Sunjia Ferry on the Yellow River was crowded with fleeing literati. The price of a ferry had risen to twenty taels of silver, and the supply was still in short supply. And the counties behind them were like ripe fruits, waiting for the intruders to come and pick them.

.

May 9th, Zhongmou.

Xu Ping was already the master of the city. When the governor of Henan fled in panic, he left the city and warehouses intact to the invading army. Li Dingguo reported that he was leading the army north to raid the counties in Heyin.

"Gao Mingheng, the governor of Henan, disguised himself as a Taoist priest, knocked on wooden fish and escaped from the city." Chen Zhe reported: "At that time, my subordinates were still a little strange, why a Taoist priest would mix with a monk, and the Taoist priest was holding a wooden fish, and the monk was

Grabbing a mahogany sword. These ignorant people thought for a while and guessed something: they were all monks, so they went together when the war was in chaos, so they let the governor and governor of Henan run away together."

"Haha," Xu Ping said with a smile, "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. This kind of patrolling our army is exactly what we want."

"Perhaps the next governor will be an even bigger idiot," Chen Zhe said with a look of reluctance. Several captured guards from the Biao camp confessed to the governor. After the governor dressed up in disguise, he rushed to inform several city gates in person.

When Chen Zhe arrived, the suspicious monk had just escaped. Chen Zhe really didn't have a few soldiers in his hand, so he couldn't pursue him in such a chaotic situation, so he had to admit that he was unlucky.

At that time, Xu Ping just hoped that Chen Zhe could disrupt the deployment of Henan officers and soldiers. As a result, the training team performed better than he had imagined. Not only did it completely disrupt the Ming army's command system in time, but it also took the time to report the Ming army to Xu Ping.

They followed the movement of the army and finally captured Zhongmou's warehouse without any bloodshed.

"Brother Han is such a talented person, it's a pity that you don't see it often." Xu Ping had already heard about some of Han Dake's ideas from Chen Zhe. After inspecting Zhongmou, he couldn't help but sigh when he looked at the full warehouse. In the past,

Both times Li Zicheng attacked Kaifeng, he ignored many surrounding prefectures and counties and attacked the capital city of Kaifeng, but both times he sent troops to Kaifeng city. This time Xu Ping attacked steadily, intending to cut off all the barriers around Kaifeng and leave the capital city completely exposed.

Yu Shenhe, who was accompanying Xu Ping, also looked sad.

"Brother Han's idea was specially named by the Marquis, called Special Operations." Chen Zhe didn't understand the meaning of the word, but the name was indeed very special, and he remembered it immediately: "Remember General Xu

He said we should do better than our predecessors, right."

"Of course, the teacher does not have to be better than the disciple, and the disciple does not have to be inferior to the teacher." This is what Xu Ping said when promoting his regulations: "Generally speaking, we do not know as much as the previous battalion officer, but we may not be inferior in everything.

It seems that the new army regulations were not made up by the Marquis alone, someone needs to fill in the gaps for him."

"Brother Han doesn't think so?"

"Oh?" Xu Ping was a little surprised, because from Chen Zhe's description before, Han Dake seemed to be a bold reformer.

"When we first met the Marquis, the Marquis jokingly called Brother Han Li Yunrui's second best. Brother Han was very dissatisfied with this title and felt that he was not the kind of person Li Yunrui was. At that time, the Marquis' subordinates were all exiled prisoners and they were not very capable.

In terms of talents, the Marquis could only make do with the shabby and find a few who could barely make ends meet. People like Jin Qiude and Li Yunrui had stayed in the box drawn by the Marquis all their lives and never thought about transcending the thunder pool.

One step. In other words, their intelligence is so inferior to that of Mr. Hou that it is difficult for them to even understand Mr. Hou's intentions, let alone promote them." Chen Zhe had a disapproving expression on his face: "General Xu, if

When we were under the Marquis, we would never just follow orders. Brother Han said that the arrangements of the New Army's Staff Department and the Military Intelligence Department were fundamentally wrong. It was the Marquis who made the mistake, but Jin

Qiude, Li Yunrui, if you can't run these two departments well, how can you talk about going further?" Chen Zhe remembered that when he talked about the military intelligence system several times, Han Dake sighed: "Master Hou, the military intelligence system

The General Staff Department and the General Staff Department are divided into two. If the Marquis supervises them with all his attention, they can still barely function. But now, the General Staff Department has no idea what the Military Intelligence Department knows, and the Military Intelligence Department doesn't know what the General Staff Department needs to know.

