After crossing the trestle, it was still fifty miles away from Huaiyang City. Lin Fu and others were already hungry. After meeting up with Liu Miaozhen and others, they rested against the beacon tower at the other end of the trestle.
The garrison is a brick fortress more than ten feet square. On weekdays, Huaiyang Town sends a team of armored soldiers to guard it and control the trestle bridge.
Lin Fu's escort cavalry and the team that followed Liu Miaozhen out of the city to greet them totaled nearly a thousand people. Not to mention the horses, there was no place to sit when people entered the fort. Lin Fu just rested outside the fort.
It's not like I can't stand the snow.
The scouts dispersed to inspect the horses, and the cavalry dispersed in groups, using the horses to block the wind and snow on the outside. They fed the horses with food on the side sheltered from the wind, and ate dry and hard wheat cakes. They also used a capital team as a unit to set up pots.
Set up the stove, boil water with snow, and add meat to make soup.
On this trip, he accompanied Lin Fu to Huaiyang for inspection. Sun Jingtang, Li Wei, Gao Zongting, Tang Fuguan, Zhou Pu and others, together with Lin Fu, Liu Miaozhen, Malantou, Sun Zhuang, Li Liang and others, were in the snowy wilderness.
Sitting around the big iron pot that was burning loudly. The aroma of meat filled the nostrils and attracted the eating insects.
Huaisi is short of supplies and has to accommodate so many homeless people. All the snakes and rats in the wild are eaten by humans. However, the soldiers are provided with meat according to the quantity. They boil water with snow, wash the dried meat and fish and throw them into the pot.
, then pick some edible wild vegetables and add them to the stew, and it becomes the most anticipated delicious meat soup during the arduous march.
Li Liang looked at Lin Fu holding a bowl of broth and drinking it with relish. He felt strange in his heart and asked: "Can the delicacies in the army be prepared so that they taste delicious?"
"Why is it tasteless? Do you think I can't eat delicacies every day in hiding?" Lin Fu asked with a smile, and then said seriously, "I don't like to drink wine. If Li Shuai wants to drink, I can accompany you to have a few bowls.
But I like to eat meat, braised in soy sauce, and prefer pork to mutton.”
Li Liang smiled shyly, and Ma Lan came over and said: "These days, only wealthy people can eat meat. The nobles like to eat sheep and hate to eat pigs. Therefore, many sheep are raised in Jianghuai and few pigs are raised.
The wealthier families only raise a pig to satisfy their cravings at the end of the year, but only in Huaidong are pigs raised on a large scale..."
Lin Fu knew that Malantou was confused and was embarrassed to ask directly, so he smiled and replied: "My nickname of 'Pig Herder' is not for nothing. I am famous for raising pigs in Jiangning - those rich people only know mutton."
It's more delicious than pork, and I don't know how to calculate the details," Lin Fu settled the accounts with Malan Tou with his fingers and said, "A sheep can only kill thirty or forty kilograms of meat from the beginning to the end of the year, while a pig can kill three or four times as much meat.
Pigs can eat meat in the water; oil can be used to cook vegetables and make wax; pig skin is barely good at making armor, but it is very useful for making boots, linings, and belts; pig bristles can be used to make brushes, and pig bristle brushes are
Good thing, tung oil is required for shipbuilding, and a bristle brush is good and fast; hay can be used to fertilize pigs in pens. One pig is enough to fatten an acre of land, and at least one stone of rice can be produced... If I were Ma Shuai, he would
Are you abandoning pigs and raising sheep because mutton tastes better?"
"I would also raise pigs..." Malantou replied with a hearty smile.
"Some people talk about benevolence, righteousness and morality, and what they say is better than what they sing. I tell the officials and generals in Huaidong: Don't talk to me about those mysterious and mysterious things, so that you can't starve to death in your administration. This is the most basic thing.
Benevolence is the most basic righteousness and the most basic virtue; it is said that natural disasters and man-made disasters are the greatest evil." Lin Fu added: "As for the issue of material distribution, Huaidong's materials are also in short supply now, so they are in the army.
Medium-level supply. Officers work harder, so there will be some additional material subsidies for officers, but they are also limited. The fundamental starting point for making these arrangements is to ensure the combat effectiveness of the troops and better stabilize the people and the land, not to cultivate the style of officials.
——Whoever contributes more, who has higher merit, and whoever is diligent and diligent will be better protected. If this is not done, wouldn’t everyone have to hide behind others during the war?"
