A group of soldiers marched out of the north gate of Gushan Town with majestic steps, and walked northeast along the newly opened trade road.

Li Mao's helmet and armor, wearing a goose down silver silk cloak that can defend against the invasion of stray arrows, riding on a Qinghai horse with an average appearance, but actually a divine horse, the horse is a first-class good horse, the scale armor on the body has just been renovated, with Su Qing's hand-sewn lining, it is very ironed on the body, that is, the newly ordered helmet is a little big, but it is lined with a layer of soft cloth and buckled on the head to make it workable, the problem is that this nearly twenty pounds of big guy is on his head, it is really a little uncomfortable.

Li Mao's front and back are surrounded by fifty armor soldiers, this is the guard of the suppression, the leader of the team is magical, at the moment wearing a helmet and armor, riding on a Turkic horse is majestic, and he is an assistant is a young man in his early twenties, named Yuan Tong, who is very stout, but his face does not seem to be very shrewd. Among the guards, there were two people who followed Li Mao the most, Qin Mo and Gui Zhisheng.

Qin Mo is Qingmo, and Gui Zhisheng is the real name of Mao Taigong who was introduced to Li Mao by Su Qing, his real surname is Gui, as for why he is called Mao Taigong, it is an unsolved mystery, Li Mao is not easy to guess the riddle and solve the riddle, so he didn't ask in detail, this old man is now wearing a pair of officer armor, holding a Qinglong Yanyue knife, riding a dark and shiny Western Regions horse.

Su Qing said that this old man was good at using a 68-pound big iron cone, and in the old days, in the west of Beijing, with a pair of iron cones to kill the Tubo people who lost their armor and got the reputation of "Dwarf Lei Gong", Li Mao didn't believe that he could play a 68-pound big iron cone, so he instructed him to build a weapon to change Chen Lan to two catties. Chen Lan heard Qingmo say that Li Mao was not very satisfied with this old man, and he would be wrong for a while, so he instructed the craftsman to quietly increase the weight of the big iron cone by twenty catties, becoming eighty-eight catties.

Mao Taigong glanced at the newly built pair of large iron cones, stared blankly, and said nothing. Chen Lan asked him if the two catties were together, and if he wanted to add another one or twenty catties, the old man was furious and said, "Who asked you to get this big killing weapon for Lao Tzu?" Lao Tzu is now going to suppress bandits, not to kill Tibet, this thing is good, but it is too murderous, how many unjustly killed souls will there be in one vertebrae? Well? You must know that they are different from the Tubo people in Koubian, they were originally my people of the Tang Dynasty, they were confused and made mistakes for a while, they can change their mistakes, and they are so good that they can be killed? Well? After scolding Chen Lan, Lao Er said: "Give Lao Tzu a Qinglong Yanyue Knife, eighteen catties are enough." ”

The Qinglong Glaive Knife is not a rare thing in the army, but the weight is mostly twenty or thirty catties, and the Qinglong Glaive Knife that weighs only eighteen catties and can go into battle to kill the enemy is a technical job, and several old craftsmen in the camp dare not take it, after Chen Lan asked Li Mao, he specially invited a craftsman from Yanzhou to come over, and it took sixty dollars to make a Qinglong Glaive Knife weighing eighteen catties and eight taels.

Lao Er was very happy to see it, and played a trip in public, the knife technique was clumsy, there was no order at all, and he flashed his waist halfway.

Li Mao was afraid that he would die before he left the school, so he kept him as a personal guard, and instructed Qingmo and Mo Qi Shentong to take care of his old man with all his heart, so as not to be heroic as soon as he entered the battlefield.

The horses in the world are divided into eight grades, called Qinghai horses, Western Regions horses, grassland horses (Turkic horses), forest horses (Khitan horses), Hebei horses, Huaixi horses, Shu horses, and southern horses (dwarf horses).

