Wushan County Ya, which has been requisitioned as the prime minister's temporary requisition.

Although Liu Jun had just won the victory, he wiped out more than 5,000 bandits at an almost undamaged cost. However, Liu Jun and Mei Zhihuan were not blinded by this victory, and they all clearly realized that for the tens of thousands of bandits stationed in Dachang, it was at most a little flesh and skin injury, and it was not enough to hurt the muscles and bones.

And they can't stay here all the time.

"We don't have much grain and grass, we originally came out with a month's worth of grain and grass for the whole army, but now we have to add more than 4,000 prisoners, and Governor Yuan has just recruited a battalion of more than 3,000 people. Our number of people has nearly doubled in just a few days, but it is difficult for this Kuizhou Mansion to supply grain and grass, and our current grain and grass are only enough to last for half a month. Liu Jun's Chinese military officer Fu Shan reported a very grim reality.

The soldiers and horses did not move, and the grain and grass went first. Without food, there can be no war.

Although they were fighting at home, they came in a hurry, and they did not accumulate and transport food here in advance. Now it is necessary to collect and distribute it temporarily, and it is difficult to collect nearly 30,000 horses and horses in a short period of time.

Now grain and grass is a big problem, of course, the bigger problem is to prevent the thieves from going deep into Sichuan.

Therefore, whether it is from the issue of grain and grass, or from the aspect of blocking the southward movement of the thief army, Liu Jun and the others cannot stand still, they must attack.

"Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai don't know that we are here for the time being, and they don't know that we have annihilated the Sweeping King and the Ten Anti-Kings. They believed in the night we had sent, and believed that he was the messenger of the King of the Sweepers. The two thieves have now each sent a thief general to lead the soldiers and horses of the main camp, and they are coming to Wushan City. ”

Liu Jun was a little proud of his tricks, and sent a messenger who pretended to be the king of sweeping the land to enter Dachang City to deliver a letter to Zhang Xianzhong, asking for reinforcements. It was a risky step, and it turned out to be successful. Liu Jun successfully concealed the information that the two thieves of the sweeping king were annihilated. At the same time, he also successfully fished out some soldiers and horses from the thief's den.

"Now that the fish has bitten the hook, I'm going to eat these two hooked fish first."

The two bands of thieves who came out this time each had a battalion, adding up to more than 6,000 people. And obviously, these two battalions of men and horses must be stronger than the sweeping king's team.

And they can't let the bandits go all the way to Wushan City, otherwise they will immediately know that the Sweeping King's department has been annihilated. In that case, maybe the thieves will not attack Wushan again, but directly withdraw to Dachang.

If you want to fight, you can only ambush halfway.

But it's not easy.

"From Dachang City to Wushan City, there are two roads: water and land. The waterway is to go down to Wushan through the Daning River. However, the upper reaches of the Daning River are shallow and have many rocky beaches, so you can only take small boats or rafts. The last time the sweepers came on a raft, they took most of the ships in Dachang City with them. ”

"According to the information we got from Tanma, in order to reinforce Wushan as soon as possible, the bandits will use both land and water this time. Among them, the main force is by land, and the land and waterways are not together, and the land route will be in the west of Wushan County. Therefore, this time, the main force of the bandits took the land route, while the baggage came through the Daning River by waterway. One in the west. One is in the east. ”

Although it is faster to take the water route, you have to build a raft after all, and although the land route is slower, you don't have to spend a lot of time building a temporary raft.

"It only takes about a day to walk by water. On the other hand, it takes two to three days to walk. ”

This is the opportunity, an ambush halfway. Although it is a bit risky, it is better than waiting for Zhang Xianzhong to lead tens of thousands of people over. Or wait for Zhang Xianzhong to discover them, and directly lead his troops to bypass them.

It's a bit risky, but it's worth it. It also has to.

On the same day, Liu Jun and Mei Zhihuan agreed that Liu Jun would lead the three battalions of the Nine-headed Bird to the muddy ditch sixty miles west of Wushan, which was the ambush location they chose based on the information they had collected at night. This is the only way from Dachang to Wushan, which is about 100 miles away from Dachang and 60 miles away from Wushan.

There is a section of the road that is very suitable for ambushes.

Mei Zhihuan, Li Changgeng, and Yuan Jixian were in Wushan, and they commanded the remaining three battalions to deal with the bandit baggage troops that came up from the Daning River.

For the sake of safety, Liu Jun did not leave his baggage battalion behind, but set off with the baggage battalion.

Departing in the morning, and by the evening, the nine-headed bird arrived at its intended destination, the mud ditch.

The mud ditch is a valley, a relatively narrow valley.

"The battalion is on the left slope, and the training battalion is on the right hillside, and the baggage battalion unloads all the baggage into the valley next to it, carrying only the vehicle-mounted artillery and ammunition, and you are divided into two parts, and they are hidden on the north and south sides of the valley. When the bandits enter the valley and you hear the cannons, immediately drive the van to the mouth of the valley on both sides, block the openings at both ends, and then we will close the door and beat the dogs. Do you understand? ”

Standing on the slope of the ravine, Liu Jun was very satisfied with this mile-long ravine, which was an excellent ambush location.

