Chapter 394: Hu Ben Army Cavalry! Three Battalions!

Every horse thief is nervous and dare not sleep at night for fear of any accidents. He must beware of his companions at all times. Over time, everyone will become nervous. The painful horse thief can easily lose his mind. Unless he has strong control ability, anything may happen when he loses his mind.

I don’t know when the first internal strife started. Anyway, some people were killed and their heads disappeared. The internal strife began like this. With the first internal strife, there will naturally be a second. Since someone was killed, some people would come out to clamor for revenge and kill more people. If more people were killed, more people would naturally be involved. As a result, it was originally a sporadic fight, but eventually turned into a large-scale battle. According to the three horse thieves, at least a few hundred people have died in the wild wolf’s nest so far.

Zhang Zhun said as if nothing had happened: "Let them continue to be in chaos, let's not worry."

Zhang Lingyun said curiously: "Sir, won't we take the opportunity to launch an attack?"

He felt that if the Hu Ben Army attacked at this time, he would definitely be able to eliminate all the horse thieves in one go. Unexpectedly, Zhang Zhun had to continue watching the show.

Zhang Zhun shook his head and said confidently: "Don't worry. Let them continue to be in chaos."

Zhang Lingyun then agreed to go.

As a result, the Hu Ben Army near Daze Mountain could hear the fighting sounds of horse thieves all night. One after another, there were still scarred horse thieves running out to surrender. Some horse thieves fell down and stopped moving as they ran. The horse thieves who surrendered also had serious mental problems, and they all seemed to come out of hell. As long as they saw someone around them, they were all frightened.

Some people were obviously crazy. Even if they were given silver, they looked blank. Or they were laughing wildly. Some people swallowed the silver directly, regardless of their own life or death. They went up to fight their companions and robbed their silver. Strangely, after they snatched them, they actually stuffed them into their mouths.

"Crazy."

"They are really crazy."

"Poor, so many lunatics."

The soldiers of the Hu Ben Army were all talking to themselves quietly.

They didn't know what happened to these horse thieves, so they became so crazy. But, for sure, something very terrible must have happened to them, otherwise, how could they go crazy?

About three days later, there was no movement near the wild wolf's den. In the following two days, the number of horse thieves who came down the mountain to surrender to Zhang Zhun was even greater. The number of people in a day exceeded fifty, and the war horses reached nearly a hundred. The mental state of these people was also seriously distorted, and they were already very close to the edge of madness.

On February 23, Zhang Zhun finally said: "The whole army enters the mountain! Search!"

The soldiers of the Hu Ben Army immediately entered the mountain. They divided into several routes and searched and advanced from different directions to the various hills of Daze Mountain. As a result, they were surprised to find that all the annoying horse thieves had disappeared. Between the rugged mountains, there were only the corpses of the horse thieves, and the ownerless war horses, who were chewing on the withered and yellow weeds.

There is no doubt that these horse thieves were killed during internal strife. No one knew the specific process of the horse thieves fighting. Those who knew the process had become madmen. But I think the scene would be very cold and bloody.

As long as you get the head of your companion, you can live without any blame. Even if the horse thieves are not happy, they must prevent their companions from taking credit for their own credit. No one is willing to be taken by their companions with their own heads. No one does not believe in their companions, and no one will definitely not attack them. No one dares to be on their companions at all times. This is the core of Zhang Zhun’s plan. As for money, it is just a beautiful concealment.

What is a horse thief? It is a group of cruel people. Human lives are just grass to them. They are originally desperate people, and etiquette, morality, credit, integrity and shame are all over the world. Usually, it is not uncommon for horse thieves to kill each other within each other. What's more, it's this sensitive time? Zhang Zhun's calculations are based on such a foundation.

For a while, the horse thieves couldn't sleep well, didn't eat well, and were suspicious. They always felt that every action of their companions seemed to be targeting themselves. They should be careful to take action when they sleep at night, and even the food sent by their companions must be carefully checked before they dare to sip. In order to be complete, they even tried not to eat. As a result, after a few days, some horse thieves couldn't support it. Some horse thieves thought about taking action first and killing their companions first. As a result, every horse thief thought so, and fighting was inevitable.

Xie Zhiyou originally had two companions. The three of them were working together in Daze Mountain, preparing to wait until the Hu Ben Army retreated and then go out to move. However, the announcements issued by the Hu Ben Army made them suspicious. Xie Zhiyou did not intend to kill his companions to seek credit, but he had to prevent his companions from killing him. He didn't want to lose his head in a confused manner.

As a result, there was a gap between the three of them immediately. In Xie Zhiyou's eyes, all the movements of their companions were problematic. As long as the two of them got together to talk, Xie Zhiyou suspected that they were discussing how to deal with them. Similarly, Xie Zhiyou's every movement was strange in the eyes of his companions. Any movements of Xie Zhiyou seemed to be to kill them.

