On the fifth day of June, on the evening.

The sixth day that Lu Yao left Yecheng.

As the night deepened, dozens of campfires were blazing, and under the light of the fires, more than 300 soldiers from various teams were setting up tents with the people. A little farther away, there was the sound of a trumpet, and it was another group of soldiers who were in charge of building the fortifications were busy.

Lu Yao passed through the busy soldiers and made a tour around the periphery of the village. He personally stationed sentry posts at several intersections and high slopes, and carefully explained the precautions with the commander in charge of patrolling. When the patrol was over, he sent several additional secret posts as supplements, and then, according to the custom, ordered that the whole army should not be undressed, and that weapons and armor should be placed within reach.

The art of war is cloudy: those who are good at fighting are invincible first. Although this is not wartime, it is still necessary to be cautious and take strict precautions against all kinds of unexpected situations. Lu Yao will not forget: Although Na Jisang died, he was collected by Shi Le, and most of the thieves retreated safely. This monarch has also obtained the manpower and material resources captured by Yecheng, and his strength is only stronger. The whereabouts of this terrible enemy are unknown at the moment, and Lu Yao is marching outside, so he really does not dare to be negligent in the slightest.

When the arrangement was almost over, he walked with a group of personal soldiers to a few houses on the north side of the camp under the leadership of He Yun.

This place is a village called Huojiayi in Pingen County, Guangping County, Sizhou, the whole village community used to be quite large, but now it is very dilapidated, and the residents are only less than half of the people in their heyday, about more than 200 people. When the army set up camp, it just happened to encircle the village community and requisition some houses.

The village community is next to the official road from Yecheng to Jizhou, about five miles to the west is the bank of the Zhangshui River, and to the north is about sixty miles from Guangzong City in Jizhou.

The journey from Yecheng to Xindu was more than 500 miles, and according to Lu Yao's plan, the forced march would take about ten days. Since the whole army was newly organized, there was no precedent for all the arrangements to follow, and they had to be appointed one by one on a temporary basis.

The 500-mile road is roughly divided into 10 sections, passing through four counties belonging to the three counties. Zhu Sheng led a number of light horses, and several guides sent by Li Yun set off a day earlier. Their first task was to survey the terrain and road conditions along the way, and to choose a suitable way for the following brigades. In addition, they carried a letter issued in the name of the shogunate, and negotiated with local officials and clan elders along the way, requisitioning people in a timely manner and preparing supplies.

As the second group, the whole army set off in formation the next day, with a total of 800 cavalry, 500 infantry soldiers, and a number of baggage vehicles. The foot soldiers had to march for about five hours without stopping, and the horsemen had to take care of the horses, which was often even harder. Even when it comes to Shen, it is not possible to rest immediately. Unless it is a county seat, there is no village community or dock wall that can directly accept more than 1,000 people, so the soldiers still need to set up camp.

Today, in Huojia Village, all soldiers have to participate in tedious tasks such as digging ditches, setting up villages, building fortifications, and burying pots to make rice. These matters took more than two hours, and it was not until the end of the day that the soldiers were able to sleep.

Through the forced march of fifty miles and the heavy workload that followed, the discipline and willpower of the army could be constantly strengthened. During the march, those who fell behind because of their weakness and lack of perseverance will naturally be eliminated. And those who perform well will also be promoted quickly. There were also a few incidents along the way where the soldiers were disgruntled and tried to incite their companions to flee. In this regard, Lu Yao did not hesitate to kill the leader to deter the whole army.

Lu Yao's subordinates transferred from the beggar army included 200 people who had fought with him on the south side of Jianchun Gate, and many of them were wounded. It was naturally impossible for a seriously injured soldier to follow Lu Yao, but a number of lightly injured soldiers, such as Jiang Li, who was shot in the thigh, also followed. Lu Yao organized these lightly injured soldiers into a group, and sent two more officials under Yang Heng. The day after the rest of the group, they were the third group to move forward, mainly responsible for collecting the soldiers who had fallen behind along the way, and also responsible for dismissing the people left behind on the previous journey.

After six days in this way, and halfway through the trip, Lu Yao's control over the troops had been significantly strengthened. Officers and men who are not familiar with each other are becoming more and more familiar with each other, officers at all levels are gradually promoted and enriched, and various military orders and regulations are gradually understood and accepted by non-commissioned officers, and the obedience of non-commissioned officers is also improved.

