Within half an hour, the ordering soldiers turned back one after another.
According to the tradition of the Jin Army, military orders are based on talismans, and different talismans are issued according to the number and scale of the mobilized troops. All specific instructions are dictated by the ordering soldiers to the ordered generals. The navy's process is more complicated. If more than a hundred troops are deployed from each department, there will be a formal document stating the task content. The officer who takes the order must also confirm it with a monogram, and then the order will be brought back to the Chinese army for filing.
This process will be completely redundant if the officers do not have basic cultural literacy or do not have a clear understanding of the plan and preset objectives of the campaign. However, after several years of hard work by Guo Ning, most of the officers have had the experience of studying in military academies and can recognize basic Chinese characters, understand maps, and understand the role of a certain order in the overall deployment.
This kind of progress is almost meaningless to the traditional army.
Because the traditional army does not need to think, except for the highest-ranking general, everyone below should be stunned, and then naturally dare to fight to the death.
Even the Jurchens and Mongols in their heyday were the same; it was just that in their armies, the grassroots soldiers were particularly bloodthirsty because of their barbarism and ignorance, while at the same time they retained the fighting instincts brought about by the life of fishing, hunting and herding.
But Guo Ning insisted that the Dinghai Navy should not become such an army, and the officers and soldiers of the Dinghai Navy should not become machines that only know how to kill.
Li Ting was not absolutely sure whether Guo Ning's insistence was justified, but he was almost convinced.
After ten years in the army, he has gained more and more experience and gained wider knowledge. He still looks aggressive and triumphant all day long, but on the inside he is gradually becoming calmer; just as this year, the army has not engaged in large-scale operations. But the internal system is becoming more and more mature. The army's training, equipment, and command operations are all smooth. Everyone knows their own tasks, whose orders they follow, who they are responsible for, and what goals they achieve. There are even dedicated personnel in charge of logistics, medical care, and other aspects.
Half a month ago, he witnessed with his own eyes the power of this system's rapid activation.
The military government issued the order suddenly without warning, and all the ministries were resting in their garrison. Many military camps were more than half empty, because the soldiers had time off to stay at home with their wives and children, or to help farm. But as soon as the order was given, countless people rushed back to their headquarters at night. Immediately, hundreds of thousands of people gathered at different stations and received a huge amount of military supplies...
In the past six months, the military government has been spending like a flood. Everyone watched Yelu Chucai, Xu Ding and others clicking their abacus and competing with others everywhere. Turns out it was just a cover!
After that, it was a long march of hundreds of miles in the shortest possible time to open up a battlefield. In fact, Li Ting's troops did not go very far, but many of his colleagues led their troops to travel thousands of miles, and even crossed rivers and seas.
This kind of action was impossible to do before. No matter how high the soldiers' fighting spirit and desire to fight are, this exceeds the limit of the army's organizational capabilities and will inevitably lead to the collapse of the army at a certain point.
Only when every backbone of this army understands his own role and has full confidence in the commander of the army and every comrade, and the entire army system can be closely connected with the regime itself, can this be achieved in this way.
Li Ting never dreamed that he would one day be able to fight with such an army.
So after giving the order, he quickly turned back to the tent and lay down. Only when you have enough sleep can you have the energy to fight the next day.
It gets dark very quickly during this season, and it’s hard to see the stars in the sky tonight. There are dark clouds in the sky, and there’s very little moonlight. Li Ting's officers were going around with torches, which would be a bit hard for them. However, if the army's marching operations were arranged on the same day, it would probably fall into chaos, not to mention that Wanyan Heda's headquarters and Li Ting's headquarters were only twenty miles apart.
Wanyan Heda was a veteran general, probably the last one among the Jurchens who was in his prime, with peak courage and commanding ability. At that time, Tu Danyi asked him and Wanyan Congtan to support King Sui in terms of force, and he did so. The Kaifeng regime was able to defeat the Red Coat Army's foothold in Kaifeng, control all roads in Longxi, and frighten the Xia and Song states. Wanyan Heda was indispensable.
