Chapter 61: Gathering the Crowd (1)
It is already the beginning of October in the third year of Jianyan, and autumn has come to an end. The winter in the south of the Yangtze River is coming www.biquge.info the autumn rain is still falling, not big, and the whole world is shrouded in this soaring water vapor.
The icy river wind hit, and the robe on his body was instantly soaked with cold air, making people feel cold all over his body.
It's still the end of autumn, and if it's the middle of winter, I don't know what it will look like.
Wang Shen shook his head and tightened his clothes: It's just a magic attack, I'm a northerner, I've experienced more than ten degrees below zero, and I can't bear it a little.
At this time, he missed the stove, the hot tea, and the noodle soup made by An Niang herself.
But it's the end of the day, what the hell knows what I've been through in the past month?
There is not much way to cross the Huai River to Jiangpuben, but the Jurchens came so fast, it was as fast as the wind and as fast as thunder. The Jin soldiers used their commander's Wushu as arrows, and they never slept and fought from Chuzhou to the south bank of the Yangtze River in one breath, but they were ahead of him and Lao Guo.
There was no way, Wang Shen had to ride a horse with Lao Guo in circles around Tianchang, Chuzhou, and Sizhou, and even transferred to Luzhou, that is, Hefei in later generations.
There was no way, the Jurchens had already held all the intersections, and sent scouts to surround and suppress the retreating Song army. Especially after the infantry group of Wushu kept up, the situation was even more difficult, and it was quite like the iron-walled encirclement of the Japanese devils in later generations.
The Jurchens were not accustomed to water, and the Jiankang Left-behind Division used the tactics of clearing the wilderness with strong walls and brought all the ships in the north of the river back to the south bank. The Jin army could not go any further and had to stay on the northern shore.
There were more and more of them, and in an instant, the entire north of the Yangtze River was full of tall and fierce northern aliens with shaved money rat tail hair. In this way, Wang Shen also had a difficult journey this way.
During this month, he spent almost all of his time fighting with small groups of Jurchen scouts. At most, he even fought three encounters in one day, and the armor on his body had already been torn by the sword, and his body was also scarred.
If it were someone else, he would have already collapsed mentally, but fortunately, his mind was strong, and now he has been sharpened.
The main reason why he walked slowly was that there were more than 500 brothers who went south with him, and since he had taken them in, he had to bring them to Jiankang without landing.
Thinking of this, he looked up ahead.
I saw that in the hazy river rain, a group of ragged and wounded soldiers carried weapons and lowered their heads to board the small boats that came to pick up Wang Shen one after another.
This time, Gu Lie brought fifteen small boats over, and he didn't expect that there would be so many people around Wang Shen. With a wry smile, he said: "Commander Wang, after receiving Lao Guo's letter, Lu Can hired sailors everywhere, and spent silver to buy off the people left behind in the division, so he let so many ships cross the river. Now, the Jurchens have reached the riverside, and the remaining division has an order, and they are not allowed to cross the river. If you carry a dozen boatloads of belongings, it is not cost-effective for so many people to take such a big risk! Besides, getting so many mouths at once, eating and drinking, no matter how you look at it, is a loss-making deal. ”
"It's a loss-making deal, but I don't think so." Wang Shen couldn't help but be cold, stomped his feet gently, and said: "The Jin army is pressing, even if you have more money, no soldiers, and don't rise up to resist, in the end, not only will the money and things belong to others, but even you will become a slave of others." Only people, only people are the most valuable wealth in the world. ”
Yes, the most important reason why he walked so slowly this way was that there were too many people around him. In fact, if it was only him and Lao Guo, two people and two horses, they could easily break through the encirclement of the Jurchens and escape to the Yangtze River early.
Originally, Wang Shen also planned to do so, and he had nothing to worry about going to Jiankang. But on the first day of crossing the Huai River, he encountered a group of routs withdrawn from Suzhou, with a total of about twenty-three people. The officers of this group of men had already left them and fled alone, and when they saw Wang Shen, they came up and asked Jiankang Mansion how to go.
After knowing that Wang Shen was the commander of the battalion, these twenty-three people followed, and they couldn't get rid of it. There was no way, Wang Shen could only take them in and let the soldiers join his baggage battalion.
Everyone has the mentality of conformity, seeing that Wang Shen and there are many of them, there are constantly routs joining along the way. The composition is also very complicated, there are the troops left behind in Kaifeng who did not have time to withdraw Jinling, there are the Xiang troops from all over the country and the township soldiers of the local bow and arrow society, as well as the young and strong peasants. The number of people increased to a thousand, which gave Wang Shen a false impression of being strong and strong.
At this time, Wang Shen suddenly had a thought in his heart: there are now more than 100 people in the baggage camp, and there are more than 200 people in the people. In fact, the power I have at hand is still very meager, and I can't do anything at all.
If you want to make a career, you have to gather people.
As a so-called "successful person" in modern society, after crossing over to the Song Dynasty, if he is only satisfied with living, how can he be willing? Unlike ordinary people in this era, he is ambitious.
Once standing on the top of the mountain and seeing the beautiful scenery, I naturally don't want to be mediocre anymore.
Unlike people of this era, Wang Shen did not have the slightest loyalty to the Southern Song Dynasty. He already has an idea of the way to go in the future.