He also doesn’t know whether the information in his hands is urgently needed for the Chief of Staff. He will always wait until the situation is seriously bad before the Chief of Staff will hurriedly ask the Military Intelligence Department if there is any information that can help alleviate the current situation.

The situation is favorable. With such a structure, no matter how reasonable the regulations are, the results will not be very good."

"Brother Han is right," Xu Ping applauded: "But I think the Marquis saw all the shortcomings of the former detectives and staff, so he subdivided the staff and military intelligence departments so that the people below could specialize in the arts.

.”

"Yes, Mr. Hou is a genius in the world, but as General Xu said, a disciple does not have to be inferior to his master. Mr. Hou separated the staff and military affairs, and Brother Han wants to put them back together. He has no chance to succeed Li Yunrui.

Meaning, his dream is to lead the army alone. He believes that the battalion needs a new team. This team is different from the staff team and is specially used to handle military intelligence and launch military intelligence offensives against the enemy. Brother Han believes that military intelligence focuses on communications.

So he planned to call this team the communications team. Its first duty is to protect the communication between our battalions, cut off the enemy's communication, and analyze reliable military information for the battalion officers..."

Yu Shenhe, who had been listening carefully, interrupted and said, "Analyzing military situation, isn't this the role of the staff team?"

"In Brother Han's design, this communications team does not make any suggestions to the battalion officers. Their analysis is only to judge that the intelligence is reliable and true, and those that are unreliable. This team helps the battalion officers grasp the military information around them.

, correct the existing shortcomings in the new army..."

Zhou Dongtian, Gu Mengliu and others also joined in and chatted for a long time. The discussion among these young officers came to an end. Xu Ping said: "If Brother Han and Brother Chen are still serving the new army, and the new army can use

If you tell me, I, Xu Ping, will definitely die without a burial place."

"Among the new army, I can think of, even if I dare to think, the Marquis, there are some mistakes. I can almost count them on one hand." Chen Zhe shook his head: "The foreign master spent a long time picking, didn't he just pick three? As for the golden magical power,

It's all just a make-up. In my opinion, he can't compare with the brothers in the camp."

Xu Ping remained silent, and some of the other insiders' expressions changed slightly, but Chen Zhe was still unaware: "Because of his background, he was able to command the most elite troops under the Marquis; and because his father was in charge for the Marquis.

A member of the new army can marry the Marquis's daughter. It is also appropriate for the Marquis's unique skills to be passed on to his son-in-law. But no matter how outstanding his swordsmanship or equestrian skills are, he is still the enemy of one husband. Even for such a person, he still

He is the first among the children of the new army generals. It is said that the eldest son of the Young Marquis and General He is good, but I have never seen him. It is really sad and lamentable."

…

"It's not appropriate to have five soldiers in each squad of the Guards Battalion." Shen Yunchong, an infantry officer of the Second Infantry Wing who later came to Zhongmou, said after seeing Xu Ping: "It's very difficult to use."

A small group of five soldiers, with ten people in each group, is the organization that Xu Ping copied from the New Army. However, if you fire a salvo, you can only line up three rows of people at most. Now when you fire a salvo, you have to break up the army and line up.

, which causes some troubles for command and formation. And if firing is carried out in turn, because the reloading speed of flintlocks is much faster than that of matchlocks, if five-fruit rotation is adopted, soldiers will inevitably stay behind and wait for others after reloading.

If the shooting phenomenon occurs, this situation is undoubtedly a waste of firepower; if three rows of rounds are used to fire, the same problems of command and organizational disruption will occur as with salvo fire.

"The Marquis had his own reasons for setting the Five Fruits back then. The new army has not been established for a long time, and the flintlocks have just been equipped. I'm afraid it doesn't feel like this yet."

"Since you are wrong, what are you waiting for?" Under the influence of Xu Ping and Chen Zhe, Shen Yunchong gradually lost his sense of awe for the New Army Regulations.

