People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 113: Counting Merits
Xu Chen looked at Lu Ping and asked with a smile: "I remember you. You are one of the commanders of Pinggu's subordinates, right?"

Hearing this, Lu Ping felt warm in his heart. The leader actually remembered him. He did not forget to reply, "Yes, leader!"

Xu Chen nodded. For this battle, the military settlements in various places had their own arrangements for recruiting soldiers. Most of them were sent to join the Yellow Turban Army to guard the four county cities, but some military settlements were also assigned other tasks.

Taking into account the possibility that the enemy army would divide its forces to attack the four counties at the same time, the four counties were arranged to have garrison chiefs lead their troops to lie in ambush in the mountains and forests. If necessary, they could cooperate with the defenders in the city to launch a pincer attack. This was an ambush prepared by Xu Chen.

But this is even more wrong. He looked at Lu Ping again: "Since I ordered you to ambush, why did you go to reinforce General Wang?"

Lu Ping was apprehensive when he heard this, but he still answered with gritted teeth: "Master, it is not that I intentionally left my post, but I observed that the enemy had no intention of splitting up the army. In this case, our ambush of only a thousand people is of no use, so I wondered if I could do something else to play a greater role."

Xu Chen thought for a moment and understood what was going on: "So you decided to go and reinforce Wang Shuai?"

Lu Ping nodded with a guilty conscience: "I thought, if we can help General Wang escape, then the more than 1,000 soldiers of my army will be combined with the more than 3,000 soldiers of General Wang's army, and the threat to the enemy will be much greater. After coming up with this idea, I held a seminar, and the squad leaders below all thought it was worth a try, so we did it."

After Lu Ping explained everything, Wang Dang was worried that Xu Chen would blame him for acting on his own, so he immediately stepped forward to cover him.

"Master, you don't know that the man sent by the enemy to spy on me is called Tian Yu. He is also very difficult to deal with. He actually learned my guerrilla tactics, which gave me a headache.

Fortunately, Lu Ping was smart and came over suddenly, so we attacked from both sides and defeated the enemy. Otherwise, I would be fighting with him now.

Now I have captured Tian Yu, and he has returned to reinforce the leader, and finally helped our sect win a great victory. Lu Ping has a great share of this great contribution!"

Seeing Wang Dang eager to take credit, Xu Chen found it a little funny for a moment.

It is true that this was an unauthorized action, but Xu Chen did not feel annoyed about this situation, and even felt a little happy.

This is not only because this unauthorized action has made a contribution, but the bigger reason is that he saw that the system he designed is really working.

Even without central command, the military units below can exercise their own subjective initiative, judge the situation and make more appropriate tactical choices.

To achieve this effect, two things are essential.

First, the entire army must be clear about the strategic and tactical goals of the war. This can only be achieved by the supervisory guards giving unified propaganda to the entire army before the war. Only in this way can every military unit understand how to fight this battle, what role they play on the battlefield, and what results can be considered to have achieved the mission.

Secondly, the existence of a military seminar is indispensable. If there is no military seminar to unify thoughts, then regardless of whether Lu Ping acted on his own, the people below may not be willing to comply.

In this battle, when the enemy showed no signs of splitting its forces, Lu Ping judged that his own conditions were not sufficient to play a tactical role, so he thought of taking the initiative to liberate Wang Dang and work together to achieve his tactical goals.

The so-called unauthorized actions actually never deviated from his own tactical goals. This naturally cannot be considered a crime, but rather he was doing his best to achieve his own goals, and he did succeed.

"Lu Ping will be awarded a first-class merit, a reward of 1,000 coins, and his military achievements will be recorded in his archives; the soldiers led by Lu Ping will be awarded a second-class collective merit, each with a reward of 100 coins, and their military achievements will be recorded in their archives!"

Xu Chen quickly and efficiently attributed the credit to Lu Ping's unit. This kind of credit, which is the key factor in the outcome of the war, must not be underestimated.

Wang Dang was immediately satisfied with this assessment of merit, and felt that Lu Ping had not been wronged.

As for the contributions of his troops, Wang Dang also knew that they would be calculated one by one after the war. The leader only made the assessment in person to reassure Lu Ping.

Such a result really made Lu Ping very happy. He quickly stood up straight and thanked the leader.

For this achievement, the reward is secondary. The key is to record the merit as a top-level merit and include it in the file. This will be a huge plus in future military rank assessments.

It can be said that as long as your assessment results are not too far behind, your future prospects will be guaranteed.

Xu Chen looked at Lu Ping, thought for a while, and said, "After winning this battle, our sect can at least occupy the entire Yuyang County. It would be better to appoint another battalion above the military settlements in each county. I will recommend you to be the temporary commander of the Pinggu Battalion. You can be promoted after you pass the rank assessment in the future."

Lu Ping was stunned at first, then became even more excited and quickly responded.

These local garrison commanders actually understood that they were all future local reserve officials, and the 1,500 Yellow Turban officers on standby were the regular military organization.

