The vast fields covered by ice and snow outside the city are soft under the reflection of the sun, but the weather here is much better than outside Taizhou, and the sun shines on the body to make people feel a little warm.

Liu Zhaoji stood on a high slope outside the city with a telescope, looking at the troops in front of him who were training in full swing.

"Chief of Staff, your staff department must properly summarize the training situation, especially the cooperation between the First Division and the Eighth Division, and must sum up experience, it seems that it is impossible for the Eighth Division to change its outfit in a short period of time." Liu Zhaoji put down his binoculars, turned his head and said to He Ying, the chief of staff of the First Army, who was standing beside him.

He Ying, chief of staff of the First Army, was the same as Yi Bangcai, and he was also a talented man who threw his pen from Rong, and he used to be a general under Liu Zhaoji, and later after working in the General Staff Headquarters for a period of time, Liu Zhaoji transferred him back to the old First Division as chief of staff, and after the expansion of the army, he directly became the chief of staff of the First Army.

"Soldiers, please rest assured, I have already arranged for people to do this work, but with the firepower of the first division, they are destined to adopt completely different tactics from the eighth division, and how to make the two divisions fight together, there are still many problems to be solved." He Ying said.

"Isn't organizing troop drills now to solve these problems? If it weren't for these problems, I would have hit it a long time ago. You should pay close attention to the training of the cavalry brigade and artillery regiment, this is the treasure of our army, and the training cannot be relaxed. Liu Zhaoji pointed to the cavalry brigade and artillery regiment that were training in the east of the county.

"Commander, speaking of the artillery regiment, this kid Pang Hu is really good. The artillery is used to fight cattle across the mountains. Yesterday I went to the artillery regiment to see it. They could hit the target seven or eight miles behind their position, and there were a few hills in between, so I really don't know how they did it. ”

Although He Ying is a talent, he has only learned basic mathematics and does not know much about the professional knowledge of artillery shooting.

"What about 'fighting cattle across the mountains'? I said Chief of Staff, you have to work hard to study, my old Liu knows that it is called indirect aiming and shooting, and there are many ways to do it. You don't want a layman to command an insider, you are the chief of staff! ”

Liu Zhaoji's words made He Ying blush, and he bowed his head and answered, "Yes, military commander." ”

In fact, the indirect aiming and shooting of artillery is only preliminary, and this shooting method has extremely high requirements for the map; if the map cannot be detailed and accurate, it is basically impossible to hit accurately, and it is basically impossible to shoot accurately during training, because the map here is surveyed and mapped by the staff officers after a long period of time, and in the future, when it goes to the battlefield, the artillery will be able to aim directly and semi-directly.

The two of them talked. Seeing that noon was approaching, I was about to go back to dinner. A war horse came galloping from a distance, and immediately the knight spewed hot air from his mouth, and it was obvious that he had run a considerable distance.

"The Governor of the Metropolitan is in a hurry! Please sign for it. Immediately, the knight came to Liu Zhaoji, turned over and dismounted, took out a brown paper sealed letter from the cloth bag around his waist and handed it to Liu Zhaoji.

Liu Zhaoji opened the letter and read it carefully, and after reading it for about ten minutes, he turned his head and said to He Ying, "Inform the commanders of all divisions and regiments to hold an operational meeting at the command post in the afternoon!" ”

After He Ying notified, he returned to Liu Zhaoji's side, and then asked, "Commander, has the situation changed?" We're going to start fighting soon? ”

"Our first army must solve Hauge as soon as possible, the strength of the Metropolitan Governor's side is still a little weak, let's solve Hauge and quickly go north immediately!" Liu Zhaoji looked to the north, worried that Luo Jian would march north with three divisions, and he didn't know what situation they would encounter, and the first army would have to speed up to solve the Henan problem and leave enough strategic reserves for the Dadu Governor.

Just when the First Army held a combat meeting, Hauge stood on the wall of Guide and was furious, and a group of generals standing next to him were silent, and none of them dared to speak.

"Can you just wait like this to resist the Wehrmacht? Will not be like a general, a soldier is not like a soldier, what do you want? If the training is still like today, even if I, Prince Su, want to spare you, the military law will not allow you to wait! Hauge scolded with a horsewhip in his hand, pointing at the soldiers who were training listlessly outside the city.

Liu Jinzhong and Huang Ying, the commanders of the Han army, were scolded so much that their faces turned red, and it was their team that was training outside the city.

"Prince Su, please calm your anger, it's no wonder that the generals are not trained well, it's just that the soldiers haven't eaten enough, where is there still spiritual training?" Li Guohan, the guard and commander of "Mergen", was not too afraid of Hauge, and said to Hauge on the side.

"Can't get enough to eat? Where did all the military salaries, grain and grass that the imperial court gave us go? Are you all greedy for ink? At this critical juncture of the life and death of the imperial court, if you do that greedy thing again, this king will definitely destroy the whole door of you! Hauge became more and more angry when he heard this, and pointed to a few people and continued to scold.

Liu Jinzhong, Huang Ying and several other Han army generals were so frightened that they knelt in front of Haoge, shouting "wronged", "The last general and others don't dare to be greedy for ink, but the amount of military salaries, grain and grass is getting smaller and smaller, and the soldiers can't eat enough for two meals a day, it's not that the last general is greedy for ink!" ”

Li Guohan was frightened when he saw several Han army generals, and hurriedly stepped forward and said to Haoge: "The last general can prove that the amount of grain and grass is indeed too small, and it is not them who profit from it, please Prince Su to take a clear look." ”

When Hauge heard this, he put down the whip in his hand very helplessly, looked at the north and sighed.

