webnovelfull Chapter 252 Getting paid before even doing any work?
Chapter 252 Getting paid before even doing any work?
The end.
Guan Xing has been very anxious lately. The pressure from famous Wu generals such as Lu Xun and Xu Sheng has forced him to actively prepare for the upcoming battle.
Guan Xing knew that war was both an investment and a gamble; victory would bring substantial profits, while defeat would come at a terrible cost.
The problem is that in many cases, the cost is simply unaffordable for the defeated side. Take myself for example: if I cannot stop the Wu army from losing the Jinqu Basin and even the entire Kuaiji Commandery, the Wu army will march north to attack Guan Yu or cross the river to recover Wu Commandery.
No matter which route Wu's army takes, Guan Yu will once again face a pincer attack from both Wei and Wu, with unimaginable consequences.
If Guan Yu were to lose again, the empire that he and his son had worked so hard to build in Jiangdong, their family, and their lives would all be lost.
Therefore, he had no way out and had to go all out.
Sun Quan's side also cannot afford another defeat. If the Wu army is defeated again, the gentry of Jiangdong and Jingzhou will be completely disappointed in Sun Quan and will seek other ways to join Cao Cao and Liu Bei. If that happens, Sun Quan will definitely become a pledge of allegiance for the gentry and may die even more miserably than his brother.
Therefore, this is very likely to be Sun Quan's last battle. Cornered, Sun Quan will surely mobilize all available forces for a desperate fight.
In other words, Guan Xing is about to face the same formidable Eastern Wu force that Liu Bei faced during the Battle of Yiling in history. How could Guan Xing not be anxious?
Although he was a time traveler, he was not a military strategist like the instructor. How could he not be afraid of Lu Xun?
Fear is motivation. Guan Xing has been sleeping only two or three hours a day recently, spending the rest of his time working. After many days of hard work, the various armies have finally assembled, totaling more than 46,000 men. More than 20,000 of them are elite Wu troops captured from Zhang Cheng. This has given Guan Xing some confidence.
Guan Xing disbanded and reorganized the assembled army into four armies: the First Army was commanded by Shen Yi, the Second Army by Zhou Shan, the Third Army by Wang Tao, and the Fourth Army was commanded by Wu Yue, a general promoted from the elite Wu army.
Wu Yue, who just turned thirty this year, is from Lou County and is said to be a descendant of King Fuchai of Wu. He was previously a colonel under Xu Sheng and made many meritorious contributions to the Wei army in the Battle of Ruxukou. He even performed well at Xiaoyao Ford. He should have been promoted to general, but because of his humble origins and lack of background, and because of his straightforward personality which offended his superiors, he was demoted to a battalion commander instead of being promoted after making meritorious contributions. When Lü Meng counterattacked Jianye, he was transferred to Zhang Cheng's command. He was unfortunately captured during Zhang Cheng's second campaign against Guan Xing.
Wu Yue, whose ambitions were thwarted and who was constantly suppressed, deeply resented the system in which the powerful families of Eastern Wu held sway, and was even more resentful of those incompetent superiors.
Despite this, Wu Yue did not give up on himself. Instead, he actively integrated himself with the lower-ranking soldiers, gained a very good reputation in the army, and was brave in battle and generous in his dealings with his brothers.
Guan Xing discovered this gem while visiting surrendered soldiers. After sending people to investigate and confirming that there were no problems with his background, he decisively promoted him to the rank of commander of an army.
Besides recognizing Wu Yue's abilities, promoting him also had another benefit: it showed the surrendered soldiers that the Han army treated them all equally, letting them know that they would not be discriminated against and that they could be promoted as long as they made contributions.
In addition to the four armies mentioned above, Guan Xing also formed a Xuanjia Army, modeled after the previous heavy armor battalion, led by Deng Hong. Currently, it only has four thousand men, and tragically, it only has thirty sets of heavy armor, less than one-tenth of the Xuanjia Army.
There was no other way; heavy armor was too difficult to forge. After it was made, some had to be sent to Guan Yu, leaving only a few for Guan Xing.
