In the vast Gobi desert, the sky is filled with yellow sand as far as the eye can see. At first glance, nothing can be seen except a few dead trees. The cold wind howls, which is quite desolate.
The yellow sand blew across a hill. Under the hill, an abandoned earthen city stood.
This earthen city is very dilapidated, with half of the surrounding walls broken down, and the interior is full of ruins, making it impossible to even provide temporary shelter.
After standing there for a long time, I must have had a mouth full of sand, but my eyes moved in, to a corner of the dilapidated Tucheng.
But there are pattering figures standing there, and their bodies are covered with countless yellow sand.
Shaking slightly, the yellow sand fell, and the black armor he was wearing could be seen.
These people seemed to be standing randomly, but they were scattered around the entire Tucheng. At a glance, they were clearly sentinels on alert.
In the middle of the earth city, in a half-collapsed earth house, several figures flashed.
These people were none other than the five thousand troops recruited by Su Qi'an.
Except for Su Qi'an, the other captains present were all fierce-looking and had tattoos on their foreheads.
Every move was filled with strong evil aura. Su Qi'an looked weird standing with them.
Although these people were wearing armor, they did not look like soldiers, but looked like prisoners and bandits.
These people were indeed told correctly. They were indeed prisoners, with sentences all over their bodies, and some were even serving as corvees in the Kyoto mines.
But these people are different from ordinary prisoners. They are all members of the military. To put it bluntly, they are a group of soldiers and veterans.
Later, because he committed crimes in Kyoto, he either beat up powerful people after drinking, or violated the security of Kyoto and went on a rampage in Kyoto. What's more, he severely injured some powerful people.
One by one, in this army of 5,000 people, it is no exaggeration to say that everyone has committed some crime.
I'm afraid only Su Qi'an can take a fancy to these people. As for other powerful people, it's better if they are not beaten to death, let alone use them.
Although these ruffians and veterans are indeed much more effective on the battlefield than the new recruits, and each of them has some life-saving skills.
It stands to reason that being recruited and trained can also be a good help. Although it has good advantages, there is one thing that makes these wealthy families who want to take him in and take him away from him.
It's just that these soldiers are too rebellious. It's not that they don't want to be driven by others. To put it bluntly, they only admire the strong.
A strong man who can lead them into several bloody battles is the kind of person who deserves their respect.
Like some powerful nobles who sacrifice their lives for them, they can only serve as scapegoats and cannon fodder. Once they are used up, they will be discarded without any effort.
To be honest, when they learned that they had been recruited by Su Qi'an, they were not very interested, or even disdainful.
After all, Su Qi'an's reputation in Kyoto was just that of a so-called literary talent. Even those who knew that he had been on the northern battlefield and knew about his achievements would naturally disdain him.
In their eyes, how could there be such a talented person who knew how to fight? Moreover, this person was still so young and a scholar. He could do it because he was a member of the royal family.
From this point of view, Su Qi'an is just another dude who relies on his background to go to the battlefield to gain military exploits.
In front of them, it's just bragging.
Therefore, the recruitment did not go well at the beginning. Su Qi'an didn't have any nonsense when dealing with this group of soldiers.
He said to the soldier in front of him, "If you don't obey, you can fight with your own men. If you win, not only will your sentence and corvee be abolished, you can even get fifty taels of silver. You can take the money and leave. If you lose, you can Obediently obey him and drive him."
Su Qi'an's words were very straightforward and even a bit arrogant, but when it comes to these veteran veterans, no amount of beautiful words is of any use.
Those who are useful rely on a pair of fists; those who are dissatisfied need to be beaten until they are convinced.
Su Qi'an selected 20 people from his 100-strong new army and lined them up. Those who were dissatisfied could come forward to challenge.
The thorn in the side of the challenge, soldier
There was an endless stream of ruffians, but everyone, without exception, was defeated.
The one that lasted the longest was only ten moves.
Although these ruffians were defeated, they were still very thoughtful. When they passed by Su Qi'an, they hugged and threw Su Qi'an and wanted to knock him down.
They couldn't defeat Su Qi'an's men, but that didn't mean that Su Qi'an himself was very strong. It just meant that he had a group of powerful guards relying on his royal status.
Everyone thought so, but it was a pity that they didn't realize how wrong they were until they actually came into contact with Su Qian's body.
Not only was Su Qi'an not knocked down by them, but he took advantage of the situation and knocked the shit out of these soldiers.
The next moment, a sharp knife fell on the soldier's neck.
The soldiers present will always remember what Su Qian said while holding up the knife.
"This offense was considered unintentional. If it happens a second time, I will kill you immediately."
Although Su Qi'an said it with a smile, the coldness in his smile made these veterans realize that the so-called royal family in front of them was definitely not one of those dudes who were scared to death as soon as they entered the battlefield.
