"Three or five months, that's too long." Lan Zhen said.

He didn't complain because he couldn't bear it for so long. Your Majesty is a man of understanding, and will not rush them because they have been in the city of Duobang for too long; Although it is very inconvenient to transport grain from Guangxi to Baihe without water, the loss on the road can also be borne by the Ming Dynasty; As for the discussion from the outside world, he didn't care. He said this because he was concerned about the consequences of the delay.

The reason why the early Ming Dynasty went smoothly was that in addition to the brave and fierce soldiers and the proper command of the main general, it was also because the Annan people were afraid of the soldiers of the Great Tomorrow, and ten percent of the ability to fight could not play one or two percent; At the same time, the Ming Dynasty played the banner of avenging the Chen Dynasty, and both the family and the people missed the Chen Dynasty, so it was so.

However, if it is delayed for a long time, the soldiers of Annan will suddenly find that the combat power of the original kingdom is only like this, and they are helpless when they encounter places with high mountains and dense forests, and their self-confidence will be greatly enhanced; People's nostalgia for the Chen Dynasty will become weaker and weaker, and the battle will become more and more difficult to fight.

At the same time, there will be problems on the side of the Ming army. Now is not the time for the founding of the country, and the soldiers are all dragging their families with them, and if they are not allowed to return to their hometowns for a long time, their fighting spirit will become lower and lower, and their combat effectiveness will become lower and lower. If he survives to the end and is beaten by the Annamite people in a big victory, what face will he have to deal with His Majesty?

"Besides, if you want to conquer the city of Dobang, you can only hope that there will be an inner city to meet our army." Mu Sheng also understood Lan Zhen's thoughts, and said.

Lan Zhen picked up the clairvoyance and looked at Duobang City in the distance, then put it down again, and said: "There are as many as sixty or seventy thousand defenders in Duobang City, and the guards must also be Hu Jichen's cronies, even if there are one or two people who try to do it, it is useless, unless they can blow up the cannon." But Hu Jichen is not stupid, the soldier in charge of the cannon must be the person he trusts the most, how can he easily let the cannon be blown up?

At this point, the two of them were silent for a while and did not speak. In fact, in addition to counting on the internal response in the city, there is also a possibility of conquering the city of Duobang, but if that situation really happens, even if the two of them conquer the city of Duobang, it will not be considered a credit.

However, "even if it is not credited, it is better than being defeated by the Annanes." Lan Zhen said: "Let's put aside the idea of capturing Duobang City for the time being, wait for the middle and rear armies led by Uncle Zhang to come, and also wait for the good news from other places." He Rong's left army should have already set off. ”

……

……

In the early morning of the same day, Haikang Institute of Leizhou Prefecture.

The sky has just dawned, but the vicinity of Haikang is already full of people. Countless people in thin clothes walked around the yard, lining up to wash and go to the toilet.

By the time dawn came, everyone had washed up and gone to cook under the leadership of hundreds of households. A bowl of rice per person, soaked in broth, and a scrambled egg with cucumber, if not enough, you can add more. Although it is simple, it is a rare delicacy for them little soldiers.

However, it is precisely because today's breakfast is so rich that many people are uneasy. When the soldiers from all over the 100 households gathered to eat together, there were many people secretly muttering something.

"Have you heard, today we are going to set off to cross the sea to fight the Annanes." A burly soldier said to the man beside him.

"I've heard about it for a long time; And even if you haven't heard of it, you know it when you see today's breakfast. Don't they all say so in the commentary, let the soldiers have a full meal before the three armies set off? Today's breakfast was much better than usual, and I added it casually, and it looked like it was about to go. A tall man said.

"Damn, I don't know how the Annam people are fighting, whether they are strong or weak compared to the Mongols." The burly soldier said again.

"It can't be compared. The Mongols fought on horseback, and the Annamite people fought on elephants, and the land was full of woods and rivers, so there was no way to ride horses. The tall soldier said.

"Elephants? What is an elephant? The burly soldier asked curiously. They were soldiers of Xingwuwei in the capital, and this was the first time they had come to the south of Wuling, and he had never seen or even heard of elephants.

"I haven't seen it either, but I heard that Wei Li once followed the old Mu Hou Ye and the old Liang Guogong to Yunnan to fight in the seniors said that the elephant is a particularly tall animal, the size of an elephant is the size of six or seven cattle in the hometown, and the whole earth trembles when it runs." The tall soldier said.

