Chapter 566: Pioneer

Just after a spring news, the water level of the Liaohe River suddenly rose by more than one meter. The Liaohe River, which used to seem gentle and gentle, suddenly became ferocious. The river water rolled down with a large amount of sediment, and the clear water flowed down. The river water became extremely turbid. Xu Yuan stood on the bank of the rumbling Liao River, looking at this long river that traversed the earth, and his mood suddenly became excited, just like the long river that rolled away with great momentum.

Five years ago, he was a little-known county lieutenant in Yueyang County. He was not favored by the county magistrate and was greatly ostracized locally. During the Yan-Zhao War, he was even pushed out as a scapegoat. Yang, he even had the idea of ​​becoming a deserter but hiding his name, but fate is really a trick. This seemingly life-or-death journey led him to embark on a completely different life.

Now I am the commander of the First Army of the Northern Field Army of the Zhengdong Dudu Prefecture. I was once a small county lieutenant in Yueyang County, and now I am a senior general of the Zhengdu Dufu. I dare not say that I am famous all over the world, but in Yan State, He was definitely a person with a name, and what made him even more excited was that the journey to Zhengdong Mansion had just begun.

Western Liaoning, Hejian, and grasslands, such a vast land, are almost equivalent to another Yan country. Now, Zhengdong Mansion troops are divided into two groups and are advancing towards the vast area of ​​Liaodong controlled by Donghu. When Donghu is captured, Zhengdong will be conquered. The strength of the government will be completely superior to that of Yan State.

Xu Yuan, like Meng Chong, was both literate and literate. Although he was not as knowledgeable as Meng Chong, compared with ordinary generals, Xu Yuan could even proudly call himself a Confucian general.

After reading a book, your knowledge will naturally be different. The promulgation of a series of policies by the Zhengdong Mansion allowed him to see the leader's great ambition. He seemed to see another Qin country growing vigorously.

Most of the policies of the Zhengdong Mansion seem to be no different from those of the Qin State, but upon closer inspection, they are very different. Xu Yuan even thought of studying it carefully. Of course, it was not at this time. Now, he first needed to make all the preliminary preparations before the arrival of the group army commander Sun Xiao.

Commander! Xu Yuan was a little amused when he thought of this official position. The leader's mind was filled with countless fantastic ideas, which made it difficult for him to digest them for a while, but it didn't matter. As long as he does his own job, he will be fine, and the military system that the leader came up with has indeed made the command from top to bottom much simpler and more transparent.

However, according to the size of the army envisioned by the leader, he can only be regarded as an empty army commander now. The number of an army can reach more than 30,000 people, but now, the forwards he has brought are full. Even including the leading soldiers, there were less than 3,000 men, a difference of more than ten times.

Xu Yuan was fascinated every time he thought about the possibility of commanding an army of thirty thousand to gallop around. But after returning from the dream to reality, looking at the three or two big shrimps and small shrimps under his hands, I felt that it would take years and months to realize this dream.

As long as you can recruit soldiers.

I will give you a quota, pay you, and give you weapons. These are the chief's exact words. Of course, there are requirements for the soldiers you recruit. Just getting a bunch of farmers is not enough. This means that the generals under his command can cross the sea and show their magical powers.

Now he has 1,500 elite infantry and 1,000 cavalry under his command. The cavalry is basically composed of Huns and is commanded by Gongsun Yi and Luo Lei. The 1,500 infantry are divided into two. Each battalion has 750 soldiers, with Ni Huazong and Tao Jiawang serving as battalion commanders. According to the establishment of a battalion, there is a shortage of one-quarter.

It is obviously unrealistic to passively wait for the superiors to mobilize troops to fill the gap. The four armies under Zhengdong Mansion, including those under Ye Zhongye Zhen, are completely empty shells. Almost all the elite troops of Zhengdong Mansion have been replenished to the north. Even if the two armies of the East and the East recruit new soldiers in the future, the Northern Army is so far away from the base camp. I am afraid that it will not be my turn for a while. The entire army of the Governor's Mansion is short of major generals and there are too many monks. How long will it take to get them together? Thirty thousand people together.

"I have listened carefully, all four of you. We are an army, but the number of people now is not enough to form a regiment. I, the army commander, have a false name, let alone you. If you want to live up to your name, you must do it as quickly as possible. , grab the territory, grab the population, and expand your own army. Gongsun Yi, you team up with Ni Huazong, and Tao Jiawang, you team up with Luo Lei, and form a regiment-level combat unit first. I will say it first, and you have the right to appoint officers below the division level. In the hands of the group army, he is the division commander. As long as the group army reports it, the governor's office will not reject it. So, each of you can show your talents. Whoever can expand his army to a regiment while maintaining combat effectiveness, then he will be the regiment commander. , extended to a division, then he is the division commander. "

Tao Jiawang was an old man who had followed Xu Yuan from Yueyang County and had a close relationship with him. Hearing this, he couldn't help but laugh, "Commander, what if I get an army of men! Can I become the commander of the army?" ?”

