In May of the second year of Yonghe, Bingxu, Xiping Zhongcheng Gong Zhang Junxue. The official subordinate of the previous prince was re-regarded as the envoy, the governor of the capital, the captain, the captain of the Qiang, the pastor of Liangzhou, the prince of Xiping, and the king of false Liang; pardon within its borders; Respect the mother-in-law Yan as the queen mother, and the mare as the queen mother.

------- excerpt from the introduction

At the end of October of the second year of Yonghe, the autumn harvest of Jingxiang had already been completed, and all parts of the country began to prepare for winter.

On the road from Gangneung to Xiangyang County, there are more than ten southern horses galloping, and the Lingzi flag on their backs shows that they are a group of heralds with important matters, and naturally no one dares to stop them along the way.

After passing through the county of Dangyang (east of present-day Dangyang, Hubei), the heralds did not continue northward, but turned northwest to Linfu (north of present-day Yuan'an, Hubei).

Along the way, there is a lot of newly cultivated fertile land, and it seems that these places that were not so long ago wasteland have just experienced a good harvest.

Every few dozen miles, a stockade will suddenly appear on the side of the main road. Starting from the north of Dangyang, it stretches northwest for more than 200 miles along the Fushui until the north of Linfang. Although this village is large and small, the pattern is basically the same, and they are all tun villages under the general of Dian Nong Zhonglang.

The big one is a village with Wutun, and the small one is a village with a village, and it is built by the mountain and the road. Tunzhai chooses a higher place, surrounds it with a wooden fence, presents four directions, and opens four doors in four directions. Each of the four directions has a sentry tower, and the four gates of Dazhai each have an arrow tower, and there are people on guard day and night. There is a deep ditch outside the wooden fence outside the big village, and the small village only has a hedge thorn wood rejection.

Standing in the distance, there are rows of wooden houses in the middle of the tunzhai where the gate is open, and the rows are neatly lined up, and the road in the shape of a field is vacant in the middle. There are also Tunding armed with wooden sticks and bamboo guns to patrol the inside and outside of the village, patrolling day and night.

But there were fire police bandits, the village immediately sounded a big gong, black smoke straight up, and the four villages immediately closed their doors and guarded tightly, and then the tunding formed a team to rescue. On the other hand, the alarm spread from village to village, all the way to the Changshui Army garrison near Linfu.

When there is nothing to do, the people of the tun may smoke and weave silk in groups, or go down to the river to fish in groups, or form groups for military training, or gather in groups to listen to books. The scene of chickens and dogs smelling each other and living in the countryside is completely different from the local residents of Yicheng County not far away.

Soon arrived in Linfu County, which was supposed to be the residence of the Diannong Zhonglang General's Office. But the herald knew that the now famous Jingxiang and the world-famous Diannong Zhonglang General, the Captain of the Guardian Changshui, the Jingzhou Zhitun Governor Shi Zenghua and a group of his subordinates were not stationed here at all, and if they wanted to find them, they had to go around the neighborhood to see where the cat was. However, according to the people of the Linfu County Bureau, forty miles east of Edong should be the current camp of the Changshui Army, and a batch of baggage was sent there two days ago.

The camp of the Changshui Army was similar to the one the herald had just seen, but it was larger than the largest one.

The camp was 1,500 feet long and 1,400 feet wide, surrounded by a fence of pointed logs one foot high, with archery openings every six feet in between. Each gate has two arrow towers to rely on, together with each other, to build an olive bridge. A sentry tower was erected on each side, and a sentry tower was added to each corner, and there were archers and several other people on each side.

There is a ditch about six feet wide and more than six feet deep on the periphery of the wooden fence, and there are countless hedges outside the ditch to resist trees. Riding horses stood in the distance of the camp but could not hear a single commotion, and the occasional sound of commands was particularly loud in the silence.

