No matter what time of year, uninhabited and wild mountains and forests are very dangerous places, especially for large-scale marches, the degree of danger increases two or three times.
In the modern history of the source world, a certain elite expeditionary force required tens of thousands of people to cross hundreds of miles of mountains and forests to return. However, when they entered, there were tens of thousands of people, and when they came out, there were only less than three thousand left. people.
The damage in the middle was 90%, which was extremely miserable.
This is still the modern era of the Origin World. If it were the historical dynasty period when productivity was even more backward, it is estimated that even the remaining ten percent would not survive.
In the art of war, it is said that the right time is not as good as the right place, and the right place is not as good as the right people. These are just inspiring words. In the eyes of real military strategists and generals, good weather is the most critical factor that affects the outcome of a war.
For example, during the founding of the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty Yang Jian, like his son, sent an army of 300,000 to attack Goguryeo. The 300,000 troops were all elite soldiers and horses from the founding of the Sui Dynasty.
This elite army is enough to sweep across the world, and it can deal with Goguryeo with ease.
However, while the 300,000-strong army was still on the road, it encountered continuous heavy rains. The heavy rain caused the 300,000-strong army to run out of food and grass, causing many casualties. The dead and injured soldiers and the heavy rain caused a plague.
As a result, the 300,000 elite troops who were able to sweep the grasslands north and destroy the country were completely killed and wounded, and only a few hundred people fled back.
Even the Sui Dynasty could not afford this situation easily. In other words, Yang Jian did not have as stubborn a character as his own son, and he immediately stopped fighting after losing an army of 300,000 men.
If Yang Jian directly came to conquer Goryeo three times, it is estimated that the Sui Dynasty would be abandoned before Yang Guang could succeed to the throne.
In the deep mountains and old forests full of barbaric atmosphere, anything can happen, including plague, heavy rain, and countless poisonous insects and snakes.
If you rashly allow a large army to enter a place like this, you must be prepared to lose more than half of your troops before starting the attack.
"We must not let the Xia army succeed in their attack on Gaochun!"
Li Wenzhong suppressed the shock in his heart and said categorically.
Zhu Yuanzhang, Qi Jiguang and others all understood the difference between marching in the plains and marching in the wild mountains and forests, but Gaochun was too important. There was also a river along the Xia army's raid route.
There is a very high chance of being able to raid Gaochun City.
None of them dared to imagine what kind of blow Daming would suffer if Gao Chun fell into the hands of Xia Jun.
"Intensify training immediately. Ten days later, this elite group will immediately break camp and head south to Gaochun!"
Zhu Yuanzhang said in a deep voice.
At this time, he did not need to think about where to put this army. Gao Chun did not have strong troops to suppress it at the moment. Only by immediately sending troops to strengthen defense could the Ming army's east-west front be maintained.
"Wenzhong, let's give you 10,000 soldiers and horses first, and go south first!"
"We must guard Gaochun!"
Zhu Yuanzhang pressed his hands on Li Wenzhong's shoulders and gave serious instructions.
Li Wenzhong could feel his trust and knew the importance of his trip. He said in a deep voice: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, the general will definitely defend the city!"
"Yuan Jing, we will allocate all the materials from the internal treasury and the national treasury to you, and you will recruit 100,000 soldiers to train together. You can train to the extent you can!"
"I will give you full power. As long as the strength of these soldiers can be equal to that of ordinary soldiers in the army, the sooner the better!"
Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes were on Qi Jiguang.
Qi Jiguang naturally would not refuse and accepted the order immediately!
After receiving the orders respectively, Li Wenzhong did not dare to waste time, and immediately mounted his horse and headed to the military camp in Jinling, holding the imperial edict to mobilize 10,000 troops to go south.
Now there are only 100,000 defenders left in Jinling, and they still have to defend the river bank, which is stretched thin. If Jinling's troops were smaller, it would be difficult to suppress the hearts and minds of the millions of soldiers and civilians around Jinling.
Being able to allocate 10,000 people to Li Wenzhong was already a manpower squeezed out of his teeth.
However, there are still thousands of guards in Gaochun, and there are also some soldiers and horses in the surrounding cities. With these soldiers and horses gathered together, tens of thousands of people will defend Gaochun, and it will not be a problem to hold on until 50,000 elite soldiers move south.
It's impossible for Xia Jun to cross the wild mountains and rivers and rush to Gaochun City in just ten days, right?
Qi Jiguang continued to train troops.
Zhu Yuanzhang asked Zhu Biao and Yang Shiqi to allocate all materials from the national treasury and internal treasury to support Qi Jiguang's continued military training.
"Father is going to squeeze out all the potential of Jinling this time!"
After Zhu Yuanzhang left.
Zhu Biao couldn't help but said to Yang Shiqi. As the deputy emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Biao was in charge of civil affairs with these cabinet bachelors, so they usually had a good relationship.
