Outside the town's house, a large crowd crowded the door, blocking the road. There are not only the remnants of the forbidden army who live in Wuzhen Town to recuperate from their wounds, but also many local old and weak women and children, and people flock here with different moods.

This is obviously a good thing done by Yang Biao and the others, it is not that he is spreading the news while calling everyone to come to the door of Li Desheng's house, and he will not gather like many people in a short period of time. Except for dozens of remnants of the forbidden army, ordinary people, who were almost abandoned, all survived quietly, and suddenly gathered together, only to find that there were so many people, at least hundreds. As far as the eye could see, there was gray hair and a cloth covering the head, and the women seemed to like to go out with a cloth wrapped in their hair.

Seeing that Li Desheng was about to speak, Guo Shao stood up first, clasped his fists left and right, and shouted loudly: "Folks, ......"

Suddenly, a group of eyes looked over, this situation seemed to be everyone looking at themselves, Guo Shao had not experienced this kind of occasion for a long time, and his heart was slightly nervous. He cleared his throat and said, "The Khitans are going south this time to take advantage of the emptiness of the main force of the Zhaoyi Army to attack Jinyang with the official army...... Thanks to the promotion of General Li, the town general, I was appointed as the deputy town general to assist in the defense. Seeing that Li Desheng frowned and did not mean to refute, Guo Shao ignored it.

He continued to say loudly: "We came here a month ago to recuperate from our wounds, and the people of Wuzhen Town provided shelter and clothing, and gave food regardless of the difficulties of the family...... The grace of dripping water, the husband should repay the spring; The villagers treat people with sincerity, which makes people feel deeply. How can we stand idly by today when we need our brothers? Dare not die! ”

The people were quiet, no noise or applause, just like this dwilight and dilapidated town. But they all listened.

Guo Shao's gaze swept over the remnants of the forbidden army, and shouted: "In the Battle of Gaoping, Zhang Yuanhui, the first fierce general of the Northern Han Army, rushed to my ranks and was beheaded by me on the spot!" I have two brothers, who are besieged by enemy soldiers, and they all kill the enemy with one as ten! The official family and the former secretary of the palace Zhang Du commanded the envoy and praised it personally, saying, 'It is appropriate to award the commander'. Referring to the emperor and high-ranking people in public, Guo Shao saluted the north with a fist, acknowledging the authority of the imperial court is to emphasize his authority, and continued, "This time, all the soldiers are stationed in Wuyan Town, and their affiliations are different. If there is a military rank higher than mine, and is willing to stand up and give orders to the soldiers, speak now......"

"Since there is no one, Guo Mouben will take over the military power of the stragglers stationed in Wuyan Town from now on! I have a list of the wounded soldiers who have been placed in Wuchen Town, and those who remain are still in the forbidden army; Those who want to run are deserters. Today's events will be reported to the front of the temple in the future. Guo Shao didn't allow others to say anything, and of course he didn't want the only number of soldiers to be reduced again.

The armies were silent, and no one was willing to oppose them.

Guo Shao was very satisfied when he saw this, and immediately incited the people: "I know that there are many veterans present, you have served the country all your life, and you are fighting for others; Now the time has come for the barbarians to trample on your homeland, to kill and humiliate your relatives, and to fight for yourself! The Khitan people of the Liao State are well known for burning, killing and looting, and if they don't fight, they will die, take up arms, and use their last blood to defend their families! Your comrades, brothers and sisters, you will be able to fight to the death with everyone to defend the land and defend the people, and you feel infinitely honored! ”

Slowly, many gray-haired people stood up from the crowd, and someone said, "Lao Er has killed people in the army." "Count me alone, anyway, I don't have many days to live, and if I die, I will die......"

Guo Shao took the opportunity to say: "Since all the villagers think that Ben General can take on this position, in order to prepare for war, it is reasonable and legal for me to issue a conscription order in Wuzhen Town!" ”

He immediately issued the first conscription order, to select people who can still fill the army to help the defense, and other families must also send people and rations to follow the arrangements for repairing the fortifications. In front of the whole town, it was made clear, and the town general Li Desheng did not object on the spot, and the matter changed from raw rice to cooked rice after dividing it by two.

Li Desheng had to agree to Guo Shao's previous proposal, he took people to Luzhou to buy supplies, and left domestic servants to help govern the people.

Those old men who claimed to have served in the army were all at least fifty years old; There are no young people in this place at all, and young people will not be sent to Wuzhen Town. Guo Shao and others could only lower the standard of recruiting soldiers, and select those who did not look to be seventy or eighty years old, who walked more neatly and were in better spirits. After choosing half a day, there were sixty-eight people.

These old soldiers also dug out the tattered copper and iron armor that had not been used for a long time from their homes, which was better than nothing, and some even had weapons. Before leaving, the town general finally gave up his armor, sword, and bow, but only one pair.

was busy until noon, someone came over to greet Guo Shao, and when he looked back, it turned out to be Zuo You, a civilian and military doctor in the army. The man had a good face, a mustache, and a round-necked robe, but he was very thin. Zuo You said: "If you have a suggestion, Guo Lang is willing to listen to it?" ”

Guo Shao put down the bow and arrow in his hand and hurriedly told him to speak bluntly. Zuo You said: "The top priority at the moment is not only to compile the soldiers into a military register, but also to formulate military laws and rules as soon as possible, so that there is a basis for rewards and punishments. In Xia Bucai, he wrote the 'Four Cutting Orders' and asked Guo Lang to look at it. ”

Those who disobey orders are beheaded; The first to flee in battle is killed; Those who leave their posts without permission are beheaded; Those who take advantage of the chaos to declare personal vendetta and bully the people will be beheaded.