Although the slopes on both sides are not very steep, it is not so easy for the bandits to attack the nine-headed bird warriors on the slopes. Especially Liu Jun still has so much artillery fire, he can completely surround and kill them here.

"The thieves are here in about a day, so we're starting to prepare for this now. Soldiers of the baggage battalion, chop more wood and make cabinet horses, and I ask that each of your wagons be ready to make ten rejection horses before tomorrow's battle. When the time comes, keep these horses in front of your chariots, so that you may strengthen your defenses. ”

Horse rejection is not only to reject horses, of course, it can also be used to reject people. If there are enough to repel horses, a temporary wall can be erected, which will give the baggage battalion a lot of defense.

Liu Jun also had a task for the two battalions to ambush on the slopes of the hills on both sides. They also had to cut down trees to keep their horses away, and they had to dig trenches, and on the slopes of the hills on either side, they dug a trench so that the soldiers could crouch in the trenches and shoot from a high position. The excavated earth is to be built outside the trench to make a breastwork. In addition, you have to prepare some trees and stones to make rolling logs and stones.

Even if you make these preparations, it will take a lot of effort. But Liu Jun felt that it was better to spend a little effort and sweat than to shed blood and lose his life in wartime. After all, most of the nine-headed birds are new troops, and after breaking away from the city's guards, even if they use nearly 10,000 against more than 5,000, and fight one with two, it is not easy.

The lion and the rabbit also use all their strength. Liu Jun has always remembered this sentence. In every battle, we must deal with it with all our might, and there can be no sloppiness.

Fortunately, they have a day to make these preparations.

Ambush is always the most effective means of warfare, although old-fashioned, but it is a classic tactic that has been tried and tested repeatedly.

"Sir, it's good that you're in charge of commanding, and we'll dig it up." On the slope of the muddy ditch, Mei Qing was wearing cotton armor and digging a trench with a standard sapper shovel in his hand. Mei Tingyou persuaded him more than once. After Mei Zhihuan was promoted to prime minister, Mei Qing still stayed in Liu Jun's camp, and Liu Jun originally let her stay in his own soldiers.

But after sending troops to Sichuan this time, she took the initiative to ask to go below, and finally asked Mei Zhihuan, Liu Jun was also a little helpless about this strange father and daughter, so she had to go with her. Mei Qing was promoted, originally the team leader, and was promoted to a flag commander in the war barracks. Originally, Liu Jun wanted to raise her a little more.

The officers of the Nine-headed Bird Banner and below still have to go to the front line of the battle formation and fight hard. And when they are promoted to the rank of bureau chief and above, these officers will be required to stand under the battle flag and be responsible for directing the battle when they fight. And not personally in the rush to kill at the front.

It's a pity that Mei Qing doesn't appreciate it, and she has to be a flag boss.

Mei Qing led a banner and three teams, one of which was brought by the Mei family, and they all knew her identity. The other two teams don't know. Usually, Mei Qing also strictly forbids the family members to reveal her identity, so other people don't know about it, and their flag is the boss. It's actually a woman. Everyone usually thinks that Chief Qi is a little too handsome, and they never imagined that it would be a woman dressed as a man, even if he said it, it was really hard to believe.

"Don't talk nonsense, Team Mei, your task is to take your team to cut down trees and collect stones, and the task of the second and third teams is to dig trenches and build chest walls, time is pressing, and there is not so much time to be verbose. We had to get the trenches, breastprints, and horses in place before dark, and if we had time, some deer's toe piles in front of the trenches, and we had to dig holes and erect the tiger cannon of our banner, and we had to get some branches and other things to cover up our fortifications, and there was much to be done. ”

Mei Qing said while shoveling the soil.

Mei Ting watched his young lady digging a ditch and shoveling soil like a man, and he had an inexplicable feeling, and he couldn't think of it. The daughter of the prime minister of the six provinces, or the daughter of the concubine, why is she so unruly. And sir, why don't you stop it but condone it.

However, he could not ignore the young lady's order, so he had to carry a machete and cut down the tree again. As he walked, he was thinking, since it was an ambush, was it necessary to make such trouble, digging ditches and building walls and cutting trees to pick up stones, with their equipment, those artillery, those firearms, it was easy to deal with thousands of thieves.

In the battle of Wushan, they annihilated more than 5,000 people, isn't it extremely easy. After a few rounds of artillery fire, the thieves collapsed and surrendered. Although I thought so in my heart, the rules of the nine-headed bird are like a mountain of military orders, and there is no room for doubt. You can have your own ideas, but after the military order is given, you must obey, and the ideas can only be kept.

Moreover, the nine-headed bird also emphasizes the relationship between superiors and subordinates, and it is strictly forbidden to report to superiors.

