Chapter 83: The Third Deputy Commander of the Left Army
"Why are not you talking?"
Li Yuanji saw Su Dingfang standing there in silence with a depressed look on his face and couldn't help asking.
Su Dingfang smiled bitterly and said, "It's not that I don't want to speak, I just feel that Your Highness has some deviations in his understanding of capable and brave men. Liu Heita has many capable and brave men under his command, but very few of them can be appreciated and promoted by Liu Heita.
Not everyone can meet a wise leader like Your Highness and be entrusted with important tasks like I have.
Most people may never meet a wise leader and be entrusted with important tasks in their lifetime."
Li Yuanji was stunned for a moment and immediately thought of Han Yu's "On Horse".
There are Bole in the world, and then there are thousand-mile horses. There are always thousand-mile horses, but Bole is not always there. Therefore, even if there is a famous horse, it will only be humiliated by the hands of slaves and die in the stable, and it will not be called a thousand-mile horse...
Talent is like a thousand-mile horse. If he doesn't meet someone who can appreciate him, he may remain mediocre throughout his life.
"You're right, I was negligent..."
Li Yuanji said to Su Dingfang with emotion.
Su Dingfang's words reminded him that after he traveled to the Tang Dynasty, he had been hanging around among those historical celebrities, always thinking about recruiting those who had left their names in history, but ignoring those talents hidden among the people.
The talents hidden among the people are not necessarily worse than those who have left their names in history.
Some people have strategies in their minds, but for personal reasons, they are unwilling to work for Li Tang, so they choose to live in seclusion.
There were also some remnants of the previous dynasty who stayed in seclusion because they were afraid of being liquidated by Li Tang or they were hiding some shameful secrets.
There are also some people who simply have no opportunities, are not discovered, and can only become a mediocre person in obscurity.
Take Su Dingfang for example.
If he had not known Su Dingfang's historical achievements, he would not have taken Su Dingfang into his government and entrusted him with important tasks.
After the Tang Dynasty's war to pacify Hebei is over, Su Dingfang will retire to his hometown, and will not come out again and start over until many years later.
Historically, Su Dingfang did not begin to shine until the Yonghui period of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Zhi. Before that, he had been sitting on the bench for a full twenty years.
At that time, he was already in his fifties.
If he had been able to join Li Tang's camp earlier, been discovered earlier, and been entrusted with important tasks, his achievements might have been much higher than in history.
"Are those captains and warriors you mentioned really useful?"
Li Yuanji stared at Su Dingfang and asked.
Su Dingfang nodded without hesitation and said: "When I was under Liu Heita's command, I had already noticed them, but my influence was not strong enough and my adoptive father was not valued by Liu Heita, so it was difficult for me to gather them under my command.
Now that they have surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, Your Highness has the ability to gather them together, so I naturally hope that Your Highness can gather them under your command."
Li Yuanji pondered and nodded .
After he realized that there were some deviations in his thinking, he immediately began to correct it.
Since Su Dingfang said that those people are capable and can be used, then there shouldn't be any mistakes.
Su Dingfang has led troops for many years, so his eyesight must be correct.
"Go tell Qu Tutong that I can help him support 20,000 civilians and 20,000 women, but he must send them to Weizhou, and the selection of the governor of Weizhou must also be decided by me."
After weighing the pros and cons, Li Yuanji decided to make Qu Tutong happy for once.
Since Su Dingfang was very concerned about those captains and warriors, he recruited them to his mansion.
This move has two benefits.
First, it can quickly make up for the losses of Zuo Ertongjun Mansion, and second, it can allow Su Dingfang to take root in his mansion completely.
Su Dingfang was a surrendered general. When he first entered his house, he was inevitably looked down upon. Some experienced captains might even take advantage of Su Dingfang and embarrass him.
After all, where there are people, there is the world.
If something like this happened, it would be difficult for him to step forward to help Su Dingfang resolve it.
After all, if he spoke up for Su Dingfang, it would affect Su Dingfang's prestige in the hearts of the soldiers.
The soldiers would regard Su Dingfang as a favorite, doubt his ability, and pretend to obey his orders but actually disobey them.
This will not be conducive to Su Dingfang's integration into the mansion.
If they recruited a group of surrendered soldiers and generals to come under Su Dingfang's command, then Su Dingfang would become one with them. If some of the more experienced people in the mansion wanted to control Su Dingfang, they would also have to be wary of other surrendered soldiers and generals.
When the surrendered soldiers and generals first join his army, they will definitely want to quickly make some achievements so that they can gain a foothold under him.
This statement just met Su Dingfang's wishes.
As long as Su Dingfang can lead them to win one or two battles, he will be able to gather them firmly around him and make them a real help to the Prince of Qi's Palace.
Although the Prince of Qi's Palace has planned to build the Left First Military Office and the Left Second Military Office, the Left First Military Office and the Left Second Military Office cannot be considered as the real support of the Prince of Qi's Palace now.
Because the First Left Military Headquarters and the Second Left Military Headquarters were just established, although the soldiers inside them possessed a certain combat effectiveness, they had not yet been completely integrated into a true corps.
They also need to work together with the generals who lead the troops and with their comrades.
As for letting Qu Tutong send people to Weizhou and taking over the power to appoint the governor of Weizhou, it was firstly to save some food, and secondly to avoid feeding those men and women in vain.
Since those men and women ate his food, they should do something for him.
Not to mention fighting for him, it's always okay to stand behind him and cheer for him when he's fighting his enemies.
"Your Highness, are you serious?"
