Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 5 Chaohu's Three-No Navy

Hearing Lu Jin's words, the man was immediately angry and said, "So you don't know anything? Then you dare to say that you have a plan to defeat the enemy? Are you deliberately teasing us?"

"Hey." Lu Jin also laughed angrily when he heard it.

"I'm new here, and I don't even know how many soldiers you generals have. If I say I have an idea without asking, do you dare to believe me? I'm afraid you will think I'm trying to trick you into committing suicide!"

Everyone nodded when they heard this, and the man next to him also advised, "Don't worry, second brother. This brother Lu said he has read a lot of books. Once he knows the details, maybe he can really come up with an idea."

Another middle-aged man in his forties also said, "This is not the place to talk. Why don't we go back to the island and have a good talk with Brother Lu?"

My goodness, a person with eight minds is not an easy person to deal with!

This was because they were afraid that he was a spy who had come to Chaohu Lake on purpose to find out the truth. They also wanted to trick him to the island in the middle of the lake. If he couldn't give a clear answer, they might just chop him up and feed him to the fish.
"Then let's go back to the island first and ask Brother Lu to explain it to us clearly." The man finally said.

So everyone surrounded Lu Jin and Zhang Wen and boarded the pirate ship, heading towards Laoshan.

At first, Lu Jin thought there was a village on the island, with a gathering hall or something, but it turned out to be just a bunch of shacks.

Okay, it’s just a shack, we might as well make the best of it.

"I still don't know what to call you generals? How many generals and soldiers are there in our Chaohu Navy?"

"My name is Liao Yongan. This is my second elder brother Liao Yongjian. There is also my fourth younger brother Yongzhong. This is my uncle Yu Tingyu. There are also the three Yu brothers, the Zhao brothers, and the Zhang Desheng brothers. We are the only generals. My father is old and doesn't care about fighting but only about money and food.

"My elder brother and I each have 1,000 soldiers, Uncle Yu and the three Yu brothers have 2,000 soldiers, the Zhao brothers have 1,000 soldiers, and the Zhang brothers have 1,000 soldiers. In total, there are 7,000 soldiers and more than 1,000 ships.

"I heard that Brother Lu and Brother Zhang still have 800 soldiers. If we add you, that's all they have. What do you think, Brother Lu?" Liao Yongan introduced immediately.

Lu Jin breathed a sigh of relief. The personnel composition of the Chaohu generals was simpler than he thought.

The Liao family father and son are both boat fishermen who make their living by fishing. They are from Chao County. The father is called Liao Wang, who is over 50 years old this year. The second son is Liao Yongjian, 32 years old. The third son is Liao Yongan, 30 years old. The fourth son is Liao Yongzhong, 27 years old this year.

The father and son of the Yu family are also well-known figures in history. The father Yu Tingyu is 40 years old this year, the eldest son Yu Tonghai is 21 years old, the second son Yu Tongyuan is 20 years old, and the third son is Yu Tongyuan, who is 17 years old this year and is on guard at the village entrance.

The Zhao brothers are the elder brother Zhao Zhongzhong, who is 22 years old this year, and the younger brother Zhao Yong, who is 20 years old this year and the same age as Zhu Shou. Zhao Yong was the one who was later granted the title of Marquis of Nanxiong.

However, his brother was not very glorious. Zhu Yuanzhang asked him to guard the city, but he failed and ran back to Nanjing, which made Chongba Ge very angry. It was okay for a general to abandon his own army and become a deserter. However, he was sentenced to death by Chongba Ge, and his position was inherited by his younger brother Zhao Yong.

Zhang Desheng is 20 years old this year. He is from Luzhou city. He is extremely brave in combat, or a little reckless. In the first battle between Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang, the Battle of Longwan, Zhang Desheng was ordered to pursue the fleeing enemy and died heroically on the spot.

Although the entire Chaohu navy has a large number of people, it actually consists of only two factions: the Liao brothers and Zhang Desheng, with a total of 4,000 troops, and the Yu father and son and the Zhao brothers, with a total of 3,000 troops.

Four thousand against three thousand. The Liao family was also in charge of money and grain, so they had an absolute dominant position, but they had no nominal power, because they were nominally subordinates of Zhao Pusheng and Li Pusheng, so if there was anything really to do, they had to discuss it.

Lu Jin knew Liao Yongan. After he defected to Zhu Yuanzhang, he was captured during the war with Zhang Shicheng. He was then imprisoned by Zhang Shicheng for several years and finally killed. His position was inherited by his younger brother Liao Yongzhong.

But where did Liao Yongjian come from? He had no impression of him at all.

It's not his fault that he didn't know. There are very few records about Liao Yongjian in history. This man was impatient. When the Chaohu Uprising just started, the Chaohu navy was suppressed particularly badly. At the same time, Xu Shouhui in Hubei was making great progress. He even captured Hangzhou in a few months. So Liao Yongjian went to join Xu Shouhui.

But who would have known that within less than half a year, the Xu-Song Red Army was beaten by the Yuan army and fled to the Dabie Mountains to fight guerrilla warfare. As for Liao Yongjian's fate? There is really no record of this, and he might have been killed by the Yuan army.

"Seven thousand soldiers? That's a lot, but I heard that Zuo Junbi only had a few thousand men. Why can't you defeat him?" Lu Jin asked knowingly. He actually wanted to elevate his own importance.

Upon hearing this, Liao Yongjian was immediately angry and said, "Zuo Junbi is a government soldier. He has armor, swords and spears, and 200 cavalrymen. We don't have armor, so what's the point of having more people?