Yang Shiqi's brows have not relaxed yet, he sighed slightly and said: "Yes, with the tens of millions of soldiers and civilians in Jinling and Xuancheng, recruiting close to one million soldiers and horses is already the limit... Recruiting another 100,000 soldiers without training will In front of Xia Jun, they are just a mob!"
"Your Majesty must know this truth, but he still uses up all the people's power in Jinling and all the resources of the national treasury to continue to recruit soldiers. It seems that he regards Jinling as an abandoned son, and wants to consume the resources that cannot be taken away and replace them with those that can be taken away before giving up. The walking army..."
Zhu Biao stopped and looked at Yang Shiqi with a sharp look in his eyes.
"Mr. Yang Ge, are you blaming my father?"
I made a mistake!
Yang Shiqi was shocked and felt extremely regretful.
He and Zhu Biao usually have a good relationship, but he is always a courtier, while Zhu Biao and Zhu Yuanzhang are father and son.
What he said just now seems to be a complaint against the emperor, so the prince will naturally be angry.
"Your Majesty, please forgive me. It was my inappropriate words that offended His Majesty..."
Yang Shiqi quickly apologized.
Zhu Biao looked at Yang Shiqi deeply and said after a moment: "Well, now is the time to employ people. I can forgive you for being disrespectful this time, but if you are offended again, I can only report it to my father!"
"Thank you, Prince! Thank you, Prince!"
Yang Shiqi didn't say a word well and didn't dare to talk to Zhu Biao anymore. After asking for forgiveness, he hurriedly went to allocate various materials from the treasury.
After Yang Shiqi left, the anger on Zhu Biao's face slowly disappeared.
Instead, there is meditation and thinking.
"Although Yang Shiqi's words were somewhat disrespectful to his father, what he said made some sense. My father took out all the resources in the treasury and allowed Qi Jiguang to continue training, instead of letting this famous general go to Jurong or Dangtu. Maybe I really have plans to give up on Jinling!"
Zhu Biao thought to himself.
However, Jinling is the foundation of the Ming Dynasty. If this place is abandoned, what qualifications does the Ming Dynasty have to compete for supremacy in Jiangnan?
But if they don't leave, Jinling will be surrounded by enemies on three sides, and the natural barrier of the Yangtze River has been lost. It has already become a strategic dead zone. They can only be passively beaten in Jinling, waiting for the Xia army to attack...
"That's all, my father is talented and has a plan in mind. I just need to obey orders and do things!"
After thinking for a moment, Zhu Biao shook his head and gave up the calculation.
Soon after.
Li Wenzhong headed south urgently with 10,000 troops.
With Qi Jiguang devoting himself to military training, there were no ninth-level generals in Jinling City, so Zhu Yuanzhang personally took charge of the remaining soldiers.
…
In the wild mountain forest, a river dozens of feet wide flows from west to east. On both sides of the river are primitive mountain forests that have not been developed at all. The cliffs stand steeply, and large trees that are as thick as several people can hug rise one after another.
There are plenty of dangers hidden in the woods and cliffs.
There are venomous mosquitoes the size of a human head, pythons several feet long, and small insects with tiny bodies that contain highly toxic...
On the river, one troop transport ship after another went upstream.
There were a large number of soldiers on the ship.
"General, twenty miles ahead, the river is accelerating and turbulent, and the river farther away is flowing even faster, making it impossible to travel by water!"
A clipper ship approached, and a Baihu who was responsible for detecting news from the front came back to report.
Xie Xuan frowned when he heard this.
If you can't walk by water, it will be troublesome. In a world where there is no higher power, a large army entering the mountains is a narrow escape. In the Chinese world where higher power exists, people's strength has become stronger, but correspondingly, the mountains have become more and more dangerous. Danger.
The originally deadly poisonous insects and snakes have transformed into strange beasts, and the threat to humans has increased more than tenfold.
Waterways only need to guard against strange animals in the water.
And when walking on a mountain road, the endless cliffs that rise and fall as far as the eye can see are a natural chasm for the army.
"Bo Yan, do you have a way to deal with it?"
Xie Xuan thought for a while, then turned to look at Lu Xun next to him.
After Wei Rui led his army south to Changxing, Xie Xuan's troops stopped at Zhongxi and quietly entered Yixing, then set out from there and traveled upstream along the waterway.
Their marching speed was limited by the troop transport they were traveling on. When going against the current and against the wind, the speed was far less than the speed when going south from Jiangyin.
It would be nice if the river was wider. Xie Xuan could use the five-toothed ship and dare to send troops without sails.
However, according to the brief investigation conducted by the Military Intelligence Department in advance, this waterway was dozens of feet wide at the widest place, and shrunk by more than half at the narrower place, making it unable to accommodate a warship that was too large.
The soldiers on board were 30,000 Beifu troops carefully trained by Xie Xuan, and 7,000 Jiefan troops trained by Lu Xun.
