, patted his generous chest, and said sincerely: "Is it because I can't convince others or because I have a bad reputation? I have to change it."
The position of General Manager Bai is not high, but the general talent, intelligence, and education level are not too bad.
Soldiers at the grassroots level must have participated in at least two battles and achieved military exploits in both battles. They must lead the team as a team leader and learn military knowledge in martial arts and forts before they can serve as the commander-in-chief.
Either they were born as hereditary guards, which is much simpler. They have family backgrounds and health studies, and most of them are qualified for the position of battalion officers.
What's more, Yang Yao, who fought out of the mutiny, after a short period of integration, realized his actions and put Liu Chengzong in an embarrassing position.
He couldn't express the pain in his heart. He thought that according to Liu Chengzong's ability, even if he joined the camp with these refugee troops, he would be regarded as an ancestor in the camp and would have to walk sideways when going out.
Who knew Liu Chengzong was so young?
"General Liu, King Gao Chuang, I'll tell you the truth. Before I came here, I didn't expect that the general was so young and promising... but even if I knew, I would still defect to General Liu."
Yang Yao observed the expressions of the people at the wine table as he spoke, and said: "I don't know how good I am at being a king, but in Ningzhou, Qingyang, I joined forces with Sun Hou'er, He Zijie and other bandits, and later I also voted for the king. Second brother, they all have great respect for me and other border army brothers. We are more than 800 brothers and respect them for this kindness."
This description is basically equivalent to Liu Chengzong's position under Gao Yingxiang. He was in charge of all military rations and did not have to work hard. He only raised one to have a guardian angel when he encountered the army.
Yang Yao raised his hand to make a sign of two, with a look of sadness on his face: "They are dead, they are scattered. Now there are only a few people left. I didn't want to vote for the big leader, but if we let go, we will My heart is gone.”
This is actually a very dark truth. In "Book of the Later Han Dynasty", raising eagles is compared to employing people. It is said that when hungry, it is used, and when full, it is eaten away.
Of course, being hungry or full does not mean whether you can have enough to eat, but rather the safety, wealth and satisfaction of various desires that the group can provide.
A group of border troops are looting and looting. It's not difficult to get the property. But once you get the property, why would others follow you and run back to your hometown with gold, silver, silk and satin?
You are the leader of the thieves, but the soldiers are not.
Even if they stay with them, they will transform from a group of desperadoes into a group of rich people. How much of the desire to fight can be left behind?
To put it bluntly, as long as I can live well, I don't want to live a precarious life.
"Since we must defect, we have suffered enough from being greedy for property and attacking when we should run, and fleeing in panic when we should fight. We must defect to someone who knows what he is doing. Not only does the leader know his soldiers, but his subordinates must also be good men."
After Yang Yao finished speaking, he picked up the wine bowl and said to Liu Chengzong: "Nowadays, as a leader with a good reputation, I will only join General Liu's army and have the atmosphere of a rebel army."
Liu Chengzong nodded secretly, looked back, and took a sip of the wine in the bowl.
He has been eating and drinking since he was a child and has a good drinking capacity.
But I am not greedy for alcohol, and I am still a bit afraid of drinking.
I always feel like this is a summoning ceremony.
It seemed that as long as he made the gesture of holding a bowl of wine and pouring it into his mouth, a stern-faced elder brother would be summoned behind him and angrily scold him for not drinking alcohol in the army.
Yang Yao is very interesting. He is a general manager who pursues righteousness.
Liu Chengzong understands the great righteousness.
The nearly thousand-year struggle for hegemony in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods caused the Central Plains' military technology theory to grow rapidly, reaching a bottleneck under the technical conditions at that time.
Since then, no dynasty has ever maintained a regular army with the righteousness of protecting the country and personal honor.
However, the fortunes of state-owned enterprises rise and fall. The initial rise of each dynasty not only has great righteousness, but also benefits from conferring knights for meritorious service, conferring land for military exploits, and even descendants. In the prosperous times, the products are abundant, the people are rich and the country is strong, and the army benefits even more.
But by the end of the dynasty, this righteousness was generally the only thing left to support the army.
However, Liu Chengzong felt that looking through history books, it was extremely rare for the army to be as aggrieved as it is today.
There are countless peasant uprisings in the world, and there are even more rogue bandits and bandits. However, the government and army have always been on the side of justice. Even in the last years of the dynasty and in the early stages of rebellion, few regular troops surrendered to the rebels.
