Shen Chen carefully lifted the hem of his military uniform and tied it around his waist, stretched out his hand to remove the branches that were stacked very carefully, and walked briskly along the gentle slope to the mountain bag where the No. 4 sentry post was located.

"Although the adult's two-piece clothes are strange and ugly, it is convenient to walk in the mountains, and I have to make a set to wear it when I have the opportunity!" When Fang Minggen, deputy of the Yidu Inspection Commander of the right battalion of the Yanchuan Infantry Regiment on duty at the No. 4 outpost, saw this de facto No. 2 person in the Eighth Route Army, the big man was muttering something that he didn't understand at the moment.

Shen Chen was the fastest to accept Arabic numerals among Li Wenge's subordinates, so at this moment, the troops in Yanzhou under his command adopted Arabic numerals in the deployment of geographical division and defense areas, and the No. 4 outpost would be marked as a T-shaped sentry post in other troops, but here, under General Shen, the code name of this outpost was the unmistakable Arabic numeral "4".

The hill on which Checkpoint No. 4 is located is on the north side of a dry river valley that stretches for two miles to the west before crossing the Qiwu Mountains and merging into the official road leading to Wuyuan in Baichi. Fang Minggen was a veteran who participated in the second defense of Lushu Pass, and after the Battle of Ten Trees in Gyeongju and the Battle of Yinxia, he was promoted to a long rank. After the disarmament of the Tuoba family, the part of the Yanchuan Independent Regiment that originally belonged to the Zhejia soldiers has been rebuilt, and the newly recruited soldiers are all composed of Han slaves from the Dangxiang tribe after the Battle of Yinxia, with weak combat effectiveness and poor discipline. The original Gyeongju soldiers have been upgraded to veterans after the test of long-distance marching battles, but due to the return of the Zhejia army. There was an acute shortage of officers in the Yeoncheon Independent Regiment.

In this case, at Shen Chen's insistence, the Military Supervision Department approved a temporary promotion order for a group of battle-hardened veterans of the Eighth Route Army, and promoted these veterans to officers.

Of course, the difference with a full-fledged officer is. Fang Du's current position is only "school inspection", and he has no official military rank. According to the current military system of the Eighth Route Army, soldiers who have not been trained in the Liutao Pavilion cannot be awarded military ranks. Although there is also a so-called order for promotion in the line of fire, this wartime system of promoting officers is only for the position and not for the rank. Although Li Wenge is also considering the establishment of a grassroots rank of "sergeant" in the army, this military reform has not yet been put on the agenda until the liberal arts department is appointed.

Therefore, at present, in the Eighth Route Army, the Liutaoguan cadets of each team have the rank of deputy lieutenant of the escort army, and after the test of war, they can serve as the deputy commander of the team after being nominated and approved by the supervisor of the battalion officer, and they will be promoted to the rank of lieutenant of the escort after being promoted to the rank of captain of the team. At present, the benchmark military rank corresponding to the position of deputy is Renyong lieutenant under the ninth grade.

Fang Minggen currently does not even have the rank of the lowest-level lieutenant, so his temporarily promoted deputy can only "inspect the school", and he can only obtain the corresponding rank after being transferred back to Yanzhou for a period of training in the Liutao Pavilion.

"How have these two days been?" Shen Chen didn't pay attention to Fang Ming's differences. After jumping into the garrison pit of the outpost, he refused to even breathe, so he asked eagerly.

"It's still the old sample book, and every day between a quarter and five o'clock a day a man will come in along the valley, and the number of each person will not exceed two hundred, of which the cavalry will have less than fifty horsemen at most. The armor and armor were uneven, and the weapons in the hands of the soldiers were also very different, some used iron weapons, and some only had wooden sticks in their hands. They don't want to go too deep. At most, we will walk more than a mile in our direction and turn back, and it has been more than ten days. The lowly officials have confirmed many times, and the people before and after are not the same! The other side is in rotation! Fang Minggen said as he licked his chapped lips.

