Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 143 The Enemy
"The good nephew is going out of the city to suppress thieves?" Xu Xinsu looked at Lin Hai in surprise.

"That's right, the accomplice who murdered the old captain is outside the city, only more than ten miles away. Lin is willing to go out of the city to capture him." Lin Hai straightened his back, with a look of relief on his face.

The man he was talking about was Chen Zhongji, a native of Haicheng County, Zhangzhou Prefecture. He and Yang Tiansheng, a native of Jinjiang County, Quanzhou Prefecture, were sworn brothers. He led a group of brothers to attach themselves to Li Dan more than 20 years ago. Yan Siqi is still older and can be regarded as one of the few remaining veterans in Li Dan's gang.

Although they are veterans, the brothers under Chen Zhongji and Yang Tiansheng have long since died, scattered, and aged. In terms of strength, they are no longer worth mentioning.

However, with their status as elders and Li Dan's respect for them during his lifetime, these two people still have considerable weight in the gang.

It was precisely because these sworn brothers endorsed Zheng Zhilong and kept claiming that Li Dan had made a last order after Yan Siqi's death that Zheng Zhilong would take over as the boss after Yan Siqi's death. This gave Zheng Zhilong a legitimate reason to take over.

Xu Letian claimed that he saw Chen Zhongji with his own eyes during the battle last night.

Chen Zhongji and Yang Tiansheng have always been inseparable from each other. Since Chen Zhongji is here, Yang Tiansheng is probably also there.

Of course, this is not the reason why Lin Hai wants to send troops. He is not that enthusiastic about avenging Li Dan. What he wants more is to let the Zhoushan camp see blood as soon as possible.

After listening to what Xu Letian and the Yang brothers said about last night's battle, Lin Hai judged that the Zhoushan Battalion should be [-]% to [-]% sure of defeating the group of bandits outside the city, so he immediately asked Xu Xinsu for help without any prior information. Discussed with Wu Guoyi and other officers.

After all, there was a [-]% to [-]% chance of winning before the war, which was already a pretty good chance for a general.

For example, a famous military strategist in later generations once said that he would not hesitate to attack as long as he was [-]% sure, because if he had to be [-]% sure before he dared to fight, then there would be basically no battle to fight.

At the same time, there was another military strategist who was in a more dangerous environment. He would basically take a gamble if he was [-]% sure. Therefore, he was also evaluated by the former as "fighting the magic war."

Therefore, most of the time, generals on the battlefield cannot pursue infallibility. As one of the most famous military strategists said in his famous work: "We admit that the phenomenon of war is more elusive than any other social phenomenon. Less certainty, more so-called 'probability'."

This is also discussed similarly in Clausewitz's "On War", that is, "War is the kingdom of uncertainty, and three-quarters of the factors on which war is based are more or less surrounded by the fog of uncertainty. .”

To get rid of this fog of war as much as possible and reduce the so-called "probability", the best way is to let friendly forces fight the opponent, and there is no need to kill one of your own people anyway.

This is why Lin Hai insisted on leaving the city yesterday. He was trying to provoke brothers Yang Lu and Yang Ce to fight the enemy.

In order to convince the two brothers, Lin Hai finally hooked up with Xu Letian.As for Lin's men, they must not go up first, including the more than 100 sailors transferred by Zheng Tingqiu, who are still sitting high in Xiamen City.

"Brother Lin is so loyal! I, Yang Qi, am also willing to go out of the city to fight with the old thief Chen Zhongji. I just regret that I couldn't kill the old thief last night, but he killed many brothers instead." When Yang Ce heard Lin Hai's request for a fight, he immediately He stood up and spoke again.

"I'm also willing to fight again." Xu Letian immediately stood up and said.

Hearing that Yang Ce and Xu Letian were going to fight again, Lin Hai was surprised but also very moved. He secretly said in his heart that he would take both of them under his command in the future. After all, there are not many men like him who have the experience of leading a team. of.

