Xiao Mo thought that he was handy in commanding a department in Beijing, and there should be no big problem when he went out of Beijing. Who knew that this leading the army to go out on the expedition was like getting married, and if you didn't go through it in person, there would always be times when people were in a hurry. His family had long known that the generals who had never been out of the capital were bound to be in trouble, so they deliberately found two reliable old family members to accompany them.

Those two old family members are all pro-soldiers who have really gone into battle with the marshal, although they are old, their muscles and bones are not good, but the order is forbidden, when to set up camp, when to cook, where to send more beams and horses, where to set up ambush soldiers, clearly, far from being comparable to Xiao Mo who talks about soldiers on paper.

Because the East Palace does not allow the appointment of private persons, everyone has to be registered on the roster. Because of these two families, Xiao Mo specially went to ask the prince how to arrange it. With a stroke of his pen, Zhu Cihong set up staff departments in various military departments and appointed them as staff officers. At the same time, the training officers and quartermaster officers were also incorporated into the general staff, so that this staff department was like a small east palace, with operational staff officers for operations, marching staff officers for marching, and logistics staff officers for logistics, each in charge of one piece.

These staff officers have to accept the jurisdiction of the military chief of their headquarters as well as the vertical jurisdiction of various functional departments, and it is inevitable that there will be some confusion when their powers and responsibilities are not clear. Xiao Mo has come all the way, and it is also the run-in process of the staff group of the Right Military Department, and now that it is almost on the battlefield, this group has also run in, at least there will be no prevarication, power struggle and the like.

"Mr. Qian," the marching staff officer tried to straighten his waist, showing a mouthful of yellow teeth, "There are two groups of horses passing over tonight, and I heard that the Central Military Department has issued an order: make food in Pingdan, pull out the camp at dawn, and you must rush to Ruzhou before dark." ”

Xiao Mo stood up and took a breath of the cool air of the night, without the slightest tiredness. He knew that this old family would definitely not talk nonsense, but he followed the general soldier Juniper in the Battle of Salhu. escaped from the pile of dead people, and he was a tough guy with iron bones.

"In that case, we have to hurry up, let the logistics staff pass the order, make food with the roosters, and pull out the camp in Pingdan!" Xiao Mo advanced the time of the advance army by an hour.

It was almost two o'clock in the morning. It is also enough to restore strength for those who go to bed early. The Donggong guard battalion pays special attention to the maintenance of the physical fitness of the soldiers, not only to ensure the daily intake of oil and eggs, but also to the cloth shoes and leggings worn in a hurry. Even the hot water at the end of the camp every day was asked by everyone, which made these soldiers who were accustomed to suffering a lot of feelings, and they had long been eager to go into battle to kill the enemy and repay the prince.

As soon as the words fell, the military order of the Central Military Department had already arrived. After Xiao Mo got the official military order, he unconsciously became nervous, and he couldn't wait to leave the camp immediately. Today's scouts have arrived in Ruzhou. The report said that although Ruzhou was occupied by the official army, there was no one in the four fields, the land was barren, and there were broken walls and tiles as far as the eye could see, so it might be difficult to collect grain on the spot.

Xiao Mo didn't care much about food, and now a lot of the food in the guard battalion was transferred from Jiangnan, and he didn't rely on the local area like other military towns. This also made the people along the way have a slight change in their view of the official army - there are still officials and soldiers in the world who do not rob and plunder.

"Ruzhou can't afford to collect grain," the marching staff officer sighed. "100,000 Qin soldiers, counting Li Chuang's side. I am afraid that the area south of Luoyang will not be able to recover in three or five years. ”

It is easy to abandon the land, but it is not easy to regain fertility. If there are disasters today, even good land may not have a good harvest, let alone wasteland. There is no output in the field, and it is more and more impossible to keep the people, and it will become a dead land in less than a year and a half.

"No matter so much. Kill the thief first! Xiao Mo unbuttoned the cufflinks, turned his wrist, buttoned them up again, and said, "Get ready, we have to leave early." Before His Royal Highness the Crown Prince enters the city, he must occupy the entire territory of Ruzhou! ”

The staff officer gave a military salute stiffly, quite unaccustomed to this simple and non-kneeling etiquette. He inspected the barracks again and found that more than eighty percent of the soldiers were sleeping soundly, and they had not even taken off their iron armor. When I was in the army, no matter how high the morale was, I had never seen such a war-hungry unit.

The old staff officer, who was over 50 years old, sighed in his heart, and saw the instructor who quietly patrolled the camp to cover the quilts for the soldiers.

Since ancient times, there has been a saying in China that a good man is not a soldier, and he is not a good man. It is the prerogative of the literati to abandon the pen and follow the Rong, and the whole society is full of malice and ridicule for the illiterate soldiers. However, in the East Palace Guard Battalion, even the lowest-level auxiliaries are not untouchables who are trampled underfoot.

Boom ~ bang!

After a sharp whistle, a white firework burst into the inky black sky.

Boom ~ bang!

The second firework exploded, but this time it was red.

"There are police in the southwest!"

The whole camp woke up.

The old staff officer was shocked in his heart, and said secretly: They are all new soldiers, don't howl the camp!

He was about to turn back to find Xiao Mo, but suddenly found that the worried Xiaoying had not happened. After a brief commotion, a short whistle blew throughout the camp, and the sleeping soldiers in the tents poured out, all dressed in bright armor. They lined up with ease, bent knees and stomping their feet at high speed.

