My Father-in-law is Lu Bu Chapter 45
Chapter 45 Building an Army (2)
Translator: Scar, Tchu
Edited by Gamer
Liu Mang did not expect that a few words from him would take over these 1085 people's heart.
He had never led a battalion consisting of over a thousand people before, but he roughly knows how the military works. As he despises the military system of the ancient Hans, he decided to use a 3-by-3 formation. At the very least, this system is better than the one used in the Han Dynasty.
His total soldiers of 1,000 was divided into 3 companies. Each company consist of a commander, a deputy, and 300 soldiers. The remaining 100 became Liu Mang's bodyguard. Each company consist of 3 platoons. Each platoon has 100 soldiers including the platoon leader. They were then separated into 3 groups of 33 soldiers.
After sending 85 veterans from his army to be section leaders, he kept Cheng beside him. Since Boss Lu's intention was to name Cheng Yu as his Lieutenant, therefore no one else was allowed to get this position. Cheng Yu would take command of the whole camp at Liu Mang's absence.
Liu Mang had already decided on the name of the camp. What is the strongest army in the 21st century? It was the army from urban management. Who were the strongest soldiers? They were the member of urban management.
Therefore, Liu Mang had named his army urban management. The force of three thousand soldiers of urban management is powerful enough to dominate the world!
Liu Mang had waited till before everyone was in position before giving the order. Everyone thought that he was going to lead everybody to practice martial arts, but surprisingly, Liu Mang was leading people to bask in the sun.
Martial arts? If Liu Mang was able to conduct martial arts, then pigs would be able to climb trees. It was unwise to reveal his shortcomings as his battle force was so weak. Even Cheng Yu was only a lower second-rate military officer.
The only thing that Liu Mang could do now was to rectify the army. The first step in a military training is to practice the standing pose.
"Han Yang has already led his army standing for the most of the day?!" Lu Bu looked bewildered after listening to the report from the soldiers. What kind of general would make his army stand for such a long time? Not to mention that the sun is hanging high in the sky, can standing improve the battle force of the army? Lu Bu felt a headache. He began to wonder if he had made a mistake by giving Liu Mang an army.
"How about Cheng Yu? Hasn't he stopped him?!" Lu Bu asked. He was not familiar with the Cheng Yu until he made a name for himself in the battle of Kaiyang. If not to help Liu Mang to build his army, by now Cheng Yu would have joined Gao Shun's army or Zhang Liao's Bing Province Wolf Calvary. Lu Bu even had a thought of promoting Cheng Yu to be his private guard.
"No, Lieutenant Cheng is also standing!" The common soldier replied.
"What?!" Although Lu Bu frown his eyebrows, he did not stop them right away, but waved his hands to dismiss the soldier." Standing? With a pose?"
Exactly, the entire army was standing under the scorching sunshine. Every soldier was getting numb legs and sweat-soaked back. However, not even a single one among the 1805 soldiers made a complaint, because their commander, Liu Mang, was standing in the middle of the yard as well.
"Right, your feet should be closer to each other. And there should be an angel of 60°formed starting from your toes! What? You don't know what 60° is?!" Liu Mang sighed. In his previous life, the bottom bar to be a soldier was a graduation certificate from high school. But now? He was afraid that the kids in kindergartens would know more than they did.
"When you put two fists between your feet, you will have a 60°!"Liu Mang did not expect that they could be precise, but at least it should be roughly right.
"Yes that's good! Look at Lieutenant Cheng!" Liu Mang saw Cheng Yu as a real born soldier. He was able to acquire the essence of soldier's pose after he was taught only one time! His pose was serious but not obdurate.
"Standing straight, hold your stomach, throws out the chest, upper body upright, lean slightly forward, shoulders straight and slightly backward. Relax your arms, fingers close together bend naturally, head looking forward, neck is straight, mouth closed and eyes towards me."Liu Mang felt like teaching children about correct postures.
