Sui Daye seven years, the end of March.

Zhuo County, Hebei Province, Ji County.

March was a good time for spring to bloom, but all Luo Cheng felt was the furious cold wind and the continuous freezing rain.

On the outskirts of Jixian County, Luo Cheng rubbed his hands, turned around and got into his camp again. In the middle of the tent, a pond was dug and a few half-dry logs were erected, which burned half-brightly, because the firewood was not dry, and there was always a lot of smoke when it was burned. Sitting next to the fire, although it can bring a little heat, but after a while, it can always smoke people's tears, and after a while, you have to run outside the tent to blow the cold wind to breathe, otherwise people will be fainted inside.

"It's almost April, why is it still so cold here?"

The fourth stomped his foot, turning his head to wipe away the smoked tears.

"After all, it's the north, you haven't left the customs yet, after crossing the Liao River, the land of white mountains and black waters, there is still heavy snow, you have to go to the snow in May, that is really called the cold and frozen, the scenery of the north." Luo Cheng said with a smile.

"White mountains and black water? The general is talking about the White Mountain Department and the Black Water Department of the Ya Folk people, right? Wei Zheng sat by the fire, bent his neck and put his hand in his sleeve and said.

"Hmm." Luo Cheng said, the Yan people occupied the most remote area of Liaodong at this time, and the Baishan Department was close to Goguryeo, which was a relatively civilized point of the Yan tribe, and they even submitted to Goguryeo, and the main territory was in the Jilin area of later generations. The Heishui Department is relatively more barbaric and uncivilized, and their territory is broader, basically the Heilongjiang River in later generations, as well as the Outer Northeast are their territory.

"It's a real barbarian tribe there, and it is said that it is snowy and frozen for most of the year, and they live a life of drinking blood, wearing fish skins and wild boar skins." Wei Zheng is also relatively knowledgeable, and he can actually say something about the situation of the Shen Ya Department.

The fourth child is now extremely disgusted with ice and snow, "That Lao Tzu doesn't want to go to Baishan and Heishui in his life." ”

"General, I went to the military meeting yesterday, did it say when it will be pulled?" Wei Zheng asked again.

Luo Cheng and the others were ordered by the military department to go north at the beginning of the year, and after crossing the Yellow River, they killed a bandit on the way to Douzigang, and made a lot of money, and then went all the way north without any delay.

By the beginning of March, after a slow march all the way, they still arrived at the camp of Zhuo County.

Then Luo Cheng and the others stayed here for nearly a month.

When they came, although the ice and snow in Zhuo County had melted and the canals had thawed, they still came to the field every once in a while, and even if Luo Cheng and the clothes they brought were sufficient, they still couldn't stand the ghost weather here. Although Qi County is quite cold in winter, it is still much warmer than here.

After coming for almost a month, Luo Cheng's 600 soldiers were reorganized by the Ministry of War. Originally, his 600 people were going to ride on foot, but Luo Cheng and them were drummed in their waists and played up and down. In the end, they were all put together and incorporated into the infantry.

According to the plan of the Ministry of War, all the soldiers and horses in the world will gather in Zhuo County, reorganize, and then train for several months, and wait until the first day of the first month of next year.

The conscripted army amounted to more than one million, and the army was divided into two wings, left and right, and each wing was composed of 12 route armies.

Each army is divided into soldiers and auxiliaries, and 100 people are in a team, of which there are 40 teams of cavalry and 80 teams of infantry. 10 cavalry regiments, 20 infantry regiments.

In addition, each army also has four regiments, including baggage and stragglers, which are escorted by infantry.

Luo Cheng's 600 people were all incorporated into the infantry, a regiment of 20 infantry teams, a full 2,000 people, his 600 people were not enough, and 14 teams of 1,400 people were transferred from other places, making up 2,000 people.

Because Luo Cheng spent a lot of money on dotting up and down, he also successfully got the position of the general of this regiment.

The partial general is the chief officer of this regiment, which is reorganized according to the battalion, with 20 infantry teams and one regiment, 100 people in one regiment, and the regiment has partial generals. The regiment is below the rank of general, and there are also captains, 200 commanders, and first-class officers.

A lot of money was spent, but Luo Cheng became a partial general, and his brothers Heiye and Cunxiao also became captains and captains of 200 people.

Even Wei Zheng, a guy who joined the gang halfway, officially mixed into the position of joining the army in a regiment.

Jixian County, Zhuo County, is the capital area of later generations.

In the early years, before the state was changed to a county, it was called Youzhou, which has always been the first important town in the northeast and a military town to defend against Turks and Khitans. After the emperor prepared for the Eastern Crusade, it became the base camp for the preparation of the Eastern Crusade.

Soldiers and horses from all over the country drove to Zhuojun one after another.

Zhuo County is the hub of land transportation at the north end of the Hebei Plain, and the Yongji Canal was opened in the fourth year of the Great Cause, and the water was diverted to the Yellow River in the south, and Zhuo County was reached in the north.

This year, the emperor took a dragon boat from Jiangdu to the Yongji channel through the Yellow River and reached Zhuojun.

At the same time, Jianghuai people and ships are also transferring rice from Liyang Cang, Luokou Cang, several large national grain reserve transfer warehouses to Zhuo County day and night.

As soon as the canal thawed, the ships were more than 1,000 miles away.

Because of this canal, which was newly opened for a few years, Zhuo County, which was originally the northeast tip of the world, has become the center of water and land transportation in the north.