Everyone laughs.
Even in the past year, with the support of Huaidong to tide over the difficulties, accept the recruitment and establishment of the Huaiyang Town Army, and accept the control of the Huaidong Military Division, they are on the right track. Generals such as Malantou and Li Liang are grateful to Huaidong.
But he was also in awe of Lin Fu himself but had difficulty getting close to him.
After all, they had only seen Lin Fu's fierce methods on the battlefield before, and Lin Fu's reputation in Huaidong had reached such a high level that no one could replace him. Even though Malantou, Li Liang and others were still wary, they still looked up to him.
Let’s look at Lin Fu’s mentality.
Lin Fu came to Huaiyang for inspection. Ma Lantou, Li Liang and others were also quite surprised. Even though they felt Lin Fu's trust in Huaiyang Town, they felt uneasy and didn't know how to approach in order to be proportionate. They didn't expect it.
The tone, manner and content of Lin Fu's words made them feel approachable, and the distance between them was immediately shortened.
Although there were no delicacies from the mountains and seas, Gao Zongting was deeply moved by the fact that everyone gathered around a pot of broth in the wind and snow and ate with gusto and talked happily.
Lin Fu wanted to come to Huaiyang for inspection, and Gao Zongting was opposed to it. After all, a year ago, everyone was still a serious opponent of the two sides. Even now, Huaiyang Military Town still maintains considerable independence and only accepts Huaidong in name.
With the military commander's control, who can guarantee that everyone in Huaiyang Town will have no ambition at all?
It was Gao Zongting's plan to cross the trestle and have a meal outdoors. He wanted to use this short time to observe whether there was anything unusual among the generals in Huaiyang Town. Seeing this scene, Gao Zongting knew that some people are born to win people's hearts. Speaking of winning people's hearts,
, it’s nothing more than to know what others need and what you can give. Too many tactics, too detailed, and too cunning will not be considered a good thing.
However, this picnic was not a peaceful one. After Lin Fu drank the broth, he stood up and stretched his legs with his generals. The cavalry led the horses and dispersed in formation. When they were about to continue moving forward, there were exploration horses galloping from the direction of Huaiyang.
An infiltrated Yanhu outpost was discovered in the north of Huaiyang City...
"A team of fifteen people, wearing leather armor, holding swords and bows, all with two horses!" Lin Fu took the letter from Liu Miaozhen, looked at it, and said, "It's a standard Yanhu patrol post..." He also
Not much to say, if Liu Miaozhen couldn't handle the few infiltrated Yanhu outposts, it would not have been in vain to invest so many resources in Huaisi in the past year.
"Let them in and beat them a few times before they become more honest." Liu Miaozhen ordered.
The outposts of Yanhu and Hu all have two horses, and they are good at cavalry and shooting. If we send troops to intercept them before they cross the defense line, we will at most drive them away, but it will be difficult to bite their tails and beat them. Let them in, and use two or more groups of cavalry.
If you attack them from a flank, you can bite them hard. After a few times, Yanhu Youshou will become more honest and understand that the Huaiyang defense line is not just for the city, so he can be left alone as if there is no one.
There is no way to do this. The number of cavalry in Huaiyang Town is very limited. The Yanhu harassing outposts on the opposite side can only be intercepted or outflanked by cavalry. If the infantry goes out, they will not even be able to bite their tails, and they may even be killed.
Lure the opponent into an ambush.
During the most difficult period of the Huaiyang Town Army last year, even the most precious horses were killed to maintain human life. The nearly a thousand elite cavalrymen Liu Miaozhen had were all converted into armored soldiers.
There is no shortage of ordinary mules and horses in Huaidong, and several thousand mules and horses support the Huaiyang town army. However, in the past year, Huaidong has imported less than 3,000 excellent war horses from the Haidong area.
Zhou Pu led his cavalry battalion northward to support Jinhai in March. When he withdrew, the casualties were not great, but the horse damage rate exceeded 40%, which made Zhou Pu howl with grief. The cavalry battalion withdrew to Chongzhou to rest, and then returned from Tianjin.
Haiying and other departments selected a group of generals with excellent riding skills to supplement the army, and the number of soldiers was expanded to the sixth battalion, but the number of horses was only 3,000, which could not even meet the standard of one man and one horse.
In addition to replenishing some horses with scouts from each camp, Lin Fu also tried his best to allocate 500 extremely precious and fine war horses to Huaiyang Town.
