The Sanbai Mountains in the south of Anyuan County are full of mountains, cliffs, rocks and streams. The mountains within a radius of hundreds of miles are covered with dense forests, ancient trees towering into the sky, and giant vines hanging upside down, blocking out the sun.
The Jiulongzhang in the northwest stretches for more than 30 miles from east to west, with nine peaks standing tall and winding ridges, like a barrier. According to legend, this is the place where nine real dragons spit pearls.
Above the misty main peak of Jiulongzhang, a large flag with the Chinese character "Gu" was flying. Nine golden dragons were embroidered in a messy pattern all around the flag, which looked out of place.
Five miles down the mountain, on a relatively flat hill, there are two large flags with the words "Ma" and "Cui" flying.
The area of the hill is limited, but because there is no other suitable place to camp around, Cui Feng and Ma Yongzhen's troops can only squeeze here together.
A few days ago at Jiashuikou on the west side of Anyuan County, Ma Yongzhen had a small victory over Gu Xiancheng, so Gu Xiancheng retreated to Jiulongzhang overnight.
The Jiulongzhang mountains are like a screen, easy to defend but difficult to attack. The government covers the four towns of Xinshan, Xinlong, Fengshan and Zhengang. It is only 20 to 30 miles away from Anyuan County and about 50 to 60 miles away from Xunmei County in the southeast.
From the perspective of terrain, occupying Jiulongzhang is very advantageous for Gu Xiancheng. As long as he holds the dangerous position and occasionally sends small groups of troops to the four towns to plunder through the dangerous mountain paths, he can compete with Ma Yongzhen and Cui Feng in attrition. Once Ma and Cui can no longer consume the enemy's resources, he can attack Anyuan or Xunmei.
In view of the fact that the terrain of Jiulongzhang was easy to defend but difficult to attack, and the fact that the two men had once become bandits together, Ma Yongzhen intended to recruit Gu Xiancheng and sent people to the mountain to recruit him several times.
However, Cui Feng believed that people like Gu Xiancheng were rapists and robbers and should be completely eliminated to prevent them from repeating themselves in the future. He himself was ashamed to associate with people like Gu Xiancheng, and he was very dissatisfied with Ma Yongzhen sending people to the mountains to recruit him.
The two main generals had different opinions, and the war was not going well. The two armies were divided into factions and were not subordinate to each other. It was inevitable that there would be conflicts when they were crowded on the small hill. Quarrels and fights between the soldiers of both sides occurred every day.
"Bang!"
The military drum in front of Ma Yongzhen's tent was suddenly kicked down, and then Cui Feng rushed in with several of his men.
Ma Yongzhen was discussing matters in his tent. Ma Liuliang and Han Xiu, two other centurions, were furious when they heard the noise. They drew their swords and rushed out to meet him. Ma Liuliang shouted, "Cui, what do you want to do? Do you think I'm easy to mess with?"
"Ma Yongzhen, let's encircle and suppress Gu Xiancheng together, and the food and grass are all provided by Lord Qin. As a result, your men eat dry rice, while my men eat thin porridge. What the hell do you mean?" Cui Feng ignored Ma Liuliang and went straight to Ma Yongzhen with murderous intent.
Several of his men also drew their swords, and the two sides were on the verge of a fight.
Ma Yongzhen stood up from behind the commander's desk, glanced at the people confronting each other in the tent and said calmly: "The supply of food and grass in the army is becoming increasingly tight. From today on, the troops responsible for attacking the mountain can eat their fill, and those who stay in the camp to rest will only be provided with two meals of porridge. Today it is the turn of my troops to attack the mountain..."
"Attack the mountain? What a joke." Cui Feng interrupted Ma Yongzhen without any hesitation, "When did your men go up to pretend to attack the mountain? When did they really attack the mountain? Since you said so, let my men attack the mountain today. We will eat dry rice and you will drink thin water."
Ma Yongzhen remained calm on the surface, but anger was burning in his heart. He replied coldly: "The army has its own rules. How can you do whatever you want? Do you think this march and fighting is a joke?"
"Bullshit about rules and regulations. Your rules and regulations have nothing to do with me. Aren't you bent on recruiting your former colleagues? Then I won't accompany you anymore. I will lead my men back to Anyuan County first, and you can slowly recruit your colleagues." After Cui Feng finished speaking, he turned around and left with several of his men. Ma Liuliang and others were so angry that they started cursing. If Ma Yongzhen hadn't stopped them, they would have rushed up to hack people.
There was another person in the big tent, that was Wang Gong, the governor of Bingbei Province. He watched coldly, ignoring the conflict between the two sides, as if it had nothing to do with him.
Of course, it really had nothing to do with him. Although he was nominally a provincial governor and all the soldiers in Ganzhou were under his jurisdiction, neither Ma Yongzhen nor Cui Feng paid any attention to him and just treated him as a prisoner.