"It looks like we are going to modify the organizational regulations of Zhendong Marquis without permission again." Xu Ping said with a smile: "And it will be a major change."

"The team should adopt a three-person organization and expand each person to twenty people." Xu Ping ordered the organization to be reorganized immediately, and the battalion training team should also fully cooperate with this action.

"Also, don't divide your troops any more, even if you know the enemy's movements with certainty." The result of the battle between Mou Jun in the ambush made Hei Baoyi very dissatisfied. Xu Ping had fully understood the movements of the Ming army before the battle. , the Ming army was small in number, with only over a thousand people, so Xu Ping tried to encircle it and prevent anyone from being captured. As a result, it was difficult for the separated soldiers and horses to contact each other. Long before the encirclement was completed, he alerted the enemy: "The cavalry must not be separated from the infantry. If the Ming army on the opposite side has any fighting spirit, they will fight against the smaller ones with their larger numbers."

"Yes, I will never make this mistake again in the future." Xu Ping nodded: "Today was not a mistake of dividing the troops, but a mistake of being careless. If it were not because I was too proud and underestimated the enemy, I would not have made such a mistake."

This was the first large-scale field battle since the formation of the Guards Battalion. Four thousand officers and soldiers of the Guards Battalion fought continuously within a radius of hundreds of miles, defeating nearly 50,000 Ming troops and seizing large tracts of land and cities. Although the results were brilliant, , but the Guards Battalion also exposed many problems. From emergency marches to field camps in front of the enemy, as well as the communication between various units when chasing and defeating the enemy, Xu Ping and his brothers encountered many situations that they had not thought of in advance. Although because of the Ming army, They were vulnerable to a single blow without causing any negative consequences, but they all knew that they could not expect the opponent to be such an opponent forever.

"Sooner or later, we are going to have a decisive battle with the New Army on the battlefield. The three main battalions of the New Army are fire fighting, rock, and front selection. How do our Guards battalions compare with them?"

After hearing Xu Ping's question, everyone said: "It was not as good as before, but after we sum up the experience and lessons this time, it may not be that much worse."

"Okay, let's not talk about these three battalions. How does our Guards battalion compare with the Evergreen battalion?"

Zhou Dongtian spoke up first: "Soldiers, I'm afraid we don't train as carefully as the New Army teaching team, but the morale of our battalion is definitely strong and the top and bottom are united; non-commissioned officers, I'm afraid the instructors in our teaching team are not as good as Instructor Song and the others; as for the officers, , the elites of Evergreen Battalion are all on our side now."

Yu Shenhe was very dissatisfied with this answer: "The Changqing Battalion is a trained soldier. There were many problems in the Shandong War; and our Guards Battalion is a soldier. In the past few months, we have defeated several cities, large and small. After more than ten battles, when we were in Changqing Camp, how could our men compare with the Guards Camp?"

Others agreed one after another. They had also agreed with Zhou Dongtian's opinion before. They all felt that the old army had considerable combat effectiveness - after all, it was their first time to serve in the military. But after hearing what Yu Shenhe said, most of them People think the latter is more reasonable.

"Gentlemen, there's nothing to praise about being better than the Evergreen Camp. Even if it's better than the Fire Fighting Camp, I don't think there's anything to be happy about." Xu Ping paused and waited for everyone's attention to refocus on him before calming down. Xu said: "Master Marquis, you can take down enemy generals among thousands of troops. This kind of bravery is at least a hundred times better than mine. Master Marquis, you have established rules for military training. You have seen things that no one has ever seen before, and what no one has thought of before. This kind of talent has lasted for three generations." If you don’t think twice about it from now on, even if Marquis Wu is reincarnated, he won’t dare to say that he has any chance of winning, let alone me. And you must remember that one day, you will stand opposite the Marquis and fight alongside me— - Even if the Guards Battalion can be the same as the Fire Fighting Battalion, we will still be dead. If it is not as good as the Fire Fighting Battalion, then we should wipe our necks as soon as possible."

Everyone in the camp looked heavy, and Xu Ping continued to say: "We must carry forward the regulations of the Marquis, and we must work hard to improve them without giving up until they are perfect. Only our army can comprehensively defeat the new army, and our morale will be higher."

Fighting spirit, military regulations, regulations, intelligence, organizational structure... everything must be stronger than the new army, and it must be much stronger, so that we can stand opposite the Marquis and challenge the peerless God of War."

