Liu Heng said to Yang Yuan: "Tell me about the situation of Lingqiu's defense camp."
Yang Yuandao: "There are more than 750 soldiers in the Lingqiu garrison camp, including 120 servants, 55 archers, and the rest are spearmen and sword and shield men, among whom the spearmen are the most important. The largest number of people.”
After he finished speaking, Liu Heng said: "This battle with the government and the army is inevitable. Let's share our thoughts."
As soon as he finished speaking, Li Shuheng said: "The only threats to us are the one hundred and twenty servants and archers. As long as we defeat these servants and archers, we will win this battle."
Having served as a frontier soldier, he knew the virtues of the Ming army all too well. The real strength of a frontier general was not how many soldiers he held, but how many servants he supported.
The more servants you have, the stronger your strength will be; otherwise, you will be weaker.
Chen Xunping said: "What I mean is to open up our posture and fight directly. Our strength is stronger than the official army, and we will definitely win this battle."
"A head-on confrontation will inevitably lead to too many casualties." Zhao Yutu shook his head aside.
Yang Yuan said: "You can sneak attack them halfway, which will not only tire the troops, but also cause damage to the officers and soldiers."
Li Shuheng on the side said: "There is no cover on both sides of the official road, not even a forest. The official army has horse teams, and our people can't escape after a sneak attack."
Chen Xunping said in a rough voice: "If you can't fight with a straight stance, and you can't attack with a sneak attack, then how can you fight?"
Neither Li Shuheng nor Zhao Yutu answered the call.
Especially Zhao Yutu, a scholar who didn't understand war at all, and he had never been exposed to military books.
Although scholars will read some military books, these are all matters after gaining fame. Before gaining fame, most of them studied eight-legged essays and rarely came into contact with miscellaneous books.
Seeing no one said anything, Liu Heng said: "I agree with Yang Yuan's sneak attack, but the location of the sneak attack is not the official road from Lingqiu County to Hutou Village, but Hutou Village."
Liu Heng continued: "There is only one official road to Hutou Village from Lingqiu County, and there are only a few bare hills in the middle. A sneak attack is possible, but after the sneak attack, our people will not have time to evacuate, and they will definitely be bitten by the servants of the army. Up, it would be different if it were Hutou Village. There are many mountains and dense forests here, and the road up the mountain is narrow and rugged. The cavalry cannot use the speed it should. Our archers ambush in the woods, and after the sneak attack, we can retreat calmly with the help of the woods. On the mountain.”
Li Shuheng's eyes lit up and he said: "This method is good. It can kill and injure the officers and soldiers, but we won't suffer any losses."
Chen Xunping on the other side of the long table frowned and said: "The idea is a good idea, but when the officers and soldiers attack Hutou Village, our cottage will be the first to bear the brunt. With the virtue of the officers and soldiers, they will definitely set fire to the cottage. There are no houses. We This winter will be difficult.”
Zhao Yutu agreed: "Winter has already entered. There are so many people on Hutoushai Mountain. We have no houses and only a few caves in the back mountain. It is difficult for everyone to survive this winter."
"We won't let you copycat," Liu Heng said. "Our archers mainly kill and kill the archers and servants in the official army. At the same time, our spearmen and fire gunmen stay in the open space in front of the copycat. Set up your posture and fight again with the officers and soldiers."
Chen Xunping stroked his hands and smiled and said, "I understand. Let's sneak attack the archers and servants who pose the greatest threat to the army first. When the army arrives at the stronghold, we can defeat the army with minimal casualties."
Zhao Yutu said, "Can the gunman also participate in the sneak attack? This can achieve greater results during the sneak attack."
"Firegunners cannot participate in sneak attacks." Chen Xunping said, "The time from the beginning of loading to the final firing of fireguns takes a long time, and the smell of gunpowder is obvious, so it is easy for the officers and soldiers to detect it in advance. On the contrary, archers do not have this hidden danger and can fire a round." After that, you can quickly follow the hidden path back to the mountain village."
Li Shuping also said: "There shouldn't be too many people in the sneak attack. The archers in our village are enough."
Seeing that several people agreed with his plan, Liu Heng said solemnly: "If we win against the army this time, we can truly gain a foothold in Lingqiu. Even the gentry in Lingqiu will have to pinch their noses and endure us." The existence of Hutou Village, if we lose, everyone can only continue to be bandits, and there is no need to stay in Lingqiu."
When several people around the long table heard this, they nodded solemnly.
This time the officers and soldiers cleared out Hutou Village, which was both a crisis and an opportunity for them.
………………
"Captain, something hasn't been right these past two days. There are many people from other iron yards outside the iron yard." An iron yard guard holding a firecracker said to an iron yard guard team leader beside him.
The squad leader glared and said, "Go on patrol. There's so much nonsense. As long as they don't break into the iron yard, don't worry about it."
Different from ordinary iron yard guards, this squad leader is a bandit from Hutou Village. Although he scolds his men for patrolling, there is a worried look on his face.
Nowadays, more than half of the more than 300 people in the iron yard guard brigade are former miners of the iron yard, and the rest are bandits from Jia Liu's squadron.
Most of the guards in the guard brigade here in the iron field use fire guns, and a few guards are spearmen and sword and shield bearers. Especially the sword and shield bearers have the smallest number, with only one squad.
The iron yard guard brigade, from the corps commander to the various captains, are all former bandits from Jia Liu's squadron. In the guard brigade, the highest ranking miner guard is only the deputy corps leader.
The miner guard who just spoke is a deputy captain named Tan Zaiwang. He has the best training performance and is valued by the captain of the team. If the miner guard has a chance to be promoted to captain, Tan Zaiwang will be the first to be appointed.
Tan Zaiwang led his team of guards on patrol and walked away. The team leader walked towards the house closest to the gate of the iron yard with a worried look on his face.
As soon as he came in, he saw Jia Liu inside the house holding a piece of charcoal and writing and drawing on the wooden board.
"Get out of the way, don't block the door, you're blocking just this little light." Jia Liu glanced at the person coming, then continued to lower his head and pick up a charcoal pen to write on the wooden board.
The squad leader stretched his neck and glanced at the crooked characters on the board, and said with a smile: "Where is the squad leader practicing calligraphy?"
"You're the only one who talks a lot of nonsense." Jia Liu said, "The boss said that if I can't practice 2,000 words anymore, I will be dismissed as the iron field guard captain, and I will become the squad leader with you Zhang Sancha from now on."
Zhang Sancha said with a grimace: "Our boss is the same. What does being a captain have to do with literacy? I have gone to great lengths to learn 500 characters."
Originally, Zhang Sancha was the squad leader under Jia Liu. This time it was expanded into the iron field guard brigade. He had a chance to become the squadron leader. Unfortunately, he was illiterate and could only continue to be his squad leader, which made the deputy captain under him. became his superior.
Jia Liu scolded: "You talk a lot of nonsense. The boss wants us to be literate for our own good."
Zhang Sancha said with a bitter face: "I know, but I get sleepy easily when I see these square things."
"It doesn't matter if you're sleepy. When all the corps commanders under you become squadron leaders or squadron leaders, you will still be a squad leader. Whenever we meet in the future, you must salute first." Jia Liu put down the charcoal in his hand and placed it with the board. Go aside.
Raising his head, he looked at Zhang Sancha and asked, "You are not patrolling outside. Why do you come to my place for business?"