He is known to value righteousness over wealth, and shares joys and sorrows with his subordinates. Whenever he gets something in the army, he must give it to the soldiers first, and when encountering the enemy, he dares to take the lead. he
The army he led was also the main force that the Kaifeng court could really rely on. It was the strong shield that the Kaifeng court placed on Hebei West Road to protect Hedong Road and Xijing Road.
In the past two days, the two armies engaged in several medium-sized conflicts, with casualties on both sides. Therefore, the soldiers under Li Ting also knew that Wanyan Heda's troops were difficult to deal with, and they did not dare to ignore tomorrow's battle, so they prepared extra carefully.
Li Ting covered his belly with leather armor and remained motionless, but he couldn't sleep because it was a bit noisy outside. He could hear an archer adjusting the bow string and making a "crack" sound as he kept pulling it. There are also military commanders and staff members discussing the marching routes of the various units tomorrow, the highlands and key points that should be seized in advance, and even the location of the supply warehouses in the rear, the location of the wounded camps, etc.
Li Ting doesn't need to think about it himself. The staff can designate the plan tomorrow morning. Li Ting only needs to review and approve it. What Li Ting has to do now is to gather energy.
In fact, the best result is of course that Wanyan Heda starts to retreat on his own initiative, and Li Ting prepares a light cavalry in advance, ready to pursue him at any time. He was sure to be able to disperse the defeated troops along the way and cut off Wanyan Heda's head on the bank of the Yellow River.
What I had to worry about was the weather. The sky outside the tent was extremely dark at the moment, and the sky seemed to be within reach, very low, not to mention the flying insects buzzing and circling, and they all entered the tent.
It looks like it's going to rain, and it will be a heavy rain unique to summer.
If it rains heavily tomorrow, neither battle nor pursuit will be realistic, and variables will appear out of thin air on this battlefield. The next time we want to force the main forces of the two armies to fight, we must at least wait until the weather clears up and the ground on the battlefield returns to dry and hard ground.
There are mountains to the east of Handan. After heavy rains, the floods will inevitably move eastward. The Fuyang River, Linjia River, Xihe, and Baiqu will all surge. It is difficult to say when the battlefield will be launched again.
As a result, Wanyan Heda was unable to go south to Kaifeng to support the crisis there, and Li Ting could only continue to waste time here. Both families were in trouble.
In such a decisive battle, it is a pity that our own side commands tens of thousands of troops but does not have the chance to make a final decision. If Jing'an Min continues to succeed in Hedong... it is very possible. Guo Wenzhen, Zhang Kai, Wuxian and others who formed a group in Hedong may not be so loyal to Kaifeng... The result is that Jing'an Min has made great achievements along the way, and as a Li Ting, the general, did nothing?
Good guy, how proud will Jing Anmin be? Based on Li Ting's understanding of him, this guy would definitely be very humble and say he was just lucky, lucky, hahaha...
When Li Ting thought about that situation, he became even more unhappy.
While wandering around the lake, he suddenly remembered that when he was in Shandong, he had a chat with Wang Chuyi, Yuyangzi, and heard the old man talk about the many spells in Taoism. It seems that one of them is related to rain. Whether to pray for rain or to stop rain, Li Ting couldn't remember. He kept muttering the beginning of the spell in his mouth. He just said "Taiyuan Haoshi Lei Huo Jing" and fell asleep.
As soon as I closed my eyes, someone rushed into the Zhongjun tent and shook Li Ting awake.
The moment Li Ting woke up, he only heard the roar of dense raindrops hitting the tent. It was raining! It’s raining a lot!
An idea flashed in his mind, and he shouted angrily: "That's a rain spell! I recited the wrong sutra!"
Amid his roar, his subordinates shook him hard to wake him up completely: "Jie Shuai! Wake up, Commander Ji!"
"Hands are heavy! Don't shake your neck and break it! Grandpa Li is awake! What's the matter?" Li Ting asked in a loud voice.
"Yangqi came to report that they encountered the Jin Army five miles away! They took advantage of the heavy rain to attack! It was dark and I couldn't tell their number, at least ten thousand people!"
Li Ting was stunned for a moment, then laughed loudly: "Okay! Okay! As expected of Wanyan Heda! What a good man!"
