A sudden turn of events

After finishing their meal, completing a brief pre-war mobilization, and checking their leggings again, the troops immediately began a rapid march. The critical situation did not allow them to waste too much time.

They had to enter the vast mountains in the west of Xingguo Prefecture, go deep into the areas controlled by Ke and Chen local officials, and then directly attack the villages where they lived one by one. The journey was long and the task was arduous.

But the strange thing is that the marching speed of the troops is obviously much slower than before, and the phenomenon of disconnection from front to back is everywhere, and the roar of the squad leaders begins to erupt like a volcano.

Luo Xiaoliu knew why, but besides being anxious, there was nothing he could do.

He believed that the situation introduction and combat mobilization chosen by the regiment and company commanders were very lacking in consideration, and they ignored the differences in the group characteristics of their subordinates.

If all or most of the officers and soldiers are like him, who have received training for a long time, have some combat experience, and have a certain sense of belonging to the current group, of course there will be no problem, and it may even be very effective.

.

But the problem is that the ordinary soldiers in his battalion are all new recruits who have only been recruited for more than a month or even less than a month. Even most of the squad leaders and deputy squad leaders should strictly speaking be considered recruits and have only participated in the capture of Qizhou.

A battle.

This resulted in soldiers generally lacking a sense of belonging and responsibility, and lacking the will and confidence to fight a dangerous war, let alone the need to penetrate deep into the hinterland of the notoriously vicious indigenous barbarians.

Luo Xiaoliu could easily feel the panic and fear of the soldiers, including some squad leaders.

Although under the control of a complete organizational system and backbone forces, the soldiers could only obey and silently follow the brigade, and the selected squad leaders could continue to perform their functions, the entire team was still unable to suppress the negative procrastination and

Walking heavily.

The battalion of the Third Regiment was also similar.

As far as Luo Xiaoliu knew, the backbone of their squad was not as strong as them. This was probably the main reason why the Third Regiment was not used as the main force to fight the rebellion.

At this time, the gap between the First Battalion and them became apparent.

After only marching for a while, the first battalion saw a huge distance between them and the other two battalions, becoming a vague shadow at the foot of the mountain in front.

The top commander of their temporary unit, Han Jiu, was probably very anxious. He almost completely ignored the problem of the other two battalions being far behind. Not only was he always with the first battalion, but he also had no intention of waiting or controlling the front.

The meaning of military speed.

There is only one battalion left in Fuchi, and the situation is indeed urgent.

Suddenly, the first battalion stopped and burst into cheers. The confused Luo Xiaoliu and his squad leaders looked at each other and instinctively urged the troops to speed up the pace again.

Then, as soon as they approached the first battalion, an excited regimental staff officer ran back and forth with several signal soldiers and loudly conveyed a shocking news to them.

It turned out that a group of cavalry stopped them and brought a battle report.

Last night, the cavalry battalion commander Zhang Qing commanded the urgently gathered cavalry troops to raid in an open valley and defeat thousands of soldiers and horses led by two rebel local officials who went to attack Zhiyang Xin County, Xingguo Prefecture. The two local officials Ke and Chen

One escapes and one dies.

cheer!

The two originally depressed battalions soon cheered, their once expressionless faces were replaced by smiles, and the depressing atmosphere was swept away.

Although according to General Li Ping's latest order, they still have to continue to attack the rebel leader's home village, and they also divide their troops to implement it simultaneously in order to fight faster.

But the troops that started to advance again unified with surprising speed. Luo Xiaoliu's battalion and the battalion of the Third Regiment were suddenly able to steadily keep up with the previous battalion without any urging.

Victory seemed to change everything instantly.

However, Luo Xiaoliu, who knew his own steps, knew that the morale of the once-sluggish troops had indeed increased and the speed had increased. This was only one aspect, and the other aspect was that the battalion had slowed down.

When the mission is no longer urgent, there is no need to exhaust the troops to death. The safety and integrity of the troops and the ability to ensure complete missions are becoming higher priorities.

Before the planned division of troops walked the final common road and separated, some blood-stained cavalry and local indigenous mountain people joined in. They led the way and cooperated with the action as planned, but they arrived much later than planned.

However, this only ignited the emotions of the troops again.

Those blood-stained cavalry were part of the cavalry force that defeated the rebels last night, and some of them were from the reconnaissance company. Last night's raid was not in the original plan.

Their arrival strongly proved the authenticity of last night's victory and further encouraged the troops' belief in victory.

According to the troop division plan, Luo Xiaoliu's battalion and the two companies of the first battalion continued to be led by Han Jiu. They were going to attack the home village of the escaped local official named Ke.

On the other hand, the deputy chief of staff led by the third regiment led the other two companies of the first battalion and the battalion of his own regiment to attack the home village of the local official named Chen who had been killed.

As a specially reserved backbone elite unit, the First Battalion does not have three or even four companies like other battalions dominated by new recruits due to different troop strength. Instead, it is completely organized according to the situation when it first arrived in Fuchi.

The system of one battalion and four companies was divided equally, which also ensured that there were enough elite forces in each troop.

Luo Xiaoliu had already seen the very haggard Zhao Dongdong among the cavalrymen who arrived later, and Zhao Dongdong was still in his team after the troops were divided, but Luo Xiaoliu never left his team to come forward to greet him.

Luo Xiaoliu knew his responsibilities and knew that now was not the time to disturb Zhao Dongdong. He just watched silently from behind.

Zhao Dongdong, who had sharp eyes, also spotted Luo Xiaoliu. He also said nothing. He had no energy and no mood.

His task was difficult and most tiring.

