"Last month, your Majesty sent an edict to Yangcheng, saying that King Jing had made an appointment west of Qingyang to attack our southern county, so he sent troops to kill him..."
After talking about what happened last month, Heifu said to Li You: "This matter does not matter to the garrison soldiers in other counties, but it is different for us Nanjun garrison soldiers. When I first heard about the enemy in my hometown, I couldn't help but be shocked and inexplicable."
Since the rest of the time, there have been constant speculations in the army. The soldiers have kept asking the hundred generals and the commander of the camp. The commander of the hundred generals and the camp also does not know the details. They also asked the commander and the commander of the five hundred, but they have not received a formal answer."
It's not the commanders who didn't tell the soldiers the truth. These middle-level officers also didn't know much about what happened at home and didn't dare to talk nonsense.
What's going on in Nan County? Which counties has the war affected? How is your family? Except for Heifu and other officers who could inquire layer by layer and get ambiguous information, most of the soldiers are still at a loss.
These days, when you are away on an expedition, you can’t expect to keep in touch with your family. There are no newspapers or other news that can let you know what is happening thousands of miles away. Some military officers even think that this is a secret and remain silent, which in turn creates a problem for soldiers.
their suspicions.
Did Hei Fu know that Ji Ying often chatted with people when he took people out to cut firewood? When he came back, he told Hei Fu that the rumors in the army could not stop and they included everything.
Some people said that several counties in Nanjun were destroyed by the Chu army, and their hometown was burned to ashes. Some people even added that even Jiangling had fallen...
This made the soldiers of Nanjun even more eager to return home. Something happened at home, who would still want to fight outside?
"Therefore, if you want to stop rumors, you must first tell the soldiers the truth. Only the captain can do this."
As the captain sent by Xianyang, Li You is a senior officer. Of course, his understanding of the overall situation of this war is much better than that of Chang and the Five Hundred Lords. If he personally refuted the rumors and told everyone that nothing happened in Nanjun, the rumors would not be attacked.
Self-destruction.
"Good, I will immediately send the ordering soldiers to each camp to convey orders to let everyone know that nothing is wrong in Nanjun."
Li You wrote a document on the spot, and after finishing it, he asked Hei Fu to read it over.
"The Kingdom of Jing is like a close friend to Nanjun, and it is like a courtyard and a wolf's den living next to each other. Therefore, if the Kingdom of Jing is not destroyed, Nanjun will have to be on guard every year, and the parents of the two or three sons will not be able to live in peace..."
After reading it, Heifu immediately praised it: "The captain's article is really wonderful. It not only calms the hearts of the soldiers, but also encourages everyone to fight to defend their hometown."
He is not just flattering, because Li You's writing is really good.
Heifu knew that Li Si was not only a trusted minister of the King of Qin, but also a famous calligrapher in the world, and had written famous works such as "The Order of Remonstrance and Expulsion of Guests".
This Li You deserves to be Li Si's son. Not only does he write well, but the language of his articles is not obscure and easy to understand. Moreover, it seems that every sentence is considered from the perspective of a soldier, and he does not say "Fight for the king.
The empty talk of "fighting for Qin" found a reasonable reason for everyone to fight: to fight to defend their hometown and defend Nanjun!
Li Yourang ordered the soldiers to take this document to each camp, and summoned the soldiers to read it out in turn. Anyone who dares to spread rumors in the future will be severely punished!
"This is a good strategy." Li You praised Heifu and said, "This captain has just come to the army. I really don't know what the soldiers are thinking, and I can't patrol the camp all the time. If there are similar things in the future, you can report it to me face to face."
Heifulian said he did not dare, but at the same time he said with some hesitation: "However, this strategy can only make the soldiers no longer suspicious and calm the rumors in the camp. The subordinates have another idea, which may completely calm everyone's hearts.
Boost your morale and fight with all your strength."
"Let's talk." Li You sat back on the desk. Although this black man is young and of low background, he looks like a rough man, but he has a lot of ideas. It seems that promoting him to be a short-term soldier is a wise choice.
.
Heifu said: "The captain needs strong men."
"Lishi?"
Li You was thoughtful.
He remembered that "Wu Zi" once recorded a conversation between Wu Qi and Wei Wuhou.
Marquis Wu of Wei asked Wu Qi, "Is severe punishment and reward enough to win?"
