Five days of preparation time passed in a hurry, and finally it was time to start the pull.

110 soldiers of the Kanyu Battalion lined up in a neat line, under the leadership of Hao Tong and Deng Kui, standing outside the east gate of Fengcheng to be inspected by the people of the county. After half a year of training, these peasant children have grown into well-disciplined regular army soldiers, and the mere step up to that station with their helmets piercing their armor gives them a sense of majesty.

Unlike the ordinary Ming army, the survey battalion was equipped with a larger number of equipment, and in addition to weapons and tents, they also had to carry a large number of surveying and mapping instruments, which were now loaded on several large carts parked on the side. These big cars and drivers are all hired by Su Hao, and they will go to Yunnan with the survey camp, and the money for this trip is naturally very considerable.

In addition to the cart with instruments, there are two carts with cloth canopies, which are used to seat people at first glance. At this moment, a group of old mothers surrounded the two cars, crying and separating from the people in the cars. It turned out that there were 10 embroiderers who were good at embroidering pictures in this car, and they were also going to Yunnan with the survey camp. Unlike the charioteers, these embroidery girls will not come back easily, and their future destiny can only be to marry the soldiers in the barracks and become the families of the soldiers.

In order to recruit these embroidery girls, Su Hao spent a lot of money, which was enough to buy these embroidery girls and put them at home as slaves. The girls who came out to be embroidery girls are also from families that are not very wealthy, and some people are willing to spend money to recruit, and the parents of those girls are naturally willing. As for saying that in the future, these girls can only marry far away to the border, this is not a matter of concern to parents, anyway, if the girl is not staying, who will she marry?

When he first heard that Su Hao was going to take 10 embroidery girls on the road together, Chen Dao was very dissatisfied and almost gave Su Hao a lesson in military discipline of the Ming Dynasty. However, when he saw the map embroidered by the embroidery girls, he stopped talking, and this kind of embroidery work can only be done by women, so these embroidery girls are actually an indispensable part of the survey camp.

"There have never been female soldiers in my Ming army, and changing my brother is going to break our rules." Chen Dao smiled bitterly.

Su Hao said: "What Brother Chen said is wrong, as far as the younger brother knows, there are not only female soldiers in my Ming army, but there also seem to be female generals, right?" ”

"Female general? Who is it to change? Chen Dao asked in surprise.

"I remember......" Su Hao scratched his scalp, he had the impression that there should be a female general in the Ming Dynasty, but in a hurry, he couldn't remember it.

Chen Dao said it for him: "Changed it, it's not the third lady of the Mongolian Tumut Department, right?" A few years ago, the emperor canonized her as Mrs. Zhongshun, and if you want to talk about a female general, you can only count her. However, she is not the general of our Ming army. ”

"I remember not." Su Hao said, "Well, maybe I'm mistaken." ”

"It must have been a mistake in my memory." Chen Dao said.

The family members of the soldiers who lived relatively close to their families also came to say goodbye, but according to the military regulations, Hao Tong and Deng Kui did not let them get close to the team, but just let them stand far away and look at their children in the team. The soldiers did not cry like the embroidered girls, they were full of expectations for the future in their hearts, thinking of rushing to the border as soon as possible to make meritorious contributions, so that they could come back to glorify their ancestors as an official and a half-job.

Han Wen, the magistrate of the county, with the county officials, the chief bookkeeper and other officials, also appeared, and Han Wen also read an extremely ornate prose to all the soldiers of the Kanyu Battalion, which roughly means to encourage the soldiers to go to the border pass to kill the enemy bravely and win glory for their hometown. Su Hao expressed his determination to Han Wen on behalf of the Kanyu Battalion, and led the soldiers of the Kanyu Battalion to shout a slogan, and then ordered the whole army to be mobilized.

According to the instructions of the Ministry of War, the Kanyu Battalion will first take a boat along the Ganjiang River to Jiujiang, change boats from Jiujiang, go up the Yangtze River, go to Sichuan, and then transfer to Yunnan. According to Hao Tong, there is a passage between Huzhou, Sichuan and Qujing, Yunnan, which he himself has walked. When you arrive in Qujing, you can go to Tengchong through Yunnan Mansion, Chuxiong Mansion, Dali Mansion and Yongchang Mansion.

The team left the east gate of the county seat and went to the river to take a boat. Along the way, the people saw each other off, and from time to time they could hear the voice of calling for their brothers. The wealthy families in the county town also bought firecrackers, which was naturally largely out of the face of Su Hao.

Chen Dao and Su Hao rode on horses and walked side by side. Behind them, who did not walk with the soldiers, there were three other people, two of whom were Chen Dao's retinue brought from Běi Jing, and the other was Chen Guanyu, Su Hao's staff.

This trip to Yunnan is far away and the situation is complicated, Su Hao was worried that he would not be able to cope with all kinds of things, so he brought Chen Guanyu with him. Chen Guanyu is a single person, he has nothing to worry about, but he doesn't care where Su Hao takes him. This old god stick is extremely capable, and in such a short time, he has already had a hot fight with Chen Dao's two entourage.

