Chapter 957: The shape

In this era of rituals and music and social rules shattering, no one can reasonably demand others loyalty.

After coming to this life, Lei Yuan's initial problem was how to collect loyal subordinates. He gathered the first twenty entourages in the mountains and spent several years. Not only did he give benefits, but he also had to be sincere and touching people. Finally, he confirmed that they were willing to give loyalty and follow their own life and death.

What is the price of loyalty? How many people are left in the twenty entourages back then? How many people are left in the army who fought to death with Lei Yuan in the drums?

This is also an important reason why Lei Yuan tried his best to maintain the power of the Lei clan in Lujiang. Only through the role of the clan can he have more ways to influence the soldiers, grasp their trends, and facilitate his own economic benefits to maintain the loyalty of his subordinates.

After all, there are only a few people who want to make achievements in troubled times and strive for wealth and glory. For most ordinary people, they just want to live, and they can't worry too much about anything else.

And Lei Yuan always recognized this point and was not demanding.

When Duke Xuande captured Jingnan, the scholars and officials in Jingzhou were like wind and swaying; when Duke Xuande entered Yizhou, most of the civil and military officials in Yizhou were like this. Those who truly held high positions naturally understood that those who quickly surrendered to Duke Xuande might not be slow to face the Cao family or other enemies one day.

It was not until in recent years that Lei Yuan felt a little relieved as the Five Armies system under the Hanzhong King system gradually implemented and the soldiers gained more economic and political benefits in the regime.

As for Cao Cao, it seemed that there was no way for Xuande Public to appease the people's hearts, so he simply took the family of the soldiers as the responsibilities, and concentrated the family of the soldiers around several big cities to live in farms. Once something happened, he would implicate his family and was straightforward and neat, which was very consistent with Cao Cao's usual style.

However, in the Cao family's status was very low. It was fine if senior generals and officials were defeated. The soldiers of prefectures and counties and grassroots officers with lower status had not lived a good life. When it was a critical moment of life and death, it was inevitable that they would fall with the wind.

Anyway, everyone is a fence-bearer, so smart people are more useful to Lei Yuan.

Lei Yuan waved and asked Dong Liang to get closer: "Don't worry, Dong Sima, I will never make things difficult for you. This time, you have made contributions to helping our army break the camp, so I will give you a chance."

Seeing that Lei Yuan was speaking kindly, Dong Liang relaxed a little.

But he immediately felt that there was something special plan hidden in Lei Yuan's kind attitude, which made him stand up involuntarily. After hesitating for a moment, he asked in a low voice: "General, what opportunity?"

After a while, the entourage took Dong Liang out.

Lei Yuan stood at the door of the house and watched around.

At this time, the rain finally became smaller, the clouds gradually dissipated, and the sky on the east side was still a little brighter, at least it was no longer as thick as ink as before.

This heavy rain lasted for about three hours. Although the rain stopped now, the rainwater surged from all over the mountains gathered into streams and waterfalls, and it was violently impacted. A large amount of earth and rocks began to collapse at the height of the mountain, and the roar of the earth shaking from time to time.

Lei Yuan's five hundred subordinates first controlled the small camp at the foot of the mountain, and then came up the mountain in succession. Because the road was difficult, the soldiers did not arrive quickly.

When Ma Dai led his troops to climb the mountain, he had to fight against the current. But now, the mud in some places along the mountain road was nearly one foot deep. When people stepped on it, they could not reach their calves and took ten times the effort to pull it out. Some trees also fell down and blocked the road.

On the east side of the village gate, there was an open space of dozens of feet in radius. The brigade of Cao's army surrendered in groups of three or five, sitting dejectedly on the open space, looking at the soldiers of Jiaozhou with suspicion and fear, occasionally whispering a few words.

Lei Yuan looked northwest again, Lumen peaks were close to the Han River, revealing some dark outlines in the glimmer reflected on the water surface. If you want to look closely, you really can't see clearly. There is no idea what is hidden between the overlapping black forests.

"Paishan is the southernmost one in Lumen Peaks. The terrain is dangerous and can not only stop the attempt of the troops on the east and west sides of Lumen Mountain from the south, but also overlook the passage between Lumen Mountain and Hongshan. Cao's army had more than a thousand garrison troops, but Bo Zhan took it with 200 people, so he should remember his first merit."

Ma Dai smiled and said, "This is the general's decision. I'm just running errands. It only takes physical strength, but not brains."

Lei Yuan waved his hand.

He looked at the situation in the mountains again and asked, "Then, in Bozhan's opinion, what should we do next?"

"Since Cao Xiu's troops are about to reach Yanshui, I think they will not delay it. They will also march quickly in the rain. At this time, most of them have arrived at Lumen Mountain. But this heavy rain... General, you see, the surrounding roads and plains are already muddy, and the road is so difficult. The Cao army brigade, especially their cavalry, has no possibility of continuing to move south in a short period of time."

"That's right." Lei Yuan nodded: "They can't move south in a large scale. After our main force seized Jiming Mountain today, it may only be stationed for a few days, and it is difficult to go north for a while. Although our army seized Paishan and took the lead, the two families must continue to make progress in three or five days... they still have to expect that it will not rain heavily in the past three or five days."

Ma Dai nodded repeatedly: "I thought I had to defend this village in the future, and use the dangerous mountain to block the small Cao army, and safely defend for several days. When the water retreats, I will discuss how to fight."

Speaking of this, Ma Dai thought of what Lei Yuan had just said to Dong Liang, so he asked tentatively: "However, now I don't understand. Could it be that the general has any tricks?"

"It's not a trick..." Lei Yuan pondered: "I just felt that the weather was not conducive to combat, so we had to wait. However, although I can't get the enemy, I may not be able to get the enemy to me."

"These prisoners are reliable?"

"If they want them to deceive the generals of the Cao army in vain, it will definitely not work. They are just ordinary soldiers, not dead soldiers who are supported by us. But it is not difficult to ask them to tell the truth." Lei Yuan returned to the hall and whispered in Ma Dai's ear for a while.

After he finished speaking, Ma Dai frowned and laughed in silence. He asked admirably: "Is this OK?"

"We will follow the military strategy, and the enemy will follow it. Even if this plan fails, it will not hinder us. If it succeeds, it will be exhausted and will cause them to suffer a loss."

At this time, it was getting brighter.

The Jiaozhou soldiers who occupied the camp began to boil water and cook. An officer looked around the gate for a while and said to his companions loudly: "Then there are many soldiers who want to go up the mountain. The buildings and camps in the village will be expanded immediately. How can the prisoners occupy this open space? Let them gather and make room for them!"

Even after a soldier was holding swords and guns, he shouted and approached, and ordered the prisoners to gather.

After the prisoners gathered, the open space was roughly vacated. The officer stood around the center of the open space and called a group of troops to come down and shouted, saying, "What should I do? A lookout building is here, and a group of barracks are built there. Along the surrounding walls of the village, we must increase the height and reinforce them as soon as possible.

The prisoners of Cao's army were forced to the corner of the ground, with drizzling rain on their heads, hundreds of people crowded together, cold and hungry, but they didn't even dare to speak out.
Chapter completed!