A burst of excited cheers came from nowhere in the originally peaceful hills.
"Look! The general is back!"
A single spark can start a prairie fire.
After a while, countless people stood up dotted everywhere on the hills and dense forests of Dachun Valley.
"The general is back!"
They each waved happily to Ren Ning and others who were leading the horse up the mountain.
"Long time no see, brothers! How are you all?" Ren Ning asked with a smile.
"Hello everyone!" responded enthusiastically from all directions.
For the majority of Xingluo soldiers, the winter in Baekje was unexpectedly cold.
Fortunately, they listened to Ren Ning's words last year and stocked up a large amount of winter supplies, effectively meeting everyone's needs.
Nothing unexpected happened then.
As soon as he sat down at the Dachun Valley camp, Liang Rushi and other commanders had already rushed back from various places, and they all looked at him happily.
"What are you doing standing there?" Ren Ning said angrily, "If you are not tired, I am still tired. Sit down and talk!"
"Yes!" More than a dozen elders found their seats and sat down.
"There are a lot of people in Dachun Valley now." Ren Ning smiled.
Ha ha.
"That's quite a lot." Everyone nodded.
A battalion consists of a thousand men.
There were eleven thousand chiefs in front of him, plus Ren Ning's thousand bodyguards, there were twelve thousand people.
So many people can do a lot of things, and they can even withstand large-scale attacks by Japanese pirates head-on.
They exchanged pleasantries with each other, and the elders asked some questions that needed to be asked, and Ren Ning and Lei Er also answered some questions that they could answer.
After a long time, he put away the smile on his face.
"The weather is getting warmer, and Baekje's general has been replaced by Wu Siyuan, the main combatant. The Yuanning Mountains below will soon start to move. Is everyone ready?"
"Ready!" Everyone responded in excitement.
Ren Ning nodded with satisfaction and started arranging some things.
The chiefs quickly left and returned to their fighting posts.
Ren Ning, Lei Er and Xiao Gang once again climbed to the top of the mountain south of Dachun Valley.
Looking at the familiar sea ahead and the half-small Xilong Island, blowing the salty sea breeze, the three of them looked at each other.
They both have some feelings for each other.
Especially Lei Er.
He gnawed broad beans and shook his head.
"That guy Li Hebai kept talking about how he wanted to fight the Japanese pirates a few times. What happened?"
Lei Er silently pointed to the empty sea in front of him.
"The fleet obviously set out earlier than us. But what about the people? They arrived later than us. One or two of them can crawl slower than a turtle."
Ren Ning smiled slightly.
"It's not that their boat sailed slowly, but that I asked them to come east slowly on purpose."
"Why?" Lei Er was dumbfounded.
There were many officers and sailors on the ship, and the amount of food, drink, and rations every day was not a small sum.
Under normal circumstances, it is only right to finish things early and go back early. There is no such thing as procrastination.
Ren Ning did not explain, but looked around with his telescope to the south.
Not long after, he saw a huge fleet floating about twenty miles south of Xilong Island, heading west with murderous intent.
Depend on!
Lei Er screamed strangely.
The two of them also saw the Japanese pirate fleet at this time, and they couldn't help but feel a little worried for Li Hebai and others.
"General, there are so many enemy ships. I wonder if Li Hebai and the others can cope with them?"
"Yes!" Xiao Gang nodded, "At a glance, the Japanese pirate master said there were two hundred ships."
Lei Er corrected, "I think there are more than two hundred, at least two hundred and fifty ships."
"There are many enemies." Ren Ning calmly put down the telescope, "But you don't have to worry, they can definitely handle it."
————
Post Road.
Eastern Front Camp.
Wu Siyuan once again took the main seat.
He patted the familiar yet unfamiliar handle and looked at the dense crowd of Baekje generals in front of him with an expressionless expression.
"Everyone, who I am and what my temperament is, I guess I don't need to introduce you in detail."
Except for a few, everyone else shook their heads.
"no, I'm fine."
"General Wu led us to defeat the Japanese pirates last year. He has always been the pride of our Baekje soldiers. No introduction is needed."
…
"very good."
Amid the commotion, Wu Siyuan stood up and quickly pulled out his sword.
"From now on, I don't want to hear or see any words or actions that are timid. Do you understand?"
"clear!"
"Know it."
There was a sparse response from below.
Wu Siyuan continued speaking as if he had not heard anything.
"Of course, if anyone is afraid of death or unwilling to fight, you can raise it immediately. I will immediately send someone to take you back to the capital. From now on, you can use your Yangguan Road and I can cross my single-plank bridge. We will not owe each other anything."
Having said this, he paused.
"As for the brothers who stay behind, we will live and die together until we beat the Japanese pirates back into the sea. But during this period, if anyone wants to sway the morale of the army with his false words and deceive the people like before, don't blame me for being ruthless with my sword."
"Okay, everyone please make your own choice."
There was deathly silence below, and everyone looked at each other.
Wow.
Jiang Xuesong was the first to stand up.
"The last general is willing to listen to the general's command, fight to the death to repel the Japanese pirates, and restore peace to our Baekje rivers and mountains."
Others are not surprised either.
Jiang Xuesong only followed Wu Siyuan's orders.
Previously, he worked under the second prince who was just getting along, and watched the Japanese pirate army advancing step by step. However, the second prince remained indifferent, and Jiang Xuesong was already very frustrated.
Now that Wu Siyuan has finally taken office again, he is ready to go all out.
The others finally came to their senses, and except for a few who hesitated, others responded one after another.
"Very good." Wu Siyuan was very satisfied.
"Jiang Xuesong, Gao Yongning, Gong Hongwen..." He named several capable generals in succession.
"The weather has gotten warmer. We have been living in winter for so long. It's time to come out and see the blood. Let me see if the swords in your hands are sharp or not."
"Go and kill all the remaining Japanese pirates who have entered the Yuanning Mountains. This will give you brothers and a good start for Baekje's future."
"Yes!" Jiang Xuesong and others cheered up and agreed loudly without hesitation.
It didn't take long for nearly 10,000 troops to move out of the station and swarm along the post road toward the east bank.
The news quickly spread to Dachun Valley.
"How many Japanese pirates are there on the post roads of Yuanning Mountains now?" Ren Ning asked.
"General, wait a moment." Liang Rushi quickly marked on the map, "One place, two places..."
He chuckled.
"I'm afraid the general doesn't know something. Last year, the second prince of Baekje was in control of the post road. He stayed in the camp and hardly made any defensive arrangements. Naoto Kudo kept sending people into the mountain, trying to
Across the Yuanning Mountains."
"The two sides occasionally fought a few battles, but because the snow was too heavy, the battles were not big."
After saying that, Liang Rushi had marked four or five small points controlled by Japanese pirates on the map, as well as the corresponding number of people.
Ren Ning looked at the terrain around the red dot carefully and frowned slightly after a while.
"The location chosen by the Japanese pirates is good and suitable for ambush. Send an order to the nearby eyes and ask them to carefully touch the surrounding areas of these strongholds to see if there is anything wrong."
If it was still winter and the Japanese pirates were short of food and clothing, few people in the stronghold would understand.
Now the heavy snow has almost completely melted, but there are still so few people at each stronghold, which inevitably makes people feel weird.