Chen Dao rode on a horse, looked at the soldiers of the survey camp, and said to Su Hao with emotion: "Brother change, when I was in the military department, I heard a report from the Jiangxi Metropolitan Division that your survey battalion is well-trained and can be called an elite soldier. When I saw it today, I knew that what Jiangxi Dusi said was true. The physique and discipline of these soldiers can only be seen in the personal troops of the main general in the border army. ”

Su Hao said: "Brother Chen has won the award. However, the training of this team, the younger brother did put some effort. The errands of the survey camp must be completed in the mountains and mountains, and if the physical strength of the soldiers is unbearable, I am afraid it will be difficult to deal with. Therefore, the diet of the survey camp has always been very particular, and the soldiers are in good health, which has something to do with this. ”

Chen Dao said: "I, a Ming officer, if I can lead the troops like the change, how can those Japanese barbarians be opponents?" ”

Su Hao said: "The ancients said that raising soldiers for a thousand days and using soldiers for a while, so these soldiers are all raised." If you don't throw a lot of silver away, I'm afraid that you will be able to train elite soldiers. ”

Chen Dao agreed with Su Hao's words, and he sighed: "In other words, my Ming army is declining, all because there is no money to raise soldiers. The amount of silver that the household department can allocate is not much, plus the officials at all levels are up and down, and what can finally fall on the heads of the soldiers is only enough to fill their stomachs, how can they have the strength to practice any martial arts. Such an army is barely enough to deal with sporadic bandits, but it is far less than enough to deal with the Mongols and pirates. ”

"Therefore, if you want to strengthen the army, you must first enrich the country, this is the most simple truth." Su Hao said.

"It's really talented, that's true." Chen Dao said.

The two were chatting speculatively, and Su Hao suddenly heard someone on the side of the road shouting to him: "Brother, brother, Brother Hao!" ”

Su Hao turned his head on the horse and saw Lu Xiuer holding Cheng Yi standing in the crowd of onlookers, waving to him. Su Hao looked at Chen Dao and asked for his opinion, Chen Dao said with a smile: "Is it that I have been busy with official business these days and have not said goodbye to my family yet." Otherwise, you can go and talk to them to save them from worrying. ”

Without Chen Dao's permission, Su Hao couldn't leave the team casually. Fortunately, Chen Dao is not an old-fashioned person, and when he saw two girls coming to see Su Hao off, he generously granted Su Hao's leave.

Su Hao thanked Chen Dao, drove his horse to Lu Xiu'er, jumped off the horse, and asked, "Xiu'er, what's wrong, didn't you already say it last night, why are you here again today?" ”

Lu Xiu'er's eyes were a little red, she pointed at Cheng Yi and said, "It's not me coming, it's Sister Cheng who has something to tell you, and she asked me to bring her." ”

"Xiu'er doesn't cry." Su Hao stretched out his hand and stroked Lu Xiu'er's head, Lu Xiu'er's face turned red, and she hurriedly lowered her head, not daring to look at the people around her. Su Hao walked in front of Cheng Yi again and arched his hand: "Cheng family lady, do you have anything to say to you?" ”

Cheng Yi didn't say anything, just took out an embroidered purse from his arms and stuffed it into Su Hao's hand. Su Hao was inexplicable, took the purse, opened it, and saw that there was a strand of green silk wrapped in it. He asked in surprise, "Cheng family lady, what do you mean by this?" ”

"Hey! It's not mine! Cheng Yi knew that he had placed an oolong, stomped his foot and said, "This is given to you by that person, what does it mean, don't you know it yet?" ”

"Yes......" Su Hao suddenly understood, Cheng Yi has been a messenger between him and Han Qian these days, since this purse was not sent by Cheng Yi, it is naturally Han Qian's. As for what one of the wisps of green silk means, even if Su Hao's brain is a pig's brain, he can guess exactly the same. In those days, a girl gave you her hair, which was a naked confession.

"Cheng family lady, thank you!" Su Hao put away his purse and thanked Cheng Yi.

Cheng Yi asked: "Su Baihu, do you have nothing to ask the little woman to give to that person?" ”

Su Hao smiled slightly, took out two glass mirrors from the cloth bag on horseback, handed them to Cheng Yi, and said, "Cheng family lady, please send a glass mirror to that person on your behalf, as for the other side, I will leave it to the Cheng family lady for her own use." ”

"Another side is for me?" Cheng Yi held the mirror, overjoyed, and her face showed a little childlike shyness.

As he spoke, the team had already moved to the front. Su Hao was inconvenient to stay for a long time, so he turned around and walked in front of Lu Xiu'er. Lu Xiuer raised her head and looked at Su Hao, with a look of reluctance in her eyes. Su Hao smiled slightly, suddenly opened his arms, hugged Lu Xiu'er, and hugged her tightly to his chest.

"Waiting for me to come back!" Su Hao put his mouth to Lu Xiu'er's ear and said softly.

"Brother, I will!" Lu Xiu'er said firmly.

……

Three large boats went down the river, taking Su Hao and more than 100 soldiers from the Kanyu Battalion, who were bidding farewell to their homeland and heading to the border pass. Su Hao stood at the bow of the boat, looking at the river rolling north, his heart was surging.

The outside world is very helpless, the outside world is very exciting, Daming, I'm here!