On the eve of the sun, Su Ce got up very early, the rising sun had not yet risen, and the moon was sparse. Su Ce did not wear the armor given to him by the prince Zhao Zaicheng. The armor and the armor given by the second prince Zhao Zaicheng were placed in Su's house in Chang'an. In the ancestral hall
The armor Su Ce wears is the new armor bought by General Li Chang. This is the armor that belongs to Su Ce. There are numerical regulations for gifted armor and self-maintained armor. Granted armor can have many sets, while self-maintained armor can only There is a set, the old is eliminated and the new is replaced.
The head of the family is guarding the border, and the armor ordered by General Li Changcong is made of Baiyang Steel, with a total weight of sixty kilograms. It does not use the style of the border armor, but the Mingguang Armor, which is a higher level than the scale armor. , the armor painted with raw lacquer was glowing with black light. Although the full set of armor was heavy, Su Ce was already used to it.
"Knock! Knock! Knock..." Su Ce held the knife in his left hand and tapped the waist in front of his stomach with his right hand as he walked.
Daqian armor has its own regulations and is divided into subordinates by color. The Thirteenth Army in black leather armor, the Sixteenth Guards in the South Yamen in black and silver armor, the Sixth Army in the North Yamen in red and gold armor, and the Prince's Tenth Army in indigo silver armor. The four major The frontier troops wore black clothes and armor.
In addition, there are also differences in the subdivisions. The northern and southern yamen use patterns of cloth and silk wrapped with armor to distinguish the armies. The Thirteen Dao Xiang Army has the name of the Dao hot-stamped on the chest leather armor, and the four major military governors use the four beasts. The waist and shoulder are used as distinctions, just like the suit of armor Su Ce wears. The waist and shoulder represent the Xuanwu style of the Northern Army.
In addition, there are also differences in the details of the armor of officers and soldiers at each level. Soldiers in the frontier army are divided into ranks of pawn, soldier, lang, and jun, while in the north and south Yaxiang military brigade, there are only two ranks: bing, lang, and jun.
Soldiers of different ranks receive different treatment. Pawns are equipped with leather armor, and soldiers are equipped with iron armor.
Soldiers refer to new soldiers guarding the border, soldiers refer to auxiliary soldiers, and Lang is of the same rank as Jun. The biggest difference between Lang and Jun is that his father's rank is Lang, and his father's rank is Bai, and his status is Jun.
The military discipline of Daqian is strict, and the ranks of the army are clearly defined. The captain and below are equipped with Zha armor, and the brigade commander and above can be equipped with scale armor. However, scale armor is expensive. If the family is not rich, they cannot afford scale armor, let alone Mingguang armor. .
Zuowuguan was very quiet in the early morning, with only a patrol team of five patrolling the streets carrying lanterns.
Hearing is false, seeing is believing. Although Su Ce had learned about the situation at Zuowuguan from the Chief Protector of the Three Passes, Shi, he still had to take a walk and take a look.
Zuowuguan is said to be a pass, but in fact it is more like a military city. With the city gate as the center line, there is a two-mile long street running through the pass, fifty meters wide, with square walls one and a half feet high and one foot wide on both sides. The entire pass is divided into four quarters by the square wall. The northeast quarter is the Duwei Mansion and the general camp, the northwest and southwest quarters are for the infantry, and the southeast quarter is for the cavalry. They are called the general workshop and the light army workshop respectively in the pass. , heavy military square, cavalry military square.
The left and right guards, front and rear gates, and outposts were on duty on the city wall. There was a double-story archery tower every fifty steps on the city wall. There were rows of houses under the city wall, which could all be used as resting places.
Not to mention the left and right fortresses, the rows of small houses on the two hills are their residences.
In the valley five miles north of Zuowuguan, there is a damaged merchant post. It is said to be a merchant post, but it is actually an earthen enclosure with only two huts. Tax collectors from Jiuhu and Daqian usually live here. It was a place where Russians and Daqian merchants traded, but there was a war and the tax collector was killed, so it is now abandoned.
There is also a one-mile-square post station five miles south of Zuowuguan in the valley. It was once a brick and tile workshop built for the construction of Zuowuguan. It only has low earth walls and retains part of the brick and tile kiln.
The lower part has been converted into a post station, which is larger than the merchant inn on the north side, for the previous caravans to stay for a short period of time.
