Lu Tao got off his horse and ran a few steps in front of Gao Heng. Just as he was about to greet him, Gao Heng grabbed him and said, "Let's talk to the side."
The two of them walked aside, and Gao Heng asked hurriedly: "Looking at your expression, I guess the enemy army has arrived in Yuan County. How about it? Has his army already set off towards this way?"
Lu Tao shook his head and replied: "General, after we set out early yesterday morning, we arrived at Yuan County in half a day because of the horses. The flag of the Annan Army has been planted again on the top of the city. A large number of Annan Army soldiers and horses are camped outside the city. They should They arrived in batches, there are definitely not 10,000 people, but looking at the formation outside the city, the currently assembled troops are by no means less than 5,000, but they don’t make much movement, as if they are still waiting for the arrival of the follow-up troops."
Lu Tao thought for a while and then said: "In addition, I also discovered that there are two kinds of enemy flags. One flag we have seen must be the flag of An Nanjing soldiers, and the other must be the flag of Si Zhen soldiers, that is, It means that there are still a certain number of Beijing soldiers in this army. I guess that the remnant soldiers who were defeated by us last time have returned with the large army."
Gao Heng thought for a while. He believed in Lu Tao's ability and the information he obtained was absolutely true. In this way, it proved that Jackie Chan's prediction was correct. The subsequent reinforcements must have known about the situation in Yuan County. Although the Annan Army had a Tens of thousands of men and horses did not dare to overwhelm them, and they had to wait until all the men and horses gathered before moving separately. From then on, until the last four town soldiers arrived, Annan's army would not attack.
This means that he still has at least two or three days to train. Gao Heng, who has experienced the systematic training of our army in later generations, understands that there is an essential difference between a soldier who trains for one day and a soldier who trains for three to five days. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. If you do the prescribed actions more, memory will naturally form.
Gao Heng said to Lu Tao: "Continue to lead people to monitor and be careful not to be exposed. You can monitor in groups and deliver messages in batches. It is best to catch the tongue."
Immediately, Gao Heng seemed to realize something, rubbed his hands and said, "Haha, I almost forgot, you know these rules better than me."
Lu Tao cupped his fists and said, "I understand, let's go back and continue monitoring now."
Three days passed by in a flash. During these days, Gao Heng continued to train with half a day of training and half a day of standing in military positions and practicing queues. His meals also changed from five meals a day to three normal meals.
Human beings' ability to self-repair is actually very powerful. Although after several months of torture in the concentration camp, after four or five days of recovery, the soldiers' energy and spirit have been completely transformed, and they are completely different from before. It's just that the scars on their bodies that have not completely disappeared can tell what kind of suffering they have suffered before.
In addition to the training of spearmen and sword and shield soldiers, Gao Heng divided the gunpowder, lead, and cannonballs into two parts, half of which was used in combat, and the remaining half was given to the soldiers for training. After all the training, at least to ensure Every musketeer and artilleryman goes through enough practice before going to the battlefield.
Wu Rong was opposed to it at first. Although the Annan people had been continuously strengthening the configuration of firearms since the early Ming Dynasty, in fact, whether it was firecrackers, artillery or gunpowder pellets, they were also very valuable things to the Annan people. They now do not have the ability to produce firearms and manufacture gunpowder projectiles, and they will be gone if they are used up. There will be battles later, and firearms are consumed very quickly. There are not many weapons and ammunition seized, and Tuo County's inventory is even more pitiful.
Wu Rong himself had calculated that the ammunition of the artillery could only support thirty rounds at most. For the gunmen, each person could be equipped with up to a hundred projectiles. After firing a hundred rounds, they could only use their sabers to fight the Annan people.
Now Gao Heng wants to use half of his resources for training, which means that the soldiers have only fifty rounds of projectiles left, and the artillery can only fire fifteen rounds. With such a pitifully small reserve, it may not be able to sustain a single person on the battlefield. The time was running out, but Gao Heng ignored Wu Rong's objection and insisted on doing this, because only in this way can the soldiers' familiarity with the weapon's performance be strengthened in the short term, and the remaining half of the ammunition can be used to achieve better results.
If fifty bullets can kill fifty enemies, it is better than a hundred bullets that are mostly empty. Just like the pilots of later generations, no matter how good or powerful the aircraft is, if the pilot's flight training hours are not enough, the rookie will never be able to grow into an experienced pilot, and the aircraft will only become scrap metal no matter how excellent its performance is.