"The soldiers of the Han army will no longer train tomorrow, and they will all go to the countryside to raise food." Hauge hesitated for a long time before he spoke to the generals.

"Prince Su, don't do it! The regent had previously ordered that the local government and army should treat the people well, and not drive people's hearts to Nanjing. When Li Guohan heard this, he immediately became anxious and stepped forward to persuade.

"Does this king not know this decree? But at this time, the soldiers are not able to eat, so how can we resist the wolf-like Wehrmacht? Let's do it first, wait until the Wehrmacht is defeated and then compensate the people, if the court blames it, the king will bear it, don't wait for the responsibility. Haoge glanced at Li Guohan and said lightly.

"Dare to let Prince Su know that now is the time when the green and yellow are not harvested, where can I raise food." Li Guohan also sighed and said.

"Those old men in the capital, I have reached the critical point of life and death in the Qing Dynasty. But he didn't want to relax for a moment. If it weren't for the fact that most of the grain and grass would have been transported to the capital. How can we be short of food? Hauge glanced at the north again and said hatefully.

After Haoge finished speaking, he stared at a few Han army generals who were trembling and stood aside, and waved the horse whip in his hand, "You all go, just raise some food, don't hurt people's lives." ”

Li Guohan looked at Haoge and thought of how heroic Prince Su was when he marched into Sichuan and Guizhou. To the military and civilians under the rule of the former Ming and Dashun. If there is resistance, everything will be dusted wherever the army goes. Now, because of the war letter sent by the Wehrmacht, he no longer dares to take a step beyond the thunder pool.

Li Guohan clearly remembered that the war book reads: "Any means used by the two armies in battle, but not innocent people. ”

Thinking of this, Li Guohan couldn't help but shudder.

When the generals of the Han army had gone down to the city, Hauge beckoned a group of Manchu cavalry generals to come closer.

"The situation is critical, can you know it?" Hauge looked at the generals coldly. The sound coming out of the nose sent chills down the listener's body.

"The end will know! Please advise Prince Su! The generals hurriedly stepped forward and bowed and saluted.

"Only now is the only way to fight to the death with the Wehrmacht. If the Wehrmacht is repulsed, the Qing Dynasty will still be able to maintain, and if we are defeated, the Qing Dynasty will die! Hauge took a long breath to calm his impatience before speaking slowly.

"The Wehrmacht on the opposite side is fighting hard, and it will soon advance westward, and this king is determined to fight to the death with him under the city of Guide, and the key to the decisive battle lies in Er." Hauge walked a few steps to the side of the stomping, and pointed with his horsewhip at the fortifications not far below the city, which were still built by Duoduo.

"The king wants to hold back the enemy here with these fortifications, and you will lead the cavalry to ambush here, and when the offensive slows down, you must charge at all costs, and be sure to inflict heavy damage on the Wehrmacht here, remember! At all costs! Hauge pointed to the large woods in front of the fortifications to the left and right with his horsewhip, and said through gritted teeth.

The winter woods can't hide tens of thousands of cavalry, but behind the woods is a continuous hill, and behind the hill can hide countless soldiers, but there are still seven or eight miles away from the front of the fortifications, and the charge from there has exceeded the running limit of the war horses.

Hearing Hauge say this, the cavalry generals of the Qing army, who usually regarded war horses as brothers, all had gloomy looks on their faces.

"Commander Lee, this king has delivered all the cannons to you, and you must use these cannons to stop the Wehrmacht before the fortifications, if you can hold back the Wehrmacht for an hour, it will be exhausted, and our cavalry will be able to kill and wound them in large numbers." After explaining to the cavalry generals, Haoge explained to Li Guohan again.

"The last general obeys!" Li Guohan stepped forward and responded with his fists clenched.

The arrangement was completed, Hauge waved the horsewhip in his hand, and asked all the generals to go down to make arrangements. The guards stood far away, not daring to get too close to Hauge, and Prince Su had been very short-tempered lately, and if he was displeased, he would probably be whipped again.

Haoge looked back at the slowly setting sunset, his mood was extremely dark, and he thought to himself why it had only been a few years since he seized the world, and the Qing Dynasty had become like this sunset?

Liu Zhaoji strode out of the command tent of the First Army outside Dangshan City, followed by He Ying and Zhuang Zigu and other officers.

As soon as the afternoon's combat meeting ended, and the troops would march in the direction of Guide tomorrow after a day's rest, Liu Zhaoji and all the officers had very grim faces, but a few regimental officers showed excited looks.

As soon as it was dawn the next day, there was a rapid sound of horses' hooves near the headquarters of the First Army, and the officers who had held the battle meeting knew that it was all the scouts of the First Army who had been dispatched to reconnoiter the enemy situation in the direction of Guide.

After yesterday's combat meeting, Liu Zhaoji has been thinking about combat operations, whether it is a field battle or a siege battle, the first army is not a problem, but the Qing army still has 30,000 or 40,000 cavalry, if they suddenly attack, they can pose a greater threat to the first army.

After breakfast, Liu Zhaoji hurried to the staff headquarters, "You must find someone to verify the terrain near Guide again, you must not make a mistake, there are still 30,000 or 40,000 cavalry in Guide, we have to guard against it!" (To be continued.) )