Extremely powerful.
But no matter how powerful it is, it cannot cross these mountains and rivers before it reaches the level of flying in the air.
"If it's just a problem with the water flow, you can leave it to me!"
"However, if there is a cliff and waterfall in the river ahead, there will be nothing I can do!"
Lu Xun said slowly.
Xie Xuan's expression relaxed when he heard this, and he said with a smile: "This place is not a big river, nor is it a high mountain. As long as we cross these hundreds of miles of mountains and rivers, it doesn't matter even if we encounter cliffs and waterfalls!"
Lu Xun nodded and took the army's command flag from Xie Xuan.
After taking over the command flag, he closed his eyes slightly. Suddenly, the sky changed and an invisible violent wind fell from the sky, spreading in all directions with Lu Xun as the center.
The flag is waved.
Hundreds of troop carriers on the river also changed their formations according to the order flags. Although the formation was simple, through the order flags, a simple but interconnected aura was established.
Whoops!
The invisible wind between heaven and earth surged in, with the flag as the core, pushing hundreds of ships to accelerate.
It was slow at first.
But as the wind increased, the ship gradually changed from slow to speeding. A ship broke through the oncoming water, cut through the waves, and in a moment, crossed the waterway of twenty or thirty miles.
"What a magical power!"
When Xie Xuan saw this, he couldn't help but praise him.
Lu Xun is a top-notch general in the ninth level. He has integrated the art of war and military power into the laws he masters. It is not difficult to use military power to replace his own strength to use the magical powers of the law.
What he just used was one of the magical powers he had mastered.
It doesn't seem to have strong lethality, but it adds 30% strength to naval operations.
In addition to the magical power that increased the strength of the navy, Lu Xun also mastered the magical power of fighting in mountains and plains. Except that he was not good at cavalry, he was considered a very well-rounded general.
Xie Xuan, Lu Xun, and the powerful Xiao Moke are in charge.
Tens of thousands of elite soldiers and horses galloped along the waterway. When encountering strong currents, Lu Xun would speed up. When encountering monsters and beasts, Xiao Moke would kill them.
Only two or three days.
The continuous cliffs on both sides of the river gradually decreased, and the peaks became much shorter.
"Liyang is ahead!"
After crossing a river bend, the front suddenly widened.
The detective came back immediately to report.
Xie Xuan looked forward and saw a city sitting on the edge of the river in the distance. The walls of this city are not too high.
On the top of the city, the scattered defenders also saw a ship suddenly rushing out from the river bend downstream, and they suddenly panicked.
"Xiao Moke!"
"The general is here!"
"I'll give you a thousand elite soldiers to capture this city!"
Xie Xuan ordered in a deep voice.
Xiao Moke showed a hint of excitement on his face, and marched with Xie Xuan and Lu Xun, finally getting a chance to make a meritorious deed.
They had a total of 37,000 elite soldiers and 3,000 ordinary soldiers on this trip, adding up to 40,000 troops. Their strength may not seem like much, but their combat effectiveness is comparable to the Xia army's 200,000 to 300,000 soldiers.
A thousand Beifu troops can kill thousands of troops head-on.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
As the Xia army's elite quickly approached, a harsh gong sounded from the top of Liyang City, and the Ming army's garrison also rushed to the city wall.
After seeing Xia Jun's flag.
The Ming army guard general's complexion changed drastically, turning blue and white.
"General, what should we do?"
the lieutenant asked urgently.
The guard had thick eyebrows and big eyes, and his appearance was extraordinary. He looked at the hundreds of troop transport ships in the distance, and his thoughts kept rising. I have long heard that Xia Jun is invincible, and today I finally encountered him.
If it was the main force of the Xia army, he would surrender without saying a word, but from a distance it looks like there are only 30,000 to 40,000 troops... If he defends to the end, he may not have no chance of winning...
kill!
Before the guard could get entangled in his heart, Xiao Moke rose into the air and fell like a thunderbolt on top of the city.
With a sharp shout, a powerful and domineering momentum swept across.
The Ming army soldiers hundreds of feet around were flying in all directions like blown leaves.
Click!
The Liyang City Wall uses water from the nearby river as a moat, and a suspension bridge hangs outside the city gate.
Xiao Moke waved his long spear, and the indestructible edge roared past, directly tearing apart the defensive formation of the city wall, and then blasted off the iron cables of the suspension bridge at the top of the city with one blow.
The suspension bridge fell, and a thousand Beifu troops who had disembarked and rushed over immediately took over the city gate. The guards on the city wall were shocked by the sudden and violent bombardment and did not react for a moment.
Then, Xiao Moke glanced around and saw the Ming army guard general.
"General, please move slowly..."
The guard's eyes met Xiao Moke's, and he was suddenly panicked. He immediately shouted and was ready to surrender.
But he wasn't done yet.
A sharp rainbow light roared in, and the whole person exploded...
