Daming kill

Chapter 19 All the way south

When we went on the road again, the cleaned team was almost refreshed, and after a whole day of rest, everyone's faces had more vitality.

Among Li Ping's marching troop, two men leading mules side by side are very eye-catching, not only because they are quite strong, but also because each mule has a Bow, the two mules are obviously owned by them, which is the biggest attraction.

These are two true masters.

At this time, the round-faced black man among them was twisting his body and asked the square-faced man beside him: "Brother, I feel uncomfortable all over, and itches everywhere. It's the first time I've washed my body so hard since I grew up so big. What is the purpose of washing this itchy body? They are too lenient! From now on, I will never wash it again."

The new Chief Ma Yong turned his head to look at the No. 20 people who followed behind him, and reprimanded in a low voice with some displeasure: "You are the only one who is troublesome. You have to talk so much when you are asked to take a bath. You were too dirty before. It’s not itchy until the skin is washed and softened. Don’t say such nonsense in the future, so that the brothers will think that we are making up Shangguan.”

The round-faced dark man said disapprovingly: "Didn't I just whisper it to you! I didn't let others hear it. I have been a soldier for several years, so I don't understand the rules."

Seeing that the round-faced black man still looked like a fool, Ma Yong said helplessly: "Everyone has been washed, and the annoying lice are gone. Are you uncomfortable? Besides, how much do you save with a dozen leggings?" Foot strength, why don’t you see all these good places.”

"It's true that they have some knowledge, and the country road they chose is safe, but Chief Zhao is just a chief, and his military rank is too low! Do we really want to follow them to Nanyang?" Unwilling to say.

"I've made up my mind, so stop complaining. Hurry up and take your soldiers and do all the orders of our captain." Ma Yong became serious.

Seeing the resolute look on the elder brother's face, the round-faced black man languished, and walked back to his side helplessly leading the mule.

Continuing to travel south, Zhao Jin and the others still chose to walk through the countryside and fields, and resolutely avoided all cities and large towns.Although the speed going south will be very slow, it is safe.

The silly big man Liu San became their best guide.

Although there are a large number of Jingchu soldiers in their team, Liu San is the only one who can be a guide.Most people in this era have never left their hometown for a radius of ten miles since they were born. Even if they were caught in the army and served as soldiers to fight in all directions, most of them just followed the flow of people, and they still didn't know the way.

Liu San looked silly, but he recognized the way without ambiguity at all.The modern direction identification skills and geographical knowledge of Zhao Jin and Shi Ming further ensured the correctness of the direction.

All the way to the south, the magnificent rivers and mountains of the motherland are also displayed in front of everyone like a continuous landscape painting.

At this time, the land of China has not been over-developed and fully developed like later generations, let alone densely populated, and human production and lifestyles are still in a relatively simple and primitive state, and there are patches of natural scenery everywhere.

But appreciating it with peace of mind is still just a dream.

Although I have been walking on the path, the haystacks on the roadside, the bones and many rotting corpses that often emerge from the woods still remind everyone that the war is never far away, and its scale, intensity and area of ​​influence are beyond imagination. .

The cruelty of the troubled times far exceeded people's imagination.

At this time, the villages and fields in southern Henan were dilapidated and dilapidated due to repeated wars. Not only were there few people, but there were ruins everywhere.It was not easy to see living people, and seeing them, a large group of soldiers with swords and guns, they all scattered like birds and beasts and ran fast.

Even the few surviving Wubao (small defensive facilities built by powerful rural landlords to prevent military chaos) have closed doors and are waiting for swords and arrows.

Fortunately, their food reserves were barely sufficient, and in addition, it was summer when everything was flourishing, and the vast land, which was still in the initial stage of human development, could also provide them with some wild game.

Especially after gradually leaving the arid area, wild boars, rabbits, wolves and other wild animal resources began to become more and more abundant. They also had Shi Ming, a player who was proficient in many modern hunting techniques, and even if they were not good enough, they could kill donkeys and mules. Their food supply has always been in a fairly plentiful state.

