In addition to the report of the committee and various functional departments on the work of the previous year, the plenary meeting also reviewed the implementation of the budget of each department in the previous year, the work and budget of the next year, and adopted the plan for year-end dividends.

On the morning of the eleventh day of the third month of the lunar calendar, except for several brothers from the Military Department and Yang Xin, who planned to go west with the "Flying Dragon Army" to train troops, other traversers left the "Flying Dragon Village" one after another and returned to their jobs.

After sending off the brothers, Qian Yuanshan and other members of the military department immediately began to implement the "Operation Tempering No. 2" Jihua, which had been approved by the National Rest Assembly.

According to Jihua, the "Flying Dragon Army" will send two infantry battalions, one or two artillery companies, two cavalry companies, a ranger squad, a "wolf's tooth" squad, and most of the logistics battalion, a total of more than 2,000 people to participate in the operation. However, in order not to attract the attention of the government as much as possible and to reduce unnecessary trouble on the way, the "Flying Dragon Army" participating in this operation did not appear in the form of a whole, but was divided into parts according to the Jihua of the Military Department, and after leaving Liangxiang, it was gradually dispersed. When the brigade arrived near Yizhou, the troops of more than 2,000 people had already been divided into a number of small groups, dressed up as overseas Chinese, in the name of caravans and displaced people, from Yizhou to the west, along the line of Jinpiguan, Feihu County, and Lingqiu County, from Youdu Fu into Ulzhou, and finally from the bottle into the territory of the Northern Han Dynasty.

The Ministry of Military Affairs set the start date of Operation Temper No. 2 on March 18 of the lunar calendar. Early in the morning of the same day, Wang Kunjun and Zhang Weixin, who had made a special trip from the "Qingyuan" in Liangxiang City, and Li Junwu, who had made a special trip from the "Liangyuan" at the foot of the mountain, saw off the brothers and soldiers who had gone on the expedition.

Wang Kunjun and others sent Qian Yuanshan and others all the way to the fortress of the "Liangyuan", which was also the habitual place where the send-off and the send-off people said goodbye to each other when the "Flying Dragon Pioneer Battalion" wiped out Sanzhai before.

If Wang Kunjun and others were still worried about the combat capability of the "Flying Dragon Pioneer Battalion," which was not yet equipped with sufficiently advanced firearms at that time, when they were in the Sanzhai eradication, then at this moment, looking at those "Flying Dragon Army" wearing brand-new camouflage uniforms, carrying sophisticated "Five-Five" rifles on their shoulders, neatly draped all over their bodies, lined up in strict formations, and marching with solid and powerful steps, Wang Kunjun and others were convinced that these "Flying Dragon Army" with high morale, well-trained, and high-spirited marches in front of them, Wang Kunjun and others were convinced that these "Flying Dragon Army" had high morale, were well-trained, and Well-armed soldiers are sure to win all battles. The only thing that reassures them is whether the march of the "Flying Dragon Army" in the territory of Liao is smooth, and whether it can cross the border between Liao and the Northern Han without anyone knowing, and carry out the territory of the Northern Han.

Of course, this kind of performance does not mean that the crossing team is afraid of the Liao State government - with the current strength of the crossing team, although the "Flying Dragon Army" of more than 3,000 people may not be able to sweep Nanjing Road, it is more than enough to protect itself. The reason why the "Flying Dragon Army" is so cautious is mainly because now is not the time to completely break its face with the Liao court, in order to be more prepared, in order to seek the greatest benefits for the crossing team, before the best moment comes, this powerful army still has to try to avoid a head-on conflict with the Liao court into the local government.

It is precisely because of these considerations that after the "Flying Dragon Army" brigade arrived in the mountainous area near Yi County, it made a comprehensive adjustment to the troop establishment sequence to meet the needs of the later march.

As the saying goes, "Before the soldiers and horses move, the grain and grass go first". Although the "Flying Dragon Army" followed the supply policy of "nourishing war with war" in the Northern Han Dynasty, on the one hand, because most of the "Flying Dragon Army" was marching within the territory of Liao, it was impossible to solve the supply problem on the spot. On the other hand, since the "Flying Dragon Army" had already achieved full firearms armament at this time, it was very dependent on the logistical supply of ammunition -- if the "Flying Dragon Army" without the support of ammunition relied purely on cold weapons to fight, there would be a huge gap between its combat effectiveness and the number of casualties when it was equipped with firearms. Therefore, when the "Flying Dragon Army" brigade participating in this operation was still resting in the valley where the troops were hidden, the two vanguard troops disguised as a large caravan and a group of Northern Han refugees had already left the mountainous area and marched along the Lingqiu Ancient Road towards Lingqiu County. Their task was to explore the path for the follow-up troops and open up the joints of the cities and checkpoints along the way, and second, to select two or three suitable locations along the way to set up military stations so as to provide timely and efficient logistical support for the subsequent operations -- the intention of the committee and the military department was to wipe out the large and small cottages and grass bandits encountered along the way, and to use their cottages to accumulate equipment and food. In this way, they can not only effectively conceal themselves, but also send supplies to the troops in a timely manner, which can be regarded as a way to kill two birds with one stone. ,

Because of the importance of the matter, the main members of these two vanguard units were composed of elite soldiers and strong generals drawn from the strongest first battalion of the "Flying Dragon Army" infantry, the cavalry battalion, the logistics battalion, and the ranger squad and the "wolf's tooth" squad. As the backbone of the military department and the commander of the first battalion, Tang Chao served as the commander of the vanguard without shirking his responsibility.

