Guo Shaobu crossed the Hutuo River and saw that the barracks' fences, arrow towers, latrines, and ditches had been built, and a large amount of firewood and coal (coal) had been hoarded outside each camp. immediately rewarded the history of Qizhou Thorn, not to mention not being able to enter the city.

As we entered October, the weather became colder and colder as the north wind blew, but fortunately there was plenty of fuel. The generals supplied firewood and charcoal to the ministries, and burned charcoal in the felt-roofed tents day and night, and everyone did not want to go out. Before Guo Shao went to sleep, he put the iron cup full of water for his meal outside the tent, and when he got up the next morning, he was frozen with a thick layer of ice overnight.

Hebei is so cold, but the imperial court has transferred the army here to spend the winter. Within two days, Guo Shao summoned several generals to discuss: "The intention of the Privy Council to transfer troops may be to start deploying troops in advance, and second, to let us prepare for the attack on the city as soon as possible." We have to send some scouts to Waqiaoguan to explore the fortifications and the reality. ”

The left chamber is stationed in the current place, and it is mainly infantry, Guo Shao thinks, maybe as soon as the war starts, it will be to fight the Waqiao Pass in the north, and then he remembered to smash the wall with **. He first asked the generals how to prepare, and wanted to hear their opinions first.

"You don't have to tackle it." Unexpectedly, Li Chuyun said directly.

Guo Shao hurriedly asked why.

Li Chuyun looked back around and said, "Zhou Duan is not here today. A few days ago, when he talked about Liao, I noticed that his words were fierce, so I didn't open my mouth to argue, but I really didn't agree with it in my heart. ”

When the generals heard this, they all agreed, and scolded again. It was really unpleasant to look at Zhou Duan like this, and it was normal for the generals to look unpleasant. Zhou Duan's speech is indeed often exaggerated and unreliable, for example, if you want to say that the color of a thing is white, you will definitely try your best to say that it is whiter than snow. But Guo Shao didn't care, Zhou Duan said that he just picked it up and listened to it, just as the ancients said, "If you listen to it, you will be clear and believe in it."

Li Chuyun said: "In my opinion, so many tribes in Liao are screwed together, and the lord of the country is unpopular, and the weakness is that the interior is very scattered. Especially in the land of clouds, most of them are Han'er, and persuasion is better than siege. The time for Youzhou to be cut out is not very long, the Khitan people do not trust Han'er, and Han'er in the land of clouds thinks about returning. The guards of Waqiao Pass and other places are all Han generals, and they will not want to defend to the death, once the Northern Expedition begins, the main man will play the vanguard to persuade him to surrender. ”

"Kind of makes sense." Guo Shao nodded and said, "But you still have to prepare with both hands, and get some raw materials in the book to reserve; Once the enemy army does not surrender, it will bomb the city with **. Even if it is not necessary to fight Waqiaoguan and other places, if the troops can come to Youzhou City at that time, blow up the city wall and attack the city, it will also do its best to recover Youyun. ”

Li Chuyun said: "What the lord said is very true, and it is indeed possible to prepare. However, I will leave the words here to the brothers here, and when the imperial army arrives, there will be no vicious battle when it reaches Youzhou, and it will be enough to recruit rebels along the road; The victory or defeat of the Northern Expedition focused on the reinforcements of the Liao State. The current situation of the Liao State depends on whether they can send a large army to rescue them, and whether the reinforcements can work together to protect Youzhou...... Otherwise, most of the land of clouds is Han'er, and it will be easy for Wang Shi to recover it as soon as he arrives.

Li Chuyun looked back and said: "Come and see tomorrow at the beginning of spring." If I don't say it right, you can laugh at me to my face, and I will stand the mockery! ”

At this time, Zuo You spoke: "I also agree with General Li's words. And in a word, if the lord is surrendered, he should treat the Han'er of Youzhou equally and kindly; I have heard that the people of this place are fierce, and Yan Zhao has many tragic and heroic people since ancient times, and if the lord wins the hearts of the people of Youzhou, the merit will be in the long-term trend. ”

…… Guo Shao turned over the previous idea of the command system again. In Tokyo, he was tied and couldn't make trouble, and now he led the troops out, as long as he didn't leave the station too far, why didn't he say a word to the main general?

At the moment, I didn't care about the cold weather, so I couldn't wait to start putting it into practice.

(The left flank has a total of six corps and thirty-nine commanders (including the cavalry directly under Dong Zunxun's department). Guo Shao ordered a total of 45 generals from the 6th Army and 39 commanders, and each general selected six familiar personal soldiers to form a herald command of about 270 people; Under the command, there are three capital heads, 12 10 generals, and 45 fire chiefs.

Luo Mengzi also led the herald command, and transferred fifteen soldiers to serve as more than ten generals. In this way, Luo Mengzi and the generals can gradually recognize these heralds. In the future, there will be no need for so many procedures for the summons, and the recognition of people is; Ordinary simple military orders are dictated, and important military orders are in writing.

These two hundred and seventy men were divided into two when they entered the battlefield. Half remained in the Chinese army, and the other half were scattered around their respective commanders to communicate with each other.

Guo Shao added another measure to this system, and the signatures of him, Zuo You, and Zhou Duan were distributed to all generals, and written military orders must be signed by one of the three to count. There are also multiple anti-counterfeiting such as the order flag and the main general's seal, and these things are not complicated as long as they are stamped. ）

Zuo You and Zhou Duan are not as idle as before, the two of them set up a staff office, and selected some literate soldiers in the army as helpers. First, build a staff shelf similar to the staff department.

