In the evening at Wudaohe, the evening breeze stirred up the smell of green grass mixed with the fragrance of wild flowers and swept across the Lion Army camp in the river valley.
Fan Sanlang tied a small coat around the waist of the half-sleeved mail armor and walked in the camp of Zuoying with his waist knife, looking past the resting soldiers one after another, searching for Bu Chi's figure.
As the only female general manager in the Marshal's Mansion, Buchi is easy to find because Basang's battalion is very special.
In a normal army, when there are no combat missions, officers will arrange missions for each unit in an orderly manner. Even if there are no missions, the soldiers will do their own thing, and few of them will be idle.
But in Basang's left camp, most of the soldiers had very low initiative. They would do whatever the superior asked them to do. When the superior did not arrange anything, they would do nothing and just squat.
They might chat quietly, and a few familiar soldiers would gather together, secretly, to talk about their aunt and baby left in Nangqian, about the cattle, sheep and land given by the great generalissimo, and about finding ways to fight on the battlefield. Something to make a contribution to.
It took them a long time to get used to the identity of farmers, and they had not yet recognized all the various iron farm tools. The Kangning Prefecture Yamen drafted them, and they gave up their mother-in-law and land to become soldiers, but people were willing. .
In the past, they also had homes, whether it was under the stairs, a dark multi-person hut, or a sheepfold, they all had homes. Some even had wives and children, but those things did not belong to them. .
The biggest change and the most stable measure brought by the Marshal's Mansion to Kangning was not to confiscate the nobles' land, but to establish a yamen to issue decrees.
Liu Chengzong allowed people to legally own their own property.
Soon, Fan Sanlang found Bu Chi's location. The crazy woman in the army was giving lessons to the soldiers.
In the eyes of the generals of the Lion Army, Buchi was a crazy woman who was driven half crazy by torture, but in the eyes of most soldiers in Zuoying, Buchi was a witch who could communicate with ghosts.
God Buchi narrated to the soldiers the experiences of some slaves who were tortured to death by nobles. From time to time, he mixed in a few Chinese words and taught them to the soldiers around him.
Fan Sanlang stood with his arms folded and watched everything from a distance. His face was not as serious as others thought, nor was there any trace of ridicule on his face.
Because she knew that this was part of Qian Zongbuchi's job.
When Liu Chengzong arranged this work for Bu Chi in Nangqian, Fan Sanlang was in the camp.
Communicating with ghosts is not only the sequelae of being frightened, but also Buchi's protective color in the army. It is already very difficult for a woman to protect herself in the army, let alone control a large group of men.
Liu Chengzong himself was averse to pretending, but when a large number of soldiers lacked military literacy, and there were still difficulties in communication between Han Chinese officers and Ban civilian soldiers, he needed a wizard to help him guide the soldiers to take advantage of the situation.
In fact, after Buchi killed the officer who led them, the nagging auditory hallucinations in his ears stopped. What he said later were basically the atrocities experienced by other slaves.
People listened to this crazy woman, on the one hand because Bu Chi was trusted by the Marshal's Mansion, and on the other hand because she had the ability to control wind and rain.
Her professional skills came from Liu Chengzong. Some of the generals who led the troops did not know astronomy and geography, but in the eyes of the slaves, this was an ability only possessed by wizards who could communicate with the gods of heaven and earth.
Seeing Fan Sanlang standing in the distance, Bu Chi ended today's superstitious time ahead of schedule and walked quickly to ask Fan Sanlang why he was here.
Bu Chi has almost all the advantages of a Xifan woman. She is hard-working and diligent, and she is also very diligent in learning Chinese. Now she can not only communicate simply, but can also serve as a half-teacher in the army.
Fan Sanlang took out a pair of iron claws tied to the soles of his shoes and handed them to Bu Chi: "You have a husband who is a blacksmith. There is no iron in the camp, so he makes a lot of horse bones, which are used for mountain climbing."
Bu Chi took the iron claw, lowered his head and looked at it carefully, and then asked: "Commander... has he proposed an attack?"
This pair of iron claws used for mountain climbing was born in the Battle of Huanglong Mountain in northern Shaanxi. However, the Lion Army never fought in the mountains after that. It is really not easy to find this thing in the army.
Fan Sanlang was used to Bu Chi's lack of words. After understanding it for a while, he smiled and shook his head: "We are still discussing, but it has been decided. The commander-in-chief said that it has rained recently, and it might be snow."
The generals were discussing matters in the commander's tent. Originally, according to his official position, Bu Chi should also go into the tent to discuss matters. However, Liu Chengzong believed that Bu Chi was doing something more important than the military meeting and there was no need to go.
Seeing that a war was about to begin, Bu Chi was asked to quickly tell ghost stories to his men to boost their morale, which was much more important than military discussions.