Su Ce and his party did not bother anyone else. They walked for an hour and saw everything they needed to see. When they returned to the Captain's Mansion, the chimney that would serve as the prison camp had begun to smoke.
Last night, Chang Shi Zhao Yu found Su Ce, and the two talked late at night. If Su Ce hadn't wanted to find out the situation in Zuowuguan quickly, he wouldn't have gotten up so early.
Zhao Yu was considered older than Su Ce. Su Ce was seventeen years old and was guarding the border. He was born in the fourth year of Pingshuo and was the same age as the second prince Zhao Zaixiao. Zhao Yu was born in the first year of Pingshuo and was the same age as the prince.
Zhao Yu received his whip in the afternoon and came late at night with his wounds. He must have figured out that the commander of the army, Shi, was said to be the chief general and assistant officer, but in fact he was more like the supervisor of the army.
Wei, Fu, and the state all have chief historians. The chief historian is also an assistant officer. Wei, Fu, leads the Cao Cao to join the army and can also lead the army in battle. The state government oversees the affairs of the Cao Cao in the prefecture and county, and the princes, princesses, etc.
In charge of government orders in the government, it is the responsibility of "inheriting the superiors and leading the subordinates".
Zhao Yu did his job well, but forgot that he still had the obligation of "the emperor supervising the army". It would be better to be whipped a little than to be demoted to Qianzhou, his ancestral home by a saint.
Each army has its own leader, and they all cook their own meals. Late at night, Su Ce made a bowl of pasta. After Zhao Yu finished eating, the conversation started, and Su Ce also understood that apart from the army, Zuowuguan
other circumstances.
There are three hundred people in the camp, including two master craftsmen, eight medium craftsmen, and sixteen small craftsmen. There are one hundred and sixty craftsmen in the camp, and the rest are apprentices.
The generals are responsible for making and repairing armor and weapons on weekdays, but the most important task is making crossbows and arrows.
As the sun rose in the east, drums began to sound from the drum tower in front of the Duwei Mansion. The seventh captain and the third general rode to the front yard of the Duwei Mansion. Chief Shi Zhao Yu stood behind Su Ce, and the two master craftsmen who were conducting the camp also walked out of the smoke.
The winding ones will make camp.
"Hang the flag!" When everyone arrived, Su Ce stopped to chat with Zhao Yu.
Li Huaimin was dressed in military uniform, holding a one-meter-wide and two-meter-long flag in his hand, which was used by the generals of the partial division. The Northern Army's basalt was still black, with red characters on the black background and a big "Su" character embroidered on the red thread.
A three-foot-high flagpole is fixed on the one-foot-high flag stand. It is made by cutting and polishing a whole piece of hard fir wood. The tail of the pole is thicker and gradually becomes thinner upward to the head of the pole.
The top of the flagpole is the pole head, which is composed of wood, metal, and animal feathers and has three shapes: gun heads.
As the flag slowly rose, the tricolor flag ribbon and flame-shaped flag edge also fluttered in the wind.
This flag stand and flagpole were handmade by two master craftsmen from the general camp. Su Ce usually hung the flag here when he was in the city. If Su Ce went into battle, he would take the flag down.
The flag was hung on a two-foot-long flagpole and held by Su Ce's personal guards.
One hundred personal guards, Li Junfang, the second son of Li Huaimin, served as Su Ce's flag guard. There were five flag bearers in total, who were responsible for holding the flag, and there were ten flag guards. In addition, there were eighty-five flag bearers.
Each personal guard also has his own responsibilities.
There were ten Yamen Guards, ten Attendant Guards, ten Horse Taming Guards, and five Gangtou Guards. Li Huaimin took the remaining 49 people as Su Ce's general guards on the battle formation.
After hanging the flag, everyone did not disperse. Instead, they followed Su Ce to the front hall of the Duwei Mansion. There was a plaque hanging in front of the hall with the word "War" written on it.
The Duwei Mansion is divided into front and back yards. In addition to a war hall, there are two side halls in the front yard. The left hall is where Su Ce’s daily office is. The back yard is four sets of small courtyards. Su Ce and his guards occupy two, and the remaining
The two buildings below are the residences of Zhao Yu and other officials of the Duwei Mansion. Guards are guarding the outside of the house where the front hall is located.