After Guo Shao set up the staff office and the herald organization, he couldn't wait to start the drill.

He felt that the operation of the confrontation exercise was too complicated and the conditions were insufficient, so he only asked the various units to carry out simulated movements and marches at the moment. It was agreed that the drill would begin around 1 November, and before that, he and the generals made some military adjustments and preparations.

That Zhao Kuangyin selected soldiers in front of the palace to implement the elimination system, and Guo Shao was also making trouble, but he did not eliminate the soldiers, but only conducted organizational drills.

It snowed heavily on the first of November, and on the second it was sunny and windy. The divisions were ordered to assemble troops in the open space by the river.

The sky and the earth are white, and the rivers have frozen. When Guo Shao came out of the tent, he vomited white vapor between his breaths, and the weather was very cold. A group of people rushed to the front of the formation, only to see that nearly 20,000 people had gathered in formation, and the white snow made the horses look black and oppressive, and the left and right wings were more than a mile apart, and the array was still relatively dense.

Each department ordered its own troops, and then the generals came up to report, just as they did on weekdays. Then Guo Shao only said: "Do what you order." ”

At that moment, as soon as the drums were beating in the Chinese military camp, Guo Shao took out a booklet that was written in a mess, and ordered: "Order the cavalry of the Third Army's Dong Zunxun Department to approach to the north, and the target of the straw man is the enemy, search for the enemy army to fight!" ”

The herald quickly took the military order, and rode up with the command flag. After a while, sure enough, the horse army in the middle of the left flank began to move, and thousands of horsemen set out in the roar of horses' hooves. Guo Shao was very happy to see this, and soon ordered Yang Biao's five commanders to follow up and "reinforce" the horsemen; Deng Fei's horse team made a detour from the right flank to "attack".

When the troops arrived at the battlefield, they sent heralds back to report the situation.

Guo Shao then began to issue one or two fake military orders, which were not sent out by heralds, and were not stamped with the seal and signature of the Chinese army.

Later, the orders became more and more complex; The military order expounded on the "intentions" of the Chinese army in large quantities, and ordered all departments to temporarily judge the situation and move on their own...... However, the situation was not optimistic, and before noon the various divisions began to run around, because some ambiguous military orders confused the generals; There are also other reasons, such as poor conditions and poor preparation for the drill, and the generals cannot imagine any situation at all.

However, the overall effect is still good, and the herald system is very fast, but everyone is not very adaptable.

Next, Guo Shao gathered troops for drills every three or five days, and often convened the fifty or sixty generals to discuss and summarize the "combat intentions". The familiar battle experiences are selected for each imaginary battle, such as several major battles against Shu and various battles in Huainan, and simulated mobilization.

Guo Shao said when the Chinese army summoned the generals: "Future military orders may only describe intentions, because the situation on the battlefield is ever-changing, and the Chinese shogunate cannot understand the situation in time...... For example, if we want to ambush the enemy army somewhere, I will call you, and Luo Yanhuan will ambush on the road; As a result, you find that the enemy army does not go from that road, why do you still lie there and wait? ”

When the generals heard this, they should all understand, and they immediately burst into laughter.

Guo Shao said: "So I will only send someone to pass the order, Luo Yanhuan, you send someone to set up an ambush somewhere." Our intention is to ambush, and how to ambush depends on General Luo's decision according to the form and improvisation. Then you send scouts to discover the enemy's movements, as long as you find a way to achieve the intention of ambush, then you will be considered to have made meritorious service in accordance with the military order. ”

Guo Shao also said: "In the future, we will reward and reward the soldiers in the left wing, in addition to the victory, the main thing is to see whether the combat intention is completed. All the departments are one, and the purpose is to win a battle; Otherwise, no matter how many units are captured, but the whole army is defeated, what is the use? ”

The Hujie army was stationed outside the city of Qizhou, and in a short period of time, Guo Shao did a lot of things, and changed the military rules of the left chamber.

After receiving a reward from the imperial court after the war, he distributed benefits and money to cover the dead and wounded soldiers, and calculated a part of the military salary and reward money in the army to provide bereavement to the family...... According to the original rules of the forbidden army, the horse leather shroud died when it died, and unless those who died of meritorious service, the emperor and the Privy Council would additionally posthumously pay for the bereavement.

Guo Shao's approach diluted the benefits that everyone could get, but no one objected. After all, everyone can die if they go into battle. He felt that doing so would humanize and strengthen the centripetal force of the organization. Everything is groping and discussing changes with everyone, Guo Shao feels that there is no need to stick to the rules, there can be a better way to just change the rules.

There is also a guest provincial envoy in the army, Zan Jurun, who estimated that he had reported the situation to a small extent, but no one in the imperial court paid attention to Guo Shao...... Guo Shao also wrote to ask for raw materials, saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal, and prepared them.

He actually didn't want to attack the city, especially the kind of city in Youzhou, but when he couldn't attack it for a long time, he probably couldn't hide it; Besides, if he can recover Youzhou, he also wants to help Chai Rong do his best.

When Guo Shao had time, he wrote a letter to Fu Ermei, and wrote three letters in a row, telling her about the situation in Qizhou, the weather is very cold, and there are many military affairs, etc., and then he has to describe some longing; Say something intimate, there are no women in the army who occasionally dream of being with her or something. Anyway, it was just a private letter, and Guo Shao didn't pay much attention to it.