The Mongolian nobles of Khalkha are also nobles, and this class hatred is the same.
Liu Chengzong likes to listen to the opinions of his subordinates, but he only likes to listen, because listening to his subordinates' opinions can expand his ideas, but whether to take them or not is another matter.
The generals of the Marshal's Mansion were gathering in Liu Chengzong's tent to discuss the location for building the camp.
The location they were in at this time was two parallel valleys fifty miles long from north to south and two miles wide, blocked by a mountain range in the middle. The two valleys were connected by a dangerous mountain road thirty miles long in the north.
They are in Shanxi, and Khalkha's army is in Shandong.
Due to the dangerous terrain of the thirty-mile long mountain road, it is difficult to deploy the army, and there is also concern that Liu Chengzong's artillery will set up an ambush on the mountain road, so Khalkha's cavalry has been blocked by Tangqi for a day and a night, unable to advance even an inch.
The rangers failed to detect the situation, so the main force did not dare to enter the river valley rashly.
The news sent back by Dai Daozi said that the Mongolian soldiers seemed to be frightened by the previous heavy artillery fire and were very cautious in their reconnaissance. Tangqi could still block them for at least three more days.
Although Dai Daozi was at the northern mountain pass, his opinion had been clearly conveyed to Liu Chengzong. He believed that the commander-in-chief should occupy the mountain pass first to gain an advantage in the confrontation.
Gao Yingdeng advocated rushing directly through the mountain pass, using his 600 lightly armed cavalry to launch a surprise attack on the enemy general's tent on the other side of the mountain, defeating the enemy in one fell swoop.
A very fierce ancient tactic that does not take the enemy seriously, nor does it take itself seriously.
Huang Shengxiao's plan was much safer. He built fortifications in the valley to wait for work. In fact, he was more inclined to Dai Daozi's plan, but the mountain pass was too narrow. Two small cannons could block the entire road with four or five shots, and they could not kill many people. Unable to take advantage of firepower.
Zhang Tianlin himself summarized these suggestions and thought they were not bad.
Because in this battle, Zhang Tianlin's more than a thousand cavalrymen were Liu Chengzong's elite force to suppress the nobles. As long as the nobles under Ah Liu in the right camp did not move, his cavalry could not move, so he did not choose tactics. Say more.
Ah Liu is more in favor of fighting out, and confrontation is also acceptable, but he is opposed to building a camp. This is not due to tactical considerations, but to avoid intensification of conflicts.
Because the situation in Youying is more complicated and different from others.
On the one hand, there are many people in the right camp, including thousands of people from Ah Liu's headquarters. They are all former rebels of She Chongming's Daliang Kingdom. They joined Liu Shishi's command as surrendered troops who defected on the battlefield. They were treated well and worked hard without complaint.
But half of the remaining ones are the old nobles of the seven counties, and the other half are the servants and veterans of the old nobles.
They are freaks.
The military system of ancient China cannot be copied from the European classical, feudal, and modern military structures. Although it is easy to understand, there are big problems in it, and the social structure is different.
Social structure and governance structure are the most critical factors affecting the military system, while weapons, equipment, and supplies are all external objects.
For example, what qualitative changes have there been in the systems, tactics, military laws, and weapons and equipment of the Qi Jiajun and other Ming armies? No, Qi Shaobao just summarized the experience of previous regulations and implemented them.
If there is any huge progress, it is also Qi Jiguang's personal spiritual progress in adapting his tactical thinking to local conditions and seeking truth from facts in weapons and equipment.
The most important thing is that the social environment at that time was good, the country was strong, and the people in charge of the country provided strong support in terms of power and financial resources.
Regardless of Lord Chongzhen's circumstances and ruler, Qi Jiguang just asked Tan Lun to help him fight Japanese pirates for two years. He had not yet tested the character of the Yiwu soldiers. He might have spread the news to the first nine sides.
Except for Huo Guang, no light can save Ming Dynasty.
The problem with Youying is that its social structure neither serves the Qinghai Marshal's Mansion, which was born out of the Central Plains Dynasty, nor does it have the system of Kangning's traditional feudal aristocratic army.
The complete feudal aristocratic army of the seven counties of Kangning Prefecture is composed of aristocratic officers, tiger hero non-commissioned officers, and a large number of conscripts.
Because in a country ruled by feudal aristocrats, fighting is just about making flowers, and civilians cannot be promoted... Therefore, the Tiger Heroes actually grant some benefits to outstanding civilians and even slaves, so that they can better display their talents as civilians.
The Kangzang nobles are actually very advanced in this regard compared to their aristocratic counterparts in the world. To put it another way, the tiger heroes are sergeants.