Although the march was no longer so urgent, and although the troops were generally optimistic, the long and almost mountainous march that required keeping a concealed track once again gradually eroded the morale that had finally been raised.

The troops continued to cross mountains and ridges, and walked on rugged mountain paths where no one was inhabited. Even the breaks in between were short and few. Even until nightfall, the troops were ordered to continue walking in the dark for a long time.

The next day, the same journey continued.

Everyone is out of breath, everyone is exhausted, and the ambitions that were once ignited have long been extinguished, leaving only frustration and numbness.

But this is war. If you want to take the initiative and achieve surprise, you must learn to march and get used to marching.

Military operations are actually more about marching.

Fortunately, in the evening of this day, Luo Xiaoliu's team finally arrived at the home village of local official surnamed Ke. Everyone, including the recruits, began to be eager to fight.

But they did not launch a night attack.

In unfamiliar mountainous areas, night attacks were not a good option. The backbone group of officers with rich training and combat experience and the fried noodles without fire allowed them to continue to hide well.

The battle took place early the next morning.

Although the stockade to be attacked was not only very large, but also a fully enclosed fortress. However, when Luo Xiaoliu walked at the front of his spear company with a spear in hand and approached the stockade filled with smoke, what he saw was that the stockade was filled with smoke.

There were only a few panicked faces on the wall, and what could be heard was the chaotic sound of gongs and drums in the village, as well as all kinds of fear and hoarse shouts.

He thought that today's battle probably wouldn't be too difficult.

The enemy obviously did not discover them in advance. The enemy was obviously frightened by the battle the day before yesterday, and the enemy's vitality was obviously greatly damaged.

Sure enough, they did not receive any long-range attacks as they lined up to approach the stronghold. This greatly ensured that the recruits maintained their morale and maintained a tight and orderly attack queue.

Even a few warriors from the first battalion held up shields and placed an oversized gunpowder bag under the thin wooden gate of the village, successfully ignited it and then evacuated without any casualties.

This left the cannon company of the first battalion, which was preparing to implement strong fire cover, completely alone.

This further confirmed the enemy's confusion, weakness and helplessness.

As the explosion sounded that shocked both the attacking and defending sides, the cavalry immediately rushed in along the collapsed gate of the village in the smoke, and then bugles sounded, and then another company of the first battalion reached Luo

The entire battalion to which Xiaoliu belonged also began to rush in.

Han Jiu's tactics were very simple and crude, very direct and fast. Not only did he not give the enemy any time to react, he also did not leave any escape route for himself.

When Luo Xiaoliu nervously led the entire platoon into the stockade, there was still no effective or organized resistance in the stockade. It was obvious that there were not even many mature men in the stockade, but only panicked women, half-grown men and women.

Figures of old men running around in fear.

Of course, occasionally there would still be groups of twos and threes of strong-looking male soldiers rushing towards them with ferocious expressions, whether they were brave or stupid, but they would then be stabbed to the ground by them as if they were gang-banging.

Such a one-sided battle is definitely the best training ground for new recruits.

The recruits quickly turned from nervousness to excitement. Unilateral killings are the most likely to arouse human ferocity, and the order to kill anyone who dared to resist freed up their hands and feet and released their courage.

Luo Xiaoliu had no interest in hunting down and controlling ordinary women and weak villagers. He no longer needed and did not care about such military exploits.

He consciously led the entire platoon towards the center of the village, searching hard for the largest and most magnificent houses.

But he was still a step too late.

Soon, Luo Xiaoliu heard the soldiers from the first battalion shouting excitedly that they had caught the rebel leader. Then when he rushed over, he found an unkempt man being dragged like a dog to the dirt road in the middle of the village.

As several villagers with knives on their necks nodded in fear, the unkempt man's head was chopped off with several knives and raised high with a spear. Then a group of soldiers from one battalion surrounded the provoked man.

The people started walking along the road in the village and shouting like a parade.

…

At noon, Luo Xiaoliu had the best meal he had in a while, and it was a meal that was almost entirely meat.

They caught all the pigs, chickens and ducks in the stockade and roasted them, and the whole stockade was filled with the aroma of meat.

Although this may seem cruel, it is the greatest kindness.

Except for the native official named Ke, his children, and the villagers who resisted, no one in the village, men, women, old or young, including the native official's relatives, were killed as long as they gave up the resistance.

"Only punish the chief culprits, their parents, children, and stubborn people, without affecting the general public" was Li Ping's solemn and earnest order.

Expanded military killings and bloody intimidation cannot fundamentally solve the problem, and may even lead to a deep war with the mountain natives, which is not in Li Ping's current interests.

Even Luo Xiaoliu understands this.

In addition to the Tuguan's main village, there are a large number of Tuguan families and their offshoots in the mountains, as well as villages that are closely related to the Tuguan family. Regardless of whether they can kill them, they shouldn't be entangled here for too long!

But most of the recruits don't understand this kind of kindness, and they take it for granted to eradicate and kill the three tribes.

They haven't had their fill of killing yet, and they feel a bit lucid and omnipotent.

However, the squad and platoon leaders who directly controlled them strictly implemented the military orders without complaining. Naturally, they did not dare to act recklessly and misbehaved. They could only complain and have fun, and their current focus was mainly on sharing the joy of victory.

And enjoy the meat.

Taking advantage of the time when his subordinates were talking excitedly and feasting, Luo Xiaoliu went to Zhao Dongdong with a large piece of roasted, fragrant and fat pork chop.

But when he found Zhao Dongdong, he found that Zhao Dongdong was snoring loudly.

Luo Xiaoliu stayed quietly for a while, then picked some clean leaves, wrapped the pork chops and placed them next to Zhao Dongdong, then turned and left.
Chapter completed!