Chapter 4: A useless mob It was late summer, dusk. Even though the sun had just set, the scorching heat was still there, making people feel even more depressed. In the lobby of the Dingbian City government office, the lights were bright and flickering. Zhang Xianzhong was sitting on the big wooden chair where the county magistrate once sat. On the ground, there was a plaque with the words "A Clear Mirror Hanging High" written on it, which he was stepping on with one foot. He opened his chest, revealing his strong muscles, and his sallow square face was full of gloom. He looked forward and shouted, "Everyone, tell me, where are we going next?" "This Dingbian City is definitely untenable." "Everyone, don't forget that the closest place to us is the Yansui Military Town. It is an important place in the Nine Borders and is guarded by a town of soldiers!" "Although they have been defeated repeatedly against the Tatars who often come to the pass to raid the valleys, it is no problem for them to deal with us." "Especially, Yansui Town also has an elite cavalry, all equipped with magical beasts Jiao-scale horses. It is not a problem for them to travel a thousand miles a day!"
"Look at you now!" He stood up angrily, his voice turned high, and he cursed, "All you know is to fight over treasures and supplies. You have completely forgotten the warnings I gave you when I started the rebellion!" "I'll let you recruit people, train soldiers, and build weapons with all your strength!" "What about now? All they do is rob women and property all day long. The tasks you were told to complete have been occupied in the county for half a month, and there is still no sign of them!" "How long can you continue to enjoy this?" "Half a year? A year?" "I bet that even if the government's response is delayed, the elite troops from Yansui Town will arrive in our Dingbian City in three months at most!" Speaking of this, Zhang Xianzhong became more and more angry. If he wasn't short of people, especially capable men, he would have chopped these complacent guys to pieces one by one! He didn't want to be like Li Zicheng who started the rebellion last year. Less than a year after he started the rebellion in Mizhi, his large army was wiped out by the government army, leaving only a hundred or so people. He went to Wang Ziyi in disgrace. However, when he saw that there were almost no useful people under his command, he seemed to have seen the day when he would follow in Li Zicheng's footsteps. This is a common problem among the rebels who rise up hastily, and it is also a common problem among the lower-class people who will become complacent once they obtain enormous wealth. No matter how powerful Zhang Xianzhong is now, can he be stronger than those famous generals of the imperial court? Although he had extraordinary experiences, it was impossible for him to achieve success overnight, and he still needed a lot of time to grow. Although Zhang Xianzhong looked old and had deliberately grown a beard nearly a foot long, his actual age was only 25 this year. In this world, there are nine realms of martial arts, which are divided into three major realms: upper, middle and lower. Among them, the lower three realms are for refining the body, the middle three realms are for refining qi, and the upper three realms are for refining the spirit. Many years ago, after Zhang Xianzhong unexpectedly had an extraordinary adventure, he spent several years, with the help of many rare resources obtained from the adventure, and just broke through the lower three realms and reached the early stage of the fourth realm. No one knew why, but over the past few hundred years, there had been no news of any masters in the Spirit Refining Realm in this magical world. It was as if they had disappeared collectively. According to rumors, the most famous deputy general of Yansui East Route Cao Wenzhao and nephew Cao Bianjiao, the guerrilla general, were only at the fifth level of martial arts. However, I heard that Cao Bianjiao is even better than his master. It is estimated that within a few years, he will be able to break through to the sixth level of martial arts and become a once-in-a-century master.
