On the morning of March 19, the first year of the reign of the Great Zhou Dynasty, outside Xiongzhou City at the northernmost end of the Hebei East Road of the Great Zhou Dynasty, hundreds of fully armed generals were lining up on the official road outside Xiongzhou South City, waiting eagerly.
What they are waiting for is the arrival of Yang Jun, the privy envoy of the Great Zhou Dynasty, who has arrived from the capital. These generals are all outstanding leaders selected from the armies of the Great Zhou Dynasty. The longest among them has been in Xiongzhou for more than two months.
, and some just arrived more than ten days ago. They have not collectively met with Privy Envoy Yang. Today's arrival of Privy Envoy Yang means that the preparations for the Northern Expedition have been completed, and the day of departure is just around the corner. Everyone
My heart was filled with excitement, tension and anticipation.
Halfway through the hour, several cavalry galloped in front of them and came to the generals to report loudly: "Privy Yang and his party are already outside Li Xu and will arrive immediately."
After hearing this, the generals hurriedly straightened their clothes, brushed off the catkins and dust that fell on their armor, straightened their bodies and looked at the bend of the official road ahead. Soon after, they heard the rumble of hoofbeats, but no figure of the other party was seen.
, first heard the rumble of hoofbeats and the rising yellow dust on the mountain road. A moment later, a cavalry galloped over and appeared in everyone's sight. It was Yang Jun and his thousand cavalry guards.
Yang Jun rode a tall and pure black horse at the front of the team. He was wearing black armor and a blue cloak fluttering in the wind. The gold beads on the helmet sparkled, and the bright red necklace danced like flames.
.Already an old man over sixty years old, but he did not ride in a big car along the way, but rode on horseback with the young soldiers of the Guards Battalion. After nine days of running around, even the young soldiers could not bear it, but Yang
Jun is still upright and full of energy.
A group of generals rode up to greet him, rolled their saddles and dismounted, raised their hands and saluted in unison: "The generals are waiting to welcome Privy Envoy Yang!"
As soon as Yang Jun tightened the reins, the war horses stood up. In the smoke and dust, Yang Jun jumped off the horse. His movements were as vigorous as a young man. He held his hands and laughed loudly. He said in a loud voice: "Generals, no courtesy or courtesy. What should I do?
Does it have to be so grand? Is this all here?"
A middle-aged general said in a deep voice: "Bai Qi, who is of humble rank, leads the Northern Expedition Army's battalions with 217 generals of fifth rank and above. All 217 people are here to wait for Privy Councilor Yang. The whole army is waiting for the Privy Councilor to arrive.
Woolen cloth."
Bai Qi was named by Guo Xu and asked Yang Jun to take him as his deputy. This time Yang Jun was named the general marshal of the Northern Expedition of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and Bai Qi was the deputy marshal. Bai Qi would not have had this honor due to his qualifications, but Guo Xu
He held Bai Qi in high regard. Although Bai Qi failed to achieve success in the last battle against Funiu Mountain, some of Bai Qi's suggestions were quite insightful, but Guo Xu failed to adopt them. After Zhao Yuankang died at Funiu Mountain, Guo
Xu intends to cultivate the next crony in the army, and Bai Qi is his candidate.
Bai Qi is the deputy commander, and he is actually one of Guo Xu's eyes and ears beside Yang Jun, similar to the supervisory army sent out. If Yang Jun does anything out of the ordinary, Bai Qi will step in to stop it on behalf of Guo Xu. In fact, everyone is aware of this.
He knew it, and Yang Jun also understood this. But the rules of the Zhou Dynasty are such that the army must be followed by the supervisory army representing the emperor. If the supervisory army has objections to the commander's behavior, he will put forward his opinions and has the right to report to the emperor.
, this is also a measure to restrict the behavior of generals. Yang Jun feels that instead of letting those palace servants who do not understand military affairs but like to point fingers as supervisors, it is better to let Bai Qi follow him. After all, Bai Qi is a person who understands military affairs.
, he won’t make random decisions on combat strategies. Moreover, Bai Qi actually has a very good reputation, so Yang Jun believes that he will not play against himself.
"Okay, okay. Vice Commander Bai, thank you for your hard work. Brothers, thank you for your hard work. I'm here, and I'm here for the Northern Expedition. I brought the emperor's imperial edict, and I will convey it to all the generals later." Yang Jun laughed.
road.
"Well, please get on your horse, Privy Minister Yang, and we'll talk about it after we go into the city. Regarding matters in the army, please report to Privy Councilor Yang in detail." Bai Qi bowed and said.