On the first day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar in the seventh year of the Ying calendar, Tang Chao, as the vanguard of the vanguard troops, led nearly 200 elite soldiers from various units dressed as shopkeepers, men, coachmen, and escorts, and drove more than 30 large carts -- the cars carried the individual equipment, ammunition, food supplies, and three mortars of the soldiers of the vanguard troops, and covered them with various ordinary goods -- and set foot on the official road leading from Yi County to Feihu County.

Although Tang Chao and others also encountered difficulties at individual checkpoints along the way, the official guide issued by the Liangxiang County Government still helped them a lot, and after giving a small bribe to the Liao soldiers guarding the card, they successfully passed the other party's inspection of the goods, and arrived at Jinpi Pass on the fourth day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar.

The convoy rested overnight under the Jinpi Pass and passed the customs early the next morning. After successfully passing the inspection of the garrison of Jinpi Pass, the convoy continued to move forward. After walking out for more than ten miles, Tang Chao stopped the convoy, observed it back and forth, and after confirming that there were no caravans or travelers in the left vicinity, he nodded to Chang Shengjun who was traveling with him.

With Chang Shengjun's whistle, the soldiers of the "Flying Dragon Army" who were disguised as shopkeepers, associates, and guards immediately took action, and some of the soldiers scattered far away to the front and rear of the convoy, observing and monitoring on the left side of the road, so as to detect other caravans or brigades approaching in time, and issue an early warning to the convoy. The soldiers of the other unit quickly lifted the camouflage on the cart, took out the military uniforms and equipment hidden underneath, and began to arm themselves as fast as possible.

In a few moments, these shopkeepers, men, and guards were transformed into a small but unusually strong force. Immediately, this small army, led by Tang Chao, drilled into the woods on the side of the road and headed towards the Bauhinia Ridge, which was not far from here. There, a small cottage called Baishi Village was waiting for them, and because of its suitable location, this small cottage was selected by the forward command headquarters as the location of the first military station of the operation.

The scale of Baishi Village was not large, there were three large and small village owners, about 200 minions. Because it is not far from the Zishi Village that was wiped out by the "Flying Dragon Pioneer Battalion", it has long been surrendering to the Zishi Village in exchange for the other party's tolerance and protection. The owner of the village also regarded Shi Song as his brother and always respected him. It wasn't until last year that the Purple Stone Village was flattened by the "Flying Dragon Pioneer Camp" in one fell swoop and burned to a white ground, and this White Stone Village could be regarded as having a bright future. Not only did they begin to do "trading" within the Shili range of the original Zishi Village, but the number of minions also increased to nearly 400 people, and their strength was far from comparable to before.

However, although the strength of this Baishi Village has increased greatly compared with before, it is also a vulnerable grass coward in Tang Chao's eyes. With the soldiers of this company around him, he is fully capable of killing them all. The reason why Tang Chao had this idea was not to underestimate the enemy, nor was he arrogant, but entirely out of comparison of the strength of the two sides -- although the "Flying Dragon Army" of a company was much smaller in number than the minions in Baishizhai, they were equipped with "Five-Five" rifles and mortars, and although they could not be one to be a hundred, it was easy to face an opponent like Baishizhai minions.

Facts have proved that Tang Chao's judgment is very correct. When he led a company of the "Flying Dragon Army" to appear in front of the opponent's Dazhai, the Baishi Zhai minions, who had an absolute advantage in numbers, did not go out of the village to meet the battle, but closed the gate of the village, putting on a desperate jiashi - it is no wonder that the three village owners and their subordinates, after easily extinguishing the three villages, the colorful camouflage uniforms of the "Flying Dragon Army" have become the most feared dress of all the bandits and grass robbers on the green forest road in Youdu Mansion. Therefore, in the face of the "Flying Dragon Army", which was only one-third of their own number, the minions of Baishi Village did not dare to go out of the village to fight face-to-face with the "Flying Dragon Army" except for holding the weapons in their hands and looking nervously under the wall.

However, as a modern saying goes, "Hope is beautiful, but truth is cruel". The wall, which had been pinned on by the minions, was bombarded by the mortars of the "Flying Dragon Army" and fell into a sea of gunsmoke and fire, and the screams and shouts were endless.

From the first mortar shell falling on the wall to the three owners of Baishi Village opening the door and surrendering, it took only half an hour. The "Flying Dragon Army" didn't even fire a shot at the other side through three mortars, except for firing thirty or forty shells at the other side, and took Baishi Village bloodlessly.

After all the surrendered minions and their few family members were kept in one place, Tang Chao immediately sent people back to the official road to send a message to Zeng Zhilin and the others who were still guarding there, so that the other party could immediately start preparations according to Jihua.

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