In the twenty-second year of Qianlong, in early April

Zhang Rui, the king of the Han Dynasty, carried the Sharp Knife Army (Li De), the Chiye Army (Wang Yan), the Loyal Warrior Army (Zhang Zhishan) and the Tiger Army (Li Guozhong), with a total strength of more than 140,000 troops and one million soldiers, and waved his army to the north.

The army was divided into east, south and west routes, attacking the puppet Manchu Qing Dynasty Jiangnan bandit camp occupying Xuzhou.

The King of Han's personal conquest, the morale of the bandit army was high all the way, and in one fell swoop they broke through important cities such as Bengbu and Suzhou in Anhui.

Wherever the army came, it was like a bamboo. In the face of the long guns and short cannons of the bandit army, many prefectures and county governments directly surrendered to the wind. The speed of surrender even made many of the Northern Expeditionary troops stunned to think that they were not here to attack the city, but to take over.

Mid-May

Jiangsu Province, with the exception of the Xuzhou area, has been completely attacked by the bandit army. In Anhui Province, only Huaibei and other places remained, and they were almost included in the bag of the bandit army.

Huaibei, also known as Xiangcheng. It is located in the hinterland of East China, at the intersection of Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan and Anhui provinces. It is bordered by Xiao County in the north, Mengcheng in the south, Suzhou in the east, and Yongcheng in Henan Province in the west.

The terrain of Huaibei is inclined from northwest to southeast, the landform is dominated by plains, there are very few low mountains and hills, even the highest mountain peak of the old dragon spine is only more than a hundred zhang, which is extremely conducive to cavalry combat.

It was a sunny day and a blue sky.

Looking down at the earth, it can be seen that the bandit army of the Northern Expedition is like ants moving home, walking a long route on the wide and boundless ground.

The crossing of a large army is different from the agility of the sentry cavalry. Every day people eat horses and chew horses, and that is not a small amount. With the extension of the battle line and the safety of the grain route, the army of the bandit suppression army at this time had to slow down the march in order to stabilize.

After all, in the era of cars and tanks, cavalry had an advantage that was difficult to match, but this advantage was often the key to victory.

The lack of horses in the bandit army is not something that can be solved in a short time. In the face of the Qing army, which has a large number of cavalry, the cavalry of the bandit army is a heavy task even if it is only used to protect the grain road, not to mention other battles?

By noon, the temperature was unbearably hot. Even if he was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, Zhang Rui was already sweating at this time, not to mention how hot the other soldiers were.

When marching under the sun, the officers and men in the army are very prone to heat stroke.

In order to reduce unnecessary casualties and ensure the combat effectiveness of the army. The only way to avoid the two hottest hours of the day, noon and the end of the day, can only be avoided by "leaving early and returning late".

Two hours of resting in place and burying the pot to cook can not only replenish the energy consumed by the morning march, but also provide a guarantee for the afternoon march.

“… Grunt... Gollum..."

“… Well... The water is good, sweet enough..."

In the camp of the army, Zhang Rui, who had already sat in the camp tent and drank three bowls of cold white in a row, couldn't help but sigh.

One of the most indispensable factors in the march route of the army is the water source.

Huaibei is rich in water sources, and there are more than a dozen rivers, which is a rare opportunity for the march of the bandit army.

In ancient times, the river water was not polluted by modern industry, and the water quality was mostly sweet and clear, and most of the ancients drank it directly.

However, Zhang Rui, who had seen the bacteria in modern times, did not dare to let the army drink the river water directly, but asked everyone to boil it before drinking it, so as not to get any plague and infectious diseases.

In order to convince the people of the staff and logistics department, Zhang Rui also ordered craftsmen to polish a simple microscope with crystal to prove how many bacteria and insects were in the seemingly clean water.

"At this time, if there is an air conditioner blowing down and a few ice creams to lick, it will be really..." Putting down the porcelain bowl in his hand, in this hot tent, Zhang Rui's thoughts flew by, and he couldn't help but think of the previous life.

"King Han, what's wrong?" Looking at Zhang Rui who was in a daze, Wang Kaiyuan on the side asked with concern.

"Oh, it's okay, it's just a little bit of the past." Zhang Rui, who was pulled back to reality by Wang Kaiyuan's words, replied with a smile.

"Forget it, it's all like this, what do you want to do with all that mess? Now if you can't do it in the Manchu Dynasty, it will be a problem whether you can eat or not, so don't think about these messy things anymore. ”

"It's hot weather, King Han has to take care of his body." Wang Kaiyuan said in a deep voice.

"Chief of Staff Wang has a heart. My body is not as weak as you think. Two years ago at this time, I was still carrying water to water the ground, and it is much better than it was then. Thinking of the time when he first crossed over, Zhang Rui couldn't help but sigh.

"King Han, it's not that the minister said you. It's in the past, but now you're on a mission in the world, and you can't help but take care of your body. Hearing Zhang Rui's words, Wang Kaiyuan persuaded him "heartbrokenly".

"Yes, yes, Counselor Wang is right, I was wrong." Seeing that Wang Kaiyuan was about to make a tirade, Zhang Rui hurriedly apologized.

When he was in Nanjing, Zhang Rui understood after those "great Confucians" lectured on the scriptures. For them, the children of Confucianism, if you insist on arguing with them, it is a pure waste of time. They seem to have been born to exist for this.

So, inconsequential matters, just deal with them casually. They're having fun anyway.

"I am grateful to the King of Han for understanding the hard work of the ministers, but I also ask the ministers to offend the sins." Zhang Rui "refreshed" admitted his mistake, so that Wang Kaiyuan, who felt that he had not yet used all his strength, had to kneel helplessly and confess.

"Wang Aiqing's words are serious, it is said that Wang Aiqing is also for the sake of the king and the world, so he really can't talk about committing a crime." Looking at Wang Kaiyuan's appearance, Zhang Rui could only helplessly pull up his limited level of classical Chinese and comfort him.

"Wechen knocks on King Han." Wang Kaiyuan replied movingly.

"Wang Aiqing, let's be flat!" Zhang Rui said.

"King Xie Han." Wang Kaiyuan slowly stood up.

"The weather is hot, Wang Aiqing must remind the soldiers who transport gunpowder below, so that they must be more careful when transporting gunpowder, especially not to expose gunpowder to the sun." The hot weather made Zhang Rui unable to help but wake up Wang Kaiyuan again.

After all, the seriousness of gunpowder to the bandit army is self-evident, and their staff department is not only to give advice, but also to supervise logistics and transportation.

"King Han rest assured, this subordinate has already repeatedly instructed that all the powder kegs transported must be covered with a damp cloth, and they will never be exposed to the sun." Wang Kaiyuan replied.

"Hmm..."Zhang Rui nodded with satisfaction.

"King Han, the terrain of Huaibei is flat, which is conducive to cavalry combat. Although the officers and men of our bandit army are not afraid of fighting with the Manchu Eight Banners, they are ultimately at risk in the face of cavalry. Weichen and others suggested that the Han King retreat to the rear to watch the battle, and there was really no need to take this risk. ”

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