Although Zhuojun is located on the plain, it can be located at the northern end of water and land transportation, which is a hub and has convenient transportation.

And Zhuojun north of Yanshan Mountains, west of Taihang, Chongshan Junling has become the natural barrier of the North China Plain, since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, all dynasties have built the Great Wall and passes in the Yanshan Mountains, and Zhuojun Jicheng has become the strategic center of the north.

Because of the convenience of transportation, Zhuo County has become a gathering place for millions of troops and countless grains and grasses of the Eastern Expedition.

Luo Cheng and the others came from Qi County, which is relatively close, so they came earlier. However, after a month, except for practicing every three or five days, Luo Cheng and them were just roasting the fire all day long.

There are more and more soldiers and horses gathering in Zhuo County, and the rules are becoming more and more strict.

Luo Cheng's forty teams of foot soldiers set up a battalion by themselves, and they couldn't easily leave the camp every day except for officers.

When the weather is good, Luo Cheng will practice and train his people, but when he encounters a ghost weather like today, he can only shrink in the tent and roast the fire. Because there are too many people and horses, it is difficult to beat the firewood, and now the dry firewood is gone, it is all wet firewood, and the fire can smoke to death.

"Hasn't the Mo knife I wanted come down yet? But we paid the money in full and added the money, they won't turn their faces and deny it, right? ”

Siye came in from the outside, and as soon as he sat down, he couldn't help but complain.

"Probably not, the batch of Mingguang armor we bought before will not be available." Luo Cheng was very calm. There are more and more soldiers and horses gathered in this Zhuo County, but there are more equipment stored here. Before, my father and eldest brother had been fighting here for a year.

A lot of government soldiers came, all with uneven equipment, so they supplemented here, especially many of the new military soldiers, and they were not fully equipped.

Fortunately, Luo Cheng and they have money in their hands, so they are also not fully equipped, but other government soldiers are rented, but they buy it directly. The armaments of Zhuojun are said to be piled up, one after another, but they are all under the control of Weiwei Temple.

Luo Cheng took the letter from Du Ruhui and others, found a lot of acquaintances, and finally found an official from Weiwei Temple, a six-grade official, whose grade is not high, but his real power is not small. When the money is in place, the man is very talkative.

In a month, Luo Cheng's regiment has replenished its equipment several times.

For example, his original 600 people are basically a piece of Mingguang armor for everyone now, and all of them were built during the Kaihuang period, not in the year of the Great Cause. The Mingguang armor made in the year of the emperor is the same as the meat at that time, the materials are sufficient, and the quality is reliable, ordinary bows and arrows are difficult to break the armor, and the quality is not a grade better than the Mingguang armor in the year of Daye.

Of course, such a good armor is definitely expensive.

Anyway, there is money, and the more expensive the things that can save your life on this battlefield, the better.

So Mingguang armor has one hand, and the horizontal swords and shields have also been replaced by Kaihuang, and even they have finally reached the equipment rate of 140% of the bows and arrows standard for the government soldiers, and everyone is equipped with bows, and even the crossbowmen have more than one bow.

Luo Cheng's original 200 cavalry, he was all registered as infantry here, and now he is a mounted infantry. His other 400 infantrymen, after suppressing the bandits at Douzigang, actually all of them had horses, so they all became horse infantrymen. In addition, they had a sufficient number of pack horses, with ten mules and horses for every ten people, which was much higher than the standard standard of ten people and six packs.

However, Luo Siye was bent on forming a Mo knife team, so he spent a lot of money and found the officials of Weiwei Temple to get Mo knives and thick armor.

The money was collected over there, and it agreed, but it didn't come down for a while.

"There have been a lot of new arrivals recently, and Weiwei Temple is also very busy, so we have to be considerate of the people and give them some time, and the relationship between us and Liu Zhiling is not easy to pull up, don't spoil the relationship because of these." Luo Cheng cherishes this Liu Zhizhi very much, and the relationship that was built up after seven turns and eight turns, not to mention the use of a lot of favors, the key is how much money was fed before it was cooked.

And if this relationship is broken, even if you want to spend money to feed another one, it is not easy.

In this army's crusade, weapons and equipment are the top priority, and if you have a good relationship with the commander in charge of weapons, you will not suffer.

"I'm stuck here every day, and everyone is going crazy, and they all say that the troops will be officially dispatched on the first day of the first month of last year, so we can't stay here stupidly for another eight months, right?" The fourth muttered.

"That's unlikely, I recently inquired, our batch is recruited in advance, so it is very likely that after a certain number of soldiers and horses from Zhuojun have gathered, we will set off for Liaoxi first."

Zhuojun is only a gathering place for the army and grain and grass, but the real front-line base camp is actually in Liaoxi. The imperial court has set up two important military towns in western Liaoxi as advance bases, namely Luhe Town and Huaiyuan Town, and there is also a Linhaidun by the sea.

It is not far from the front line of the Liaohe River, and it is the real forward base.

"Can we get over early? Damn, it's best to send us directly to the Liao River to garrison, so that we may have a chance to fight a few battles with the Goguryeo barbarians. "The fourth child is most disgusted with the current state, staying in the camp all day, and can't go anywhere. Even if you want to train the team hard, Tiangong will never be beautiful.

"Wait, I've been waiting for a month anyway, and it's not too late." Luo Cheng narrowed his eyes and continued to roast the fire.