Simple and rude and covering foreseeable problems, the last one is faintly long-term considerations, Guo Shao suddenly looked at Zuo You twice, and immediately changed his words to "Mr. Zuo": "Why doesn't Mr. Zuo recite these four orders in public a few times to know the whole army?" ”

Seeing him so happy, Zuo You immediately said, "Take the order below." ”

In the afternoon of the same day, Guo Shao entrusted Zuo You to register the soldiers. Then the organization began, and the twenty-eight wounded soldiers of the forbidden army who had recovered were independently organized into a team; More than 70 old and weak town soldiers were organized into a capital and called township soldiers. He served as a military envoy, Yang Biao served as the deputy soldier and horse envoy and the tenth general of the forbidden army, and Luo Mengzi was the chief line (deputy of the team); He also promoted three out of ten generals among the township soldiers. Although the sparrow is small, it has all the organs, and directly makes a tissue...... even asked Zuo You to hang the name of marching counselor, and the staff group was established, although there was only one person.

In the evening, Guo Shao and his side discussed matters, and the four people present, Zuo You also began to participate in the discussion. The second requisition order was agreed, and each family was asked to contribute iron tools to the blacksmith shop in the town. Yang Biao was responsible for the training of soldiers, Guo Shao prepared materials and weapons, and Zuo You and Luo Mengzi supervised the construction of fortifications.

……

Wuzhen Town originally had a rammed city wall, but it was in disrepair and collapsed and dilapidated in many places. The soil is directly used to dig a trench outside the wall, and then compacted with clay. Yang Biao's suggestion was to add a wall and a deep ditch, and the ditch should be sharpened with bamboo to increase the defense; Nail a horse-rejecting stake outside the ditch. Manpower and materials are very scarce, and this can only be done.

The north side of this place is against the mountain, there are woods and bamboo forests on the mountain, choose one to two zhang of hard bamboo, one end is sharpened, it is a spear. Not as sharp and durable as iron guns, but also useful, lighter and longer than solid wood, which infantry can use against cavalry temporarily; If it is not durable, one person can prepare a few, which can be used for those township soldiers who help to defend.

The temporary old and weak villagers were not fully armoured, and most of the armor turned out by the old soldiers was rusty and damaged. So they used wooden blocks and bamboo chips to drill into the void to make simple scale armor that was not fully supplemented, and the protection was not very good, but it was better than nothing.

Two days later, I heard that Li Desheng actually came back with two truckloads of things in person, maybe he stayed in Luzhou uneasily, and after all, he was still afraid of Li Yun's accountability? Guo Shao heard the news and went out to take a look, and immediately understood that this guy was definitely a miser, and he got some broken copper and iron around his neck, and fortunately, the two mule carts were loaded with a lot of coarse grain...... His family's fortune must be more than just a few things. Guo Shao was inconvenient to deal with him, so he generously accepted the grain.

Because after Li Desheng's wife and children were sent to Luzhou, there were no female dependents at home, and Guo Shao and others had moved to the relatively spacious Li family as a station. When Li Desheng returned to his home, he saw that there were debris everywhere, and he had been turned beyond recognition.

In the past two days, Guo Shao has re-rotated the terrain of Wuyan Town several times, and when he returned to Li Desheng, he continued to discuss tactics with the people in the house:

"Wuzhen Town is surrounded by high mountains on one side and vulnerable to enemies on three sides, and the length of the wall is estimated to be nearly two miles on foot. Our soldiers are only a hundred people, and most of them are old and weak, and if we defend to the death, the strength is not enough; It has been said that the Khitans are good at field warfare, so it is not good to go out of the city to fight in the field, we have no cavalry and lack of bows and arrows, and we will lose the battle. Only by trying to lure the enemy into the city, using the terrain of the fortifications to make it impossible for the enemy to deploy, and destroying the enemy with the help of walls and alleys; That's why I asked the people to build walls to cut off the roads on the two central roads. ”

…… Six or seven days passed in a blink of an eye, and Wuyan Town was basically ready, but the surrounding area was still as peaceful as death, no different from countless days. The soldiers were a little worried that the Khitan soldiers would not come. Strange to think about, it would have been a good thing that the enemy did not come, but now people are looking forward to a battle. Because everyone has been busy for many days, smashing pots and irons to build fortifications, and training for a long time, if it is useless, wouldn't it be a waste of work? People don't seem to think about what is the best outcome.

The soldiers are gearing up, even the village soldiers are not old, looking forward to it, and there are hundreds of people who work with miscellaneous people to report to the city gate every day. Guo Shao set up sentinels on all sides and a mile away, and sent people to take turns as scouts day and night. There are also people on duty on the city wall every day, so it can be said that everything is ready.

"Why haven't the Khitan soldiers come yet?" The old guard standing outside the door also muttered.

Guo Shao let them discuss, of course he would not say things like "it's better if you don't come", so as not to hit everyone's active fighting spirit.

In the offensive and defensive situation, the defender naturally has an advantage, but at the cost of giving up the initiative; Whether to fight or not depends on others, and it is up to you to what extent.