Although the expressions of the young officers in the camp were solemn and solemn, their faces could not conceal their eagerness to try. Xu Ping smiled and said: "Gentlemen, please give me, Xu Ping, a helping hand."

…

In mid-May, a flood of good news was followed by an even bigger wave of emergency letters. Most of Kaifeng's territory had fallen into the hands of the invading army. Yu Dong, a warrior who had high hopes from the governor of Henan, also reported in frustration a few days ago.

: He was ambushed in Zhuxian Town and lost all his elite troops. Now he had to retreat to Guide City to reorganize his troops. The report from Guide Lai also proved what Yu Dong said. General Yu, who once had 3,000 strong soldiers, retreated.

When they arrived in Guide territory, there were less than a thousand remnant soldiers left. They were sallow and thin, and their morale was low.

Governor Gao knew that Yu Dong had really tried his best. When other troops were defeated, Yu Dong was the only general who could offer some resistance, and he obviously fought until the last moment of exhaustion before he had to retreat. This kind of courage, fighting spirit and

The patriotic fervor had a stronger impact on Governor Gao than the two thousand elite soldiers Yu Zongbing once had. In addition, the fact that a Ming army could survive two-thirds of its troops without disintegration also impressed the Governor, at least.

This was unheard of for Governor Gao. The Governor of Henan ordered the Guide Mansion to try its best to raise supplies and double the food and weapons for Yu Dong, in an effort to restore this warrior's strength as soon as possible.

However, the distant water could not quench the near thirst, so he broke into the camp and continued to attack eastward without stopping. Li Dingguo had forced the empty Xuanwu guards to stay behind and abandon the city and flee eastward. His army was only twenty miles away from Feng; while Xu Ping was mercilessly sweeping the outskirts of Kaifeng.

, obviously out of concern for Yu Dong, Xu Ping did not immediately approach Kaifeng, the strong city, but went straight to Tongxu, and after annihilating most of Yu Dong's troops in Zhuxian Town, he went to Chenliu.

The governor of Henan desperately ordered the garrison troops from Chenliu, Qixian, Tongxu, Lanyang and other places to immediately assemble in Kaifeng. He knew that this would mean giving up the entire Kaifeng except Fucheng. However, Kaifeng City was the last barrier in Hebei and also

The location of the King of Zhou's vassal residence must not be missed.

Henan is in danger! Central Plains is in danger!

After Gao Mingheng's emergency letter for help was sent to the capital, Emperor Chongzhen was furious. The situation was so critical that the court could not consider any punishment at all. The cabinet drafted a vote to sternly reprimand Gao Mingheng and asked him to perform meritorious service. He urged Yang Sichang to immediately send his troops to the east to attack the enemy.

Emperor Chongzhen immediately criticized the army and rushed to Henan.

On the same day, the imperial court considered sending reinforcements to Henan for the first time.

…

After hearing about the great victory on the front line, Sun Kewang wrote to Xu Ping, saying that he was ready to lead his troops to fight. If writing a petition for war can displease the commander-in-chief, it is a rare success, then Sun Kewang successfully did so.

Upon receiving it, Xu Ping immediately dropped all work and wrote back to Sun Kewang, enthusiastically but resolutely rejecting his request.

Although it was only a short month, the Kaifeng government was flourishing under Sun Kewang's governance, sending a steady stream of supplies to Xu Ping's troops, allowing every soldier in the Guards Battalion to change into cool summer clothes in time, and everyone was

Obtained two pairs of new straw sandals. Sun Kewang used various means to squeeze out tens of thousands of grains from the officials and families, forcing everyone to lead the rebel army to dig out the gold and silver they had hidden underground. The young and strong among the refugees were mobilized

For farming, women and children were organized to dig pig grass all over the mountains and plains. The behavior of private herding of pigs and sheep is now prohibited, and all livestock are kept in cages to fatten up. Private veterinarians were counted by Sun Kewang

Incorporated into the rear camp, every pregnant sow will be registered in the camp and receive better and more experienced care. Sun Kewang optimistically estimates that the number of pigs this year can return to the old level before the war, and meat production will also increase.

It will increase by at least 30%.
To be continued...