Amid the sound of horses' hooves, an inconspicuous team of horses set off from Yingkou, passed through Liangfangkou Pass, and prepared to march in the direction of Gaizhou on the Liaodong Peninsula. This is a team of more than a dozen people, led by Sang Wenlai, the oldest member of the 'Revolutionary Army' Guards. The team is composed of elites under Zhou Qingfeng, all of whom are veterans with actual combat experience.

Half a year of training is also considered a 'veteran'. At least they are well fed and drunk, physically strong, and do not make any mistakes when marching and fighting, which is much stronger than those poor Huazi in the Ming army. However, compared to the highly organized slave military groups of the Jurchens, they are still too immature - don't look down on the current Dajin Kingdom, in terms of mobilization and discipline, they are much stronger than the Ming Dynasty.

In order to fight Nurhachi, the Ming Dynasty left millions of people in Liaodong not to mobilize, and needed to transfer indigenous soldiers from Sichuan, thousands of miles away, to participate in the war. This kind of thing is too strange to write about, but it really happened.

In order to prevent his army from becoming a waste, Zhou Qingfeng practiced ruthlessly. But his own military ability is also sparse, and sometimes he has to throw his subordinates out to grow on his own.

Before leaving, Zhou Qingfeng made it clear, "War is a very serious matter, and if you don't understand the enemy's situation, you will lose half of it." If you don't even know the roads, rivers, terrain, cities, and so on that you have to pass through in the course of the war, you will basically lose. So you're going to go on a simplified staff trip to prepare for even more brutal battles in the future. ”

It stands to reason that this kind of thing should be led by Zhou Qingfeng personally, but now the Yingkou base has no high-end combat power to protect it. If Zhou Qingfeng leaves, the risk is too great. It would only be a matter of getting the officers of the Guards to get together and set off. Their target was a stockade called Wanghaibao in the south of Gaizhou, and a bandit leader called 'Turning Haijiao' used it as a starting point to constantly harass Yingkou.

Sang Wenlai and the others all climbed up from the bottom and made full preparations for this remote reconnaissance mission. But when they hit the road, they realized that they hadn't prepared enough.

The team of staff officers had just set off when it was raining.

The ground is muddy and difficult to walk, and there are several feet of weeds on the roadside.

Liaodong has been developed for thousands of years, although there are a large number of villages dotted around, but the wild environment is still in a very primitive state. As soon as you leave the town, you will be desolate. You can't even touch a ghost on the road.

Sang Wenlai and the others had followed the large army before, and at the worst time, there was also Zhou Qingfeng, the backbone. Now that it was their turn to act on their own, they felt that the surroundings were deserted and almost desperate.

Riding on horseback, you can occasionally see a large nest formed by the lodging of wild grass on the side of the road. When Chai Jie in the team passed by, he asked suspiciously: "Who will build a nest here?" ”

The guide in the team came from Liangfangkou Guancheng, and Zhou Qingfeng made the passage of the silver exchange unimpeded. The Ming military commander stationed there learned that Sang Wenlai was going to the direction of Gaizhou, and he also gave special instructions. The guide also rode past the fallen grass nest on the side of the road, glanced at it, and said, "It was not built by man, but by tigers." ”

What......? Tiger!

Wumen is Orion, and he rode over to take a look, and said with certainty: "That's right, this is the tiger's den." Be careful, tigers are especially fond of lurking in the grass to approach their prey. As soon as it senses an opportunity, it will pounce. Qiao Xuenian in the team was the weakest, and when he heard this, he trembled, and took out the pen and paper in his pocket to write down the situation.

The threat of tigers in the wild is not yet visible, but the large herds of cattle flying in the grass are very terrifying. These blood-sucking insects buzz every time they are alarmed.

There are so many of them that they look like a dark cloud when they fly, sounding like thunder. Once the horse is bitten, it will bleed and kick and jump. The whole cavalry was overwhelmed, but it couldn't be avoided.

Since it was a staff trip, the horse team did not travel fast, but had to look around for roads that could be passed by the troops, and even slept in the wilderness. And when the cattle don't come out to make trouble at night, the mosquitoes are even more overwhelming, even more powerful than the cows. The people who ride are full of blood when they slap their hands, and they feel like they are going to be sucked dry by blood after many times.

"There are too many damn mosquitoes." Wumen had obviously applied mosquito repellent grass juice, but a large bag was still bitten on his bare skin. The skin became numb and swollen as a result of being bitten too many times. "There are more mosquitoes in the plains and grasslands than in our Fushun mountains and forests, and they are not afraid of people at all, how can this be?"

Seeing the irritability and madness of Wumen, Qiao Xuenian, who also suffered from it, wrote in his notebook: "There are many barren grasses and rivers near Gaizhou, and the field marching and camping should pay attention to driving away cattle and mosquitoes. ’

In the end, there were too many mosquitoes, forcing the tall cow to throw a flame talisman near the camp to burn the wasteland, and at the same time give each person a pill of 'Qinglin Dan' to reduce swelling and relieve pain, so that everyone can sleep well.

The next day, there were people from Liangfangkou Pass as guides, and Sang Wenlai and others had the courage to go directly through Gaizhou City. Due to the barrier of the Qianshan Mountains, the city of Gaizhou guarded the land passage in and out of the Liaodong Peninsula. It is surrounded by rolling hills to the east and the sea to the west, and the area that can allow a large army to advance is very limited. If this area is controlled, it can effectively close the western route to and from the Liaodong Peninsula by land.

