A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 210 Sentry
On the same day, Wang Dou returned to Zhoucheng, and he was in a very happy mood along the way. Xie Yike and others heard that Lu Xiangsheng had recommended Wang Dou as a guerrilla general, and they were all elated.My lord has been promoted again, and their subordinates have also risen accordingly.

Until this time, Wang Dou could be called a general.

Back in the state city, the subordinates also cheered when they heard that Wang Dou had been promoted to a guerrilla general.Although the official appointment document of the Ministry of War has not yet come down, but with the recommendation of Duchen Lu, it must be a matter of recent days that my lord was promoted to guerrilla.

As the news spread, there was an endless stream of congratulators, and I don't know how many people were jealous.Of course, not everyone thinks that Wang Dou's promotion to guerrilla is something to be happy. Wei, I'm afraid it's a matter of narrow escape."

Back in Zhoucheng, Wang Dou was nervous about preparing for the battle. He was no more timid than other Ming soldiers when they heard the battle. Everyone in the Shunxiang Fort Sergeant wanted to fight.

After the nine-year war in Chongzhen, they did not have the slightest fear of fighting against the Qing soldiers. The new army trained last year was all excited under the influence of the veterans.They also want to go out to fight, fight for military merits, and receive rewards.

The chief executives and chief executives all competed for the place to play, and no one wanted to stay in the city, which made Wang Dou feel relieved and troubled at the same time.

Wang Dou now has a force of three thousand generals, including the supply and artillery teams of each thousand generals, totaling 670 people.There are also battalion guards, who do not accept them at night, artillery team, and luggage team, including 620 five people.There is also a 400-man cavalry team and a 200-man cavalry team.A total of about 5000 people.

However, it is impossible for all these sergeants to go out with Wang Dou. Baoanzhou is his base camp, and there are a total of 89 soldiers guarding the state city and Shunxiang Fort. Here, more than 320 [-] soldiers went.In Baoding Mansion and Zhending Mansion, I still stayed with four teams of soldiers and horses.Wang Dou has a total of four teams, and here is a total of [-] four sergeants.

In the autumn, the [-] new troops had just practiced, and they were facing the fierce Qing soldiers. They must not be allowed to fight to their deaths now.After several months of suppressing the bandits, they fought thousands of miles away, and nearly a hundred of their subordinates were killed or injured. After calculating, he could finally lead [-] soldiers into battle.

His own appointment has not yet been made, so Wang Dou has not yet decided on the officers and officers who will accompany him in the battle, but he is nervously preparing for the relevant food, grass, equipment, armor and firecrackers.At the same time, he also dispatched a large number of night guards to go out to check on the enemy's situation, keep abreast of the movements of the Qing troops and the development of the war situation.

……

In the early October of the 11th year of Chongzhen, in Fangshan.

Not far from Zhuozhou and Laishui, on a mountain called Dafangshan by the locals, there are several people lurking quietly. In front of several big trees, a young man with an unremarkable appearance is looking intently at the wilderness below the mountain.

The weather in October in Daming was already quite chilly. He was wearing a thick sheepskin coat and a felt hat that was often worn in the North.His robes and felt hats are not old, even a little damaged. With his simple and thick black face, anyone who sees him at first sight will think that he is just an ordinary householder in the local area.

But the occasional flashes of light in his eyes, the cold light of the iron helmet looming under the felt hat, and the thick machete pinned to his waist make people feel that he is not simple.A gust of cold wind blew, and it felt painful on the face. The young man's sheepskin robe was blown away on both sides, revealing the thick iron armor inside.

The young man didn't move, and didn't shrink his neck. He looked quietly into the wilderness for a long time, and saw Qing sentries roaring past in the wilderness from time to time. After an unknown amount of time, he let out a breath slowly and said: "It seems that the Tazi soldiers have a tendency to go south."

His accent was a little strange, and the two people around him seemed to have heard it a lot, and they didn't take it seriously.