The herald should be a veteran and know the mysteries. This is the most intimidating camp that makes it clear. Say no one, right? The large battalion of thousands of people looked alive and not lifeless. Say someone, right? However, this place is completely different from other imperial army stations, and there is no prosperity and liveliness where thousands of people gather together. This captain of Changshui actually governs the army so harshly?

More than ten zhang away from the gate, several sergeants rushed out, pointed their spears and asked, "Where did the sergeant come from?" ”

The heralds suddenly clamoured, and were about to step forward to angrily reprimand the unblinded sergeants. The older herald suddenly reached out and stopped the heralds, then pointed not far away. The heralds soon discovered that they were the ones with no eyes, and they saw that the arrows on the arrow tower, as well as in the wooden fence, were shining with cold light, and they were all aimed at the tips of their own arrows. If you are reckless, you will be shot as a hedgehog immediately, and then you will be charged with trespassing in the barracks, and you will have to bear the blame when you die.

"I am the herald of Lord Jingzhou's assassin Shi Huan, and there is an urgent order that needs to be passed on to Lord Zeng, the captain of Changshui!" The herald replied.

"Can you have a waist card to tell you?" The sergeant on the opposite side continued to ask with a straight face, as if he didn't know what kind of yamen the Jingzhou Thorn History Office was.

The herald immediately took off the waist card with the Jingzhou Thorn Mansion and handed it over. One sergeant took it and immediately took it back to the camp gate, while the other sergeants still looked at the heralds with the same expressions as "class enemies," and neither of them dared to speak. A short time later, a man and a sergeant who looked like an officer came out of the gate of the camp.

"Tian Feng, the Changshui Army on duty, has seen this adult! Please dismount and follow me into the camp! ”

The herald took the waist card handed back by Tian Feng, turned over and dismounted without saying a word, led the horse and followed Tian Feng towards the camp, and several heralds had to turn over and dismount, following closely behind.

Walking into the camp, the first thing you see is a large open space, surrounded by rejecting wood, and there are actually as many as two floors, leaving only a narrow passage in the middle to lead directly to the hinterland of the camp. Looking to the left and right, I saw that the gap between the camp next to the wooden fence was empty, and there seemed to be a lot of repelling antlers scattered horizontally.

As a veteran, the herald secretly sighed in his heart, if such a camp attacked the camp at night, it would be a lot of hard work to touch the wooden fence, and these seemingly random wooden antlers could also make the attacker drink a large pot. This is still on the surface, there are so many wood-repelling antlers but they will not set traps and hidden piles, and no one will believe them.

Walking into the hinterland of the camp, I saw rows of tents neatly set up on the left and right, not sparsely spaced, and groups of patrolling soldiers were silent, walking in the middle with neat steps. Looking further back, I saw more than a dozen smoke rising slowly from a corner of the camp in the distance.

After walking for a while, I suddenly saw a large tent with only a small open space in front of it.

"This is a camp, not a camp!" The experienced herald was suddenly startled and couldn't help but cry out. Such a complex and well-knit camp was actually a temporary marching camp, not a fixed one. What kind of person is this commander of the Changshui Army, Captain Zeng Hua?

"Yes!" Tian Feng glanced back at the herald in some surprise, and then replied, "This is what we moved here to build three days ago. ”

The herald nodded, as an old soldier, of course he could tell at a glance that this was a marching camp, and only a marching camp would leave such a small open space in front of the big tent. If it is a camp, the open space is more than so large, after all, the usual practice in the camp requires a large piece of land, and the camp is not so particular, maybe tomorrow the camp will be pulled out and the place will be changed, what to do with such a large open space.

"Please take a rest in the other tent, our military lord has led the crowd out to practice, and we will be back in the evening." Tian Feng arched his hand and said

"Go out and practice? How many people did you take out to practice? The herald asked suddenly.

Tian Feng's lips opened twice, and finally saw the herald's unangry and arrogant eyes, and still replied: "Back to this adult, my family master led two men and horses out to practice." ”

"Where did you go to practice? Rehearsal what? Can you take us there? The herald continued.