The army was training, and Lu Tao lived up to expectations. Finally, taking advantage of the darkness, he touched the Annan people's hidden sentry outside the city and caught a tongue.
After interrogation, Gao Heng had a general understanding of the current situation. After Zheng Guang was killed, the defeated soldiers fled back and reported the news truthfully. Lord Zheng was furious. Shenglong Mansion was only three hundred miles away from Zhennan Pass. Lord Zheng's order was transmitted from Shenglong Mansion to the border pass at an accelerated speed of eight hundred miles. All the follow-up troops who were gathering in Chaoyuan County received the order. Lord Zheng asked them to join forces to block the Ming army's attack and annihilate the rebel army that dared to rebel against the Annan court.
In the eyes of Lord Zheng, no matter you are a native of Annan, a foreigner from abroad, or an immigrant, as long as you live in Annan, you are a member of Annan. Now these Ming expatriates have organized themselves to cooperate with the Ming army to resist Annan Army, what is this if not a rebel? After the Yinhua army retreated and hid in Zhennanguan, the Annan army had no other options for the time being. However, if anyone dared to occupy Annan's county seat and Annan's territory, then Lord Zheng requested that the armies from all over the country eliminate all these people at all costs.
In order to reorganize the army, Lord Zheng specially sent his son Zheng Zuo to lead 200 Royal Forest Army cavalry from Thang Long Palace and traveled to Yuan County at starry night to take over the command of all the troops on the front line. On the one hand, all the soldiers from the four towns who were gathering were gathered together to form a powerful army; on the other hand, the scattered soldiers from the capital were gathered and reorganized into the frontline troops.
In the county town of Yuan County, Zheng Zuo stood in the courtyard of the county government office with his hands behind his back. He had arrived in Yuan County two days ago, but did not enter the city. He knew that the county town had suffered considerable damage after fierce fighting. The Ming army destroyed all the facilities that could be destroyed before leaving, which meant that the county town had been abandoned. Zheng Zuo simply didn't waste any time and camped directly outside the city, leaving only a small number of soldiers and horses in the city to guard it.
After Zheng Zuo arrived, he was never idle, constantly reorganizing the soldiers from the four towns who arrived one after another. These soldiers from the four towns came from different places, but now they are all his own subordinates and can only obey the command of himself. If there is no reorganization, these ten thousand people will be in chaos when they go to the battlefield.
In addition, the Beijing soldiers who fled from Yuan County gathered in Jiling City in the south. After gathering, there were about a thousand people. These people were also ordered by Lord Zheng to return to Yuan County and obey Zheng Zuo's command. , although they were reluctant, they also knew that they would be greeted by the Crown Prince's wrath, but they could only go there bravely, especially the two camp generals who came back alive, their families were all in Shenglong Mansion, if they didn't listen The edict will only end with everyone being copied and executed.
Today, after Zheng Zuo had settled the matters at hand, he took his people to the city to take a look. As soon as he entered the city gate, Zheng Zuo's face turned pale. He didn't expect that Yuan County was so badly damaged, it was no different from ruins. No wonder. All the people fled. If they don't leave, they won't be able to stay here any longer. They can only slowly recover in the future.
All the way to the county government office, Zheng Zuo's face had become extremely ugly. The county government office had been burned down, which was obviously a conscious destruction by the Ming army. He walked in and walked around, especially when he went to Zheng Guang's bedroom, he could still vaguely distinguish the blood stains that had turned brown on the wall. Zheng Guang was beheaded here, although the relationship was not Very close, but in any case, Zheng Guang was also his cousin, so he died like this, leaving the royal family's face wherever he could.
He calmed down his emotions in the yard and then left the city with his guards. Seeing the ruins made him feel upset, so it was better not to see them.
Arriving at the big tent, Zheng Zuo regained his former majesty and ordered the two generals from the Beijing military camp to be brought up.
When the two entered the tent, they saw Zheng Zuo looking calm. Knowing that he was about to be questioned, they immediately knelt down and kowtowed: "See you, Your Highness!"
Zheng Zuo is thirty-six years old this year. He is the bravest son of Lord Zheng. He was appointed as the crown prince when he was twenty years old. Annan, like Goryeo, was granted the title of Ming Dynasty. The supreme ruler can only be called king, not emperor. In fact, Zheng Zuo was the crown prince, but under the constraints of etiquette he could only be called the crown prince. Now the relationship between Annan and Ming Dynasty is not good. Lord Zheng wants to be emperor, but there is a Ruan family in the south. Lord Zheng does not dare to go too far until they are dealt with. No matter how troubled Ming Dynasty is at home and abroad, it will be as skinny as a camel. Martha.
