Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 256 Sending back to the room to rest
What else could Ye Chen say, in order not to worry Han Ke'er, he could only boast that he was even stronger, that a demon way was not his opponent at all that day.

After talking for a while, Han Ke'er was also tired, so Ye Chen personally sent her back to the room to rest.

As soon as Ye Chen came out, Shui'er took Ye Chen's arm and acted like a baby, saying that he wanted to go to war with Ye Chen and take care of Ye Chen along the way.

When Ye Chen heard it, how can it be done? The army has its own discipline. It is strictly forbidden to bring any female relatives with you when marching and fighting, even if it is the emperor himself, let alone him.Immediately, his expression became serious, and he said: "Shui'er, don't mess around. You also know that there are many bad people in this world who have been trying to plot against me. If they can't beat me, they may target you, sister Ke'er and the others. I No, I need you and Huzi to keep an eye on this mansion. If an invincible villain comes, Shui'er, your task is to bring your sister Ke'er into the maze as soon as possible. And Huzi's task is to control the overall situation. You two remember it!"

Shui'er was a little disappointed, but seeing Ye Chen's serious expression, he didn't dare to act like a baby anymore, and seriously agreed, and Kou Zhun had already solemnly said yes.

Kaibao three years (AD 970) mid-April.

Under the banner of "punishing the cruel Lord of the Southern Han Dynasty and saving the people of one side" in the Song Dynasty, the [-] troops of the capital set out majestically and marched southward, which opened the prelude to marching towards the Southern Han Dynasty.

This time, the Southern Expedition Army consisted of [-] troops, [-] forbidden troops from the capital, and [-] local forbidden troops, which were mainly composed of soldiers and horses from ten prefectures including Tanzhou and Langzhou.

Ye Chen bid farewell to the tearful Han Ke'er, Kou Zhun, Shui'er, Yu Qingyan, Ma Gangzi and other family members early in the morning. First, he went to the palace to see Zhao Kuangyin for the last time. After leaving the palace, he did not leave directly, and then went to the Privy Council After talking with Cao Bin for an hour, he took five hundred Huaxia Wei out of the city.These five hundred Huaxia Guards are his personal barracks, as well as his eyes and ears.

Luo Yaoshun, Cao Wei, Wang Chao, Yang Yanping, and Zhan Xiongwu have already assembled outside the city with their own troops, waiting for Ye Chen's arrival.

Ye Chen looked at the army from a distance, and the five of them were able to enforce orders against their respective troops. He couldn't help but feel relieved. Kaifeng is still [-] days away from the Southern Han Dynasty, so there is no need to hold a swearing-in meeting right now.

As for the marching route, Ye Chen had already convened five people to discuss it a few days ago. Ye Chen drew out the terrain map that he passed through in his memory in later generations, and then combined with the Huaxia Weifu to inquire about the field terrain, he drew six maps by himself. Give one serving to five people.

In addition, during the march, Ye Chen and the five of them had already agreed on issues such as the dispatch of the front army, middle army, rear army, and sentry rangers.

Therefore, following Ye Chen's order at this time, his [-] forbidden troops set out.The other [-] Southwest Forbidden Army attached to him will also go to Jingnan Yuanzhou to assemble these days, waiting to join the army he leads.

Ye Chen's order was passed down level by level, looking at Ye Chen with a frown.

After pondering for a while, Ye Chen asked the soldiers to call Gao Yi, the chief logistics manager who was specially selected by the third envoy Luo Gongming for Ye Chen to be in charge of logistics supply and collection.

Under Ye Chen's banner, the [-]-horse step imperial army bowed their heads and obeyed orders, heading south all the way.Behind them, there are [-] peasants and nearly [-] horses, mules and livestock running back and forth for the army's food and fodder. In addition to the Kaifeng treasury providing part of the food and grass, various local roads, states, and counties along the way will also provide part of the food and grass supply.Gao Yi is responsible for all these matters.According to Luo Gongming, this person is a capable person who can do practical things.

Gao Yi is also familiar with these things. Da Song uses troops abroad almost every year. He has been in charge of logistics for raising and transporting food and grass in recent years.When Ye Chen sent someone to call him, Gao Yi handed over the work at hand to several assistants, and rode in front of Ye Chen.

Ye Chen didn't talk too much. After Gao Yi saw the ceremony, he said directly: "Master Gao, please help me make two kinds of flags, one red and one blue. One big flag, three feet long and one foot five. The middle flag Ten sets, two feet long and one foot wide, forty sets of small flags, half a foot long and a quarter foot wide. The sooner the better."

After Gao Yi was taken aback, he didn't ask what these flags were used for, and said, "Don't worry, Lord Hou, I will make these flags in two days at most."

Ye Chen liked Gao Yi's attitude and demeanor very much. He smiled slightly and said, "Master Gao! I have to ask Gao Da for the food problem of my soldiers and horses."

In the past, when did the generals who led the army be as polite as Ye Chen, Gao Yi was flattered, waved his hands repeatedly and said: "Master Hou is polite, this is the job of a subordinate official. If Master Hou has no other orders, I will leave first. "

Ye Chen nodded, Gao Yi saluted Ye Chen and rode away.

Ye Chen made the flag because he really couldn't stand the fact that the marching command of the army depends entirely on people shouting.He had already discovered this problem when he was in Jinyang last year. At that time, the official was light-hearted and out of position, so he didn't mention it.

