Chapter 129 A major decision that will affect your life
Time flies by like water.
In the blink of an eye, more than twenty days had passed since Li Dingguo and others left Dingbian City.
In a large wooden house that was temporarily used as a meeting hall, five newly-appointed commanders of the Renaissance Army's new barracks sat upright.
"Great Commander!"
Hongmei, the chief logistics officer and commander of the Suzaku Camp, reported to Li Dingguo, "It took about twenty days, and the soldiers of our five camps have been initially organized."
"Because the last batch of 1,580 recruits have not yet finished their selection and training, 34 talented boys and girls have already broken through and become combat soldiers, and the results of the rest are still unknown, so the current organization of the various battalions has not yet been officially finalized."
"Similar to the results of the second batch of 1,500 people, 34 talented warriors also emerged in the third batch of warrior selection."
"So far, in our Restoration Army, in addition to the current six commanders including Xiao Douya, there are a total of 108 talented warriors."
"This is exactly the number of Tian Gang and Di Sha. I have to say, this is a very coincidental."
She was right, it was too much of a coincidence.
"Our existing food reserves have been basically consumed."
Hongmei said the most crucial thing, "In view of this, I have no choice but to reduce the food distribution quota for the soldiers in the logistics camp. For the time being, each person will only have two meals of porridge a day to make do with, and survive these critical days."
"Fortunately, Commander-in-Chief, you have been taking those talented warriors out in batches every day to secretly conduct combat training. You have also brought back a large number of various wild beasts, as well as more than a dozen first- and second-level monsters every time. This ensures that all our soldiers at least have broth to drink, so that their bodies will not be ruined."
"But even so, if the government troops that still stay in Dingbian City continue to stay for another five or six days, all our food reserves will be used up!"
Hongmei said with some worry, "As for other aspects, it is going very smoothly. The rules and regulations of our Fuxing Army have been thoroughly implemented. They are much more standardized and formal than any official army of the court now!"
This time, Li Dingguo summoned six commanders of the Fuxing Army to discuss the matter. The core topic was only one: how to solve the imminent food reserve problem.
Although the problem of training resources for warriors and soldiers can be solved by fighting to support fighting, because the elite troops led by Hong Chengchou have not yet left Dingbian City, everyone dared not launch large-scale actions, which caused this unnecessary crisis.
Although the Renaissance Army will soon have more than a thousand warriors, the vast majority of them are new recruits who have just broken through to the early first level of warriors, and they have not even mastered the various combat skills necessary for warriors to a proficient level.
Not to mention the training in military killing formations.
More than 90% of the soldiers are still in the basic military formation training stage.
Under such circumstances, how could Li Dingguo dare to act rashly?
Even when he personally led a group of talented warriors out hunting and conducting actual combat training every day, he was still sneaky and cautious, fearing that he would be discovered by scouts of the government army.
"Ah."
Li Dingguo nodded, looked at the six leaders of the Fuxing Army in front of him, and said calmly, "Yesterday afternoon, I disguised myself and went to Dingbian City to observe and inquire. There are already various signs that the government troops will set out in three days at most and continue their journey."
"Ten days ago, the government troops had already planned to leave Dingbian City and head straight to the important town of Shenmu in the northeast."
"But I heard that they were fighting fiercely over the distribution of spoils of war!"
"It is rumored that after this war, Cao Wenzhao not only took over the 10,000-man logistics camp left by the Eight Great Kings, but also swallowed up more than half of the property and supplies that were surrendered."
"Such a huge harvest not only made He Renlong and You Shilu jealous, but even the governor of Yansui Town, Hong Chengchou, was quite dissatisfied."
"They were quarreling over the redistribution of the spoils!"
"It was not until these two days that Cao Wenzhao agreed to give up half of the wealth and materials, which ended this farce."
"Ha ha……"
Li Dingguo chuckled and continued, "The fundamental reason for this is that when Hong Chengchou sent troops to suppress the bandits, the money and food materials allocated by the court were lost through layers of officials from top to bottom. By the time Hong Chengchou got them, not even 10% of the money was left!"
"He can't even give out the money for the march!"
"Hong Chengchou, who was cornered, forced more than a dozen wealthy families in Yansui Town to pay donations, and finally raised enough money for the army to set out."
"This time, Cao Wenzhao used the tactic of a 5,000-mile long-distance raid, which was a success in one battle. In one fell swoop, he wiped out all the wealth that the eight kings had worked so hard to accumulate, and harvested a huge amount of supplies and money. Those officers and soldiers who were driven crazy by poverty must be furious!"
Even Li Dingguo did not expect this. He had originally expected that the government troops would stay in Dingbian City for a maximum of ten days and then continue their expedition to wipe out the rebel army.
In that way, his own Renaissance Army would not have to worry about insufficient material reserves and could carry out his plans in an orderly manner.
Who would have imagined that the government troops would have such a terrible internal conflict that they were dragged into Dingbian City for more than 20 days and have not left yet.
The most elite border troops of the Ming Dynasty were in such a mess, not to mention the rebel forces roaming around.
This was also the main reason why Li Dingguo made up his mind to go it alone.
There was no way. He really was not used to taking action and doing things, and felt frustrated at being restricted by others everywhere.