Su Qi'an has his own system for dealing with these veterans. Only by applying kindness and force can he stop these veterans.
With this vigorous and resolute attitude, Su Qi'an soon recruited an army of 5,000 people.
At the moment of recruitment, he immediately set off and left Kyoto City.
To be honest, Su Qian was not very satisfied with the number of five thousand men. According to his idea, he wanted to double the number of troops to ten thousand.
Only in this way can Su Qi'an have greater confidence in this war.
But this idea can only be thought about.
After all, there have always been strict limits on the number of people recruited into the Great Liang army.
Except for the Central Forbidden Army, which can reach ten thousand people, most of the other armies only have three to five thousand people.
As for the number of eight thousand, they were basically made up of people who had never been on the battlefield. The equipment on their bodies and the things in their hands were all second-hand items eliminated by the army.
When such an army goes up, it's basically the same as killing people. Most of the time, they cooperate with the main force to clean up the mess.
What caused this result was the policy formulated by Emperor Gaozu of Daliang from the beginning.
When Emperor Gaozu founded the country, he released his military power through a glass of wine. The generals who held heavy troops released their military power one after another, and then reformed and developed after hundreds of years.
Daliang's army is very large, with a total of five to six hundred thousand people, but according to the army of several thousand people, there are too many numbers of troops.
Once a large-scale war is fought, with hundreds of armies stacked together, it will be difficult to conduct unified command and communication will be particularly difficult.
The two battlefields in the north and northwest are better because they prepare for war all year round and have two veteran generals who have been dealing with them all year round. It is much more convenient to mobilize the army.
But Su Xuanyong was still too suspicious. Even though Fan Wenzhong had great military exploits and devoted himself to serving his country, he still became suspicious.
If we really trusted him, we wouldn't have ended up with the last battle of Ningzhou, changing blood and people.
There was no way, the Great Ancestor of Great Liang was a military general who raised an army. He was too worried that there would be a second military general like him who would rely on his own troops and separat one side directly in troubled times.
Therefore, Daliang never trusted military generals very much. It promoted the status of civilians and used civilian officials to suppress military generals.
They would rather cede the land and seek peace than let the generals and mercenaries go to the north.
Su Qi'an was also helpless about this matter, but there was nothing he could do to change it.
Pressing this thought deep in his heart, he retracted his gaze and looked at the people in front of him.
Before he could speak, a tough-looking captain in front of him spoke.
"Mr. Su, it has been two days since we left Kyoto. We are just living in a small earth-shattered city. If we don't go on a mission, our brothers will have nothing to talk about."
"Haha, Biaozi, when did you have an egg in your mouth? Let me take a look." Kanshu La
"Fuck you, you idiot."
"Hahaha…"
A burst of laughter
The sound sounded. It suddenly relieved the somewhat boring mood.
They no longer despise Su Qi'an, and they also know that this person is not simple.
But when it comes to the battlefield, it's not that simple. You have to let them know how to do it, so that they can be truly convinced.
But following Su Qi'an out of Kyoto City, they thought they would go straight to Tongguan. According to their foot power, they could reach there in at most half a day.
Who knew that when they left Kyoto City, Mr. Su, instead of going to Tongguan, took various detours. In the past two days, they walked through dense forests and crossed rivers. In the end, somehow, they walked farther and farther and came to such a bird. No place to poop.
Even some senior veterans, Youzi, were led by Su Qi'an's kind of guidance, and they were confused about the direction.
The only thing that is certain is that they are definitely still within the three frontier levels.
They really didn't quite understand Su Qian's idea. Such a detour would waste their time.
Judging from Su Qian's appearance, he was not the kind of person who would just look for a place to hide like a playboy.
Seeing the puzzled expressions on everyone's faces, Su Qian didn't speak, but Huang Wenyan on the side spoke.
"Haha, all captains and captains are anxious. Haven't you always wanted to know Mr. Su's thoughts? When the time comes, it's time to tell you."
"Our goal this time has never been to support Tongguan, but to capture Juyong and Hangu Pass."
Everyone was stunned, and the leaders Song Biao and Er Meng's eyes flashed, still a little confused.
Obviously, it is still difficult for these two rough guys to understand.
But Huang Wenyan was very patient and continued, "Supporting Tongguan is just an extra force, and it will not have any influence on changing the battlefield pattern."
"Furthermore, this kind of support relies entirely on crushing numbers and fighting on wheels, which is too rigid. But what I want is to bypass Tongguan and directly penetrate into the occupied Juyong and Hangu."
"Once these two cities are captured, Yamure's army will be in a dilemma. We will encircle them and annihilate them in one fell swoop."
Speaking of this, Song Biao and Er Meng's eyes lit up. Even if they were stupid, they could see the brilliance of this move.