Now, he is a general commanding the troops along the way, so this problem naturally needs to be improved.

In today's army, there are still drums on the battlefield to command the army, but in the process of marching, there is no effective command method except for people shouting and sending soldiers to ride horses to notify.And Ye Chen is going to improve the tactical semaphore of the army of later generations, and use it on his own troops.One is that it can be used for marching command, which greatly improves the efficiency of controlling and commanding troops, and even improves the reaction speed of troops in some cases.Second, it can also be used to control and command troops on the battlefield.

This in itself is not difficult. He, Luo Yaoshun, Cao Wei, Wang Chao, Yang Yanping, and Zhan Xiongwu each trained a messenger and standard bearer from among the soldiers around him, and then the commanders of the troops under his command, and the commanders below each headed by his side They all need to train a standard-bearer.

As for the semaphore, Ye Chen just used the two days to make the flag to set it.Then let these flag bearers train when they rest every day and set up camp at night, and they can use this flag language to command along the way, so that the troops are familiar with this command method.

After leaving Beijing, Ye Chen led the army, according to the route planned in advance, sixty miles a day, set off in the morning, set up camp when dusk fell, and took a small rest every two hours in between.They passed by prefectures and counties along the way and did not enter the city. Some local officials invited Ye Chen to a banquet, but Ye Chen refused all of them.

After walking like this for two days, in the evening of the next day, Gao Yi sent someone to deliver the herald flag that Ye Chen needed.Ye Chen chose a soldier who was Gao Zigao and had a good memory, taught him the semaphore by hand, and trained while walking along the way. It took half a day for this soldier to learn.

Arrived in Junzhou on the third day.In the evening of the same day, the army was stationed outside the city of Junzhou, and the troops were cooking and resting. Ye Chen recruited officers above the battalion commander to arrange the matter of sending orders and semaphores.Ye Chen spoke in great detail, and even while speaking, he asked the flag bearer he had chosen to do some semaphore gestures for everyone to see, and stated that they could put forward any opinions and make amendments.

All the generals felt that this method of sending orders was very novel, but many people did not take it seriously.Ye Chen didn't point it out, and he didn't want to say more. He was very confident in the method of semaphore transmission, after all, it was a method that was verified by the troops of later generations.

The relationship between the five chief generals and Ye Chen is very close, and their knowledge is also extraordinary. Although they haven't used it yet, they have generally realized the benefits and convenience of sending orders by semaphore.

Soon, the five chief generals, each command envoy and the head of the capital all sent a personal soldier over to follow Ye Chen's order to start training with the standard bearer.

According to Ye Chen's request, today he learned the five semaphore signals of normal marching, resting in place, rushing marching, leading generals from all walks of life discussing affairs in the army, and commanding and making officers above the ranks discussing affairs in the army.Speaking of which, Ye Chen combined the semaphore movements of later generations, and most of the semaphore and the meaning expressed were very vivid and easy to remember.

For example, in a normal march, the red flag in the left hand is waved in the marching direction at a normal rhythm, while in an urgent march, the red flag in the left hand and the blue flag in the right hand are waved in the marching direction at a fast pace at the same time.

After just half an hour of training, all the selected messenger flag bearers have firmly learned the movements of these five semaphore signs and understood their meanings.Ye Chen personally went over and explained to these standard bearers again, emphasizing that the line of sight and attention of the troops next to Ye Chen must always be in the direction of Ye Chen's standard bearer, while the other troop standard bearers looked at the front. It is far more accurate and quicker for the standard bearers of the troops to pass on one by one than to send cavalry, and it is also conducive to the concealment of the troops.

There was nothing to say all night, and the next day marched as usual.

Ye Chen also didn't intentionally issue redundant orders to toss the troops in order to train the semaphore transmission, but everything went on as usual.Until noon, when it was time to take a big rest, Ye Chen gave the order to rest at the same place, followed by Ye Chen's order to the flag bearer, and ran to the top of the short hill by the side of the run, with the red flag in his left hand circled three times in front of him. big circle.

The commander who was closest to Ye Chen's personal army and his standard-bearer also waited all morning, and the standard-bearer hurried to the side to find a relatively high place, and made the same signal to the troops behind. action.The standard bearers of the troops behind passed it on one by one.Soon after the general of the army learned the semaphore order from the messenger, he gave the order to rest in place. Without further words from the officer, the soldiers all took out dry food and water to eat and drink.In this era, troops can only eat hot food made by the Huotou army at night when they march a day, and they can only eat dry food with them at noon.

Ye Chen was with Wang Chao's former army. After Wang Chao and Ye Chen gave the order, they rode to a nearby hill and looked at the troops behind them from a distance.

"Brother Ye! This semaphore command is really convenient. In the past, it took at least an incense stick of time to pass on the rest order to our 1 people. Often the front army got up and left after the rest. The rear army just rested. But just now It only took ten breaths of time, and all the troops have received the order." Wang Chao said sincerely.

Ye Chen nodded, expressing that he was also satisfied with this.

"However, the generals themselves should understand the meaning of the semaphore signal as soon as possible, so as to save the time for the flag bearer to repeat the order. This is not a big deal in ordinary marches, but on the battlefield, the time of breath is often extremely critical and important .And the generals need to train a few more bearers of the order, in case there is an accident and no one will replace them." Wang Chao thought for a while, then continued.He followed Cao Bin to fight north and south for many years, and soon discovered the problem.

(End of this chapter)