Shen Chen untied his water hyacinth and handed it over, still asking, "Is there an enemy army in the mountain stream and canyon in the northeast?" It's the side of Outpost 2 watching! ”

Fang Minggen said: "It has only appeared once, about seven days ago, an infantry squad of the enemy army entered the canyon in the north from the southwest, but it was only a little bit. It did not go deeper, and the lowly priest also sent brothers to investigate, and the terrain there was really difficult. Not only could the horses not walk, but the infantry would fall into the mountains if they were not careful. ”

Shen Chen nodded, took out a very small scroll of paper from his arms, unfolded it, and when Fang Minggen came up to look at it, he saw that this piece of paper was marked with ruler books one by one, and each grid book was marked with one or several Arabic numerals that he couldn't understand, although Fang Minggen couldn't understand it. But he also knew that this was the map used by Shen Chen. The deputy of the inspector scratched his head and said, "General." This picture is crooked, and there is a bunch of characters. I really can't understand the lowly position......"

Shen Chen didn't raise his head, but the corners of his mouth grinned, and he said softly: "If you want to remove the word inspection in front of your position, you must learn to look at this kind of picture!" ”

Fang Minggen blinked and said with a wry smile: "It's very stupid, you can't learn!" ”

Shen Chen said: "If you can't learn, you have to learn, when the battle here is over, you will be transferred back to the Liutao Pavilion for training, you are a veteran, physical skills are idle things, whether you can drop out of school, the key depends on whether you can pass the literacy class and drawing class." ”

Fang Minggen said solemnly: "The humble position is also an old man from the Zhangwu Army, but he never knew that he had to study so many universities to fight a war......

Shen Chen raised his head, looked at him, and said with a serious expression: "It's different, understand?" ”

Fang Minggen shook his head, Shen Chen didn't expect him to understand, and then said: "In the past, we relied on luck to fight, but now we have to rely on calculations when we fight." The so-called temple calculation of the ancient soldiers, the first calculation of the invincible and other words, is not for you to estimate, since you want to calculate, you must calculate accurately, even the picture can not be understood, can not be drawn accurately, how can you calculate the accurate enemy situation? ”

Seeing that Fang Minggen still didn't seem to understand, Shen Chen smiled, didn't explain more, and continued to ask: "The positions of the No. 1 and No. 3 posts are higher than the No. 4 posts, and there is no new enemy situation to discover?" ”

Fang Minggen said: "The statements of No. 1 and No. 3 are similar to what we see here!" Today's news has not yet arrived, and there is a mountain road about twelve miles between the two outposts and here, and the news will be delayed a little, but after the time is marked in the direction of the sun, the news between the four outposts can generally confirm each other. ”

"What is the approximate speed of the opposing cavalry?"

"It took about an hour and a half to get from outside the valley to the inside of the valley." Fang Minggen replied.

Shen Chen looked at the small wooden sundial in the corner of the outpost and nodded slightly.

"When the enemy retreats, will the cavalry or infantry retreat first?"

"The infantry goes first, and the cavalry breaks behind!" Fang Minggen replied without hesitation.

"It's all the infantry that goes first? No exceptions? Shen Chen asked.

"No, it's all the infantry who retreat first. The cavalry would not leave until the infantry had left the valley. Fang Minggen replied.

"Will the cavalry leave at full speed or will it slowly withdraw?" Shen Chen asked.

"Leave the ---- at full speed," Fang Minggen replied.

"How many columns did the infantry march?" Shen Chen asked.

"Not necessarily, sometimes two columns, sometimes three columns, and sometimes chaotic and not in a queue, when the cavalry retreats, sometimes they will collide with each other, the formation is too dense......" Fang Minggen replied in detail this time.

Shen Chen nodded with satisfaction: "Can you be sure that there are no covering troops on the flanks of the enemy army's ranks?" ”

"No, as he said, when entering the valley, the enemy army was a mixed group of infantry and cavalry, and the widest part of the narrow road in the mountains was only more than seventy paces. Mixed infantry and cavalry can't guarantee the safety of the flanks at all! Fang Minggen is very confident.

