It's just that the Dong Jiajun, or the entire Southern Song Dynasty's current army, is in urgent need of one thing, that is, logistics materials. Not only food and grass, but also weapons, armor, horse feed, and so on, were extremely limited. Years of conquest led to the continuous loss of land in the Song Dynasty, resulting in a significant decline in productivity, and there were even tragic cases of robbery and food in Huainan.

In such a difficult time, especially when Dong Jiajun has a lot of cavalry troops, the pressure on logistics supply can be seen.

This is also the reason why Dong Hao took the initiative to ask Ying to transfer his own deployment to Sizhou to garrison the camp. Only by putting Dong Jiajun in the most dangerous position, will the ministers and lords in the rear spare no effort to ensure that the supplies will not be interrupted.

Zhou Bo also found that in addition to the many cavalry of the Dong family's army, each battalion under his jurisdiction was also very sufficient, and almost all of the battalions were full of 500 people. This had a lot to do with the northerners' flight southward, and many northern Han Chinese, unwilling to submit to the rule of the puppet regime, fled with them when the Song army retreated south. After these displaced people lost their homes, they had to join the army to make ends meet.

However, there are enough soldiers, but the generals are not necessarily enough. After the end of the Battle of Henan Mansion, many of the officers under Zhai Xuan's command who had come over from the puppet Qi Surrender saw that the Song army was gone, so they all fled again.

Zhou Bo is now a preparer of the front camp, so he naturally has a deep understanding of the situation of the front camp.

The front battalion is located in the north of Sizhou, about three miles away from the Chinese army camp, with a total of ten teams, seven infantry teams, two cavalry teams, and one service team.

However, there were only six officers in these 10 teams, and the other four vacant teams were temporarily managed by other teams. Bi Jin, who met a few days ago, belonged to the front camp, and Zhou Bo understood why Bi Jin, who was an escort, brought more than 100 cavalry. It turned out that one person was used as two people.

He knew that the problem of the lack of officers was acute. But if it could be solved, Dong Hao would have solved it a long time ago. Most of the soldiers in the Dong family army were converted from refugees. It is not possible to directly promote some people to become officers. The reason why Dong Hao dared to let himself be the preparation general of the front battalion was because he had previously held a military position at the same level in the Pusheng Xiang Army.

Because the front camp has not had a coach for a long time, the situation in the camp is very mixed. This, coupled with the lack of middle and lower-ranking officers, left the management almost in a cross-sectional position. In the evening of that day, after Zhou Bo got to know Dong Jiajun about the same, he held the first meeting of officers of the front camp and decided to carry out a decisive rectification of the front camp.

On the one hand, it is the duty of the six escort teams to rectify.

Because there were four teams in the front battalion that did not have a commander, these guards wanted to show that they were competent. Competing to manage these four teams, in the end, these four teams are not clear to anyone. What's more important is that once the six escort teams do something wrong, they all put the blame on these four teams, and these four teams have no commander anyway.

Zhou Bo directly issued an order at the meeting, the two cavalry teams were handed over to Bi Jin to lead, the vacant E team was handed over to the A team escort Chen Tai to lead, and the remaining D team and the service team were managed by himself. Although this will make the escort team who is not in charge of it unconvinced, it makes all the escort team clear about their responsibilities.

On the other hand, the military affairs of rectification.

In the past, only after the order was given by the large battalion of the Chinese army, the front battalion carried out the task according to the instructions. Once you don't have an order, you don't know what to do. Zhou Bo knew that Sizhou was a front-line battalion, and war could break out at any time. Yingzhou, occupied by the puppet Qi army, is only more than fifty miles away from here. In order to ensure a grasp of the enemy's movements, he stipulated that three teams should be sent across the Han River in turn every day to conduct reconnaissance. At the same time, a secret outpost was set up near the main camp to prevent the enemy from working in detail.

In addition, in order to solve the problem of the soldiers' idleness, Zhou Bo also demanded that starting tomorrow, except for the three teams that went to the west of Hanchuan to reconnoitre, and the two teams that carried out the camp defense, the remaining five teams should conduct drills. He decided to personally teach a set of "foreign exercises" to the soldiers tomorrow morning, and he has never forgotten the content of his military training at the university in his previous life.

Zhou Bo knew that these novices were dissatisfied with his new boss in their hearts. These six escort teams used to often discuss in private, the position of the former battalion coach has not been filled for so long, and Dong Shuai will choose one of them to replace him. But now that they are well, their hopes have come to naught, and they are naturally very unhappy in their hearts.

So at the end of the meeting, he deliberately emphasized the matter.

"I know you're not convinced by me, but since Dong Shuai has asked me to be the commander of the former battalion, you must follow my orders. I allow you to question my commands, and if my orders are wrong, I will humbly admit them. But I will not allow you to openly disobey my commands, and I will not spare anyone who is vexatious. Zhou Bo said with great momentum.