It should be noted that these two people and Yang Lu traveled more than ten miles last night, and they didn't even send out sentries. They went straight to fight the enemy in a fierce battle. By the time they returned to the city in the early morning, they had been up all night and were exhausted. At this time, he actually wanted to go out of the city and fight again with his courage.

Every time a dog is slaughtered in a righteous manner, the ancients are sincere and will not be deceived by me!
Lin Hai was moved for a moment, and then refused very simply: "You two have been fighting hard all night, so it's better to take a rest today. After the Zhoushan camp goes out, we have to rely on you two to defend the city gate."

The most important thing about city gate defense is that the defenders must be absolutely reliable. If there is a traitor here, it will be really fatal.Needless to say, Xu Letian, Yang Lu and Yang Ce have also proven their reliability with practical actions.

Compared to them, Lin Hai did not trust the other defenders in the city that much, which was why he had previously arranged all Zhoushan battalions to defend at the four city gates.

Now that the Zhoushan Battalion is about to go into battle, the city gate area must naturally be handed over to the most trustworthy friendly forces.

At the same time, Lin Hai was reluctant to bring Yang Lu, Yang Ce and Xu Letian's troops into the battle, which would bring additional uncontrollable factors.

Anyway, there are only a few hundred opponents, so he would rather just use Zhoushan Camp.

"My dear nephew, why do you need to go out of the city to fight? In my opinion, it is better to stay in the city and wait for reinforcements. I expect General Yu's reinforcements will arrive soon." Xu Xinsu has been a little timid since Chen Qiwei died in the battle. , but he was still superstitious about Yu Zigao as always.

"Uncle Xu, don't worry. My nephew is sure to win this battle." Lin Hai said and said to Wu Guoyi beside him, "Guoyi, what do you think?"

"I have no doubt about this." Wu Guoyi stood up and said, "My lord, please sit quietly in the city. I am willing to lead the Zhoushan Battalion to fight. If we fail, I will be the military judge."

Lin Hai shook his head when he heard this: "I want to be with my soldiers."

That night, the four gates of Xiamen City changed their defenses. The sailors brought by Lin Hai, Xu Letian's men, and Yang Lu Yang Ce's men were mixed into eight groups and divided into two squads to guard the city gates. All the soldiers of the Zhoushan Battalion went to the barracks to sleep.

Early the next morning, after breakfast, all the soldiers of the first round of the Zhoushan Battalion gathered at the center left school field. There were 240 Yuanyang Formation teams plus four sentry commanders, as well as the first round's [-]-year-old commander and the troops directly under him. Two personal soldiers and sixty gunmen, a total of [-] seven people.

"The first round of the Zhoushan Battalion's First Division has been assembled. Please give Mr. Lin a lecture!" Zhou Zhou shouted loudly. All the soldiers stood solemnly and silently on the school field. In the team of more than 200 people, you could hear needles dropping, and even the clothes were rubbing against each other. There is no sound.

Lin Hai nodded with satisfaction. Not long ago, he had witnessed with his own eyes how the officers of the Chutong Rangers commanded the army - whistling.

To be honest, it may not be as good as the Zhoushan Battalion, which has not yet formed an army. The command system of the mine is more reliable than this.

What's even more gratifying is that compared to when Lin Hai left Zhoushan three months ago, the army he had high hopes for has made great progress. What is most lacking now is an actual battle.

"All troops, sit down." Lin Hai gave the order, the flag and drum team beat the gong, and the soldiers of the first round sat down collectively.

Lin Hai began to lecture loudly:
"Soldiers in the first game, ever since you joined the army, even if it was windy or rainy and you sat with your arms folded, has the Zhoushan Camp ever been less than your monthly salary of five cents a day?"

"Since you joined the army, has the Zhoushan camp been short of food and clothing for you? Has there ever been any shortage of monthly rations or rations for expeditions?"

