"Official, there is Luobai County ahead, there is a newly built military camp, you can take a good rest. On such a hot day, why should you be dressed like us? ”

After listening to Tan Hu's words, Xu Ping said with a smile: "It's not easy to be a leading commander, how can you not look like one?" You don't have to worry, I'm not pampered since I was a child, and I can dance with knives and guns when I go into battle. ”

Although Xu Ping said it easily, Tan Hu still looked nervous. Since following Xu Ping's side, Tan Hu has gone from a small officer with no rank to a small envoy, and his fate has changed from self-improvement, all relying on Xu Ping's hand. This kind of opportunity is not something that everyone can encounter, and those who followed the previous generals were not all sentenced Xie Ren himself and still returned to the Xiang Army to live a good life. When the official position reaches the small envoy, he doesn't follow Xu Ping's side, and he can also find a job of knowing the village or even inspecting the soldiers and horses, where can he be compared with the big head army in the barracks.

The sun in the west sky slanted into the sky, and the team finally arrived at the Luobai County military camp.

Xu Ping dismounted and went straight to the official hall of the barracks.

Tan Hu waited and got off the drape, and said to Xu Ping: "The official will sit down and rest for a while, and I will ask someone to bring a basin of cold water, and you can wash the dust." ”

"It's fine. By the way, by the way, call Gao Daquan and Zhang Rong to me. ”

Tan Hu agreed, turned around and walked out the door.

Xu Ping sat down in his seat and wiped his sweat. Fighting as a soldier is really a chore, and this riding on a horse makes me sweat all over, and I haven't done it since I went out. However, the armor on his body was not as uncomfortable as he imagined, and he could handle it himself, and he felt that he could cut people with a knife.

In Zhongmu's countryside, Xu Ping also practiced swords and guns with Sang Yi, although he was not strong in martial arts, he was still much stronger than ordinary people. But this time, I don't think there is much chance of going into battle.

He was really careful with his whole body, because he couldn't hurt himself with a bow and arrow that was at least a barbarian with armor, and he also set an example for his officers and soldiers, so that they could cheer up and not slack off.

Qianlongtong is the key to Zuojiang Road, along the Mingjiang River, a tributary of the Zuojiang River, controls Sizhou on the upper side, and controls Simingzhou on the lower level, occupying here, and these two states can no longer afford to turn over the wind and waves.

Among the three strong states of Zuojiang Province, Zhongzhou has been completely controlled by Xu Ping, and if these two states are controlled, it will be done, and you can do whatever you want.

Xu Ping's troops have long been sufficient, the reason why he has not made a move, the taboo is the ten-day mountain path, once he is attacked and harassed by barbarians on the road, no matter how strong the force is, it is useless. In the past, the imperial court used troops against the barbarian areas, and the losses were not in the battle array, and most of the dead soldiers fell on the road.

The mountain road is difficult to travel, and if you encounter elusive natives on the road, constantly harassing from the mountains and forests, and delaying the march, the epidemic and hunger in this geographical environment will cause the army to lose a lot of troops, and it will collapse before engaging the enemy.

The reason why the march was chosen in November was not only to wait for Feng Shenji of Youjiang Province to complete it first, but also because the rainy season was completely over at this time and the weather was sunny. Here in Lingnan, even in Cochin, military operations in the mountains during the rainy season are a nightmare, and the difficulties encountered in this era are far beyond the extent of manpower to solve. The rainy season war is to look at character and gamble on fate.

Xu Ping never left anything to chance, he would not leave his fate to heaven to decide, but whenever possible, he would minimize uncontrollable factors.

Tan Hu fetched water, Xu Ping washed his face, and then felt cooler.

Gao Daquan and Zhang Rong changed into civilian clothes and came to the hall to see Xu Ping.

In the past few years, Zhang Rong has moved his parents and wife to Yongzhou, and his life is no longer as tense as when he was in the army, he has reduced his sharpness and become more graceful.

Gao Daquan has experienced Liu Xiaomei's affairs, and has become more taciturn, and he has become much thinner, and his face has edges and corners. Only the tall skeleton was born and has not changed. If Gao Daquan used to be as strong as a cow, now he is more like a tiger, which is daunting.

Seeing the two of them coming in, Xu Ping asked, "On this day's march, what is the condition of your men?" ”

Zhang Rong said: "Today is the main road, and most of the people in the army have been van soldiers before, and they also work every day in the sugar cane business, where will there be any accidents on this road." ”

Gao Daquan nodded: "I'm the same here, it's fine." ”

"It's okay. From tomorrow onwards, we will enter the mountains, the mountain roads are rugged, and it is difficult for the brigade of men and horses to walk, so you must be energetic. We got out of the mountain a day earlier, and this operation was a little more certain! ”

The two listened to Xu Ping's words and nodded yes.

Gao Daquan was silent for a while, and said to Xu Ping: "Official, we have made a lot of fanfare along the way, for fear that the barbarians who have been moved to Longtong will get the news first. This Luobai County has always been prosperous, and there are many merchants, but I am afraid that there are spies of barbarians on the other side of the mountain mixed in it, so I must guard against it. ”

"How to prevent it? Is it possible to check them one by one? Xu Ping smiled and shook his head, "I can't prevent it, if you want me to say, when we get here, someone will report the news tonight." In such a matter as marching and fighting, we should not pin our hopes on the fact that the opponent does not know, and it is better to be fully prepared. ”

"The official is right." Gao Daquan and Zhang Rong said together.

