Drawing lots, this ancient and simple way of making decisions, still has an irreplaceable position in the military even in the 21st century.
The same goes for Ming Dynasty.
There has never been any saying in the military that the minority obeys the majority.
Some decisions are just made by the coach.
And if it's something that even the head coach can't make a decision on, and the top brass in the military are arguing about it, leaving it to God is undoubtedly a good idea.
Although the theory of gods is relatively false, it is the most convincing way to convince the soldiers.
Three bamboo sticks of similar lengths are engraved with three numbers, one is the main road, two and three are small roads.
Putting the bamboo stick into the bamboo tube, Chen Kan raised the bamboo tube above his head and shook it constantly.
After a while, a bamboo stick fell to the ground.
Tan Cong stepped forward to pick up the bamboo stick and read the numbers on it aloud.
"One, yes one, God indicates that we should take the high road."
Chen Kan took the bamboo stick and after seeing the numbers on it clearly, he folded the bamboo stick in half, looked at the group of generals in front of him and asked, "Who has any opinions?"
Everyone looked at each other in confusion. This is God's guidance. Who can have an opinion? Who dares to have an opinion?
Seeing the silence of the generals, Chen Kan stood up and said calmly: "Now that the marching path has been determined, please pass on my order to the generals."
The generals pricked up their ears.
Chen Kan said calmly: "This time Dou Xing and my commander are leading the way. After Tan Congduo, when passing by the three satellite cities of Bolingbang, they threw a few grenades as a deterrent. There is no need to fight to the death. The whole army went straight to Bolingbang. We must capture the city in the shortest possible time.”
"Got the order!"
A group of generals held their fists with murderous intent and accepted their orders.
What Chen Kan wanted to express was very clear. He bypassed the satellite city and chewed Bolinbang with all his strength.
As for killing the Sumatra army, that is not the most important thing. The most important thing is the wealth in the Sumatra treasury.
The satellite cities on the road only need to be a deterrent.
Twenty thousand people gathered on a pier, which was completely boundless. Even the top of the mountain was full of people.
"All troops, set off!"
Chen Kan pointed his sword at Bolingbang, looking very heroic.
But it’s actually a tough one.
Abandoning the ships meant that the troops under his command could only walk, including the coach Chen Kan.
If the Ming Dynasty was still in the cold weapon era, Chen Kan would not dare to take 20,000 people deep into the territory of another country if he had even ten courages.
That's not going to fight, that's going to die.
But even though the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were now covered with various thermal weapons, Chen Kan still took every step carefully.
It wasn't that he was afraid of those monkey-like native soldiers in Nanyang, but that Chen Kan was really not sure how much danger lurked in the rainforest.
The distance between the Strait and Bolingbang is more than two hundred miles, and Chen Kan set the goal for his army to march forty miles a day.
One mile in the Ming Dynasty was almost equivalent to 500 meters in later generations, and forty miles was equivalent to twenty kilometers.
But it is not easy to advance twenty kilometers in one day in the rain forest. After all, this is an army of 20,000 advancing at the same time, not a few people rushing.
Not to mention there are endless dangers waiting for them on the road.
Just less than ten miles into the rainforest, the first casualty appeared among the army.
That was a soldier walking on the edge of the road.
They were walking well when a poisonous snake that couldn't be named suddenly flew out of the rain forest.
Originally, the soldier was wearing armor, and the venomous snake's teeth could not bite into it, but the snake flew onto the back of the soldier's hand without stopping.
After one sip, the soldier could only hold on for less than a stick of incense before he fell to the ground and convulsed all over. After a while, the skin on his body turned black and blue.
The soldiers who saw this scene with their own eyes were not only frightened by the poison of the poisonous snake, but they could only say that they were extremely unlucky for the soldiers who died from the poison.
According to the soldiers who came to report, the snake flew out of thin air.
Chen Kan gave up and asked the soldier to return to the queue, then turned around and ordered to continue advancing.
When he turned around again, his face was already terrifyingly gloomy.
He led the fleet from Daming to Nanyang. Except for a few squadrons of Zheng He's fleet that were sent out to contact him and lost contact, he basically suffered zero battle losses.
Even when they conquered a city as big as the capital of Manlajia, there was no battle damage. Now that they had just entered the rainforest for a short while, they didn't even see the enemy's shadow, and the first battle damage was caused by a poisonous snake.
It must be said that this was a big blow to the morale of Chen Kan's soldiers.
Chen Kan summoned the messengers and issued several orders in succession.
The first is to ask the soldiers to find cloth strips to wrap the exposed skin outside the armor, especially the mouth and nose. It is best to sprinkle urine on the cloth strips.
The second rule is that you are not allowed to drink water from the rainforest, let alone eat any fruits and plants in the rainforest.
The third rule is that no matter what happens, once it comes within three hundred meters of the army, it must be shot.
After the order was issued to the entire army, the army continued to set off.
When an army sets out, it cannot stop just because a soldier dies. This is the same in any era.
Besides, attacking Bolingbang is different from attacking the city of Malacca.
The city of Malacca can take their time, because the army's food and fodder are in the cabin at their feet.
To attack Bolingbang, the army must carry food and grass. In order to ensure the marching speed, Chen Kan only allowed the army to carry dry food for half a month, so he could not afford to waste time.
But even though Chen Kan issued orders one after another, on the third day, dozens of lives were still left in the rainforest forever.
They were infected with malaria.
In the rainforest, the armor worn by the soldiers can isolate the attacks of most poisonous insects and snakes, but there are two things that are difficult to avoid, one is mosquitoes and the other is locusts.
Some mosquitoes are so tiny you can't even see them, and you don't even know when they bite you.
The leech can easily squirm in through the gaps in the armor.
Often when people feel pain, the leech has already penetrated into the person's skin.
The blood-sucking locust is not fatal, but the various viruses and bacteria carried by the locust are very deadly.
So, dozens of unlucky people died on the road.
Fortunately for Chen Kan, he was surrounded by two hundred fully armed soldiers, and the gaps in the armor were covered with silk.
Moreover, their armor is far from comparable to the iron armor of ordinary soldiers. It is real fish scale armor.
The tiny scales are densely connected in series and look like fish scales, hence the name fish scale armor.
The biggest advantage of this kind of armor is that it is light, strong in defense, and highly breathable. The entire armor, including the faceplate, does not weigh more than fifteen pounds.
The only disadvantage is that it is expensive.
When all the personal guards of the Hou Mansion were equipped with this kind of armor, Chen Kan's flesh ached for several days.
On the fourth day, Bolinbang's first satellite city finally came into view.
And where there is a city, it means that the environment has been conquered, so after entering the city, the casualties of the army suddenly dropped.