Su Dingfang stared at Li Yuanji with a look of surprise and asked.
Li Yuanji had just firmly rejected Qu Tutong, but now he gave in easily.
He was a little bit unconvinced.
Li Yuanji stared at Su Dingfang and said unhappily, "When did I ever say anything joking in front of you?"
Su Dingfang was overjoyed and said excitedly: "I will go to find General Qu Tu right away."
Li Yuanji raised his hand to stop Su Dingfang, "Don't worry, there is one thing I must tell you."
Su Dingfang immediately bowed and said, "Your Highness, please give your orders!"
Li Yuanji said solemnly: "The government has its own rules for recruiting soldiers. All soldiers who enter the General's Office must pass the arena set up by the soldiers of the General's Office. Only after a draw or a win can they become soldiers of the General's Office.
If we lose the battle, we can only go to the army camp and serve as a reserve soldier."
This rule was set when they were in Luoyang City. All the officers and soldiers in the Left One and Left Two Military Headquarters knew about it, and it had to be followed.
Although Su Dingfang had already accepted the surrendered soldiers and generals, they still had to undergo an assessment by the Military Command Office.
Li Yuanji would not break this rule because of Su Dingfang, as it would be unfair to the soldiers of the Left One and Left Two Military Offices and would easily cause dissatisfaction among them.
Su Dingfang had no objection to this and said without hesitation: "I understand. I have heard that there is such a rule in your Highness's mansion. I will naturally not break this rule."
Su Dingfang had been hanging out with the soldiers of the Zuo Er General's Office for several days, and he had known about this kind of thing for a long time.
After all, soldiers like to brag in their spare time. The most worthwhile things for them to brag about in recent days are the Luoyang martial arts competition and helping Qin Qiong defeat Gao Yaxian.
It would be difficult to talk about helping Qin Qiong defeat Gao Yaxian in front of Su Dingfang, so he could only talk about the Luoyang competition.
"Go ahead..."
Li Yuanji waved his hand.
Su Dingfang clasped his fists, bowed, and left the room excitedly.
After Su Dingfang left, Li Yuanji began to think about the candidate for the governor of Weizhou.
Weizhou was not conquered by Liu Heita, so the governor of Weizhou is still in office.
He not only had to consider the candidate for the Weizhou governor, but also had to consider how to place the current Weizhou governor.
Li Yuanji spent the whole morning thinking about it.
Apart from simply washing up and having some breakfast, I have been thinking about this matter.
It is easy to decide how to place the current Weizhou governor.
During Liu Heita's rebellion, the governor of Weizhou was able to defend the state, which can be considered a meritorious service.
During the Tang Dynasty's expedition against Liu Heita, although the Weizhou governor did not provide much help, he did not cause much trouble either, so he can be considered to have made some contributions.
As long as he wrote a letter to Li Yuan to praise the achievements of the Weizhou Governor, the Weizhou Governor would be promoted immediately and the position would naturally become vacant.
It’s just that it’s difficult to choose the new governor of Weizhou.
He currently has no suitable candidate.
At noon, Li Yuanji was still thinking when Su Dingfang rushed into the room excitedly.
"Your Highness, it's done."
As soon as Su Dingfang entered the room, he reported to Li Yuanji without even bothering to greet him.
You can tell that he was very happy and excited, otherwise he wouldn't have forgotten to even salute.
Li Yuanji did not care about this, but just glanced at Su Dingfang and said: "I threw out more than 20,000 stones of grain in one go. It would be strange if it didn't work."
Su Dingfang calmed down a lot after hearing this, and realized that he didn't seem to greet Li Yuanji just now, so he bowed and said: "General Qu Tu not only agreed to your request, but also readily handed over the person I wanted to me.
Now, eight of the sixteen lieutenants have arrived in Mingshui City, six of them are willing to serve Your Highness, and five of them have already defeated the challenge set up by the lieutenants of the Zuo Er Tongjun Mansion."
Li Yuanji was stunned for a moment, then sighed, "In that case, the person you chose is not bad."
Among the six people, five of them defeated the challenge set up by the captains of the Left Second Military Office, which shows that the captains who surrendered selected by Su Dingfang were of very high quality.
The captain of the Zuo Ertongjun Mansion was selected from the guards of the Prince of Qi's Palace.
It’s hard to say whether he has strong command ability, but his martial arts skills are not weak.
The people Su Dingfang selected were able to defeat them, and the ratio was so high, which was really good.
"Your Highness dares to employ people and is willing to employ people. How can I bring some unskilled people to fill the number in front of Your Highness?"
Su Dingfang said with a smile.
Li Yuanji smiled and said, "They will be under your command from now on."
Su Dingfang's smile faded, and he said hastily: "I am only a brigade commander, how can I command five lieutenants?"
Li Yuanji smiled and said, "From now on, you will be the deputy commander of the Left Third Commander's Office in the mansion. You chose them, and you are quite familiar with them and can use them easily."
Su Dingfang became anxious and wanted to refuse.
Li Yuanji did not give him a chance to refuse. "No need to refuse. You came to the aid of Mingshui City, fought bloody battles for several days in Mingshui City, and beheaded Zhou Wenju and Cui Yuanxun. Your contributions are enough to be promoted to the position of deputy commander-in-chief.
Moreover, the Left Third Military Headquarters is different from the Left First and Left Second Military Headquarters.
The Left Third Military Command currently has no armor and is naturally not as strong as the Left First and Left Second Military Commands. Apart from you, other qualified people who are qualified to serve as deputy military commanders are probably not willing to go."
