The little nephew turns one year old tonight, so much can only be written.

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It has never been a simple matter for the army to go on a campaign, and this time, because of the need to cross the river, it is necessary to recruit enough ships in advance.

Lu Zhe is a person who knows more about civil engineering, and his plan to cross the river is not to collect as many large boats as they want and transport them in batches, but to mobilize small boats with enough wooden planks, select a section of the river with relatively gentle current, and use a few days to directly build a pontoon bridge.

Using the ark as buoyancy, planks were erected on the arks at intervals, and they were consolidated with ropes and nails. This kind of bridge was not created by Lu Zhe, Wang Jian also did it when the Qin army attacked Chu in the past, so it is not new. In addition, the pontoon bridge had been built when the fort was built before, but it was relatively small compared to this time because there were fewer people and not many materials in the past.

The width of the pontoon bridge across the entire river is five meters, and on the first day that Ji Bu led his headquarters to cross the Yangtze River, he cut down trees on the site of the engineering team that had passed earlier on the opposite side, because there was a lot of wood left in the early stage, but it did not take much effort, and the next day the camp there had already set up a silhouette.

The outer defense facilities of the camp and the fort built earlier became a corner of the Yangtze River, and Ji Bu, who had done some of this, did not stop, handed over the camp to the Chinese troops who caught up, and his 5,000 headquarters disappeared directly into the vast forest.

The south bank of the Yangtze River is more desolate than the north bank, if there is a county town like Jiangling on the north bank, its south bank is a primeval forest that stretches for dozens of miles.

The vanguard army has always had the duty to open the way, and the army of Jibu is certainly no exception. Instead of cutting down all the trees in the road, they left marks along the way for the troops in the rear to scout the sections along the way. In fact, it is enough for the vanguard army to do just this, and the so-called "opening roads in the mountains and filling bridges in the water" is not really something that the soldiers should do, it is the responsibility of the auxiliary troops.

The troops under the command of Jib had no auxiliaries. During the meeting, Lu Zhe made a mistake in asking Ji Bu's headquarters to "open roads in the mountains and fill in bridges in the water", and later sent 5,000 additional auxiliary troops to Ji Bu in order to make up for this mistake. (Well, it's actually a mistake of honor, now hurry up.) 囧)

The 5,000 auxiliaries of the vanguard carried the most tools with axes, and they cut down the trees along the route and pulled them to the side of the road. Repeatedly, following in the footsteps of the soldiers, the ox carts they carried were also loaded with some of the felled timber, but most of the felled trees were left behind for the robes to be disposed of. They will carry some treated wood if they encounter a stream on the way. At that time, they were to build bridges for the rear troops to pass.

The day after Ji Bu's troops set off, Lü Zhe led 10,000 soldiers to embark on the expedition.

These two troops, who were mainly soldiers, carried only five days' dry rations, and the baggage was handed over to the rear army, that is, the 25,000 auxiliaries led by the lieutenants.

How can you only carry five days' worth of dry food? Then it is necessary to explain it in detail.

The mode of warfare in ancient times was not as simple as imagined, and the troops of any era were ...... Unless there are transport planes in the era that can be airlifted or airdropped, it is impossible for any army to never stop advancing from the start, and the army of the cold weapon era will generally take a short rest after walking for three days unless it is absolutely necessary. This kind of rest is to relieve fatigue, but also to wait for the replenishment of food and grass.

The main battle force is at the vanguard of an army at all times. The Chinese army is naturally the army where the main general belongs, and the rear army is a force that escorts the baggage from beginning to end unless it has to exercise any strategy. Before there is no air power, the battlefield is divided into front and back. Naturally, it is danger in front and safety in the rear. This pattern has hardly changed in the more than 1,000 years of cold weapon warfare from China to the Qin Dynasty, even during the First World War.

If a combat unit carries grain and grass, they will definitely not be able to march fast, and the army that has lost its speed can still be called a vanguard? Directly call the four not like the troops.

Ji Bu's 5,000 auxiliaries actually didn't have to bother to manage. It was just a troop that followed the soldiers and did some tiring work of opening roads and building bridges.

