Daming kill

Chapter 124

Yangpitan is actually just to the north of Wanshan Mountain, not very far from Xiangyang City, about thirty or forty miles away.

There are many theories about the origin of the name of Yangpitan.Some people say that sheepskins were often dried on the shore here a long time ago. Others say that this is a place where people used sheepskin rafts to cross the river in the past. Some people say that this is a place where sheep were slaughtered in the past, and so on.

But in any case, this shoal is relatively famous but can't escape, and the chances of the peasant army coming here to test it have also greatly increased.

There are many sandbars in the Han River, but there are no sandbars in Yangpitan, and the water area is relatively open. It is estimated to be more than 1000 meters long. Although it is still far behind the vast water area near Xiangyang City, which can reach a width of more than 2 meters, but It's not narrow anymore.

After all, the river between Xiangyang and Fancheng is only 600 meters wide.

However, the shoals of Sheepskin Beach are mainly on the north bank. Although there is a large area of ​​sand on the south bank, the river water is not very shallow, so many people think that the north bank is the right place for Sheepskin Beach.

After marching for half a day, Li Ping and his troops arrived at Yangpitan on the afternoon Zuo Liangyu requested.

The reason why it takes so long is because I have to go east and make a big circle along the road between Wanshan and Yanggushan to avoid the narrow and long Wanshan.

Crossing the mountain will of course shorten the distance several times, but it is only suitable for light infantry, not for troops with a large number of chariots and horses like them, and it is not necessarily faster for light infantry to really go over the mountain.

After arranging the location of the camp, Li Ping took Ma Yong to inspect the surrounding terrain immediately, and the rest of the specific affairs of setting up the camp were the affairs of the staff and the company commanders.Li Ping had to get familiar with the general situation around him as soon as possible, otherwise all the arrangements would be nothing but imagination.

After riding a horse for a few miles around, Li Ping asked Dong Jiangpeng, a signal soldier (herald soldier) who had been following him all the time, to call his grandfather. He wanted to cross the river to have a look. .

Dong Jiangpeng was the middle-aged man who rocked Li Ping's boat on the river almost two months ago, and his grandfather was the old boatman.

After Dong Jiangpeng and Li Ping returned to the villa, they were included in the training scope of the Boys' Army because they were clever and physically fit. They first participated in basic training for about [-] days, and then they were assigned to the staff office as a communication soldier.

The Youth Army is not a special force, but generally refers to the underage soldiers serving in Li Ping's army. They are used in indirect combat positions of the army, mainly in communication, division number, service and documents.

The use of minors is secondary to alleviating the shortage of qualified middle-aged soldiers. The most important thing is that these growing children have strong learning ability, easy indoctrination of ideas, and strong plasticity. They will be the best supplementary source of combat troops in the future.

As long as you take it well, you are still the most loyal and best candidate for officer reserve.

Because of the need to defend the riverside, Li Ping asked He Zhuzi from the logistics department to take Dong Jiangpeng and his "little soldiers" to the water village set up by the army on the Han River the night before yesterday to find their relatives and old friends on the river. Need those live maps.

Although the officers and soldiers have gathered all the ordinary civilian boats on the Han River to prevent them from being used by the peasant army, it should still be a problem for Li Ping, as Zuo Liangyu's latest "popular man", to ask for a few boats in the name of guarding against exploration. big.

Therefore, when Li Ping's troops arrived at Yangpitan, Dong Jiangpeng's grandfather was already waiting with his boat.

It's just that there are not many boats, only four, two small and two big.

Li Ping didn't board the two boats which were actually not very big, but boarded a small boat, and the two larger boats were used to carry horses.

When the boat reached about the center of the river, Li Ping looked at the river and asked casually, "How deep is this place?"

Before Dong Jiangpeng's grandfather could answer, Dong Jiangpeng said first, "General, it's not that deep. Now that it's cold and there's little water, the deepest place is probably only one person deep. I'll go down and have a look."

After finishing speaking, the boy jumped into the river without waiting for Li Ping to nod his head, stripped his clothes a few times.

After a while, Li Ping saw that Dong Jiangpeng was posing in the middle of the river. He should be probing around.

After waiting for a while, Dong Jiangpeng, the signal soldier, stuck his head out of the side of the boat and stopped moving, and shouted to Li Ping and the others: "General, Chief of Staff, the water around here is about the same depth, and it's a little worse than me. Now the feet are touching the bottom."