"Zuo Junbi's cavalry is powerful, we can't defeat them, but we have boats, as long as we are by the lake, Zuo Junbi won't dare to come over."

"I see." Lu Jin nodded. No wonder the two sides were in a stalemate.

"Do you have any solution? You are not really trying to play a trick on us, are you?" Liao Yongjian asked.

He is indeed impatient!

"I haven't finished yet, Brother Yongan, please continue." Lu Jin gestured. Liao Yongan was stunned when he heard this, "I've finished."

Lu Jin immediately counted on his fingers, "What about the military system? What about military rules and laws? What kind of military formations are being practiced in the army? May I ask if you brothers have any plans to fight the enemy recently, and if you have any long-term development strategies in the future?"

Several people were stunned when they heard the words, and looked at Lu Jin stupidly with an expression of "what is that thing?"

"You don't understand? You don't understand? Now it's my turn to pretend to be wrong and listen to my advice."

Liao Yongan thought for a while and said, "In terms of military system, we have five people in a squad and ten people in a group. Above us are the hundred households and the thousand households. As for military law, those who fight bravely will be rewarded, and those who retreat cowardly will be beheaded. We really don't know how to form a military formation. Brother Lu knows how to form a military formation?"

"That's it? This military system is too simple. Why are there no officers between the sergeant and the captain, and no officers between the captain and the thousand-man rank? Excuse me for being blunt, but on the battlefield with people shouting, horses neighing, and drums beating, can one person really manage ten teams?" Lu Jin pointed out the faults mercilessly.

Liao Yongjian was about to speak again when he heard this, but Lu Jin quickly raised his hand to interrupt him, saying, "On the battlefield, it's either you die or I live. This is a matter of life and death, so think it over before you speak."

After hearing this, everyone frowned again. Zhang Desheng, this reckless man, always led the charge and commanded? Commanding! He didn't even notice that there was something wrong with the military system.
Yu Tonghai, who had been silent the whole time, thought for a while and said, "It seems that I really can't command them. In the last battle with Zuo Junbi, four or five of my ten centurions were fighting in the front, and the others were just standing there in a daze, and I had to deal with them when I came back."

"That's right. As the art of war says, in any battle formation, the army may be divided into three wings: left, center, and right, or five armies: front, center, back, left, and right. If there are more than five divisions, there will be numerous mistakes and omissions, and the army will surely be defeated!" Lu Jin started talking without hesitation, and the others were stunned.

Liao Yongan was overjoyed and said, "Brother Lu, do you know the art of war? May I ask which military book this is from?"

Of course Lu Jin couldn't say that he made this up on the spot, so he said.

"This is the military strategy passed down from my family's ancestors, including military formations, military systems, infantry drills, etc. Now, it is because your military system is not coordinated enough, you lack weapons and armor, and you don't know how to form military formations, so you have been defeated repeatedly against the government troops. You cannot win head-on, and you don't have any extraordinary strategies, so naturally you can only retreat to the lake.

"But I happen to have a set of formations here. There are 12 people in a class, four classes form a row, four rows form a company, four companies form a battalion, and four battalions can form a regiment.

"Moreover, this formation can be used to make weapons out of wood, and some bamboo poles and farm tools can be used for fighting, which is just right for a weak army that lacks weapons and armor.

"Once we have organized the troops, trained the military formation, and used some strategies, Zuo Junbi will surely die!"

Everyone was impressed by his clear and logical speech. This man really knew a lot!

Yu Tingyu, who proposed to trick Lu Jin onto the island, asked again, "How do we use the trick?"

"The Art of War by Sun Tzu: Offensive Strategy, therefore, the method of using troops is to surround them if they are ten times as many as you, to attack them if they are five times as many as you, and to divide them if they are twice as many as you.
"Our current military strength is actually similar to Zuo Junbi's, so we don't have an advantage. In addition, his weapons and armor are superior to ours, so we can't use the above methods, but we can lure his main force out of the city." Lu Jin explained.

Yu Tongyuan understood immediately, "Brother Lu means to lure the tiger away from the mountain, and then we will steal the city?"

"Stealing, have you ever attacked a city? Do you have experience in siege? We can lure out Zuo Junbi's main force, it will surely not take long. By then, if you fail to capture it within two hours, Zuo Junbi will lead his troops to support you, and then they will cooperate inside and outside and attack from the front and back. Are you afraid that your brothers won't die fast enough?" Lu Jin rolled his eyes at him and said.

"Didn't Brother Lu say that we should lure the tiger away from the mountain?" Yu Tongyuan was puzzled.

"Lure the tiger out of the mountain, and then kill it! When the tiger in the mountain is gone, the mountain is open to you to go wherever you want. Who can stop you then?" Lu Jin explained.

Yu Tongyuan suddenly realized, "Yes, that's it."

"This is a good idea!" Zhao Zhongzhong also praised.

"That's the truth. What if we can't defeat the tiger if it comes out?" Yu Tingyu appreciated the plan, but he had no confidence in fighting the tiger.

"How to lure him out is also a problem." Liao Yongan also commented.

Lu Jin then came out to summarize.

"How to lure them out? That's easy. We have time to think about it. As for if we can't defeat too many of them, we can continue to use tricks to lure them to split up and then eat them up one by one.

"But the blacksmith must be strong himself. Otherwise, no matter how few the enemy troops are, it will be useless if you can't defeat them. All your strategies will be in vain. This is called strength over skill.

"Therefore, the most urgent task is to reorganize the military system, clarify responsibilities, build weapons and armor, and train the troops. Only when we have a combat-ready army can we put our plan of killing the tiger and seizing the city into action."

(End of this chapter)