The five days of preparation time passed by in a hurry, and finally it was time to set off.
110 survey battalion soldiers lined up neatly, led by Hao Tong and Deng Kui, and stood outside the east gate of Fengcheng to be inspected by the people of the county. After half a year of training, these farm children have grown into disciplined soldiers.
Regular soldiers, just standing there with their helmets on, give people a majestic feeling.
Different from the ordinary Ming Dynasty army, the survey camp has more equipment. In addition to weapons and tents, they also carry a large number of surveying and mapping instruments. These instruments are now installed on several large trucks parked aside.
These carts and drivers are all hired by Su Hao. They will go to Yunnan with the survey camp. The cost of this trip is naturally very considerable.
In addition to the large vehicle carrying instruments, there were two vehicles with cloth awnings, which were used to seat people. At this moment, a group of old ladies gathered around the two vehicles, crying and crying with the people in the vehicles.
Parting. It turned out that the people in this car were 10 embroiderers who were good at embroidering pictures. They were also going to Yunnan with the survey camp. Unlike the driver, these embroiderers would not come back easily after leaving.
, their future destiny can only be to marry soldiers in the military camp and become family members accompanying the army.
In order to recruit these embroiderers, Su Hao spent a lot of money. The money was enough to buy these embroiderers and keep them as slaves at home. The girls who came out to become embroiderers were all from less well-off families. Some people were willing to spend the money to recruit these embroiderers.
The parents of those girls are naturally happy to recruit money. As for the fact that in the future these girls can only marry far away to the border, this is not a matter of concern to the parents. Anyway, if the girls are not admitted in college, who they marry is not a marriage.
?
When he first heard that Su Hao was going to take 10 embroiderers on the road with him, Chen Dao was very dissatisfied and almost gave Su Hao a lesson in Ming Dynasty military discipline. However, when he saw the map embroidered by the embroiderers,
, said nothing again. This kind of embroidery work can only be done by women, so these embroiderers are actually an indispensable part of the survey camp.
"We have never had female soldiers in the Ming Dynasty's army. If we change it, I will break our rules." Chen Dao said with a bitter smile.
Su Hao said: "What Brother Chen said is wrong. As far as I know, my Ming army not only has female soldiers, but also female generals, right?"
"Female general? Who do you mean?" Chen Dao asked in surprise.
"I remember..." Su Hao scratched his scalp. He had the impression that there should be some kind of female general in the Ming Dynasty, but in a hurry, he couldn't remember it.
Chen Dao spoke up for him: "In other words, she is not the third wife of the Mongolian Tumote tribe, right? A few years ago, the emperor named her Mrs. Zhongshun. When it comes to female generals, she can only be counted.
However, she is not a general of our Ming army."
"I don't remember it." Su Hao said, "Hmm, maybe I remembered it wrong."
"It must have been corrected and remembered incorrectly," Chen Dao said.
The families of the soldiers who lived relatively close to each other also came to say goodbye, but according to military regulations, Hao Tong and Deng Kui did not let them get close to the team. They just asked them to stand far away and look at their children in the team.
The soldiers did not cry like the embroiderers. Each of them was full of expectations for the future, thinking of rushing to the border as soon as possible to make achievements so that they could work as an official and come back to honor their ancestors.
The county magistrate Han Wen also showed up with the county magistrate, chief registrar and other officials. Han Wen also read an extremely gorgeous parallel prose to all the soldiers in the survey camp. The general meaning was to encourage the soldiers to go to the border to kill the enemy bravely and fight for their hometown.
The elders wanted to win glory. Su Hao expressed his determination to Han Wen on behalf of the Kanyu Camp, and led the soldiers in the Kanyu Camp to shout slogans, and then ordered the entire army to set off.
According to the instructions of the Ministry of War, the survey camp will first take a boat along the Ganjiang River to Jiujiang, change boats from Jiujiang, go up the Yangtze River, go to Sichuan, and then transfer to Yunnan. According to Hao Tong told Su Hao, from Sichuan to Shanghai
There is a passage between Qujing and he himself has walked through it before. Once you get to Qujing, you can go through Yunnan Prefecture, Chuxiong Prefecture, Dali Prefecture, and Yongchang Prefecture, and then you can reach the Tengchong area.
The procession left the east gate of the county and marched to the riverside to take a boat. Along the way, people walked along the road to see each other off, and from time to time the voices of calling children and brothers could be heard. The wealthy households in the county also bought firecrackers and set them off, which naturally included
To a large extent, it was to give Su Hao face.
Chen Dao and Su Hao were riding horses and walking side by side. Behind them, there were three other people who were not walking with the soldiers. Two of them were followers brought by Chen Dao from Beijing. The other one was
It was Chen Guanyu, Su Hao's staff.
The journey to Yunnan was long and the situation was complicated. Su Hao was worried that he could not cope with various things, so he took Chen Guanyu with him. Chen Guanyu was single and had no worries, so he didn't care that Su Hao took him with him.
Where to go? This old magic stick is very capable. In just a short time, he had already had a heated fight with Chen Dao's two followers.
Chen Dao was riding on his horse, looking at the soldiers in the survey camp, and said to Su Hao with emotion: "Brother Gai Zhi, brother Yu, when I was in the Ministry of War, I heard a report from Jiangxi Dusi that your survey camp has good training.