Yang Jun nodded, turned around to get on his horse, but turned around and said seriously: "Please call me Marshal from today on. My job here is that of Grand Marshal of the Northern Expeditionary Army, not a Privy Councilor of the imperial court."
"Those in humble rank obey the orders of the marshal!" everyone said in unison.
Yang Jun smiled and got on his horse. All the generals mounted their horses one after another and gathered around Yang Jun. They galloped into the city amidst the rumble of hoofbeats.
…
Xiongzhou City is one of the important towns on the Yanyun border. Although it is still a hundred miles away from the border with the Liao people, this does not prevent Xiongzhou from becoming one of the most important cities on the northern border. To the north of Xiongzhou is Bazhou Rong
The military towns such as Zhou Baozhou that directly faced the Liao people, and Xiongzhou behind them played an important role in their backing and became a powerful support point for the frontier towns. Xiongzhou could not only station troops to support several border towns.
, it has also become the most important transfer station for the storage of grain and grass and the replenishment of weapons, armor and combat supplies. A large number of soldiers and combat supplies can be delivered to various required locations in the front within one day. And from Xiongzhou to the territory of Dazhou,
It is connected to Gaoyang Prefecture and Hejian Prefecture in the south, and Zhending Prefecture in the west. Materials and soldiers from these prefectures can also be transported to Xiongzhou nearby for transit.
Because of this, Xiongzhou has become an extremely important city in the border town of Yanyun. In order to consolidate the defense system of the Yanyun border, Xiongzhou City has been expanded eight times in the more than 100 years since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty. It was forcibly expanded.
What was originally a small county called Xiong'an County has expanded into a huge military town that can accommodate hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians and has a radius of more than ten miles. The tall city walls, complete defense system, and large amounts of supplies and soldiers in the city have made Xiong'an a huge city.
Zhoucheng became like a huge beast with teeth and claws, entrenched on the Jizhong Plain. And because it was not in the most border town, the war with the Liao Kingdom could not directly spread here, so compared with other border towns and cities
It gave me an extra sense of security amid the tension, so it actually attracted many businessmen to come here to do business.
The entire city is also very prosperous. This is very rare among the many cities in border towns where wars are frequent.
In fact, given the size of Xiongzhou, it could have been upgraded to a prefecture. However, a border town is a border town after all. If there is a war, it may become deserted overnight. That is why the imperial court did not upgrade it from a prefectural city to a prefectural city.
In the past three months, Xiongzhou City has been more lively than ever before. In these three months, the number of soldiers and horses in Xiongzhou City alone has increased by 300,000 out of thin air. Border troops from all over the
The 300,000 carefully selected Northern Expeditionary Forces gathered here. On the two huge school grounds in the east and north of the city, densely packed soldiers were practicing combat formations every day, and the shouts of killing were deafening.
In addition, in the past three months, vehicles and supplies have been arriving in Xiongzhou City from various places in a steady stream, like going to a market. A large amount of supplies are transported here every day. The large area of Xiong'an in the south and west of Xiongzhou City
Hundreds of warehouses in the warehouse were almost bursting with these supplies. A large number of siege equipment that had never been seen before also came from the source, occupying a large amount of space in the warehouse square in the south of the city.
Of course, the soldiers and civilians in Xiongzhou City will not remain indifferent to this. They are all sensitively aware that something big is about to happen. A big battle is about to be fought.
At about o'clock in the morning of March 21, the whole city's attention was drawn to the Xiongzhou Beicheng Campus. There, Yang Junzheng, the privy envoy of the Third Zhou Dynasty who had just arrived on the third day, came on stage to review the 300,000 soldiers of the Northern Expedition and held a swearing-in ceremony.
Although ordinary people and Wugan people were prohibited from entering Beijiaochang, many people still ventured to climb the walls of the North City and watched the grand scene at Beijiaochang from a distance.
Black soldiers and horses are like dark clouds connecting to the sky. Countless war horses and vehicles are arranged in a huge formation, majestic. Thousands of catapults, crossbows, siege vehicles, Yunxiao vehicles and fuel trucks are the most advanced large vehicles.
Zhou's military equipment gathered on the school grounds. The overwhelming dragon flags fluttered in the windy and sandy weather from the north in late March.
Yang Jun climbed up to the high platform and saw the huge and elite soldiers and horses in front of him. He was very excited. Although he had experienced no less than a hundred battles, large and small, this time Yang Jun personally commanded the largest number, the most sophisticated equipment, and the soldiers.
The most elite soldier and horse. Under the blue sky and white clouds, in the strong wind of the hunting north, Yang Jun saw this majestic soldier and horse in front of him, and his heart suddenly filled with pride. He seemed to have returned to the place where Xixia was pacified many years ago.
