"The Nanjing Metropolitan Command Department has issued an order to transfer troops, and is it ready to do something against us?"

Through the pervasive intelligence system, the information that Nanjing was preparing to send troops was quickly transmitted to Xujiazhuang through telegrams.

It is even known the exact number of troops: 5,000 people.

Xujiazhuang, secret conference room, military staff meeting.

"Captain Shi, the official behind the salt merchant is finally going to attack us, 5,000 elite guards, can we be sure of victory?" Xu Yuan put his hands behind his back and looked at Shi Yong, the captain in charge of security, and asked.

"Owner, this little force is not to be feared."

Shi Yong said: "Now we have 1,550 elite guards, equipped with a full set of stab-proof suits, helmets and explosion-proof shields, invulnerable, all proficient in the use of breech guns, more than 1,000 shots per capita, as well as grenades and other sharp weapons, and bicycles as mounts, can march 300 miles a day in the whole system, and equipped with radio stations for liaison and command, although the total number is only 1550, but at least can defeat 30 times the imperial army, only 5,000 people, we can easily defeat it." ”

At this point, his self-confidence can be described as extremely inflated.

If you add Xujiazhuang's mysterious and powerful intelligence department, there is no suspense about who will win or lose in this upcoming military conflict.

"Don't take it lightly."

Xu Yuan shook his head and said: "We must ensure that nothing goes wrong and strive for zero casualties, so that the eleven collective manors have all entered a state of first-class combat readiness, and each manor selects five hundred of the strongest Zhuang workers to act as a reserve team, each of whom is issued with a set of stab-proof clothing + anti-riot helmets, equipped with self-made composite bows and homemade alloy knives as weapons, and immediately start combat readiness training." In addition, all men over the age of 16 and under the age of 40 were also organized, and shovels, steel pickaxes, and thick wooden sticks were distributed as weapons to serve as the last reserve, and all of them had to be on at critical moments! Whoever appears cowardly and cowardly in it will be put to death immediately! The family was driven out of the estate, and we don't need cowards. ”

Stab-proof suit + explosion-proof helmet, one set costs nearly 1,000 yuan, and this time it costs 5,500 sets, and it costs millions of yuan.

But for absolute security, some money should be spent.

So!

With 1,550 Zhuang guards as the core mobile force.

Each manor organizes and trains a reserve of 500 strong men.

Then organize all the remaining adult males as the last reserve.

In this way, each manor has enough self-defense force, even if it encounters unforeseen circumstances, even if it does not have support for a while, it can resist for a while, and even defeat the opponent alone, so that there is no obvious weak point, no matter what problems arise in any manor, they can deal with it calmly, instead of being left and right like the Ming Dynasty.

"Yes, owner! But how do you deal with it in Harbour City? Do you want to transfer most of the guards back to strengthen the defense of the main village? ”

Patrol Captain Zhao Yang asked, now most of the guards stay in Harbour City to maintain law and order, and there are only more than 300 people left in the village, which is obviously insufficient, and in order to cope with the next challenges, the strength of the village should be strengthened.

"Send 500 people back, leave 500 people over there to maintain order, the harbor city has a large population, and there are fewer village guards, and the strength of the other 30,000 young people must be brought into play, these young people can't beat the regular army of the imperial court, but those thugs raised by salt merchants can always deal with it, right? They are all excellent farmers who have been selected and trained. ”

Xu Yuan thought for a while.

"Owner, the intelligence says that there are tens of thousands of soldiers and thugs organized by the salt merchants, if they all go to attack the harbor city, in the case of a crisis situation, can they dispatch tractors, excavators, road rollers and other construction machinery to join the big war to increase our chances of victory and reduce losses?"

Xu Huoqing, who is specially responsible for the defense of Harbor City, asked, his eyes flashed with impatience, he is 21 years old this year, he is one of the first beggars to be taken in by Xu Yuan, originally called Goudan, and later changed his name to Xu Huoqing, he is a very smart and clever young man, he is active, he always comes up with all kinds of ghost ideas, and at the same time likes military affairs, and is eager to become a general like Huo Quzhi and Wei Qing.

"If the situation is really critical, you can use it, but if it's not a crisis, don't use it! Precious diesel fuel can't be wasted on a bunch of scum. ”

Xu Yuan, who saw this kid's thoughts, said to him with a straight face.

"Yes, owner!"

……

April 10.

It took nearly half a month, under the effect of sufficient silver, to complete the assembly of troops with considerable efficiency.

More than 20 health centers were requisitioned.

