"The chariots, the horses, and the pedestrians, bows and arrows are at their waists."

Looking at the gray hues of the team winding between the mountains and green fields in front and back, Zhou Huai'an couldn't help but think of and whispered Du Fu's "Soldier Chariot Travel"; IT'S JUST THAT HE QUICKLY SHUT HIMSELF UP, BECAUSE THE NEXT VERSES ARE A LITTLE UNLUCKY, AND IT'S JUST ABOUT TO ERECT THE RHYTHM OF THE FLOG;

What "the grandmother and wife went to see each other, and the dust did not see the Xianyang Bridge." ”

What" Tie Yi stopped crying, and the cry went straight up to the sky. ”

That's okay, it only reflects the worry about the danger of the war, but the next one:

"The side pavilion bleeds into the sea, and Emperor Wu has no intention of opening the side."

"If you give birth to a daughter, you have to marry your neighbor, and if you give birth to a man, you will be buried with the grass."

"You don't see, Qinghai head, no one has collected the white bones in ancient times."

"The new ghost is annoyed and the old ghost is crying, and the sky is cloudy and rainy."

It's as bad as you want, because this describes the battle of Shibao City, which is against Tibet; As a result, together with the Anshi Rebellion, the land and key points taken at countless costs were all cheapened by the Tubo people together with Hexi Longyou.

Then, he refocused his divergent attention on his side, and now the cyan pony that replaced the original mule under his crotch, as well as the primary color nail leather armor he wore on his upper body, can be said to be the so-called "heroic gift" sent by Cao Shixiong in his personal name before the expedition;

Although as a materialist outlook and materialized social atmosphere, he has always felt that the other party's enthusiasm is a little excessive and uncomfortable, but he will not be hypocritical or anything about this matter related to his personal safety. A collar of armor may be able to block deadly arrows, while a young young pony represents a faster run and a larger load when the odds are bad.

The half-new, well-worn nail armor had been reworked and reworked by the tailors and cobblers of the battalion to become quite forming; Not only was the nail iron on the outer edge polished and tightened, but the inner lining was also cemented with a thinner wrought iron sheet; The saddle and chew on the little green horse are also sorted out according to height and weight, and the rigging, leather guard, saddle bag, quiver, bow cover and gun carriage are all ready-made;

According to observation, this little green horse is only two to three years old, and after a certain amount of domestication, there is no indentation left by too much riding and weight-bearing, and there is obviously room for further development and exercise, although it takes more effort to control it when riding, it is also much more light and flexible; As a result, the mule, which was originally used exclusively for transportation, abdicated and became a candidate for carrying personal belongings.

This made Zhou Huai'an feel a little happy for a while, and at the same time, he couldn't help but secretly complain a few words, these things are really suspicious of being a pearl, is this counting on himself to be able to take the lead in the charge, he can only run faster than others when things are wrong or dangerous.

In contrast, the other kindness that came more from the rear soldiers and horses Cao Shixiong or Wang Chongyin was also unexpectedly sent to the angry wind camp as scheduled; It's just second-hand weapons and used tent blankets, but it's just the right time. In the words that the head Wang Pan made fun of, it was, "This time we are all stained with the light of the monk." ”

Because the Angry Wind Battalion can only be regarded as one of the partial divisions that set off later, it is not eligible to participate in the flag-sacrificing ceremony held in the north of the city by the main force of the brigade before; Therefore, the process of swearing to the camp in private is also quite simple and shabby.

It's just that before leaving, gather everyone together and line up, and then on the temporary wooden platform, with three pigs, cattle and sheep, worship a chiyou flag decorated with a bull's head on behalf of the so-called military god, and shout a few words of congratulations and slogans.

This time, the Fury Wind Battalion, which had just been expanded to more than 3,000 people, mobilized about four-fifths of its strength. It can be said that except for the old and weak remnant camp, which is really inconvenient to travel far, all the young and strong who can be used under it have gone into battle; In Wang Pan's words, whether the rebuilt Angry Wind Battalion can raise its eyebrows and regain the leadership of the righteous army depends on the performance of this dynasty.

