Ma Desan showed an excited look on his face, "The boss has squeezed everything out. He dug deep into the ground. Some salt merchants are rich. This time we have made a lot of money!"

Hong Asi smiled and said: "Of course these bastards are rich, but the money they have collected all their lives is now easier for us, haha... By the way, I have promulgated the rules for going to the island. Do our soldiers have any trouble with them?"

Women, and also, did it disturb ordinary people? Especially home invasions and robberies and insults to women?"

Ma Desan was so frightened that he quickly declared:

"No, no, boss, how could this happen? The last time we captured the other two towns and salt fields, you killed more than a dozen illegal saltmen at once. Now everyone is very well-behaved, and no one dares to mess around."

After hearing this, Hong Asi smiled on his face and said, "That's good. Military discipline must be strict. Although we are called bandits, we must regard ourselves as rebels and chivalrous teachers who steal from the rich and give to the poor."

The reason why he pays so much attention to military discipline is because Ji Chunsheng gave him countless warnings before setting off. If an army does not have strict military discipline, it will soon fall. Especially in this operation like Hong Asi's,

If most people who are kept in the dark really turn themselves into bandits, it will be extremely detrimental to their future return to southern Jiangxi.

Because the general is most afraid of banditry and banditry.

Following the order, Hong Asi's main army came like the wind. After plundering, they left Changxing Island like a violent wind, leaving only a thousand people to guard the island.

At the Haiwankou Salt Field, the soldiers who stayed behind began preparations for the battle. When they attacked Changxing Island, more than 3,000 saltmen were left here and handed over to a group of Zhejiang Army officers who came from the Meiguang Autonomous Region.

They will train and lead this group of rookies. They will train in the morning and start cooking and drying salt in the afternoon.

More than a month has passed. After receiving formal military training, these more than 3,000 salt soldiers have completely transformed and begun to have the temperament of a soldier.

The winter items transported privately from the Meiguangda headquarters have been distributed to every household. Although some of them are old and old, for the salt workers who were previously extremely poor, they are indispensable items in the cold winter.

.

And being able to get such good things made them even more in awe of the master, Hong Bantian. At this time of year, these things were in short supply, and it would take a lot of money to equip nearly 100,000 saltmen and their families.

The earthen city wall built last time at the Haiwankou Salt Field was destroyed by Na Cheng's cavalry. This time, under the guidance of Luo Longyun and other New Army officers, there was more time. Although they could not build a formal heavy castle, they still

I made a simple version of the castle here.

The two rows of wooden fences were driven several meters apart, dug deep into the ground, filled with earth and rocks, and smeared with lime mortar. Sections of the city wall were erected in this way. Although it was only less than five meters high, it was already

It gives the salt workers’ families behind the city wall a lot of peace of mind.

Such a city wall is far from enough to deal with powerful ships and artillery, but it is completely sufficient to deal with the dozens of old artillery pieces of the Chongming Navy and an army that has not experienced the test of war for a long time.

Whether an army is strong in combat depends on whether it can maintain a high fighting spirit and unyielding mentality after experiencing heavy casualties.

The Chen Tianhua Division of the New Zhejiang Army is powerful because it has been constantly encircling and suppressing horse bandits and bandits in recent years, especially in its competition with the bandits supported by the Japanese.

This baptism of blood and fire slowly cultivates the will to fight until the end without giving up resistance.

When Hong Asi led the main force back to the Baykou Salt Fields, the pre-war preparations here were in place. Seeing the mortars and Maxim heavy machine guns installed on the wall, he nodded with satisfaction.

"Luo Longyun, Ma Desan, this battle to defend the city will be commanded by the two of you. Luo Longyun is the chief commander, and Ma Desan is the deputy commander. I personally led more than 2,000 elite troops out of the city to take Xiang Hong's ass and stab him from behind.

Stab him to death!"

Hong Asi made a gesture, and everyone laughed. The relaxed atmosphere of these new army officers before the war made Ma Desan and other rebel leaders who had grown up as salt soldiers involuntarily relax.

This is a correct pre-war state adjustment for a mature army.

Thinking about it, for more than a month, under the guidance of Hong Asi, everyone has been winning every battle in Chongming, which has given them a strong sense of self-confidence, believing that they can defeat all invading enemies.

.

"The boss..." Luo Longyun said:

"Take all the cavalry out of the city! This will make the action faster. We are responsible for defending the city. We don't need cavalry. We are afraid that Xiang Hongjiu will not be able to attack and will flee when the opportunity is bad. If he and Na Hui's troops are allowed to

If they merge, the next battle will be difficult to fight."

"Divide and attack them, defeat them one by one, and destroy the enemy in motion!" Hong Asi understood Sun Tzu's art of war quite well. He waved his big arm and said in a deep voice:

"Please don't forget this sentence. The Baykou Salt Field is a huge bait, luring Nazan's troops to destroy them one by one. When he finds something is wrong and his navy is running out, Chongming will be ours.

The world is over!"

Everyone laughed, but each person's laughter contained different meanings.

Xiang Hong advanced towards the Haiwankou Salt Field with confidence because he was later reinforced by two battalions led by Nazan.

This time they were divided into two columns, front and rear, and dispatched a total of more than 2,500 sailors. Although they lost the cavalry, they had more than a dozen artillery pieces to join them. For siege, artillery was effective.

Although Xiang Hong was somewhat wary of Na Cheng's destruction, he still believed that since he was a regular army with good weapons, it shouldn't be too difficult to wipe out these salt-legged soldiers.

"General Xiang, we have found some rebels on the left and right sides of the team. Do you want to expel them?" The scout captain came to report.

Xiang Hong, who was riding on a tall horse, reined in the horse's reins and looked around. He shook his head thinking he was wise and said:

"No need, these are small groups of scouts sent by the rebel army. In addition to reconnaissance, they are also harassing, trying to destabilize the morale of our army. How many people are there in the rebel army who can fight? They can send nearly three thousand troops out of the city, just pretending to be suspicious.

, ordered the troops to advance at full speed, and advance straight to the Baykou Salt Fields. We will go straight to his lair. There is no need to be distracted. The main force of Hong Bantianyun is here, and we, Hu Benerlang, have nothing to fear. Let’s move forward. "

"Yes!" The ordering soldier turned and left, running back and forth to convey military orders.

This Xiang Hong is also a fool. He always thinks that he is great and talented. Faced with these gangsters, bandits and other rabble, he has an inexplicable sense of superiority.

In fact, he didn't even think about it. Hong Bantian led more than 2,000 elites out of the city, of which more than 1,200 were cavalry. So what were they going to do? Did they have an agenda?

As a general, shouldn't you analyze it?

In fact, it's not that Xiang Hong didn't think about it, it's just that he naively believed that Hong Bantian led the main force to escape the attack, and Na Hui's two battalions behind him just caught up, and Hong Bantian couldn't escape anywhere?
Chapter completed!