Chapter 22 Sir! Yes, Sir! (1/2)

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.”