After some mobilization, Yang Xuan issued an order for the southern expedition.

Ling Hezhen led the 8th Town, with the cooperation of the Machao Cavalry Association (2,000 men) and Hong Zhenglong's naval army, to closely monitor Wu Sangui's Guanning soldiers and horses in the north.

Ling Jin Tongwu led the 7th garrison to defend Wushengguan and the counties in the Dabie Mountain area to contain the Jiangbei Tartars.

The 13th town of Liu Wenxiu Town and the 15th town of Cao Zhang were ordered to guard Ezhou in case the Tartars counterattacked from Jiangnan and Jiangxi.

Ordered Guo Chonglie's 3rd town to return to Wuchang to coordinate in the center.

Leaving Yao Zhijiao's 4th town to garrison Yungui, Yang Bingyi's 5th town was out of Yungui and entered Guangxi.

Li Dingguo, the privy envoy who had just occupied Changde, led the 12th town and Hao Yongzhong's 11th town to cooperate with the main force to attack Changsha.

Yang Xuan personally led the guard town, Liu Weiming's 6th town, Cao Xun's 9th town, Feng Youqing's 10th town, Li Laiheng's 14th town, and Chen Huaixi's 1st town of the navy, and the Duhe Gui Cavalry Association along the Xiangjiang River to seize Hunan.

In the middle of November of the 4th year of Yongli (1650 AD), Yang Xuan left Wu Zhaoyuan, the prime minister of the left country, Fan Wenguang, and Guo Chonglie, the third town of the right state to stay in Wuchang, and personally led the 5 town infantry army, the 1 town water army, the 2nd auxiliary cavalry, and a regiment of artillery to go up the Shuojiang River, pass through Dongting Lake, and drive towards Changsha.

Due to the wide dissemination of the "Popular Magazine", the squires around the country through the "Popular Magazine" on the achievements of the Loyal and Righteous Army, and now it is rumored that the Loyal and Righteous Army recovered Wuchang and killed Duoduo, and when they saw the Loyal and Righteous Army waving their troops south, those people who were under the cruel rule of traitors organized the Righteous Army to lead the way, or reported to the Loyal and Righteous Army, in order to punish those mercenary puppet officials.

More than 300 miles from Yueyang to Xiangyin, Cao Xun felt that he had become the captain of the receiving team, and along the way, the fathers and villagers from all over the country prayed for the blessing of the loyal and righteous army by the side of the road to welcome the arrival of the loyal and righteous army.

Because it was too smooth, Cao Xun vaguely felt that many standard camps were not fortified at all, and some of the capital divisions and generals laughed that the Tartars were already invincible, and everyone could rush to Changsha to take over the defense with a swagger.

Some even violated the marching regulations, and with the establishment of the Zhongyi Hall, while recruiting a large number of students, various marching, camping, and combat regulations were also issued.

In accordance with the regulations on the march, the march route was announced to all battalions and departments on the evening of the first day, and the generals, guerrilla generals, and commanders were to make relevant preparations for the march.

When marching in the plains, scouts need to be sent to reconnoiter the surrounding 30 miles to prevent being ambushed or attacked by the enemy.

On the plains, the distance of the march was 50 li a day, and every 20 li it was necessary to dig trenches and arrange defensive positions to guard against the advance of the opposing cavalry. (The Hunan army of Zeng Guo followed this method and marched 30 miles a day, and because the loyal army was equipped with a large number of two-wheeled vehicles, the marching speed was slightly faster)

In order to ensure the effectiveness of the construction of the defensive position, it is generally necessary to send a group of soldiers and horses as the vanguard in turn, build a defensive position 20 miles before the main march, receive the main force to enter the defensive position when the main force arrives, and then build a camp relying on the defensive position.

If the opponent has too few troops and horses, you can counterattack on the spot to eliminate them, and if the opponent's surprise attack is too large, you can retreat to buy time for the main force.

Due to the close proximity of the defensive positions, the troops were quite close to the fortifications during the march and could quickly retreat after hearing the enemy's attack.

In hilly and mountainous areas, it is necessary to send scouts to reconnoiter the surrounding 20 miles, march 40 miles a day, and arrange certain defensive facilities around the camp and near the pass to prevent the other side from sneaking attacks.

However, due to the fact that the march was so smooth, everyone was able to implement this marching regulation in the first few days, but after so many days, seeing the green camp invincible and the people along the way welcoming them, many soldiers were unwilling to implement this marching regulation, and the fortifications built would become more and more sloppy.