"Okay, I got it, come up quickly. It's so cold, don't catch a cold!" Li Ping said to Dong Jiangpeng with a smile.

After finishing speaking, Li Ping turned to Ma Yong and explained: "When the temperature is the highest tomorrow, arrange more people to find out the whole water regime in this area."

Dong Jiangpeng's height is about 1 meters by visual inspection. Li Ping estimates that the depth of this place is between 5 meter and 1 meters. Come directly.

As soon as Dong Jiangpeng boarded the boat, his grandfather hurriedly took a torn quilt from the boat and covered his grandson, and Ma Yong also went up to help wipe the boy's body.

The current winter is not like in previous years, it is really cold!It was about to freeze.

When wiping Dong Jiangpeng's body, Ma Yong deliberately scolded him with a straight face: "You are also a soldier now, why are you still letting your temper go, the general and I didn't approve, why did you jump off by yourself, see what you can do , just thinking about showing off. If it freezes, you will cry."

"Chief of staff, I will definitely pay attention next time." Dong Jiangpeng, the signal soldier, said with a playful smile.

When he turned his head to peek at Li Ping, seeing that Li Ping was staring at him, he hastily lowered his head and stuck out his tongue.

"It's grown up...the body has flesh, this child is strong...it's real to see it naked!" Helping his grandson get dressed, the old man Dong kept chattering.

After Dong Jiangpeng got dressed, the boat continued to move forward, and the other boats that had been following along also continued to follow.

"General, there is a large shallow water bank on the wider part of the river above. The water should only reach the calf, but the water on the two sides is deeper. It is designated to be able to drown people." Dong Jiangpeng's grandfather said suddenly .

Both Li Ping and Mayong were stunned for a moment.

"Yes, yes! Why did I forget this. Grandpa, you too, why didn't you say it earlier?" Dong Jiangpeng snatched the words angrily.

"Don't you also forget, and blame others." Li Ping smiled and patted Dong Jiangpeng's head, and he didn't seem to mind.

Since there were few boats, not many people crossed the river with Li Ping, only Ma Yong, Dong Jiangpeng, a staff officer and 2 guards.The others who had been following remained on the south bank.

Because the Hanshui River has a large and shallow area near the north bank of Yangpitan, it is not as steep as the south bank, which may be caused by the terrain and river characteristics.

Therefore, when the boat sailed to the shallow water on the north bank, everyone had to disembark and wade through the water. Although the distance was not many meters, the rather cold river water gave Li Ping another layer of understanding.

This is a good thing for the defense.

Because neither Dong Jiangpeng nor his grandfather knew how to ride a horse, they had to be driven by two guards and together with Li Ping, they ran for a few miles along the north shore of Yangskin Beach. Li Ping needed to know more about the terrain and the like. problem, and the staff officer was left to help watch the ship.

After briefly looking at the north bank, Li Ping did not return in a hurry, but walked slowly along the river on the north bank of Yangpitan, and kept observing the south bank in the darkening sky. He needed to know the enemy's What is the perspective.

"There are some obvious ups and downs and a lot of forest cover near the north bank, and there is a flat river behind, which is very conducive to the assembly of the army and to a certain extent is conducive to concealed offensive preparations. Although our side is backed by Wanshan, we are far away from it. Wanshan is still seven or eight miles away, and the terrain is too flat, especially the shore is almost bare, with only a small highland..." Ma Yong talked about his views worriedly.

"Actually, the terrain on the two sides is not much different. Although our side is flatter, there are also a lot of woods after leaving the shore, which can effectively block the mobilization of our army and the reality of our defense. The trouble is, There is so much vegetation on both sides of the Han River that we cannot see the entire upper and lower reaches of the Han River, and we have few soldiers, so it is impossible to stretch the defense line too far. If the cooperation between friendly forces is not good or the war is protracted, it is easy to suffer from defensive problems. The flaws..." Li Ping also talked about his views.

……

"The blunderbuss and bows and arrows are the main thing in this battle, and the tactical arrangement is very important." Ma Yong slowly turned to tactical issues.

"We will discuss the tactics together tomorrow. Think about it, send troops across the river tomorrow, cut down the few forests near the opposite side, and open up your sight. The trees that were cut down just happened to be pulled to our side for repairs. Fortifications, we will discuss the specifics when we discuss tactics tomorrow morning..."

As they were talking, Li Ping and Ma Yong were suddenly attracted by the quarrel behind them. It turned out that Dong Jiangpeng, who had been following them not far behind them and was always on call, lost his temper with his grandfather.