Su Ce had seven lieutenants and three generals under his command, and Zhao Yu, the chief minister, had no one available. There were one master, five subordinates and six subordinates who joined the army, namely Cong Lushi joined the army, Cang Cao joined the army, Bing Cao joined the army, Cavalry Cao joined the army, and Zhou Cao joined the army.
Join the army, join the army as a soldier.
Su Ce is the chief general of the fourth rank. Although Zuowuguan has six thousand soldiers, his rank is the same as that of Shangzhe Chongfu, and his official rank is the same as that of Shangzhe Chongfu.
Therefore, Zhao Yu's rank is the seventh rank of Zheng, the seventh rank of Lieutenant of the Seventh Army, the rank of Yang Yanjun, who has joined the army of Lushi, has the same rank as the seventh rank of Lieutenant, the rank of Brigade Commander is higher of the eighth rank, the fifth rank of Military Officer has been lower than the eighth rank, and the rank of the army is Zheng.
Below the ninth grade.
Getting people to come is definitely not a simple matter of hanging up a flag.
There are still three official positions vacant in Zuowuguan, and the three former captains and generals were killed in the formation.
Therefore, Su Ce planned to bring up the three generals. This was discussed with Zhao Yu.
"The vacancies for the left and right captains and their respective generals will be decided today. Zhao Changshi, you will draft the document and send it to the Protectorate. The cavalry general Qin Shanming will be appointed as the seventh-grade subordinate Zuowu general, the infantry general Chang Yu, Zhou Fengwu,
Chang Yuchong is from the fifth rank and pretends to be the left captain, and Zhou Feng and Wuchong are from the fifth rank and pretends to be the right captain." Su Ce said straight to the point.
As for the three generals whose ranks and positions are inconsistent, there is no solution. The generals are untitled generals, and they are all regular officers of the sixth rank.
Qin Shanming is the deputy lieutenant of Zhaowu who is under the sixth rank. He is a flying cavalry lieutenant on the sixth rank. He is a Sanliu Shiqi. His official rank is one step away from his actual position, and he does not have a title to accompany him. It is just right, so it is said to be a post.
.
Chang Yu and Zhou Fengwu were both Zhaowu School Lieutenants in the sixth rank of Sanguan. They were both Xiaoqiwei. Sanliu Shiwu was a super-rank appointment, so they could only take false positions until they had accumulated enough merit.
Only then can the false characters in front of the official title be removed.
First a sweet date, then a slap. In the next month, the garrison in the pass will face its most painful days.
The newly added soldiers in the border army are all the best ones selected from the various armies. However, fighting against bandits can only be said to have seen blood, and they are still far from becoming a strong army. The experience at the border has trained more than just
It is a strong body and a brave and fearless heart to fight.
The soldiers under the seventh lieutenant are all veterans. Many veterans have been promoted to regular soldiers according to their years. They only need to guard the gaps between the city gates and practice defense against the enemy. Among the personal guards brought by Su Ce, they are all
Veterans of hundreds of battles, they are in their 30s and 40s when the army is at its strongest. These guards have experienced countless battles. They are the best teachers for the garrison in the pass, and of course they are also the most hateful "enemy soldiers."
"
Standing on the city wall to report the enemy's situation, holding a trumpet made of rolled iron used by generals, the seventh captain directed operations in the empty air, while the soldiers under his command defended against the air according to the orders of their own captain.
The cavalry formed its own body, and Qin Shanming left the border with Su Ce's order to detect the surrounding area.
For the remaining two thousand new soldiers, Su Ce asked Chang Bin and Zhou Fengwu to teach them the rules at the border.
At the beginning, during the offensive and defensive drill, there was a thorn that was funny. Although he obeyed the order, the execution was like child's play. Hundreds of people were picked out by the guards. Su Ce was no longer as gentle as before. With a stroke of his pen, hundreds of people were picked out.
He was deprived of his military position and sent back to the Protectorate.
The vacant positions were filled by the best of the 2,000 new recruits.
In April, the soldiers from Zuowuguan were on the road and sent away more than a hundred old soldiers. There were vacancies in the pass. They went to the Three Pass Protectorate to get a group of new soldiers and did not come back until the end of the month.
The drills are not for fun. Although the arrows shot every day can be retrieved, they will always be damaged. Zhao Yu and his counselors are busy hitting the back of their heads every day, busy stocking up and repairing weapons.