Although the baggage battalion carried a lot of coal and rice, Liu Jun gave an early order to prohibit cooking on a fire to prevent leakage of his whereabouts. The firefighters prepared Qiguang cakes for everyone, which belonged to non-standard dry food. This kind of Qi Guang cake is a kind of dry food invented by Qi Jiguang, in fact, it is just a dough cake with a hole in the middle, but this kind of cake can be stored for ten days and a half months without being bad, and there is a hole in the middle that can be strung up with a rope and hung on the body, and it can be eaten at any time when marching and fighting.

The fortifications had been built all day, and by the next evening the work was complete, and the hillside was covered with many branches and grass.

When it got dark, everyone ate barebread, chewed dried pickles and salted fish sticks, and leaned against the trenches to seize the time to rest. In order to be able to quickly enter the battle, the war barracks and training battalions were directly left in the trenches for the night after the fortifications were built.

In the trench of the first flag of the first bureau of the front division of the left part of the teaching battalion, a group of people were tired enough, leaning on their felt blankets, a little tired.

This flag team is mainly composed of trainees from the Fushe and Qihuang 48 villages, one flag has three teams, one team is the people of the Fushe, one team is the people of the 48 villages, and the other team is the people of the nine-headed bird. The general manager of each team and the commander of the two corps are all officers in training, and most of the soldiers below are the family members they brought.

This is a complex flag.

Zhao Hai, the head of the first team, is a person sent by the Fushe, a talent from Wuzhou, who is twenty-five years old this year and is relatively strong. He was a member of the Restoration Society, and when the Restoration Society asked for members to come to the Nine-Headed Bird for training, he took the initiative to come. His two captains were both children and taller. The remaining nine soldiers were brought by the three of them.

The situation of the second team is similar, the team leader and the two captains are the children of the local gentry in Qihuang, and one of the team always has the fame of a prisoner, and the other two have no fame, but they have also studied in private academies. Several of the soldiers of their team were also their own family members.

The third team is the Nine-Headed Bird Battalion's own soldiers, but it is not an ordinary recruit, the team leader and the captain are drawn from the war barracks, and it is said that they are the earlier group of veterans. The remaining soldiers were newly recruited not long ago.

The three teams of soldiers usually come together, but Zhao Hai has always been very strange, since this place is known as a teaching camp, why after they come in, they don't feel any different from the ordinary war barracks.

Except for the fact that the officers would be asked to assemble at night, and some officers such as Liu Jun would take turns to repeatedly talk about the battles and analyses of the several battles fought by the Nine-headed Bird, it was not at all clear that they had received any teaching. On the contrary, they had come to be taught, but in the evenings they had to take turns in other battalions to teach the soldiers to read, count, and draw.

Are they there to be trained, or are they there to teach? Wu Hai was already a little confused, just like they ran from Hubei to Sichuan by boat, and then ran 60 miles a day to come to this deserted ravine, and then they were tired of digging a ditch and cutting trees on this barren mountain for a day, and now they were sore and sweaty.

The commander of the army, fellow villager Zhou Jie leaned on his side, "Brother Wu, you said that when this war is coming, Liu Jiye will not let us recuperate, but instead let us cut down trees and dig ditches, tired and half dead, you say, what kind of art of war and tactics is this?" ”

Lin Junshan, another Wu Chang, said, "Liu Jun is actually just a halfway monk, how can he know any tactics of war." ”

Zhao Hai thought for a while and said, "But whether Liu Jun is a wild man who is a monk halfway or not, we have to admit that he can indeed win battles, once or twice you can say that you are lucky, but every time you can win the battle, that is the ability." Instead of learning some tactics and tactics on paper, I would rather follow Liu Jun to learn how to win battles every time. Winning battles is the most important thing, isn't it? ”

At this time, several soldiers came over in the dark.

Each of them carried a large cloth bag in his hand, and "received the letter, received the letter, and threw it into the bag of those who wrote it." ”

Zhao Hai felt in a trance when he saw those pockets, he was now on the battlefield. He knew the identities of these people, they were all Liu Jun's personal soldiers, and before every battle, they would come to receive letters, the so-called letters, that is, the suicide notes of the soldiers before they went to the battlefield.

After all, there are no eyes for knives and guns, and no one knows if they can survive on the battlefield. Therefore, if there is anything to be said, write it down in advance, hand it over to the battalion, and if it is not dead, the letter will be returned. If they die in battle, then this is their last letter, which will be sent to their families.

The last time we fought, it was too easy, and Zhao Hai didn't write a letter at all. But today, he suddenly felt that maybe he should leave a letter, and perhaps, if he didn't survive, wouldn't it be a last word.

"Is it okay for me to write now?" Zhao Hai asked.

"Yes, we have pen and paper here, just hurry up and write." The soldier who received the letter said very kindly.

Zhao Hai took the pen and began to write a letter, while Zhou Jie and Lin Junshan looked at Zhao Hai with a surprised expression, they both thought that tomorrow's battle would be easy, so they didn't write at all. (To be continued......)