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Chapter 1491 Conquering the Empire (37)

Why did Kate and the others dare to determine the identities of those two troops at this moment?Because the two are simply incomparable!The difference is too great.

Look at these Zhao Hu soldiers who are wearing civilian clothes, only have a long gun as a weapon, and have no other signs of Zhao Hujun except for the flags of the brigade. Troops placed in the ranks of the militia.

The truth, of course, made Kate and the others stunned, because these prisoners were not even militiamen, but slaves!And it's still the kind of slave who was working on Zhao Hujun's border land a few days ago and was only assigned to the battle order not long ago!

As for why the slaves had a military look, Kate and the others certainly knew it. After all, Zhao Hu's penchant for degrading enemy soldiers into slaves had already spread throughout the coastal provinces.

It's no wonder that Zhao Hu would use these slaves. You must know that these slaves are soldiers, not civilians. The slaves composed of prisoners of war, as long as they are allocated weapons to form an army, they are a unit with certain combat effectiveness and certain combat experience.

However, it is very dangerous to do so, who knows if this slave will fight back?

However, since Zhao Hujun was not only willing to send elite troops out to stop them, but also pulled the slaves out as cannon fodder regardless of the slaves' counterattack, this shows that Zhao Hujun urgently needed time to prepare for the battle after receiving the information.

In other words, at this time, Zhao Hujun was not fully prepared yet!
As for whether it would be strange how the elite troops could ambush at the exit of the valley in advance?
Of course it wouldn't be surprising. Since it was an elite army, a quick march over a long distance in a very short period of time was just a basic skill. It was a bit weird that Zhao Hu's army with elite soldiers didn't set up an ambush at the exit of the valley.

After checking the captive, Kate shook her head helplessly.

Their captain, that is, an officer from the real Zhao Hu army, unexpectedly ran away early, and none of the nearly ten thousand prisoners was a real Zhao Hu soldier, all of them were slaves!
After some inquiry, only popular information was obtained that these slaves also participated in the digging of several trenches.

Regarding this, no one on Kate's side cared at all. Knowing that the enemy army is a cavalry division, it would be strange if they didn't dig a few trenches and say something to refuse horses.

Kate, who didn't get much useful information, waved her hand, and the prisoners were handed over to the left-behind Fifth Brigade and locked up in the camp.

If these prisoners are loyal and unyielding fighters, Kate will order them all to be executed. If they are regular soldiers, Kate will tie them up and keep them under strict supervision.

However, these were all slaves, and they were captured and turned into slaves after failing to fight Zhao Hujun.Since these slaves can not care about freedom in order to survive, and can also serve their original enemies indifferently in order to survive, it is also very easy to switch to their own warlord.

With this kind of thinking in mind, Kate inevitably wanted to recruit these slaves. After all, these slaves were all young and strong soldiers. The brigade is gone.

These things were quickly put aside by Kate. At this moment, he had brought most of the cavalry, and finally the vanguard cavalry gathered over the mountains.

After camping, when Kate sent scouts to investigate the surrounding situation, all the prisoners in Kate's prison camp were cursing those damn deserter captains.

"Brother Captain, what should we do?" Gou Wa was a little at a loss.After being helpless, he became a prisoner again, so he could only closely follow Zhou Xiang, the officer who took good care of him. As for those three stupid big guys, they were stupid, and after Zhou Xiang used some tricks to draw them together, He followed Zhou Xiang all the time.

Zhou Xiang didn't respond, he was recalling the weird smile on the captain's face when he led the team to move here, and the captain would whisper to other captains from time to time, and would suddenly snigger while talking.

It seems that the captain already knew that the enemy army would come from this side, and also decided to disappear before the battle?

But why do you want to do this?If you really want to organize it, although you will fail, it's not like being captured without not many people dying now.

How many people did not die?Zhou Xiang's eyes lit up, and he immediately asked Gou Wa: "How many people in our brigade died in battle?"

Gou Wa thought for a moment, and said, "Not many died. Most of them fell to the ground and surrendered when they saw the cavalry rushing forward. The cavalry killed those who were dazed and running around in fright."

Seeing Gouwa's affirmative nod, Zhou Xiang made a decision in his mind, patted Gouwa on the shoulder very easily and said, "Don't worry, just listen to me."

Gou Wa nodded first, and then said helplessly to Zhou Xiang: "Brother Captain, more and more people are approaching now. If we don't stop them, the cavalry might think we are planning to riot."