Among them, there are more than 2,100 theoretical soldiers, which are specifically arranged into three small sub-battalions on the left, middle and right, of which the middle sub-battalion is fully equipped with 1,000 people, which is personally controlled by the head Wang Pan; The two new pawns on the left and right accounted for a large proportion of the sub-battalions, respectively, led by Lin Ziquan, the newly promoted captain of the brand knife team, and Deputy Captain Lu, who was turned into a captain;

As for the remaining 500-odd non-combatants, they were unsurprisingly placed under the command of Zhou Huai'an, the new battalion manager, and were responsible for maintaining and caring for most of the cattle and carts that carried the heavy loads. Of course, as a strengthened rear team baggage guard force, in addition to the already more than 30 people, Wang Pan finally drew a dissatisfied team from the left, middle and right three sub-battalions, and the right to obey the order under Zhou Huai'an for a while.

Among them, there were fifty-seven people from the Central Branch Battalion, and the team officer was also an acquaintance, Cheng Da Yan and a dozen spear-wielding veterans under him were the most basic core strength; The left battalion was less than half of the team, and among the forty-one men there were only eleven licensed pawns, and the rest were new pawns turned spearmen;

In the end, it was obvious that the proportion of posts under the familiar Captain Lu was the highest, and there were seventy-eight archers of all colors, of which in addition to the sixty wooden bows, there were also eighteen veterans who used modified wooden single crossbows, and they were obviously full of favor and sincerity.

Coupled with a fire directly under Lao Guan's name, everyone has a leather armor cover and a hair-edged hat, plus half of the iron single crossbow and half of the modified crossbow machine, as well as multiple equipment such as knives and spears used in melee rotation. The total number of people under Zhou Huai'an is about 200 people, but the specific performance and combat effectiveness are difficult to say; Obviously, further practical running-in and training are needed.

Well, even two hundred pigs are a valuable asset, let alone two hundred soldiers who are initially armed and simply trained.

Because of the limited time before the battle, many preparations were still a bit rushed; However, Zhou Huaian still used this time as much as possible to take some countermeasures and changes within the scope of his position.

For example, in terms of fire cooking, in addition to those fried rice, dead noodles and dry cakes and other instant rations and collected wind wax products, he also instructed people to consume a lot of firewood and charcoal to cultivate a lot of dried vegetables day and night; It is mainly a concentrated product made from seaweed, kelp, staghorn and other seafood that can be found everywhere, as well as radish, bean sprouts, camellia, mushrooms, amaranth, cress, Kunlun melon (eggplant), gourd, courgette, etc., and vegetables collected from nearby miscellaneous miscellaneous as raw materials, and dried and dehydrated with salt and sauce.

The young men who were assigned to "learn some crafts and skills" under him were also assigned to each team by the flag language team that had been completed for a few days as an auxiliary means of heralding. Of course, because of the experimental nature, priority is given to those teams that have a good relationship or have a relationship.

In such a short period of time, it is only enough to use the reward and punishment method of starvation and meat punishment to make them remember the most basic "advance and retreat stop", "fast and slow", "walk and run", "gather and disperse", "turn left and right", "squat and stand", "far and near", and so on, and a dozen simple flag color changes and corresponding passwords.

Of course, the specific reaction and delay effect will definitely vary from person to person, and even all kinds of problems and surprises will occur, but it is better to have this thing than not to have it. Therefore, after Wang Pan only made a rough demonstration, he made up his mind to apply it in the pole team composed of pawns.

As for the "sentry team" composed of veterans, because of the small number of people and the direct command, there is also a tactical coordination and tacit understanding that has been established in the law, so it is not good to make too many changes and adjustments for the time being, because it will affect morale and cause a backlash.

However, Lao Guan's team, under his strict supervision and leading by example, memorized this set of extremely simple flags and supporting actions for good students as a model for others;

In addition, because a whole warehouse of hoarded paper was accidentally found, mainly mulberry paper and jute paper; Many of them have been stored for too long, and they have become decayed and moth-eaten; However, this also gave birth to a bold idea and creativity for Zhou Huai'an, which was to try to make some paper armor;

The principle of paper armor is very simple, as long as it is mounted with hard cloth and then prevaricated with paper tendons. The actual operation is to soak a large piece of paper with paste, and stack it and hammer it with all its strength until it is thin; Historically, it was mainly used for foot soldiers in southern China, and because of its light body, it was also used by warships and sailors.

For example, in the Song Dynasty, because of the relative simplicity and inexpensiveness of this thing, it often appeared in the official production and allocation of paperwork.

