A few months later, Li Xuan once again bid farewell to Queen Mother Bai, Dong Yunyun and others, and personally led the army to the expedition. Unlike the last time when the Ming army attacked and the expedition was hasty, this time they went on the expedition after several months.
Preparation.
After returning from Longhua Town last time, Li Xuan and the emperors and ministers of the Tang Dynasty prepared for the next war. Especially after heavy rains destroyed up to one-third of the cultivated fields, the entire Tang Dynasty entered a state of chaos.
Preparation for war.
The preparations in the past few months have been fruitful. Not only have they completed the transformation from a half-civilian, half-bandit army to a professional army, they have established a new professional army organization, and the level of equipment has been further improved, including armor, shields, spears, and weapons.
Cold weapons such as bows have been standardized and unified, and there is no such mess as in the past when weapons throughout the army were in disarray.
What's more important is that both musketeers are also equipped with muskets!
The weapons workshop worked almost day and night, and even in order to meet the iron needed to make muskets, Huang Zhushan even melted almost all the replaced miscellaneous weapons, so as to avoid the lack of iron and being unable to make muskets and bayonets.
Embarrassing situation.
Not only were the two musketeers fully equipped with muskets, but there were also seven or eight more muskets. The extra muskets in this part were equipped by Li Xuan's bodyguards.
Anyway, Li Xuan's bodyguards have no restrictions on the types of soldiers. They also wear cotton armor, long waist knives and small shields. Nowadays, it is no big deal to equip them with muskets.
On the day when the new army of the Tang Dynasty set out for the expedition, all the old, weak, women and children from all over Huangzhu Mountain came out to see them off. Originally, Li Xuan would have thought that the farewell scene would be more touching or even sad.
Because when he left the palace in the morning, both Empress Dowager Bai and Dong Yunyun were quite worried about his safety. Dong Yunyun even cried, while Empress Dowager Bai told Li Xuan very clearly that she would run away if the opportunity went wrong.
Staying alive is the most important thing.
And her number one warrior 'Xia Ma' was once again sent to Li Xuan's side. The focus was not on taking care of Li Xuan's daily life. This was not Xia Ma's strength. Her biggest role was to carry Li Xuan on her back to escape at critical moments.
, when it comes to the skill of carrying someone to escape, strong men like Butcher Chen are not as good as Xia Ma.
Not only is she physically strong, she also has the endurance unique to rural women who work all year round. She may not be able to defeat those strong men, but when carrying things on her back for a long-distance attack, both Butcher Chen and Cai Erhu have to be defeated.
She is a capable person who can carry Huichen on her back for a whole day, and Li Xuan's weight is not much heavier than Huichen's.
Then Empress Dowager Bai dismissed Li Xuan and personally lectured Li Xuan's guards. Li Xuan didn't know what she said, but judging from the faces of the guards, she probably didn't say anything nice, but was nothing more than a threat.
Temptation!
No need to guess, Li Xuan also knew that if something happened to him, he would definitely go crazy, and it would not be impossible to kill all the family members of these guards.
However, unlike Empress Dowager Bai who was worried about Li Xuan's safety, the family members of the ordinary soldiers did not pretend to be girlish. Instead, they all encouraged their sons or husbands.
"Remember to grab more food and bring it back!"
"Don't fall behind when the time comes. Run fast so you can grab the good things! If you run slow, others will grab the good things!"
"My son, you are twenty years old and you are still a bachelor. If you don't get a wife this time, I will not recognize you as my son!"
Listening to what these people said, Li Xuan felt a little embarrassed for a while!
They are both mothers, so why is there such a big difference? Their mothers always encourage them to grab more things, but Queen Mother Bai tells him to run away when he needs to, to save his life!
Zeng Ziwen, who was standing next to him, was quite shocked. This was the first time he saw such an expedition. Instead of worrying about the safety of their children, these family members encouraged the soldiers who went on the expedition one by one. However, what they said was not disappointing.
They won the battle, but let them take back more things.
These bandits!
Zeng Ziwen recalled that when he led his army on an expedition last year, the cries were earth-shattering. The mothers and wives of the soldiers burst into tears, and his own soldiers turned around three times every step. The scene was like attending a funeral!
Encouraged by their family members, the Huangzhushan bandits embarked on a mighty journey. This time, not only all the elite of the Tang Dynasty King's army were dispatched, but they also mobilized about two hundred young men, who were previously in the standing army.
The bandits served as militiamen and transport personnel.
The Tang Dynasty King's Division that went out in this way had about 350 soldiers and 200 civilians, for a total of about 550 people. Although the total number of people was not as good as the previous expedition, the actual combat effectiveness was very different.
The army marched out of the mountain in a mighty manner. It was naturally impossible to hide from the Ming army's spies. The bandits in Huangzhushan knew that they left spies outside Longhua Town and Zhengtai County to observe day and night. The Ming army was not stupid either. There were many soldiers on the edge of the mountain.
Checkpoints are set up on the roads to detect warnings in advance.
Therefore, as soon as the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty arrived at the edge of the mountain, he was discovered by the Ming army!
Looking at the checkpoint at his feet that had been abandoned by the Ming army, Li Xuan knew that the Ming army at this checkpoint had already escaped in advance, and the news that the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty had come out was expected to spread throughout Longhua Town and Zhengtai County within a day.
But that doesn't matter!
He didn't expect to be able to come and leave secretly this time. If they were sneaky and the Ming army didn't even know they were coming out of the mountain, how could they contain the Ming army in Longhua Town and Zhengtai County?
"Send the order to set up camp in advance today and set off again early tomorrow morning!" Li Xuan looked at the time and saw that it was already close to three or four o'clock in the afternoon. If he continued forward, he would be beyond the vast mountains. It was not a good place to spend the night.
.
Fang Dongquan and Qian Mengjiu naturally took care of everything about setting up camp. As for Li Xuan himself, he studied a simple map to figure out where to go next!
At this time, outside the mountains, a skinny horse was galloping wildly in the wilderness. This knight knew from his appearance that he was a soldier of the Ming Army. He went straight to Longhua Town without any pause on the road.
By evening, almost the entire Ming army in Longhua Town knew: the puppet Tang bandits were out!
That night, someone called Su Jiakang while he was still sleeping. As soon as he got up, Luo Mazi outside looked panicked and said: "Sir, it's not good!"
"Those bloody bandits are coming!"
Upon hearing this, Su Jiakang was stunned for a moment, and then said: "What kind of thief army came over? Is it the puppet Tang thief army?"
Luo Mazi continued with a horrified look on his face: "Yes, it's them. In the afternoon, the sentinels in the mountains discovered that many puppet Tang rebels were out of the mountains. As soon as the young one got the news, he immediately rushed back from Longhua Town overnight!"
Luo Mazi still seemed to be in panic, and even spoke a little impatiently!
Su Jiakang glanced at the loser who was sent to Longhua Town to monitor the movements of the puppet Tang rebel army at all times, and then said: "Why are you panicking? Tell me carefully, how many people are there in the puppet Tang rebel army, and where are they now?