Father can be an enemy country

Chapter 227 Catch the Flag
Xu Da turned his head slowly, his gaze swept across the generals calmly.

Those buzzing sounds that were anxious or gloating stopped abruptly in an instant.

The hour hand could be heard in the hall, and no one dared to make a sound.

"The commander-in-chief will return to Beijing tomorrow, and I will ask the emperor face to face." He said in a deep voice: "You must not slack off when you prepare for the army. Don't worry, the supplies needed for the army's deployment will be delivered before the spring. Delay the Northern Expedition in the next spring."

"Yes!" The generals responded loudly, since the general said so, then there is no problem.

~~
The next day, Xu Da didn't let the generals practice it, but asked Geng Bingwen to see him off.

"During the time I'm away, Beiping will be entrusted to you." The two rode their horses side by side, saying as they walked.

"Don't worry, the general, the last general will be cautious and not make any mistakes." Geng Bingwen hurriedly assured.

"You are mature and prudent, so I can rest assured." Xu Da nodded. Good for the soldiers and civilians in the village, let's beat them up next spring!"

"Yes." Geng Bingwen nodded hurriedly, keeping in mind the general's entrustment.

Moving forward silently, he couldn't help asking in a low voice: "General, how sure are you of returning to Beijing this time?"

Xu Da shook his head and told him the truth: "I'm not sure."

"Ah?" Geng Bingwen was taken aback.

"If you don't say that, morale will be gone, and there will be mistakes this winter." Xu Da said indifferently: "If the Tartars take the opportunity to steal one of our forts, how will I explain to the soldiers and civilians who trust us?"

"That's true." Geng Bingwen nodded.From the perspective of the Ming army at the beginning of the country, it was a matter of course to prevent the Tartars from looting the people.

"Last year was generally smooth, and there was no major famine. Why did the military supply suddenly fail?" Xu Da said in a deep voice, "I think man-made disasters are more important than natural disasters."

"Since it is a man-made disaster, there is a solution." Geng Bingwen nodded, and everyone knew the crux of the problem.Thinking about it, he suggested softly:

"Do you want to meet Han Han when you pass by Fengyang?"

"I don't pass by Fengyang, so I don't see him." Xu Da shook his head and said to Geng Bingwen: "We are warriors, we only know that the emperor's order is to be obeyed, and we don't know anything else. Old Geng, they are playing with fire, so don't you participate."

"Yes, the last general will always remember the teachings of the general." Geng Bingwen hurriedly clasped his fists.

"Just send it here, you can go back." Xu Da waved his hand at him, then rode away surrounded by his own soldiers.

Looking at the figure of the general going away, Geng Bingwen let out a long sigh.

The general's status is detached, so he can naturally stay out of it, but how can they, who are not enough, do it?
~~
When Xu Da returned to Nanjing, it was already the twelfth lunar month.

At this time, the winter exercise has come to an end.The individual competitions such as formation, drill, marching, cavalry and cavalry coordination have all come to an end, leaving only the last and most exciting one - catching the match and capturing the flag.

The troops participating in the exercise took the guard as the unit, and they caught up in pairs in the school grounds with a radius of two miles.

The rules are very simple, the two sides draw lots to decide, one side protects the flag, and the other captures the flag.Within half an hour, if you fail to capture the flag, you will succeed in protecting the flag, and vice versa.

The loser is out and the winner advances to the next round.

This simulates the state of the two armies meeting each other on the battlefield, attacking and defending hand-to-hand.

Five thousand troops can just test the general's ability to arrange troops and command on the spot.

It may also test the training level and physical fitness of ordinary soldiers.

Of course, it is impossible for the two sides to fight with real swords and guns. During the competition, the arrows did not have arrowheads, and the knives used wooden knives. The gun heads were wrapped and dipped in lime.

During the battle, the officers and soldiers of both sides were knocked down and could not get up again.Lime marks were cast on the head and torso, and they also had to withdraw from the fight.

In addition, in order to avoid unnecessary damage, the cavalry had to dismount and become horseless infantry and go into battle.

After several days of fierce competition, the last two guards stood out and entered the final.

They are Habayashi Guard and Fu Jun Zhongwei.These two guards are well-selected pawns with the highest level of training, and they deserve to be able to break into the finals.

~~
On the day of the finals, Zhu Yuanzhang and his son came to the school field in the southern suburbs, and the general who had just returned from Peiping also came.

This made the already high-spirited soldiers on both sides even more blazing, vowing to win the victory!

After the commanders and envoys of both sides saluted the emperor, lots were drawn on the spot.

As a result, Habayashi defended and the government army defended.

Without saying a word, the two commanders immediately set up their respective headquarters.

The central defenders of the government army formed a square formation in front of the military flag.

Commander Deng Zhen is located in the center of the formation, and the peripheral troops are deployed layer by layer, with spears, bows and arrows outside, and mobile troops inside, forming a dense defensive formation.

This formation has the strongest defensive power, but because the dense formation limits maneuverability, lack of change, and the enemy's retreat is difficult to pursue, it is less aggressive.But it is obviously the most appropriate to use at this time.

Habayashi defended against the enemy with a fish-scale array.

After Xie Yan, Zhang Yulin's guard, was positioned in the formation, the main forces gathered in the center and were divided into several small square formations shaped like fish scales.

After the cup of tea, the two sides finished their formation, and each of the thousand households, hundred households, and general banner cheered up their brothers loudly and asked them to follow him closely.

The second and fourth children were also among them, and the two looked serious, as if they were about to face a big battle.

Both of them have served as small banner officers, each leading ten brothers, all armed with shields and wooden knives, lined up in the fish scale formation.

At this time, a trumpet sounded on the stage, and the martial arts performance began!
Xie Yan ordered: "Beat the drums."

The drums of 'dong dong dong' sounded.

Hearing the sound of the drum, the three Habayashi Chitos immediately led their subordinates forward in the shape of a character.

When they were within range, Deng Zhen ordered in a deep voice: "Fire the arrows!"

The herald immediately waved the command flag, and the archers of the government army's central defenders in front of the formation all raised their bows and set up arrows, aiming at Habayashiwei to shoot.

Habayashi Wei's sword and shield hand quickly raised the shield, blocking a lot of arrows that were shot.

However, many arrows shot through the gaps in the shield and hit the guards of Habayashi.

Don't look at these arrows without arrowheads, and the heads of the arrow shafts are still wrapped in cloth, but the soldiers participating in the performance are not wearing armor, so it still hurts to be shot.

Many people were shot in the head and fell directly to the ground; those who were shot in the torso and did not fall to the ground also obediently withdrew from the battle...

Not to be outdone, Habayashi's archers also fought back from the flanks.

As Habayashi Wei's sharpshooters, the second and fourth brothers were naturally not idle. They drew their bows and set up arrows, aiming at the officers of the central guard of the government army to call and shoot.In the blink of an eye, several hundred households and general banners were 'killed'.

But Habayashi is on the move, and he will definitely suffer a big loss in the bow and arrow competition.

So Habayashi Qianhu raised their wooden knives and charged at full speed with their subordinates screaming.After paying two or three hundred 'casualties', the former armies of the two sides finally collided with each other, and the fierce hand-to-hand combat began!

(End of this chapter)