"Who are you waiting for who is not a commoner who has lost his land? You are willing to consider the pain and hardship of quarrying in the mines, that is, think about how easy it is to earn money today. This camp will support you for three months, but I hope you can win in one or two battles, but you are not willing If I kill thieves, what’s the use of raising you?”

……

While Lin Hai was lecturing the soldiers of the Zhoushan Battalion, Xu Xinsu was watching with a middle-aged man in Taoist robes not far away from the city head.

This person is Chi Xianfang, a famous scholar in central Fujian with the Taoist name Yupingzi. He was practicing Zen and enlightenment on Yuping Mountain outside the city. This time he returned to the city because of Zheng Zhilong's attack.

Chi Xianfang once served in the cabinet of Nan Juyi, the former governor of Fujian, and had been seen by garrison soldiers from all over Fujian, so Xu Xinsu specially invited him to come and see how good Lin Hai's army was. "This man is very good at training troops. I think he is much better than Yu Zigao." Chi Xianfang said to Xu Xinsu after watching at the top of the city for a while.

"Oh? Does Duke Yuping think highly of my nephew?" Xu Xinsu was a little surprised when he heard this. In fact, he could also see that Lin Hai's army was not bad, but he never thought of comparing him with Yu Zigao.

"I'm not high-minded at all." Chi Xianfang shook his head and said, "To be able to train such a soldier in three months, I don't think any general in central Fujian has this ability..."

On the school field, Lin Hai had finished his lecture, and his last words were: "Comrades, the general of our camp is behind you, and will live and die with you!"

After saying this last sentence, Lin Hai said to Wu Guoyi beside him: "Guoyi, please say a few words."

"Yes!" Wu Guoyi replied loudly, then took off the bow from his back, opened the bow and shot an arrow at a big tree fifty or sixty steps away.

With a loud sound, the arrow shot straight into the tree trunk, its tail fins trembling.

"I only have one thing to say: Don't forget the law of war when you are about to go into battle!" Wu Guoyi shouted in shock, "As the captain of the Zhoushan camp's suppression team, I am also behind you."

Since Lin Hai took away Feng Yidao and others, the Zhoushan Battalion re-elected the Chinese Army's suppression team, with Wu Guoyi as the captain for the time being.He emphasized this point emphatically at this time, obviously still not trusting this group of new recruits who had never been on the battlefield.

"Let's go!" Lin Hai gave the order, and the flag and drum team began to direct the marching formation according to the established line. First, they blew the guiluo to make the troops stand up, and then they blew the trumpet to set up the troops. Each soldier gathered at each sentry, leaving an open space for their positions.

Then a series of flags waved, and the Zhoushan Battalion began to march according to Wu Guoyi's command.

Lin Hai noticed that there were some differences in the marching troops this time. Not counting the mandarin duck formation squad and the bird gun squad that were sent as outposts first, the first sentry was followed by the Chinese army and the bird gunners, followed by the second, third, and third troops. Four whistles.

"Guoyi, do you want to use the first whistle to decide the outcome?" During the march, Lin Hai found an opportunity to quietly ask Wu Guoyi.

"Yes, I believe that as long as the Zhoushan Battalion can exert [-]% of its strength in training, this battle will be won." Wu Guoyi said, "So the winner of this battle actually lies in the moment when the enemy is contacted. If it is at the beginning If we have the upper hand, we are almost certain to win this battle. But if things don’t go well up front, it’s hard to say.”

Lin Hai nodded, he agreed with this statement, and then he reminded: "The enemy has firearms, why not just let the gunmen take the lead? The Chinese army will directly press behind the gunmen, and then use firearms to fight them Win or lose.”

"It's not too late to make adjustments before engaging the enemy." Wu Guoyi said and added, "If the outpost can play a role, there will still be time to change the formation. If the outpost does not work, then the first sentry should be more advanced. Be careful and avoid being caught in the trap."

"Very good!" Lin Hai praised after hearing this. Wu Guoyi was thoughtful and thoughtful, which was indeed not comparable to those of Feng Yidao and other reckless people.