First of all, first temporarily borrow this step from the commander of the baggage battalion, mix up an official and a half-post, and then pull the troops out to work alone, save the town, and follow the path that Yue Fei once walked.
The scale of the future battle of Jiankang is unprecedented, and the strength of the baggage battalion is too weak, and it will be easily annihilated in this general battle. More than 100 people, when they encounter Jin Bing, there will be no charge, and the most important thing now is to take the number of troops.
The Jurchens invaded the south this time, and Jiangbei was full of defeated soldiers and displaced people, but it was very easy to recruit troops. Among them, there are even many people who have rich combat experience and are capable of fighting.
Of course, whether you can win when you meet Jin Bing is another matter.
Less than a day after more than 1,000 horses gathered, Wang Shen encountered a group of Jurchen scouts.
Suddenly, the troops blew up their nests, and more than 1,000 people were beaten by five Jurchens, and by night there were only 100 people left. made Wang Shen annoyed and depressed.
If there are no more people, just continue to recruit.
Through this battle, he deeply realized that the current Song people have suffered from serious fear of gold, especially those soldiers of the regular army, who lost the courage to dare to fight when they saw the enemy's bare money rat tail.
The Jin people are less than 10,000, and they are invincible, and it can be seen from this sentence what everyone is afraid of the Jurchens.
After receiving a lesson, Wang Shen Huoran woke up to the fact that those veteran soldiers were unreliable at all. If you want to master an army that dares to fight the Jurchens with bayonets on the battlefield, you have to train from scratch with one hand and one foot.
Next, Wang Shen recruited the kind of farmers who seemed to be honest. Just as Qi Jiguang later recruited troops in the southeast: Those who are fair-skinned, act smartly, and have no scruples when they see the government are not wanted. Because these people are all slippery people in the city, they can't be relied on at critical moments, they will slip away, and they will also drag others to slip together. In case they are caught by their superiors, they have enough eloquence to blame others. The so-called rat droppings spoil a pot of soup. In the army, such people will not only not be able to fight, but will play a role in breaking the morale of the army. Therefore, it is better to have a shortage than an excess, and resolutely eliminate this kind of person. I want honest people from the countryside who are big and stout, and have solid skin and flesh. Such people are good at command and can fight.
To recruit the defeated soldiers, you have to pay them, and if the money is less, they will not do it. Seeing that you, an official, are wealthy, maybe you will have bad intentions and want to rob a fortune. And it is much easier to recruit such outcasts than to recruit routs, and a pie can be thrown out, and a large pile can be gathered.
Soon, Wang Shen pulled thousands of people. As for the weapons and armours, it is also easy, just spend money to buy them for the defeated soldiers. Anyway, in order to walk lightly, the withdrawn Song army will throw away their armor and weapons, and now they can exchange some money to spend, why not.
In this way, Wang Shen recruited soldiers and horses while evading the encirclement and suppression of the Jurchens, and it took more than a month to stop and go. The troops were also scattered and scattered, and there are still about 500 people left.
The equipment of these five hundred soldiers was not bad, there were more than a hundred armors, of which about twenty were good armor. There were two hundred pairs of knives and shields, and the others basically had a spear in their hands. They are all honest farmers, and whenever there is an order from above, they will do it silently, which is a bit like that of a regular army.
Of course, this alone is not enough, and it also needs to go through rigorous training to become a qualified soldier.
Fortunately, they have already arrived in Jiankang, and according to real historical records, it will take another month for the Jurchens to cross the river, and they will have time to perform them. Looking at the boat with soldiers, Wang Shen now only hated to fly across the river with wings. I know my own affairs best, after all, I have just started in the military, and training so many people requires a large number of basic officers, and all this has to be handed over to Gu Lie and them.
After saying this, Wang Shen then smiled at Gu Lie and said: "Gu Dutou, our battalion should be full of five hundred people, and now I have not only made up for the shortage, but also added two hundred people." Isn't it good that you're finally worthy of your name? At the end of the day, you have to be a bare-bones commander to be satisfied, how about you look at these soldiers I recruited? ”
Gu Lie: "These soldiers are also tall, and they are all honest, and they are good soldiers. It's just that they are still far from the elite standard of our Western Army back then. ”
Wang Shen: "So, I'm going to hand over these soldiers to you to train with the methods of the Western Army back then, and you will be the head of the head of the coach, Gu Lie, are you interested?" When the troops are trained, I will give priority to letting you pick people. ”
After all, Gu Lie is an old man in the Western Army, he has served in the army since he was born, and the blood of the Sanqin soldiers is surging in his bones. Thinking that he would be able to fill the gap in the capital immediately, he suddenly became excited: "Then let's say so, I can train the troops, but the best soldiers must be given priority to make up for my sword and shield soldiers." This sword and shield soldier has to be at the front of the battlefield to stabilize his position, and he needs a first-class warrior. ”
Wang Shen nodded again and again: "Okay, okay, it's decided." ”
Gu Lie's face showed joy: "Thank you to the commander, but it's ......"
"But what?"
"But the number of people in the army has increased so much at once, and this food and clothing is a matter of scratching people's heads. We are now under the control of the left-behind division, but there is no penny of military salaries, and in the past month, the brothers have lived on the reward of Plains Town. Those bastards only know how to eat and drink and make money all day long, and the money in their waists has long been exhausted, and when they see that they are about to go hungry, Lu Can is so sad that his hair is white. ”