It's hard to say whether Xu Ping is right or not, but these two people have been by Xu Ping's side for many years, and they know that his character is never to take risks, and if they can be prepared, they will never take risks when they are eighty percent sure. It doesn't matter if this kind of thing is right or wrong, the most important thing is to be able to do things according to your own ideas.

Let the two sit down, and the accompanying soldiers came over to serve tea, Xu Ping sighed and said: "I'm not worried about the leakage of news, this is expected, what I'm most worried about is the vanguard commanding cavalry." Although I repeatedly instructed before leaving that there should be a wide range of sentinels on the road and not to fall into an ambush, I was still afraid that they would be careless. ”

Although Han Daocheng, the commander of the Zhongrui Army, promised resolutely, Xu Ping was still relieved. It's not that the army that you are sure of will use it like this, I am worried that they will be too obedient and rigid in their actions, and I am worried that they will be disobedient and willful, anyway, they are all kinds of uneasy.

After gossiping for a while, Xu Ping said: "After dinner, the two of you will personally go to the various armies to inspect it, and the things that should be prepared must be prepared tonight." Not only the two armies under you, but also the newly recruited An Yuan army will also go. Starting from Luo Bai, the three of us commanded the soldiers and horses, normally it takes ten days, and the barbarians must think the same way. We're going to finish this journey in four days, and nothing can happen! ”

Gao Daquan and Zhang Rong got up and agreed, turned around and left.

Xu Ping sat down and drank the tea, got up and walked outside the hall door, and looked at the sky.

At this time, the red sun has been lowered, and the sky is full of glow, and the eyes are all red colors.

Fifty miles of road from Taiping County to Luobai County, nearly one hundred miles of mountain road from Luobai to Qianlongtong, before the road to Luobai is repaired, it will take three days for Taiping County to get here. Now I have saved two days, and the key is how much time the rest of the mountain road will take. If it is done within four days, the barbarians will not have time to react when they get the news.

How to take this road Xu Ping has been thinking about it for a long time, repairing the road to Luobai to solve one-third of the distance, building a military camp to save the army from camping here, and you can set off in the middle of the night tomorrow. And the news that the Jingjiang army was stationed here was originally to cover this operation, but it is not nonsense, they will indeed be stationed here after solving the Qianlongtong. After training and careful calculations a few days ago, the army that was about to set out showed that if it traveled day and night on the mountain road, it would be able to reach a speed of more than 50 miles a day, and it would be able to complete the rest of the road in two days. In two days, the army can still overcome it with a little effort, and no matter how strong it is, it will face attrition.

In order to avoid all kinds of accidents, a margin of two days was set aside at this rate, which was enough.

The march of a large army could not match the speed of an ordinary pedestrian, and it was only thirty miles a day in the plains, and a rapid march could only reach fifty miles, but it could not last. The speed in mountainous areas can reach at most half of that of flat land, and it is between 10 and 20 miles a day, and if you want to travel 50 miles a day, it is a great test of organizational ability and support.

This time Xu Ping also played a trick to let the cavalry loyal army go first. A large number of horses walked along the main road through Luobai County, and many people would think that Xu Ping was going to use cavalry to sneak attack Qianlongtong, and if someone really went there to report the news, they would most likely prepare for these 500 cavalry.

In fact, the second half of the road is rugged, the speed of the cavalry is not as fast as the infantry, the loyal army is just the vanguard of Xu Ping's march, and when he goes out of the mountain, he will be caught up by the follow-up troops.

The reason why the loyal army was allowed to go first was that they were afraid that they would slow down the speed of other armies on the road, and if they were to break the rear, they would have to pull a distance, which was not in line with the basic principle of marching.

These methods have been Xu Ping's best efforts, and he also hopes to have a corresponding effect. However, the victory or defeat of the war will not be pinned on these small tricks after all, the two thousand troops combined with horses and steps far exceed the combined strength of all the local officials on the other side of the mountain, and directly attack Qianlongtong with the overwhelming momentum of Mount Tai, which is Xu Ping's real reliance.

The sun had gone down, and it was not yet dark, and the sunset had disappeared. The heat subsided, the cool breeze rose, and Luobai County reached its most lively time. However, the lights had been extinguished in the newly built barracks, and the soldiers had eaten dinner and rested early, and they would get up as soon as the third watch was over tomorrow and set out on the road to Qianlongtong.

What Xu Ping didn't know was that he was actually too careful, since he entered the Great Song Dynasty, the local officials had lived a stable life for decades, where would they be careful to send eyeliner everywhere. Naturally, there are people from other states and counties here in Luobai County, but none of them are spies.

However, his careful attack was crooked, although there were no spies, he didn't expect that the two governors of Shangsizhou and Siming Prefecture were here, and they saw the actions of the cavalry in front of them, and rushed back to prepare in a hurry. It's just that I don't know what kind of mood they will feel when they are ready, but in the end they find that it is an army of 2,000 horses and horses that are pouring out of the mountain.

(It's windy, cold, it's a little uncomfortable, that's all for today.) ）