He is an elite soldier. When I saw them today, I realized that what Jiangxi Dusi said was true. The physique and discipline of these soldiers can only be seen in the personal troops of the frontier army lieutenant general."
Su Hao said: "Brother Chen, I'm sorry. However, I have really put some effort into the training of this team. The missions of the survey camp have to be completed in the high mountains. If the soldiers' physical strength is weak, it may be difficult to cope with it.
Therefore, Kanyu Camp’s meals have always been very particular, and the soldiers are physically strong, which has something to do with this.”
Chen Dao said: "If I, an officer of the Ming Dynasty, can lead troops like Gai Zhi, how can those Japanese pirates and barbarians be our opponents?"
Su Hao said: "The ancients said that it takes a thousand days to raise an army, but it takes a while to use it, so these soldiers are all raised. If we didn't throw away a lot of money, we would be able to cultivate elite soldiers."
Chen Dao greatly agreed with Su Hao's words. He sighed: "What I said is correct. Our Ming army is declining day by day, all because there is no money to raise troops. The amount of silver that the Ministry of Household Affairs can allocate is not much.
In addition, officials at all levels worked hard, and what finally fell on the soldiers was just enough to fill their stomachs, leaving them with no energy to practice martial arts. Such an army was barely enough to deal with sporadic bandits, but it was barely enough to deal with the Mongols.
Humans and Japanese pirates are far behind."
"So, if you want to strengthen your army, you must first enrich your country. This is the simplest truth." Su Hao said.
"Chan is indeed a great talent. This is indeed the truth." Chen Dao said.
The two were chatting happily when Su Hao suddenly heard someone calling him on the roadside: "Brother, brother, brother Hao!"
Su Hao turned around on the horse and saw Lu Xiu'er holding Cheng Yi standing in the crowd of onlookers, waving to him. Su Hao looked at Chen Dao and asked for his opinion. Chen Dao smiled and said, "Isn't it right to change it?"
I have been busy with official duties these past few days and have not said goodbye to my family yet. Otherwise, you can go and say a few words to them to save them from missing you."
Without Chen Dao's permission, Su Hao could not leave the team casually. Fortunately, Chen Dao was not a rigid person. When he saw two girls coming to see Su Hao off, he graciously allowed Su Hao to leave.
Su Hao thanked Chen Dao, drove his horse to Lu Xiu'er, jumped off the horse, and asked: "Xiu'er, what's the matter? Didn't I already say what I needed to say last night? Why are you here again today?"
?”
Lu Xiuer's eyes were a little red. She pointed at Cheng Yi and said, "I'm not the one who came. It's Sister Cheng who wants to tell you something. She asked me to bring her here."
"Xiu'er don't cry." Su Hao reached out and stroked Lu Xiu'er's head. Lu Xiu'er blushed and lowered her head quickly, not daring to look at the people around her. Su Hao walked up to Cheng Yi again, cupped his hands and said: "
Madam of the Cheng family, do you have anything to say to me?"
Cheng Yi didn't say anything, but took out an embroidered purse from her arms and stuffed it into Su Hao's hand. Su Hao was puzzled, so he took the purse and opened it, only to see a strand of black silk wrapped inside. He was surprised.
Asked: "Madam of the Cheng family, what do you mean?"
"Hey! This is not mine!" Cheng Yi knew that she had made a mistake and stamped her foot and said, "That person gave this to you. What does it mean? Don't you know?"
"Yes..." Su Hao suddenly understood that Cheng Yi had been acting as a messenger between him and Han Qian these days. Since this purse was not sent by Cheng Yi, it naturally belonged to Han Qian. As for the meaning of the strand of black hair in it,
What, even if Su Hao had a pig's brain, he could still guess it accurately. In those days, when a girl gave you her hair, it was a naked confession.
"Ms. Cheng, thank you very much!" Su Hao put away his purse and thanked Cheng Yi.
Cheng Yi asked: "Su Baihu, you don't have anything, do you want to ask the little girl to give it to that person?"
Su Hao smiled slightly, took out two glass mirrors from the cloth bag on the horse, handed them to Cheng Yi, and said: "Madam of the Cheng family, please give me a glass mirror to that person. As for the other side, I will keep it."
Give it to Mrs. Cheng for her own use."
"Is there another one for me?" Cheng Yi held the mirror, beaming with joy, with a bit of childlike shyness on her face.
While he was talking, the team had already moved to the front. It was inconvenient for Su Hao to stay for a long time, so he turned around and walked in front of Lu Xiu'er. Lu Xiu'er raised her head and looked at Su Hao, with a look of reluctance in her eyes. Su Hao smiled slightly and suddenly opened his eyes.
With his arms, he hugged Lu Xiuer and pressed her tightly to his chest.
"Wait for me to come back!" Su Hao put his mouth to Lu Xiuer's ear and said softly.
"Brother, I can do it!" Lu Xiuer said firmly.
…
Three large ships went down the river, taking away Su Hao and more than 100 soldiers from Kanyu Camp. They were bidding farewell to their homeland and rushing to the border. Su Hao stood on the bow of the ship, looking at the river rolling northward, with a surge of heart.
The outside world is helpless, the outside world is wonderful, Daming, here I come!
(End of Volume 1) (To be continued. Please search Piaotian Literature, the novel will be better and updated faster!)