Based on the 500 excellent war horses allocated to Huaidong and selecting some strong and good-footed ordinary pack horses, Huaiyang restored the formation of two battalions of cavalry.
Because the war horses were too precious, if Lin Fu hadn't come over, Liu Miaozhen would have let Yanhu Sentinel come in and use crossbows and infantry to intercept them. Even if the enemy was frightened away or some infantry were lost, it would be more effective than losing the precious war horses.
Make people accept it.
In Huaiyang, on the west bank of Bian River, in the past six months, Huaiyang Town and Huaisi Work Camp have tried their best to repair the remaining earthen fences as a resettlement place for displaced households. Small groups of outposts have penetrated in, and people can avoid the earthen fences.
I'm not afraid it will cause a lot of damage.
Of course, 30 or 50 Yanhu patrolmen tentatively penetrated the Huaiyang defense line, and the cavalry was dispatched to intercept them. Although it was easy to stop them, the damage to the horses could not be avoided. Sometimes the cavalry would shoot at each other on the horses, and the losses would be the most severe.
It's not a human being, it's often a horse that has a bigger target.
It was easy for Yanhu to obtain war horses, but Huaiyang Town treated 500 war horses as treasures.
Moreover, when the number of Yanhu Rangers reaches three to five hundred, even if all the cavalry are sent out to intercept, even if they fight head-on, they may not be able to guarantee victory, and it will become even more of a headache.
On the contrary, if the Yanhu cavalry comes in on a larger scale, infantry can be dispatched to intercept it. After all, even when a large group of cavalry is marching, the range of the formation will be very wide, and it is difficult to ensure that the flanks are not blocked by infantry.
The soldier bit him.
This time Liu Miaozhen wanted to ensure that Lin Fu's trip would not be disturbed by the infiltrated Yanhu outposts. In addition to ordering the cavalry in Huaiyang City to outflank the enemy cavalry, Liu Miaozhen would also accompany him to the west bank of the Bianshui River to meet Lin Fu's more than 300 soldiers.
The cavalry were all handed over to Li Liang, who was asked to spread out their formation in front to ensure that no Yanhu sentries would come in.
"Tao Chun and the Liang family are eating shit, they really want us to wipe their butts..." Li Liang was very dissatisfied with the Hehuai defense line for letting the Yanhu patrol posts leak in, and said angrily.
"I don't bring many cavalry this time, but I can still help you..." Lin Fu said with a smile, calling Sun Zhuang to come forward, and handed over the accompanying cavalry battalion to his leadership, and cooperated with Huaiyang Town to intercept the infiltration.
The Yanhu patrol came in, and Liu Miaozhen and Malantou said, "If you are willing, I will transfer another battalion of cavalry from Chongzhou to be led by Sun Zhuang to help you intercept the Yanhu patrol, and Huaisi's falsehood cannot be allowed to
It’s easy for Yan Hu to touch it..."
Due to limited resources and too many refugees to be resettled in Huaisi, in addition to the refugees in the Huaiyang area who can avoid earthen fences, on the east bank of the Bianshui River, between Suining and Suyu, more people are cultivating wasteland for the convenience of farming.
, all set up shacks in the wild. Once a small group of wandering sentinels infiltrate, casualties will be difficult to avoid.
People are panicking. The forces of immigrants who have finally settled down are about to surge southward, causing new turmoil.
At this time, Lin Fu couldn't care less about the loss of his horses. He wanted to buy time more. When hundreds of earthen fences, forts, and strongholds lay across the Huaisi River, Yanhu came with tens of thousands of cavalry.
, as long as we fight hard and go all the way, we can't even think about using roundabout tactics within the scope of Huaisi.
As for the Yanhu outpost leaking in at this time, Lin Fu probably also leaked it from the area under Tao Chun's jurisdiction.
The Liang family has some cavalry in hand and has been running Pingyuan Mansion and Jinan Mansion for three years. They still have the ability to intercept the infiltration of a small number of outposts. The only cavalry in Tao Chun's hands cannot even meet the most basic requirements for horse detection, and they have just been reorganized.
The army retreated to Daliang, and it would not be surprising if the Yanhu patrol posts leaked in from the Changhuai Army area.
Compared with the Yanhu outposts that appeared in the north of Huaiyang City at this time, Lin Fu was more concerned with the Yanhu outposts infiltrating into Linzi, Qingzhou and other places. Obviously, the Qingzhou Army's ability to prevent the Yanhu cavalry from infiltrating was better than the Changhuai Army.