The baggage troops have always been composed of old and weak, and they generally do things that the soldiers disdain. This includes the non-stop emergency replenishment of food and grass by the troops at the front.

Given that this battle should not be difficult, Lu Zhe's mood was not as nervous or worried as in the previous battle, and he even took 500 soldiers to walk around the coast when he crossed the Yangtze River to reach the south bank.

This stroll is not the kind of aimless wandering, Lu Zhe wants to personally verify whether the statement about the different soil qualities on the north and south banks of the Yangtze River in ancient times is correct.

It seems that I have read from which book that the soil quality of the north and south banks of the Yangtze River before the Sui and Tang dynasties is two completely different differences, the land on the north bank is not salinized in the soil for some reasons, while the soil on the south bank is the theory of most of the salinized fluvial soil.

What is salinized fluvial soil? It is probably the stratigraphy of different sediments deposited by river flooding, the periodic rise and fall of soil and groundwater, and the low humus accumulation under dry farming conditions are a process of fluvial soil formation.

After inspecting it for himself, Lu Zhe preliminarily concluded that there was no salinized fluvial soil on the south bank, but that some small lakes that diverted from the Yangtze River into the inland really had unknown stagnant water phenomena, and it seemed that the book was not nonsense.

Looking from the south bank to the north bank, some sections of the river are crowded with people who are busy building aqueducts and placing waterwheels that look like simple work.

Seven scattered caissons have been built, but some of the aerial canals are not yet available. It is not at all easy to divert water from a caisson to an aerial canal, which requires a lot of engineering and hydraulic techniques to do, and the method chosen by Lu Zhe is to imitate the "ancient Roman aerial aqueduct".

Seeing your plan become a reality bit by bit, it is estimated that everyone will feel happy? Lu Zhe is certainly no exception.

The smile on Lu Zhe's face did not stop when he saw it, if it was not interrupted by external forces, if the new city was completed, it would inevitably become the only male city in the south, and once the city was completed, he would also leave his name in history.

It's an indescribable feeling to think that people in later generations will say their own names when they talk about this city.

When Lu Zhe was admiring his "masterpiece", Ji Bu, who had set off a day earlier, encountered a small trouble.

Qianzhong County is a relatively lightly developed county, and there are a total of four rivers or rivers within its boundaries. The rest of the smaller streams are even more complicated. Before Jibu could lead his troops out of the forest, they were blocked by a river about six hundred paces wide, and he remembered that the name of the river on the topographic map was Lishui.

Both sides of the river are full of dense trees, some trees appear strange, the body of the tree under the tree should not be two colors, the so-called two colors are the bottom of the trunk is obviously soaked in muddy water, the top is the skin color of the tree branches. The low, drooping branches should not have aquatic weeds, and some of the withered branches were obviously soaked in water.

Marks on trees near the river indicate that the river is not a peaceful river, and often seems to overflow into the forested area.

When approaching the riverbank, you can see strange scenery on the ground without careful observation, and aquatic plants are everywhere. Some of the potholes were covered with dead fish bones. The scene in front of me is enough to explain one thing, it is definitely a picture that will only exist after the flood or stagnant water has receded.

Before setting off, Lu Zhe said that it would take about three days to encounter this river called Lishui, but they were blocked by Lishui the next day, which was not the same as Ji Lu's plan at all.

The boat that was going to be used to make the pontoon bridge was still in the rear army, and it would take two days for the auxiliary troops led by the communist lieutenant to catch up, so Ji Bu was tormented whether he should stop at the same place and wait for the auxiliary troops to come up according to the plan that had already made a mistake, or choose to take a detour to cross the river directly from the relatively stable section of the river.

If it's a rigid general. Then even if the reality does not match the plan, it will stop in place, and after ordering someone to report, wait for the Lord to take a new look. But just because Ji Bu is not rigid at all, he thinks that if he wants to take Linyuan County by surprise before the Baiyue people react, then he shouldn't wait in Lishui stupidly.