The six escorts looked at each other, and then said in unison, "Follow the orders of the battalion commander." ”

Zhou Bo knew that they were just making a scene, and he still had dissatisfaction in his heart. He sighed, and finally said: "I want you to know that this is an extraordinary time, the army of Qi Dog is less than fifty miles away from us, and if we cannot unite as one, it will be a child's play on the lives of our brothers. Thank you for your appreciation. ”――

Zhou Bo was glad that he had arranged for people to reconnoiter every day, because on the fifth day after he came to Dong's army, the puppet Qi army had assembled heavy troops in Yingzhou and was preparing to launch an attack on Ezhou. However, this movement was soon discovered by his reconnaissance team. Since yesterday, the puppet Qi army has been repairing 20 military camps in the wilderness on the west bank of the Hanchuan River, and it seems that 50,000 troops will soon be stationed here.

Of course, he could predict that the puppet Qi army's attack on Ezhou this time was instructed by Jin Wushu, and its purpose was not to take Ezhou, but to create a false impression of a large-scale southern invasion, so that the Song army had no time to take care of the Shaanxi and Sichuan regions.

Zhou Bo immediately sent someone to pass on this information to Dong Hao as soon as possible.

Dong Hao knew earlier that Zhou Bo had rectified the military affairs of the front battalion, and would send people to the west bank of Hanchuan every day to inspect, and after he learned the news, he sent people to Ezhou to ask for help, and at the same time called Zhou Bo to the Chinese army camp.

At noon that day, Dong Hao held a deployment meeting in the Chinese military tent. There are only four battalion-level commanders in Dong Jiajun's battalion generals, and the vacant middle battalion is personally commanded by Dong Hao, and only these four battalion commanders participate in the meeting in the Chinese army tent at this time.

"The puppet Qi army has gathered 50,000 troops on the west bank of Hanchuan, this matter is not trivial, my Dong family army is at the forefront of Sizhou. The first to bear the brunt will become the target of the puppet Qi army. I call you here today. It is in the hope of finding a countermeasure to meet the enemy. Dong Hao spoke quickly and got straight to the topic.

"Dong Shuai, Qi Dog has an army of 50,000, but we have less than 3,000, if we fight head-on, it will definitely be an egg to hit a stone. In the end, the general thought that Sizhou was just a small county town, neither the gateway to Ezhou, nor a geographical point. There is no point in sticking to it here. At present, it is better for us to withdraw to Xingou, rendezvous with Pingsheng Yivan, and block Qigou in the lower reaches of Hanchuan together. "It was the left battalion that spoke, preparing to guard Wang Wenshou.

As his name suggests, Wang Wen Shouren is best at defense. His analysis at this time is not wrong, Sizhou is a poor and remote place, and even this section of the Hanchuan River is extremely soothing and wide, which can be said to be unsafe. And more importantly, Sizhou was too far away from the rear troops, and if the puppet Qi launched a surprise attack, Ezhou would not even have time to send reinforcements.

The two battalion commanders of the right battalion and the rear battalion nodded one after another. I agreed with Wang Wenshou's words.

Dong Hao's expression at this time was a little worried, he had made a promise to Zhai Xuan when he asked to be stationed in Sizhou. With the Dong army here, it will definitely be able to resist the enemy and cross the Hanchuan River. However, at that time, it was only to ensure that Dong Jiajun had enough material support, after all, Sizhou was not the most suitable battlefield at all.

If he retreats like this now, how should he explain to Zhai Xuan?

He suddenly glanced at Zhou Bo, the new former battalion preparer seemed to be in a daze at this time, staring at the marching map with wooden eyes. He secretly felt a little strange, judging from Zhou Bo's means of rectifying the former camp during this time, the other party was by no means that kind of general, why did he desert now?

"Zhou Chengjie, do you have any proposals?" he asked in a calm voice.

"Zhou Bo is really a new official who is eager to perform! My Dong family's army is only 2,500 people, and there are 50,000 enemy troops on the west bank of Hanchuan. Sizhou is just a poor and remote country, there is no danger to defend, dare to ask Zhou Bo how should we hold on and wait for help?" Wang Wenshou said with a bit of mockery in his tone.

In the military, most of them are called by their military ranks, Zhou Bo is Chengjielang, and calling him Zhou Chengjie is out of politeness to him.

"Back to Dong Shuai, the last general does have a proposal, but the last general is worried that if he says it, everyone here will laugh at him as overpowered. Zhou Bo immediately came back to his senses, and finally talked about himself.

"Oh? Dong Hao couldn't help but be curious.

"The last general thinks that my Dong Jiajun should stick to Sizhou, and then ask Ezhou for help. The reason is very simple, my Great Song army is newly defeated in Xiangyang, if the Dong family army retreats without a fight at this time, one will make the morale of the pseudo-Qi more arrogant, and the other will make the morale of my Ezhou army even lower.

Wang Wenshou and the other two battalion commanders all showed a little disdain after listening to Zhou Bo's words. Naturally, the use of troops for generals should not be based solely on the influence of the side, but more importantly, it should be based on the actual situation.

"Zhou Chengjie, it's a good thing that you just went through the defeat of Xiangyang but still have such courage. But relying on our Dong family army alone to hold on to Sizhou is just afraid that it is too unrealistic!" Dong Hao said with a frown, he also felt that Zhou Bo's words were too exaggerated.