From Lisbon to Nagasaki, as long as they are normal feudal lords and pick out a few noble lords, no matter how weak and incompetent they are, regardless of their blood status, there is no way for them to work in the soil. In their army, there is no way to do it. It's something only low-level handymen do.
This is not a problem in the feudal army, because the feudal army has enough conscripts to ensure that it can complete tasks with low technical content, but the right camp cannot.
The nobles in the right camp had no tiger heroes, no conscripts, and were not even officers themselves. There was a serious problem in building camps and digging trenches.
The only people in the right battalion who can do this work are the A Liu headquarters, but those former Liang soldiers who participated in the She Chongming rebellion cannot dig trenches by themselves.
If Ah Liu dared to let them dig their own trenches, while the Kangning nobles under the same establishment were watching, they would probably dig half the trench, then climb up and lift the crossbows to kill the nobles.
Forcing the nobles to dig trenches was also very inappropriate in Ah Liu's view: "Commander, they are well equipped and most of them are highly skilled. They defeated the enemy in Huangyuanyi before, so that they can now use their military morale and prepare to wear armor." Mount your horse and die in the service of the Marshal's Mansion."
Ah Liu's implication was that forcing them to dig trenches at this time would probably be counterproductive and alienate this elite force that was originally used by the Marshal's Mansion.
When Liu Chengzong heard this, he frowned at first, thought for a moment before relaxing his brows, but said to Ah Liu with a ruthless look in his eyes: "You want them to know that I can force them to do this. If they don't come, there will be one thousand, two thousand, three thousand, Once the trench was dug, they were all pushed to the edge of the trench and the walls were built. Military orders must be implemented as soon as they are given... Nothing is impossible in this era."
Nothing is impossible in the world.
In fact, Han people have always been able to shave their heads, but personally they don’t want to have their heads pressed against them.
But this is an era when tens of millions of Han people are pressed on the head and shaved, so it is not impossible in this era.
"But I am willing to accept them. This is the first time. I will not force them." Liu Chengzong waved his hand and said: "You tell them that the generalissimo will dig trenches with the soldiers. They don't have to come this time, but not next time. If anyone comes this time, I will remember them."
After saying that, Liu Chengzong turned to look at the officers at all levels in the tent: "Except for those responsible for camp defense, all of us have to dig trenches and pile up soil. If we work together as one, we will surely win!"
Zhang Tianlin took the lead and said, "Yes!"
Then the generals in the tent clasped their fists and accepted the orders one by one, but after that, Gao Yingdeng asked: "Commander, are you really going to do what you did and build a fort in the river valley, leaving the natural danger ahead to the enemy?"
Liu Chengzong's words were basically equivalent to setting the major policies of the military meeting.
He nodded and said: "Yes, there are natural dangers ahead. It is easy to defend the mountain pass and repel the enemy, but it cannot annihilate most of the enemy. It will not be of much help to the battle... There are tens of thousands of enemy troops. Even if we defeat a few Thousands of people are far from being able to defeat the enemy."
Khalkha's cavalry can still run away after losing. The enemy still has a lot of strength on the Heka grassland. He has very few elite forces at hand to release in pursuit, so it is difficult to expand his advantage.
"If we build a camp in the river valley to attract the enemy to besiege, and Lao Qijia leads part of the army to climb the mountain, go around behind the Mongolian army, and guard the mountain pass from that direction, we will have a chance to destroy this Mongolian army."
Elimination does not mean killing them all, whether they are surrendered, defeated, or even driven to the west as savages in the rolling snow-capped mountains, it doesn’t matter how they are eliminated. In short, if they can no longer fight for Chuoktu Taiji, then they are eliminated.
Zhang Tianlin did not continue to say more on this matter.
Anyway, when he was in Juerwan, he already knew that the Lion Army's military discussions have always been like this. They are very democratic in small matters. As long as it is Liu Chengzong's decision on major matters, it will be difficult to change.
Zhang Tianlin actually always felt that Liu Chengzong liked to preside over military meetings before the war, not because he wanted to ask the generals for advice, but to take the opportunity to observe the generals' fighting spirit and military morale.
Therefore, he just added: "Commander, it will not be easy for us to stop the 10,000 Mongolian troops in the river valley. Moreover, even if the Zuoying crosses the snow-capped mountains, can they reach the mountain pass on time, and can they stop the enemy army at the mountain pass?"
Liu Chengzong nodded: "I understand that if you are not careful and are surrounded by enemy troops in the Shandong River Valley, the entire Zuoying army may be wiped out... But the advantage of successfully crossing over and completing the encirclement is too great, and it is worth the risk."
By annihilating a quarter or even a third of the enemy's strength, the battle for Qinghai's ownership would be more than half won for Liu Chengzong.
