In the mountains and forests of Nanhuang, after some repairs, Zhao Cheng's soldiers and generals have recovered a bit of energy.
Fortunately, they are all veterans and have long been accustomed to this intensity of war. If they were new recruits and encountered such a battle with a death rate as high as 50%, their morale would have collapsed long ago.
Only the old soldiers, who are used to life and death, have meritorious rewards, and have been promoted, can still maintain a certain degree of combat effectiveness.
But it would be impossible to experience such an intense bloody battle again in a short period of time.
In this era, usually in a big war, if the death rate exceeds 10%, the army will be defeated, and it will be useless to have a warlord.
If you are an elite person, it can reach 15%.
As for the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, the best among the best can reach 30%.
This is also a limit. There is a limit to a person's psychological endurance. Then there is the herd mentality. On the battlefield, even a determined warrior will subconsciously follow after seeing his surrounding companions begin to retreat.
Once inertia is formed, it is the so-called defeat.
Even the seemingly lowest 10% are all warriors who are brave and good at fighting. Most of them are from the time when the dynasty was first established, and then they are the soldiers and horses in the hands of the powerful in troubled times. As for the soldiers and horses of the imperial court, in the prosperous times, they will begin to It went downhill, and by the end of the year, 90% of the soldiers and horses were either neglecting training or simply eating empty pay.
Among such soldiers and horses, most of them are sons of nobles who are just trying to make up for their losses. Let them compete for credit. But if they really go to the battlefield, they will be the first ones to run away. In this case, the death rate will be about 5%, and the army will collapse.
Zhao Cheng knew that in the battle where he killed Wu Yuan, he was able to achieve a 50% loss without being defeated. This was the result of many factors.
On the one hand, the forest is deep and there is nowhere to escape. If you get separated in this deep forest, it will be difficult to survive.
On the other hand, before the battle began, Zhao Chenggong forced everyone to keep only food and water for one day and destroy all the rest. From the beginning, everyone's escape route was cut off.
And this thing of breaking the cauldron and sinking the boat is not something that can be used easily. Once it is not used well, it will easily cause the soldiers and horses under him to mutiny. However, Zhao Cheng has a small number of men and a large number of rewards, so he can suppress the restless hearts. down.
It's Taoism.
In this world, although Taoism is difficult to manifest, it still has a great influence on the spirit. It can stimulate one's fighting spirit and bloodshed, and make the people under his command fearless of death. It can be called the ancient version of stimulants.
In modern wars, many countries, in the absence of spiritual beliefs, like to distribute various drugs to soldiers to maintain combat effectiveness.
Of course, an army will undoubtedly be the strongest if it is both spiritual and physical.
Back then, there was such a priestly army in the Western world. Through brainwashing and drugs, a two-pronged approach, even if the death rate exceeded 80%, it could still fight to the death.
However, subsequent such armies were abandoned.
On the one hand, the cost is high. The resources spent by a priest army are enough to support dozens or hundreds of cannon fodder. On the other hand, the belief is firm, which is not a good thing for the powerful.
The cost is high and difficult to control. Although it has the advantage of strong combat effectiveness, apart from this, it is all disadvantages.
The Taoist technique used by Zhao Cheng can be regarded as a kind of temporary brainwashing.
Before the battle, he first asked all the soldiers to sit quietly and recite the Huangtian Sutra together. He was using Taoism to guide them, and finally achieved success.
It can be said that in this battle, he was able to kill Wu Yuan with such little strength, not because of luck, but because of sufficient preparation.
And it is also indispensable.
The same method will not work if used continuously in a short period of time.
However, after killing Wu Yuan, the road ahead will be brighter and brighter.
Wu Yuan's calamity was the death calamity of his body, and it was also the greatest calamity. Although the number of people involved was only more than a hundred, and the place was only in this small mountain forest, compared to the entire world, it was about the size of a palm. The place is simply not as magnificent as the vast world and the splendor of the stars.
But if you really want to compare, it is precisely because there are few people in the land and there is no room for change that it tests the strength even more.
After the soldiers recovered a little, Zhao Cheng was not in a hurry. Instead, he summoned his soldiers and the captains to ask for advice.
Asking for advice in the military is a very common thing, but just because it is common, it becomes important.
There are two types of asking for advice. One is when the person in charge has made a decision in his mind and is confident in asking for advice. It seems like asking, but it is actually a means of establishing prestige.
There is another way, that is, the way forward is really unclear, so it is time to ask the generals for advice.
Zhao Cheng is naturally the first type at this moment.
Their group now only has a total of more than fifty people, but at this moment, more than a dozen people came at once, standing on both sides.
From the positions, we can also see the closeness. The person closest to Zhao Cheng is Wei Ye, the personal soldier who followed Zhao Cheng at the beginning. He is just a personal soldier and does not have any official position, but anyone with a discerning eye can It can be seen that this situation is only temporary. As long as he makes no mistakes in the future, his future will be the brightest.
Indeed, in the military, everything seems to be based on merit, but in many cases, whether meritorious service can be achieved depends on the thoughts of the superior.
When serving a superior, the most important thing is not merit, but love.
If there is love, even if you make a big mistake, you can still be forgiven. If there is no love, the greater the credit, the faster you will die.
After Wei Ye, there was Wang Shouzheng. His spirit was temporarily suppressed, but the dragon can hide and rise. As long as the dragon spirit has not dissipated, the current situation is just a temporary trough. Being dormant does not mean giving up. Just for next time, it will be higher.
Persistence is the dragon.
Zhao Cheng just looked at it coldly.
The more you suppress things like dragon species, unless you crush them to death, it won't be that easy to use them for your own use.
In reality, Ming Taizu was suppressed by his adoptive father in various ways when he first started. Several times in a row, he managed to accumulate some strength, but it was easily taken away by the superiors, and he was almost killed. But such setbacks not only did not make him useless, but instead tempered his firm mind.
Even without the previous suppression and training, Ming Taizu may not have been able to found a country and rule the world.
Of course, this is not a celebration of suffering.
There is an essential difference between suffering and grinding. Suffering is passively enduring all kinds of suffering in life, while grinding is the setbacks encountered while constantly moving towards a goal.
In Wang Shouzheng's situation, if he didn't kill him, he would have to defeat him three times before he could cut off his dragon energy. According to the law, it only takes three times. After three times, the dragon energy will be gone. It can be said that the destiny has been lost.
It's not that there is no chance to transform into a dragon again, but it just lacks a little help from heaven and earth. In this world, everyone can be called a dragon. As long as they have strength, they can condense dragon energy even if they don't have innate dragon energy.
The one with strong soldiers and horses is the emperor!
(End of chapter)