A young man dressed in the same sheep robe and felt hat frowned and said, "I heard that not long ago those Tatar soldiers were still looting in the north of the capital, and now I have seen many sentry cavalry heading to Zhuozhou, Fangshan."

He sighed: "Is it necessary to repeat the disaster of the ninth year of Chongzhen? My Ming people will suffer again."

The other person was not as sentimental as his companion, and he said in a rough voice: "Captain Long, I have been ordered by President Wen Bai to come out to spy. I have been out for a few days, but I haven't found any news. It's hard to explain when I go back. .”

The previous one said: "That's right, our Wu Wuchang in the first class, a few days ago, he brought his brothers to spy, and heard that he had chopped off the heads of two Tartars and captured a living man. The brothers who are also in the first class went back empty-handed." , it’s not nice to meet people.”

The young man named Long Wuchang said: "Of course we can't go back empty-handed like this, Big Ya, bench, did you see the group of Tartar soldiers who passed by just now? Look at their uniforms and banners, it's the soldiers of the Tartars with the white flag Ma, let's follow up secretly, find a chance to cut them down, and catch a few alive."

Hearing Wuchang Long's words, the two people beside him became excited. Although there were more than a dozen Qing sentries and cavalry just now, there were only five of them, but they were not afraid at all.

This small team is none other than the Ye Bu Shou sergeant of the Ye Bu Shou Team A and B Squad in Baoan Prefecture, and the young man named Long Wuchang is exactly Long Er, the leader of the B Squad that is highly valued by the Baizong Wen Daxing.On the first day of October in the 11th year of Chongzhen, they were ordered to come out, and they had been outside for two days.

Standing next to Long Er for two nights, one nicknamed "Benxie" and the other nicknamed "Big Tooth", both are young people under 30 years old.That Yebushou named "Banxiong" was extremely thick and good at fighting. Because of his irritable personality, he would use the bench to hit people at every turn, so he got the nickname "Banxie".However, during the sentry, he was extremely calm and good at grasping the opportunity, so he was selected into the night not closed team.

The sentimental Ye Bushou, who was also dressed in a sheep robe and felt hat and nicknamed "Big Tooth", had two huge canine teeth, but he was the most literate person among them.Although the combat skill of immediately dismounting is the lowest in the army, the shooting crossbow arrows are extremely accurate, and the survey of the map terrain and the transmission of intelligence secret words are the most capable in the army.

Long Er left the Yebushou who was nicknamed "the bench" and continued to watch the guard on the hill, and walked down the valley with the young Yebushou who was nicknamed Big Ya.There was a creek that was drying up, but it was still no problem for drinking water for this pedestrian.

By the side of the creek, there were more than a dozen mules parked, most of them were tall horses with trimmed manes and tails, and they were serving them to drink water and feed for two nights.One of those two nights was nearly thirty years old, with a burly figure and a proud face.Nearly forty years old, tall and thin, with high cheekbones, giving people a gloomy look.

They also wore sheep robes and felt hats, dressed like ordinary local households, but they both had strong bows and long knives slung across their waists, and a lacquered cowhide quiver filled with carved feathers and sharp arrows.The quiver is full of knife wounds and arrow marks, which seems to imply the long years of fighting by the owner of the quiver. The cold wind blows away their robes, also revealing the thick nail leaves inside.

Compared with a few years ago, Wang Dou's military equipment is still the best in the whole army at night. Originally, one man and two horses were collected every night. Since this year's bandit suppression captured a lot of mules and horses, in order to strengthen the strength of Yebushu The mobility has been increased to three mules and horses every night.

Although they wore sheep robes and felt hats, they were dressed in ordinary households, but inside their robes and felt hats were iron helmets and breastplates, the finest iron leaves, and each was equipped with a thick shield, which had an outstanding protective effect.In view of the weak power of hand crossbows and guns, it is now necessary to pull a strong bow every night before closing it, and pair it with poisonous arrows.In addition, there are all kinds of equipment, depending on the preferences of each night.