Finally, Guan Xing also formed a personal guard battalion of only about 800 men, specifically responsible for protecting his safety. The personal guard battalion was commanded by Zhu Chao.
After the reorganization was completed, training began. The only training program recently was integration, which was to help the soldiers get to know each other and become familiar with each other quickly. This is conducive to unity. Otherwise, if the comrades are not familiar with each other, how can they cooperate in battle?
Guan Xing arranged training courses to address this, including singing and calligraphy practice in the morning, singing and calligraphy practice plus free time at noon, and running and singing in the afternoon.
"When the smoke of war rises, we look northwards to see the vast land..."
That morning, familiar songs rang out again on the drill ground outside the city. Although the tune had been changed to Javanese, the soldiers were still happy to sing and sang with great enthusiasm.
Guan Xing sang along with the soldiers in the ranks. After the song, he walked up to the platform where he was to be appointed general, swung the drumsticks and struck them hard. He used the drumbeats to draw the attention of tens of thousands of people to himself before picking up the megaphone and shouting: "Soldiers, brothers, I have good news to tell you. After many days of hard work, our uniforms are finally ready. They will be distributed to you today. Everyone, line up and get ready to receive your uniforms."
These words caused an uproar, and everyone was collectively dumbfounded, saying, "What the heck? We're getting uniforms before the war has even started?"
What's the difference between this and getting paid before you've even done any work?
You must know that the Han Dynasty was in dire need of cloth. Many poor families wore new clothes for three years, then old clothes for three years, patching and mending them for another three years. Getting new clothes was like celebrating the New Year.
If this is the case for those from poor families, then what about these ordinary soldiers who don't even have a door to their door? Many soldiers only received their uniforms once when they first joined the army. They wore the same tattered uniforms for several years without ever changing or washing them, for fear of ruining them.
The soldiers were so poor that they couldn't help but be happy to hear that Guan Xing was going to give them new clothes.
The soldiers huddled together, whispering amongst themselves, their conversation filled with anticipation for the new clothes they would soon receive.
Guan Xing waited until they had finished talking before shouting, "Everyone be quiet! Now sit cross-legged and wait patiently. The generals and captains of each army, go to General Shen Yi to collect your new clothes, and then distribute them down the ranks. I'll be here watching to make sure that everyone gets their new clothes."
When Guan Xing talked about the new clothes, his eyes were filled with tears. It was too difficult to weave tens of thousands of new clothes in just over ten days. Even if there was enough fabric, it would still need to be sewn by hand. You can imagine how inefficient it would be for a tailor to sew stitch by stitch. It would be impossible for a tailor to make them in such a short time.
Guan Xing had no choice but to grit his teeth and struggle for a long time before finally deciding to develop a sewing machine. To this end, he specially returned to Wushang Steel Plant, held a knife to Feng Tiezhu's neck, and threatened him: "Either you get me the sewing machine, or I'll kill you first and then slit my own throat. You decide."
Guan Xing still remembers Feng Tiezhu's expression at that time; he really wanted to kill him.
Guan Xing and Feng Tiezhu then discussed for three days and three nights, finally figuring out the basic structure of the sewing machine, and then began to build it.
Having already mastered sewing machines, repairing shoe repair machines, which were ubiquitous in rural markets or on the outskirts of cities when I was a child, was naturally a piece of cake.
With these two magical items in hand and enough fabric, clothes and shoes will be no problem.
Although the number of sewing machines and shoe repair machines is currently scarce, not even reaching single digits, these two things are incredibly efficient; a set of clothes can be finished in just fifteen minutes.
With the combined efforts of sewing machines and hand-sewing by women in various villages, Guan Xing finally managed to produce enough military uniforms on time.
Is that a military uniform? It's Guan Anguo's blood and tears.
Amidst Guan Xing's painful wails, Shen Yi led his men, pushing carts and pulling mountains of clothes, to the drill ground. They first distributed the clothes to the generals, then the generals distributed them to the captains, and finally the squad leaders and troop leaders distributed them in the same way.