In the scene, he was strong and full of confidence at that time. He led the Zhou soldiers and horses to sweep across the Xixia army. While winning the victory, he also won a huge reputation and won the glory and wealth for the rest of his life. Although he was comfortable
It had been so many years, but every time Yang Jun dreamed back at night, he would still dream of galloping on the battlefield and leading his army to fight the enemy. He dreamed of returning to the battlefield countless times, killing the enemy with blood and making achievements.
As he grows older, he misses those days more and more.
Now, everything in front of me seems to have made my dream come true. Attacking Liao was something I never dared to think about before, but now the burden has truly fallen on my shoulders. This is a huge pressure,
It also made Yang Jun's blood begin to boil, and the soul eager to fight in his body was reviving. Yang Jun was such a person. As long as he was on the battlefield, he became extremely energetic. As long as he was on horseback, he
He will be as agile as a young man. He is a natural leader, and there seems to be a gene in his bones and blood that is innately eager to fight.
"Commander, please inspect the troops and horses. Give the flag and go on the expedition." Deputy Commander Bai Qi reminded Yang Jun in his ear.
Yang Jun nodded slightly, walked to the stage, swung his cloak coolly, put his hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist, coughed, and said loudly: "My fellow soldiers of Great Zhou! I am Yang Jun, your marshal!"
Yang Jun's voice was not loud. It was impossible for the 300,000 troops to hear him. Only a small number of soldiers and horses in front of the stage could hear Yang Jun's voice. But it didn't matter. People didn't care whether they could hear it or not at the moment.
Yang Jun's voice and the scene before him were enough to make every soldier excited. Everyone was proud to be a member of this elite army. It didn't matter what the coach said. But in fact, there was someone who repeated Yang Jun's words.
Going all the way to the far end of the formation, it's not difficult to figure out what the coach is saying.
"Dear warriors of the Great Zhou Dynasty, today we take the oath to march to the battlefield. In this situation, I see the tall and straight figures of the soldiers, as strong as dragons and tigers, and I am very moved. 2
Fifteen years ago, this was the scene when I swore to go out to conquer the Xixia tribes in the northwest. At that time, I led the 200,000 Northwest Xiang troops. Since then, I have led the 200,000 brothers
Crossing the northwest, sweeping through the Xixia tribes, defeating hundreds of thousands of Li Xuanhao's cavalry, and quelling the rebellion of the Xixia tribes. That battle lasted for several years. I will not hide it from you. Countless brothers died on the northwest battlefield.
Some people couldn't even find their corpses, which became fertilizer for nourishing the grass in the northwest. Some people lost their hands, feet, eyes, and became disabled. They lived a miserable life for the rest of their lives. However, it was also after that battle.
, there are countless people who have made meritorious deeds, been promoted to high positions, and are respected by the people of our great Zhou Dynasty. This includes me."
Yang Jun talked about the past, his words revealed deep emotions, and the look on his face became extremely serious.
"I heard a lot of people talking about me behind my back, saying that 'one general makes a thousand bones dry', saying that everything I have today was obtained with the blood of my soldiers. I do not deny this. However,
I also told everyone that everything I have was gained through bloody battles. I was not injured anywhere from head to toe. In which battle did I not take the lead and rush to the front? I am not dead, that is
God has favored me. What I have today is not only a gift from my brothers, but also a result of the scars all over my body. I have always believed that in this world, if you want to live a good life, you have to live it yourself.
Fight hard. If you want to become a person respected by the world, you have to fight hard yourself. If you want your wife, children, and children to live happily, you have to fight hard yourself. Although it is unfortunate to die on the battlefield, at least you have fought hard. Everyone has to die.
Dying on the battlefield is the most manly way to die. Just like me, I could have enjoyed happiness in the capital, but I am still standing with you at this moment. Because I don’t want to die in bed, which is the greatest honor for a soldier
It's not anything else, but a corpse wrapped in horse leather. The greatest glory of a soldier is not to show off the rewards, not to have high-ranking officials and generous salaries, but to have scars all over his body. This commander does not regard me as the Privy Council of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
And the greatest honor I feel, the honor I most deserve to show off is this."
While Yang Jun was talking, he suddenly reached out and pulled the buckle of his cloak, and the cloak flew away. Yang Jun waved, and two guards beside him stepped forward and quickly removed his armor. Yang Jun grabbed the jacket in the armor.
With a strong tug and a tear, the clothes were torn, revealing Yang Jun's entire upper body. Although the body had been pampered for many years and became a little bloated and fair, the dense scars on the body were clearly visible. There was a scar on the vital part of the chest.