However, he also heard that Wu Guoyi was not completely sure about this battle, and even considered the situation of the entire sentinel army being annihilated.

In fact, if you think about it seriously, whoever leads a group of new soldiers who have never been on the battlefield cannot say that they will definitely win.

Lin Hai couldn't help but become a little nervous. His confidence seemed not as full as when he gave the training before departure. He followed the Chinese army in silence and thought to himself: This Qianhu is also a newbie on the battlefield...

At this time, he began to realize deeply that war is not like playing chess to exchange pieces.

Everyone has fear. The deeper you understand this, the better you can understand what ancient wars were like.

"Tiedan, are you afraid?" After walking for a while, Lin Hai quietly asked Lu Tiedan beside him.

"Don't be afraid. If anyone dares to shoot Big Brother this time, I will shoot him first." Lu Tiedan also carried a bow on his back. This guy was quite strong. He had learned archery for three months after following Wu Guoyi and was at the beginning stage.

"Don't brag. You've only been practicing for three months. I heard from Wu Zhongjun that your current level of archery is actually not good enough for the battlefield."

"Then I'm not afraid. I'm not very good at archery, but I'm not afraid of death. If someone shoots at me, I'll block the arrow for you..."

Looking at Lu Tiedan's sincere face, Lin Hai couldn't help but sigh in his heart: Young people are still not afraid of death. In the future, when recruiting troops, try to recruit people of Lu Tiedan and Zhou Yifa's age.

After marching about ten miles out of the city, Wu Guoyi chose an open space with a wide view and ordered the entire army to stop and rest.

After leaving the security personnel, all the troops sat down on the spot as the gong sounded. The sentries and teams were distributed in a plum blossom shape, with the Chinese army in the center.

When marching, the Zhoushan Battalion used two columns, which not only had strong adaptability to the terrain, but also had the highest maneuverability.

But this must not be the case when resting or camping. You must choose a place with a wide field of vision, and try to make the length and width of the entire army about the same, so as to facilitate the command of the Chinese army.

Just as the Zhoushan Battalion was resting in this open area, the sentinels in front reported that the enemy troops had already been dispatched and were coming towards us. They were now about two miles away.

"It seems that they were discovered by the ambushing troops on the mountain, so that's good." Wu Guoyi said to Lin Hai, "Mr. Lin, why don't we meet the enemy here? It's more open here, and it will be easier to chase after the victory."

Lin Hai nodded and said: "You can just command according to your own ideas. There is no need to ask me for instructions."

"Yes! I have the order!" Wu Guoyi responded, first calling Zhou Yi to send a few instructions, and then began to give orders to the flag and drum team.

The Zhoushan camp set up a strange formation. The first row was a 12-man gun squad. Together with the first round of the first round, there were 13 people in total. Each person was six feet apart.

Then came the first sentry, which was arranged according to the Xiaosancai formation. Behind the first sentry were the remaining gunners lined up, with a distance of three feet between each one.

Behind them are the second, third, and fourth whistles, which are also formed according to the small three formations.The Chinese army commanded from behind the formation and guarded the formation at the same time.

If you don't count the thirteen gunners in the first row, as well as the sparse gunners and fire soldiers in the Xiaosancai formation, this formation is quite thin, with only five rows, which is the same number as Morris's horizontal team. Sample.

Lin Hai was on a small slope behind the formation, looking thoughtfully at the formation of the Zhoushan Battalion.

Just after he roughly saw Wu Guoyi's intention, the enemy appeared in the mountain pass ahead.

　I accidentally discovered that the book friend Fengshen Chuzhen had opened a book. This book friend was in Lao Zhu's group. During the chat, Lao Zhu discovered that he was very knowledgeable and had profound insights into many historical issues... In addition, he was also Lao Zhu. I really like this comic, so I recommend it to everyone.

　　


(End of this chapter)