Thinking of the fierce battle in which the 3rd town crossed the river, Cao Xun felt that the matter was very serious, and after setting up camp tonight, he patrolled all battalions and units, and beat two big whips with a big grin, and the situation changed slightly.

After returning to the camp tent, he once again discussed with the adjutant general Yang Jingxin and others about the march, and then he set up a simple marching bed and lay down to rest.

Nothing happened overnight, early the next morning Cao Xun ordered the battalions to pack up their tents and prepare to continue the march, and in the middle of the day, suddenly scouts came to report that there were traces of Tartar cavalry twenty miles away, numbering about thousands, and now they were being killed overwhelmingly.

Cao Xun was shocked in his heart, pulled out his sword and said to the left and right: "Brothers, the Tartar cavalry is conducive to fighting on the plains, while our infantry army is conducive to fighting in hills, mountains, and positions.

Yesterday, Lao Tzu asked the 2nd Battalion of the 43rd Regiment to build a fortification nearly 2 miles to the left, and everyone rushed over with Lao Tzu to control the camp and build the camp."

On the one hand, Cao Xun asked people to report to the big tent of the Chinese army, and on the other hand, he took the lead, led the cavalry political secretary to rush to the camp, and saw that the general who was the vanguard yesterday continued to strengthen the fortifications.

Cao Xun turned over and dismounted to check the terrain, the camp was built on a dozen small hillsides 200 meters away from Xiaohegou, with an area of about 1 square meter, and there were more than a dozen families in the middle.

The defense is surrounded by water on both sides, which is very easy to get water, and the terrain is very good.

But take a closer look, the camp is too shallow, according to the requirements need to be around the fortifications to dig a wall 2 feet high and about 3 feet wide, and every 1~2 zhang need to be inserted with wooden thorns and wattles to prevent the attack of the Tartar cavalry, but after a patrol on the spot, it was found that it obviously did not meet the standard.

Cao Xun glared at the first general manager fiercely, and immediately relieved him of his post and made him guilty of meritorious service.

After everyone shouted and entered the camp, everyone complained and scolded, Cao Xun's face was pale, and he commanded all departments to quickly deploy defenses, and ordered all departments to continue to strengthen the fortifications.

Many people were nervous, some people's voices became obviously muffled, some people looked panicked, and the entire battlefield was filled with an atmosphere of fear.

As a veteran, Cao Xun certainly knew how to resolve it, and rushed to the front line with a staff officer, and sometimes even built fortifications with everyone.

After an hour, the defensive position was in shape, and the vanguard department rushed back in disgrace, followed by the dust, the sound of horses' hooves like rolling thunder, and it was overwhelming.

Cao Xun returned to the big tent of the Chinese army, stabilized his mood, looked at the deputy generals, staff generals, thousand generals, and generals of the battalions who rushed over, pointed to the terrain and explained the precautions for defense again, then stood up and said with a solemn face: "Everyone, as everyone often says, the Tartar cavalry is the king of the plain, in the vast plain, if you are not prepared to be killed by the Tartar cavalry, all that awaits you is the order to be slaughtered."

But our infantry army is the king of mountains and hills, in the past, the prince was in Shunqing Mansion, in Hanzhong Mansion, and in Yaoting, we defeated the Tartar cavalry many times, and sometimes the number of casualties of the infantry army was less than the number of Tartar cavalry, which tells everyone that in this hilly and mountainous area, the Tartar cavalry has nothing to fear.

Although this is a plain area, we have built fortifications in accordance with the edict of the prince, so although there is no name of mountains and hills, there are mountains and hills.

Now, the Tartar cavalry is coming, and we have to defend this fortification, otherwise we will become the prey of the Tartars on the plains, or we will die.

The general army announced that all those who retreated and fled without permission would be relegated to the army commander.

A squad of the same squad retired.

The first squadron retreated together and killed the squadron leader.

A large group retreated together to kill the captain.

If the captain dies in battle, the squadron leader will be killed, and the squadron leader will be killed, and the squad leader will be killed.

Brothers, although the Tartar cavalry is menacing, who is our prince?

It is a saint who is difficult to come out of five hundred years, our prince Wentao martial arts, no one can match, if the Tartars do not attack, as long as they dare to attack, our prince will definitely let him go and have no return. ”

When everyone heard this, they pulled out their swords one after another, claiming that they were.