Hearing this, Zhou Xiang looked around and was immediately taken aback. Why are hundreds of people gathered around him?I don't want to be beheaded by Kate's army at this time.

Anxious Zhou Xiang immediately led his men to persuade these people to disperse.After a lot of talking, the crowd finally dispersed.

Only then did Zhou Xiang realize that it was his fault.Because there is a team that is absolutely united around, and there are three strong men in it, which makes my small team attract the team under my command to follow closely, and dozens of united soldiers, in this prisoner camp, let everyone One feels a sense of security.

Why do you feel this way?

It's very simple. In the captive camp, only Zhou Xiang's team is still gathered together. The other teams immediately dispersed after leaving the deterrent range of Zhao Hujun. Don't think other corporals are convinced.

So Zhou Xiang's group was very conspicuous, causing some disbanded slaves to approach this side subconsciously, and there were more and more of them as time went by.

Seeing Zhou Xiang's inexplicable cohesiveness, those powerful corporal leaders were not all fools, they came to contact Zhou Xiang tentatively.Zhou Xiang, who was trying to pull more strength to realize his idea, of course enthusiastically made friends with these powerful corporals, and with Zhou Xiang's eloquence, he quickly became acquainted with ordinary corps leaders.

If it wasn't for fear of being too eye-catching, Zhou Xiang would probably be chatting with hundreds of corporal leaders.

Therefore, after Zhou Xiang established relationships with dozens of corporal leaders, he calmed down and began to quietly wait for the time to come.

After Kate received the information from the scouts, she discovered that Zhao Hujun had blocked the [-]-kilometer passage with five trenches. Although the width and depth of the trenches were unknown, such a long trench could be dug in such a short period of time. , indicating that Zhao Hujun spent at least tens of thousands of labor.

Regardless of whether soldiers, slaves, or people in this area were mobilized, the ability to gather so many manpower and dig such a long trench in such a short period of time shows that Zhao Hujun's ability to govern is very strong.

It's very simple, if you don't have a solid foundation and excellent grassroots managers, and you don't spend a few months, you don't even think about making this achievement.

Thinking of the administrative capabilities in Haiquan Province, Kate couldn't help sighing in her heart: "It should be the ability brought by Bikud, right? It's a pity, if I wasn't so eager at the beginning, I wouldn't have turned against Bikud... ..."

"Marshal, the enemy has probably deployed an infantry division on the other side of the trench. If we don't solve the trench problem, we may have to spend a lot of sacrifices to break through the enemy's defense line." The young general said a little anxiously.

Kate said casually: "It's easy to solve the trench. Let the logistics team organize the manpower to cut down the big trees, and then use the horses to pull them directly to lay the bridge."

The young general frowned. Of course he knew that breaking through the trench would require laying a bridge, but in this way, he would have to pay a certain amount of losses to complete this task.

With a flash of inspiration, the young general suggested: "Marshal, don't we have [-] prisoners? How about escorting them over and letting them lay the bridge?"

"Okay, you go and order the Fifth Brigade to bring the prisoners here."

In the choice of forming a new infantry brigade and preserving the existing cavalry brigade, Kate chose to preserve the existing cavalry without thinking about it. The opponent is just a prisoner, and it is very normal to drive them to lay a bridge for her.

As for whether the captives will fight back?
There are four cavalry brigades on my side, so that only [-] unarmed captives succeeded in rebelling, so I just wiped my neck and committed suicide.

But what if the captives ran back to Zhao Hujun instead of building a bridge or turning back?
In fact, this is better, let these captives break the way for themselves, and their own cavalry can follow the captives into the enemy's formation.

The young general obviously understood these problems, and immediately conveyed the order without raising any objections.

Seeing the enemy army starting to cut down trees on the mountain, ordinary soldiers and low-ranking officers on Zhao Hu's side were very depressed.

If the enemy is fighting steadily, the trench is useless except for delaying time. Moreover, once the enemy breaks through the trench, it will be a big deal. My side can be said to be flat, and it is most suitable to display the power of cavalry.

Could it be that Lord Overseer is going to mobilize all the soldiers and horses to have a grand offensive and defensive battle with the enemy?
Impossible, Zhao Huling is surrounded by enemies, and the current troops are very reluctant to defend. If all the troops come here, I am afraid that the old nest has already been occupied before defeating the group of enemies in front of them!
Contrary to these soldiers and low-ranking officers, the high-ranking officers were happily betting: "I bet he will definitely use the prisoners to clear the way, he doesn't care about the time!"

(End of this chapter)