"Xiao Shen will have a life, how dare he disobey below." Su Hao said with a smile.

The underground coal mine was not Su Hao's private thing, and it could be mined to help the border army, so why didn't he do it? Chen Dao once introduced Xiao Ruxun to Su Hao in detail, saying that he was loyal and brave and a rare talent. Su Hao was only a little annoyed that Xiao Ruxun was cold to him before, but now that Xiao Ruxun's attitude has completely reversed, Su Hao naturally will not refuse to agree to his request.

"The title of General Su is inevitably a bit out of sight. You and I hit it off at first sight, how about being called brothers? Xiao Ruxun said enthusiastically.

"I don't dare to ask for it." Su Hao dragged an ancient sentence, and at the same time got up and saluted Xiao Ruxun and said, "Brother Xiao is above, please accept the salute from the younger brother." ”

"You and my brother don't have to be like that." Xiao Ruxun walked over from behind the public case, took Su Hao's hand, and laughed.

Su Hao's various performances before have already made Xiao Ruxun have a good impression of Su Hao. Listening to Hu Xinxin say that the quality of the sergeants of the Kanyu Battalion is still better than that of the border army, Xiao Ruxun has a higher opinion of Su Hao's ability to govern the army. When Su Hao said that he could find a big coal mine outside Pingyu City, Xiao Ruxun made up his mind to make friends with Su Hao. This should be regarded as a heroic sympathy, and it is easy for everyone to treat each other with all sincerity.

At noon, Xiao Ruxun ordered a banquet to be set up in the General's Mansion to entertain Su Hao. Yang Shulan, Cheng Yi, and Ge Ling were also invited to accompany each other, and the people at the table were like a family, even harmonious. The society of the Ming Dynasty was relatively open, and the defense of men and women was not strict, and since Su Hao recognized Xiao Ruxun as his brother, Yang Shulan was naturally the sister-in-law, and from the folk, the relationship between uncle and sister-in-law could be relatively casual.

When Xiao Ruxun and Su Hao were talking secretly, Cheng Yi and Ge Ling also chatted with Yang Shulan in the back house extremely speculatively. Ge Ling's grandfather is the imperial doctor of Nanjing Tai Hospital, to put it in detail, Ge Ling actually met Yang Shulan's father Yang Zhao with his grandfather, this coincidence made several of them feel quite fateful, and they also worshiped each other's godsisters at the moment, among which Yang Shulan was naturally the eldest sister, Cheng Yi was the second sister, and Ge Ling was the third sister.

Yang Shulan saw that Cheng Yi was over 20 years old, but she was still dressed as a girl, so she couldn't help but ask about her marriage. Cheng Yi blushed and refused to say more, but the singer, who was born stupid, bluntly said that Cheng Yi had some thoughts about Su Hao. Yang Shulan nodded immediately, and threatened to mention it to Su Hao at the right time, and she must not miss Cheng Yi's life.

After eating, Xiao Ruxun was anxious to go to the coal mine with Su Hao, Su Hao nodded and agreed, and the two of them each took a number of personal soldiers, rode out of Pingyu City, and headed towards the mountains to the west.

Xiao Ruxun has been a general in Pingyu City for several years, and he is quite familiar with the surrounding terrain, but he does not know where the coal is produced. Su Hao knew the location of the coal mine in his memory, but it was difficult to match the current reality for a while. Fortunately, some results have been achieved in the early stage of surveying and mapping in the surveying and mapping camp, and the contour map of the area west of Pingyu City has been drawn, and Su Hao took the map and walked forward by forgetting to ride his horse.

"Brother Su, is this the map you dedicated to the military department?"

Xiao Ruxun saw that Su Hao took out a pair of white silk from time to time to look at it, and suddenly remembered those anecdotes about Su Hao, so he couldn't help but ask.

"Exactly." Su Hao replied, and at the same time handed the white silk map in his hand to Xiao Ruxun's hand.

Xiao Ruxun took the map, and couldn't even tell the front and back for a while. I finally determined the front and back of the map from the direction of those small characters on the ground, but I was still a little confused when I looked at these twists and turns.

"What kind of map is this? What are these lines? Xiao Ruxun asked.

Su Hao and Xiao Ruxun walked side by side, stretching out their fingers to explain the meaning of the contour line to Xiao Ruxun in combination with the landform in front of them. Xiao Ruxun took the map and looked at it, and then raised his eyes to look at the mountains and valleys next to him, and then his eyes lit up, and he exclaimed: "There is such a simple way to mark these mountain beams, Brother Su is really a genius, and the foolish brother was too rude before, please forgive me." ”

Military personnel have an unparalleled sensitivity to maps, and once they understand the meaning of such maps, they immediately realize the great military value of them. Seeing that the team led by Su Hao was able to draw a detailed map of an area in such a short period of time, so that the generals commanding the battle almost had the eyes of heaven to spy on the terrain, how could Xiao Ruxun not feel shocked. He has always felt that he is both civil and military, and he does not take the heroes of the world in his eyes. But at this moment, he admired Su Hao so much.

"Brother Xiao is serious, how can the little brother's carving skills be compared with Brother Xiao's Wen Taowu strategy." Su Hao said modestly.