Hearing the sound, the two Yebushu raised their heads alertly, seeing that it was Long Er and the other three, they felt relieved.

When the two were feeding the horses, they also faced the stream, so they could always observe the movement around them.

"Master Hu, Master Qiang, are the horses fed yet?"

Long Er asked, these two Ye Bu Shou are older than him, even though he is the corps leader, he should be polite to them.

"It's all fed, and then just hang up the horse."

The answer was Ye Bushou with a gloomy face, he said something in a dark voice, took out a pipe from his pocket, and smoked quietly.

He is the oldest in the team, and he is also good at feeding horses. Feeding horses is not an easy job. He can't stop feeding three meals a day. Four catties of feed, eight catties of grass.

Sometimes it is even served with fried noodles in salt water, otherwise the horses will lose weight and run fast, and it will be difficult to quickly relieve fatigue.After eating and drinking, the horses' heads should be hoisted high to help them digest. The five of them have fifteen mules and horses, several of which are specially used to carry their rations and fodder. .

This night is not accepted, except for his gloomy face, he looks like an old farmer, but Long Er dare not underestimate him. Master Qiang's torture technique, even an iron man, has to speak. Long Er has personally seen it of.That is, in the entire Team A, in terms of cruelty, this person is the first.

The other Ye Bushou, who was called Master Hu, was full of arrogance. After hearing Long Er's question, he just hummed politely, and filled several skin bags with water.

After finishing the logistics and rest, the four of them gathered in a circle, and Long Er said: "On the hill just now, I saw a dozen or so Tartars with white flags going south, I decided to follow them and kill them all, it's best to catch them." A few live."

Mr. Hu and Mr. Qiang hummed, and the two of them did not speak, but there was a hint of excitement in their expressions, especially Mr. Qiang, who smoked his pipe silently, but there was a cruel look in his eyes. shine.

Ye Bushou, nicknamed "The Bench", said: "Captain Long, those Tartar soldiers have been gone for a long time, can they catch up?"

Long Er had no expression on his face, he said: "Those Tartar soldiers swaggered around without covering up their tracks, it's too easy to chase them."

He is proficient in tracking, and it is not difficult to chase down a few Qing soldiers. He took out a refined oil leather ring from his arms, and pulled out a map from it.After he spread out, the four gathered around the map and discussed softly.

The four of them are not amateurs when it comes to observing the map and terrain. As a night man, in addition to outstanding combat capabilities, they need to master all aspects of reconnaissance knowledge, even weather and geography, banners and golden drums.In Long Er's team, even everyone is proficient in Manchurian and Mongolian languages, and has also mastered various dialects from various places in Ming Dynasty.

Long Er looked at the map carefully for a while, and finally judged: "According to their horsepower, today is nothing more than spending the night in Shilou and Sipu."

He snorted: "These Tartar soldiers are too arrogant, today is their death day."

Speaking of this, a cold light flashed in Long Er's eyes.

The bench wiped his hands and said with a rough laugh: "Happy, happy, it is convenient to have the blueprint."

He praised: "Your Excellency has a clever plan. He asked us to detect various places in Zhuozhou and draw a map. He is a god. How did he know that the Tartar soldiers would come to these places in Zhuozhou?"

Now it is widely rumored in the army that Mr. Wang has the ability to predict the future, as if he could have expected the 11th year of the Chongzhen War. Since Wang Dou set up a camp stronghold in Liujingbao between Yizhou and Laishui County, these nights will not be closed. It provided great convenience, relying on Liujing Village, their scouts covered hundreds of miles around.

Long Er gave a rare smile and said: "If you could know what the old man thinks, you wouldn't be a mere night-buying soldier."

The bench laughed loudly, Long Er restrained his smile, and said in a deep voice, "Brothers, get on the horse."

(End of this chapter)