"Your highness!" Although Cheng Yu was praised by Liu Mang, he did not feel comfortable. "What is the purpose of our training?"
"Call me battalion commander!" Liu Mang corrected.
"Yes! Battallion commander!" Cheng Yu asked again. "Are we going to stand like this on the battlefield.." Cheng Yu did not finish his sentence. He wanted to ask if they would stand like this and wait to be killed.
"Cheng Yu, you are not that much older than me. Do you want to question me?" Liu Mang asked with a smile.
"Eh?" Cheng Yu quickly knelt down and shouted. "I do not dare! I do not dare!" Those that questioned Liu Mang may be cut down.
"Questioning is good but you must not forget our Urban Army's first rule!" Liu Mang laughed. He was also laughing at the cold sweat on Cheng Yu's head.
"Yes! We must obey orders!" Cheng Yu stammered.
"Yes! Obey orders! You can question me! You can hate me! However, you must execute the orders given! What happens if you violate orders?" Liu Mang's eyes turned serious again.
"Kill!" Cheng Yu swallowed his saliva and said.
"Good! Now stand back up! We will stand until sunset!" Liu Mang ordered.
"Yes!" Cheng Yu quickly stood back up.
Seeing that Cheng Yu has continued to stand, Liu Mang nodded his head. The army must be energetic during training. For example, when Liu Mang cut down Li Er Niu. Was Li Er Niu wrong? No. He was right to be loyal and it was worth praising. However, he went against orders so he had to die.
If Cheng Yu had any dissatisfaction, Liu Mang would have killed him as well.
"I know. Many of you were elites in the original army. Some of you have survived 100 battles and were war veterans. This is why you are proud. I am also proud of you. But now! I am the one in charge. If you were tigers, you would hunt for me. If you were dragons, you would fly for me. You can question and you can have grievances. However, you must follow my orders. Otherwise, if I live, you would die!" Liu Mang changed as if he was not a 21st century bookworm.
"You want to ask me why I made you stand? Do I want you to stand on the battlefield and let the enemy kill you?" Liu Mang continued. "Correct. I want you to stand and let the enemy kill you!"
All of the soldiers glared at Liu Mang. If eyes could kill, Liu Mang would have been dead and would not have any remains.
"Yes those are the eyes. Hate me! Today is the first day. It is the most comfortable day! You will stand. You will stand even if there is a knife about to slash you!" Liu Mang picked up a knife and slash towards Cheng Yu.
"You want to kill me?" Cheng Yu's instincts as a general made him want to dodge. However, after he head Liu Mang's speech, he just closed his eyes. Oh well, dying is just dying.
"Yes!" Liu Mang looked at Cheng Yu in admiration but he did not stop his knife. He cut Cheng Yu's arm and blood started to flow.
"Just like that! Even if it cuts you, even if you are injured, you will stand!" Liu Mang used the knife to cut another soldier.
The next soldier was not so courageous. As the knife came down, he dodged. As a result, Liu Mang attacked the soldier behind him.
*Slash* The result was not just blood. As the soldier in front avoided, Liu Mang increased the force and cut off the arm of the next soldier. His arm fell to the ground.
Blood splashed onto Liu Mang's face.
"Aaargh" The soldier held his arm in pain.
"General, you wanted to kill me!" The soldier at the front showed an expression of disbelief.
The other soldiers had a look of shock. Had the knife went to a different location, the soldier would have died.
"I quit!" The soldier in front cried. He was almost killed. In that case, how could he listen to Liu Mang?
"We quit! We quit!" Booing sounds followed.
"Not good. There is a mutiny!" Cheng Yu endured the pain and moved Liu Mang towards his back. In a short time, the 1,000 soldiers became frightening.
The least that could happen would be Liu Mang's death.
My Father-in-law is Lu Bu Chapter 46… (or 45.5 your preference. This is one of the ‘missing’ chapters)
Chapter 46 Building an Army (3)
Translated by Gamer
"Your Highness! Leave quickly!" Cheng Yu was protecting Liu Mang. The soldiers got up and surrounded Liu Mang. They were very excited. If something wrong happened, there could be mutiny and Liu Mang could be killed.
