Chapter 44: Forming an Army (1)

  From Kaiyang to Xiapei is over 500 miles, and from Xiapei to Shouchun is also over 500 miles. If you go through Runan, it's a total of 1,500 miles. Although Lü Bu has many cavalrymen, they can't withstand the exhaustion of their horses, and the carts carrying their families are hard to move quickly.

  Chen Deng emptied the entire Guangling, and all the immovable houses and fields were turned into grain, gold, and war materials by Chen Deng, so now except for the 4,000 war horses brought by Liu Mao.

  Chen Deng also brought no less than two thousand war horses, and in terms of infantry, Chen Deng can be said to have brought all those who were loyal to the Chen family but had no family or abandoned their wives and children to repay the kindness of the Chen family. There were nearly twenty thousand or more.

  Lü Bu kicked away those old, weak, sick and disabled people, leaving nearly 15,000 robust men.

  Lü Bu organized more than 5,000 old, weak, sick and disabled people into a baggage camp. More than 15,000 strong men were selected, and 2,000 who could ride horses were reassigned to the Puyang Wolf Cavalry. The original Puyang Wolf Cavalry of Xuzhou War now has less than 1,000 people left. The formation outside Kaiyang City can be arranged because of the existence of this trap camp and those Xuzhou soldiers. Under the leadership of the thousand-man Puyang Wolf Cavalry, they can exert their strength.

  Among the 15,000 people, there were 5,000 strong men. Two thousand of them were drawn to the cavalry unit. The remaining three thousand, Gao Shun took two thousand away with him. His vanguard camp also needed to be reorganized and replenished with troops. As for why the eight hundred vanguard camp needed two thousand people, it was because of the existence of those five thousand giant shields brought by Liu Mao. It was enough for Gao Shun to train five thousand vanguards. If not for the fact that heavy armor was really scarce, Gao Shun might have taken all five thousand men.

  "What? Give me a thousand strong men to form a new camp?" Liu Mang had just woken up and hadn't even had time to react when Chen Gong brought over Lü Bu's orders.

  "What's going on?!" Liu Mang didn't come to this world to fight wars, if it weren't for Lü Bu and the little guy by his side, he would have left long ago. But even so, Liu Mang bringing war horses and armor to Lü Bu was just to let Boss Lü fight in the front lines, while he followed behind and enjoyed the benefits. When possible, he could use his extra 2000 years of history to launch a counterattack, if not, then so be it, he'd just be a freeloader waiting for death.

  Now I'm actually letting myself lead a team, what kind of rhythm is this that makes me go to the battlefield by myself? With my own combat power being only 5, going up there would make me a piece of trash that gets killed instantly.

  "Hurry up and get on the shelf!" Liu Mang said weakly. After all, there were no great generals in Lü Bu's army, Gao Shun and Zhang Liao were not warlords either.

  "Gao Shun and Zhang Liao, the two generals need to reorganize the ambush troops and Pingzhou Wolf Riders, so there's no time!" Chen Gong said with a smile.

  "What about Chen Deng!" Liu Mao remembered that although Chen Deng was only a scholar, his martial arts skills were not inferior to those of some second-rate generals and could be considered a Confucian general.

  "Yu Long, the remaining 10,000 people need Yu Long's leadership!" Chen Gong continued to reply.

  "He still has two households, doesn't he?!" Liu Mang grabbed the key point, remembering that among the troops brought by Chen Deng, there were indeed household troops.

  "Yes, two families have one commanding five thousand long gun soldiers and the other commanding five thousand knife shield hands!" Chen Gong explained.

  "Really want me to lead! Can't it be someone else?!" Liu Mang complained.

  "This is what Master intends, if you want to decline, go tell him yourself!" Chen Gong said with a suppressed smile.

  "Did Lü Boss say it himself?!" If Liu Mang still dared to do so a day ago, but now he wants to escape when he sees Lü Bu, why? Because Lü Boss is increasingly becoming like his father-in-law, and whenever Liu Mang goes to him, he gets a lecture from leading troops to family matters, to other miscellaneous things. He can't help but want to teach all of his skills to Liu Mang.

  "I'll take my leave first! Your thousand troops are right in the big camp"

  "Stop it, old Chen!" Before Liu Mang could react, Chen Gong had already left.

  "What the...!" Liu Mang weakly cursed, he needed to quickly rush into the large camp of a thousand people, Lü Bu had given orders that if he didn't arrive at the military law office in the camp.