"Are you talking nonsense, where there are woods and rivers everywhere, and even horses can't run, and elephants of such size can ride away?" The burly soldier said.

The tall soldier asked him this question, and he didn't know what to say; was about to make up a nonsense, when he suddenly caught a glimpse of Cao Zheng, who was sitting under the big tree on the side, so he pointed to Cao Zheng and said: "Cao Baihu must know, you ask Cao Baihu." ”

The burly soldier looked at Cao Zheng and saw that he had no rice bowl in his hand, so he estimated that he had finished eating, and he passed with courage.

Cao Zheng finished eating, washed the rice bowl and put it back in the package, and sat down under a big tree as usual, looking up at the sky, of course, in the direction of the absence of the sun.

While watching, he muttered to himself, "Why do these stars hang in the sky and not fall?" ”

He was looking at it, and suddenly he heard someone say, "Lord Baihu." ”

He came back to his senses, looked sideways in the direction where the voice came from, saw the burly soldier under him, and said, "Weber, what's wrong?" ”

The burly soldier named Webber actually regretted it as soon as he opened his mouth. Although Cao Zheng is very generous to them on weekdays, and he doesn't have any arrogance, it is because of this that he dares to come over and ask questions; But Cao Zheng is a hundred households after all, it is said that he has a big background, and it is not long when he came to their thousand households, I don't know if the generosity of these days is pretended or true, if he is annoyed by his question, there are ten thousand ways to make him worse than death. 'Why am I so confused!' He repented in his heart.

But the words have already been spoken, if he said that I am teasing you, the end is estimated to be even worse, and he said stubbornly: "Lord Baihu, my subordinates just heard Pan De say that the Annan people ride elephants when they fight, but he also said that Annan is full of woods and rivers, and elephants are much bigger than oxen, so the small ones are a little unbelievable. So the little ones came to ask the adults, did the Annamites really ride elephants that were much bigger than oxen to fight? ”

"It is true that there are Annamites who ride elephants to fight, but not all of them ride, only a few soldiers. The elephants are very large and have a lot to eat, and although there are not many soldiers in Annam, there are more than 100,000 people, how can they afford to support so many elephants. Cao Zheng was not angry, but explained to him.

Although Cao Zheng was not angry, Webber did not dare to ask any more, and complimented him a few words to return to the original place.

As soon as he returned to his original place, he grabbed the tall soldier's arm and said, "You kid deliberately manipulated me, didn't you?" I was asked to ask Lord Hyaknohe! ”

The soldier named Pande exclaimed, "I was just amusing you, and who knew you were so bold as to ask!" ”

"Are you really kidding me? I don't think you're a good kid. He said, increasing his strength as he spoke.

Pande immediately called out to Qu, and the other soldiers on the side also persuaded him, although Weber was still a little suspicious, but everyone was an acquaintance, and it was not easy to hold on, and he grabbed his arm hard for a while and then put the matter down.

At this time, another soldier asked him, "Old Wei, is our new Cao Baihu looking up at the sky as usual?" ”

"It's looking up at the sky." Weber said.

"Isn't there something abnormal about our new Cao Baihu? There's something to see on this day. If you look at it at night, at least there are stars. Although I don't understand what the stars are so beautiful, and it's not allowed to look at the stars at night, there is still something to do; I can't see anything but the sun in this big daytime, what is there to see! Someone said.

"Just now I heard adults talk to themselves about why the stars can hang in the air and not fall." Webber Road.

"What's there to think about here? The stars are always in the middle of the sky and don't fall. It seems that our hundred households are really abnormal. ”

"Don't talk nonsense! Our Cao Baihu is not small, be careful of your future. Didn't you see that the master of the thousand households never put an official on his shelf, and every time the guard divides something, we are the first one to catch it? Pande said.

"Big deal? What kind of family is that? ”

"Anyway, it must be bigger than the origin of the thousand households."

"Aren't you talking nonsense! If it is smaller than a thousand households, how can a thousand households see our hundred households when they are as affectionate as if they are seeing their fathers. ”

"How am I talking nonsense? Our father of Qianhu is a commander, and Baihu is more powerful than his family, at least a commander. ”

"Do you know that the commander is useful? There are so many commanders in the capital, do you know which one? ”

"......" everyone argued about Cao Zheng's origin.

