On June 26, Hou Jin knew that his back road was cut off.

Southern Liaoning, which has been sunny for almost a month, finally ushered in rain. Thick clouds drift from the Liaohai Sea and gradually cover the land from north to south. Standing on the new golden city wall, the fleet moored in Pulandian Bay was already a little invisible, and the black oppressive clouds obscured most of the sunlight.

I put my hand out of the buttress and spread my fingers to feel the wind. It's about 7 northwest winds now, and the howling of the sea breeze is already being heard. Fang Hai in the rear came over and said to me, "Governor Qin has arrived. ”

I didn't hear clearly, and turned my head to look at him. He leaned in and repeated aloud: "Your Excellency the Governor has come ashore." ”

I nodded and motioned to come over to greet me. Walking through the new golden city wall, which is being renovated in a hurry, the city below has been cleaned up, the streets where one or two thousand corpses had been laid down a few days ago have been emptied, the houses that have been burned to ashes have also been demolished, and a number of prefabricated houses have been built intensively.

After the recovery of Xinjin, the troops from Changsheng Island and Lushun landed by boat without stopping. Overnight, the sappers built a makeshift harbor in the bay where transport ships could dock directly. When we walked to the harbor, Qin Xiangping was already standing on a gentle slope, looking at the ships that were slowly approaching.

Seeing me coming, Qin Xiangping smiled and patted me on the shoulder: "Good job." ”

"It's all up to the comrades to fight bravely."

"Hmm. What parts are it now, and how are the fortifications doing? ”

"Your Excellency, now Xinjin has assembled the 1st and 2nd Regiments of the National Defense Force, the Kyushu Heavy Artillery Regiment, of which the Taiwan Heavy Artillery Battalion has also been incorporated into the Heavy Artillery Regiment for unified command; In terms of the co-conformist army, it is mainly the Changsheng Island Regiment of the Dongjiang Army. In addition, the Korean vassal army sent its subordinate regiment of larch mountain tribes - they were on board and would soon be able to come down. The Hongzui Fort side was personally commanded by General Qi Wu, and no less than three regiments of troops would also be deployed. ”

"Larch clusters? What is it? ”

"Your Excellency, larch is a plant in the North Korean area, and this regiment is under the direct command of the Donggang Town Headquarters, specializing in mountain operations, and is the only mountain special operations establishment in the military."

"Oh?" Qin Xiangping was interested. He smiled, "Then just wait here for a while, let me see this army." ”

"Your Excellency, it's about to rain."

Qin Xiangping waved his hand, and I stopped persuading. The guards brought a large umbrella and fixed it beside us.

The scene gradually quieted down, and all we could do was the sound of the wind. Qin Xiangping waved his hand back, and the guards silently took a few steps back, leaving only me and Qin Xiangping under the umbrella.

"You've done a good job in this campaign."

I turned my head to look at him and bowed my head slightly.

Seeing that I didn't speak, he slowly smiled: "What are you afraid of, are you afraid that I will criticize you?" I don't know how happy I am to see you like this. Originally, I promoted you to lieutenant colonel, and I was still worried about you in my heart, becoming a lieutenant colonel at such a young age, and I don't know if it will be good or bad for you. ”

"This time you commanded the landing of Xinjin, I saw it all. I've seen all of your plans. To be honest, you do a lot better than your father, and you do a better job than Lao Tzu. Hehe, I'm a little jealous of Li Guohua's house, just him... Ahem, don't talk about your dad's. Anyway, you kid is going to win glory for your old Li family. ”

"Do a good job, don't be proud." He turned his head to look at the larch group that was landing in the gale, and his voice was a little emotional, "Your future is broader than ours, where did we go to college at that time, and it wasn't a bunch of army mud legs who could only write some words and look at the map, and they were crawling up in Lanfang." You're in great shape now, as before. I went to Shandong before I came, and when I met Zhu Ming Xia Mian there, he also admired you very much. As long as you continue to maintain your current state, you will be promoted to general sooner or later. ”

"Yes, as at the beginning, I will obey the teachings." I paused.

He grinned, and the white beard under his nose picked a little funny: "Stay with your Uncle Qin for a while." When I retire in the fall, there will be no elders to take care of you. ”

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The larch regiment was nominally a Korean vassal army, but in fact its combat effectiveness and various benefits were the same as those of the serious co-service army. The reason why they have remained in the ranks of the vassal army is mainly because of the composition of their personnel. The unit consisted of 1 battalion of chasseurs and 3 battalions of light infantry, which were not attached to artillery. Three-quarters of the soldiers were from the mountains of Korea, and the rest were made up of hunters from the town of Donggang and the Soren and Jurchen tribes who returned to Shun. All officers and men have a wealth of experience in mountain survival and hunting - experience in dealing with wild beasts, often also effective for humans, and are good at small-scale combat in the mountains.