Although after wasting a lot of rice milk and soup, the appearance of the final product is a little flattering, and after these different colors of paper are superimposed, it makes people look like beggars in doves, but in the face of the protective power that can save people's lives at a critical moment, all the expressions of disgust and criticism quickly disappear.

Although because the initial process is not up to par or there is a lack of relevant experience, the initial paper armor vest does not have the effect of "the arrow cannot be holed" recorded in the "New Tang Dynasty Book" in history; But the arrows that shot out with all his might within twenty paces were only half a minute embedded in it, and only cut a little bit of the inside; And under the strong one-handed swing of the knife, although the paper armor will still be broken and cracked, but if you want to cause damage to the inside, you need several hits on the same part to achieve the result.

This is undoubtedly an excellent choice and source of equipment for the rebel army, which was originally in poor conditions; After all, as a long-term export commodity in the big port of Guangzhou, a huge amount of paper is included.

In this way, in addition to the simple bamboo pieces and wooden blocks and rattan mat armor, those new pawns who originally did not have wheels have a batch of supplementary and replacement armor temporarily.

Then Zhou Huai'an made improvements and corrections, because the pulped paper is obviously very well shaped, so it can be molded into various protective parts such as shawls, backs, knee covers, shoulder pads and other protective parts according to the shape of the human body, and a layer of tung oil is pasted to achieve a limited waterproof effect;

If you don't look carefully at the close, it will be black and gray and you can't see the original appearance, but you will have a relatively consistent hue at the beginning. Then use a mold to beat and forge a pattern similar to a piece of armor, and it has the vague appearance of the original regular armor.

It was only after going north out of the boundary of Guangzhou that a messenger who came again made the face of the head Wang Pan not look so good, and then he was temporarily anxious about a small range of deliberations, and Zhou Huai'an was able to know.

The original order to join the men and horses of the previous brigade was cancelled; This time, unlike most of the rebels, they were ordered to follow the official road all the way to the east, to the southeast coastal area outside of Canton, to quell and suppress the local commotion and turmoil, which was theoretically a task and goal of low intensity;

After all, most places in this direction had been on the attack route of Huangchao's southward enveloping army, and the organized officers and troops and resistance forces had almost been swept away, and the place had become quite dilapidated and withered. But it also means that there is a lack of opportunities and credit for performance.

However, for Zhou Huai'an, who has a mind and has developed here for a long time, it is also a good choice for Greentown and experience to be able to go on a relatively safe armed parade.

。。。。。。

At the same time, it has been driven out of Guangzhou and ready to go.

"It turned out to be in the direction of Xunzhou"

Wang Chongyin also asked in a slightly surprised way.

"I'm afraid that Wang Pan's guy was targeted by someone,"

But it's no wonder that his subordinates have not only been in the limelight in recent days. And a lot of extra benefits."

A subordinate general said unabashedly.

"I'm afraid that someone is red-eyed and angry. This time it's just a trick."

"But if that's the case, it's a bit out of line with the department's plan."

But Cao Shixiong was a little worried.

"It's okay, you can continue to make friends with you in private."

Wang Chongyin was unimpressed.

"I'll handle the affairs of the official."

Of course, Wang Chongyin still has unfinished thinking about this, or it is inconvenient to speak out about the place;

For example, under the huge appeal and prestige of the Yellow King, in addition to the closest wronged brothers and the people of the Salt Party, as well as Changheng Jian'er who was incorporated from the old department of General Wang, there are actually several different factions and mountains, which respectively control the rights and resources of the middle and lower classes of this righteous army.

They often use the relationship between the township party and the clan from different regions as a link, and form a top-down large and small interest group in the core force of the so-called "hundreds of thousands" of the rebel army; Wang Chongyin's back-of-the-back soldiers and horses are also one of them; At least in some details and unimportant matters, even the Yellow King has to take their attitudes and opinions into account.

It's just that when the defeat of Fujian to Da Yuling came over, and many righteous generals who saw that the situation was not good, they led their troops to surrender the official army, and turned back to raise the butcher's knife at their comrades; Huang Wang, who had just conquered Guangzhou and initially had a respite for training and recuperation, also began to learn from the pain and wanted to change and reorganize; This obvious and firm attitude has also been gradually revealed through the recent personnel changes and the matter of rewards and punishments in the army.

The newly rebuilt Camp of Fury, which has been marginalized, may be just a pawn used to test the waters; In this case, the attitudes and positions of these people in the back compartment need to be renegotiated and reconsidered.