weaving

Chapter 426 Cao Shixi is not a fool
Langwopo, as the name suggests, is located in a gentle slope of a valley, sandwiched between two mountains, the terrain is gentle and flat, and there are several mountain streams flowing beside it, which merge into a small river in front of the slope and slowly flow down the mountain.

The mountain gate is built at the mouth of a trumpet at the bottom of the slope, and it is also made of mountain stones. There are more than [-] steps of closing walls on both sides. Apart from the mountain gate, there is also a water gate.

Outside the mountain gate is a river valley plain, because the streams converge into small rivers and flow here, which is very beneficial for irrigation. There are also some houses and farms here, and a large area of ​​wasteland has been reclaimed.

Although these fields alone are still unable to feed the population of more than [-] in the Wild Wolf Village, it also relieves most of the grain shortage, and there are still some acres in some nearby river valleys. Just see it.

Zhou Heihu, Zhu Hongwu, Zhu Yiqi and the other three closely followed Zhang Cheng and introduced him the internal and external conditions of Langwopo.

And the space inside the cottage is extremely wide, and the former owner of the village has been operating it for many years, and all the houses are well-equipped. Today, there are more than [-] people in the cottage, with a population of more than [-] only strong men inside, and there are some small villages outside. There are more than [-] villages in total.

According to Zhang Cheng's previous instructions, after Zhou Heihu rushed back from the capital on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, he selected more than [-] strong men, and Liu Jinhai sent a team of sentinel cavalry to train them strictly.

At the beginning of May of this year, he again selected more than [-] young and strong people to be incorporated into the battalion, and the new army has already assembled a thousand people.

In the past ten months, Liu Jinhai personally went to the Wild Wolf Village to train soldiers many times, and led them to wipe out all the bandit villages within a [-]-mile radius.

Now within a range of [-] miles, there is no other bandit stronghold, only this Langwopo. Liu Jinhai even chose two other bandit dens with excellent location and terrain, and each sent a hundred young and strong soldiers to guard them. A few hundred Dingkou were left to cultivate there to relieve the pressure on the grain in Yelang Village.

Through the battle to wipe out the surrounding bandit villages, not only did they train new recruits, but they also plundered a lot of money, food and other materials, alleviating the shortage of wild wolf village reserves.

But the most important thing is to enhance the self-confidence of Zhou Heihu and others. They were originally from ordinary farmers, and they lacked that haughty temperament in their bones. If there were no such changes, they might be destined to work in the fields for the rest of their lives.

As the saying goes, time is also fate, life is too mysterious, a slight change will change the trajectory of a person's life, and now it seems that Zhou Heihu is the one who has been changed.

He had the will to rebel in his heart, so when he was plundered by Jiannu and taken to Fengrun camp, just as the Ming army attacked the Qing army camp at night, he, who was unwilling to be a slave, took the opportunity to break out of the camp.

But now Zhou Heihu has more than a thousand soldiers, and he sincerely asked to follow Zhang Cheng to fight against the bandits in Henan, but Zhang Cheng politely refused, and only asked him to use the Wild Wolf Village as the foundation to develop steadily.

He also told Zhou Heihu that he would definitely use it in the future, not only to bring him to kill the Tartars, but also to kill the Tartars, so that he would definitely avenge the slaughter of his family.

At the same time, Zhang Cheng also watched the camp exercises of the young and strong soldiers in the Wild Wolf Village. Except for the slightly scarce armor on their bodies, he was satisfied with many other aspects such as battle formation and morale.

Before leaving Wild Wolf Village, Zhang Cheng even promised Zhou Heihu and others that he would send them armor and weapons from Xuan Town in the future, and even equip them with firecrackers and cannons.

Right now, all you need is to practice rigorously. If there is an opportunity to fight against the Tartars in the future, you will definitely ask him to participate, but there is no need to worry at this time.

It took a lot of reassurance to stabilize their emotions. After all, most of the young and strong people in the Wild Wolf Village escaped from the 11th year of Chongzhen when the Tartars invaded.

Almost all the family members were slaughtered by the Tartars, and only those who were a little stronger were captured. Fortunately, Zhang Cheng attacked the Qing army's camp that night, so he had a chance to escape in the chaos.

The hatred for the Tartars has been deeply imprinted in his bones, and he has been thinking about revenge every day and night, so he has worked very hard during the drills, and the results have been remarkable.

Zhang Cheng also saw their vigor, so he refused to join the army to fight against the bandits. He only hoped that when they had the chance to fight against the Tartars in the future, they would take revenge sincerely and serve their lives wholeheartedly.

After another day's delay in Yelang Village, Zhang Cheng finally caught up with the advancing team in Dingzhou.

…………

The army rested in Huolu for three days. The army that accompanied him this time included nearly [-] troops in cavalry, chariot, and infantry battalions, including Zhang Cheng's guards.

In addition, there are nearly [-] war horses, mules, and pack horses, more than [-] camels, and more than [-] carts, chariots, and carts traveling with the army. The camp also occupies a very large area. stretches for miles.

Although most of them are new soldiers, after a year and a half of arduous training camp exercises, coupled with being able to eat enough food, and nutritional supplements are also very good, everyone's physique has made a qualitative leap. It didn't have a big impact on them.

And to be able to fight with the army, these new troops are deeply honored in their hearts. Marching all the way singing battle songs and beating drums, their morale is always high.

During the rest of the army, a large amount of grain and grass were transferred from Zhending Mansion, and all the carts and carts were fully loaded. After all, there was a document from the Ministry of War, and there was no problem with the grain replenishment along the way.

Li Jiuhua, the former admiral of the Jingjing army and a Shanxi official, has been transferred to Shanxi to serve, and his wife Liu has also followed.

However, Lu Zhiyin, the governor of Zhending Mansion, was appointed as the official of Lu County, Cao Shixi, the commander of Zhendingwei, and Wei Tiangui, the father of Wei Zhice, was the deer gentry, and others were especially present.

All of them wanted to treat Zhang Cheng and other generals warmly, and Zhang Guodong, Zhang Guangda, Chen Zhong and many other generals were all participants in the battle back then, and they had endless words to say when they met.

During the days of festivities, Cao Shixi, the commander of the Zhending Guard, was the one who cared the most. Back then, Zhang Cheng was just a guerrilla, but now he is the deputy commander-in-chief of the Xuanfu, an important town in the Ming Dynasty, in just two years. Why doesn't the speed of promotion teach people to look sideways.

What's more, everyone has entered the camp of the army led by Zhang Cheng to comfort them. The tens of thousands of sergeants, with a well-organized military appearance, have traveled thousands of miles, but they have not shown any slack.

Everyone admired him very much. Cao Shixi was not a fool either. He was also from a military household and had been in the army for generations.

And Zhang Cheng naturally does not reject anyone who comes. He knows that to make a living in troubled times, the first is the foundation. Only when the foundation is solid can we compete in the world, and the second is friends. To put it bluntly, it can also be called an interest group.

But the bigger the group, the better. Only if it is big can it not be eliminated. If you want to achieve great things, you should deploy it all over the world instead of being confined to a corner!
(End of this chapter)