Su Ce had some free time. During the day, he wandered around the pass wearing armor and holding a sword. At night, he and his generals calibrated the increasingly complete Zuowuguan sand table to conduct offensive and defensive exercises.
From the very beginning, the sand table only had one Zuowuguan, and it extended to a radius of thirty or fifty miles. As more and more information came from Qinshan Ming Dynasty, the sandbox became more and more perfect, not to mention every plant and tree, at least for Zuowuguan and its surroundings.
You can see everything, but there are no chairs in the war hall, so you can only stand around the sand table on weekdays.
Among the five hundred cavalry, there were no heavy cavalry, all were light cavalry. Before the snow melted, they had a clear picture of the situation in a radius of fifty miles.
As for the two thousand new soldiers who were taught the rules and polished their bodies at the same time, it was not in the pass, but in the north of the pass. There were seven streams that separated the valley. There were many stones beside the streams. The two thousand new soldiers picked three of them and put them beside the streams.
Stones are piled into piles. These piles are not used for wartime defense. They are just slowed down and caused some trouble for the enemy's march that may come.
In addition to the more than fifty miles of Guanbei Valley, in addition to streams and ravines washed out by rain, many wooden bridges were built for trade. Su Ce and Zhao Yu discussed and demolished these wooden bridges.
He asked the generals to find two high mountains at the northern end of the valley, and sent thirty generals to dig two bunkers deep into the mountains. One hundred light cavalry were left behind to climb up the peaks on both sides of the valley entrance in small groups to monitor the valley entrance.
If there is an enemy attack, you only need to send a few Qingqi to follow the trails in the mountains on both sides, cross the valley and enter the pass at the back, and send the news back. The remaining Qingqi will hide in the fort and continue to monitor the entrance of the valley. Leaving the fort is strictly prohibited.
During the battle, the Thirty Generals continued to expand the space of the bunker and improve the garrison conditions.
According to Su Ce and Zhao Yu's idea, the bunker that will be expanded in the future will store kerosene in preparation for cutting off the enemy's retreat in the future. The entire valley is like a long snake, with Beiwuguan in the belly of the snake, and the two bunkers are constantly moving.
It is gradually becoming the fang of Shekou as it expands.
The Taniguchi Bunker was just Su Ce's whim, and it would take a long time for it to really play its intended role.
However, it was the end of April, and the bunker had just begun to take shape when it was discovered that four or five teams of 100-man Jiuhu scouts had entered the valley.
On the third day of May, Su Ce was contemplating today's "attack plan" on the sand table as usual, when he saw Li Huaimin hurriedly walked in: "Young Master, please report urgently from Taniguchi!"
Su Ce took out the sword in his arms and poured out the silk with small calligraphy written on it from the bamboo tube. When he saw what was written on the silk, Su Ce smiled on his face, knowing that these Jiuhu people were restless.
After a month of preparation, it’s time to see results.
"Bang the drum, gather the generals!" Su Ce shouted and threw the cloth on the sand table. This time he wanted to see whether it was the Jiuhu people's head that was hard or the Zuowuguan pass that Su Ce was guarding.
"Here!" Li Huaimin turned around and strode out of the captain's mansion and shouted to the drummer who was dozing on the drum tower: "Wake up, kid, the captain ordered, beat the drums, gather the generals!"
"Uncle Li, I can't sleep, I can't sleep!" The drummer from Jiannan Road, tall and strong, but a little lethargic, stood up, quickly wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth with his hand, bowed his hand in a flattering manner, and picked up a With a meter-long drumstick, he took a deep breath and hit the cowhide drum as tall as a person.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
"Dong-dong-dong-dong! Dong-dong-dong-dong!"
…
The rhythmic drum sound instantly spread throughout Zuowuguan, those on duty, those practicing, those on duty... At this time, no matter what they were doing, the defenders of Zuowuguan stopped and listened carefully to the sound of the drums. Information.
Drums sound!
Drum roll, gather together!
The war is about to begin!
For the soldiers in Daqian, the sound of drums was both an order and an opportunity to honor their ancestors. The entire Zuowuguan began to boil, and the brigade commanders shouted at the top of their lungs: "Assemble, assemble!" urging their soldiers to assemble. The captains of the team shouted their team names, and the soldiers quickly formed the team under the leadership of the leader... The entire Zuowuguan was instantly full of vitality.