The eye-catching huge wounds are extremely dazzling. In addition, there are countless red scars on the chest, abdomen, arms, back, shoulders and elbows.
He didn't lie, and all the scars on his body proved what he just said. He didn't die on the battlefield, it was just God's blessing.
Yang Jun's shirtless appearance looked a bit undignified, but it made everyone stand in awe. Although people in the world have countless criticisms and misunderstandings about him, and there are all kinds of slanderous remarks about him. However, Yang Jun can be where he is today.
, it is indeed something he fought for with his life. He is qualified to sit in the high position today, and that is the reward he deserves.
"Gentlemen, look at these generals on the stage. They are able to become the leading generals in the army today. They did not get it by other means. They have worked hard for everything. Generals, please reveal your upper body and let all
Brothers, look at the scars on your bodies."
Dozens of generals on the stage took off their armor and shirts and lined up in a row. The scene was like a group of male models showing off their bodies in a bodybuilding competition, but their bodies were covered with scars and crisscrossed sword wounds.
Shocking. For each of the carefully selected leading generals, everything they have today is not obtained out of thin air, but through hard work. This is also the most important reason why they were selected by Yang Jun. What Yang Jun wants is
People who are not afraid of death and can fight, not pampered losers.
This kind of motivation is unparalleled, and no way of motivation can be as intuitive as this moment. Although Yang Jun did not say impassioned words, but used such an alternative method, which seemed to be clarifying something, but in fact this is exactly what he said.
It is a kind of motivation. This kind of motivation not only shortens the distance between the generals and the officers and soldiers, but also makes the soldiers not feel like they are about to become cannon fodder. Instead, they have a kind of motivation to fight. Everyone says that Yang Jun leads the army with great
Fang, what does it mean to lead with a method? This is one way.
"Gentlemen, we are about to go on an expedition today. We have to go all the way north, north, and north again. The enemies we encounter may be more powerful than what I encountered back then, but the more powerful the enemy, the more powerful we are.
Defeat them, kill them, trample them mercilessly, this is our goal. Maybe you will die on the battlefield, I want to say, that is your glory. Maybe you will be injured or disabled, that is also yours
Glory. I cannot guarantee that all of you are alive and unscathed, but I can guarantee that even if you die in battle, even if you are injured, you will still be admired by others. Your family will also receive generous compensation, and you will have no worries about food and clothing. But I
What Shuai hopes more is that you can bravely kill the enemy, defeat the opponent, and return triumphantly. By then, every scar on your body will be proof of your qualifications to be promoted to a noble rank. Every bloody battle will be
It is your capital that is admired by the world. Don't worry that we will fail. Look at our soldiers and horses. We have the best siege equipment in the world, the strongest armor, the sharpest swords and guns, and the most powerful crossbows.
You are the most elite soldiers of our Great Zhou Dynasty. And don’t forget that you also have me. I have never been defeated in my life, and the person who defeated me has not yet been born. With me as your coach, it is
Your blessing is your luck. As long as you follow my orders to the letter, I will lead you to sweep across the Northland and return in triumph. Our Zhou army will surely win!"
Yang Jun waved his palms and made sweeping moves. His tone was impassioned and his words were simple and provocative. He understood the psychology of the soldiers well, so almost every sentence focused on their worries or made them angry.
The exciting point. The so-called good leader is not only good at fighting, but also good at doing ideological work and good at boosting morale. Undoubtedly, Yang Jun has achieved this.
"Must win! Must win! Must win!"
The 300,000-strong army made a roaring sound that resounded through the sky. Their shouts could be heard throughout Xiongzhou City. They rolled past like thunder, causing everyone in the streets and cities to stand still and listen.
.
"Give the flag and go to war!" When the shouting stopped, Yang Jun said no more and gave the order in a deep voice.
Groups of soldiers and horses passed by the review platform. The leading generals took the flags from Yang Jun and Bai Qi and led their troops out of the school grounds. The 80,000 cavalry team was followed by the 150,000 infantry team. Then came the 70,000 baggage.
The procession: large siege equipment pulled by horses, catapults and crossbows loaded on large flat carts passed by in sequence. Finally, there was a long line of grain and grass and baggage vehicles that stretched as far as the eye could see.
At the end of March, on the vast land of the north, on the official road of the border town where yellow sand danced, this army, which carried all the hopes of Emperor Guo Xu of the Great Zhou Dynasty and controlled the ups and downs of the country of the Great Zhou Dynasty, officially went to the front line.
The national war with great fanfare and unknown outcome has officially begun.
