My father Zhu Gaoxu

Chapter 948 An unknown omen
Zhu Qizhen's imperial commander personally led the expedition. The army set off in a hurry and walked for a day before reaching the Longhu Terrace in the west of Beijing. In later generations, it did not even leave the area of ​​​​Beijing.

Zhang Fu was old and in bad health. He could no longer ride a horse, so he could only ride in a carriage and travel with the army. When he saw the situation of the army along the way, he also frowned anxiously.

Because it was a hasty expedition, Zhu Qizhen randomly transferred the garrison troops around the capital together without any coordination with each other. Even the superiors and subordinates were in chaos. The soldiers below did not know who to listen to, and the generals above did not know who they were responsible for. Which army?
This also led to the fact that when the army was dispatched, there was no order at all, but instead it was a chaotic mess. If Zhang Fu had led the troops in the past, the general in charge would have been dealt with according to the law when encountering this situation.

But now the army is commanded by Zhu Qizhen and Wang Zhen, and other generals can only obey orders. As for Zhang Fu, let alone Zhang Fu. He wanted to see Zhu Qizhen several times today, hoping to give him some suggestions on the march. , but Zhu Qizhen didn't bother to see him, so Zhang Fu couldn't do anything about this messy situation.

It was a mess during the march, and it was even more chaotic when camping at Dalonghutai at night. If you want to evaluate a general's ability to command the army, you only need to watch him set up camp once. An excellent general must not only consider the location of the camp, but also the location of the camp. The distribution of the various armies of the battalion must also respond to each other, and even the response when enemy troops attack the camp must be considered.

But Zhu Qizhen and Wang Zhen did not understand the art of war at all. When the army came to camp at Longhu Terrace, it was even more disorganized. They were scattered here and there. Because they were only given two days to prepare, many troops did not even bring tents. , they can only squeeze together a bunch of soldiers. Fortunately, the weather is hot now, otherwise many people will definitely freeze to death.

What's more serious is that the army did not prepare any food and grass at all, so the army walked for a day and could not even eat a hot meal. Some generals were more far-sighted and asked their soldiers to bring a few days of dry food and eat it at night. Dry food is no problem.

However, some generals were in a hurry and had no time to prepare these. Some even thought that the court would definitely prepare food and grass. After all, the army has not moved yet, food and grass go first. This is almost a universally recognized thing. Even illiterate farmers know this.

However, the reality is so cruel. Zhu Qizhen and Wang Zhen did not prepare food and grass for the army at all. They thought that as long as they gave the order to mobilize troops, the troops below could go into battle to kill the enemy. As for the army's eating, drinking, sleeping, and other chores, they did not care at all. within the scope of consideration.

This also led to the fact that on the first day of the army's expedition, nearly half of the soldiers slept hungry in the wild. Although the weather was hot now, it was also the season when mosquitoes were most common. Mosquitoes in the wild were large and poisonous, and many soldiers were bitten. There were big bumps all over his face.

Zhang Fu had his own tent. At night, his servants used the food they brought to cook him a bowl of porridge. Now that Zhang Fu's teeth are broken, he can only eat some soft food.

After dinner, Zhang Fu did not rest. Instead, he wrote a memorial in person under the dim light, and then sent someone to deliver it to Zhu Qi's camp.

There is not much content in the memorial. The main content is that Zhang Fu put forward some targeted suggestions in response to the current chaos in the army, such as recruiting grain and grass from surrounding counties to at least fill the stomachs of the soldiers. After all, there is never hunger in this world. The belly wins the battle.

Although Zhang Fu knew that even if he sent his memorial, it would probably not be accepted, and Zhu Qizhen might not even take a look at it, but he still had to write it. After all, as a veteran of three dynasties, there were some things he had to do To do.

After writing the memorial and sending it out, it was already midnight, and Zhang Fu lay down on the blanket to rest.

But just when Zhang Fu closed his eyes and was about to fall asleep, he suddenly heard a noise outside the tent, and all the servants responsible for his safety jumped up and protected the surrounding tent.

"what happened?"

Zhang Fu came outside the tent and asked. The noise was far away from him, and he could vaguely see fire in the distance. He didn't know which team had the problem.

"For the record, Duke Qi, we don't know the situation. Walking in the camp after dark is strictly prohibited, so we can't send people to inquire about the situation. We can only wait for notification from the camp."

The servant replied immediately. In fact, given the current chaotic situation in the Ming military camp, no one will probably care about walking at night, but I am afraid that the situation will be chaotic, and it will be unlucky to be accidentally injured.

Although Zhang Fu was impatient, he also knew that what the servant said made sense, so he could only weigh his steps and look towards the noisy place in the distance. Following the cool night, he could vaguely hear bursts of shouts of killing.

"Why are you shouting for death? We have just left the capital, and there will definitely be no enemy attacks. Could it be that..."

Zhang Fu's expression changed drastically at the end, because he thought of something even more terrifying, that is, the legendary "Ying Xiao".

The so-called camp howl, also called camp bombing or night terror, is when the army is resting at night, due to high tension, resulting in collective confusion and panic among the soldiers without any orders.

Camp roars range from mild to severe. The most severe camp roars can even cause soldiers to kill each other. In the end, most of the soldiers in a battalion will be killed or injured.

And even the slightest camp roar will cause terrible turmoil and stampede, causing the army to suffer heavy casualties before it encounters the enemy. Moreover, this kind of camp roar is often regarded as an ominous sign. If the army encounters an enemy just after setting off, Arriving at Yingxiao will cast an ominous shadow over this expedition.

The noise in the distant camp continued until the early hours of the morning, and then gradually subsided. It was almost dawn, and Zhang Fu immediately asked his servants to protect him and drove to the military camp where the incident occurred.

The military camp where the noise occurred was located in the northwest corner of the camp. Zhang Fu didn't know whose army it was. When he arrived here, he saw that Kuang Ye, the Minister of War, had already arrived and was directing officials to treat the wounded. The camp was in chaos, with injured soldiers everywhere moaning in pain.

"Kuang Shangshu, is there a camp roar here? How many casualties are there in the army?"

Zhang Fu got off the carriage and quickly stepped forward to ask Kuang Ye.

"Why are you here, Duke? We can handle these matters. You should go back and rest first!"

When Kuang Ye saw Zhang Fu, he hurriedly stepped forward to support him and said that he really couldn't bear to let the elderly Zhang Fu worry about military affairs anymore.

"Kuang Shangshu, please tell me the truth, otherwise I won't be able to feel at ease when I go back!"

Zhang Fu knew that Kuang Ye had good intentions, but he insisted that even if he couldn't control the affairs of the army, he still had to be aware of it.

"Oh, that's all. Since you asked, Duke, I'll tell you the truth. Although this time it's not Yingxiao, it's almost the same!"

Kuang Ye smiled bitterly and then recounted what happened here last night.

(End of this chapter)