Marching rations are simple, convenient, not cumbersome, large in quantity, enough to fill you up, and not to starve to death. With these characteristics, it is actually good enough.

Now, the fire-headed soldiers in the sheds of Yang Zhenzhengdong's advance camp have basic marching food, such as pancakes, dry-fried mixed noodles, and pickled salted fish wrapped in a layer of salt particles, as well as improvised food prepared according to local conditions.

It’s no problem to eat until you’re full with the food you came here.

Every time they set up camp, what the Huotou Army needs to do is actually set up a stove and light a fire, and then use the iron pot they carry with them to boil a pot of boiling water for the brothers in the tent for later use.

As for the night watch of each team, the officers and soldiers leading each team designate people from each shed to take turns. Now it has become a routine, and Yang Zhen does not need to remind him every time.

As for the various night sentries on the periphery of the entire camp, they are dispatched under orders issued by the Chinese army in the advance battalion, and people from each team take turns to serve.

This set of practices is not complicated. After it has been implemented for a period of time, after everyone at the top and bottom is familiar with the rules, they can all find their own convenience.

Every time when it's time to set up camp, Yang Zhen doesn't need to say anything, just follow the established rules and everything will run naturally as normal. All it takes is a capable general of the Chinese army to keep an eye on the back of each team and stand up at the critical moment to take an overview of the overall situation.

.

This time, Yang Zhen and his party have spent two nights setting up camp in the wilderness outside Songshan City. Tonight is the third time. At least judging from the current situation, Li Lu is a very good person.

A capable Chinese army.

While everyone was talking, Li Ma also came out of the shack reserved for Yang Zhen and saw everyone sitting around the fire. He quickly took it from Xu Changyong's hand.

Regarding the roasting of the yellow sheep, Xu Changyong is asked to rest.

At this time, the generals from the advance camp who came to the border area were gathered around the fire.

"Master General! We have arrived at the three towers now! Since General Xu Shen and others have explored the three towers and Yang Shen and his party have not arrived yet, what should we do next? Wait here.

, or should we continue to the west to welcome us again?"

After Li Lu finished reporting on the matters related to setting up camp, Zu Keyong, who came with him, also spoke. He didn't talk much, but he always got to the point every time he spoke.

This time, it was no exception. As soon as the team arrived near the three towers and the camp was not yet stable, he began to ask about the next move:

"It's okay to stay here and wait. After all, it's not far from the deserted city where the three towers are located. If there's something going on, we'll find out soon! No matter when Yang Shen arrives at the three towers with the soldiers he recruited,

Come, we can all know in time!

"However, it's not a big deal if we go southwest to greet them and then go west for hundreds of miles. On the contrary, it will allow Yang Shen and the others to recruit civilian soldiers to minimize the risk of being robbed by tribes outside the Great Wall or horse bandits on the grasslands!"

"Brother Zu is right! Brother, you have an idea, I, Old Xu, can do anything! There are 600 of us, we can't keep up with these Mongolian tribes outside the Great Wall, but ordinary horse thieves, I, Old Xu, are really not afraid of them

!”

After hearing what Zu Keyong said, Xu Changyong immediately took over the conversation and expressed his stance towards Yang Zhen. At the same time, after finishing these words, he turned back to Li Ma who was cutting the meat with a knife and said:

"Brother Mazi, I'm not talking about you! We are all our own people. If we encounter those blind, hairy bandits who dare to touch the tiger's butt in our advance camp, we will not hold back at that time.

!”

"That's it, that's it! What did General Xu Shen say? Our colleagues are enemies to begin with. If you dare to touch the tiger's butt in our advance camp, you are making trouble on Tai Sui's head, and he will definitely be left with nothing to eat!"

Li Ma heard what Xu Changyong said and responded with a smile while continuing to cut up the roasted yellow mutton.

Moreover, after Li Ma said this, he immediately put down the short knife in his hand, holding half a roasted hind leg, and hurriedly came to Yang Zhen and handed it over with both hands.

Yang Zhen took it with a smile, took a big bite, tore off a piece of the fragrant yellow lamb leg that was just sprinkled with a little salt, and chewed it.

At this time, I heard Li Ma turning around and leaving, and continued with a smile: "Besides, I know some of the strands of hair in this area, and there is no one with more than 100 people! The big one has 80 or 90 people.

, little thirty or fifty heroes!

"If we ask them to rob passing merchants and grazing herdsmen, that's fine! If they want to rob a large number of officers, soldiers and horses like us, no matter how much courage we lend them, they won't dare.

!”

Li Ma said with a smile, and Xu Changyong and others laughed. Without waiting for Li Ma to share, they all took the short knives themselves, took the meat directly from the roasted yellow sheep, and then started to feast on it.

Only Yang Zhen and Zhang Chen looked at each other and stopped what they were doing. Li Ma's words gave them an inspiration.

