The application of four-wheeled carriages has improved the Baoxiang Army's ability to transport baggage on good roads. However, there are still relatively few four-wheeled carriages. This time, there were only more than 20 carriages going south, and the rest were still a large number of two-wheeled carriages.
In the future, Luo Zhixue plans to continue to improve the four-wheeled carriage and further improve the applicability of the four-wheeled carriage.
Now, the focus of the Baoxiang Army's material transportation is still on two-wheeled carriages and wheelbarrows. Especially wheelbarrows, which may seem crude, but I have to say that this thing is a great tool for material transportation now.
The requirements for roads are not high, and small dirt roads in the countryside can be traveled, and the amount of materials transported by bicycle does not seem to be large, but it does not require mules and horses, and one person can push a wheelbarrow to transport materials.
As for the rural protection army, they lack mules and horses, but they do not lack human resources.
There is no need to pay wages. As long as you take care of the food, you can recruit a large number of young people to transport the baggage.
Later, Luo Zhixue plans to continue to improve the wheelbarrow so that the wheelbarrow can transport more materials and save more effort.
Luo Zhixue, who headed south with a large number of carriages and wheelbarrows, was relatively fast. On the first day, the departure was slightly slower due to the need to cross the river, but the speed became faster in the next two days.
At noon on the third day, Luo Zhixue finally led the reinforcements to Zhaozhuang.
After arriving at Zhaozhuang, Luo Zhixue did not rest, but directly held a small-scale military meeting and listened to the reports of Huang Dingquan and others.
As the most senior military officer originally staying here, Huang Dingquan reported the situation in recent days to Luo Zhixue.
"Brother Wang also sent people back today. The current situation is the same as before. Ever since Brother Wang led the first cavalry sentry to attack their forward cavalry, the enemy has been staying in Yangjiazhuang."
Luo Zhixue said: "It seems that Chen Yongfu is more cautious!"
Yesterday, Luo Zhixue, who was still on the road, had already learned the news. Wang Xiazi led the cavalry to fight Chen Yongfu's forward cavalry, killing and wounding more than 20 enemy cavalry on the spot, and captured eight intact war horses.
This cavalry battle can be said to have greatly intimidated the officers and soldiers. Not only did it force the enemy cavalry to retreat in embarrassment on the spot, but the main force led by Chen Yongfu also stopped moving northward after one day.
Originally, Luo Zhixue was worried that Chen Yongfu would soon go north again after staying for a day, and even sent more cavalry to encircle and suppress Wang Xiazi's troops.
But now it seems that the cavalry of the officers and soldiers on the opposite side is weaker than I thought, and they have not launched a counterattack in the past three days.
Huang Dingquan continued: "According to the frontline battle report, the officers and soldiers are now building camps in Yangjiazhuang, with great plans to stay here for a long time. In addition, food and grass from Nanyang City continue to be shipped to Yangjiazhuang."
"At the same time, our reconnaissance cavalry has not found that they carry heavy artillery. So far, they have only discovered that they have about twenty light cannons. Visual inspections mostly weigh less than 150 kilograms. There are also two or three hundred kilograms, but there are only three. ."
"On the contrary, we found a lot of cannons on the top of Nanyang City, but they are all old cannons. They look big, but they are just old general cannons. These cannons cannot shoot solid bullets."
Huang Dingquan continued to introduce the situation, while Luo Zhixue listened and looked at the simple map on the table.
Although the map is very crude and very different from the military maps that were perfected in later generations, it still simply indicates the basic geographical landmarks such as nearby villages, land, lakes, and rivers.
If you look at the map carefully, you will find that Yangjiazhuang, where Chen Yongfu's five thousand troops are currently stationed, is located about seven or eight kilometers north of Nanyang City and about ten kilometers away from Zhaozhuang.
The cavalry led by Wang Xiazi is now staying north of Yangjiazhuang, about three kilometers away, monitoring the movements of Chen Yongfu's troops at any time.
The distance between the two sides is actually very close. If the purely combat troops were marching lightly, it would take less than a day and could be completed in two hours.
If this was placed during World War I and World War II, it would have been basically within the range of artillery strikes.
This is also the reason why both sides are not acting rashly. One is stationed in Yangjiazhuang and the other is stationed in Zhaozhuang. Instead of moving, they continue to build camp defenses.
If this is not well prepared, the opponent will come over in minutes.
After hearing the basic situation, Luo Zhixue took a simple lunch with others. After dinner, he took An Yongduo, Huang Guangmao, Huang Dingquan and other major generals to inspect the nearby terrain under the escort of dozens of mounted soldiers. .
This neighborhood does not only refer to the area a thousand meters around Zhaozhuang, but several kilometers around it.
While inspecting, the accompanying personnel were also asked to map and record the nearby terrain.
The reason why Luo Zhixue pays so much attention to the nearby terrain is because if nothing unexpected happens, the subsequent battle between his own side and Chen Yongfu's troops will take place in this area.
Whether the opponent goes north or our own side takes the initiative to go south, the battlefield will take place in this area.
In this way, we must also attach great importance to the terrain. We need to know where there are low mountains, where there are small rivers, where there are small lakes, where there are formed country roads, what the conditions are like on the left and right sides of the official roads passing through this area, etc.
