Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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Huai Laoer said with a smug look on his face: “Military Advisor, how about you teach us a method?”
Zhuang Li looked around at everyone and saw that no one had any ideas. He then tapped the table and said, “Listen to the drum.”
“What?” Everyone was stunned.
Zhuang Li pointed to his ear and repeated, “You don’t need to inspire their morale, nor do you need to mediate their conflicts, nor do you need to teach them complicated battle formations. In the next month, you only need to teach them one thing – when they hear the drums of war, they should keep their heads down and charge forward, and not retreat. That’s enough.”
“Is it that simple?” Huai Laoer confirmed.
“Yes, it’s that simple.” Zhuang Li nodded firmly, and then explained in detail: “After thirty days of high-intensity training, the soldiers of Jin will form a conditioned reflex of ‘rushing forward when they hear the thunder of war drums’.”
“You don’t need to know what a conditioned reflex is, you just need to understand that the sound of the drums will deprive these soldiers of their ability to think and let them fight only by instinct. When the drums are beaten, they charge, and when the drums are stopped, they stop, just like you know which direction to turn when you see the signalman waving a flag.”
“In this way, no matter how much the Mongols harass us, the rhythm of the attack will always be controlled by the Jin army. Do you understand?”
All the generals had undergone arduous training and were accustomed to following drum beats and signal flags on the battlefield, so they naturally understood this truth.
They seemed to understand something, so they clapped their hands in praise, and each led tens of thousands of Jin soldiers to train.
When leaving the tent, Huai Laoer swung the curtains and walked outside with his arms raised to the sky, shouting wildly, “Given time, I will definitely become a god of war!”
Everyone burst into laughter, but they also had the same ambition in their hearts. Under the guidance of the military advisor, they gradually discovered that the battle formations and military tactics were not as difficult to understand as written in the books. As long as they studied hard, they could eventually become famous generals.
Le Zhengming listened attentively to the noise outside, and then he laughed a few times. After a moment, he looked a little lonely and murmured, “They say that a bad soldier is because of a bad general. They have been with me for several years, but they haven’t improved at all. After you came, they all changed. Is it because I am not good enough?”
Zhuang Li glanced at his lower abdomen and said meaningfully: “I think you are very good.”
Le Zhengming’s ears immediately turned red. He wanted to glare, but he pursed his thin lips and smiled first instead.
Zhuang Li stood up, put his arms around his lover’s neck from behind, put his lips gently on the top of his head, and whispered softly: “If you are not capable, how can you let them follow you loyally? When killing the enemy, you always stand in the front, keeping the danger and death to yourself. You are not good at speaking, but you will shoulder all the responsibilities. To me, you are the best person in the world.”
Not only did Le Zhengming’s ears feel hot, but his eye sockets, nose, and heart also felt hot. His hardship, exhaustion, confusion, and helplessness were finally completely soothed at this moment.
Zhuang Li lowered his head slightly, put his cheek against his lover’s temple, and said with a burning breath: “I will be your brain, and you will be my sword; I will plan for you, and you will fight for me. Together, we will be invincible. How about this?”
“Okay.” Le Zhengming spoke in a very hoarse voice, and his eyes, which had always been frosty, now showed clear tears.
Zhuang Li bit the tip of his ear and continued to coax him: “Then how about we play with spears for a while?”
Le Zhengming who was filled with emotion: “…”
He was stunned for only a moment, then bent down, picked up the little curly-haired boy, and strode towards the inner room.
He may not be good at things that require his brain, but he was the best at using spears!
….
A month later, the Mongolian army arrived.
The Ninth Prince and Zhuang Xu sat in the pavilion on the top of the mountain, leisurely gazing at the distant mountains blurred by rain and fog.
“Has our army assembled?” The Ninth Prince brewed tea slowly.
“They have assembled. We are just waiting for the defeat of Jin State so that we can immediately enter the battlefield and reap victory. My father asked me to bring a coffin with me to collect Zhuang Li’s body. I will have to trouble Your Highness to assign me a few people. It is really difficult to find a broken body on such a huge battlefield.”
Zhuang Xu turned the cup over and washed it with boiling water with a calm smile on his face.
In his mouth, the death of his brother was like a wisp of mist blown away by the wind, so thin that it was not worth mentioning.
“It’s a pity that such a brilliant person is going to be lost.” The Ninth Prince shook his head regretfully, then rolled up his sleeves to pour tea for him.
Just as he was handing one of the cups of tea to Zhuang Xu, a soldier hurried over and bowed: “Report! The Jin army defeated the Mongolian cavalry!”
