Father can be an enemy to the country

Xu Da slowly turned around and glanced at the generals calmly.

Those buzzing sounds that were either anxious or gloating suddenly stopped in an instant.

The sound of a pindrop could be heard in the hall, and no one dared to say a word.

"I will return to the capital tomorrow and ask the emperor face to face." He said solemnly: "You must not slack off as you prepare the army for war. Don't worry, the materials needed for the army's departure will be delivered before the spring begins. It will delay the Northern Expedition next spring."

"Yes!" The generals responded loudly. Since the general said so, there is no problem.

~~

The next day, Xu Da did not let the generals practice it, and only asked Geng Bingwen to see him off.

"During my absence, I will leave Peiping to you." The two of them rode their horses together and said as they walked.

"Don't worry, General. The last general will be cautious and not go out on business." Geng Bingwen hurriedly assured.

"Of course I can rest assured that you are mature and prudent." Xu Da nodded and said: "This winter, when the Tatars invade south, they should mainly focus on looting. It won't be a problem, but you must not be careless. Strengthen patrols, early warning, and protection. Good for the soldiers and civilians on the border, let’s beat them hard next spring!”

"Yes." Geng Bingwen nodded quickly, keeping in mind the general's instructions.

After silently moving forward for a while, he couldn't help but ask in a low voice: "General, how sure are you of returning to Beijing this time?"

Xu Da shook his head and told him the truth: "I'm not sure."

"Ah?" Geng Bingwen was surprised.

"If you don't say that, morale will be gone, and something will go wrong this winter." Xu Da said calmly: "What if the Tatars take the opportunity to steal one of our strongholds, how will I explain to the soldiers and civilians who trust us?"

"That's true." Geng Bingwen nodded. In the eyes of the Ming army in the early days of the Republic of China, it was a matter of course to prevent the Tatars from plundering the people.

"Last year the weather was generally good and there was no major famine. Why was the supply of military supplies suddenly out of supply?" Xu Da said solemnly: "I think it was more man-made disasters than natural disasters."

"Since it is a man-made disaster, there is a solution." Geng Bingwen nodded. Everyone knew the crux of the problem. Think about it, he suggested softly:

"Would you like to meet Mr. Han when you pass by Fengyang?"

"I don't pass by Fengyang without seeing him." Xu Da shook his head and said to Geng Bingwen: "We are warriors. We only know that we only obey the emperor's orders and don't know anything else. Old Geng, they are playing with fire, and you don't want it either. participate."

"Yes, I will remember the general's teachings." Geng Bingwen hurriedly clasped his fists solemnly.

"Just send it here, you can go back." Xu Da waved his hand to him, then rode away surrounded by his own soldiers.

Looking at the general's retreating figure, Geng Bingwen let out a long sigh.

The general has a transcendent status and can naturally stay out of the matter, but how can guys like them who are not strong enough do it?

~~

By the time Xu Da returned to Nanjing, it was already the twelfth lunar month.

At this time, the winter martial arts performance has come to an end. All the individual competitions such as arraying, drills, marching, and coordination of infantry and cavalry have come to an end, leaving only the last and most exciting one - catching pairs and capturing the flag.

The participating troops took the guard station as a unit and captured pairs in pairs within a two-mile radius of the school grounds.

The rules are very simple. The two sides draw lots to decide, one side protects the flag, and the other side captures the flag. Within half an hour, if you fail to capture the flag, you will succeed in protecting the flag, and vice versa.

The loser is eliminated and the winner advances to the next round.

This simulates the two armies meeting each other on the battlefield, attacking and defending hand-to-hand.

Five thousand troops can test the general's ability to organize troops and command on the spot.

It may also test the training level and physical fitness of ordinary soldiers.

Of course, it was impossible for the two sides to use real swords and guns. During the competition, the arrows did not have arrowheads, and the knives were wooden knives. The spear heads were wrapped and dipped in lime.

During the battle, officers and soldiers from both sides were knocked to the ground and could not rise again. His head and torso were marked with lime marks, and he had to withdraw from the battle.

In addition, in order to avoid unnecessary damage, the cavalry must also dismount and become horseless infantry into battle.

After several days of fierce competition, the last two defense teams stood out and entered the finals.

They are the Yulin Guards and the Fujun Central Guards. These two guards are both carefully selected and have the highest level of training. They deserve to be able to reach the finals.

~~

On the day of the finals, Zhu Yuanzhang and his son came to the southern suburbs of the school in person, and the general who had just returned from Peiping also came.

This made the already high-spirited soldiers on both sides become even more fire-breathing, vowing to win the victory!

After the commanders and soldiers of both sides saluted the emperor, lots were drawn on the spot.

The result was that the Yulin Guards attacked and the Fu Army defended them.

Without saying a word, the two commanders immediately formed their respective headquarters in formation.

The central guards of the government army formed a square formation in front of the military flag.

The commander placed Deng Zhen in the center of the formation, with surrounding troops deployed layer by layer, with spears, bows and arrows outside, and mobile troops inside, forming a dense defensive formation.

This formation has the strongest defensive power, but because the dense formation limits mobility and lacks changes, it is difficult to pursue the enemy after retreating, so the offensive power is poor. But it is obviously the most appropriate to use it at this time.

The Yulin Guards used a fish scale formation to fight against the enemy.

Xie Yan, the guard of Zhang Yulin, was located in the back of the formation, and the main troops were assembled in the center. They were divided into a number of small square formations shaped like fish scales, arranged in echelons, with the front end slightly convex to facilitate a breakthrough in the center.

After a cup of tea, both sides completed their formation. Each of the Qianhu, Baihu, and General Banners loudly encouraged their brothers and asked them to follow them closely.

The second and fourth children were also among them, both of them looked serious, as if they were about to fight.

Both of them have already served as small flag officers, each leading ten brothers, all holding shields and wooden swords, and lined up in the fish scale formation.

At this time, a trumpet sounded on the general stage, and the martial arts performance began!

Xie Yan then ordered: "Play the drum."

The war drums of "dong dong dong" sounded.

Upon hearing the sound of the drums, three Habayashi Sento immediately led their men to advance forward in a pin-shaped formation.

When they entered the shooting range, Deng Zhen ordered in a deep voice: "Fire the arrows!"

The herald immediately waved the order flag, and the archers of the central defense army in front of the formation unfurled their bows and nocked arrows, aiming at the Yulin Guards to shoot.

The sword and shield hand of Yulin Guard quickly raised his shield and blocked many of the incoming arrows.

However, many arrows passed through the gaps in the shields and hit the Yulin Guards officers and soldiers.

Although these arrows have no arrowheads and are wrapped in cloth on the arrow shaft heads, the participating soldiers are not wearing armor either, so it is still very painful to be shot.

Many people were shot in the head and fell to the ground directly; there were also those who were shot in the torso and did not fall to the ground, but also honestly withdrew from the battle...

Not to be outdone, the archers of the Yulin Guards also fought back from the flanks.

As the sharpshooters of the Yulin Guards, the two brothers, the second and fourth brothers, were naturally not idle either. They set their bows and arrows and aimed at the officers of the central guard of the government and shot at them. In the blink of an eye, several hundreds of households and general bannermen were ‘killed’.

But since the Yulin Guards are on the move, they will definitely suffer heavy losses in the bow and arrow competition.

So the Habayashi Sento held up their wooden swords and charged at full speed with their subordinates shouting. After paying two to three hundred "casualties", the front armies of both sides finally collided with each other, and the fierce hand-to-hand combat began!