Outside the town commander's house, a large group of people crowded in the doorway, blocking the road. There were not only the remnants of the imperial army who were recuperating in Wuqi Town, but also many local elderly, weak, women and children. People flocked here with different feelings.
This was obviously done by Yang Biao and the others. If he hadn't spread the news and asked everyone to come to Li Desheng's house, there wouldn't have been so many people gathered in such a short time. Except for a few dozen remnants of the imperial guards, these old and weak people who were almost abandoned usually lived quietly. Suddenly they gathered together, and it was discovered that there were so many people, at least hundreds. At a glance, all you could see were gray hair and cloth wrapped around the head. It seemed that women liked to wrap their hair with cloth handkerchiefs before going out.
Seeing that Li Desheng was about to speak, Guo Shao stepped forward, clasped his fists and saluted, and shouted loudly: Fellow villagers,
Suddenly, everyone looked over. It seemed as if everyone was looking at him. Guo Shao hadn't been in such an occasion for a long time, so he was a little nervous. He cleared his throat and said, "The Khitans went south this time to take advantage of the emptiness of the main force of the Zhaoyi Army following the official army to attack Jinyang, and they roamed around and harassed. I was honored by the general Li, the town commander, to serve as the deputy town commander to assist in defense." After saying that, seeing that Li Desheng frowned and had no intention of refutation, Guo Shao ignored it.
He continued loudly: "A month ago, we came here to recuperate. The people of Wuqi Town provided us with shelter and clothing, and gave us food and water despite the difficulties at home. A real man should repay you with a spring of gratitude. You guys are so sincere to me, and I am deeply grateful. Today, we need you brothers. How can we stand by and watch
People were quiet, no noise, no cheers, just like this shabby town with a gloomy atmosphere. But they were all listening.
Guo Shao's eyes swept over the remnants of the imperial guards and shouted: "In the battle of Gaoping, Zhang Yuanhui, the most powerful general of the Northern Han army, rushed into my ranks and was killed by me on the spot. I have two brothers who were surrounded by enemy soldiers and killed countless enemies with one against ten. The official and the commander of the Palace Front Department, Zhang Du, once commended him personally and said that he should be appointed as the commander. When mentioning the emperor and high-ranking officials in public, Guo Shao saluted to the north with a fist. Acknowledging the authority of the court was to emphasize his own authority. He continued, "Now that all the soldiers are stationed in Wuqi Town, they have different affiliations. In times of crisis, should we disperse or reorganize into an army? If there are military officials with higher ranks than me who are willing to stand up and command the soldiers, speak now."
Since there is no one, Guo will take over the military power of the scattered soldiers stationed in Wuqi Town from now on. I have a list of wounded soldiers stationed in Wuqi Town. Those who stay are still the imperial guards; those who want to run away are deserters. What happened today will be reported to the Palace Front Department in the future. Guo Shao did not allow others to argue, and he certainly did not want the limited number of soldiers to decrease again.
The troops were silent, and no one was willing to stand up and oppose.
Guo Shao was very satisfied with this, and immediately incited the people: I know there are many veterans here. You have served your country all your lives and have been fighting for others. Now the barbarians want to trample on your homes, kill and humiliate your relatives. It's time to fight for yourself. The Khitans of Liao have burned, killed and looted. As everyone knows, if you don't fight, you will die. Pick up weapons and use your last bit of blood to protect your families, comrades and brothers and sisters. I feel honored to be able to fight to the death with you on the battlefield to protect the land and the people.
Gradually, many gray-haired people stood out from the crowd. Some said: "I have served in the army and killed people. Count me in. I don't have much time to live anyway. If I die, I die."
Guo Shao took the opportunity to say: Since all the villagers think that I can take on this task, it is reasonable and legal for me to issue a conscription order in Wuqi Town for the purpose of preparing for war.
He immediately issued the first conscription order, selecting those who were still able to serve in the army to help with the defense, and every household was required to provide food and grain to repair the fortifications. He made it clear in front of everyone in the town, and the town commander Li Desheng did not object on the spot, so the matter was settled in no time.
Li Desheng had no choice but to agree to the method proposed by Guo Shao before. He took people to Luzhou to purchase supplies and left his servants to help govern the people.
Those old men who claimed to have served in the army were all at least fifty years old; there were no young and strong men in this place, and young and strong men would not be sent to Wuqi Town. Guo Shao and others could only lower the standard for selecting soldiers, picking those who looked not to be in their seventies or eighties, who walked more swiftly and were in better spirits. After a long time of selection, they got 68 people.
These old soldiers also dug out old copper and iron armor from their homes, which was better than nothing, and some even had weapons. Before leaving, the town commander was generous for once and donated his own armor, sword and bow, but only one set.
At noon, someone came to greet Guo Shao. He turned around and saw that it was Zuo You, a civilian military doctor. This man had a handsome face, a small mustache, and wore a round-necked robe, but he was very thin. Zuo You said: "I have a suggestion. Are you willing to listen to it, Mr. Guo?"
Guo Shao put down his bow and arrow and hurriedly told him to speak frankly. Zuo You said: The most urgent task is not only to organize the soldiers into a list of ranks, but also to formulate military laws and regulations as soon as possible so that rewards and punishments can be based on evidence. I am not talented, but I have written the four beheading orders, please review them, Guo Lang.