In the process of stomping, not only did it stomp away the chill, but also made the whole queue more and more neat.

The short and powerful sound of the number report sounded immediately, and the chief officers of all posts, bureaus, and departments received the report one after another, lined up in a phalanx, and waited for the military orders from above.

Xiao Mo also saw the warning signal in the sky, and knew that the night that he sent out had encountered a target worthy of warning, so he immediately sent a division to answer it and enter the reserve position. Others are ready to help.

This is the power of the drill code, the work that only famous generals can think of and do, is institutionalized in the drill code, even the novice rookie who leads the troops for the first time knows that if he wants to set up camp, he must first survey the nearby terrain, find the location of the ambush, and expand the space needed to expand the formation.

Although Xiao Mo didn't know where to set up a combat position, as the commander of a battalion, after the order was issued, someone would naturally do it, as long as he checked the work.

Although the marching staff officer was an old soldier, he couldn't figure out the depth of the crown prince for a while. was able to incorporate the unpredictable battlefield into a book, from food, clothing, shelter and transportation to receiving the enemy to meet the enemy, every step was clearly explained in his opinion, which was no longer possible by manpower.

Xiao Mo was wearing an iron armor, wearing a bright helmet, holding the saber at his waist with one hand, and ordered as he walked: "Send out another exploration horse!" Take a closer look! ”

Two horses galloped out of the camp, but the knight was not very skillful.

The most practiced by the guard battalion were infantry formations, and the strongest were the pikemen trained by Min Zhan. Due to the conditions, the cavalry was not organized and trained at all. The "war horses" collected from Nanhaizi are barely enough for officers at all levels to ride, and as for the outposts, they are just a group of novices, and they have no experience or experience, and they don't have much jishu. It is also sad that Zhu Cihong's code of conduct does not pay much attention to the outpost, because he doesn't know what this ancient scout needs to pay attention to.

In addition to the invention of camouflage clothing, Zhu Cihong's contribution to reconnaissance work was extremely meager. And even the camouflage suit adapted to local conditions is mediocre because of the inexperience of the young Tanma.

Xiao Mo looked at the Tanma who was leaving in the dust, and only felt anxious. He forced himself to calm down, and summoned the officers of the various divisions and bureaus to inquire about the preparations. From the Beijing division to here, there was no desertion along the way, which is enough to prove that the guard battalion is qualified to become a strong army in the world.

But what kind of strength it has become can only be known after the tempering of war.

"Report!" Tanma has finally returned.

"Say!" Xiao Mo greeted him in an instant, and took two steps before stopping in order to maintain his demeanor.

"Report to Mr. Qian, the previous warning signal was that a brigade of hundreds of people was found, moving towards our department from the southwest." Tanma clarified the situation: "After verification, it was found that it was the local people who had fled the famine, and there were no weapons except for wooden sticks. ”

"Escape from the famine? At this time? "Xiao Mo is a family of Jinyi Wei, a child who grew up in the city, how did he know that escaping from the famine is not allowed by national law, if he doesn't rush at night, will he go in the daytime? Then it is not an escape, but a rebellion.

Fortunately, most of the soldiers below were born from hardships, and many of them had already escaped the famine, otherwise they would not have become miners and slender men. At that moment, a marching staff officer stepped forward and explained in a low voice: "Most of them are tenant farmers who can't pay rent, or small farmers who evade taxes, and military families who want to escape may also be mixed in, so now there are more than 100 people, and when they leave for a few days, it will be more than that." ”

"It's another gangster." Xiao Mo frowned.

"Not really." The staff officer was quite confident in this: "There are no deserters and routs as the backbone, these people are at most coerced by the rogues, and they will be scattered after a beating." ”

Xiao Mo nodded and agreed. There has long been a rumor in the East Palace, detailing the rise of the Liukou and the Dongyu. These two men and horses who brought great trouble to the Ming Dynasty were both disciples and grandchildren of the Ming army. Needless to say, the core of it is the soldiers of King Qin, who were scattered during the change of his own country. The hundreds of households in many guards have also changed their appearances, playing bandits, and mutiny thieves. As for the Dongyu, although they have their own customs, they have learned the tactics and tactics of the Ming army in terms of fighting. The old slave Nurhachi was the domestic slave of Li Chengliang in Liao Town, Daming.

"But we can't just leave it alone, if we alarm the Chinese army, we will be to blame." Xiao Mo said: "What can you do?" ”

"President Qian," She An, who has officially taken over as the general of the Fifth Division, stepped forward and said, "Can you be included in the army as an auxiliary?" ”

Xiao Mo frowned slightly: "There is also a quota for auxiliary soldiers, how can you say that you will receive it?" ”

"Mr. Qian," She An did not retreat at all, and still said, "Now that it is just transporting grain and grass and setting up camp, the auxiliary soldiers are already a little insufficient." After the start of the war, the wounded were carried and fortifications were built, and there was a shortage of manpower. Absorb more young people, and when you arrive in Ruzhou, you can immediately start garrisoning and defending. ”

"She always has a point, but what about the old and weak?" Someone questioned.

She An frowned slightly: "The old and weak naturally let them go by themselves, and if they think about it, they can only follow us and then go back to Ruzhou." ”

In today's troubled times, the old and weak, women and children may even become the rations of the hungry, and without the protection of the young and strong, there is only a dead end. (To be continued......)