Just like in modern times, any road crossing a river is a place where the water flow is relatively gentle and the river surface is relatively narrow, which can facilitate the construction of road bridges or ferry crossings.

The road leading to Laizhou City, in modern terms, even if it is not a national highway, it can at least be called a provincial road, and the water surface of the Shahe River is not wide, so there was originally a stone bridge here. However, due to the war, the two armies fought back and forth on both sides of the Sand River, and the stone bridge had long been destroyed.

But in any case, the place of this stone bridge must also be the most suitable place for the army to cross the river. However, the Ming army thought so, and the rebels were completely surprised. Therefore, the rebels must have placed their main forces here at Stone Bridge.

However, the method of crossing the river this time is a little different, it is to block the river and wade across the river, so there are quite a lot of places to cross the river. However, yesterday, when Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing went to communicate with the Liaodong Army, when they asked where the Liaodong Army crossed the river, they did not expect that the generals of the Liaodong Army were impatient, and they just refused to say where they were going to cross the river. Just commanded the location of Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing's coalition army to block the river in an ordered tone.

Looking at the appearance of the Liaodong Army generals who were guarding against thieves, Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing were angry. They simply didn't care where the Liaodong Army crossed the river. Anyway, if the Liaodong Army was defeated without the coalition army to cover the flank because of the poor arrangement of the Liaodong Army, it would not be the responsibility of the coalition army.

On the contrary, after coming back, Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing discussed that the coalition army could decide whether to beat the water dogs or take the first step according to the results of the Liaodong Army, so that they could completely grasp the initiative. And relative to face, this kind of benefit is the most important!

So in close proximity to the stone bridge. The combined forces of Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing got off the road, and they had to go about five miles upstream from Shiqiao to block the river.

When we arrived at the designated place to block the river, it was getting late. But this day has not passed, the coalition forces will seize the time to eat and rest, they will start to officially block the river in the middle of the night, and prepare for tomorrow morning, so that the Liaodong Army can cross the Shahe River on the dry riverbed.

In the evening, the Liaodong Army also marched to Shiqiao, and saw a large group of officers and troops on the opposite bank, and the rebels also drove the main force to Shiqiao. The two armies confronted each other across the broken bridge.

This time, in the original Tucheng of the former camp, there were still 2,000 soldiers led by Jiang Cheng, the head of Qian. The candidate for this left-behind general was proposed by Wu Shigong.

However, because Jiang Guerrilla has already sacrificed his life, if Jiang Cheng, as a family, has any misfortune on the battlefield, it will be too miserable for the Jiang family. Therefore, no one in the coalition forces expressed any objection to this candidate. Of course. If the coalition forces fight well, Jiang Cheng will also lead these zuihou 2,000 people. Escorting the remaining supplies of the coalition forces forward to join the coalition forces.

So now there are more than 18,000 horses in the combined army of Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing. Among them, there are more than 11,000 people. The soldiers, if you add Wu Shigong's auxiliaries, there are more than 7,500 people. Among them, there were more than 900 cavalrymen, all of whom were under the command of Wu Shigong's Runing battalion.

From midnight onwards, the coalition forces were buzzing with people. The people loaded the sacks with earth and stones and began to prepare to block the river. And the soldiers except for arranging some vigilant troops. Hurry up and go to bed.

There's going to be a war tomorrow. Different from the modern era of hot weapons, the era of cold weapons pays special attention to the physical strength of soldiers in battle. This can be seen in the military famous sentence in "The Art of War": If you fight for profit for fifty miles, you will step on the general, and the law is half there. The core idea is to value the physical strength of soldiers.

Compared with people, horses should pay more attention to their physical strength. In some ways, horses are far inferior to humans. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure the physical strength of the soldiers and horses tonight, so that they can all rest well.

Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing, the military attaches of the coalition forces, were very nervous, and the rebels on the other side of the strait would attack at night. And the distance of five miles is not far, and the coalition forces have made such a big move here. So it didn't take long for some torches to appear on the other side of the Sand River. But because of the containment of the Liaodong Army, Kong Youde did not dare to transfer the main force of the rebels, so in the dark night, the two sides also confronted each other nervously, and there was no battle.

Wu Shigong observed the working people, they worked very hard under the supervision and whip of the soldiers, but their work efficiency was still very low.

But there is no way to do this, the people use basically wooden pickaxes and shovels, and there are no metal tools in sight. Wu Shigong couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "Although the iron monopoly of the imperial court has brought a lot of income to the imperial court, and he can make money because of the robbery of the private iron mine, but it makes the poor people unable to buy any iron tools, at most they have a kitchen knife." This monopoly system doesn't look very good! ”

However, Wu Shigong's status has not risen to the extent that it can affect the imperial court system, so he doesn't bother to do it. He remembered Runing Camp himself. I found that there was a flaw in the setup of my army.

If there is a war in the future, there will definitely be no shortage of things to open the way for this bridge. It is also necessary to set up an engineer battalion. So Wu Shigong conceived the configuration of the engineer battalion.

This number is tentatively set at 500 people, and you can choose from the personnel of the auxiliary force this time. They were to carry enough pickaxes, shovels, axes, and saws. They also had to have enough wagons to follow the speed of the upper mobile battalion. They also had to bring enough pickaxes and shovels for the requisitioned men to use......