Most of the horses equipped in Gushan Town are Hebei horses, with a few exceptions. The Qinghai horse that Li Mao rode was a gift from Li Shigu, the envoy of the festival, and the Turkic horse of the Moqi supernatural power was a gift brought back to Li Mao by Su Qing from Luoyang, and was transferred to the Moqi supernatural power by Li Mao. As a welfare, Li Mao stipulated that all officers and soldiers who purchased war horses by themselves would be subsidized by the military academy for one-third of the cost, and this measure stimulated the Qing navy's war horses to triple to 98.

Although Gui Zhisheng is old, his identity is only a guard, and he can only sit on Hebei horses, he thinks that Hebei Ma is too much, and he refuses to want it, so he forced Su Qing to spend a lot of money to buy him a horse from the Western Regions from Xuzhou before stopping.

Li Mao looked at the strangely shaped, lightweight, and somewhat exaggerated big knife in his hand, and only smiled bitterly in his heart.

On the day of the army's departure, Li Mao's heart was full of emotions, he had never commanded such a large-scale military operation, and this feeling of waving thousands of troops and horses made him both excited and nervous.

Mao Taigong saw through the lack of confidence in Li Mao's heart at a glance, and sneered: "I'm afraid of a melon, it's easiest to go into battle to kill the enemy, as long as you kid is enough to plant, I will keep you victorious and undefeated." Qingmo coughed and said, "Taigong, you have a respectful mouth, in front of the soldiers of the three armies, you let the main general lose face, and the main general will make you have no head." ”

Qingmo has long been unaccustomed to Mao Taigong, but he is quite afraid of this old boy, this time he has the courage to scold Mao Taigong in person, but his heart is beating the drum, and he is ready to be beaten and scolded, but Mao Taigong laughed, and bowed his fists to Li Mao and said: "It's rude, please forgive the general." Lao Er took the initiative to admit his mistake, this was the first time, Li Mao hurriedly said: "It's okay." ”

There are five bandits entrenched in Chengcliac between Gushan Town and Yunzhou, namely Zhu Mazi who is entrenched in Youda Mountain in Chengwu County, Zhu Jiu in Ye Shuodu and Pei Jia brothers in Daxiaopu Mountain in Lize County, Puzhou, Guo Liang in Guojiazhuang in Fan County, and Li Zhong in Jinhouguan. Among them, Li Zhongyuan of the Golden Monkey Pass was a lowly general in the army, because he was not effective in arresting the thieves, he was beaten by the officials, and he was angry, so he took the Golden Monkey Pass as a coward.

Li Mao discussed with the generals: "Li Zhong can fight for this person, stabilize him, and then he can contain Guojiazhuang, then the five thieves have gone to the second, Zhu Mazi of Youdashan is a pig killer, brave and strategic, it is advisable to send surprise soldiers to touch the mountain and tie him up, Ye Shuodu, Daxiao Pushan are all tough battles, and the generals must be prepared to gnaw hard bones." ”

After Li Mao finished speaking, the deputy envoy Zhang Qi came out of the class, and said with a dark face: "The general of the Xuanzhu general: the ten generals on the right side of the forward will listen to the order, and order Er to select thirty strong men, prepare swords, bows and ropes, and set off today. Yin made a promise and accepted the order.

Yin was kicked and broke two ribs by Li Mao in the military chamber in the past, and he has been recuperating at home, and he has no chance to participate in Shang Helai's rebellion, and he regretted and was afraid afterwards, thinking that Li Mao would not use him, and was ready to go to Yunzhou with Duan Yingya to be a duke, but he didn't want Li Mao to take care of the previous festivals, but personally came to the door to ask him to go out of the mountain to help, and promoted him to the right tenth general. Yin Zhi was directly promoted to the chief general from a sub-general, grateful to Ling, he was a rectal man, Li Mao treated him like this, he saved the heart of repaying with death, this time he went out, he took the initiative to ask Ying to be the pioneer.