Qin Mu asked Ma Yongzhen to take charge of the suppression of bandits, and at the same time asked Wang Gong to "preside over the suppression of bandits". In fact, he was just worried that Wang Gong would play some tricks while he was away from Huichang, so he simply sent him to "suppress the bandits". Wang Gong was very clear about this.
In order to avoid accidentally "dying in the line of duty" while suppressing bandits, he closed his eyes and rested in Ma Yongzhen's tent during the day, ignored the war, returned to the tent early at night to sleep, resolutely refused to walk around, and was careful everywhere. Even so, he was still worried that he would not be able to go back this time.
Wang Gong was happy to see Cui Feng and Ma Yongzhen at loggerheads. Perhaps he could do something about it. Wang Gong thought about it and made a request to Ma Yongzhen for the first time: "General Ma, I have been feeling unwell these past two days. I want to go back to Anyuan County to see a doctor. General Ma is in charge of the bandit suppression here. I am very relieved."
Are you at ease with me but I am not
Ma Yongzhen replied calmly, "Lord Wang is not feeling well, so why should he keep running back and forth? There are no famous doctors in Anyuan County, and those mediocre doctors are not as good as the military doctors in our camp. I will call the military doctors to come and treat you."
Ma Yongzhen's tone was cold. Wang Gong frowned tightly, then lowered his eyelids and said, "Then I'll have to trouble General Ma." After saying this, he was like an old monk in meditation, and the little thought that had just sprouted in his mind disappeared.
Qin Mu, who had just returned to Huichang, soon heard about the falling out between Ma Yongzhen and Cui Feng. This incident had a great impact on Qin Mu, and he became more eager to cultivate his own true descendants.
At present, people like Meng Ke and Ma Yongzhen appear to be following his lead, but Qin Mu himself is not sure about their loyalty. As the saying goes, you can never know a person's heart through his appearance. Qin Mu wants to recruit these people as his team, so why is it possible that they are using him to build up their own power
Qin Mu did not deliberately try to reconcile the Meng Ke faction and the Ma Yongzhen faction. It was more beneficial for him to keep a balance between the two factions. Besides that, he wanted to cultivate his own true lineage, and he had been doing so with all his efforts.
Liu Meng, Su Jin, and Xiang Liancheng, the three centurions, are all his true subordinates. Qin Mu intends to equip the 120 men under Liu Meng with hot weapons, but the hot weapons have not been made yet;
Su Jin's 120 men were to be trained into elite cavalry;
The most important thing is Xiang Liancheng's 120 men. This is the group that Qin Mu has put the most effort into. Strictly speaking, this group is not soldiers. Qin Mu is training these 120 men according to the model of training officers.
In the future, once these people are spread out, they will be able to form a solid network in the army, providing strong guarantees for Qin Mu to truly control his troops.
The key is the direct lineage. Without direct lineage of their own, even if Meng Ke and others have no disloyalty now, they will definitely have it in the future.
Once a person's strength reaches a certain level, who would be willing to submit to a person without strength
So after hearing that Ma Yongzhen and Cui Feng were in a big fight, Qin Mu just sent someone to pass on an order, asking Cui Feng to obey Ma Yongzhen's command and eliminate Gu Xiancheng as soon as possible;
Not only did he not intend to rush to Jiulongzhang, but he devoted himself more urgently to the daily training of Qianhu Suo, especially the training of Xiang Liancheng's 120 men.
Early in the morning, just as the sky began to turn pale in the east, thousands of soldiers were already standing in the parade ground of Huichang Qianhu Suo like a wall, their neat formation as if cut by a knife. Except for the flags fluttering in the morning breeze, the parade ground was completely silent, and the solemn feeling was suffocating.
Qin Mu was fully armed, with a sword hanging from his waist as he rode out. The clanging of his hooves struck the hearts of thousands of soldiers. He galloped back and forth in front of the army, suddenly drew his sword and pointed it, shouting loudly: "Tell me, what is your military oath?"
The soldiers then shouted in unison, their voices shaking the sky: "We must resolutely obey the command of Lord Qin, faithfully perform our military duties, strictly observe discipline, always be prepared, care about our comrades, and work together in unity. We must love the people and the nation, not be afraid of sacrifice, and would rather die than surrender. We must not betray our companions, nor inform on the enemy, and remember our duties, honor, and loyalty."
This is the military oath that the soldiers repeat many times every day. They have to take the oath before starting a day of training, before eating, and before going to bed. Qin Mu wants to use this kind of fatigue bombing method to transform the soldiers' thoughts.
It is important for an army to be brave and good at fighting, but its loyalty is even more important. Otherwise, no matter how well you train them, it will be in vain.
After the oath, each team started intense training in units of 100 households. Qin Mu led Xiang Liancheng's "training camp" out of the 1,000-household unit and suddenly announced after arriving at a valley: "Today we are going to simulate an encounter battle. Han Gang will be the commander of the red team, and Li Chen will be the commander of the blue team."