"Cheng Yu, you should step aside!" Cold sweat formed around Liu Mang's palm but he still managed to pretend and be optimistic.
"Your Highness!" Cheng Yu was impatient. If they do not go now, they would be surrounded.
"Do you not understand my words or did you think my knife would not harm you?" Liu Mang stared at Cheng Yu and said.
"Yes!" Cheng Yu had no choice but to step aside and take precautions to prevent anyone from killing Liu Mang.
"What? Do you want to cause a mutiny?" Liu Mang sneered at the soldiers.
"We do not want to cause a mutiny. It is general who wants to kill us!" The following soldiers shouted.
"I want to kill you? Haha what a joke! This camp has 3,000 Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry and 10,000 soldiers. If I wanted to kill you do I need to raise my hands?" Liu Mang roared. "How many people do you have? 1,000 people? Do you expect me to personally kill all of you? I want to kill until when? Use your brains!
Besides that, if they wanted to cause a mutiny and take Liu Mang's head, it was possible. However, the bigger armies will instantly destroy them. They calmed down for the sake of surviving.
"But general!" There were some that was still unsatisfied and asked.
"You want to ask why I cut off his arm? Why were you guys standing?" Liu Mang spoke out the soldier's questions.
"Fine! I will tell you!" Liu Mang sneered. "If this was a battlefield and I was the enemy. It would be true that my knife did not kill you. However behind you, stood your fellow officer! Your brother! Because you dodged, he may have lost his life!"
"Fellow officers?" The soldiers had difficulty understanding their concept. Their usual mindset was if their fellow soldiers died, they would just be dead soldiers. As long as they were fine, who cares about the rest?
Liu Mang who saw their mindset only groaned coldly. "You just only shouted 'Together we share riches and honor, together we live or die. Do you want to sacrifice your fellow soldiers and go back on your word now?"
Hearing Liu Mang's words, the soldiers looked down in shame.
"Yuan De said I, Liu Mang, am the Prince of Shu. Under me there should be millions of soldiers that are unparalleled and had dignity. Another way of saying it is that I am Master Lu's son-in-law. In other words, I am your Little Lord! Why would I want to share riches and honor with you? Do I owe you anything? Do I owe 3 generations of your family?" Liu Mang continued to sneer at the soldiers and their faces all started to turn red.
"General! You can kill us but you cannot look down on us!" One soldier shouted while he showed his blushing face.
Liu Mang spared the soldier a glance. "Right. I am telling you this because I have confidence in your abilities. If you want to share riches and honor, you must first be willing to die together! Remember this! You can die but you must absolutely not let your fellow officers die! Understood?!" Liu Mang suddenly roared.
"Understood!"
"Yes!"
"We understand!" Listening closely, all the soldiers did not respond at the same time.
"Shout together as one! Shout 'Understood'! Don't tell me you guys are women! Don't tell me you did not eat!" Liu Mang roared again.
"Understood!" The soldiers shouted as one.
"Good!" Liu Mang finally smiled. "Now go and treat the injuries of your brother!"
"General! I was wrong!" The soldier who dodged just now felt ashamed. He bent down his head to Liu Mang to admit his mistake.
"Wrong?" Liu Mang laughed brightly. "You were not wrong!" The soldier was not wrong. The one that is in the wrong is the world. It was the troubled times. If it was not because of the chaotic times, why would they enlist as soldiers? They were all good men. Because there was a war, the whole land could not experience peace.
"What is your name?" Liu Mang asked in a soft voice.
"Ah ah!?" The soldier soldier could not react as the general asked his name. "General!"
"What is your name?" Liu Mang asked again a soft voice. Besides that he also helped to wipe of the dust on the soldier's armor and the sweat on the soldier's head.