The four thousand households of Gaizhou Wei are all in Gaizhou City, and its population is twice as large as that of Haizhou, but the garrison force is less than that of Haizhou Wei. Theoretically, it should have more than 2,800 infantry troops. According to the guide - two thousand? Not even two hundred. The officials ate the empty quota and ate the fat flowing oil, and the poor military households below did not even have to drink porridge, so they had to sell their sons and daughters to live.

This guide came from Liangfangkou Pass, and after eating a full meal for two days with the team, he instigated: "I said anti-thief masters, why are you going to Wanghai Fort?" Let's hit Haizhou City directly. I'll show you the way, absolutely no problem. Even if you can't beat Haizhou City, you can knock us down at Liangfangkou. Kill Li Beiyu who was stationed at the pass, and the people in our pass city thank you. ”

Sang Wenlai and the others all looked at each other and smiled bitterly, and after a while, the pride in their hearts naturally surged. It's a feeling of being respected and expected. After Zhou Qingfeng openly raised the anti-flag, he instilled revolutionary ideas in his subordinates every day. But no matter how much the concept is instilled, it is not as good as the few words of the Ming army soldiers in front of them - people are really looking forward to being liberated.

Sang Wenlai didn't dare to agree, but he still had to lead the team to Wanghai Fort in the south of Gaizhou. The group easily passed the sparsely guarded Gaizhou, and when they left the city, Chai Jie looked back at the city wall and said: "This city is too broken, there are few defenders, and we are close to us, why don't you knock it down?" ”

That's a good question!

Gaizhou City is not big, the circumference is only five miles, the city wall is five meters high, and the moat is three meters deep. The walls are old and cracked everywhere. Handfuls of weeds grow from cracked bricks. This city is so broken, it can really be drummed down.

Fushun City is also facing the invasion of barbarians from the north, and there is a large amount of money provided by the border trade, and all the border defenses are quite good. But since the establishment of this Gaizhou City, there is no need to consider the invasion of foreign enemies, and after more than 200 years of peace and stability, the people here never thought that there would be war.

Zhou Qingfeng took 10,000 horses and horses to camp at the entrance of the camp, which was only a day's journey from Gaizhou. It's been almost a month, and it is said that the surrounding Ming troops should have known that the officers and soldiers in Gaizhou have not strengthened their vigilance at all, and they are still lazy and lazy.

Everyone was stirred by Chai Jie's question, and Gao Daniu said: "If I come to attack, as long as two hundred people set off from Yingkou on horseback, they can enter from the Xining Sea Gate in their city in one day." After entering the city, he went straight to the official office of the commander of the guard, and if the commander here has no special ability, I am afraid that I can kill him. ”

"What if the commander here activates the city defenses?" Wu Damen asked: "Our adults activated the city defense in Fushun, but even the Jurchens can bear it. ”

"It's not us who are guarding the city here, can the people in the city be obedient and help defend it? How strong can the city defense be? Sang Wenlai shook his head, "If you let me come, you will directly put explosives on it, and it will break with a bang." Then your infantry will go up and be surrendered. ”

Seeing that Sang Wenlai was proud, the tall bull and Wumen both snorted coldly. Qiao Xuenian whispered: "I have seen the map, this Gaizhou, together with the north and south of the Liaodong Peninsula, has also been attacked by the north and the south. If we take this place, it will be easy to defend the north, but it will be a bit troublesome to defend the south. ”

To the south of Gaizhou, there are Fuzhou Wei and Jinzhou Wei.

Qiao Xuenian has really learned a lot of things recently, so he found a branch on the ground and drew the approximate location of Bohai Bay, Gaizhou, Haizhou, and Fuzhou in the south. Even the course of several mountains to the east is clearly described.

Sang Wenlai and the others pointed to a few roads on the map and talked casually, and talked about the problems that need to be paid attention to in the march and battle with their own understanding, and even Chai Jie had to say a few words. They were engaged in chatting, but the guide of the Ming army listened to it with a plate of tongues, and couldn't help but interject and said: "Several anti-thief masters are really talented in using soldiers, and they really know the geography and roads of our place well. ”

Ancient geographical information is top secret, and even the official itself does not have accurate maps. The army must rely on the locals to fight the war, otherwise it will not even be able to figure out the roads. Sang Wenlai and the others stopped talking when they heard the guide's praise and turned back together. The guide hurriedly swore that the information he heard would never be passed on to outsiders, and even expressed his willingness to serve, so that he could eat a few more full meals.

Sang Wenlai shook his head and said: "When it comes to fighting, we don't even learn enough, and the real power is my family." He is the one who uses his soldiers to penetrate, and he can always pit the enemy to death every time he calculates. ”

Zhou Qingfeng himself is a half-bucket water military strategist, but Sang Wenlai and others naturally want to praise Zhou Qingfeng a few words. The guide listened with fascination, and couldn't imagine what kind of ability Zhou Qingfeng could have? However, they were chatting happily on the roadside outside Gaizhou, but they didn't notice that a few of the pedestrians who were hurrying by were paying attention to them.

A man with a sallow face rode by, and saw the pattern Qiao Xuenian painted on the ground from a distance. The other man who was traveling with him had a sharp ear and heard the word 'anti-thief' from the guide's mouth. The two of them slowly wiped their expressions without moving, and when they were dozens of meters away, the sallow man said to his companion: "There is something wrong with this horse team, and the ground seems to be a topographic map of Liaodong." ”

Another man said: "This is already Gaizhou, according to the report sent by Haizhou, the Zhou family's anti-thieves are in Yingkou, according to which it is only a day's journey." This gang may be the spies of the anti-thieves. ”

"This group of people doesn't have any ability to look at it, is Brother Luo going to arrest a few for interrogation?"

"Catch? Why catch? Could it be that you Jinyiwei are in such a hurry? Just follow from afar, I want to see what they are doing here? ”