During the continuous southward journey, Zhao Jin and Li Ping also stepped up their control over this army, and more and more rules and requirements were put forward.

In particular, they reformed the basic method of command.

The Ming army is a typical flag-type army. Although Zuo Liangyu’s army did not exaggerate to the point that every army will be equipped with flags, there are still flags for every event, every team, and every sentry. These flags are all triangular flags and generally obey the There is no regulation, that is, the first-class flag is larger than the first-class flag.

But Zhao Jin and Li Ping have no way to command the troops in this way now, because they have no flags, and almost all the flags were discarded when they fled, because they were absolutely cumbersome at that time.

More importantly, Zhao Jin and Li Ping were not familiar with this command method, and they were not too impressed with this overly dense and cumbersome flag command method.

As a result, more frequent password commands began to become the main body of command, simple sign language began to appear, and more complicated queue requirements gradually became the norm.However, this tightly controlled command method also put forward higher requirements for commanders at all levels. Most of the illiterate Ming army commanders and corps leaders were somewhat lacking in energy.

And they still need flags. In addition to a large square flag as the core and guidance of the entire army, each team that has reached the half-post is also equipped with a square team flag.Modern armies also need to have flags for the above troops to further strengthen the leadership of large forces, but they don't need so many flags.

In addition, they also made a Qingdao flag to indicate their status as an official army and a regular army.

The Qingdao flag is a very important flag of the Ming army. Its surface is generally blue and square, with red zigzag sides, and the word "Qingdao" is written vertically on the flag.

At this time, the Qingdao flag has not yet evolved into a flag of honor for officials when they travel, but a flag that is at the forefront when the army is marching to clear roadblocks and guide troops. Therefore, it is specially used by the army for marching and maneuvering.

Although Zhao Jin and Li Ping have greatly reduced the number of flags, they still need enough cloth to make flags. Fortunately, they didn't use all the cloth for leggings, and kept a small amount for spare, reducing the size to make several square Flag can barely do it.

Although the size of the Qingdao flag has been given priority, it still does not comply with the regulations. At least the color cannot meet the standard, and it can only be mixed with natural dyeing.

Fortunately, this is not a problem.

In the era of war and chaos, many rules and regulations are no longer so particular, and it is good to have them.

When everything was gradually smoothed out, the team began to become more and more orderly.

Li Ping became more and more comfortable in his work, and he had begun to rely more on the old backbone of the team and a few newly selected backbones to maintain the basic order.When he was resting, he often even had some time to go to Shi Ming and Wang Chengwu to learn the essentials of fighting, and they were not stingy.

After knowing that both Zhao Jin and Li Ping had served in the army, Shi Ming lost all his guard and curiosity, while Wang Chengwu became particularly enthusiastic, and his comrade-in-arms developed a strong sense of intimacy.

Li Shengcai, Liu Shixiong, and Zhao Meiling were a little confused by the sudden intimacy and shoulder-to-shoulder hook-ups of the four people. They raised a lot of topics, but there was no sound, so they all fell silent soon.

As for Zhao Lanyue and Gao Lei, they seemed to be familiar with everything and never expressed any opinions.

But in fact, Shi Ming and Wang Chengwu have been strengthening their sense of existence. They are using their methods to continuously strengthen their control over their subordinates and exert influence on other Ming troops.Competition rings have become the norm, and various field survival teachings are also in full swing, and they are indispensable in all public affairs.

In such an atmosphere of some competition with each other, this group of defeated soldiers who were originally miscellaneous and undertrained soon became quite reborn.

Although their clothes are still varied, including bare feet, straw sandals, cotton sandals, and leather fast boots, etc., their clothes are generally clean and neat, and their heads and faces are very neat, and they all wear leggings uniformly.

When marching, their front and rear distances are appropriate, and single-lane columns and multi-lane columns can be switched skillfully according to the terrain. Even a vanguard team of 5 to 10 people will explore and advance hundreds of meters in front of the entire team.When camping, camping, security, dining and hygiene control are even more orderly and well-regulated.

If it weren't for their simple clothes and holding spears and big knives, they would be a small army of the third-rate army in Asia in the 20th century.