Wu Qi replied that this was not enough to win. Only by achieving these three points: "Issuing orders and people are happy to hear them, raising troops to mobilize the masses and people are happy to fight, and engaging in battles and fighting and people are happy to die" can we be sure of victory.
To achieve these three points, the method provided by Wu Qi is to inspire people.
Let people with different meritorious deeds be rewarded with different titles of land and house, so that the families of the dead soldiers do not have to get nothing because of the death of their younger brothers. These things that other countries only occasionally implement are already guaranteed by Qin's laws in Qin. So when there is a war,
Qin people will be happy when they hear about the war, and their parents and wives at home will also encourage them when they say goodbye: "If you don't get the title, don't come back!"
This is a good recipe for the Qin army to win every battle, so as the commander-in-chief of the army, all Li You can do is to imitate Wu Qi and Sima Ranju, personally inspect the camp, and reward the soldiers with meat and wine before the battle, which reflects
He loves his soldiers as his sons, nothing more.
I feed my husband vertebrae and oxen with wine, and give him a good reward to recuperate. I don’t want to be drunk and full as a virtue, so I can increase my morale...
However, when Li You was thinking about ordering extra meals for the soldiers, Heifu shook his head and said, "I believe that what the Nanjun garrison soldiers need most now is not the gift of cattle and wine..."
Food encouragement is definitely effective, but Heifu feels that what the Nanjun soldiers need most now is spiritual comfort, something that can calm their uneasy hearts due to homesickness.
.
After hearing Heifu's advice, even Li You, who was willing to accept words, frowned.
"Let the soldiers write letters home?"
…
Li You did not immediately agree to Heifu's suggestion. Instead, he asked the messengers to go to each camp to read out the rumor refuting documents, and then summoned the leaders and all five hundred masters.
Just when Heifu wisely wanted to leave, Li You asked him to stay.
"Now that the person who gave you the advice is gone, what kind of military discussion will I have, Captain?"
Heifu said quickly: "It's time for the officials to take turns today."
"Let other short-soldier Baifu come to replace you." Li You had no doubts, and immediately summoned the five-hundred master who managed the short-soldiers, and asked him to adjust the defense and ask Heifu to be replaced.
The Lord of Five Hundred took the order and left. When he announced the news, the four hundred generals who had nicknamed Heifu "The Hundred Generals in Quilts" were all shocked by this order, and they were jealous and envious.
.
They have been with Li You for half a year and for one or two years, but they have never received such treatment. You must know that being valued by the captain is an important way to get promoted as a personal guard.
Even Zhai Chong opened his mouth slightly. He did not expect that just when the hundreds of short-term generals isolated Heifu and stopped playing with him, Heifu had already relied on his suggestions and openly joined the leader, five hundred
Only the Lord can participate in the military discussion.
Who looks down on whom? And who is left far behind?
I have only been here a few days and I have already received such high regard from the captain. How can I pay him back in the future?
After a while, the leader and the five hundred masters came to the big tent. When they opened the tent door and saw that there was a young general standing at the end of the tent smiling and waiting, they were also slightly startled. Heifu's former boss Cheng Wuyou
Even more surprised.
"Heifu, aren't you supposed to be guarding outside the tent?"
Heifu showed an awkward smile: "The captain asked me to stay and participate in the military discussion..."
Cheng Wuyou immediately looked Heifu up and down, as if he was meeting him for the first time. Although he had a good impression of Heifu and knew that he was a capable subordinate, he did not expect that Heifu would get the title of Captain so quickly.
Li You's attention.
They were surprised, but this did not prevent the military officials from immediately taking action after hearing Li You's suggestion from Hei Fu.
"Let the soldiers write letters home? Not to mention that the war is imminent, how difficult it is to get each of the five thousand people in the whole song to write a letter. The captain and the subordinates think that this strategy is ridiculous and will never be feasible."
A leader was the first to attack and criticized the suggestion as useless. Others nodded in agreement, feeling that the idea was purely superfluous.
After everyone had finished criticizing, Li Youcai nodded and indicated that Heifu could speak.
Hei Fu then stood up from the end of the camp, bowed to everyone, and said softly: "I am a humble and vulgar official. I just want to ask you, have you ever written a letter home in the past three months to tell your family that you cannot return home on time?
"
All the military officials looked at each other. As officers, they had many personal connections. It was not difficult to ask an acquaintance or put a personal letter into the carriage where official documents were sent and send it back. The letters to home ranged from one to one.
Back and forth, I received winter clothes from home.
