The sun was still hanging in the sky, so it was supposed to be the time to march. However, the soldiers of the Tiande Army stopped and began to set up camp.

Dutou and the supervisors still live in the village, but the place is small. After Hao Zhenwei's 300 soldiers and Qiu Weidao's 100 guards are squeezed in, it will be full. The other sergeants still have to camp outside.

They chose a good place. The terrain was slightly higher, overlooking the entire flat land on the river bank. At the same time, there was a small forest not far from the river on the side, which was very convenient and fast for woodcutting.

The scouts from the former army came to report that they had found traces of the enemy. The flags, carriages, horses and queues they saw were probably no less than 3,000 people, maybe more. The Tiande army did not dare to neglect, so they stopped and set up camp to wait.

.If the enemy wants to fight, then let's fight. That's it. There's nothing more to say.

After Shao Shude finished his duty, he walked around the village. During this period, he met a scout who was slightly injured and was placed in a safe place. He had a chat with him. He had always been very interested in how scouts counted the number of enemy soldiers and thought it was a very important skill.

Professional technology.

He did not go into details, but briefly mentioned that it mainly relied on the number of flags, horses, and baggage vehicles to estimate, and then verified it with the enemy's column situation observed from many directions. If the two values ​​​​are not much different, then it is almost ok.

For sure.

In the final analysis, it still depends on estimation, Shao Shude finally understood! This is not the modern face recognition scanning, automatic counting, or the ancient head counting of enemy soldiers. The method is primitive and involves guessing. The experienced ones can guess more accurately, and the inexperienced ones can guess more accurately.

, the estimated data may be very outrageous. Of course, the general will not just listen to the information reported by one scout. He will compare and weigh multiple aspects, and at the same time use some intelligence information he has to verify it, and finally decide which data to accept.

Misjudging the number of enemy soldiers can be fatal!

Because they were going to fight, the soldiers set up camp very carefully. They not only cut down many trees, but also demolished many houses in the village. The materials obtained were used to strengthen the camp. Shao Shude looked at it from a distance for a while and felt that if this place was damaged a few more times,

Due to the military disaster, the mountain is expected to be bare soon. The big trees have been cut down, and many small trees have been knocked down. If there is a heavy rain, there won't be a mudslide, right?

The work of building the camp continued until the evening. Because the people in the village were recruited to work, Shao Shude did not participate this time. However, he did not waste time. He was on duty when he was on duty, and when he was not on duty, he was sorting out his thoughts in the house.

Material review is also a learning process, and sometimes certain insights are generated during this process.

Dinner was pancakes again, two for each person, and they were quite delicious with pickles. However, because there was going to be a war, there was some extra mutton, which was all snatched from the village. This is the benefit of following the supervisory army.

, if you can eat meat, it would be good for ordinary soldiers to drink some soup. Hao Zhenwei, the commander-in-chief, sent a message to each camp and rewarded them with three pieces of silk to boost morale.

Lao Lu complained that this must be worthless miscellaneous silk, perhaps Hao Zhenwei had torn it off from the women in the village. Li Yixian and others laughed, without any respect for Shangguan in their words. Shao Shude scolded twice, and everyone stopped.

Say anything else.

Captain Shao, everyone is still convinced, not only because of his bravery, but also because he is fair, does not collect money, and cares about the soldiers. If any soldier in the team is in trouble at home, he will generously donate money, regardless of the reason. Over time, the soldiers' psychology

Everyone has a sense of dependence on them and they are tightly united around them, which is commendable.

At night, the camp was heavily guarded. Each battalion returned to its own camp and was not allowed to make any noise. The scouts came to report that the forward cavalry brigade of Xue Zhiqin's department in Shuozhou was still thirty miles away. However, that was the main force, and the small vanguard cavalry was closer, harassing them left and right.

peep

They were all driven back by Tian Xingbu, the Youyi envoy. He selected hundreds of party members and Turks from the auxiliary army who were good at riding horses and archery. Their strength increased and they were able to drive the enemy horsemen far away.

In order to prevent the morale of the military from wandering.

Hao Zhenwei was relatively calm at this time. After all, he was born as a border general and still had basic qualities. He stayed in the village and summoned the supervisory army and several core generals for a military meeting.

"Xue Zhiqin relies on his own martial prowess. He is already 40 years old, but he is still so radical. He wants to swallow us all up." Hao Zhenwei sat on the bed and sneered.

"May I ask Dutou, how many soldiers and horses does Xue Zhiqin have?" When things came to pass, Qiu Weidao was not as calm as the warriors. Shao Shude stood behind him. From his many unconscious little movements, you can see how uneasy he felt.

"It's similar to our army." Hao Zhenwei replied simply: "Li Keyong recruited tens of thousands of rebels in Yunzhou. When Li Guochang led the military army to arrive, the three tribes of Shatuo and the five tribes in the north should have also recruited

Quite a few, with a total strength of more than 20,000. However, its main forces are in Xinzhou, Yunzhou, and Yuzhou, and they are also faced with the pressure of the imperial army.

The fact that Xue Zhiqin was able to gather several thousand men in Shuozhou must be due to Li Keyong's trust. I judge that the task of Xue Zhiqin's department is not only to defend Shuozhou, but also to provide mobile reinforcements.

Wei Erzhou has an extra mission, so when he saw that we were coming in three groups, we wanted to defeat one group first and then reinforce the other two groups."

