Chapter 383: 368: Strategy of Winning Hearts

Chapter 383: Chapter 368: Strategy of Winning Hearts

Yang Zhenshan, holding a telescope, looked at those crossbow arrows, and faintly smiled, “The timing is still too tight, the design is not very reasonable!”

Those pieces of paper wrapped around the crossbow arrows were his own requirement.

A simple paste job was enough; there was no need for it to be too secure, and to allow the paper to fall in the air, the pasting had to be done on only one side.

Due to the rough manufacturing, these crossbow arrows had many problems, such as the paper coming off before reaching the skies above Chongshan Pass, while others remained tightly attached to the arrows even after landing within Chongshan Pass.

Although there were many defective crossbow arrows, there were also quite a few that successfully completed their mission, scattering a large amount of paper in the air.

Paper filled the sky, carried by the wind, scattering into every corner within Chongshan Pass.

Even though the range of the crossbow arrows couldn’t cover the entire Chongshan Pass, the paper still filled the fortress due to the strong wind.

After seven consecutive volleys, paper could be seen everywhere within Chongshan Pass.

Below the city walls, Prince Qing, Ji Feiyu, and Hou Yao looked blankly at the falling papers.

“What is this?” Hou Yao murmured.

Ji Feiyu grabbed a piece of paper; it had a paragraph written on it.

A very simple paragraph.

It was I, Yang Zhenshan, the newly appointed general of Chongshan Town. You traitors have rebelled and assisted tyranny, your sins grave. I was meant to slaughter you all as a warning upon breaking the city walls. However, considering that all of you are children of Da Rong, I’m granting you an opportunity. Three days from now, when I attack the city, those who truly repent can put down their weapons and surrender on the spot. I will promise amnesty for your past offenses. However, for those who stubbornly resist, they will be executed without mercy and their families implicated.

Hmm, a very straightforward and plain message.

Ji Feiyu read it, and felt deeply shocked and chilled.

“This is!” Prince Qing’s expression changed slightly.

Ji Feiyu snapped back to reality, “Quick, give the order, burn all these things!”

What is psychological warfare?

Psychological warfare is to dismantle the enemy’s spirit or mind.

However, most strategies of psychological warfare in classical military tactics target mid to high-level officers, like the beauty trick, empty fort strategy, and turncoat tactics, all of which are psychological gambits.

Why target only mid to high-level officers? The reason is simple: turning one officer could be equivalent to turning an entire army of hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of men.

In contrast, directly turning hundreds or thousands of men is much harder. One can’t possibly bribe and persuade every individual soldier.

Yang Zhenshan also wanted to win over or turn Ji Feiyu’s generals, but since his people could not infiltrate the city, they naturally couldn’t achieve this.

So Yang Zhenshan thought of this strategy.

If he couldn’t turn the generals or military officers, he’d turn every single soldier.

What would the soldiers within the city think after reading such a message?

Panic, fear, regret, or nervousness?

Certainly not unaffected.

After all, the righteousness of the court was with Yang Zhenshan, and he had a formidable reputation to boot!

Even Yang Zhenshan’s own fearsome reputation was quite intimidating.

Are all the soldiers within the city die-hard supporters of Ji Feiyu?

Naturally, this was impossible!

Perhaps there were few unswervingly loyal to Ji Feiyu, but the majority of the soldiers were likely coerced.

Lower-rank officers and soldiers had no choice at all; they could only go with the flow, acting upon the orders of their superiors.

Previously, they had no right to choose, but now Yang Zhenshan was giving them an opportunity to choose.

When the city is attacked, they can choose to surrender.

Although the effects of this move were not yet certain, Yang Zhenshan wasn’t putting all his hopes on it.

He felt that at the very least, this could undermine the enemy’s morale, and even if only one in ten soldiers was stricken with panic, it was worth executing.

Ji Feiyu understood Yang Zhenshan’s strategy with just one glance at the paper.

He wanted to burn these papers, but was it already too late?

“It’s too late!” Prince Qing’s face turned ashen as he watched the papers fluttering across the sky.

With so many papers, collecting them all was simply impossible, and now many had already found their way into the soldiers’ hands.

Most of the soldiers from the Camp, who were typically dodging crossbow arrows, now wore strange expressions upon reading the content on the papers.

The majority of the soldiers in the Camp could read, even though their education was poor, they could still understand the words on the papers.

Ah right, the literacy of the soldiers in the Camp was due to Yang Zhenshan’s “Records of Military Training.”

Ji Feiyu had a high regard for Yang Zhenshan’s “Thirty-Six Stratagems” and “Records of Military Training,” especially knowing that Yang Zhenshan was skilled in training troops, so he trained his soldiers using the methods suggested in the “Records of Military Training.”

And in the “Records of Military Training,” Yang Zhenshan specifically discussed the benefits of ordinary soldiers being literate.

Thus, the overwhelming majority of soldiers in the Camp could read.

At this moment, Ji Feiyu regretted immensely. He regretted allowing his soldiers to learn to read and write, as previously only a small portion of the Camp’s soldiers were literate.

Ji Feiyu’s face showed deep consternation, and he looked at the sky full of papers in silent contemplation.

Hou Yao expressed his anger, “This Yang Zhenshan is an incredibly devious scoundrel, using such sinister tricks!”