Of course, in this world, people with extraordinary martial arts powers cannot run rampant, not only because there are military formations that can surround and kill warriors, but also because civil officials have ways to restrain military generals. It is the imperial fortune bestowed by the official position that he relies on. During the heyday of the dynasty, the emperor could also check and control all officials through the dynasty's fortune. But the current Ming Dynasty is already crumbling, with internal and external troubles. Both the emperor and the civil officials are already at the end of their strength. They are unable to control the military generals, and it is difficult to restrain those ambitious generals. Moreover, there are countless demons and monsters lurking in the deep mountains and forests, wilderness and swamps, rivers, lakes and seas. Their overall strength is even higher than that of humans. In the vast Ming Dynasty, more than 80% of the territory is not under human control. Fortunately, humans have a city defense formation centered on the level of official rank and the control of the fortunes of various states and towns, as well as various military formations to restrain demons and monsters, so they can barely protect the existing territory. Unable to counterattack, but more than capable of self-preservation, this is the current situation of the Ming Dynasty. But this depends on whether there is any major chaos within the dynasty. Today, natural and man-made disasters are becoming more and more serious. There are constant reports of villages being massacred and villages being destroyed by demons and monsters. Coupled with successive years of drought and raging plagues, the world is already looking like it’s the end of the world. This is also the reason why Zhang Xianzhong dared to start a rebellion. What worries him most now is not anything else but that he does not have many people available to him. Also, his current subordinates do not have elite troops that can form a military formation to compete with the government's elite troops. He can now block a hundred elite soldiers alone, but he is no match for an army formed by a thousand elite soldiers. Once he encounters him, he can only flee and run away! This was even without a forceful attack by the government troops. The question is, how could the Ming Dynasty, which lasted for such a long time, be without strong generals? That is impossible. Even though the court is in chaos today, there are still three pounds of nails in a rotten boat! Thinking of this, Zhang Xianzhong became more determined to select some orphans and beggars who could be trained and use them for his own benefit! He was really fed up with the rebel army being in such a mess like now! "Your Majesty!" Ma Yuanli, who was ordered to collect orphans and beggars from all over the city and returned in time to report, stood up, stepped forward, bowed, clasped his fists, and reported, "I have followed your instructions and gathered all the orphans, beggars and boys in the city, except those with missing limbs or diseases, into the Wang family compound." "There are a total of 596 people. I left three sergeants from the newly formed old battalion to lead their men to guard the camp." The 300 soldiers of the Old Camp that Zhang Xianzhong had just ordered to be formed were basically composed of hunters from the eighteen villages around Dingbian City. They may not be good at other things, but they are good at archery. In addition, Zhang Xianzhong's miraculous adventure also included some common skills. After passing them on to the soldiers in the old camp, they all broke through to the first level of warriors. Among them, several confidants headed by Ma Yuanli, because they had followed Zhang Xianzhong for a long time, had received instruction in higher-level martial arts and had now broken through to the second to third levels of martial arts. The rebel army is now in its infancy, and more than 90% of its combat effectiveness will be on the shoulders of the carefully selected and newly formed old camp soldiers. Contrary to what Li Dingguo had guessed before, no matter how many mobs there are in this world, they have no fighting power.
The gap in combat power between ordinary people and warriors is too great. If one is unable to break through and become a warrior after screening and training, he or she will not even be qualified to fight on the battlefield. As for those ordinary young and strong men who joined the rebel army but were unable to stimulate the power of qi and blood and become warriors because of their limited qualifications and talents, they could only become auxiliary soldiers to form logistics battalions and be responsible for logistics work. This is a world of cultivators where the strong are respected. If you want to become a warrior, you must first have the qualifications and talent to start practicing. If you fail to reach the entry level requirements for cultivation, no matter how hard you practice, it will be useless. If you cannot form the power of Qi and blood, you cannot break through and become a warrior. Only an army composed of warriors can, after training, form various military formations to kill the enemy on the battlefield and contend with the enemy's elite army. The various military formations formed by warriors can stimulate and utilize the bloody evil energy to kill the enemy, and can even easily restrain demons and monsters of the same level. Zhang Xianzhong is now gathering so many rabble not to use them as cannon fodder, but to cast a wide net and catch as many fish as possible, in order to select soldiers from among them who can stimulate their own qi and blood power and become warriors. Of course, it is also necessary to use those ordinary young and strong people who are eliminated from the warrior selection to form a qualified logistics battalion to be responsible for logistics work, so that the soldiers of the combat battalion can be freed from the complicated logistics work and be responsible for combat. (End of this chapter)