"Li Yu, the commander of the left battalion, obeyed the order, and your department obliquely went out of the southeast forty miles of the Chinese army, and built a horn with the Chinese army to cover the rear baggage. In the event of an enemy, the main thing is to retreat from the enemy, and it is not allowed to pursue without an order. Those who violate the order and delay will be killed! ”

"Chen Wanchun, the commander of the right battalion, obeyed the order, and your troops will leave Gaozhuang before the afternoon today, pass through the ancient road of the Nishi River, make a detour to the northeast, occupy Jinzhuang tomorrow, and guard the direction of Ye Shuodu. Those who violate the order and delay will be killed! ”

"General Chen Lan and veteran General Xue of the Navy Army listened to the order and ordered the two of you to transport the designated grain and grass to the designated place and deliver it to the military yard before the 18th. Kill those who delay it! “

Li Yu, Chen Wanchun, Chen Lan, Xue Veteran and others all went out to receive orders. After Zhang Qi announced Li Mao's deployment, and Li Yingtan, the Marquis of Duyu, reiterated the rewards and punishments, and finally Li Mao concluded: "Raising troops for a thousand days and using soldiers for a while, the country uses the people's fat and people's ointment to support you, etc., and now is the time to contribute to the country and eliminate harm for the people." Our soldiers should fight bravely to kill the enemy, report the favor of the king and the chief, reward the people for their support, serve the battlefield, and shroud the body in horse leather. He also said: "My generation of soldiers was born in a humble and humble manner, and they are not looking for meritorious deeds on the battlefield, how can they be crowned with a wife and a son, and the lintel will be glorified?" Instead of doing nothing in his life, how can he take this opportunity to make a meritorious contribution and do a career? Today, you and I are in the same boat, go to difficulties together, sing triumphantly tomorrow, and enjoy glory and wealth together! ”

Before being promoted to the general's order, Li Mao had already made a comprehensive analysis of the military situation heard by the white detectives everywhere, and then blew the wind to the generals, this time the task of suppressing bandits was arduous, but the difficulty was not great, the bandits were numerous, but they did not belong to each other, and most of them were rabble, as long as the officers and soldiers were determined and fought steadily, there was great hope for victory.

This speech was very agitatory, and the generals' emotions were high, and after the hall was dispersed, they were ordered to leave the camp without waiting for urging, and this was the first military meeting presided over by Li Mao himself, for which he prepared for three days. In terms of strategic deployment, he deeply solicited the opinions of Zheng Xiaozhang who joined the army, Qingmo said well, Zheng Xiaozhang does have the talent of a general, although the things he said mostly stay at the theoretical level, but can often give Li Mao a useful inspiration, Li Mao concluded that as long as a little training, Zheng Xiaozhang will be able to become his right-hand man.

Standing on the watchtower and watching the various armies go out of the camp in turn, Li Mao's heart calmed down a little, judging from the reconnaissance situation in the early stage, the opponent's strength is not strong, as long as the strategy is right, steady progress, there is great hope for victory. Li Yu, Chen Wanchun, Ma Hedong, Chen Lan, Zhang Qi, Xia Chun, and Yin Zhu were all veterans of a hundred battles, and they were still competent in commanding such small-scale battles. For veterans such as Li Yu and Chen Wanchun, Li Maoken let them lead the army, although he felt pressure in his heart, he also had the pleasure of being appreciated and trusted.

They didn't listen to the villain's slander, and engaged in Li Mao's small actions behind his back, Li Mao This is the first time to command the army, this Li Shigu knows, whether the battle in Gushan Town is good or not, the responsibility will ultimately be borne by Li Mao, but in this way, Li Mao will inevitably be a lose-lose end, and Li Mao will go to Yunzhou to accept the guilt after losing the battle, but how can Li Shigu reuse a general who can't even clean up a group of rabble?

Li Mao is right, now they are in the same boat, whether they are in the same boat, or infighting and capsizing, isn't it clear at a glance?