Huang Dingquan and his colleagues had done these things before, and had conducted surveying and mapping records.
However, there are no professional surveying and mapping talents in the Baoxiang Army. It is the officers who draw the maps themselves, and the maps they draw can only be approximate, and many of them even contain errors.
That's why Luo Zhixue wanted to come and take a look in person.
When I went to inspect the terrain nearby, I didn't encounter any Ming troops. Instead, I encountered some frightened locals.
The area where the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers and the Baoxiang Army are currently facing each other is not small. They are ten kilometers apart from each other. This area is originally a traditional grain-producing area and has a relatively dense population.
Even though it was hit by drought, destroyed by many refugees and fought by officers and soldiers, the local population dropped significantly, but there are still many people in this area.
But what makes Luo Zhixue gratified is that these local villagers, including the landlords, are panicked about their arrival.
Although the landlords closed their doors and did not dare to come out, they did not say anything about running away in a swarm, and when they saw Luo Zhixue and dozens of bald thieves on horseback approaching their village, they would often send people over on their own initiative. ,say what:
Your Majesty, if you are short of food, just let us know. We Nanyang gentry are all decent people who know the general situation. We will send someone to deliver the food later, so there is no need to go to the trouble of coming here in person!
This makes Luo Zhixue quite pleased!
Who said that all gentry can be killed? He, Luo Zhixue, has had a lot of dealings with gentry, but he thinks they are quite good.
Look at these gentry enthusiastically giving out money and food. Their consciousness is not ordinary.
Although he did not go out to collect grain this time, these landowners and gentry were so enthusiastic that he reluctantly accepted it without them sending people to collect the money and grain themselves. Luo took the kindness of the squires into consideration, and I will come back later. Someone will come over to escort the supplies.
Huang Guangmao on the side looked at Luo Zhixue talking and laughing with a gentry, and said nonsense like that the squires here were all knowledgeable. He always felt that this scene was a bit weird.
If you, Luo Zhixue, hadn't come here with dozens of people, if there hadn't been more than a thousand troops stationed in Zhaozhuang nearby, you would have seen if these landlords and gentry knew the general situation.
Huang Guangmao naturally couldn't understand why Luo Zhixue was in such a good mood now!
In Luo Zhixue's view, even if the other party is willing to take the initiative to provide money and food under the threat of force from his own side, this is still a big improvement.
At least the other party didn't run away and didn't resist...
These landowners have also heard about the situation in the areas controlled by the rural protection army in the north. They know that these bald bandits are different from ordinary bandits. They do not engage in burning, killing, looting, or kidnapping. Food was collected, and food was collected according to the rules.
For landowners, as long as you pay the extra land tax honestly, those bald thieves won't care about you at all.
In other words, safety is guaranteed, and even property safety is guaranteed.
Under such circumstances, these landowners will not flee on a large scale when the rural protection army arrives. At most, they will let some direct clan members go to Nanyang City to stay temporarily just in case. However, there will still be people staying in the rural houses.
If other thieves had come here, all these landowners would have run away. Not only would they have left, but they would also have taken gold, silver, soft goods, food and other items with them and ran to nearby cities to avoid the goods.
To a certain extent, this means that our own hometown-protecting army has gained a certain degree of 'popular support'.
Luo Zhixue doesn't have high demands now. As long as the people don't have much hostility towards the Baoxiang Army, and as long as taxes can be successfully collected, he doesn't care about the rest for the time being.
After all, he doesn't even have a larger territory now, and there is no way to talk about local governance or strategies to win over people's hearts.
Although he has prepared many policies in his mind, he cannot use them now. At least he will have to wait until he controls the entire Nanyang Mansion, or even the entire Nanyang Basin.
Now it is enough to be able to collect taxes and recruit troops.
When Luo Zhixue arrived at Zhaozhuang and inspected the surrounding terrain to prepare for the subsequent battle.
In Yangjiazhuang in the south, Chen Yongfu was frowning!
In recent days, he had sent a large number of sentinels north to find out about the bald bandits. As the news came back one after another, he felt that something was wrong.
According to the reports from the sentinel, this self-proclaimed Hometown Protection Army is composed of extremely strange thieves with shaved heads. The main camp is currently stationed in Zhaozhuang, which is already a bandit place.
It has been proven that there are at least a hundred fine cavalry in the army protecting the thieves, and there are also cannons in their Zhaozhuang camp.
As for what kind of guns they were and how many they were, the sentry couldn't tell just by looking at them from a distance.
However, it is certain that the rebel army has cannons, and there are quite a few of them, at least starting from ten.
The elite cavalry, artillery, and these thieves all had their heads shaved and wore uniform gray military uniforms, forming a tight military formation.
And they also have a large number of musketeers, and there are also many soldiers in armor.
Combining these things, no matter how stupid Chen Yongfu is, he will not regard this army of thieves as ordinary thieves.
Even Chen Yongfu has concluded that this sudden appearance of the army to protect the thieves is definitely the elite of the thieves army, otherwise it would not be possible to have such a posture!
I just don’t know what the relationship is between this elite bandit army and the big thief Gao Yingxiang?
Not to mention that Chen Yongfu didn't know, even the rebels in the north couldn't figure out the origin of Nanyang Prefecture's rural protection army, and they couldn't even tell whether they were friends or foes.
