Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 884 Camping
While eating dry food such as miscellaneous cakes, the soldiers fed cheese to their war horses, waiting for the road to clear.After more than half an hour, the valley road was finally cleared.

However, that was just the beginning.

After walking less than five miles, another road ahead was blocked by the same method.The difference is that this time the terrain is more suitable for ambushes, and the horse explorer also found the looming flag of an unknown army.

The opinions of the staff officers quickly divided into two factions.One faction believes that this is just a suspicious strategy by the Liangzhou side; Or to delay time and deliberately affect their marching progress.

So this time Yang Jiye did not order the whole army to stop advancing, but instead ordered to prepare for combat, and he and Huang Dongqiu personally led the troops to check the situation.

That was indeed a dangerous path.

Yang Jiye led the troops and rode their horses to stand at the crossing and looked from a distance, and found that this was a road that could only allow two horses to pass side by side.Moreover, it is still necessary to follow the "Cavalry Marching Regulations", and it is possible to reduce the distance between the left and right cavalry to two steps in dangerous places.

At this time, the road was full of fallen rocks and felled trees, making it difficult to walk in a mess.

The hills on both sides of the road are continuous, and there are many dangers hidden in the dark forest.

Yang Jiye scolded his wife in his heart, frowned and asked the spy, "Where is the enemy's flag?"

"Reporting to the Commander, it must be hiding again." The spy said with certainty: "Just now, the few groups of scouts from the humble ranks have seen the flag. Although it is far away, they can't mistake it."

Yang Jiye didn't answer, but took out his binoculars and looked in the direction of the enemy's flag pointed by the spies. Tang Xingwu and Huang Dongqiu also had binoculars and took out binoculars to observe, but they put them down after looking at them, but Yang Jiye kept watching them for a long time. After half a stick of incense, he took down the binoculars and said with a cold snort, "Sure enough, it's just playing tricks again."

"How did the commander know it?" Huang Dongqiu asked doubtfully.

"I just saw a bird flying into the forest, but it was not startled, so I know."

Tang Xingwu and Huang Dongqiu looked at each other in admiration.I thought that the commander-in-chief deserved to be No.1 in the Xiangfu National Army.The two picked up the binoculars to watch again. Sure enough, not long after, they saw flying birds entering the forest, and another flying bird circling out of the forest contentedly.

However, the terrain here is too dangerous, and the matter is of great importance, Yang Jiye hesitated for a while, and then ordered two daredevils to go to the place where the flag of the Western Regions was seen by the explorers.

The two dead men came back safely soon, and there was no ambush in the forest.They brought back the flags planted by the people of the Western Regions in the forest, and found that the location was very ingenious. When the wind blows, the flags can be faintly seen from the crossing. Once the wind stops, it will be covered by the trees.This season in Liangzhou is when there is a lot of wind, so there is absolutely no need to worry that the flag will not be discovered by the Xiangfu army. Liangzhou has used the strategy of suspicious soldiers to the extreme.

Yang Jiye looked dignified, and said solemnly: "Pan Luozhi established himself as the King of Panluo, and he was able to occupy Liangzhou for many years without falling, so it should not be underestimated."

At this moment, Tang Xingwu's attention was attracted by those military flags, and he looked through each flag carefully, thoughtfully.

"Commander, these flags really belong to King Pan Luo of Liangzhou."

"Huh?" Yang Jiye's eyes lit up, and he heard the meaning behind it.

"Please look, Marshal, all the flagpoles are engraved with Tubo characters." Tang Xingwu grabbed a flag and presented it to Yang Jiye, pointing to the flagpole to show him. Sure enough, there were some messy characters engraved on the pole. "The awarding of flags and drums is a major event in the army. Therefore, before all flags and drums are awarded, inscriptions must be engraved. These Tubo characters are marked with the name of King Panluo."

The implication was that the other party wanted to make Yang Jiye and others think that King Pan Luo hadn't come here. All these tricks were just because Liangzhou didn't have enough troops to go out of the city to fight them in the field.The purpose is just to delay the pace of the Western Expeditionary Army and make more preparations for defending the city.

However, now that Yang Jiye and Huang Dongqiu have been aware of something strange by the rule that spies within a hundred miles of the Ministry of Security report a letter every day, and they are vigilant, they easily think of another possibility, or in other words, they confirmed Yang Jiye and Huang Dongqiu from the side. According to Tang Xingwu's previous judgment, the other party wants to control the place where they spend the night within a certain range, and this range is obviously the ambush site preset by the other party.Of course, before the spies from the Special Operations Battalion came back, this was still only based on speculation, and at most it was very likely.

...

...

On a hill with lush trees, Xue Mijian, the squad leader of the reconnaissance company accompanying the special brigade this time, used binoculars to observe a group of Tubo reconnaissance cavalry on the official road. Around him were five soldiers from his squad. In the bushes of grass and trees, his body was covered with a green camouflage cloth, and some tree branches and leaves were inserted into the hat on his head.