At this time, Tian Feng clenched his fists and resolutely replied: "Please forgive me, this is a secret of my army, and I am afraid it is inconvenient to tell you." ”

The herald was stunned for a moment, hesitated, and took out another waist card from his arms: "I am Zhu Tao, the general of Longyu, and I am ordered by the military Huan of the six states of Jing, Si, Yong, Yi, Liang, and Ning to inspect the Changshui Army!" I order you to take me to the drill site as soon as possible. ”

This time, Tian Feng was stunned, and stepped forward to carefully examine the waist card presented in the herald's hand, which was the token issued by the military governments of the six states of Governor Jing Si, Yongyi, Liang Ning, and immediately knelt down on one leg and said loudly: "Receive the order!" ”

Four miles east of the camp of the Changshui Army was an open place, where an unusually fierce "battle" was now taking place.

The two teams of men and horses lined up to confront each other half a mile apart, their numbers were about the same, it seemed that there were more than a thousand people, and the equipment was similar, but the flags of each other were different, one side held the blue flag, and the other side held the red flag. The two teams looked at each other silently, silent together in the whirring hunting wind.

Finally, the team carrying the blue flag moved first. They are lined up in a traditional conical formation. This was a very favorable offensive formation, and about two pikemen marched in front neatly with spears of one foot and two feet wrapped in cloth and dipped in white ash. He was followed by the Situn knife player, holding a wooden sword and shield. At the back are the Santun archers.

The procession of raising the red flag also began to move. They were divided into teams and arranged in eighteen phalanxes. And these eighteen phalanxes are roughly divided into four large phalanxes. Five teams and five platoons formed the left wing phalanx, five teams and five rows formed the central phalanx, four teams and four rows formed the right wing phalanx, and there were four teams and four rows in the back to form a reserve phalanx.

The left, center, and right flanks were inseparably connected into a neat infantry line of five (four rows), and the reserve phalanx followed closely behind, like left and right.

The red team marched forward in unison very neatly and slowly, with a strange trumpet sound. Although the road was bumpy, the entire infantry line was not very neat, and a straight line seemed to be a little crooked. But no matter how uneven the road is, no matter how crooked the queue is, the entire infantry platoon is always chaotic, it is always a whole, and you feel that no matter where you start, you will be hit back by the other wings. It seems that the queue of the Long Water Army for several months was not in vain.

The most surprising thing is that the shield held by the RED infantry is somewhat strange, rectangular, half a person high, but the four corners are curved, and the whole is bulging outwards in an arc, very much like a bucket that has been cut vertically. The infantrymen in the first and second rows carried a five-foot-long spear in addition to a turtle shield. Each platoon should be a team, and each team should have a flag bearer and trumpeter on the left and right sides, and the captain, who looks like an officer, stands next to the team with a wooden knife in his hand, and slowly advances with him.

When the blue and red armies were only about 200 feet apart, the blue team suddenly sounded a trumpet, and the team suddenly stopped.

The red team was not slow to react, and when they saw the blue team move, they immediately sounded a horn, and the various teams immediately contracted, raising their shields one after another. The front shield is standing on the ground, the soldiers crouch behind, the second row of soldiers attaches their shields to the erected shields, diagonally forward, and the third row of shields is completely upward, behind the second row of shields. The fourth and fifth rows of shields are also connected in turn. And the left and right sides of the shields were also tightly together, and immediately formed an almost airtight shield array, plus the two rows of spears exposed in front of them, like a giant turtle full of thorns but shrunk into a ball.

The arrows of the cloth bun fell on the shield one after another, and with a dull sound, small clouds of white dust were raised. After more than a dozen rounds of arrows, the leader of the blue team saw that his baptism of arrow rain had no effect at all, and finally lost his patience.