Li Ping was a little displeased, and muttered, "This kid is a little too old", and then pouted at Ma Yong.

Ma Yong understood Li Ping's meaning, walked back immediately, and reprimanded Dong Jiangpeng.

Unexpectedly, Dong Jiangpeng explained aggrievedly with tears in his eyes: It wasn't that he didn't respect his grandfather, but it was that his grandfather was not only ignorant, but also stubborn. The idea was too dangerous. He was reprimanding his grandfather for not recognizing thieves.

It turned out that old man Dong, who was following along for a while, suddenly talked to his grandson about his desire for the rebel army, saying that the common people were very happy when they heard that King Chuang was coming and the rebel army was coming, and many people discussed going Vote for the rebels.

And everyone said that King Chuang had a saying: don't kill a person, don't grab a meter, don't collect taxes for three years, and open warehouses to release grain.

Therefore, the common people were looking forward to the early arrival of the rebel army, and he was also looking forward to it.

Dong Jiangpeng quit at that time, advised his grandfather not to believe those nonsense, and educated his grandfather to say: "The bandit army does not do production, but makes a living by plundering. After a lot of robbing, it will distribute a little to the small people and spread it widely. It is for fooling the people for driving. When there is not enough robbing, they show their ferocious behavior, killing people to satisfy their hunger, polluting people's wives and daughters, and doing all kinds of bad things... How can they be trusted when they say that there is no taxation? Do you think food will fall from the sky?..."

Dong Jiangpeng's remarks were all words from the military education class, and Li Ping did not dare to ignore the ideological position, and attached great importance to it.At present, it has only been two months and has achieved great results. Of course, it is also one aspect that children are most easily guided.

However, what Dong Jiangpeng did not expect was that.

He talked for a long time, but his grandfather didn't believe him, and still insisted on his original point of view.He also said that when Zhang Xianzhong came to Xiangyang last year, he did not commit any crimes in autumn, and even opened a warehouse to release grain!It is unmistakable to hear that King Chuang's reputation is greater than that of Zhang Xianzhong.

The old man Dong also said that if he hadn't seen with his own eyes that Li Ping and his gang were really kind to Dong Jiangpeng, and Li Ping was kind to them, he would have taken Dong Jiangpeng away long ago, but now he is really entangled and doesn't know what to do it is good.

Dong Jiangpeng became anxious now, and couldn't help but say harsh words to his grandfather.

After hearing this, Li Ping and Ma Yong were stunned for a moment, while Dong Jiangpeng's grandfather was startled and trembling, he just squatted there and said in a low voice: "Why does this kid talk about everything! This is fatal."

Li Ping sighed, and said to Dong Jiangpeng's grandfather: "Old man, don't be afraid, I won't hurt you, just ask, do ordinary people really think as you said?"

"Yes! General, we, we also want to survive! However, I have never done anything bad to the government." Dong Jiangpeng's grandfather hesitated for a long time, but still bravely replied tremblingly.

"It's okay! Let's go, let's go back." Li Ping said with a heavy heart, and then walked to the boat without looking back.

After crossing the river, it was completely dark, and Li Ping felt tired for no reason.

After explaining the arrangement, he found his tent and lay down directly.After laying down and thinking about the problem of setting up the defense for a while, Li Ping planned to go to bed early, because he was still busy tomorrow.

At this time, he heard a lot of abnormally noisy movements outside the tent, but the horns and whistles did not sound, and there were not even shouts from guard officers and soldiers.

Out of instinct and doubt, Li Ping took his knife out of the tent vigilantly, but he saw many officers and soldiers coming out of the tent and looking east in unison.

Li Ping also took a good look, only to see the flames near the two cities of Xiangfan in the east, and the whole sky was reflected bright and red.

Notes:

The location of Yangpitan is only a very imprecise inference, please do not take it seriously.Some history claims that it is thirty miles west of Fancheng, but to be honest, after consulting a lot of information and comparing maps and terrain for a long time, I am still at a loss.

I don't know if the Han River has undergone major changes over the past few hundred years.

According to some historical records, during the Three Kingdoms period, Wanshan was adjacent to the Hanshui River in the north, and there was a danger of facing the river.But now there is a large flat land of more than ten miles between Hanshui and Wanshan, but I don't know what the situation was in the Ming Dynasty, so don't take it seriously.

(End of this chapter)