Zhou Bo had long expected that everyone would have such a reaction, he smiled calmly, and said: "Dong Shuai, the last general has already spoken first, you see, everyone is laughing at the last general, right?"

Seeing that Zhou Bo still looked relaxed, Dong Hao was stunned and asked, "So, Zhou Chengjie, you do have a strategy to deal with the enemy?"

Zhou Bo smiled slightly, and continued: "Please Dong Shuai, nine days ago, the puppet Qi army had just conquered Xiangyang, and without any rest, they hastily mobilized 50,000 troops to gather in Yingzhou, with such a momentum, it will definitely make me mistakenly think that they are going to move troops against Ezhou." The soldier is treacherous, and you should all know this truth, the more obvious the enemy's intentions, the more he is covering up his hypocrisy. ”

Dong Hao pondered for a moment, he remembered that Zhou Bo analyzed the situation in Ezhou to himself on the night five days ago, and he expected that the pseudo-Qi would never threaten Ezhou. The analysis at that time was indeed very reasonable, but now that the 50,000 troops of the pseudo-Qi were already under their noses, how could they not be vigilant?

"Zhou Chengjie, the 50,000 troops of the puppet Qi are already on the west bank of the Hanchuan River, no matter whether they have any plans to go east, we can't take it lightly!" Dong Hao said solemnly.

What Dong Shuai said was extremely true, the last general thought that it was inevitable for the puppet Qi army of 50,000 to launch an attack on Ezhou, and only in this way could they contain the Song army on the Jingnan South Road and Huainan West Road, so that their old master Jin Guo could successfully take Shaanchuan. However, you have all fought against the puppet Qi in Hebei, and you must know better than me what the combat effectiveness of the puppet Qi army is, so I expect that these 50,000 Qi troops are just a rabble, and they will definitely not do anything except contain us. Zhou Bowei said eloquently analyzed.

The combat effectiveness of the puppet Qi army was even worse than that of the Southern Song Dynasty Xiang army, and they were almost a group of bandits, who had no other skills except bullying the unarmed people, robbing and looting. Everyone present is well aware of this. But even so, as the saying goes, chaotic fists can kill the master, even if the Dong family army is one enemy and ten, it is impossible to beat 50,000 enemy troops!

"No matter how bad Qi Dog is, Haohe is also an army of 50,000, and Zhou Bo underestimates the combat power of 50,000 people, right?" Wang Wenshou asked coldly again.

"General Wang, what is the combat effectiveness of the Qi army, the Qi army himself knows very well in his heart. They are just following the orders of the Jin State to contain us and others, and if our Dong Jiajun gives them a head-on blow in Sizhou and gives them a good taste, they will definitely not dare to underestimate it anymore, and at most they will camp on the west bank of the Hanchuan River to confront us. On the contrary, once we retreat now, the pseudo-Qi will definitely think that we are easy to bully, and they will invade the south even more vigorously. Zhou Bo said eloquently.

"Hmph, let's talk about it, Zhou Bo just talked about the purpose of sticking to Sizhou, but I didn't say a word about how to hold on to it, isn't this just talking on paper?" After listening to Zhou Bo's detailed analysis, Wang Wenshou definitely made some sense, but if there is no feasible operation, these truths are all empty talk.

Zhou Bo looked at Dong Hao, leaned over and said: "Dong Shuai, please forgive me, Dong Shuai asked the last general about the enemy's strategy before, and the last general answered not what he asked, just to analyze the meaning of sticking to Sizhou to you." The last general can make a military order to Dong Shuai, and the last general can not let a single Qi dog land on the east bank within ten days. ”

The reason why he wanted to emphasize so much was that he wanted to tell everyone present that the 50,000 Qi army was only here to contain the forces of Ezhou, and as long as the other party suffered a heavy blow, they would retreat. This is very important, because Dong Hao and they all know very well that it is absolutely impossible for the Dong family army to fight with 50,000 people for a long time.

Dong Shuai was a little impatient when he heard Zhou Bo talk about a lot of truths, but when he heard Zhou Bo make such a serious promise, he finally lifted his spirits. He immediately asked, "Zhou Chengjie, how should you behave?"

Zhou Bo smiled slightly, bowed again and said, "Please forgive me for selling a pass first." However, the last general assured that it would only take two days to fulfill the last general's previous promise. If it can't be done within two days, it will not be too late for Dong Shuai to retreat. ”

Dong Shuai glanced at Zhou Bo seriously, he was not willing to believe Zhou Bo easily, but deep down in his heart, he didn't want to retreat like this. He felt that even though Zhou Bo failed, Dong Jiajun could be regarded as taking action, so that he could give an explanation to Zhai Xianggong.

"Okay, Zhou Chengjie, Ben Shuai will believe you once. He made a decision, and at the same time stretched out two fingers and made an emphatic gesture, "Ben Shuai will give you two days to see how you can stop Qi Dog in these two days." (To be continued.) )