"Xue Zhiqin is so stubborn and looks down on us!"

"If we fight tomorrow, let Xue Zhiqin see our methods."

"Defeat Xue Zhiqin, rush into Shuozhou City, and rob his mother!"

All the generals cursed each other, but didn't mention anything constructive. But the ten generals were originally fighting against each other, so what can you expect? The morale is commendable, which is gratifying. Shao Shude quietly took a look at the house.

They were basically all officers and generals from Beicheng, and I didn't know any of them. Sun Ba and Tian Xing, the Youyi envoy who made a big splash a while ago, were not here.

"Okay!" Hao Zhenwei clapped his thigh, stood up and said, "Today, the generals will go back to camp to encourage the soldiers and organize their equipment. The battle will only last a few days."

Shao Shude was also a little excited when he thought about the war. Goosebumps appeared all over his body unconsciously. It was a complex emotion mixed with excitement, fear, desire, and worry. People died in a war, but one general succeeded and tens of thousands of bones were withered.

These fifty brothers under my command,

Can they all survive? Only at this time did he deeply feel what a wonderful job Sun Ba had given him before. Following the supervisor, he did not have to go to the front line to form an array and face the enemy directly.

Jun Fengya, this kindness is really too great.

After the military meeting was over, Shao Shude held a torch and escorted Qiu Weidao back to a house at the west end of the village. He wanted to persuade the supervisors to stay in the camp at night, but he didn't know where to start. After all, the top military general Hao Zhenwei still lived in the village.

He's not afraid even inside, so why are you panicking? For some reason, Shao Shude thought of Zhang Zizhong during the Anti-Japanese War in later generations.

Li Zongren and other important officials had several encounters with the Japanese cavalry sneaking over to attack the headquarters. Damn, why don't you fight so hard! Although the main force of the enemy's vanguard cavalry is still thirty miles away, and You Yi Shi Tian

Xing's troops are lying in the middle. Those who can sneak over must be a small group of troops. The risk is not great, but if you don't fear ten thousand, just be afraid of the worst!

Shao Shude didn't sleep well all night. Even in the second half of the night when he was not on duty, he got up several times. After patrolling outside the hospital, he returned to the room to wipe the horizontal knife. Seeing this, Guan Kairun's face turned a little blue with anger.

, I feel that this guy is too disrespectful. Is this because he doesn’t trust that his team can complete the escort mission? This is simply too insulting!

Shao Shude could only smile bitterly at this. Before dawn, he took out a pen and paper again and wrote the seven words "Be calm when facing big events" and recited them silently three times in his mind. He was still too young and had too many things on his mind.

, this may be more error-prone and will need to be changed in the future!

Fortunately, nothing happened the whole night. Early the next morning, everyone moved into the camp. The people in the village did not dare to come back and fled into the mountains one after another. After living in this troubled world for so long, everyone

We know exactly what we are going to face next. It is a face-to-face fight with tens of thousands of people. The bloodshed may be an exaggeration.

, but it is certain that there will be many casualties. No matter which side wins, it is conceivable that the people in the village will not end well. Don't say that those Shatuo people will not harm their own people, there are so many sands in Yunzhou

Tuo soldiers have suppressed many Shatuo people's riots. How can you expect soldiers who are red-eyed to kill to be rational?

On August 21st and 22nd, the enemy troops approached step by step, and the scouts continued to send news. More than 5,000 Tiande troops had already completely completed the camp, but they did not pretend to defend.

Instead, they left the largest piece of flat land in front of the camp

The area there is not small, and it is more than enough to accommodate tens of thousands of troops on both sides. The Tiande army has been fighting with the Hu people all year round, and they still have some psychological advantage over Xue Zhiqin's troops, who are dominated by the fifth tribe and the third Shatuo tribe in the north.

The feeling of fear.

On August 23, the main force of the enemy cavalry had gathered on a small highland three miles away. Their movements suddenly became violent, and they drove them away at any cost, hunting down and killing the Tiande Army scouts who dared to approach their side. Tian Xing suffered many casualties.

Few hands

After going down, we discovered that Xue Zhiqin's army camp was standing in an open space by the river five or six miles away. Looking at the tents, there were still three to four thousand people. In other words, the strength of both sides was about the same, so no one could occupy it.

Just decide who has the advantage and decide the winner.

Early on the morning of August 24th, large plumes of smoke and dust rose in the open fields in front of the camps of the two armies, and the sound of horse hooves was heard, occasionally mixed with some shouts and screams. Shao Shude accompanied Qiu Weidao to climb into the camp.

Looking out from the high platform, I saw that in the autumn field, the grass and trees were withered and yellow, and a large group of knights were arrayed neatly, sometimes interacting with each other.

They clashed and killed each other. Among the main cavalry forces on both sides, the scouts who were squeezed and had nowhere to hide fled back to their own formations. Some of the more ruthless ones did not forget to fight with their counterparts on the opposite side before fleeing back.

If you capture a few more, you can go back and collect the rewards. The reward for the scouts is only ten bolts of silk, which is equivalent to an elite personal army.

"Dong dong dong..." The drums sounded in the camp, the camp door opened wide, and the soldiers made a noise. The officers ran around in a hurry, kicking with their feet, whipping with whips, and beating with sword scabbards to let these killers

Hurry up and get out of camp.
Chapter completed!