After getting everyone's affirmation, Hei Fu asked again: "I dare to ask you, if there is no correspondence, you don't know what's going on at home, and the family doesn't know your life and death, will you feel at ease?"
Commander, the five hundred masters are all a little embarrassed. If that happens, the family will be anxious to death, and they will not be able to feel at ease here.
Heifu then smiled and said: "Most of our Nanjun garrison soldiers were recruited from the first month (October). After fighting the battle to destroy Wei, it was already May. Logically speaking, we would return home in June and return home in July or August."
We were able to return to Nanjun to help with the autumn harvest at home. But we were stopped by new military orders on the way, telling everyone to stay where they were, and then we were told that there was a big battle to be fought."
"The soldiers are not without complaints, but they also know that military law is as good as a mountain, and escaping hastily will harm their families, so He Cai stayed in the camp honestly."
"But while we are in Yangcheng, the hearts of the soldiers have already flown back to Nanjun. Nanjun was attacked by the Jing Kingdom. Are their families okay? The garrison period was originally only one year, but now I am afraid it will be extended for several months or even half a year. My family has no news.
I am afraid that I am very anxious. I wonder if the soldiers got the titles and houses in the battle to destroy Wei. I wonder if they can be obtained at home? There are thousands of words, but they can only be separated by mountains and rivers, and they are not allowed to go back and forth. This is the reason why the soldiers want to return home.
…”
"In the past three months, many of the 100 people under my charge have come to ask me if they can send letters home. I don't want to receive a reply from home, but I want to write down what they want to ask.
I sent the letter to let my family know that I am okay, so that I can feel at ease for a while."
His voice gradually became louder.
"Compare your hearts to your own. The kings are like this, a hundred soldiers are like this, and the five thousand soldiers are like this!"
After saying this, Hei Fu bowed to everyone in the tent: "Therefore, this is not what Hei Fu said on a whim, but the wish of all the soldiers in the army!"
There was silence in the tent. Having said this, the leader and the five hundred masters had no reason to object. They just had some objections on how to implement it.
"Each person writes a letter. I don't know how much writing and ink it will cost. There are few literate people in the army. How can we get everyone to write letters?"
Others worried: "Soldiers may reveal military secrets if they speak without restraint."
Heifu replied: "It will be a month or two before the letter is delivered home. I'm afraid we will no longer be in Yangcheng by then. In addition, the soldiers who want to write home can prepare wooden slips by themselves. In addition, every hundred
, for each hundred literate generals in each camp, the commander of the camp had to write family letters for his colleagues, the soldiers dictated them, and the military officials wrote them for themselves. In this way, it only took three days and less than five carts of letters, and the hearts of the five thousand soldiers could be calmed down.
, why not?”
After saying that, he urged Li Youdao: "At that time, the captain can also personally inspect the camp and write family letters for several soldiers. There is a saying in Anlu County, the war lasts for three months, and the family letters are worth ten thousand gold! This move of the captain
, in the hearts of soldiers, it is worth more than ten thousand gold gifts! The soldiers will be grateful and die for the captain!"
After hearing what Heifu said, Li Youyi was moved.
"The war rages for three months, and a letter from home is worth ten thousand gold? It seems to make some sense."
"In the past, Sima Rangju and Wu Qi all personally encouraged soldiers. When they were raised as generals, they would not lay down on seats or travel without riding. They would personally pack the grain and share the labor with the soldiers. If the soldiers had gangrene, they would suck it up when they were raised, so the soldiers fought.
Don’t turn your heels…”
"If I can personally write a few family letters for the soldiers today, it may have a similar effect and let everyone know that I love soldiers. In this way, the morale of the army will be restored and the soldiers can be used by me!"
The Art of War says, treat a soldier like a baby, so you can go to a deep stream with him; treat a soldier like a beloved son, so you can die with him. It is easy to say, but difficult to do. Soldiers are not stupid, and they can see the truth and lies.
Therefore, even if many generals want to imitate, they cannot achieve the effect of Wu Qi and Sima Rangju.
But now, there is an opportunity in front of Li You, and he agrees to let the soldiers write a letter, which can also prove that Nanjun is indeed fine, so that they can finish the battle with peace of mind.
So Li Duwei applauded the case and said: "I have made up my mind, this strategy is feasible!"
The commander and the five hundred masters saw that the captain had made a decision, so they could only agree.
Seeing that his goal was achieved, Heifu couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, but he laughed at himself: "From now on, my nickname may become 'Hundred Generals'."