Lishui is a large river that is forty or fifty miles long. The water system that it extends out of the river is even more innumerable, and now the vanguard force has entered the territory of Qianzhong County, so it is the territory of the Baiyue people.

With so many tributaries, Lishui provides water for many villages in Qianzhong County, and the Baiyue people also have the habit of fishing in the river. If a force of 10,000 people was stationed on the edge of Lishui for two days, the news of the Qin army's entry into Qianzhong County might be known by the Baiyue people, so how could they invade by surprise at that time?

Ji Bu sent people to report the actual situation to Lu Zhe of the Chinese army. reported his thoughts truthfully, and without waiting for Lu Zhe's reply, he directly cut wood to make a raft and cross the river.

Fortunately, it is summer, not the spring when the spring rains are flooding, and Lishui is still "docile" in the current season, and although there were accidents during the crossing of the river by 10,000 troops relying on improvised rafts, they did not cause major casualties.

A day later, after paying a slight price of more than a dozen rafts falling apart, nine people who fell into the water missing, and the rest were rescued, Jibu set off again with his troops.

By the time the men sent by Lü Zhe to reply to the letter reached the edge of Lishui on the marching route, Ji Bu and his troops had already crossed Lishui and disappeared into the dense jungle again.

This herald was actually a little dumbfounded, he came to tell Ji Bu, the main general recognized Ji Bu's speculation, and agreed to "do it himself" while also informing Ji Bu that there was already a food transport team coming quickly, and the auxiliaries would replenish the vanguard army with new dry food, and wait for the supplies to be replenished before Ji Bu set off.

Knowing that Ji Bu had crossed the Lishui without receiving a new order, Lu Zhe waved his hand to let the herald retreat, and his expression did not seem to be annoyed by Ji Bu's unauthorized actions.

When the others were relieved for Ji Bu, before they had completely exhaled their breath, they suddenly heard Lu Zhe say to the warden (clerk): "Ji Bu acted without permission, and he will make a note of it first." ”

The warden is naturally the master who will remember what he says.

Those who heard this, they were stunned for a moment, and the so-called "one-time" of the army is a kind of punishment, and what kind of punishment they get depends on their official positions. For example, Ji Bu is the commander of the Left Association who is more than the captain of the same school, so it is a meritorious service to cut off one level, and in addition to this, there are ten army sticks waiting.

Of course, that is the treatment that only officers have, and soldiers generally do not have the qualification of "demerits", and basically complete the punishment on the spot.

Among Lu Zhe's current 110,000 troops, there are only more than 2,000 people from the Qin army. The rest were either the remnants of the Six Kingdoms who were reorganized into an army, or the aborigines of Nanjun, who basically didn't know what the Qin army was like.

The Qin army's good fighting does not rely on individual force, it is a whole constrained by strict military discipline, some of the more than 100,000 troops have been trained for nearly two months, and some are less than a month and a half, although they have a little collective consciousness, but they still do not know what an army is.

The army that Lu Zhe understood was an iron-blooded collective with no humanity and only military discipline, and he certainly knew that Dao Jibu's choice was correct in some senses. But if for some reason he doesn't deal with Jibu, when there are all kinds of reasons for disobedience. So how do you restrain the generals?

Among all the armies of the same era, the combat power of the Qin army is definitely the top, so what makes the Qin army so good at fighting in the south? This is enough to show the importance of military discipline, Lu Zhe did not have enough time to lead these untrained troops into battle, he could only rely on the rewards and punishments in actual combat to deeply plant the solemnity of military discipline in this army.

Ji Bu's troops crossed the Lishui River and marched south for more than 20 miles, and finally came to the edge of the forest, from which the overgrown plain area appeared, and there seemed to be no sign of human existence.

"It's still twenty miles away from Linyuan...... in the open air, Ji Bu is holding a simple topographic map in his hand, "It's just that there was a mistake in the map last time, and this time it's ......" smiled bitterly and was a little helpless.

It's not funny. However, the topographic painting at this time really has no scale, and the map is basically just a reference opinion, which cannot be used practically.