Han Gang and Li Chen were just ordinary soldiers. No one was surprised when they were suddenly appointed as commanders by Qin Mu, because such things were commonplace in the "Teaching Brigade".
When Qin Mu called their names, the two men quickly stepped out and saluted: "Please give your orders, sir."
"Immediately, each of you will take half of your troops to the two sides of the valley. During this time, you two must select your respective combat backbones, check your equipment, organize your combat formations, and formulate a combat plan. Remember, this is an encounter battle, and you will not have extra time to slowly figure it out. Now take your troops to your positions and the exercise will begin."
"Yes, sir." Han Gang and Li Chen saluted each other, then turned around quickly and each led half of their troops to the north and south entrances of the valley.
While running towards the valley entrance, Han Gang kept shouting, "Li Nong, Hao Liu, Shang Sandao, Wu Guan, and Xie Mingtang will each be the squad leader. The archers will be commanded by Li Nong and Wu Guan, the sword and shield soldiers will be commanded by Xie Mingtang and Shang Sandao, and Hao Liu will be in charge of the spearmen. Arrange the formation immediately, quickly..."
The same thing happened on Li Chen's side. He led the team at a gallop while appointing key commanders. In the flying dust, both sides raced against time and shouted loudly. The level of tension was no less than a real battle.
During each actual combat exercise, the usual organizational structure would be disrupted. The original squad leaders, platoon leaders, and general flags would no longer exist. Qin Mu would temporarily appoint the two main generals, who would then appoint their own combat backbones. Sometimes Qin Mu would even join the battle as an ordinary soldier. This had become a common practice.
Qin Mu originally intended to train these "training camp" as officers. In addition to imparting cultural knowledge and basic combat theories, he also paid great attention to their ability in organizing logistics, commanding operations, and making decisions on the spot.
Once Li Chen and Han Gang were appointed as commanders by Qin Mu, they held absolute authority. Even if they were former centurions or generals, anyone who disobeyed his orders would be executed immediately. This was definitely not a joke.
Since Qin Mu defined this exercise as an encounter, neither side had time to make detailed arrangements, so it all depended on the commander's ability to respond.
Han Gang led his troops to the southern valley entrance and immediately shouted, "Li Nong, Wu Guan, lead the archers to seize the hillsides on both sides and shoot down the enemy quickly! Xie Mingtang and Shang Sandao lead the sword and shield soldiers to provide support from both wings, Hao Liu lead the spearmen to follow me to the center palace, kill the generals and seize the flag, quickly!"
The arrangement on Li Chen's side was clearer. All the troops were united as one, with spearmen as the vanguard, and they attacked with all their might.
Qin Mu stopped his horse at the side and watched the two groups of people and horses collide quickly, with the sound of killing. The two people's formations had their own advantages and disadvantages, which were quickly reflected in the collision;
Han Gang's side occupied the hillsides on both sides and arrows rained down. Anyone who was shot and had lime on their bodies had to withdraw from the battle according to the rules. Although Li Chen kept ordering shields to cover both wings, when the two sides collided, Li Chen's side still lost a quarter of its men.
But even with heavy casualties, when they collided, Li Chen's frontal forces still had an absolute advantage and instantly broke through Han Gang's formation. Seeing that the spearmen and sword and shield men could not hold on, Han Gang hurriedly ordered the archers on the two hillsides to abandon their bows and switch to swords and kill them down, but it was too late.
Under the combined attack of Li Chen's superior forces, Han Gang's front formation was in chaos. Li Chen took the lead and rushed towards the enemy's flag, howling. Before Han Gang's archers could return to support, the flag had been lost.
This encounter took less than an incense stick of time from the time Qin Mu selected his generals to the end of the battle, but this was not the point. The point was the subsequent post-battle experience summary, which took a full hour.
Every soldier must express his or her own opinion on the battle, re-enact the battle process on the spot, and add various strategies and plans that are conducive to victory, so that the next time a similar battle occurs, they can quickly make the most thorough arrangements and come up with the most rational combat plan.
This is the main way Qin Mu trains them. For this training camp, personal bravery is secondary, and organizational command ability is their main learning subject.
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ps: Hao Yuan stayed up until two in the morning last night and typed out four thousand words, which is considered a big chapter in Hao Yuan's book. Because I have to attend the full moon banquet of my old classmate's daughter today, there will be no update in the evening. I would like to apologize to all the book friends here.
Well, let's go see what my old classmate's daughter looks like. Damn, if I'm still single after more than ten years, I'll definitely wait for her daughter on the way home from school. Little sister, uncle... ... er, I should call you uncle, uncle, can I take you to see the goldfish? Goldfish have big eyes, so cute... ... ...
I hope everyone will vote for bachelors!
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