Yang Zhen was just thinking about whether he could take advantage of the rare business trip on the grassland, the lack of business, and the difficulty of survival to recruit some gangs of horse thieves from the mountains and forests around Nurul Tiger Mountain.

Of course, when Yang Zhen recruited them to cooperate, he was not thinking of bringing their troops under the command of the advance battalion for the Eastern Expedition.

His idea is actually very simple. When working together, they can work together. After the work is completed, the two parties can completely break up, just like how they cooperated with Hu Changhai, Gao Chengyou and others on the coast of southern Liaoning.

By doing this, you can not only make up for the fact that you bring fewer people and horses to the grassland, but also build a good relationship with yourself on the grassland in this area.

Moreover, Yang Zhen also hoped that through cooperation like this, he could completely eliminate the possibility of these grassland horse thieves teams surrendering or joining the Manchu Tatars in the future.

Before leaving Songshan City, Yang Zhen's idea was not clear enough. After he arrived at the Black Pine Ridge where Li Ma once occupied and looked at their previous living conditions, he felt that such an opportunity existed.

However, this time when they came to the border area, Xu Changyong left Meng He behind to guard the camp facilities in the Heishigang area of ​​Rufenggang, and did not let Meng He lead his team to follow them.

Xu Changyong wanted to leave the opportunity of his meritorious service to those closer to him, so this approach was not a bad idea, and Yang Zhen couldn't say much.

Moreover, the camp at Rufenggang and the smelting shed at Heishigang are both very important places. Mining cannot be stopped for a day, and smelting cannot be stopped for a day.

Meng He's newly assigned young Tatars were burdened with such heavy labor, and it was indeed difficult for them to escape.

Meng He did not go to the border with the army, so the task of trying to contact the gangsters in the Nurul Hushan area naturally fell on Li Ma's shoulders.

At this time, Yang Zhen heard him talk about the small group of horse thieves in this area. He knew the situation. He thought for a moment, swallowed the food in his mouth, and said to Li Ma:

"Brother Li Ma! Since you said you know something about the situation in this area, let me ask you, are there any heroes in this area who are familiar with you and have a sense of loyalty?!"

Everyone was devouring the roasted yellow lamb when they suddenly heard Yang Zhen ask this question. They immediately stopped and looked up at Yang Zhen, wondering what Yang Zhen was going to do.

Li Ma, who had just returned to his position and was cutting up the yellow lamb ribs, was stunned for a moment when he heard this. He understood. He then put down the short knife in his hand, stood up and said to Yang Zhen:

"Returning to the Commander-in-Chief! In this area, I can't say that there are no heroes who are familiar with and have a sense of loyalty to those in humble positions, but it can't be said that they are familiar with each other and have a sense of loyalty!

"The various gangs on our grassland occasionally cooperate with each other, but every time when things are done and things are distributed, they break up. They don't even know each other's names, and they all go their separate ways!

"When people from different departments cooperate with each other, they call themselves brothers, hello, me, hello, everyone, but even so, they have to be wary of others, lest someone stabs them in the back!

"So after so many years of living together, you and I can't form a unified group. Instead, we ask the tribal nobles on the grassland to defeat each other. One group will be destroyed today, another group will be destroyed tomorrow, and we are almost done!"

Li Ma heard Yang Zhen's question and knew that Yang Zhen might want to contact other horse thieves on the grassland through him. For him, this matter was all-important.

It's just that Meng He had recruited some people here before, and there must be a reason why he didn't recruit them, so he didn't dare to take the initiative to take over.

"Brother Li Ma! I, Zhang Chen, see that you are also a cheerful person. I think you can understand what I mean! What kind of good guys are there in this area? If you can get in touch with them, you can help me in the next two days.

Sir, let's go and let's see if it works or not!"

Zhang Chen has been following Yang Zhen for a long time. As soon as Yang Zhen mentioned this before, he already understood what Yang Zhen meant. There are more than 600 people going out this time. If they meet up with Yang Shen's newly recruited Minzhuang soldiers as scheduled, then

That's enough.

But if the soldiers recruited by Yang Shen are delayed, then it will be a bit risky for these more than 600 soldiers to meet the large caravan from Guanli.

This time they came to the border to intercept and kill the caravan coming out of Zhangjiakou. The purpose was not to defeat the other party, nor to hunt down the other party, but to rob their belongings.

Under such circumstances, in order to achieve full success and prevent the loss of property, we need enough people on our side.

However, it is impossible to take away enough people and horses from Songshan, because this will not only delay various projects inside and outside Songshan City, but also cause the defense of Songshan City to be empty, and at the same time, it will also cause trouble for the ancestral family of Jinzhou City.

serious doubts among the generals.

Therefore, if we want to avoid these problems behind us and at the same time recruit enough people, there are only two options left.

One is to wait patiently in the three towers, waiting for the Xuanfu soldiers recruited by Yang Shen to arrive and join them.

The second is to immediately find a way to send people to contact the gangsters in this area who are occupying the mountains and robbing families and homes.
Chapter completed!