If such an army, which is not good at large-scale battles, is placed on the plains, they will be tied up like a race in the mire, and they will not be able to exert half of their skills. In the mountainous areas where the terrain is too difficult to array, they will hunt foxes and hares, leaving Jiannu in the mountains who are trying to abscond from the mountains.

The rain gradually began to fall, and a thick rain fog approached from the west, enveloping us in a moment later. Feng Zhoulong, the leader of the larch regiment, who had just come off the ship, wore a hat and a cloak and walked through the heavy rain like a curtain under the leadership of the guards. As soon as he walked under the umbrella, he took off his hat and saluted Qin Xiangping: "Feng Zhoulong, lieutenant colonel of the Dongjiang Association Army, has seen His Excellency the Governor and Lieutenant Colonel Li. ”

Qin Xiangping nodded slightly, noticing that Feng Zhoulong was carrying a bow on his back and a fire gun stuck in his waist. He stood in front of him with the governor's scepter in both hands, and said with a smile: "Commander Feng has worked hard, do the comrades know the task?" ”

"Report, the whole regiment has known the mission, we will annihilate all the Jiannu who dare to enter the mountains, if we find one, we will kill one, and if we find two, we will kill two." Feng Zhoulong took the dripping hat in his right hand and hung it naturally on his knees, allowing the rain to drip down the brim of his hat to the ground. He wears a hat embroidered with a pine tree under his hat, and his sharp eyes peek out from under his rich eyebrows.

Qin Xiangping nodded, "Very good." I won't waste you time, so go and get ready. I look forward to your victorious tidings. ”

"I will not disgrace my life." Feng Zhoulong "snapped" and saluted with his feet, and after putting on his hat, he bowed slightly, then turned around and strode away. As the soldier disappeared into the rain, Qin Xiangping said to me, "Let's go, go and see the fortifications." ”

He took the hat and coat from the guards, put them on his body, and walked with me into the rain.

The rainstorm was bigger than we could have seen under the umbrella, and the raindrops the size of soybeans hit our heads, and the hats were swaying from side to side. After leaving the temporary port, it was the place where the Marines landed and annihilated the Mongol cavalry. The sandy beach here has been remodeled by geotechnical engineers, and the soft sand is mixed with soil and fine stones, and the overall hardness is much higher, enough for the cavalry to run fast. In the attack on Jiannu, the Changsheng Island Cavalry Battalion and the Heavy Cavalry Battalion under the 2nd Regiment of the Wehrmacht will be deployed here to pursue Jiannu in the event of a defensive counterattack. The beach is located between the new golden city and the bay, and the warships anchored in the bay will provide for the cavalry to defend them.

Looking down from the sky, the new golden city sits in the western part of the southern Liaoning Peninsula, cutting off the coastal plain. The left side was defended by cavalry and warships, and the right side was against the hilly terrain hundreds of meters above sea level. Theoretically, Houjin could choose to leave from the hilly area, but in practice it was a death-defying option.

Although the hills were low, the horses, artillery, and shield wagons of Houjin could not pass through. Even if the Jiannu gritted their teeth and spent a week slowly bypassing Xinjin and Hongzui Fort from the mountain paths, not to mention whether they all had enough food and were beaten miserably by the larch regiment, once they walked out of the hills and came to the south of the Liaonan Plain, the Great Song cavalry who killed them from the coastal area could kick their butts... This will be a chase from Luanguguan to Fuzhou, stretching for hundreds of miles.

To the south of Sinjin, the road from Shiheyi to Sinjin was tragically damaged. The soldiers of the Marine Corps have been busy since the time when Xinjin has not yet been breached, digging a small pit in the official road, burying explosives, and then the bombs will blow up the earth into large pits about one meter deep and more than two meters in diameter, and the whole road will be broken like a pockmarked face.

The blasted earth was transported to the new golden city, where the soldiers built a long breastwork under the city walls and laid a barbed wire fence every thirty meters in front of it. This simple work lasted more than a day and could probably be completed in the early hours of tomorrow morning. Considering that it would take some time for Jiannu to learn that Xinjin had fallen, tomorrow morning would be the time for their vanguard to arrive.

Subsequent battles confirmed the staff officers' speculations. Well, Jiannu's on-the-spot response can be regarded as decisive and resolute, and the character model made by the General Staff for Huang Taiji is indeed very accurate.