Zhao Lianhe led the whole platoon of officers and soldiers back to the barracks, and returned to the barracks after arranging the horses. No sooner had he laid down on his bunk than one of the fighters rushed into the tent.

"Sergeant Major, the platoon commander told you to go to the battalion headquarters immediately......"

When Zhao Lianhe heard this, he immediately got up from the bunk, put on his hat and ran out of the tent. At this time, many cadres and sergeants above the platoon level in the camp ran to their respective battalion headquarters.

The atmosphere in the camp was very tense, but the mood of the officers and men was very excited. Everyone knew that the big war was coming, and these days they were suffocated in the camp, thinking about the day when the general attack would come.

In the evening, Zhao Lianhe and a large number of cadres and sergeants above the platoon level walked out of the battalion headquarters. Everyone's faces couldn't hide their excitement, and it was finally time to fight.

The battalion commander has just conveyed the operational order issued by his superiors, and the time for the general attack on the capital city of Daming is set at 4 o'clock tomorrow morning. Moreover, what excites the officers and men of the battalion the most is that they will be the first to enter Beijing as the main assault force of the Far Eastern Army.

This is definitely a great honor for a unit. Zhao Lianhe was once born in the Ming Dynasty, and he was even more excited when he heard the news.

In the past, when I was in the Ming army, I couldn't get enough pay every month, not to mention that I could lead seven or eight months of food and salary for twelve months a year. The wives and children in the family are all hungry and full, not to mention how hard it is to be forced that day.

The main reason for all this is the blatant embezzlement of military salaries by the civilian officials of the Ming Dynasty, commonly known as "drifting". In this era, all the salaries and grain and grass of the Ming army stationed on the border were escorted by the superior grain and grass officer in the locality......

In the process of escorting grain and grass, the civilian officials at the higher level generally send people to escort military salaries and grain and grass, and even the armor and blades are escorted by civilian officials, so there is the saying of drifting, and the specific point is to send ten to eight, or ten to six, which is very normal.

In layman's terms, it is 10,000 taels of silver, but in fact, only 8,000 taels to 6,000 taels go to the barracks, and the others are 2,000 taels to 4,000 taels. That is to say, these things have an accident on the road, and they are lost, and they are gone.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty was an era of advocating literature and suppressing military force, the status of soldiers was very low, and civilian officials looked down on these "soldiers" very much. Civilian officials have a natural sense of superiority over military generals, and the elites of society go to participate in scientific examinations to go to official careers, rather than joining the military. Therefore, the Ming army was full of idle people from all kinds of society, and even ruffians.

During the Yingzong period, the civil fort changed, the honorable military generals suffered heavy losses, the dignity of the nobles and military generals was greatly damaged, and the civil official group ushered in spring. The civilian-bureaucratic clique, which had lost checks and balances, grew rapidly and became the most powerful civilian-bureaucratic clique in the history of China.

What happened next made the Ming Dynasty generals become slaves of civilian officials. The right to appoint personnel is vested in the Military Division, the equipment supply comes from the Arsenal Department and the Vehicle Driving Department of the Military Department, the tactical formulation is vested in the Functional Department of the Military Department, and the supply and military salaries are provided by the Household Department.

At that time, low-grade civil officials could shout at high-grade military generals, reprimand them with their heads and faces, and the generals did not dare to come out, and they could even directly pick up the generals' pants and spank them.

This is also a major factor in the sharp decline in the combat effectiveness of the Ming army, why after the Ming army surrendered to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, it was instantly resurrected with full blood and its combat effectiveness was greatly improved.

In fact, the military generals of the Ming Dynasty don't look at the usual respectful and respectful of civil officials, but the seeds of hatred have long been planted in their hearts. Especially the officers and soldiers of the Far East like Zhao Lianhe, who were born in the Ming army, were extremely dissatisfied with the civilian officials of the Ming Dynasty.

In the middle of the night, the Far Eastern Army in various places outside Beijing began active preparations. A large number of troops were ready to go, sorting out their equipment over and over again, waiting for the general order at any time.

Today, all the officers and men began to sleep in the afternoon and slept until midnight before they were called up. Zhao Lianhe has always been very excited, lying on the bunk tossing and turning, and when the assembly call sounded, he slept for two or three hours.

The whole camp was busy, and the officers and soldiers took out the horse they thought was the strongest and lined up on the playground. Although the atmosphere before the war was very depressing, there was nothing untense about everyone.

Zhao Lianhe held a torch in one hand, and gently stroked the somewhat restless war horse with the other, this six-year-old war horse was replaced last year, not only docile but also very good endurance and speed, but because it had not participated in any battles, it was a little restless after feeling the atmosphere of the war.

"Didi...... Tick ......"

A hurried whistle sounded, Zhao Lianhe hurriedly turned over his horse, followed the company's queue, and rode out of the camp. As the sharp knife assault force of the general attack, Zhao Lianhe's battalion was the first to set off.

The night was dark as ink, and although the warriors were carrying torches, visibility was still low, and they controlled their speed and trotted down the flat official road.

The troops rushed to the starting point of the attack, that is, nearly a kilometer in front of the Xizhi Gate in the outer city of Beijing, and stopped.

Xizhimen is one of the nine ancient city gates in the inner city of Beijing, and has been an important pass through Gyeonggi since the Yuan Dynasty. Xizhimen can be regarded as a famous place in ancient and modern times.

In the Yuan Dynasty, it was the location of the capital city and the Yimen, and in the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was one of the nine gates of the inner city of the Beijing Division, and it was the largest city gate except for the Zhengyang Gate. In addition, Xizhimen is also the waterwheel that sent water from Yuquan Mountain to the palace in the Ming and Qing dynasties, so it is called "Water Gate".

In order to carry out this operation smoothly, the intelligence station of the Far East Intelligence Department in Beijing mobilized almost all the forces to ensure the opening of the door, and communicated several times with some of the Ming civil officials who were preparing to surrender to the city and some of the Ming generals who were defending the city, and finally decided to lead the Far Eastern Army into the city at Xizhimen.

Zhao Lianhe and the officers and men of the cavalry battalion held their breath and sat quietly on their horses, waiting for the final order to attack. The hooves of all the war horses were wrapped, and the mouths of the war horses were also covered with a net cover to prevent the war horses from neighing loudly.

Suddenly, Zhao Lianhe heard the sound of horses' hooves behind him, and he and his comrades turned their heads to look over. I saw dozens of horses coming up from behind. Although the night was dark at this time, everyone still saw the appearance of the leader by the light of the torches.

"Second marshal...... This handsome ......"

A Far Eastern officer and soldier next to him suddenly screamed, startling Zhao Lianhe. He took a closer look, and couldn't help but get excited in his heart, it was really the second handsome man who came.

The Northwest Field Army was Li Ming's starting unit, so he often showed his face in various units, so that all units of the Northwest Army knew Li Ming. Moreover, the officers and soldiers also regarded Li Ming as the old leader of the Northwest Army and were proud of it. (To be continued.) )