There are a full 3,500 elite soldiers of the guard, the combat effectiveness is all family-level, and the weapons equipped are also very sophisticated, and some of the generals even have the experience of participating in the battle and killing the enemy, exuding a very strong atmosphere.

Hey?

What's going on?

Didn't you say that you would recruit 5,000 elite soldiers to exterminate Xujiazhuang, how did the number become 3,500?

This is naturally the traditional art of the Ming generals to eat empty salaries, as long as the more vacancies, the more food and salary the officers have, take the 500,000 taels of white flowers this time, for example, because the soldiers are less than 1500, the officers will eat at least tens of thousands of taels of silver, and the battle has not yet started, they have already made a fortune.

Sun Guangde, the general in charge of commanding this army, also felt helpless about this, although he knew that this practice would seriously weaken the combat effectiveness of an army, but this is the unspoken rule in the Ming military system.

The only thing to be thankful for is that the various guards are very interested in fighting Xujiazhuang, and the soldiers sent are all elite soldiers, and the morale is also very high, because as long as Xujiazhuang is captured, there are mountains of money, grain, treasures, and overseas strange goods, and everyone can share some profits, and Xujiazhuang is rich enough to rival the country, and the property it has is said to be at least more than 50 million taels, or even hundreds of millions of taels.

Therefore, in the pre-war mobilization stage, after listening to the introduction of Xujiazhuang's wealth, the soldiers on the field immediately boiled:

"Defeat Xujiazhuang, grab money, grab food, and grab women!"

"As long as I can grab a bicycle, I, Zhang Xiaojin, will become rich."

"Be sure to take a mechanical watch, a piece is worth a thousand taels, if you can grab a hundred yuan, you will have no worries about food and clothing for the tenth century!"

"Women also want to rob, I heard that the women of Xujiazhuang have big buttocks and are big, and they are extremely strong!"

"Hahaha, the men are killed, the women are robbed, and all the treasures are removed."

These soldiers were greedy, hideous, or beastly roaring with excitement.

See this scene.

Sun Guangde suddenly felt assured, and his winning certainty increased by at least 30%, reaching nearly 10% of his winning confidence.

"The soldiers are like wolves and tigers, the military heart can be used, the military heart can be used!"

Rub it.

He pulled out the sword at his waist, pointed to the east, and said: "Xu Jiazhuang is a big rebel, and the destruction is in the present dynasty, soldiers, go on the expedition!" ”

"Oh! Oh! ”

This army with high morale took the pace of conquest with great strength and force, marching at a speed of 30 to 50 miles a day, and arrived at Xujiazhuang after a maximum of ten days.

……

The other side.

Yangzhou City, suburbs.

A larger and larger army formed by the salt merchants also set out early on April 8.

Heading straight to Harbor City, about 300 miles away, the goal of the battle was to take Harbor City, destroy the salt pond, bring back all the salt workers in the stove, and restore the business order of the salt merchants to the state they had two months ago.

On the long official road.

The composition of this army formed by the salt merchants was very complex, there was no uniform command clothing, it was armed with all kinds of weapons, and the marching was also sparse, one pile in the east and one pile in the west, and the maximum number of miles was twenty miles a day, and various situations often occurred.

It feels like a rabble.

In fact, this is a rabble composed of salt patrol soldiers, salt lord thugs, ruffian hooligans, strong men and other identities, among which the strongest and most ferocious combat effectiveness is about 2,000 salt lord thugs, plus hundreds of pirates hired at a high price, all of whom are vicious people who are entangled in many lives, and just their external image can make ordinary good people tremble.

However, the rabble is a rabble after all, even if the total number is nearly 10,000 people, the overall combat effectiveness must be a question mark, and it can only play an auxiliary role, completing tasks such as robbing homes, looting people, killing people and setting fires, after all, they are the best at these.

At the back of the middle of the line, there was a sound of rage.

"Hurry up, let me go!"

"Within seven days, we must rush to Harbour City, we must get our salt workers back, and catch more people to cook salt for us."

"Damn, those shitty salt workers, if you don't honestly cook salt for me Liu Peel, my mother's will go to drink the northwest wind!"

"There are also those bastards of the official army, the fattest Xujiazhuang they want to fight by themselves, they don't let us participate, they want to eat Xujiazhuang's food, we can only go to Harbour City."

"Damn, if I knew this, I wouldn't have spent money to invite those officials and soldiers, we will fight Xujiazhuang ourselves, and the money, food, and women will all be ours! How can you be cheap these bastards? ”

Liu Papi, the man with a scar on his face from the corner of his eye, took a whip in his hand and beat his subordinates, constantly urging them to speed up, and at the same time scolding, very unhappy.