This will cause you to waste your time and a lot of precious time, resulting in nothing being achieved in a long period of time in the future.
In his previous life, he was helpless and powerless, and he had had enough of this kind of frustration.
But having lived a new life, he has the ability and confidence to change his way of life. Of course, he will not go back to the old path of his previous life and be controlled by others.
"This is great!"
"The government troops are finally leaving!" "After they leave, we warriors can go out for actual combat training and hunting without any worries. This will be enough to solve our food crisis in a short period of time."
"Alas! It's a pity that we can't defeat this elite border army now, so we have to avoid them everywhere."
"Hehe... This kind of aggrieved situation won't last long! In a few years, we will have the strength to make the government troops avoid us!"...
As Li Dingguo finished speaking, the core generals of the Fuxing Army present at the scene breathed a sigh of relief one by one.
If this situation continues for another month, it is estimated that none of the soldiers in the combat camp, including them, will even be able to drink porridge!
Li Dingguo discussed some matters regarding the training of new recruits with everyone, and then asked Hongmei to stay while the others dispersed and went about their own business.
"Brother Dingguo, have you decided?"
Unless it was a formal occasion, Hongmei was still not used to calling Li Dingguo the commander-in-chief and always kept his original title.
The question she asked was crucial.
This is related to the first step of the Renaissance Army and how it will proceed.
Li Dingguo's decision at this time was related to whether the Fuxing Army could get off to a smooth start as desired, and then develop and grow rapidly as desired.
"Well, I've been thinking about it for a few days and I've made a decision."
Li Dingguo looked solemn and said in a serious tone, "Based on the current situation, if the Fuxing Army wants to get started as soon as possible, it has to jump out of the framework of the Ming Dynasty first!"
"We will use the Tartars outside the Great Wall as food, seize their spiritual beasts and horses, and spiritual grass pastures for our own use, so that we can temporarily avoid the attention of the Ming government and allow the Renaissance Army to develop quietly and rapidly."
"The imperial court is still powerful now, and we, the Fuxing Army, cannot confront it head-on."
"Instead of staying inside the Great Wall, playing hide-and-seek with the government troops, and wandering around, it would be better for us to go outside the Great Wall and carve out a path for ourselves."
With the memories of his previous life, he knew too well how bad the situation of the rebel forces on all sides would be for a long time in the established history.
It is no exaggeration to say that it was a life-or-death situation.
If he doesn't want to be a bandit and wander around, he must first obtain a base where he can grow and develop rapidly, and this base must be able to avoid the sight of the Ming Dynasty's official army.
Dingbian City is located on the border with the Tatars. It is very easy for this new force to leave the Ming Dynasty.
Li Dingguo wanted to achieve his goal, and the best and most convenient solution to the problem was to temporarily leave the country, use the Tartars as food, and quickly develop and expand the Fuxing Army.
This would prevent them from being like other rebel armies, which were wiped out by government troops again and again.
There was no way. The place where he was reborn was not near the sea, but in the northwestern border area of the Ming Empire. It was difficult to find a base suitable for farming.
Li Dingguo thought about this issue for half a month, and after much deliberation, he finally made the decision.
Instead of fighting internal battles with the Ming Dynasty within the Great Wall, it is better to establish an independent army outside the Great Wall, use the Tartar tribes as food, and train the Fuxing Army into an elite cavalry army through a series of plundering wars.
He really can't afford to offend the Ming Dynasty now, but he can afford to hide from it.
The Tartars outside the Great Wall lived near water, and their tribes were widely dispersed. This gave Li Dingguo the opportunity to defeat them one by one, turn them into food, use fighting as training, and allow the Fuxing Army to grow rapidly.
"Brother Dingguo, your decision is very timely. I strongly support it."
Hongmei had heard Li Dingguo mention this to her once, so she was not surprised by his decision; rather, it was within her expectations.
"However, our first base outside the Great Wall should not be too far from the border."
She talked about her suggestion, "If that happens, it will be detrimental to our recruitment of personnel from the interior, and it will be detrimental to the overall situation in the future."
"Although there are many slaves of our Chinese people in all the Tartar tribes, especially those near the border, they can be used to expand manpower."
"But those manpower, compared to those inside the pass, are nothing in terms of quantity."
"In the territory of the Ming Dynasty, especially in the northwestern border area, natural disasters and man-made disasters are getting worse and worse. Every day, a large number of common people become refugees and wander around to survive."
"As long as we form several professional teams, we can easily gather a large population."
"To put it bluntly, the foundation of everything our Restoration Army will have in the future depends on the number of people we control."
"Without a certain population base, everything else is just empty talk, nothing more than wishful thinking."
Every day when she has free time, she goes to the newly built library in the valley to read the various books that she has collected recently to enrich herself.
Hongmei's horizons are now becoming broader and broader, and her perspective on issues is becoming increasingly long-term.
She has become Li Dingguo's most capable assistant and can help him a lot.
After some time, when Hongmei has fully grown up, she will probably be no worse than Li Dingguo in many aspects, and may even be stronger in some aspects.
It has to be said that Li Dingguo was lucky. When he decided to start out on his own, he received assistance from this uncanny genius, which relieved him of a lot of pressure invisibly.
(End of this chapter)
