Xu Da slowly turned his head and swept his gaze calmly over the generals.

The buzz of impatience or schadenfreude came to an abrupt halt in an instant.

The clock in the hall could be heard, and no one dared to squeak again.

"Ben Shuai will return to Beijing tomorrow and ask the emperor in person to understand." Only then did he say in a deep voice: "When you are ready to fight, you must not slack off." You can rest assured that the materials needed for the army will be delivered before the beginning of spring, and it will not delay the Northern Expedition next spring. ”

"Yes!" The generals responded loudly, since the general said so, then there is no problem.

~~

The next day, Xu Da did not let the generals practice, and only asked Geng Bingwen to send him off.

"During my absence, Beiping will entrust it to you." The two rode their horses side by side, talking as they walked.

"The general can rest assured, the last general must be cautious and not go on a business trip." Geng Bingwen hurriedly assured.

"You are old and serious, I am naturally relieved." Xu Da nodded and said: "This winter's southern invasion of the Tatars should be mainly based on looting, and it can't be the climate, but you must not be careless." Strengthen patrols and early warnings, protect the soldiers and civilians on the border of the tun, and wait for next spring to beat them well! ”

"Yes." Geng Bingwen nodded hurriedly, keeping in mind the general's entrustment.

Silently moving forward, he couldn't help but ask in a low voice: "General, how sure are you of returning to Beijing this time?" ”

Xu Da shook his head and told him the truth: "I'm not sure." ”

"Huh?" Geng Bingwen was taken aback.

"If you don't say that, the morale will be gone, and there will be a mistake this winter." Xu Da said lightly: "In case the Tartars take the opportunity to steal a walled fort from us, how can this commander explain to the soldiers and civilians who trust us?" ”

"That's right." Geng Bingwen nodded. In the eyes of the Ming army at the beginning of the country, it was a matter of course not to let the Tartars rob the people.

"Last year, the weather was generally smooth, and there was no major famine, so why was the military supply suddenly unavailable?" Xu Da said in a deep voice: "I think there are more man-made disasters than natural disasters. ”

"Since it's a man-made disaster, there's a solution." Geng Bingwen nodded, everyone knows where the crux is. Thinking about it, he suggested softly:

"Do you want to go and meet Han Gong when you pass by Fengyang?"

"I don't pass by Fengyang, I don't see him." Xu Da shook his head and said to Geng Bingwen: "We are martial artists, we only know that only the emperor's orders are obeyed, and we don't know anything else." Lao Geng, they are playing with fire, and you should not participate. ”

"Yes, the last general will remember the teachings of the great general." Geng Bingwen was busy holding his fists.

"Just send it here, you can go back." Xu Da waved his hand at him, and rode away surrounded by his own soldiers.

Looking at the figure of the general in the distance, Geng Bingwen sighed.

The general has a transcendent status, so he can naturally stay out of the matter, but how can these guys who are not enough to do it?

~~

When Xu Da returned to Nanjing, it was already the moon.

At this time, the winter martial arts exercise had come to an end. The individual competitions such as formations, drills, marches, and infantry and cavalry coordination have all come to an end, and only the last and most exciting one is left-catching the flag.

The troops participating in the exercise took the guard post as a unit and caught each other in pairs in the school yard within a radius of two miles.

The rules are very simple, the two sides draw lots to decide, one side protects the flag, and the other side captures the flag. Within half an hour, if the flag is not captured, the flag will be successfully protected, and vice versa.

The loser is eliminated and the winner advances to the next round.

This simulates the situation of two armies meeting each other on the battlefield and attacking and defending with white knives.

The 5,000 troops can test the ability of generals to arrange troops and command on the spot.

It may also test the training level and physical fitness of ordinary soldiers.

Of course, it is impossible for the two sides to have real knives and real guns, and the arrows do not have arrows during the competition, and the knives are made of wooden knives, and the heads of the guns are wrapped and dipped in lime.

During the fighting, officers and soldiers on both sides were knocked to the ground and could not be restarted. The head and torso were marked with lime marks and had to be withdrawn from the battle as well.

In addition, in order to avoid unnecessary damage, the cavalry also dismounted and entered the battle as horseless infantry.

After several days of fierce competition, the last two teams stood out and entered the finals.

They are Yulinwei and the central guard of the government army. These two guards are carefully selected and have the highest level of training, and they deserve to make it to the finals.

~~

On the day of the finals, Zhu Yuanzhang and his son came to the southern suburbs of the school, and the general who had just returned from Beiping also came.

This made the soldiers on both sides, who were already high-spirited, breathe fire more and more, vowing to win the victory!

After the commanders of the two sides led the soldiers to salute the emperor, they drew lots on the spot.

The result was that the feather forest was guarded and guarded by the government army.

The two commanders did not say a word, and immediately took their respective commands.

The central guards of the government army formed a square formation in front of the military flag.

The commander made Deng Zhen located in the center of the formation, and the peripheral troops were deployed layer by layer, with spears, bows and arrows outside, and mobile troops inside, forming a dense defensive formation.

This formation has the strongest defense, but because the dense formation limits maneuverability, lacks change, and it is difficult to pursue the enemy when they retreat, so the attack is poor. But at such times, it is obviously the most appropriate.

Yu Linwei's side used a fish scale array to fight the enemy.

After Xie Yan, the guard of the Zhangyu Forest, was located in the middle of the formation, the main forces were assembled in the center, divided into a number of small phalanxes in the shape of fish scales, arranged in echelons, and the front end was slightly convex so that the center could break through.

After the tea was finished, the two sides finished arranging, and each thousand, hundred, and general banner loudly cheered up their brothers and asked them to follow them closely.

The second and fourth were also among them, and the two looked serious, as if they were about to fight.

Both of them had already served as small flag officers, each leading ten brothers, all armed with shields and wooden swords, and lined up in the formation of fish scales.

At this time, a cannon sounded on the general's platform, and the exercise began!

Xie Yan then ordered: "Drumming." ”

The drums of war were beating.

Hearing the sound of drums, the three Yubayashi Qianhu immediately led their subordinates to advance in a zigzag shape.

When they entered the firing range, Deng Zhen ordered in a deep voice: "Release the arrows!" ”

The herald immediately waved the order flag, and the archers of the central guard of the government army in front of the formation opened their bows and arrows, aiming at Yu Linwei to shoot.

Yu Linwei's sword and shield hand hurriedly raised his shield and blocked a lot of the arrows he shot.

However, there were also many arrows that passed through the gap in the shield and hit the officers and soldiers of the Yulin Guard.

Don't look at these arrows without arrows, the head of the arrow shaft is still wrapped in cloth, but the participating soldiers are not wearing armor, and it still hurts to be shot on the body.

Many people were shot in the head and fell directly to the ground; and those who did not fall to the ground with arrows in their torsos also honestly withdrew from the battle......

Not to be outdone, the archers of Yulinwei also returned fire from the flanks.

The second and fourth brothers, as the marksmen of Yu Linwei, were naturally not idle, and the two of them opened their bows and arrows, aiming at the officers of the central guard of the government army to shoot by name. In the blink of an eye, he 'killed' several hundred households and general banners.

But Yu Linwei is moving, and he will definitely suffer a big loss if he competes with bows and arrows.

Therefore, the Yulin Qianhu held wooden swords and led their subordinates to charge at full speed. After paying two or three hundred 'casualties', the front armies of the two sides finally collided with each other, and the fierce white-knuckle battle began!

(End of chapter)