In other words, the battalion commander appointed by the leader will actually be the future county magistrate.

Lu Ping also understood that the leader wanted to promote him as an official who could be respected. Although Lu Ping felt flattered, he also felt a sense of pressure.

I am afraid I will have to study harder in the future so that I can live up to the Master’s expectations.

Thinking of this, Lu Ping subconsciously touched the textbook in his arms that he always read. At this time, Lu Ping also knew that it was not appropriate for him to stay any longer, so he turned around and left.

Xu Chen then smiled and looked at Wang Dang: "Are you satisfied with my arrangement?"

Wang Dang chuckled, but then he became helpless: "Of course I am satisfied, but such a talented general will be made an official in the future, which is a great loss to our Yellow Turban Army."

Xu Chen shook his head and said, "This is a helpless move on my part. No matter the military or politics, the scholar group is unreliable. The real core talents can only be cultivated from the Yellow Turbans. When the business becomes bigger in the future, it will not work without civil servants. We must prepare for a rainy day now."

Wang Dang said: "I am just saying this, these matters will be arranged by the leader."

Xu Chen smiled and patted Wang Dang on the shoulder: "General Wang, please take a rest for two days, and then you can lead the Yellow Turbans into Quanzhou, the Yongnu. In this way, the entire Yuyang County will be occupied by the Yellow Turbans, and great things can be expected!"

At this point, Wang Dang also sighed: "It's a pity that I rushed all the way after the battle with Tian Yu. Although I caught up with the battle, I couldn't fight hard. Otherwise, how could I let Tian Chou and Zhang Chun escape!"

Although Xu Chen felt a little sorry about this, he didn't care too much: "General Wang, don't be anxious. Our sect will keep moving forward and one day we will crush all these people. Let them live for a while."

Xu Chen was not arrogant, but only now did he truly feel that he had established a firm foothold in this era.

The original four counties, plus the two counties of Yongnu and Quanzhou, and the other two or three small counties of Yuyang County were also in their pockets. It can be said that the Yellow Turbans have actually controlled a county.

According to Xu Chen's estimation, even if the county's population does not reach 300,000, it will not be too far off.

More population and larger territory means more resources and more space, so the Yellow Turbans' strength naturally expanded. Although they were still far from their final goal, they had at least gotten rid of the risk of being wiped out at any time.

No matter who comes to Youzhou now, it will not be easy to wipe out the Yellow Turbans.

The war stopped, but the follow-up work was very long. The Yellow Turbans also began to build organizations in the newly occupied Yongnu and Quanzhou counties. Every village launched a vigorous movement to fight against the local tyrants and divide the land.

The old order collapsed under the violence of the Yellow Turbans, and the once powerful families could no longer be seen in Yuyang County.

After this battle, the Yellow Turbans became a dominant force in Youzhou and had become an important presence that could not be ignored. Except for the distant Liaodong and Liaoxi, all other counties were worried and frightened about this new force.

In Youzhou today, there is no governor to control the overall situation, and there is no rising hero, resulting in each county still being in a state of minding its own business.

However, Xu Chen also had a hunch that the fluttering efforts of his butterfly would at least stir up some storms, perhaps causing a greater reaction from the Han court, or perhaps his external factor would catalyze the emergence of a hero in Youzhou more quickly.

Taking over a county is certainly a good thing, but just because you have become bigger, you may soon start to face greater pressure.

The period before this was the Yellow Turbans’ last window of stability.

So Xu Chen began to consider the next direction. Should he recuperate and develop production, or continue to expand outward while the surrounding areas are weak?

Now that Youbeiping has just suffered a severe blow, if we can reorganize our army and go out to fight, we might be able to take over a lot of territory again.

However, defensive warfare and expeditionary warfare are two different concepts. If everything goes well after the expedition, then everything will be fine. But if the war goes wrong, the Yellow Turbans may be dragged into the vortex of war.

How to make choices and how to judge require Xu Chen to think clearly.

He finally figured out this problem when he returned to the Yuyang government office.

It was more than ten days later that he returned to Yuyang after handling post-war affairs in Pinggu. When he returned to the office, he passed by the towering warrior monument and saw a familiar figure.

He hesitated for a moment, and finally withdrew his right foot that had stepped into the office and turned towards the monument.

But when he approached the figure, his feet couldn't help but stop.

He saw an old woman leaning against a stone slab, motionless and looking haggard. It was obvious that she had been here for a very long time.

He also saw that the slate was new.
Xu Chen was silent. He suddenly didn't dare to go over and was afraid that the old woman would see him. Then he silently retreated to a distance.

He looked at the people nearby again, and saw sadness and fatigue in their expressions.

Then he suddenly came to his senses. Although they had won a great victory in this battle, the casualties they had paid were not small. If they went on another expedition, what they would see would only be even more tragic.

Let's practice slowly.
(End of this chapter)