It is okay to send troops to attack the border, but if he calls himself emperor, it will be a fundamental problem. There is no guarantee that Ming will not overreact.
The two battalion generals buried their heads on the ground and did not hear Zheng Zuo's response for a long time. One of them carefully raised his head and found that Zheng Zuo's face was terrifyingly cold and he was staring at them with cold eyes.
The man reacted immediately and cried: "Your Majesty, spare your life! Your Majesty, please spare your life! We will know the crime, we will know the crime."
Zheng Zuo still didn't speak. The prince didn't speak, which was more frightening than speaking. Zheng Zuo clapped his hands, and immediately several soldiers brought several wooden trays, covered with black cloth, and there should be bulging things inside. There is something.
Zheng Zuo Nunu said: "Open it and take a look."
The camp general swallowed and opened the black cloth with trembling hands. The next moment, he was sweating profusely, his whole body was shaking uncontrollably, and he fell to the ground. There were several heads placed on the tray.
Zheng Zuo said coldly: "Do you know who these people are?"
The two shook their heads like rattles. Zheng Zuo said: "They are soldiers who escaped from Tuo County. When my son arrived, he screened out the soldiers who escaped from Tuo County and executed them all as a warning. Because these people are really useless, It’s useless to keep him, he can’t even defeat a bunch of civilians, and he will die unjustly.”
Then he slapped the table and stood up and said: "You are just like them! You are also useless! A mere thousand Ming troops can actually kill the general and defeat three thousand soldiers and horses. Fortunately, you are still soldiers of the capital and are the most trusted army of the king. You don’t know the nature of the Ming army at Zhennanguan? They were defeated with three times the force in the battle to defend the city. What’s the difference between you and wine sacks and rice sacks? Come on, pull them out and kill them!”
Several imperial guards shouted loudly and stepped forward to grab the arms of the two camp generals. Their faces were earth-colored and their bodies were shaking like chaff. They kowtowed desperately and said: "Spare your life, spare your life!" Another person shouted: "His Royal Highness, Give us a chance to redeem ourselves and make meritorious deeds."
The two of them were dragged all the way out. Suddenly, Zheng Zuo waved his hand and said: "Wait a minute!" The soldiers stopped.
Zheng Zuo said: "That's right. You have meritorious service for your crime. Well, in this case, I will give you a chance to attack Tuoxian County. You Beijing soldiers will take the lead, followed by soldiers from the four towns. There are only tens of thousands of expatriates in Tuoxian County." , even if the men and women are evenly divided, there are only five thousand men. Excluding the old and children, the young and strong can only be two or three thousand. These people were short of food and clothing in the camp before, and they were weak and sick and could not recover so quickly. If you have a thousand soldiers from the capital, if you have two thousand soldiers in a row, Even if you can't deal with it, just come to me with your head raised."
"Yes! Yes! We will definitely conquer Tuoxian County. We will do meritorious service if we are guilty." The two of them nodded like chickens pecking at rice. One day later, the army had gathered 8,000 people. Except for the heavy artillery that was left behind and had not yet arrived, the rest of the infantry, archers, musketeers and a small number of cavalry were all ready. At the same time, there were 30 light artillery in the army. Zheng Zuo He did not pay attention to those civilians. His main target was the Ming army, so he sent 1,000 soldiers from the capital and 1,000 soldiers from the four towns, carrying ten artillery pieces, to attack Tuoxian. He himself led the main force to sit in Yuan County, and once the heavy artillery arrived, he would attack Nanguan.
"Roar! Roar! Roar!" From the county, the soldiers of the Survival Brigade are still training intensely. Today is the fifth day. After the training of the past few days, they have gradually entered the state and adapted to their status as soldiers. , the moves are also in good shape, much better than at the beginning, and the team is also more strict.
Seeing that their companions who disobeyed orders were slapped with military sticks and dealt with under military law, the soldiers' consciousness improved a lot and they were able to understand the orders clearly without being confused about left and right.
Gao Heng felt a lot relieved when he looked at this already somewhat formed army. Although this army is still far from his standard, it is not easy to become like this in five days. The future is an era of information explosion, and the knowledge of an ordinary soldier can be worth it. He was a scholar in later generations, but now, there is still a long way to go before these ancients can be turned into powerful armies.
While the soldiers were training in full swing, a fast horse went straight into the city. The soldiers shouted to Gao Heng: "General, the enemy troops are out!"