  Liu Mao spent a great deal of effort to put on the white sheep seat sacred clothes. Going to the big camp, you can't wear ordinary clothes, even if you are a scholar, you need to wear a sword, otherwise it would be disrespectful to the soldiers, and once the military morale is shaken, the consequences will be severe.

  "This is my soldier?!" Liu Mang muttered to himself when he arrived there. He had led troops before, in Xiapi City, he once took 300 soldiers to rescue Lü Bu, but that was an emergency situation, with fewer people, and only just over 300 people, Liu Mang could still take care of it, but one thousand people, haha!

  Liu Mang could only hehe, because below a bunch of people's heads were densely packed and staring at Liu Mang, making his scalp feel numb.

  "King, you're here!" Liu Mao also saw a familiar face, wasn't it Cheng Yu who was saluting him with a fist? After breaking through the siege of Xiapi and surviving the Battle of Kaiyang, he had been assigned by Lü Bu to serve under Liu Mao as his deputy.

  "Alright, alright!" Liu Mang didn't know what to say either. Behind Cheng Yu stood eighty-five people, all of whom Liu Mang recognized as his own subordinates from Xiapi City. Below them were a thousand pairs of expectant eyes staring at him, making Liu Mang's heart skip a beat. He could only imitate the mannerisms of those big shots on TV towards their underlings.

  "Wang Shang has exceeded expectations!" Liu Mao was the designated young master of Lü Bu's army, so getting praised by him made Cheng Yu very happy. Not to mention that Liu Mao's title as King of Shu also filled these soldiers with reverence.

  Liu Mang took a deep breath, below him were a thousand pairs of eyes, and also a thousand lives. Liu Mang thought that after experiencing several major battles his heart should have cooled down, but seeing those innocent gazes he softened again.

  The warriors brought by Chen Deng were perhaps farmers or peddlers before, they didn't ask for much, just a place in the chaotic world, a meal to eat, and survival.

  One incompetent person can bring about the downfall of three armies. Now these people are all under his command, and he will be responsible for their future, for their lives.

  "Men, you may know me or not, but today I tell you, I am Liu Mang. From now on, I will be your general and lead you into battle. Perhaps the smile you see today will never be seen again, perhaps some of you will lose an arm or a leg in the next battle, but what I want to say is that I, Liu Mang, cannot guarantee that you won't die on the battlefield, however, I can assure you that as long as you are alive, I will not abandon you. Together we'll share life and death, wealth and honor!"

  "Shared life and death, shared wealth and honor?!" Cheng Yu stood by, shocked with his eyes wide open. He was the king, the Shu King, the young master, yet he shouted out "shared life and death, shared wealth and honor?" You have to know that the ones standing below were just a group of ordinary soldiers, just a group of common people.

  "Terrible!" Liu Mang also realized the mistake in his words. To share life and death, wealth and honor, there are only two possibilities when such words would be spoken - one is when taking an oath of brotherhood, and the other is when rebelling. You want others to risk their lives for you, so you have to say such nice things, otherwise who would risk their lives for you? But how many people actually share in the wealth and honor after obtaining it? It's easy to share life and death, but hard to share wealth and honor!

  Liu Meng and Cheng Yu did not expect that as soon as Liu Meng said this, the people below immediately boiled over, shouting loudly "We swear to follow General to death, we swear to follow General to death!" How many generals can say the same about sharing life and death, wealth and honor? To a general, soldiers are perhaps just capital for promotion, or maybe they are just the chips of power.

  It's wrong, so be it! Liu Mang shouted loudly with a determined heart: "Together in life and death, together in wealth and honor, together in life and death, together in wealth and honor!"

  "Shared life and death, shared wealth and honor!" Perhaps Liu Mang's words had infected these soldiers, who also shouted along with him.

  The sound was heard throughout the entire camp.

  Lü Bu was in the big tent looking at the map, as a military commander he naturally had to figure out the route, when suddenly he heard this earth-shaking cry, and hastily called over soldiers to ask.

  "Who's there?!" Lu Bu soon knew the origin of the voice, and his eyes gleaming with self-talk said "Sharing life and death, sharing wealth and nobility?!" Han Yang, Han Yang, just how great is your ambition?!

  Other generals also heard this voice, one by one with a complex expression, don't know what they are thinking.

  The army of Da Han actually shouted out the slogan of rebellion.

  Pig foot led the troops, one thousand is the standard, the following plot will take over the territory, asking for votes and rewards.