Xiao Ruxun asked, "Brother Su, how much map do you plan to draw when you come to Ningxiawei this time?" ”

Su Hao said: "According to the requirements of the Ministry of War, we must draw a map of the entire Ningxia defense area. ”

"Pictures beyond the side wall, do you want to draw them?" Xiao Ruxun asked again.

"I'm afraid I won't draw it yet." Su Hao replied.

In the Ming Dynasty, the Great Wall was not called the Great Wall, but the side wall. For the Ming Dynasty, the border wall is equivalent to the national border, and beyond the border wall is the territory of the Mongolian tribes. This time, the order that Chen Dao brought to Su Hao was to ask the Kanyu Battalion to draw a map inside the side wall, and did not say that it involved outside the side wall.

In Su Hao's meaning, he actually hoped to be able to draw the map beyond the side wall. As a modern person, Su Hao's concept of territory is far from being limited to the line of the Great Wall. Even from the practical point of view of the Ming Dynasty, just drawing a map within the border wall is not enough to meet the needs of border warfare, because when it is really time to fight, the place where the two sides fight is not limited to the border wall, but may also fight outside the border wall.

However, Chen Dao told Su Hao that it was too difficult to draw a map beyond the side wall. Within the side wall is the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty, and there is no enemy harassment. As soon as you get out of the side wall, you may encounter Tatars at any time, and it is difficult to guarantee the personal safety of the surveying and mapping personnel, so how can they complete the surveying and mapping task? Su Hao felt that his battalion had no chance of winning against the Tatars, so he dispelled the idea of going out to the side wall to survey.

Hearing Su Hao's answer, Xiao Ruxun was a little disappointed, and he said: "The map within the side wall is not of much benefit to us. This is our own territory, even if the general is not familiar with it, it is not very difficult to find a guide who knows the way. On the contrary, beyond the side wall, we are a smear. The places I've been to are better, the places I've not been, and I don't know where there is an ambush. If there is a map like this, then I will not be afraid of any further places. ”

"What, does Brother Xiao still often go out to the side wall to fight?" Su Hao asked a little strangely.

Xiao Ruxun shook his head and said: "It's just occasional, the main reason is that the geography is not familiar." Once we arrived at the territory of the Tatars, the people were the masters, we were the guests, the terrain was not familiar, and it was too much to suffer from the war, so it was easy not to go out. ”

"So, if there is a detailed map, does Brother Xiao dare to go out of the side wall to fight?" Su Hao asked again, he didn't think that he would be able to go outside the side wall to survey and map immediately, he just wanted to understand the Ming generals' thoughts on going out to fight.

Xiao Ruxun said: "I'll accompany Brother Su Xian to the side wall another day, and you'll understand." I am guarding the side wall, which seems to be safe, but in fact it is passive. The border wall stretched for thousands of miles, and no one knew where the Mongols were attacking. The art of war is cloudy, the front is the back, the back is the front, the left is the right, the right is the left, everything is prepared, and not everything. There is no reason to defend a wall and wait for others to attack. ”

"yes, offense is the best defense." Su Hao said casually.

"Offense is the best defense...... That's a great point to say! Xiao Ruxun praised, "Brother Su Xian has been able to say it many times. ”

Su Hao was embarrassed: "This is what the sages of Francois said, not my first creation." ”

Xiao Ruxun did not investigate who proposed this sentence, because he had also thought about this point of view, but he had not made such an induction. He said to Su Hao with great interest: "Brother Su Xian, in my opinion, I should not be guarding this side of the wall, I should send elites to the grassland to take the initiative to find the enemy to fight, even if they can't annihilate the Mongolian army, at least they will not have a chance to recuperate." In this way, they will not be able to gather a large army to invade the border, and we can reduce the border army in large numbers, which will be of great benefit to the country and the people. ”

"Why don't you put forward this idea to the imperial court?" Su Hao asked.

Xiao Ruxun said: "I am soft-spoken, where is it my turn to mention such a Chen." Besides, it is not easy to organize the elite to fight on the grassland, the elite needs training, and they also need to have effective generals. The Mongols were very good at it, 10,000 against 10,000, and our Ming army had no chance of winning. It was also very expensive to mobilize a larger army, and the army was so slow that it could not keep up with the Mongols. So the idea of foolish brother is just on paper. ”

"I think Brother Xiao's idea is good. It's just a matter of how to improve it. Su Hao said.

He didn't know much about the military affairs of the Ming Dynasty, but he intuitively believed that Xiao Ruxun's strategy was right, and instead of taking a defensive position and being beaten passively, it was better to take the initiative to meet the enemy, consume the living strength of the Mongol army, and make it unable to organize a large-scale invasion. But when it comes to how to implement this strategy, there are many details that need to be worked out. He decided that after he went back, he would ask Xu Guangzu, Li Zhen and others for advice to see if this veteran with practical experience and a great Confucian could come up with any good solutions.

"This matter can be discussed later." Xiao Ruxun said, "Brother Su Xian, isn't it the coal deposit you said all the way around?" ”

Su Hao raised his horsewhip and pointed forward and asked, "Everyone, do anyone know the name of the valley in front of you?" ”

Some of Xiao Ruxun's personal soldiers were more familiar with the local situation, and when they heard Su Hao's question, they immediately replied: "Back to General Su, that valley does not have an official name, but the local natives call it Rujigou." (To be continued)