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Chapter 22
Chapter 22 - Sir! Yes, Sir!
What was the most efficient way to make uneducated crowd of people to follow someone wholeheartedly and unconditionally in shortest amount of time?
Brainwashing.
In the age where there was no social media, no internet, no telephone or not even a single school that commoner could attend existed, such wicked method was the most effective way to gather followers.
Be it by using cults, sects, religions, legends, or by conning, it didn't matter as long as it could be succeeded.
Tong chose this unethical approach not because he was immoral or he enjoyed being a con artist, he lacked the right personals and he lacked times.
The rebel force would be forced to mobilize and raid several cities in the late 183 to early 184, which left Tong only two and a half years to finish all preparations he needed to do.
To transform ordinary farmers and weak bandits into skilled professional soldiers rivaling those experienced Imperial troops, Tong would need at least a year even if Tong trained them using modern military method.
Provisions and logistic supplies would have to be properly managed and adjusted for the training soldiers and for the future war. If they had insufficient supplies, the rebel would have no choice but to rob it from the innocent civilians and soiled their reputation, which happened in the history.
Tong wanted the Yellow Turbans to be known as a righteous army, not a group of rebellion bandits, so he had to discipline them ASAP.
Weapons and armors would have to be forged and large fund would be needed. Or else, the soldiers would just be carrying farming tools into the war, and they would be slaughtered by the imperial forces with proper weaponizes.
Lastly and most importantly, Tong would require more cheat skills and items from the system, so he could have an edge over other reincarnators if they bumped into each other during the war by accident.
The more homeworks Tong could complete during the pre-war, the better the chance that he could twist the fate of his father and uncles, changing the course of the history and save their lives. And ultimately, Tong would be able to walk out of the battlefields in one piece.
...
In the history, the Yellow Turban army faced a disaster one after another.
One of the allies that supposed to help them in the imperial government, Tang Zhou, betrayed Ma Yuanyi and eunuch accomplishes. He reported the rebellion schemes to the authorities.
Ma Yuanyi and several accomplishes were executed and the Imperial army was sent out.
The sortie of the Imperial army forced Zhang Jiao to mobilize his troops prematurely. The plan for rebellion was set on April 184 AD, but he had to send out his troops earlier than he had initial planned to gain the upper-hand on strategic terrains and choke points in urgent.
After the mobilization started, the Yellow Turban Rebellion managed to occupied majority of Ji, Yan and Yu provinces. Then they continued invading the nearby neighbors, including the capital city of Luo Yang.
The imperial army acted quickly and sent out their generals, He Jin, Lu Zhi, Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun, to eradicate the threat. Several famous generals and overlords in the future also followed suit, such as Sun Jian, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Cao Cao and Dong Zhuo.
The different in quality between soldiers and generals of both army became apparent after a few months of skirmishes.
The rebellion army was a combined force of bandits, hunters and ordinary civilian militias without proper military training. The Yellow Turban generals were also ex-bandit leaders and Taoist sect followers who happened to be better in leadership and general knowledge.
Meanwhile, the imperial army was consisted of veteran generals and soldiers who had experiences dealing with Xiang Nu tribes and other outlander tribes. They had been trained and had tasted the bloody battlefield before.
With the differences in the quality, the balance of the war became tilt. The Yellow Turban forces lost the initiative, meanwhile the imperial forces launched a full-scale counterattack to reclaim the lost cities.
The rebellion lost the edge and were forced to be on the defensive.
Then in the late year of 184 AD, Zhang Jiao passed away by an illness, which was a sign of the collapsing of the rebellion.
Without the leader, the Yellow Turbans forces were chased down. And the main force, leading by Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang, was destroyed in February 185.
Several remnants of the Yellow Turbans continued to roam the land and eventually merged with Cao Cao forces in a few years later. But those remnants had nothing to do with Zhang Jiao and his family anymore.
...
Tong's bold declaration shocked the crowd.
In front of 1, 000 men, Tong announced himself as an immortal.
Tong determined to change the history with his own hands.
Zhang Bao had expected this announcement since he had known that Tong's body was special and Tong still hid that teleportation magic he had yet to use.
The only thing that shocked Zhang Bao was the existence of the black object in Tong's hand and the magic that Tong casted to kill the four ex-bandits.
If Zhang Bao knew that Tong still had one more grenade he had yet to use, he would have a heart attack.
Zhang Bao gave up thinking. His brain was already short circuited, he had no idea what to do next anymore.