"M-my name is Xu Ming!" The soldier stammered.
"Xu Ming? Xu Ming!" Liu Mang said his name twice. "Good name! Good name! Do you have a courtesy name?" (TN: Names were also related to luck/tradition/superstition thing. They probably choose names extremely carefully for good luck. A Chinese saying, similar to 'Instead of giving a man food, teach him to fish' goes something like 'Intead of giving gold, teach him a skill. Instead of teaching him a skill, give him a good name.')
Hearing that Liu Mang praised his name, he got embarrassed.
"No, no. My family at home does not have enough money. I could not get a courtesy name." During ancient times, most family were like that. If there were no elders to give a name, they had to pay someone for a name. However, this costs a lot of money. Even Xu Ming is considered lucky to have a name.
"Well then. Let general help you to pick a name!"
"Ah!" Xu Ming was very surprised. Liu Mang is now the Prince of Shu. He was royalty. To have the royalty personally pick a name for you was very privileged.
The other soldiers also looked at Xu Ming with admiration.
"Your name is Xu Ming (Bright), the brightness is like livelihood. It would light up the distance. In that case how about Ziyuan (Far Away)" Liu Mang also did not know how to choose a name. In the 3 Kingdoms, there were a lot of names with Xu. Among them was Xu You and Xu Ziyuan! Let's call him Xu Ziyuan!
"Xu Ziyuan? Xu Ziyuan?" Xu Ming slowly said the name to himself.
"Quickly thank His Highness for the name." Cheng Yu patted Xu Ming's shoulder. He also felt a little bit of envy. To have the prince personally name him not to mention he was also the Little Lord. In other words, he was already a retainer. His future will be bright.
"Many thanks Your Highness! Many thanks Your Highness!" Xu Ming quickly knelt down. A simple thank you was not enough to describe his gratitude. He looked up and his face was suddenly felt with fear. "You Highness. You! You!"
"Xu Ming, Xu Ziyuan. I am sorry!" Liu Mang quietly whispered his apologies. He then stabbed Xu Ming with a knife.
*Splash* Warm blood splashed onto Liu Mang's face.
He did not wipe off the blood on the knife and raised it up for all the dumbstruck soldiers to see.
"Xu Ming, Xu Ziyuan. Our fellow officer. We share riches and die together. However, the military law is still the law. Breaking it is not tolerable. I killed Xu Ming for disobeying the military command. From now on, his children are our children. His wife is our wife. His parents are our parents. We shall show filial piety until death!"
*Cough* *Cough* The knife wound did not instantly kill Xu Ming. Xu Ming who was on his deathbed heard Liu Mang and struggled to kneel. He cried out with the last of his energy "Xu Ming, Xu Ziyuan, heard, the order. I, leave them, to you!" He closed his eyes the moment he stopped talking.
Liu Mang closed his eyes and said nothing. The soldiers also sensed the atmosphere and could not breathe. After a while, Liu Mang opened his eyes.
"Bury Xu Ziyuan and build a grave. Put the words 'The brother of the King of Shu.' "
"The Shu King's brother!?" Cheng Yu was shocked. Names during the ancient times were very important. The Shu King's brother would mean he became part of nobility.
"Did you not hear? Cheng Yu?" Liu Mang said softly. He did not want to kill Xu Ming but he was forced to do so. It was the same as Li Er Niu. They were simple and honest people. They were also extremely loyal. Were they in the wrong? No! Li Er Niu could throw away his life for Lu Bu. Xu Ming Xu Ziyuan was just subconsciously protecting himself. Unfortunately, they were born in the wrong era. May they find peace and prosperity after reincarnation.
"Yes!" Cheng Yu looked at Liu Mang who was paying his respects in fear. Live for other officers, die for the brothers. Xu Ming can rest in peace.
"Always remember Xu Ming Xu Ziyuan. We Urban Army will share riches and die together!"
"Share riches! Die together! Share riches! Die together!" Hundreds of voices shouted out.