Chapter 1204: Relationship

In the southern wilderness forest, after a period of rest, Zhao Cheng's soldiers and generals have recovered some of their spirit.

Fortunately, they are all veterans who have long been accustomed to this kind of intense war. If they were new soldiers, they would have collapsed long ago when they encountered such a battle with a death rate of up to 50%.

Only the veterans, who are used to life and death, have been rewarded for their merits and have been promoted, so they still have a certain combat effectiveness.

But if they experience such an intense bloody battle again in a short period of time, it will not work.

In this era, in a general war, if the death rate exceeds 10%, the army will be defeated, and there will be no use for the warlord.

If it is an elite soldier, it can reach 15%.

As for the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, the elite among the elite, it can reach 30%.

This is also a limit. People's psychological endurance has a limit. Then there is the psychology of following the crowd. On the battlefield, even the determined warriors will subconsciously follow their companions when they see them retreating.

Once inertia is formed, it is the so-called defeat.

Even the seemingly lowest 10% are all brave and good at fighting, mostly from the beginning of the dynasty, and then the troops in the hands of the powerful in troubled times. As for the troops of the court, when it comes to the prosperous times, it will begin to decline. By the end of the year, 90% of the troops are either neglected in training or simply eating empty salaries.

Among these troops, most are the sons of nobles who are just filling the numbers. Let them compete for merit, but if they really go to the battlefield, they will be the first to run away. In this case, the death rate is about 5%, and the army will collapse.

Zhao Cheng knew that he could achieve a loss of 50% in the battle to kill Wu Yuan, but he did not collapse, which was the result of many factors.

On the one hand, the forest is deep and there is nowhere to escape. In this deep forest, if you get separated, it will be difficult to survive.

On the other hand, before the battle began, Zhao Cheng forced everyone to only keep one day's worth of food and water, and the rest was destroyed. From the beginning, everyone's retreat was cut off.

And this desperate move is not something that can be used lightly. Once it is not used well, it is easy to cause mutiny among his soldiers. However, Zhao Cheng was able to suppress the restless hearts because he had few men and was rewarded.

It is Taoism.

In this world, although Taoism is difficult to show its saintliness, it still has a great influence on the spirit. It can inspire the fighting spirit and blood of one's own side, making the people under his command fearless and fearless. It can be called the ancient version of stimulants.

In modern wars, many countries, in the absence of spiritual beliefs, like to give soldiers various drugs to maintain combat effectiveness.

Of course, if an army can take both spiritual and physical measures, it is undoubtedly the strongest.

In the Western world, there was such a priest army. Through brainwashing and drugs, it took both measures. Even if the death rate exceeded 80%, it could still fight to the death.

However, such subsequent armies were abandoned.

On the one hand, the cost is high. The resources spent by a priest army are enough to support dozens or hundreds of cannon fodder. On the other hand, the firm belief is not a good thing for the powerful.

The cost is high and difficult to control. Although it has the advantage of strong combat effectiveness, apart from this, it is a disadvantage.

The Taoist technique used by Zhao Cheng is a temporary brainwashing.

Before the war, he first asked all the soldiers to sit quietly and recite the Huangtian Sutra together. He used Taoist techniques to guide them, and finally achieved success.

It can be said that he was able to kill Wu Yuan with such a little power in this battle. It was not luck, but sufficient preparation.

And it can only be done once, not twice.

The same method will not work if used continuously in a short period of time.

However, after killing Wu Yuan, the road ahead is wide open.

Wu Yuan's catastrophe was a catastrophe of death and the greatest catastrophe. Although there were only a hundred people involved, and the place was only in this small forest, compared with the whole world, the palm-sized place was not as magnificent as the vast world, and the excitement of the gathering of generals.

But if we really compare, it is precisely because of the small place and few people, and the lack of space for change, that it is more challenging to be strong.

When the soldiers and generals recovered a little, Zhao Cheng was not in a hurry to go, but summoned his personal soldiers and lieutenants to ask for advice.

Asking for advice in the army is a very common thing, but it is because it is common that it seems important.

There are two kinds of asking for advice. One is that the superior has already made a decision in his heart and asks for advice with confidence. It seems to be asking, but it is actually a means to establish prestige.

Another kind is that the road ahead is really uncertain, so he asks for advice from the generals.

Zhao Cheng is naturally the first kind at this moment.

There are only more than 50 people in their group now, but at this moment, more than a dozen people came and stood on both sides.

From the position, we can also see the closeness. The one closest to Zhao Cheng is Wei Ye, the personal soldier who followed Zhao Cheng at the beginning. He is just a personal soldier and has no official position, but anyone with a discerning eye can see that this situation is only temporary. As long as he does not make any mistakes in the future, his future is probably the brightest.

Indeed, in the army, it seems that everything is based on merit, but many times, whether you can make merit depends on the thoughts of the superior.

When serving the superior, the most important thing is not merit, but affection.

If there is affection, even if you make a big mistake, you can be forgiven. If there is no affection, the greater the merit, the faster you will die.

After Wei Ye, it was Wang Shouzheng. His spirit was temporarily suppressed, but a dragon can hide and rise. As long as the dragon spirit has not dissipated, the present is just a temporary low point. Hibernation does not mean giving up, but it is for the next time, it must be higher.

Perseverance is a dragon.

Zhao Cheng just watched coldly.

The more you suppress the dragon species, unless you suppress it to death, it is not so easy to use it for yourself.

In reality, when the Ming Taizu was just starting out, he was suppressed by his adoptive father in various ways. For several times in a row, he finally accumulated a little strength, but it was easily taken away by the superiors. He was almost killed, but such setbacks not only did not make him useless, but instead tempered his firm mind.

Even without these previous suppressions and tempering, the Ming Taizu might not be able to establish a country and rule the world.

Of course, this is not to praise suffering.

There is an essential difference between suffering and tempering. Suffering is to passively endure all kinds of hardships in life, while tempering is to keep moving towards a goal and encounter setbacks.

In Wang Shouzheng's case, if he is not killed, he must be defeated three times to cut off his dragon energy. There is a saying that things cannot happen more than three times. After three times, the dragon energy is gone, which can be said to be lost.

It's not that there is no chance to turn into a dragon again, but there is less help from heaven and earth. In this world, everyone can be called a dragon. As long as they have strength, they can condense dragon energy without natural dragon energy.

He who has strong soldiers and horses will be the emperor!