During the day, the three of them were all weapons, and they did not dare to get too close to each other. When they went to bed at night, Xie Zhiyou stuffed a knife under the pillow and could be pulled out at any time. At the same time, he did not dare to fall asleep at all, for fear that his companions would attack him. Similarly, his two companions did not dare to fall asleep, but also had a scimitar under the back of their heads. So everyone worked hard to survive the night. Then, everyone did not dare to fall asleep at night.

However, one night, two nights are okay, but three nights are not. After not sleeping for several nights, the three of them had serious mental problems. Finally, Xie Zhiyou's companions took the lead in using the sword against Xie Zhiyou. Xie Zhiyou was also very alert and immediately drew their swords to fight back. The two companions were also wary of each other and intrigue. Finally, Xie Zhiyou successfully killed the two companions, cut off their heads, pulled their war horses, and came out of the mountain. If he didn't go out of the mountain, he would be very likely to be robbed and killed by other horse thieves.

The other horse thieves are not as lucky as Xie Zhiyou. They are more likely to suffer losses and die together. Then more horse thieves come up, cut off their heads and take away their war horses. Once the seeds of hatred and suspicion are planted, there is no chance of elimination. The horse thieves are not regular troops and do not have unified commands, so of course they cannot create a sense of trust between each other. No one has the ability to stop the spread of this situation.

In the end, the horse thieves broke out. Scattered battles led to death, and some horse thieves died. More battles occurred in these horse thieves' accomplices, and these battles slowly turned into large-scale fighting. In the end, they broke out in large-scale conflicts near the wild wolf's den.

"Sir, there are more than 600 corpses in total."

"A total of more than 300 war horses were seized."

Chen Xingguo came up to report the results of the battle.

"Take all the war horses away."

Zhang Zhun said lightly.

"Sir, where are those sporadic horse thieves?"

Yang Zixuan said with some concern.

“Continue to implement previous policies.”

"As long as you come with your companion's head, you will not blame me."

"Post more notices! The reward for this reward is a lot of money!"

Zhang Zhun said casually.

Yang Zixuan agreed to go.

Sure enough, a few days later, there were scattered horse thieves, carrying their companions' heads and leading the war horses. According to Zhang Zhun's request, the soldiers of the Hu Ben Army took the heads and war horses of the horse thieves, sent them silver ingots directly, and then sent them away. These people looked similar to madmen, and the Hu Ben Army could not use them.

After statistics, Zhang Zhun found that the number of horse thieves who came to surrender to the Hu Ben Army was obviously far from the total number of horse thieves. So far, the Hu Ben Army has only accepted the surrender of less than 200 horse thieves. There are almost three or four thousand horse thieves in the Daze Mountain area. If you guess correctly, other horse thieves are most likely to die in more battles.

Sure enough, when the Huben Army continued to search in the mountains, a large number of horse thieves were found in Taohuajian, Leopard and Bamboo Sword, Laolongwan and other areas in the Daze Mountain area, including more than 1,000 people. When the Huben Army soldiers searched here, they also found some of the wounded horse thieves. Of course, there was no reward for these horse thieves. The only thing waiting for them was the bayonet that ended their pain.

In other places, scattered corpses of horse thieves were found. In total, there were five or six hundred people. From this, it was inferred that the horse thieves in the Daze area were almost dead. Even if someone escaped, it was a very small number. At this point, the bandits in Daze Mountain were basically solved. Zhang Zhun's plan achieved excellent results. The Hu Ben Army itself did not suffer any casualties.

"Sir... Why do horse thieves kill each other?"

"Don't they really know that they were killing people with a knife?"

"Among the horse thieves, hasn't anyone stopped this situation?"

At the subsequent summary meeting, many officers asked Zhang Zhun curiously.

They are indeed very curious. Such a simple strategy has achieved such an outrageous effect. What is the principle?

It was a bit strange to spend only a few thousand taels of silver to disintegrate thousands of horses and seize hundreds of war horses. What made them even more difficult to understand was that Zhang Zhun's plan was not profound and most people should be able to understand. However, the horse thieves just didn't understand, and they actually fought obediently and eventually killed each other. It was really interesting!

"The reason is very simple, because they are horse thieves. Without unified command and mutual distrust, the most fundamental reason for their fighting. Even if they know that this is a strategy of killing people with a knife, they cannot be changed. Because, you do not trust the people around you. Since you do not trust the people around you, you have to be suspicious, beware, and take action first."

"As long as someone takes action first, the plan will be effective. Suspicion, coupled with hatred, can make a person crazy. The long-term inability to rest leads to abnormal mental state of the horse thieves, which aggravates the occurrence of internal strife. This is an irreversible plan. The more distrust, the more you kill. The more you kill, the more you distrust. This is a dead cycle and there is no chance of liberation."

"Whether it is a horse thief or another army, if there is no unified command and distrust each other, the enemy only has a small plan to arouse mutual suspicion. Once the seeds of doubt are planted, they do not need sunlight and moisture, and they can take root, sprout, grow vigorously, and eventually destroy everything around them."