Shen Chen nodded, sighed lightly, and turned the subject to ask, "The surrounding mountains and valley bottoms." Where is the closest shelter to the narrow passage in the valley, and how many troops can be stationed in concealment at one time? ”

Fang Minggen said: "As far as the garrison is concerned, the slope on the back of the hill where our outpost is located is not very steep, and the trees are dense, so we can garrison troops. However, the trees were too dense, which affected mutual communication and transportation, so they could only garrison troops in Shiwu. The outside of the valley gradually flattened out, and troops could be stationed in the regiment, but the trees were gradually thinning, and there was a low hilly area on the north side of the narrow road outside the valley, with a forest on it, and about 300 to 500 troops could be stationed behind the woods, but there was a high high ground separation between this hilly land and the valley. Within the reconnaissance range of the enemy cavalry, it is not a safe and proper garrison point. ”

Shen Chen nodded, and asked again, "What is the condition of the road outside the valley?" ”

Fang Minggen said: "It rained a few days ago. However, the sun has been shining for the past two days, and the road should have been dry. ”

Shen Chen didn't ask any more questions, took out a charcoal pen from his arms, lightly marked a few points on the map in his hand, and then roughly compared it with his hand and began to calculate the distance.

"General, are you going to fight?" Fang Minggen asked with some excitement.

Shen Chen didn't raise his head and asked, "If it's a hit, do you think we will have a chance of winning?" ”

"Ten out of ----!" Fang Minggen rubbed his hands and said, "The enemy army is scattered and slow, and its reaction is also sluggish. Other than that. The formation of the enemy army does not seem to be complete, and I guess this is why they have not been able to form a uniform march. What's more, its equipment and armor are very rudimentary. Less than three out of ten stops were made by the armoured people in the whole army. In terms of military strength, our army is far superior to the other side in terms of infantry and cavalry, and it is even more incomparable in terms of equipment. To be honest, if you are not worried about violating the general's order, you really want to gather the soldiers of the four outposts to catch the other party off guard--- to be honest, even if you do it yourself, the chance of winning is more than sixty percent! ”

Shen Chen smiled and nodded: "The fighting spirit is commendable!" ”

Then he said: "But unfortunately, what I want is not to defeat the enemy troops in these alert and reconnaissance places, but to annihilate ---- the whole army, understand?" It's better not to run away at all......"

Fang Minggen nodded: "I understand my humble position, otherwise the general wouldn't have to come here in person!" ”

Shen Chen smiled: "There are a total of sixteen outposts on the front line, and a total of three enemy troops have been found, with the largest number of enemy troops found on your side......"

Fang Minggen said: "This is natural, the valley here is wider, and the gap between the valleys is also larger, if you want to march in the direction of Xiazhou or Yanzhou, this is the best passage, for the attacker, and even more so for the defender." Looking at the enemy's intentions, it seems that there is no intention of in-depth reconnaissance, which proves that the enemy in Yanzhou has no intention of continuing to advance eastward in the near future, but has been guarding against our army's westward advance through this mountain pass......"

Shen Chen nodded: "Your judgment is completely correct!" Although the enemy occupied Yanzhou, its troops and food were not enough to support the expansion of the army. According to the original information, the total strength of the enemy forces on the Yanzhou side should not exceed 3,000. This army has to defend the southeast and southeast directions respectively, because the Wuyuan side is a thoroughfare, the enemy army should be stationed with heavy troops to defend, and the Baichi side is separated by a heavy mountain, and the enemy's strength distribution will be relatively small. Yanzhou itself was not rich and relied on imports from the south for all its grain. Now that this input has been cut off, and the strength of 3,000 people has been maintained here for a long time, the pressure on Shuo Fang is not small, if my estimate is right, Feng Jiye's wishful thinking is to learn from our family to go to Yanzhou to grab a handful, and transport hundreds of thousands of stone blue salt from Baichi back to Lingzhou, relying on the sale of these private salts in exchange for land money and grain to solve the embarrassment of financial and military strength......"