On the ground next to it was a corpse wearing the costume of a Tubo cavalryman from Liangzhou. Four fingers on one hand had been cut off, and they were thrown not far away. The state trooper was tortured inhumanly before his death.

The squad led by Xue Mijian made collective first-class military exploits in the battle against the Liao army a few years ago. Xue Mijian himself has been appointed as the fifth batch to go to Xiangfu Military Academy for training at the end of the year. After successfully graduating, he will In one fell swoop, a senior non-commissioned officer was promoted from a ninth-rank captain officer.In order to reward his squad for their military exploits, Bai Canghai simply rewarded Xue Mijian with his telescope.The dispatch of troops to the Hexi Corridor this time is of no small importance to Xiangfu Country. Bai Canghai allocated the best scouts to the accompanying special warfare battalion.Previously, Yang Jiye asked Sun Lixing, who was recently promoted to the commander of the first special warfare battalion, to send people to sneak into the enemy's depths to inquire about the enemy's situation, and Sun Lixing sent them out.

"It's a pity that this fan soldier is just an ordinary soldier. I only know that their king has invited a lot of reinforcements from Ganzhou and Qingtang, but I don't know exactly how many have come and where they are now." The squad leader casually wiped the blood on his hand twice among the leaves on the ground, and said.Obviously the corpse on the ground is his 'masterpiece'.

"As long as you follow this team of Tubo reconnaissance cavalry, you will be able to find where their army is hiding." Xue Mijian said as he asked Scar's deputy squad leader to find their location on the map, and marked the marching route led by Yang Jiye.

On the official road, this team of Liangzhou Tubo reconnaissance cavalry marched unhurriedly, and the formation was not strict, but the ferocious spirit of a veteran soldier in each of them was extremely obvious.

After Scar finished marking on the map, he carefully put the map into his pocket, and said with a stern face: "Squad leader, if you follow this way, if these bandits don't go to the place where the soldiers are hiding, how can we It’s not in vain to lie down, and it will delay important things. In my opinion, it’s better for us to capture a few more soldiers and bring them back, and I’ll be in charge of interrogating them to ensure that they will tell everything.”

Xue Mijian hesitated for a moment, and finally shook his head and said: "No, we sneak into the depths of the enemy and take too many shots, which will definitely arouse the enemy's vigilance. When dealing with this kind of information, what you see with your own eyes is the most reassuring. It is about the life and death of more than 7 troops, and you can guarantee that what you tortured out must be true."

Several soldiers around showed disappointing expressions. Unlike ordinary soldiers, most of them have fierce temperaments. The harsh and inhuman training has long since wiped out their original morality and personality. Internal competitions and confrontations are far from enough to fully vent. Now there are Whenever there is an opportunity, I want to move my hands.

Xue Mi glanced at them and said: "Okay, deputy squad leader, you immediately take the two of you back and report our discovery to the commander in chief. The others continue to follow me. If someone dares to do it without his will, I will chop his hand."

The scarred man agreed, and led two soldiers into the woods, before disappearing soon.

...

...

"It's better to call an infantry battalion to clear the way! Tell the battalion commander, don't go too fast. Scout the horses and then intensify the reconnaissance." Yang Jiye gave the order after a little thought before the dangerous road.

After passing through this road, the Western Expeditionary Army accelerated the marching speed, and the requirements for the marching queue were also relaxed.Time has been delayed a lot, and before the sun goes down, it is natural that they will not be able to make it to Jiazhuang Village, the scheduled camping place.Unexpectedly, after walking less than ten miles, a road was blocked again in front of him.

This time Yang Jiye had no hesitation. After hearing the report from Tan Ma, he decisively sent two battalions of troops to help the forward open the way.However, just in case, he specifically told the troops sent out to keep an appropriate distance and be vigilant.

But there were never any surprises.However, Scar, the deputy squad leader of the reconnaissance company, finally rushed back with two people. Yang Jiye, Huang Dongqiu, Tang Xingwu, and Sun Lixing listened to Scar's report.After Yang Jiye called senior officers above the brigade commander for a short meeting, the speed of the march, the number of horse scouts, etc. remained unchanged, and they continued to advance according to the original route.

When the blood-red sunset was about to completely sink into the western horizon, the Western Expeditionary Army was still more than ten miles away from their destination, Jiazhuang Village.Fortunately, the place they arrived at this time is a valley, which is relatively open, and the basic conditions for camping such as water sources and wind shelters have been met.

With Yang Jiye's order, the soldiers began to set up tents, light fires, cook, and prepare for camping in an orderly manner.Xiangfu Kingdom's "Regulations on Camping and Camping" stipulated seven modes of camping and marching. It was written by the General Staff of the Military Central Department in combination with the experience and military books of the generals of the army, and then conducted a large number of practical researches. Each mode is aimed at different Case.

Today's camp is set up in accordance with Yang Jiye's order and according to the No. [-] model. The biggest feature of this camp model is that it is impossible to see the reality of the camp from the outside, and the distance between the camps is wide, which can be used for cavalry charges and infantry The battle array is displayed.

(End of this chapter)