Chapter 203 Guo's Father and Son 2 (Thanks to book friends 0385 and Mo Shaobao for the reward!)

The investigation report provided by Luo Dabao showed that Guo Zhanshan came from a humble background. His father was originally a horseman, pulling carts and delivering goods for wealthy families. There were five brothers in his family. Although they did not live a rich life, they could still eat.

During the reign of Emperor Jing, the Luobei people invaded Liaoyang to extort money. When Guo Zhanshan and his family were fleeing, several people died. In order to survive, Guo Zhanshan sought refuge with Dong Dapao, a famous bandit leader in Liaoyang at that time and the owner of Jiukongya Stronghold. Because he was daring and loyal to Dong Dapao, Guo Zhanshan soon became Dong Dapao's right-hand man.

If a bandit wants to have a good beginning and a good end and enjoy his old age, he basically has only one choice, and that is to accept the amnesty!

It happened that the Luobi people invaded at that time. In order to resist the Luobi people, Song Wenhui, the governor of Liaoyang, said that as long as they accepted the amnesty and fought the Luobi people together, he would forgive their past mistakes. Therefore, many bandits at that time chose to accept the amnesty, including Dong Dapao.

After accepting the amnesty, the hundreds of men under Dong Dapao were transformed into government troops. Under the leadership of Song Wenhui, they fought along with the Luobi people. However, Dong Dapao himself had very bad luck. Not long after, he died at the hands of the Luobi people in a battle.

Because of his loyalty, high prestige, and the fact that he married Dong Dapao's daughter, Guo Zhanshan was elected as the new leader by everyone...
Later, the Luobei people were driven away. When it came to rewarding people for their merits, Guo Zhanshan, who had made many military achievements, was only given the position of a captain because he was dissatisfied with the government troops' oppression of the people and spoke up for justice. In addition, because of his bandit background, he was ostracized under Song Wenhui's command. So the young and energetic Guo Zhanshan went back to Jiukong Cliff on the mountain and became a bandit again.

Of course, the government troops would not sit idly by and watch Guo Zhanshan's rebellion. After discovering that Guo Zhanshan had left, they sent troops to hunt him down. However, Guo Zhanshan was also quite capable. Not only did he successfully return to Jiukong Cliff, he also defeated the pursuers.

Guo Zhanshan was a loyal man. He only robbed landlords and gentry who were causing trouble for the village. Not only did he not touch poor people without money, he also distributed food to the poor in bad years. Therefore, in the countryside around Jiukongya, Guo Zhanshan was deeply loved, and many people came to the mountain to seek refuge because of his fame.

During this period, the government troops also organized several encirclement and suppression attacks against Guo Zhanshan. However, due to the dangerous terrain of Jiukong Cliff and the fierceness of Guo Zhanshan's subordinates, all of them were willing to die for Guo Zhanshan, so the government troops' encirclement and suppression attacks were all unsuccessful.

In recent years, due to his age and lack of strength, Guo Zhanshan has gradually handed over most of the power of the stronghold to his eldest son Guo Zhiping.

Guo Zhiping was even more powerful than his father Guo Zhanshan. As soon as he came to power, he fought several tough battles and annexed some other bandits, establishing a great reputation among the bandits...

Guo Zhiping did not follow the path of other bandits by blindly expanding their scale and recruiting more people. Instead, he took the route of elite troops, enforced strict discipline, and paid his men regularly.

Therefore, although he has only one thousand men under his command, their combat power is very strong. However, what Ye Mingsheng values ​​most is that Guo Zhiping has a trump card in his hand!
Three hundred well-trained cavalrymen!

There were several gangs of bandits who united and organized 3,000 people to kill Guo Zhiping, but they were defeated by the cavalry led by Guo Zhiping...

Ye Mingsheng was very envious of this cavalry unit of 300 people. In the era of cold weapons, the combat effectiveness of the cavalry was absolutely second to none!

Since the annihilation of Hong Min, Ye Mingsheng's subordinates have expanded to a size of 5,000 people. The progress is very fast, but unfortunately, these are all ordinary soldiers. There is no organized cavalry unit at all. This has become the biggest shortcoming of Ye Mingsheng's troops.

Ye Mingsheng, who realized this problem, had been thinking about how to quickly make up for this shortcoming, but he could not think of any good solution! At this time, Ye Mingsheng received a report from Ye Tie that Guo Zhiping wanted to see him!
At that time, Ye Mingsheng was surprised, but he also thought about Guo Zhiping's motive for doing this...

He, Ye, was a government soldier, and Guo Zhiping was a bandit. Guo Zhiping showed goodwill to him, and Ye Mingsheng could not think of any other possibility except that he wanted to be recruited.

But Ye Mingsheng couldn't understand why Guo Zhanshan and Guo Zhiping, the father and son, chose him, whom he had never met before!
Even if you are so domineering that people bow down to you, you still have to meet him first, right?

Although he didn't know the reason why the Guo father and son did this, no matter what the reason was, even if it was for the sake of those three hundred cavalrymen, if they dared to surrender, Ye Mingsheng would dare to take them over!

Although three hundred cavalrymen are not a lot, they are not a small number either. With the men and horses in hand and this foundation in place, Ye Mingsheng is confident that he can expand the force to a thousand people within a year. By then, looking at the entire Liaoyang, he, Ye Mingsheng, will also be a top figure!

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At noon the next day, in the military camp of Fengshan County.

Thousands of soldiers, led by military officers at all levels, armed with swords and guns, trained in formations, and improved their martial arts. The shouts of killing were deafening.

"Zhiping, what do you think of the momentum of our army?"

Pointing at the soldiers in front, Ye Tie smiled and asked Guo Zhiping:
Looking at the soldiers in front of him who were already in good shape, moving quickly and obeying orders under the command of the military officer, Guo Zhiping, who was invited to visit the military camp, had a complicated look in his eyes.

If he had not seen it with his own eyes, it would be hard for him to believe that these soldiers were recruited from the countryside by Ye Mingsheng more than a month ago. He spoke sincerely, thinking:
"General Hu Wei's troops are truly extraordinary!"

Listening to Guo Zhiping's praise, Ye Tie could not hide the complacency on his face. After observing the soldiers' training for a while, he took Guo Zhiping to a corner of the military camp.
Here, hundreds of soldiers are conducting shooting training while holding various firearms such as three-barreled guns, bird guns, and tiger squat cannons.

Looking at the muskets and tiger-crouching cannons in their hands, which kept roaring, Guo Zhiping showed a hint of surprise in his eyes, and couldn't help but ask Ye Tie:
"They're all firing live ammunition?"

Listening to Guo Zhiping's question, Ye Tie naturally understood what he meant, and immediately said with a smile:

"My young master said that this musketeer team is trained with live ammunition. Only by firing more live ammunition during training can we kill more enemies on the battlefield. Therefore, most of our firearms training is done with live ammunition."

(End of this chapter)