Yuan Fang also wanted to visit Xiaolu and them, but after a day of training, he was exhausted, and time did not allow, so he never had the opportunity to go to the women's barracks again, only occasionally when the two sides cooperated in training, they could see some familiar faces from a distance, such as Ma Lan, such as Fan Dongzao and Yu Fengjiao, but Xiao Lu, as a military doctor, and Li Chunxiang, who was a personal guard, had never seen them, and Xia Liang had only seen them once from afar. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

After a month of hard training, the recruits have grown rapidly, although they are still incomparable with those veterans, and they always fail to meet the requirements of officers, but they are already much stronger than before, at least, if they are attacked again, they will definitely not be as powerless as they were at the beginning.

In terms of battle formations, due to time constraints, there are only two main types of training, one is the offensive phalanx, holding a shield in the left hand and a spear in the right, advancing in unison.

One is to defend the circle formation, shields and spears block the impact of the enemy, and use the bow and arrow in the middle part as a counterattack to shoot the enemy troops outside the formation and reduce the pressure on the periphery. The tactics are quite good, but with the rudimentary equipment in the hands of the soldiers, it is difficult to exert the effect of the battle array.

As a state army, it is customary to bring its own equipment when joining the army, but this time, the empire not only issued a uniform military uniform, but also issued a batch of conventional weapons, such as spears and short knives, but these equipment are not so satisfactory. The military uniform, when it was issued, was already a little moldy, not to mention the smell was unpleasant, and it was not comfortable to wear, and some of them had deteriorated and were torn with a light touch.

Not to mention the weapons, the spear handle is not an ash rod, it is made of the most ordinary wooden materials, whether it is tough or moisture resistance, it is not complimentary, and the spear head is made of ordinary pig iron, and the quality and sharpness are miserable.

Short knives, not to mention, the number is small, they are all broken, lack of maintenance and rust abound, the blade is almost incomplete, more or less there are some gaps, so to speak, such a knife, not to mention beautiful, if you use a little force, you can barely cut people to death.

The shield, uh, it should be called that, the other troops don't know, the shield prepared by the forward battalion is just two layers of wooden planks, not even a layer of iron, with their kind of broken knife, it doesn't take a few strokes to cut a hole, if you encounter a heavy blunt weapon, you can smash the frame apart, but it's not useless, at least the defense of the average feather arrow can still be competent.

On this day, the troops came to the vicinity of Guzhong County, Dingbian County, Dongzhou, which was only a few dozen miles away from the border, and could already clearly smell the cruelty of war.

Two days ago, when I left Dingbian County, there were almost no farmland, villages and towns on the road, and there were only barren land, messengers and military camps everywhere.

Chen Xin and his army did not have time to repair, so they were sent to Guzhong County, which was also the border with the Ningyuan Empire and the forefront of the war.

Outside Guzhong County, there are a lot of troops stationed, judging from the banner and military appearance, it should be a new army transferred from other states and counties, what makes Yuan Fang wonder is that there are a large number of female soldiers among these new troops, could it be that female soldiers from all regions have been transferred here? Yuan Fang was puzzled.

After arranging the station, Chen Xin took his own soldiers into Guzhong County, and went to report to the guards, the guards here are named Dong Yunkai, the former general of the Nanzhou Prefecture Army, in charge of the soldiers of a state, and later Nanzhou was captured by the Japanese, and he was transferred to Guzhong County to guard the border.

Being so close to the battlefield, everyone was inevitably nervous, but the rare leisure was no longer the previous chatter and laughter, and they all rested silently, wiped their weapons, and occasionally chatted with their comrades, and then fell silent.

Yuan Fang and their arrival was just in time for lunch, and in the evening, General Chen Xin, who had a gloomy face, returned with his own soldiers, and immediately ordered his troops to be drawn out, and the destination was Dingbian County, fifty miles to the northeast, which was also the first line of the battle and the focus of the Ningyuan Empire's attack.

Yuan Fang, as a small soldier, naturally didn't know about these, but the other new troops marched together made Yuan Fang a little uneasy.

Being so close to the front line, and marching at night, Lei Hua became extremely cautious, sending almost all the scouts out, as did the female soldiers on the right flank, and the atmosphere became solemn and tense.

No one spoke, and they hurried silently by the light of the torches, only the crisp whip sound of the baggage troops from time to time, piercing the silent night sky. The journey of fifty miles would take two days at the previous pace, but tonight, the whole army was at full speed, and I heard that it was necessary to rush to the county town of Dingbian before dawn to exchange guards with the defenders there.

Nanping County, Xiping County, Beiping County, plus two counties of Xizhou, the five counties and state soldiers converged into one, there are more than 20,000 people, the mighty torches, like the fire dragon entrenched in the earth, the momentum is majestic, but also to all the uneasy recruits to give confidence and comfort.

At midnight, the new army at the front sounded the alarm bell, probing the Malay report, the vanguard found a small group of enemy cavalry roaming and peeping, Chen Xin, who was in the middle of the army, immediately ordered a guard, and sent cavalry to disperse the two wings, and the infantry entered the defense.