"Come," he said, closing the parchment. Ji Bu said to the scout, "Send more people to explore the surrounding environment. ”

The scout officer was ordered to leave.

Fighting in an unfamiliar environment is not easy at all, and Ji Bu certainly knows this. The march of the forest was no small test, and he turned to see his men looking tired.

"Rest for half an hour...... Ji Bu's gaze became firm: "Then go straight to Linyuan!" ”

Lu Zhe's entire battle plan was very simple, and there was nothing like dividing it into several armies. It's just that the sequence of the strategy is smooth, and then the past is pulled out point by point. The characteristic of this kind of combat is that the first few "points" will be captured very quickly, and they can quickly occupy enough territory.

As early as the time of the Nanjun War, Ji Bu had adapted to this method of warfare. However, it was a combat environment under familiar terrain, and it was really different from Qianzhong County, which was dark-eyed.

After a little rest, Ji Bu ordered the troops to march again, and they had just come out of the plain about five miles before they came across a village where the Baiyue and Chu people were mixed.

Under the military order of Jibu's "raid", the peaceful little village rushed in before it could react, and after a period of killing, the 200 or so people in the village, regardless of men, women, and children, were all corpses.

The killing went on quickly, there's no doubt about that. Ji Bu stood on the edge of the field on the outskirts of the village and looked at a large golden rice field: "Leave two hundreds, and the rest continue to move forward!"

It was about 30 acres of rice fields, and the ears of rice in the fields were almost ripe at this time, and 30 acres could produce about 60 to 70 stone of grain.

Ji Bu was also qualified to participate in the battle meeting, but he had personally heard Yi Huze say that Qianzhong County had provided half a year's worth of food for 100,000 Baiyue people. And that's only a small part of the output of Qianzhong County, so how much grain production should be in Qianzhong County?

As the commander of the Left Association, Ji Bu was very clear about Lu Zhe's strategic goal this time, and sending troops to Qianzhong County to occupy the territory was just an incidental strategic purpose, more to loot the grain and grass of Qianzhong County to subsidize Nanjun.

Doing so would be very damaging to Qianzhong County, but according to Lu Zhe's original words: Qianzhong County is either a Baiyue person or a savage who broke away from China and fell willingly......

The meaning of that sentence is that it is a cruel order not to care about the impact of the destruction on the inhabitants of Qianzhong County.

There is no humanitarianism at the beginning of this year, so naturally no one will stand up and shout stupid things such as violating humanitarianism against Lu Zhe's orders. On the contrary, they very much agreed with Lu Zhe's purpose of fighting, it was a matter of course for everyone to rob others to take care of themselves, and who would care about the life and death of those savages without caring about themselves.

When Ji Bu's headquarters rushed straight towards Linyuan, more than ten villages were uprooted on the road, and it was inevitable that fires would occur during the battle, and the defenders of Linyuan City were really confused when they saw the pillars of smoke rising into the sky from far and near.

Now is not the season to burn the fields to prepare for sowing, and the Linyuan Baiyue defenders who discovered this situation are not fools, of course they know that someone is burning, killing and looting. However, they didn't think in the direction of the Qin army in Nanjun, and thought that it was the barbarian tribes between Baiyue who were killing or looting again.

The defenders of Linyuan made the necessary defensive posture, but they basically had no experience in defending the city, and they had not yet sorted out an effective defensive chain until Ji Bu's troops appeared not far from Linyuan City.

Ji Bu's subordinates, who had been killed all the way, saw that Baiyue's defenders had already gone up to the city wall, and they didn't expect Linyuan to be the kind of defenseless posture that the city gate was wide open.

Ji Bu, who had experience in siege warfare, had already ordered the auxiliaries to prepare ladders for siege, and he first ordered the auxiliaries to start camping, and then led people to inspect the walls of Linyuan City.

Sure enough, as the intelligence showed that the Linyuan city wall was in a state of disrepair, some of the gaps that appeared were not repaired but stayed as entrances and exits to the city.

Back at the headquarters, Ji Bu didn't know whether to laugh at the ignorance or stupidity of the Baiyue people, and prepared a little to start the attack...... (To be continued......)