Xu Yuan snorted, "If you get an army man and want to be the army commander, I will chop off your head first and snatch the man over."

Several people laughed.

"In a few years, Yan Peng's Second Army will arrive. He has 4,000 fully equipped infantrymen under his command. The Governor's Office has equipped him with 1,000 cavalrymen. His strength is much stronger than ours. Everyone, if you don't want to be outdone by the Second Army, we must work hard before they arrive." Xu Yuan looked at the four generals and pointed at the Liaohe River: "The Governor's Office wants us to use the Liaohe River as the boundary, first consolidate this side, build cities, cultivate land, and lay a solid foundation, but it does not prohibit us from crossing the river. On the other side of the river, not far from us, there are Xiongnu tribes and Donghu tribes, and there are a large number of people. You two camps will stay for ten days, one camp will be stationed, and the other camp will attack. While the Donghu army has not arrived yet, you can get as much as you can. Once the Donghu army arrives, there will be no such good things."

"Understood!" The four were very excited. The two groups looked at each other and saw the atmosphere of competition in each other's eyes. This is not only a matter of ability, but also a matter of face. No one wants to lose to anyone.

The camp of Xu Yuan's First Army was located about ten miles away from the Liao River. The camp was built using the method that Sun Xiao used to build the Niulanshan camp. First, a large number of trees were cut down and used as piles. Two rows of wooden piles about one meter wide were nailed with railings, and then soil and stones were poured in between and tamped to form a simple city wall. Although horses could not run, infantry could stand on it. The crossbows they brought were installed every ten meters, forming a powerful long-range attack firepower. Combined with the arm crossbows equipped by the infantry, a dense firepower network was formed from a mile away.

Although it was troublesome to build a camp in this way, it laid a good foundation for building a city in the future. After the large army arrived, they only needed to widen and reinforce the current city wall as a basis, and pile stone strips or blue bricks on the outside to form a solid city wall.

Xu Yuan led his army to arrive here years ago. The camp built now is not big, just suitable for the garrison of more than 3,000 troops. Xu Yuan had to consider the consequences if the Donghu people suddenly attacked in large numbers.

Fortunately, the attention of the Donghu people seemed to have not been diverted to this place, so Xu Yuan was not disturbed at all when he built this camp. Now, he has begun to build a second stop for the follow-up troops.

Sun Xiao's headquarters will not arrive at such a frontier, but will be set up in Dayan Lake, which was the place selected when Gao Yuan retreated.

The originally empty Liaohe River bank, because of this camp and the presence of thousands of soldiers, seems unusually lively. Although the city wall is simple, in Xu Yuan's view, in the near future, this simple camp will become a solid fortress, and countless soldiers of the Northern Army will set out from here. The source of water continued to cross the other side of the river, across the Hetao Plain, through the mountains, and into the heart of the Donghu.

On the city wall, flags were flying, weapons were shining, and soldiers stood in awe. Xu Yuan was filled with a sense of accomplishment.

Outside the camp, trenches were dug in all directions. In the eyes of the Donghu people, these trenches were irregular, one here, one there, and seemed to be dug out at random, but in the eyes of people like Xu Yuan, they were natural defenses. These were naturally not dug out on a whim, but were specially set up to prevent attacks.

The Xiongnu cavalry in the army are now familiar with these arrangements. They can gallop between these trenches without difficulty, and they can attack at will. They could rush out of the camp to kill the enemy.

After the Xiongnu cavalry joined the Eastern Expedition Army, the biggest change was that they began to understand countless tactics of using terrain and cooperating with infantry to kill as many enemy forces as possible and minimize their own casualties.

The soil obtained from digging these trenches would naturally not be wasted. Part of it was used to build city walls and part of it was used to build houses. They were going to stay there for a long time. The Xiongnu were used to tents, but a large number of Central Plains infantry were more used to thick houses.

Xu Yuan strode into the most spacious house in the camp. This was his residence and the place where he convened generals for meetings. Within ten feet around this house, there was nothing but open space, without any buildings. The guards protected the place very tightly, and even a mosquito would not be able to fly in quietly.

These soldiers belonged to Xu Yuan's personal guard camp.

After walking back to the desk and sitting down, Xu Yuan took out a map. This was a brand new and incomplete map. On the side of the Liao River where they stood, the mountains, water, hills, and roads were all clearly visible, but on the other side of the Liao River, there were only a few strokes. However, Xu Yuan knew that as time went by, this map would become more and more complete, because he had sent more than a dozen scouts to sneak into the other side and began to draw a detailed map of the other side.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be in danger in a hundred battles. (To be continued..)