After more than ten days of fairly smooth trek, they finally crossed Fangcheng and approached Nanyang.

However, facing Nanyang, everyone hesitated again.

After entering Nanyang, you can only follow the officers and soldiers all the way to the dark.To the north is the peasant army, to the south is the government army, and to the east and west are mountains. The strategic and traffic location of Nanyang is actually very awkward. This is not a place where you can attack or retreat.

Zhao Jin and Shi Ming also began to wonder if Zuo Liangyu, who had been beaten and lost his soul, would stay in this unsafe place. If Zuo Liangyu was not there, what were they planning for entering Nanyang?

In the midst of hesitation and entanglement, they finally decided to continue southward and go straight to Xiangyang.

After passing through Nanyang, it also entered the relatively developed area of ​​the Nanyang Basin.There are dozens of tributaries here, such as Fiao River (now Baihe River), Nie River (now Zhao River), Liao River and so on.

The traces of the war are not so obvious here, and the scenery along the river is quite good, everything is growing unscrupulously.Especially in summer, the green is thick and deep, occupying all over the mountains and plains, with luxuriant branches and shady trees everywhere, and the fragrance of flowers is wafting, fragrant and fragrant. After camping, you can often catch some fish.

Especially when they finally saw the rice, the undamaged rice, or the rice that was about to mature.Although there are not many, and there is no concentrated large area, there is always hope.

They have gone to the rice-growing areas, and they have gone to areas where the war is not so fierce.

It is said that Xiangyang is more developed in water transportation, with many rivers, and it is also a land of fish and rice. Everyone's mood also has a little expectation as they gradually approach Xiangyang, until they pass a small mountain village next to a small water stream.

There are not many families in this small village, only more than a dozen or 20 households, but the location is relatively hidden, and it is on the tributary of the big river. If Liu San's uncle hadn't taken him here to avoid exploitation, most people would not know about it. place.Everyone took a detour to see if they could get something in exchange.

When they got here, they found that this small mountain village was already covered with dead bodies, surrounded by mosquitoes and flies, and no sound of humans or animals was heard.

Dozens of naked male corpses lay in a depression at the entrance of the village, and it looked like they had been massacred.The same naked corpses of women are scattered everywhere in the village, and the old and young are mixed among them.

Most of these dead women's eyes are wide open, their faces are painful, and their lower body is even more filthy. Some of them have all kinds of things stuck in them. You can imagine the humiliation they suffered before they died.

Every house in the small village has been turned into a mess, the livestock and livestock have long since disappeared, and the clothes, cloth and property have also been searched.Judging from the condition of the corpse, it should have happened in the past few days.

Seeing this miserable scene, the stupid Liu San stood there for a long time.

Thinking they had gotten used to the horrors of the war, Zhao Lanyue and the other women who wanted to go into the village were even paler. They ran out screaming and vomited spasmodically, trembling all over.

Li Ping's stomach was also churning violently. He tried his best to walk into the village to check around. When he came to a thin middle-aged woman, Liu San who was with him murmured softly: "What is this?" Auntie, she is very nice."

Looking at the soldiers, only a few of them were angry, and more people were dumbfounded. Many of them covered their faces but walked through it naturally to pick up things, and some were still criticizing the woman's corpse. Li Ping found that he still overestimated the civilization of this era.

After a simple search, it seemed worthless. Zhao Jin ordered everyone to leave here as soon as possible. No one went to collect the corpses of these poor people. Zhao Jin did not issue this order because it was meaningless. Even Liu Sanya only glanced back as he left.

The mood of the people from the 21st century became heavy with this episode. For a long time, no one spoke, let alone joked. Even Shi Ming frowned and looked serious.

They are once again full of anxiety and confusion about the future.

Looking at the same kind of people in the 17th century who were talking and laughing casually, maybe this is the first time they really realized what kind of world they came to.

Being behind is not terrible.

What's terrible is its ignorance and moral bottom line, and what's terrible is that its barbarism and cruelty have far exceeded the cognition of the civilized world.

(End of this chapter)