With a crisp clang, the scalding hot tea splashed around the hands of the Ninth Prince and Zhuang Xu, scalding their skin red.
“Hiss!” The Ninth Prince took a breath and suppressed his anger and asked, “Did Jin win?”
“Yes, General Le Zhengming did not send any troops during the whole process. The 450,000 Jin troops drove the Mongols away on their own.”
“Are the Mongols so vulnerable?” Zhuang Xu came back to his senses and asked in a hoarse voice.
The soldier saluted and said, “It is said that after the battle began, the war drums of Jin State kept beating, and the Jin army charged forward without hesitation. They were braver and more skilled in fighting than the Mongols, so they won the victory quickly.”
“Just charge forward when you hear the drums, and this tactic alone can repel the Mongols?” The Ninth Prince was stunned.
During this month, he sent people to Jin State many times to inquire about the movements of Le Zhengming and Zhuang Li, so he knew that this strategy was proposed by Zhuang Li.
Zhuang Li was reluctant to let Le Zhengming’s private soldiers take part in the war, nor did he teach the Jin army advanced battle formations. He only let them form the simplest square formations every day, listening to the roar of war drums, and charging back and forth on the training ground.
Seeing this information, the Ninth Prince thought that Zhuang Li had run out of ideas and could only treat the Jin army as fools. After all, after the defeat, he could still leave Jin safely under the protection of Le Zhengming’s 150,000 private soldiers, so there was nothing to worry about.
Now, after hearing the exact results of the battle, the Ninth Prince realized belatedly that Zhuang Li’s arrangement was not nonsense, but an ingenious strategy.
But the Ninth Prince had no idea what the other party was thinking, let alone what was the secret of this man’s repeated victories.
“If you were asked to go to Jin State, could you help them defeat the Mongols?” The Ninth Prince turned to look at Zhuang Xu.
Zhuang Xu hid the back of his burned hand in his sleeve and said with a smile: “An army of 450,000 soldiers against 150,000 soldiers, how can we not win?”
The Ninth Prince stared at him for a long while, then lowered his eyes and drank tea, sneering in his heart: You said it easily, but you didn’t take the initiative to volunteer to support the State of Jin. In the final analysis, you just don’t have the ability Zhuang Li has. A group of scattered remnants of a foreign race could be trained into an indestructible iron army by Zhuang Li. The other party is indeed not simple!
It was not until this time that the Ninth Prince discovered that there was such a huge discrepancy between the rumors and reality.
Zhuang Xu, the famous young genius, didn’t seem to be that great; while Zhuang Li, the dandy boy, was not weak or incompetent at all. It was obvious that the person who spread the rumor was deliberately praising Zhuang Xu and suppressing Zhuang Li! But what was the benefit to the other party doing this?
The Ninth Prince concentrated and thought carefully, and soon thought of Madam Yan Ran, who was loved like a treasure by Zhuang Ran.
He suddenly felt upset. A foot-washing maid was indeed a foot-washing maid. Just because of a little selfishness, she ruined Zhuang Li’s reputation and caused him to lose a loyal minister!
Because of this thought, the Ninth Prince no longer found Zhuang Xu pleasing to the eye.
Good things were afraid of comparison, this was an eternal truth.
Zhuang Xu was a very sensitive person, and he quickly noticed the subtle changes in the Ninth Prince’s mood. He closed his eyes and frantically flipped through military books in his mind, trying to find out why Zhuang Li won so easily. But it was easy to read what was written in a book, but it was extremely difficult to apply it in reality.
He searched for a long time but couldn’t find any basis, so he had to give up.
These various military books suddenly appeared in his mind when he was ten years old. He was overjoyed and studied them carefully and used various strategies in the military books to help the new emperor seize the throne.
Therefore, his father loved him very much.
He originally thought that he was the son of God chosen by God, possessing extraordinary wisdom and talents, and would surely achieve great things and hold a high position in the future. However, he did not expect that Zhuang Li would break his confidence with just a slight raise of his hand.
Could it be that even if he had so many profound military books, he would still be no match for Zhuang Li? Was he really that smart? Zhuang Xu was very unwilling to accept it, but suddenly he found a book called “Fireweapons Encyclopedia” in his mind.
He flipped through a few pages hastily, and his breathing became very rapid. When he opened his eyes, the frustration in his pupils had been replaced by complete excitement.
He adjusted his mood and said in a slow and proud tone: “Your Highness, it seems that my good brother really has some real skills. In this case, I have no choice but to take real action.”
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