The red team unhurriedly dispersed the giant tortoise formation and reverted to its original infantry formation. When they saw the blue team rushing to a distance of only a hundred feet, the reserve team behind suddenly turned into archers, and shot a rain of arrows in a shout.

When the blue team saw the rain of arrows coming, they couldn't help but cry out in their hearts, but they had already begun to charge quickly, and they couldn't care so much, raising their shields as they ran to block the arrows flying from the sky, and the pikemen at the front were even more unlucky, relying entirely on luck.

Because it was a fast run, the hand was a little shaky, and the Jin army standard shield in the hand was a little small, so in addition to the bad luck of a dozen spearmen, there were also more than a dozen sword players who were also unlucky, and failed to block the flying arrows, so that the cloth of the arrows printed a striking white mark on the body, according to the rules of the exercise, they were considered to have lost their combat effectiveness, and they could only stay in place honestly.

After a few rounds of arrows from the RED team, the blue team finally rushed to less than 50 feet away from the red team, but the spearmen at the front had already lost more than half of them. At this moment, suddenly a sharp horn sounded from the red team, and the front two rows of infantry suddenly stopped, took a step forward with their left foot, bent sideways, and held the spear in their right hand and stretched it out to the back, while the spear pointed straight diagonally towards the blue team.

A loud shout rang out in unison, and the two rows of infantry in front of the RED team twisted forward, and at the same time drew an arc in their right hands, and the spears that came out of their hands continued this arc, flying straight towards the spearmen at the front of the blue team.

Although the spear was wrapped in cloth, it still hurt to hit the body, and dozens of Blue Captain gunners sat on the ground, rubbing the "wound" while looking at the white marks on the "wound" and whispering helplessly.

A third of the last Captain Blue gunners remained, but as soon as their spears touched the arcing shield of the red team, they slipped and rushed to both sides without any strength. The RED shieldman, on the other hand, easily walked through the gap that the pikeman had "let go", raised his wooden knife, and slashed a few times at the blue captain's gunner, killing these "unlucky children" in a moment.

As the tip of the cone was quickly "smoothed", the BLU team's cone formation was quickly disrupted. After a while, the blue team's formation was all pasted, and it completely turned into a long line of battle with the red team.

It seems that the left wing and center of the red team are outnumbered, and the attack is also extremely fierce, which suddenly makes the right wing and center of the blue team a little tight. The right wing of the red team, due to the small number of people, did not dare to rush too much, and just drew with the left wing of the blue team. In order to prevent a sudden gap in his right flank and center that would cause a "collapse", the leader of the blue team decided to transfer a part of his troops from his left flank and reserve team to support the right flank and the center, first stabilize the battle line, and then find a breakthrough for the red team.

However, the leader of the blue team did not expect that although there were only four teams on the right flank of the red team, which looked weak, it was actually the red team that concentrated the most elite infantry here. After seeing the BLU team mobilize men from the left flank to support the tight center and right flank, they saw the opportunity and suddenly attacked the left flank of the BLU team with a rush and long trumpet.

The left flank of the blue team, which was already empty, was suddenly struggling and almost collapsed under the full force of the elite of the red team. But fortunately, the blue team also came out of the Changshui Army, and did their best to withstand the onslaught of the right flank of the red team. At the same time, the left wing and center of the red team also attacked together, and immediately entangled the right wing and center of the blue team.

The two sides have come and gone, and they have formed a state of interlaced canine teeth. The battle also began to rage, and the sergeants on both sides, under the encouragement and command of the horns and officers, let out bursts of cheers and charged at each other with all their might. The whole scene was like two huge waves suddenly colliding together, stirring up a terrifying wave that shook the heavens and the earth.

Big brother, this is just a drill, you don't need to work so hard. You're just holding a wooden knife and a wooden gun, and you've already killed like this, if it's a real knife and a real gun, you don't know how tragic it is! "Watching the play" in the dark next to him, Zhu Tao and others couldn't help but sigh secretly.