The alarm bells and defensive orders made these recruits and veterans who had never been on the battlefield nervous, and they all took their places, clenched the weapons and shields in their hands, and nervously stared at the darkness in the distance.

The forward battalion and the female soldiers gathered together, layer by layer, the two cavalry were scattered left and right, Lei Hua personally led the team to garrison the periphery, and Xia Liang stayed in the formation, commanding the archers and heavy shield female soldiers.

As time passed, the atmosphere became more and more oppressive, draining everyone's will and courage, and people almost collapsed.

Yuan Fang and Yang Xing stood side by side on the outskirts of the circle, the wooden shield in Yang Xing's hand trembling slightly, expressing the tension and horror in his heart.

Yuan Fang's legs trembled, his lips trembled, his teeth collided slightly, and the spear in his hand rose and fell, as if comforting himself and Yang Xing: "It's okay, it's okay, relax, relax." ”

Yang Xing swallowed: "Boss, you seem to be more nervous." ”

Yuan Fang looked at Qiao Dazhuang on the other side, and Qiao Dazhuang smiled reluctantly: "Wait and be careful, just like the previous training, block your body with a shield and pay attention to the angle of the spear." Yuan Fang nodded hard, didn't say anything, and didn't know what to say.

Lei Hua came to the front with a team of personal soldiers and smiled heartily: "Don't be nervous, just wait for the fight to start." "It's okay not to say it, Lei Hua's words made everyone even more nervous, and a few people with poor endurance collapsed on the ground like deflated balls, and they barely stood up after being scolded by the officer, but looking at their state, it is estimated that they don't even have the strength to resist when they encounter the enemy.

Time passed little by little in strong fear, and I don't know how long it took, the alarm was lifted, and the troops were drawn again, Yuan Fang, who had a low status, naturally didn't know what was going on, but Lei Hua and Xia Liang, as generals, clearly knew how many elite scouts the new army in front had just lost in the short contact with the enemy.

Lei Hua and Xia Liang rode their horses side by side, Lei Hua frowned and said: "More than twenty scouts died on the side of the Xizhou army, and five or six people are missing in Xiping County, I heard that the other party only has two light cavalry of less than 100 people, and their main force has not been found, General Xia, what do you think?" ”

Xia Liangdai frowned slightly: "They can touch here, it means that the border defenders are no longer able to defend the border, I am also very curious, why do they only have two scout light horses, are they just here to investigate or do they have another purpose?" General Lei, it's better for us to be careful, the scope of the scout's examination is reduced as much as possible, and the elite cavalry is sent to assist in the reconnaissance to reduce the damage as much as possible. ”

Lei Hua nodded and said, "Well, I think so too, in this way, let's take turns to send people to investigate, don't bother too much in the front and back directions, and send more people in the east and west directions." ”

The night was not peaceful, it was very long, several encounters with police, several commotions, but as a result, there was no danger, the enemy was just watching and harassing from afar, and this night's battle belonged only to those scouts and a part of the cavalry.

Finally, when the day dawned, the sky was white, and the light cavalry of the Ningyuan Empire disappeared, and the sun shone on the earth, shining on everyone's body, dispelling the fear and exhaustion in their hearts, and bringing back confidence and hope.

The county seat of Dingbian is already in sight, and from a distance, looking at the military flag fluttering at the head of the city and the vague figure at the head of the city, everyone's thoughts are different. In an hour and half an hour, the Xizhou Army in front had already arrived at the West Gate, and the whole team entered the city, and the forward battalion also received an order to reorganize the formation and carry the baggage first.

At the same time, as the brigade entered the city, the east gate opened, and a group of cavalry who were not satisfied with the formation took the lead out of the city to line up, and the scouts dispersed to investigate.

Yuan Fang, who was getting closer and closer to the city gate, said to Yang Xing beside him: "It seems that this is the place where we are defending." ”

Yang Xing wondered and asked, "Boss, why do you look so happy?" Yuan Fang explained: "Defending the city is better than field warfare." ”

Yang Xing thought about it, and said with a smile: "Let's be condescending, I don't believe that anyone can lie on such a high city wall." Yuan Fang lamented, it's terrible to have no knowledge, siege is not a soldier's bare hand climbing, trebuchets and siege towers are very powerful siege weapons.

Dingbian County, has always been a military town, there are basically no civilians here, belongs to the military fortress, Dingbian County occupies a small area, 20,000 people into it seems a little crowded, when the last army enters the city, the west gate slowly closes, before the change of defense troops out of the city leave, this military city from now on, by these recruits from all over the garrison.

According to the previous determination, each unit was stationed in its own area after entering the city, and assumed its own defense, each guarding a wall.

In the north, it is garrisoned by the new army of Qima County, in the west, this is the state army of Xiping County, and the Nanping State Army where Yuan Fang is located is responsible for the defense of that city wall, and in the east, in the direction of the enemy army, it is garrisoned by the new army of Chiba County, Xizhou, and their partial general is also the temporary commander here, responsible for controlling the overall situation, and reorganizing and integrating the new army from all over the country.