But Weber, who was the first to speak, didn't guess with them. On the one hand, guessing this is completely meaningless, it's just idle nonsense, he eats too much in the morning and his throat is dry; The two, the words of Cao Zheng that he had just repeated, always felt as if he had heard them somewhere, and kept thinking about them.

But before he could come up with a result, Lord Qianhu came over and shouted loudly: "It's all different, it's assembled, hurry up and be led by Baihu to the place where it gathers." You kid hasn't finished eating yet, when is this, you're a fucking rice bucket, hurry up and finish the rice in the bowl, and follow you hundred households to gather. You, what kind of bowl are you brushing, usually put it in the sink and pull it down, at this time it's fake clean with me, right, quickly put the bowl into the package and carry it to the collection. It's too late to see if I don't ram you! ”

In the midst of the scolding voices of the thousand households, all the soldiers hurriedly stood up, picked up their packages and carried them on their backs; Cao Zheng also came to his senses, put on his coat, and rushed to the assembly place with his soldiers.

However, the more Cao Zheng walked, the more strange it became: although his mind was not on military affairs, and he was only interested in astronomy, he also knew that today they were going to take a boat to fight the Annan people on the other side, and it stands to reason that they should gather near the port and wait in line to get on the ship.

He then quietly approached Qianhu and asked, "Ma Qianhu, where are we going?" Don't take a boat to fight the Annamite? ”

Before Qianhu could answer, they had already finished walking the path sandwiched between the mountains and the sea, and their eyes suddenly became brighter.

Cao Zheng swept his eyes and saw that this was a valley, with mountains on three sides and the sea on one side, and the mountains on three sides were not high, about ten zhang, which was called a soil slope or more appropriate; There are people on the dirt slope.

His gaze continued to scan, and suddenly he saw something, his pupils contracted slightly, and he already knew roughly what he was going to do.

At this moment, Qianhu's voice also came: "Cao Baihu, just when everyone was eating, we Xingwuwei should come here and listen to Your Majesty's holy voice." ”

Rao is Cao Zheng was still surprised because he knew that Yun Xi had come to Haikang yesterday and had just seen the honor guard that only the emperor could use, and he had guessed this: except for the time when the country was just founded, although there were also emperors who lectured the army, but mainly to military generals, not soldiers; And this lecture can be seen from the locality, in order to let more people hear His Majesty's voice, which can be seen to ordinary soldiers. This is rare in history, except for the emperor's personal expedition.

While thinking about it in his heart, Cao Zheng took his hundred households and followed the thousands of households to continue walking, until he stood still in one place.

Then many more soldiers entered, until the whole valley was filled. At a cursory glance, there are about thirty or forty thousand people standing in the valley, densely packed with human heads.

Cao Zheng saw the ship sail to the nearby sea, and the deck was full of people.

I am afraid that there are fifty or sixty thousand people who will listen to His Majesty's teachings. With so many people, what the hell does Your Majesty have to say? Cao Zheng was even more curious.

At this moment, a voice came from above the upper valley, and the voice became clearer and clearer from far to near: "Your Majesty has arrived!" ”

Suddenly, there was a "buzzing" sound below the valley. Cao Zheng and Ma Qianhu are both relatively well-connected people, so when Commander Wei summoned the soldiers, he privately told Ma Qianhu the truth, and Ma Qianhu also told Cao Zheng; But most people didn't know that they were very surprised to hear the sound of His Majesty's arrival at this moment, and they couldn't help but chat with people nearby. They also raised the same question as Cao Zheng: Your Majesty must be going to lecture us, what do you want to say?

Soon, the emperor's guard of honor came to the front of the valley, and although there was no one to maintain order, all the soldiers invariably stopped talking and looked up at the guard of honor above.

Not long after, a young man in his twenties wearing a dragon robe walked to the front of the valley, and several people wearing seven-rank official uniforms shouted in unison: "Your Majesty has arrived!" ”

"Minister/villain/subordinate/standard, I have seen Your Majesty, long live Your Majesty, long live Long live!" Below the valley, such a sound sounded. Their self-proclaimed names were different, and they were very scattered at first, but later on, their voices became uniform, chanting in unison.