Ji Feiyu lowered his eyes, “Issue the order, command all unit leaders to restrain their troops and collect all paper materials to be burnt!”

“Order the General Mansion to distribute three months’ worth of salary, to boost the morale of the soldiers!”

When Yang Zhenshan dropped the flyers, his only option was to use the money tactic.

Bribing for loyalty with money was probably the only thing he could do at the moment.

His approach was not flawed, yet the effectiveness remained to be seen.

…

In the military camp outside the city, Xie Yuan came before Yang Zhenshan once again, reporting, “Reporting to the General, the specially-made crossbow arrows have all been fired!”

Yang Zhenshan held a telescope, observing the opposing city walls but to his dismay, the soldiers inside were all hiding behind the battlements, preventing him from spotting anything useful.

“Let’s withdraw the troops back to camp,” Yang Zhenshan said indifferently.

“Understood!” Yang Minghao by his side responded, once again waving the command flag.

As orders were conveyed one after another, the army began to retreat systematically back to camp, while Yang Zhenshan observed the soldiers on both flanks.

At the moment under his command were the soldiers from Niu Zhuang and those led by Tang Feihu. Yang Zhenshan didn’t have a deep understanding of these soldiers.

If it were soldiers from the Tenglong Guard, he would naturally have confidence, but he still needed to assess the state of the troops under Niu Zhuang and Tang Feihu.

After observing for several days, he realized that the soldiers from both Jianning Guard and Songzhou Guard were actually quite decent.

Although they were not on par with the Tenglong Guard, it was evident they had also undergone strict training.

Thinking about it further made sense; Jianning Guard had the foundation laid by Zhou Lan. As long as Niu Zhuang had some capabilities, the guard wouldn’t be neglected, and in fact, both Niu Zhuang and Tang Feihu were proven capable leaders.

A significant portion of the soldiers they led could be classed as elite, though there was also a portion that seemed to be temporarily assembled garrison troops and appeared a bit slack.

Overall, the troops led by the two were considerable forces.

There were no mishaps as the soldiers returned to camp, and within Chongshan Pass, tranquility remained.

However, as night fell, restlessness started to pervade among the soldiers inside Chongshan Pass.

Many of them gathered in groups, discussing the flyers picked up during the day, and though the missives had been collected by the officials, there were not a few soldiers who had seen their contents.

“Alas, what should we do next?”

“How did we end up labeled as rebels?”

“Outside the city is General Yang; opposing him, we’re likely to have a cruel death!”

“Is General Yang that formidable?” someone who had not heard of Yang Zhenshan’s fearsome reputation couldn’t help but ask.

“Absolutely, five years ago General Yang campaigned against the East Sea Hu Clan, it’s said that with just a thousand cavalry, he killed over a hundred thousand Northern barbarians and even slaughtered countless members of the Hu Clan, not sparing the old nor the children!”

“That’s right, I also heard that the men under General Yang were like demons, eating human flesh, drinking human blood, especially fond of children’s brains!”

“Terrifying!” someone shuddered upon hearing that.

“What do you expect! General Yang is even more dreadful; it’s said that even his horse consumes humans!”

…

What is a rumor?

A rumor is something that grows more exaggerated as it spreads.

Rumors about Yang Zhenshan were widely circulating in Chongshan Town, especially among the lower ranks of the military households, morphing into countless versions.

Claims that Yang Zhenshan had three heads and six arms, was nine feet tall, had a voice as loud as a bell, and a face like a fierce demon were amongst them!

There were also rumors that Yang Zhenshan was an incarnation of the deadly star from the heavens.

Even Red Cloud was rumored to be a man-eating beast.

There was no limit to their absurdity—only tales more bizarre than the last.

Those who had seen Yang Zhenshan naturally did not believe these rumors, but the lower-ranked soldiers who had not seen him were filled with doubts and suspicions.

In the midst of these horrifying rumors, compounded by the content seen on the flyers, many soldiers couldn’t sleep at all that night.

They were filled with fear, panic, uneasiness, their minds engulfed with a multitude of unsettling emotions.

Suddenly, the atmosphere throughout Chongshan Pass became strained.

The soldiers who previously regarded the officials with reverence now looked at them differently; there were feelings of resentment, bitterness, and even enmity.

Ordinary soldiers had no grand ambitions. They might be willing to fight fiercely on the battlefield, but they certainly didn’t wish to be cannon fodder for someone else’s power plays.

When nobody mentioned it, they might not think too much, but once someone stirred the pot, their psyche had already begun changing unbeknownst to them.

Of course, the respect that came with rank and status meant that ordinary soldiers could only bury these grievances and hostilities deeply in their hearts; they were still waiting for a catalyst that would trigger an outburst and a vent for their frustrations.

As days went by, the mood inside Chongshan Pass became increasingly gloomy.

On the sixth day of July, the sky was overcast with thick, pale clouds pressed against the heavens, obscuring the sun that had just risen, so heavy they seemed on the verge of collapsing, creating an oppressive silence as if the whole world was in hushed stillness.

The rapid beating of war drums surged once again, and the dull blare of horns echoed amongst the clouds.

Troops of soldiers with an air of solemnity surged out of the camp, assembling beneath the walls of Chongshan Pass.

Yang Zhenshan had said he would attack in three days, and so it would be three days.

Today’s wind was a little lighter compared to three days ago, but it still whistled through.