"On the contrary, if these horse thieves have unified command and trust each other, my plan will not take effect at all. Because anyone who dares to massacre their companions will be severely dealt with to avoid the spread of internal strife. A respectable commander can also effectively prevent the spread of mutual suspicion. Therefore, there are special prerequisites for this plan to work, and it can only take effect on horse thieves."

"In our Hu Ben Army, we must obey the command of all actions and trust each other to avoid tragedy. You may not trust others, but you must trust your own comrades! Each of us is a comrades who can trust each other in life and death on the battlefield!"

Zhang Zhunyu said earnestly.

All officers nodded to show that they were taught.

At the end of the battle in Daze Mountain, almost all the horse thieves were cleaned up. The reason why it was almost, not all, was that some horse thieves escaped. However, these sporadic horse thieves were no longer in the weather. Because there were already cavalry in the hands of the Hu Ben Army. The Hu Ben Army cavalry would continue to pursue the sporadic horse thieves until they were wiped out.

During the entire process of suppressing bandits, the Hu Ben Army seized more than 1,100 war horses of various colors. Zhang Zhun immediately saw these war horses gathered together and established three cavalry battalions. Each cavalry battalion had five squads under its jurisdiction, with 50 cavalry each, not counting as officers. The total battalion had about 300 cavalry. The commander of the first cavalry battalion was Yang Weiguo. The commander of the second cavalry battalion was Zhong Wuying. The commander of the third cavalry battalion was Liu Jixiang.

Both cavalry battalions of Yang Weiguo and Zhong Wuying were stationed near Pingduzhou, one in Tingkou Town and the other in the ancient city, because the terrain here is most suitable for cavalry training. At the same time, sporadic horse thieves are also the targets of their attacks. They had to train and eliminate sporadic horse thieves. As for the Third Cavalry Battalion, they were stationed near Laizhou City and used as mobile troops.

The horse thief named Xie Zhiyou, and some other horse thieves in good spirits, were also incorporated into the cavalry camp. For these horse thieves, they were all working hard for everyone. However, they soon discovered that they had a lot of benefits from joining the Hu Ben Army. In addition to the sufficient monthly salary, there were also a large number of military fields. Having fields and land meant that they could also establish a family in Laizhou Prefecture and be honest.

Most of the military households in Liaodong know how to ride horses, and some of them have good cavalry skills. There is no way, the cavalry of the Tatars is very fierce, and the cavalry of the Tatars is the most sharp weapon. The most effective one to deal with the cavalry of the Tatars is actually the same cavalry. The Ming army has never lacked war horses, so on the front line of Liaodong, the Ming army's cavalry units are very sufficient.

Soon, Xie Zhiyou and other bandits who surrendered to became instructors of the cavalry battalion. From a technical point of view, their riding skills are indeed very skilled. They also received regular riding training in Liaodong. Now, they have brought this training mode over and put it on the Hu Ben cavalry, which looks similar and the training effect is also good.

Of course, it takes time for the cavalry battalion to form combat effectiveness. It takes several months to train riding alone, let alone shoot on the horse's back. It only takes six months to train a qualified infantry. However, it takes at least three years to train a qualified cavalry. This is still under the great intensity of training.

The current Hu Ben Army cavalry can only be called the infantry riding horses. They can quickly ride horses to reach their destinations and then dismount to fight. In terms of the mobility of the troops, it is not bad. The surrounding areas of Laizhou Prefecture and even the entire Shandong region are suitable for cavalry combat. This is Zhang Zhun's greatest comfort.

After eliminating the bandits in Daze Mountain, the various procedures for land reform were carried out more smoothly. This policy, which was proven by later generations, began to play a strong role, and the people who had gained real benefits reached their peak in their support for the Hu Ben Army. In the entire Laizhou Prefecture, few people were still thinking about the imperial court.

By the end of February, the fields had basically been divided, and what was left was some detailed work. In order to facilitate management, Zhang Zhun changed Aoshanwei and Lingshanwei to Aoshan County and Lingshan County according to Gao Hongtu's suggestion, and each appointed county magistrate. This means that Aoshanwei and Lingshanwei officially left the ranks of the garrison.

Due to the expansion of the control area, more resources can be integrated. All military production can obtain lower costs. Especially Pingdu Prefecture, which has rich resources. The Daze Mountain area of ​​Pingdu Prefecture has more ore to meet the needs of iron smelting. Daze Mountain also has more wood to meet the needs of shipbuilding. In addition, Pingdu Prefecture has another unique feature, that is grapes. Since the Tang Dynasty, the grapes in Pingdu Prefecture were quite famous. After taking over Pingdu Prefecture, Zhang Zhun had a plan to vigorously develop the local grape industry.

According to rough statistics, the total registered population of Laizhou Prefecture, including the newly established Aoshan County and Lingshan County, is 730,000. The total cultivated land counts about 3.8 million mu. As various work continues to deepen, both population and land will continue to increase. Of course, the power of the Hu Ben Army will become stronger and stronger. Zhang Zhun is quite satisfied with the current territory, which is a good start.

On March 23, Zhang Zhun returned to Fushan City.
Chapter completed!