Suppressing rebellion for the country, getting promoted to a noble position, the perfect combination of national destiny and personal development.
Especially in the Ming Dynasty, where organization, training, morale, guns, armor, and equipment were all extremely complete compared to previous generations.
For more than a thousand years, the disparity in strength between peasant uprisings and the official army has never been so great.
At this moment, Liu Chengzong suddenly wanted to laugh, but was afraid of crying.
Sitting opposite him was a former military officer of the Ming Empire who had a righteous heart.
When the righteousness of defending the country is overwhelmed by hunger, one can only find a balance point between committing troops to cause chaos and protecting the country and the people to fill their stomachs and survive.
This isn't funny, it's ironic.
The funny thing is that he is the balance point in Yang Yao's eyes.
Soon, several of Yang Yao's subordinates were brought by Sky Monkey and placed another table in the camp.
The infantry general named Wang Wenxiu was not delicate at all, with a big beard connected to his hair.
The two guards, Hu Sanhuai and Wu Yangchen, one is thin and the other is fat, and the two brothers Han Shipan and Han Shiyou are both muscular and the heads of the servants.
They are all the elites of Guyuan Town.
When everyone met, they were still a little reserved. Gao Yingxiang no longer insisted on asking Bianjun what his own shortcomings were. He used his experience of traveling around four towns to liven up the atmosphere at the wine table. He was really the best in the world.
Even Liu Chengzong, who didn't want to drink more, drank half a bowl, but he was still excited.
As for Cao Yao, needless to say, he was a drinker. He managed to catch the drink, but it was almost the same if he didn't drink it until he was carried back.
Liu Chengzong was a little worried that Cao Yao had drunk too much, so he took a look at Cao Yao and saw that he was still fine. The two chatted for a while and lamented to him that it was time to go back to Yan'an and that he missed his mother-in-law.
After a while, all the meat on the table was eaten and the party was about to leave. When I turned around, Cao Yao and Feng Rui were no longer at the table. They piled a few stones on the top of the mountain toward the east and kowtowed.
While kowtowing and calling people's names, they finally held their heads and cried with their tongues out loud, leaving Gao Xian and Wei Qian'er, who had not drank, standing at the foot of the mountain with their arms folded, feeling extremely embarrassed.
The two of them shouted hundreds of names that Liu Chengzong had never heard of. If they hadn't heard the name Liu Yujie inside, they would have no idea what they were doing.
Even Gao Yingxiang and others were alerted. They came over to look up the mountain and asked Liu Chengzong: "Lion, what are your two brothers doing? Who is Liu Yujie? They sound familiar."
Liu Chengzong sighed: "General Du led them to escape from Sarhu in the 47th year of Wanli. They bumped into Xiong Jinglue in Liaoyang and were beheaded... Master Gao laughed at them. They drank too much and sacrificed them. I wish you could die in battle.”
"Carry these two back to the camp. Keep it up all night. Don't let these two go crazy and blow up the camp again." After Liu Chengzong said to Wei Qian'er, he turned to Gao Yingxiang to say goodbye, and then said to Yang Yao: "Let's go. Let’s go back to the camp, and I’ll organize the front and rear posts for you and Mr. Wang Bai. We’ll talk about it in detail when we get back to the camp. Follow me back to Yan’an tomorrow.”
Everyone held fire and walked through the mountains and returned to their camps.
The two brothers Han Shipan and Han Shiyou became the captains of Liu Chengzong's retainers. Yang Yao and Wang Wenxiu each led the sentry commanders of the front and rear outposts, and their frontier troops were reorganized into sentinel soldiers on the spot.
Early the next morning, Liu Chengzong bid farewell to Gao Yingxiang and led his troops to Yan'an.
Just as he walked out of the mountain pass, he heard someone calling him. When he turned around, he saw Gao Yingxiang running towards him with a thick spear under his ribs.
When he got closer, he could see clearly that what Gao Yingxiang was holding was not a spear. The tip of the long vermilion pole had no edge, and was braided with old tassel-headed pheasant tail beads from unknown sources. It was a rolled-up red satin with yellow edges. Big flag.
"Master Gao? This is..."
Gao Yingxiang didn't say anything, he just smiled on his horse, raised his arms and held the 1.2-foot flagpole in the palm of his hand. The red-faced and yellow-edged flag was spread out in the wind, with a huge Chinese character "Liu" embroidered with yellow thread in the middle.
Gao Yingxiang rode up and handed the flag into his hand, smiling and saying: "It's time for you to have your own flag, General Liu."