Gao Sheng already kowtowed with his forehead touching the ground. He was afraid that he would be implicated in the punishment too.
"Rise up! I have no use for people who only knows how to bow."
"I have no use for people who are cowards."
"I have no use for people who doesn't even have the balls to look straight to my face."
Tong's eccentric speeches confused the crowd. But they didn't have the guts to retort. They obediently stood up and gazed at Tong in fear, awe and admiration.
The ex-bandits were scared and were in panic. They didn't have the courage to make an eye contact with Tong.
Tong gestured Gao Sheng and Zhang Bao to get a box for him. He then stood on the box, letting everyone seeing him properly.
"Listen up! Though I said I am immortal but I'm not omnipotent enough to save all of you."
"But I can make all of you stronger, stronger enough to change your fate with your own hands."
"But there will be conditions..."
"All you have to do is to follow my instruction word by word."
"You will undergo a training that is much harder than you have experienced or imagined in your lifetime."
Tong paused, checking the reaction of the crowd. The camp was silent, only Tong's voice resounded here.
"If you succeed following my orders and my training..."
"Within three months, no thug in this neighborhood can be your match."
"Within six months, no mountain bandit can beat you in one-on-one fight."
"Within a year, you can be strong enough to even take on 10 men by yourself."
"If you follow me until the end, even elite imperial soldiers will cower in fear before your presence!"
"If you want to be stronger and follow me, I want you to step forward and make rows."
Two thousands eye pupils expanded and focused on Tong. The promises and the training supervised by an immortal interested them. The die-hard fanatics already made up their mind to follow Tong even before Tong gave out his promises.
Tong planned to steal these obedient men from Zhang Bao and turned them into his private soldiers. They would be transformed into the elites of the elites that many warlords would drool in jealousy.
As for Zhang Bao himself, Tong would bribe him with his gold later on.
One gold was enough for a farmer family to live without working for the rest of their life. Yet, Tong had over 2, 000 gold storing in the warehouse.
With a thousand gold, Zhang Bao could reform another 1, 000 men army with leather armors and simple weapons easily. So Tong didn't feel a bit guilty about ruining Zhang Bao's current camp.
...
The soldiers lined up in rows. It took a while to complete the formation. Arranging uneducated one thousand men was much harder than managing a couple hundred men company with several drill sergeants in the modern military boot camps.
"Stand up straight, with your hands on your side."
"Raise you chin up! Face straight forward."
"Keep looking forward. None of you should be looking at anything but what is in front of you."
"Keep staring straight even if what in front of you is a pile of dung of your mother or your sister is having an affair."
"Any moron that I find glancing around or move your head, I'll blow your head off with my magic!"
A simple threat and order worked like magic. All men were already pressured by Tong's sorcery and his status as an immortal. No one dared to be disobedient.
"First lesson that I'm going to teach you is the words that you can speak or address to your superiors."
"Unless I give you a permission, you cannot speak a single word."
"From here on out I will tell you what to do, how to do it and when to do it."
"What I tell you from now on is not a suggestion or an option or a request."
"You will address me as'SIR', not young master Zhang or Immortal Zhang."
"The words that you could speak to me from now on is'YES, SIR', 'NO, SIR' and'AYE AYE, SIR'."
"You will respond'YES, SIR' or'NO, SIR' when you are answering my questions."
"You will respond'AYE AYE, SIR' when I'm commanding you to do something."
"Do you understand what I taught you just now?"
""... Yes, sir?"" The soldiers hesitatingly answered.
"All of you! Repeat after me! YES, SIR!"
""Yes sir.""
"Bullsh*t! You all are whispering like c**k sucking prostitutes. Say it louder! YES, SIR!"
""Yes, Sir!""
"I can't hear you! Louder!"
""YES, SIR!!""
"I'll ask you again. Do you #$%& understand my simple lesson!?"
""YES, SIR!!!!!!""
"Do you want to be a dignify soldier that can make your mama proud?"
""YES, SIR!!!!!!""
"Do you want those abs that can make your neighbor girls spread their legs to seduce your c*ck!?"
""YES, SIR!!!!!! (͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)""
"All men! Turn right! We will run around the camp one more lap! You, you and you, lead your row and start running!"
""AYE AYE, SIR!!!!!""
Tong grinned. Though he roughly copied the processing technique from the drill sergeants and RDCs from the military boot camps in his previous life, it could still be applied here with a few alteration.
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