style="font-size:15px;"> Li shrugged.
"You are the commander, you decide. Just tell me, Chief, how are you going to feed your army, which is growing day by day? Your warriors show more and more strength in each battle, as the governor sends more and more soldiers against them. A couple more battles – and we'll have an army of skeletons, unable to lift Master Yang's staff from the ground.
Liu Hei glanced at him in a squint manner and shifted some papers on the table.
"What do you suggest? Say what you want to say; I am ready to listen to you."
"We need to occupy a village abandoned by locals, and for some time, the soldiers will have to turn back into farmers. In the spring, we will plough as much land as we can and sow it with the grain.
Our women and children will take care of the crops. There will also be a smithy and a forge. Our weapons need to be thoroughly revised after so many battles or even completely refurbished.
A smile of understanding appeared on Liu Hei's face. A Man of war could see another man of war.
"But where can we find so much land?"
"I've got some thoughts," Li Zicheng replied evasively. He and the old man had already discussed everything more than once and had several good ideas for this case.
Several men pointed out the location of the village at once. Someone went there on business, while others had relatives there. One way or another, but for the rebels, this was the ideal place for a long-term base: abandoned, with rich soil, several undamaged houses, an entire forge, barns and a nearby mountain river. A Great find!
Another advantage of this village was that it was located far from the trade routes. It was this fact, and not the fear of an imminent war, that forced its inhabitants to leave the village. Someone moved to the South in search of a better life; someone moved to relatives in the surrounding villages. When Liu Hei's army came to the village, only two elderly people lived in it.
Hei's fears turned out to be in vain: not being professional soldiers, the rebels were happy to return to peaceful labour. The hands of the farmers missed peaceful labour – things were set in motion.
Luo Yang and Li Zicheng, with the permission of Liu Hei, decided to introduce the traditions of state military settlements in the newly formed army when almost full troops in the border areas were sent to cultivate the land. In military settlements, warriors were given land, inventory and working animals, assigning 50 mu.
At the same time, Master Luo recalled a letter from Emperor Yongpe to Liu Yingu, head of military settlements in Henan: "If those tired and weakened people will again be forced to assist the soldiers who are now taking a break from military affairs, they will suffer even more, and the soldiers will remain idle. After all, the soldiers are kept to protect the people. How can they bring unnecessary suffering to the people?"
Whereas the system of military settlements justified itself in the regular army due to its self-sufficiency, while raising certain questions about the combat effectiveness of those units in the rebel army, it was the self-employment of soldiers that became the way out of the food crisis. Now, after a while, there was no need to fear imminent famine.
In their free time after fieldwork, the soldiers practised fighting and sword techniques under the leadership of Zicheng.
Besides, Li introduced mandatory training for coherence in combat and combat reconfiguration in his units.
The warriors brought in captured armour and weapons and put them in order, and had
An opportunity to eat well and rest. They could not yet resist the imperial troops in open battle, but using the tactics of ambush attacks, they could expect that over time, the imperial commanders would begin to see them as a problem, and that was enough for them at this stage.
This is what Li Zicheng feared most of all. The information about a well-organized detachment in the depths of the province has not yet reached the emperor's ears or has disappeared in the stream of reports about similar clashes in the district. But as soon as the warlords begin to take Liu Hei's "army" seriously, things would change.
Li reported these and his other concerns to the rebel leader at the end of the summer. Liu Hei received him in what was now his home, listened carefully, and then asked a single question:
"What do you suggest? Shall we abort the uprising?"
Li shook his head.
"It would be the only reason, but, at the same time, the completely wrong way. You would be torn apart by your army as a traitor to the interests of the people."
Hei looked at him without averting his eyes or blinking. He expected Li to continue.
"And what is your suggestion?"
"I don't know yet," Zicheng shrugged. "You need to understand, Chief. If they manage to expel us out of the foothills onto the plains and force us to fight with the regular army, your warriors will be done. The wooden shields of our soldiers will not be able to withstand the fire of the imperial soldiers. And the imperial cavalry will simply smear our infantrymen across the steppe. You have to come to terms with this. The damage from gunpowder guns is unlikely to be too great, as the horses are those that tend to be frightened by the sound of explosions the most, the cavalry attack poses the main danger: we will be swept away in one go.
Li was well aware that the rebel leader wasn't happy how guests had changed the manner in their army. And that picture was terrible. Finally, Liu said:
"What do you suggest?"
"I don't know, Chief, I don't know… Of course, you can keep using the raid tactics for a long time, but sooner or 2later the enemy will find our camp and destroy us. And we do not have enough forces and means for an open battle. It turns out to be a dead end.
…That conversation took place at the end of the summer. And now he sits on a stone above the village and thinks about the same thing. One battle followed by another, with the next battle ahead… People are dying, villages and cities are burning.
Li heard soft steps and immediately recognized the steps of Mun: he was a little clubfoot due to the trauma he received as a child. An experienced warrior would not confuse his step with any other.
"I'm listening to you, Mun," Zicheng nodded without turning around. He imagined the surprised teenager's face and involuntarily smiled. Mun always tried to approach inaudibly, but he never succeeded, and he was constantly upset when Li called his name.
"Master Luo invites you," the kid said with respect, bowing. Although everyone unanimously recognized Liu Hei as the indisputable leader, Li Zicheng's authority in the rebel army was at on undisputable height after a series of brilliant victories under his direct command. Li got up, shook off his robe, patted the boy through his disobedient twirls, and walked away from the village to a place where Master Luo Yang was enjoying peace in a lonely fanza.
The old man greeted him, sitting over a cup of tea in the clouds of pipe smoke. He nodded casually at Li as he entered and stuck another scroll into his bottomless travel bag.
Zicheng nodded to the master and sat down on the bench opposite him. Taking a cup with an incredibly fragrant tea from the hands of the old sage, Li nodded, sipped half of it with caution and put the cup on the table. He looked at the master and waited patiently for an elder to start talking.
Luo Yang gave him a sharp look, with a note of satisfaction. He did not express impatience, which he did several