Those who disobey orders will be beheaded; those who flee from the battlefield will be beheaded; those who desert their posts without permission will be beheaded; those who take advantage of the chaos to seek personal revenge and bully the people will be beheaded.
It was simple and crude, and covered foreseeable problems. The last one even had a long-term concern. Guo Shao immediately looked at Zuo You twice more, and immediately changed his words to Mr. Zuo: Mr. Zuo, why don’t you read these four beheading orders several times in public so that the whole army will know
Seeing that he was so happy, Zuo You immediately bowed and said: I obey your command.
That afternoon, Guo Shao entrusted Zuo You to register the soldiers. Then he started to organize the soldiers. The twenty-eight recovered wounded soldiers of the imperial guards were organized into an independent team; the seventy old and weak soldiers were organized into a group, called the local soldiers. He appointed himself as the military commander, Yang Biao as the deputy military commander and the ten generals of the imperial guards, Luo Mengzi as the deputy of the long marching team; and promoted three of the ten generals from the local soldiers. Although the sparrow is small, it has all the organs. It directly created an organization and even gave Zuo You the title of marching counselor. The staff group was established, although there was only one person.
At night, Guo Shao discussed matters with his entourage. Among the four people present, Zuo You also began to participate in the conspiracy. They agreed to issue a second conscription order, requiring every household to contribute ironware to the blacksmith shop in the town. Yang Biao was responsible for training the soldiers, Guo Shao prepared materials and weapons, Zuo You and Luo Mengzi supervised the construction of fortifications.
Wuqi Town originally had a rammed earth wall, but it had collapsed and dilapidated due to years of disrepair. Now the conscription of civilians was only to dig and repair the dilapidated areas; the soil was directly used from the trench outside the wall and then rammed with clay. Yang Biao's suggestion was to add a deep ditch to the wall, and use sharpened bamboo in the ditch to increase defense; and nail wooden stakes outside the ditch. Manpower and materials were very scarce, so this was all they could do.
The north of this place is close to the mountain, on which there are trees and bamboo forests. Choose a hard bamboo of one to two zhang in length, sharpen one end, and you can make a spear. It is not as sharp and durable as an iron spear, but it is also useful. It is lighter and longer than solid wood, and can be used by infantry to fight against cavalry temporarily; if it is not durable, one person can prepare several and give them to the local soldiers who help defend.
The temporary group of old and weak soldiers had incomplete armor, and most of the armor that the old soldiers found was rusted and damaged. So they used wood and bamboo to make holes and made simple scale armor to supplement the incomplete armor. The protection was not very good, but it was better than nothing.
Two days later, he heard that Li Desheng had actually returned with two carts of things. Perhaps he was restless in Luzhou and was afraid of Li Yun's accusation. Guo Shao heard the news and went out to see. He immediately realized that this guy was definitely a miser. He brought back some scraps of copper and iron when he was at the knife's neck. Fortunately, there were a lot of coarse grains in the two mule carts. His family's wealth must be more than just buying these things. Guo Shao didn't want to argue with him, so he accepted the grain generously.
Since Li Desheng's wife and children were sent to Luzhou, there were no women in the family, so Guo Shao and others had moved to the relatively spacious Li's house as their residence. When Li Desheng returned to his home, he saw that it was full of clutter and had been completely messed up.
Guo Shao had already reviewed the terrain of Wuqi Town several times in the past two days. After welcoming Li Desheng back, he continued to discuss tactics with the people in the room:
Wuqi Town is surrounded by high mountains on one side, and is vulnerable to enemies on three sides. The wall is estimated to be nearly two miles long by foot measurement. We only have a hundred soldiers, and most of them are old and weak. If we defend it, we will not have enough troops. We have heard that the Khitans are good at field battles, so we cannot fight outside the city. We have no cavalry and lack bows and arrows for long-range battles, so we will definitely lose. The only way is to lure the enemy into the city, use the terrain of fortifications to prevent the enemy from deploying, and annihilate the enemy with the walls and alleys; so I asked the civilians to build walls on the two main roads in the center to block the roads, with this intention.
Six or seven days passed in a flash, and Wuqi Town was basically ready, but the surroundings were still dead quiet, no different from countless days. The soldiers were a little worried that the Khitan soldiers would not come. It was strange to think that the enemy's absence was a good thing, but now people were looking forward to a battle. Because everyone had been busy for many days, smashing pots and irons to build fortifications, and training to be ready for battle. If they were not useful, wouldn't it be a waste of time? As for what would be the best outcome, people didn't seem to consider it.
The soldiers were eager to fight, even the local soldiers were eager to see the battle, and there were also hundreds of laborers who reported to the city gate every day. Guo Shao set up sentry posts one mile away on all sides, and sent people to patrol day and night as scouts. There were also people on duty on the city wall every day, so everything was ready.
The old soldier also began to grumble as to why the Khitan soldiers had not yet come to stand guard outside the gate.
Guo Shao let them talk, but he certainly would not say anything like "it would be better if there is no way" so as not to dampen their enthusiasm for fighting.
In the offensive and defensive situation, the defender naturally has the advantage, but it comes at the cost of giving up the initiative; whether to fight or not depends entirely on others, and the extent of the fight is not up to oneself.