After continuous fine-tuning after daily camping, the team formation has taken shape at this point. The whole army was organized into four teams, led by Lu Yao, Ding Miao, Xue Tong, and Shen Jin.

Lu Yao's team has a total of 300 horsemen, and in addition to He Yun Chukun, the main officers also have the old team of the Jinyang Army and several warriors who accompanied Lu Yao to Yecheng, respectively, Xiao Shi, a native of Yanmen Mayi, who is good at spearmanship, Du Qin, an old soldier from a military family in Yunzhong County, and Yang Xing, a descendant of the Sinicized Xianbei people who is very good at riding. Lu Yao remembered that he gave his family a nickname "Baxian", which was really domineering and impressive. The soldiers led by these five officers were mainly the elite of the beggar army, and the brave and reliable ones in the army were selected to fill in. In addition, dozens of scout cavalry led by Zhu Sheng were also directly under Lu Yao.

The other three teams, Ding Miao and Shen Jin, were cavalry, and Xue Tong led all the foot soldiers. These three teams were also formed by a mixture of the beggar army and the Jisang soldiers, and Liu Fei, Bai Miao, Chen Pei and other more prestigious people in the old Jisang department were among them and held considerable positions. Such an appointment may seem bold, but it is within the scope of his responsibilities and can be decided with full authority. As long as these people accumulate military merits in the future, they will naturally become the backbone of Lu Yao's use with confidence. As for the old background under their command of the king of Chengdu, Lu Yao completely regarded it as a floating cloud.

At this moment, the person who is specifically responsible for the night guard of the whole army is Liu Fei. Lu Yao could see that this majestic rider was immediately on a rocky beach on the west side of the camp, talking to several sentries there. Liu Fei's eyesight was excellent, and he quickly noticed that Lu Yao was staring in the direction he was, so he bowed his head slightly, raised his arm in front of his chest, and bowed to Lu Yao for a half-salute.

Lu Yao raised his hand and saluted back, and then stepped into the courtyard gate to the north.

The house on the north side of the camp was originally the residence of the patriarch of the Huo clan. Although Lu Yao's more than 1,000 people and horses are not a big army, they are already a great prestige for this local village community. As soon as the patriarch waited for Lu Yao to arrive, he gave up his house and moved to live elsewhere.

The residents of the entire Huojiayi are all like this, even the patriarch's house is also limited in scale, with two fronts and backs, the entrance is the lobby, and there are wings and stables on the left and right. In the lobby, a pine torch was lit around the wall, and it was very brightly illuminated. There is a large wooden table in the hall, on which are placed scones, meat soup and other things.

In the lobby, a middle-aged scribe with a clear appearance and the demeanor of a Confucian man stood with his hands in his hands, chatting with Xue Tong.

Lu Yao approached quickly, only to hear the middle-aged scribe say, "...... General Xue didn't know that the Hebei region has been a rich land with developed agriculture since ancient times. Although through the turbulent times at the end of the Han Dynasty, Cao Wei has basically restored the grandeur of the two Han Dynasty after decades of operation. In the early years of the founding of this dynasty, the officials obeyed their laws, and the people enjoyed their lives. During the Taikang period, the three Wei regions of Wei County, Guangping and Yangping combined with Jizhou had a total of 440,000 households, accounting for more than one-sixth of the total number of households in the world. If we take into account the hidden servants of the military households and the rich and wealthy on the right, I am afraid that this number will increase significantly. Shao remembered clearly that the annual household survey paid by these 440,000 households was as high as 1.3 million taels of grain, 1 million horses of silk, and 1 million catties of cotton......

"Shao Gong is pointing out the country again......" Lu Yao laughed and stepped into the hall: "It's getting late, why don't you use some food first?" Could it be ...... Alas, it must be because everything in the army is so poor that they can't even prepare decent food. Please don't be surprised. ”

The scribe who was called "Shao Gong" by Lu Yao was called Shao Xu. He was entrusted by the civil and military forces of Yecheng to go to Jizhou to report the military situation. The thieves captured Yedu and killed the prince of the clan, which was a great event, so Yang Heng, Li Yun and others hurriedly sent people to report to Luoyang and the surrounding prefectures and counties. Among them, Shao Xu was the messenger to Xindu, and he happened to be on the same road as Lu Yao.

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