Xu Da slowly turned around and glanced at the generals calmly.
Those buzzing voices, either anxious or gloating, suddenly stopped in an instant.
You could hear a pin drop in the hall, and no one dared to say a word.
"I will return to Beijing tomorrow and ask the Emperor face to face." He then 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 ask the generals to practice, 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, warnings, 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. After thinking about it, he suggested softly:
"Would you like to meet Mr. South Korea when passing 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, so he 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 formation, drill, march, and coordination of infantry and cavalry have come to an end, leaving only the last and most exciting one - capturing pairs and capturing the flag.
The troops participating in the exercise were united by the guard station, and they were caught in pairs within a two-mile radius of the school grounds.
The rules are very simple. The two sides draw lots to decide, one party protects the flag and the other party captures the flag. Within half an hour, if the capture flag fails, the flag protection succeeds, 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 is impossible for the two sides to compete with 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 get up again. Their heads and torsos were marked with lime marks, and they 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 teams stood out and entered the finals.
They are the Habayashi Guards and the Fujun Central Guards. These two guards are both carefully selected and have the highest level of training. They are well-deserved to make it to 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 Habayashi guard attacked and the Fu army defended.
Without saying a word, the two commanders immediately formed formations at their respective headquarters.
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 defense 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 it is less offensive. 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 positioned at the back of the formation. The main troops were assembled in the center and divided into a number of small square formations in the shape of fish scales. They were arranged in echelons with a slightly convex front end to facilitate breakthroughs in the center.
After a cup of tea, both sides formed their formations, each with a thousand households or a hundred households. The general flag loudly encouraged his brothers and asked them to follow him closely.
The second and fourth oldest children were also among them, both of them looked serious, as if they were facing a battle.
Both of them have already served as small flag officers, and each led ten brothers, all holding shields and wooden swords, and lined up in the fish scale formation.
At this time, a cannon sounded on the general stage, and the martial arts performance began!
Xie Yan then ordered: "Blow 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 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 set arrows, aiming at the Yulin Guards to shoot.
The sword and shield hand of the Yulin Guard quickly raised his shield and blocked many of the incoming arrows.
However, there were also many arrows that passed through the gaps in the shields and hit the officers and soldiers of the Yulin Guards.
Even though these arrows have no arrowheads and the arrow shafts are still wrapped in cloth, the participating soldiers are not wearing armor, 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, and they 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. They set their bows and arrows, aiming at the officers of the central guard of the government and shooting at them. In the blink of an eye, they "killed" several hundred households and general banners.
But since the Habayashi Guards are on the move, they will definitely suffer heavy losses in the competition with bows and arrows.
So the Habayashi Sentos held up wooden swords and led their men to charge at full speed while shouting. After suffering two to three hundred casualties, the front armies of both sides finally collided with each other, and fierce hand-to-hand combat began!