As he spoke, he patted the map and said, "He is very afraid that the adults will suddenly come to look for him at this time, and the adults will return to Yanzhou." The Feng family breathed a sigh of relief, but unfortunately, since I am here. How could he let him snatch these green salts away under his nose book? ”

Fang Minggen said excitedly: "If there is a war, the Ministry of Inferior Duties is willing to be the ...... the forerunner."

Shen Chen smiled: "Your ground soldiers are now the eyes of the whole army, I can't touch you for the time being!" ”

Seeing Fang Minggen's disappointed expression, Shen Chen smiled again and said, "Don't be discouraged, this is a big move, and three places within a radius of a hundred miles under the jurisdiction of the sixteen outposts on the front will start at the same time. Annihilating all the enemy's vigilant and reconnaissance forces totaling nearly five hundred, and the number of troops to be mobilized is at least eight or more, this is a big battle, annihilating these sentinels, the enemy army in Baichi will have to divide another part of the people to guard against us, and they can use it to transport salt There will be even fewer people---- transporting hundreds of thousands of stone goods through hundreds of miles of mountainous areas, and it will not be possible to do it in two or three months without thousands of people---- I don't want to completely defeat the Feng family in Yanzhou. As long as the Feng family can be dragged in Yanzhou, Feng Jiye will be forced to increase his troops, and Yanzhou will be turned into a quagmire that will drag down the Shuofang army. It is the best implementation of the westward expansion strategy of adults! ”

Before Fang Minggen could speak, Shen Chen's personal soldiers suddenly pushed aside the bushes and jumped into the sentry post, and said a few words next to Shen Chen's ear.

A look of surprise suddenly appeared on Shen Chen's face, he turned his head and waved his hand: "Bring him up!" ”

The soldiers went, and after a while, a short and concise Hanshu entered the outpost, this person was dressed in a cyan military uniform, but there was an extra black border at the cuffs---- which was the sign of the supervising officer, Fang Minggen was stunned. This is a man he knows. His name is Zhao Feng, and he was a famous gangster in Yanzhou City. Later, he was pulled into the army by Wei Xun, starting from the grassroots level, and later transferred to the Military Supervision Department as an errand boy, which can be regarded as the military confidant of Director Wei.

At this time, how could this guy suddenly appear here?

Looking at the tired look on his face and the dust and mud on his body, it was obvious that he had come to the front line as fast as possible day and night.

That Zhao Feng respectfully saluted Shen Chen and handed over a letter.

Shen Chen took the letter, tore it open it directly, and looked at it, the more he looked at it, the tighter his brows wrinkled.

After reading the letter, he raised his head and asked, "Have you seen Hao Jianjun?" ”

Zhao Feng replied: "General Hui, the lowly post has already been to the old camp, and it was Hao Jianjun who instructed the lowly post to come here. On the orders of the military director of Wei, he brought the general a full set of honor guards for the military festival envoys, all of whom stayed in the old camp, and only waited for the general to go back to take charge of the festival, and the general would be the lord of Xiazhou......"

Fang Minggen was stunned when he heard this, and turned his head to look at Shen Chen, but saw Shen Chen's sneer, as if he was listening to the funniest joke in the world.

"Zhangxu ----"

"To ----," the soldier immediately stepped forward.

Shen Chen took out an arrow from his bosom and said, "You go back to the camp and pass my order to Yu Hou Cao, according to the original plan, the action will start tomorrow!" ”

"Yes----" Zhang Xu didn't say half a word of nonsense, took the arrow with both hands, and retreated.

"Oh, by the way, you take this brother back to the old camp, and take all the Raush books he brought with him outside the camp and burn them, and don't leave any of them!" Shen Chen didn't finish the instructions, and pointed at Zhao Feng and said to Zhang Xu.

Zhang Xuleng paused, answered again, waved his hand and said, "Zhao Xuanjie, please ----"

Zhao Feng didn't move, his two eyes were shining and staring at Shen Chen, but Shen Chen said: "I'm sorry for you to rush back overnight and tell your family Wei Jian Jun a word, I want to mobilize troops and horses, and I don't need those Laoshi books sent by Bianjing." Hao Keji wants to take my head, and he doesn't need him Wei Xun to come from thousands of miles away to check and confirm......"