Wu Shigong's thinking diverged, afraid that what he was thinking would be forgotten, so Wu Shigong called Chi Erwa to his side and asked him to record his ideas one by one.

Chi Erwa's current role is already somewhat like Wu Shigong's clerk. When he recorded Wu Shigong's ideas in the notebook one by one, he found that his adult ideas were really wonderful, and his eyes couldn't help but shine with admiration.

Wu Shigong didn't expect that he, the common sense that only modern soldiers knew, would recruit a small fan for himself in the Ming Dynasty. When Wu Shigong told Chi Erwa everything he could think of, and asked him to record it. was surprised to find that Chi Erwa was still motionless, looking straight at herself.

Although some knew that Chi Erwa's eyes represented worship, Wu Shigong still smiled and asked, "What's wrong?" ”

Chi Erwa suddenly sobered up, and he replied immediately: "My lord." You know a lot. The little one was a little worried just now, the time was too short to be able to learn too much around the adults, and the little one felt that he was a little too stupid. ”

"How can it be short? Don't go back to the boy boy camp after you go back, but come to my side and be a soldier for two years. But you have to think clearly, unlike other soldiers, if you don't complete two years and don't learn all the subjects, I won't let you go out to be a military attaché. After receiving such a compliment, Wu Shigong didn't mind opening a small back door for Chi Erwa.

Chi Erwa was overjoyed, and he said excitedly: "Lord Xiexie! The little ones will definitely learn hard from the adults. ”

Wu Shigong is in a good mood. He nodded Chi Erwa again: "We people in the Runing Camp not only know how to learn, but also use our own brains. One person counts short, two people count long. As long as there is a good idea, then all of us in the Runing camp can come and learn together. Look at the official just now. Write down what comes to mind, and discuss it together when you go back. In this way, how can our Runing battalion not be strong? ”

"Hmm!" Chi Erwa nodded heavily.

Look at these studious teenagers. Wu Shigong said with a smile: "Your second baby's name is too ugly. Change it to a small name, and your big name will be late. If you are smart, the official thinks you are very smart! ”

Since Wu Shigong asked Yang Goudan to change his name and was rejected, Wu Shigong always wanted to practice again, so this time he had a wish on Chi Erwa, and Wu Shigong's mood was very comfortable all of a sudden.

This time, the commanders of the Liaodong Army were the three giants -- the chief soldier Jin Guoqi, Jin Guochen, and Zu Dabi. With them as the mainstay, the generals of the Liaodong Army also gathered together to discuss tomorrow's battle.

"What? The Ancestor is going to cross the river here tomorrow? The hole thieves on the other side are prepared, so they will pass. Aren't you afraid of getting into trouble? Jin Guoqi said to Zu Dabi half-jokingly.

"A bunch of water rats, what's so scary? As far as we iron horsemen step on, who can stand in our way? There's no need to do something scheming. Zu Dabi replied disdainfully.

"That's it! What the second uncle said was. Wu Sangui was on the side, showing the appearance of a newborn calf who was not afraid of tigers, "Wait for Ming'er's little nephew to be the pioneer first, and your uncles will wait for the good news of the little nephew." ”

"Good! That's it. Jin Guoqi clapped his hands and said, "Then we won't have to worry about it." Let these chickens on the other side wait to be killed by our bullswords. ”

In the tent was a burst of daxiao. But at this time, Jin Guochen said gloomily on the side: "You still have to use your brains." ”

Jin Guochen's words suddenly made the big tent cold. Seeing that those generals were all focused on themselves, Jin Guochen hid the smugness in his heart, and then said: "Tomorrow, except for the military flag, our generals will not play the flag first, so that the thieves and thieves will not be able to figure out which team we are." Wait until the battle begins, and then wave our flags. At this time, the hole thief saw that he was facing our Guanning Iron Cavalry, so he couldn't be scared of and urine? ”

The laughter exploded all at once. After laughing for a while, Jin Guoqi wiped his tears and scolded with a smile: "You can do it, Lao Jin." I came up with such a bad move. Good! That's it for tomorrow. ”

"He's a yin man." Zu Dabi also added on the side.

Although the Liaodong Army and Kong Youde's rebels who came to quell the rebellion this time were both from Liaodong, they also claimed to be Liaodong Army. However, there was considerable hostility between the Liaodong Counterinsurgency Liaodong Army, which originated from the Liaodong Iron Cavalry, and Kong Youde's Liaodong Army, Dongjiang Town. The historical reasons for this have also been described above.

However, in terms of combat effectiveness and psychological superiority, the Liaodong Army in the counterinsurgency was much higher than the Liaodong Army in Dongjiang Town. Therefore, Jin Guoqi and these Liaodong army generals did not take Kong Youde and their rebels in their eyes at all, as can be seen from the fact that they called the Liaodong army in Dongjiang Town "water rats".

Besides, although the Liaodong Army only had 5,000 men and horses this time, there were more than 3,000 cavalrymen among them, and among these cavalrymen, there were nearly 1,000 generals at all levels. In fact, the Liaodong Army that can really be called the Guanning Iron Cavalry is those who are family members. (To be continued......)