Empire

As night fell, darkness surged in like a tide. The Erlong Village lit torches to illuminate the entire village.

Chen Ziang and his men easily occupied the Erlong Village and seized mountains of food and livestock. They would be able to return to the capital tomorrow to report. The officers and soldiers of the Ninth Battalion were particularly happy.

"The food is provided, and we will set off for the camp tomorrow!"

These days they have been running around outside to collect food, and they have been very hard-working. Chen Ziang also ordered to slaughter pigs and sheep to reward the officers and soldiers of the Ninth Battalion.

Because they were marching outside, Chen Ziang did not let the officers and soldiers drink. After all, drinking during the mission would cause trouble.

The kitchen has been busy since the afternoon. Soft and rotten meat is stewed in the boiling pot, and all kinds of stir-fries are served on the table like water.

Not only can the officers and soldiers of the Ninth Battalion including Chen Ziang have a good meal, but those who surrendered to them in Erlongshanzhai can also have a good meal.

Zhou Ba and Li Qiye of Erlongshanzhai are also careful budgeters. They���Thinking that the war would not end soon, they were quite frugal on weekdays, which resulted in most people not smelling any meat for ten days or half a month.

Now that Chen Ziang had arrived, he directly pulled out some of the livestock they kept and slaughtered them, which made the people in Erlongshan Village eat a lot of oil, and their hatred for Chen Ziang and others was reduced a little.

Zhou Ba and Li Qiye originally wanted to hide in Erlongshan Village and become a local emperor to avoid intervening in the disputes outside.

But Chen Ziang's words"no eggs will be intact under an overturned nest" completely changed Li Qiye's mind.

It was impossible for them to stay out of such a chaotic world. There were wars everywhere and endless wars.

Even if they escaped the Qinghe Army, they might not be able to escape from other teams in the future. Instead of doing this, it would be better to let go and do a big fight, and maybe they could even win fame and wealth.

In addition, all the food and livestock they stored in Erlongshan fell into Chen Ziang's hands.

Even if they did not join the Qinghe Army, they would lose their food and livestock and would have no way to survive.

Zhou Ba is an upright person. Although he is the boss of Erlongshan, he always listens to the words of military advisor Li Qiye.

After thinking again and again, Li Qiye finally compromised and decided to join Chen Ziang's army to participate in the battle for the world.

Li Qiye was also an ambitious person, otherwise he would not have participated in the imperial examinations of the Far East Dynasty again and again. It's just that his luck is really bad. Facing the imperial examinations with rampant corruption, he failed repeatedly. He was poor and had to return home.

If it weren't for Zhou Ba's rescue, Li Qiye would probably have starved to death on the side of the road and become a pile of dry bones.

Li Qiye also repays his kindness and assists Zhou Ba in running Erlongshan Village.

They wanted to live in a safe corner and secretly train soldiers and horses. Even if they didn't participate in the battle for the world, they would always have no problem protecting themselves.

But with the arrival of Chen Ziang, only a few thousand soldiers and horses broke their fantasy.

Facing Chen Ziang's grace of not killing him and his sincere invitation, Li Qiye's hidden lofty ideals began to stir again.

"Brother, please inform us that we want to see General Chen."

After discussing with Zhou Ba, Li Qiye and Zhou Ba finally decided to join Chen Ziang. Although they were a little helpless, they had no other choice. When the Qinghe soldiers guarding Li Qiye heard that they wanted to see Chen Ziang, they immediately reported it.

Chen Ziang soon met with Li Qiye and Zhou Ba and learned about their willingness to join the army.

"Welcome to join our Ninth Battalion. From today on, as long as I, Chen Ziang, have something to eat, you will never go hungry."

Chen Ziang was in a particularly good mood when Li Qiye and Zhou Ba surrendered to him. He immediately ordered the banquet to be reopened to celebrate. The battle for supremacy is ultimately a battle for talent, land, food and population, and the most important thing is talent.

As long as there is a strong team of talent, they can make plans or charge into battle to help the coach obtain land, food and population and continue to grow their strength.

If there is no team of talent, the coach will probably be exhausted to death if he relies solely on grabbing land, food and population.

It is precisely because of this that Chen Ziang attaches great importance to talent. Although Zhou Ba and Li Qiye were born as bandits, Chen Ziang did not underestimate them.

Although he could not judge the talents of the two of them, he would rather kill a thousand by mistake than let one go, and wanted to keep them in the Ninth Battalion.

Erlongshanzhai can Li Qiye and Zhou Ba certainly played an indispensable role in the fact that they were able to develop safely under the nose of the Qinghe Army and store so much food.

With the addition of Li Qiye and Zhou Ba, their troops were naturally recruited by Chen Ziang, and the strength of Chen Ziang's Ninth Battalion was further strengthened.

Chen Ziang did not mix the troops of Erlongshan with other teams, but directly handed them all over to Zhou Ba. At the same time, he supplemented him with some troops and appointed him as a general of a thousand men.

Not only did Chen Ziang not kill them, but he treated them with courtesy. Now he directly appointed him as a general of a thousand men, and Zhou Ba was very grateful.

Since Zhou Ba became a bandit, he has been living a life of licking blood on the knife edge. He fought with various bandits for food, and fought with officers and soldiers from all over the country for a way to survive. He has never felt safe.

Now that he has joined Chen Ziang's army, Zhou Ba immediately felt like he had found his backbone, and his heart suddenly felt much more at ease.

"Brother Li Qiye, please be the chief of staff of our Ninth Battalion."

After Chen Ziang arranged Zhou Ba's position, he immediately appointed Li Qiye as the chief of staff of their Ninth Battalion.

After hearing what Chen Ziang said, Li Qiye and others were stunned, and they were still wondering what this chief of staff did.

"Please let me know."

Chen Ziang explained:"The chief of staff's task is very simple. It mainly helps me manage the army on weekdays, formulates battle plans, makes suggestions, etc. during marches and battles......."

"Isn't that the same as being a military advisor?" Zhou Ba couldn't help but ask.

Chen Ziang smiled and said,"You can understand it that way, but the chief of staff needs to do more."

Li Qiye also understood that Chen Ziang trusted him so much that he gave him the position of chief of staff. He felt a little uneasy.

"General, I have no virtue or talent, I am afraid it is difficult for me to take on such a great responsibility."Li Qiye wanted to decline.

"What? You look down on me, Chen Zi'ang?"

"not me......"

"If you think highly of me, Chen Ziang, you will be the chief of staff, and you can also help me share some things."Chen Ziang said with a smile

"In that case, I will obey your command respectfully."

Li Qiye saw Chen Ziang's sincerity and had no choice but to agree. Chen Ziang was self-aware. He knew that his energy was limited and he couldn't do everything right.

So he wanted to form a team of staff, that is, to help him make suggestions when making major decisions, so as to avoid failure due to wrong decisions.

At the same time, he hoped that the staff team could help him share some chores on weekdays, so that he could relax a little.

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The author has something to say:

I have caught a cold and feel unwell in recent days, so the updates have been slow. Please forgive me for that.