Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 546: Duck mouth, hard!
Chang'an in the third month of the lunar calendar was still a little chilly in the early mornings and nights, but Xia Lin chose to go to war at dawn when there were few people around. The sky was just getting light and there was still some fog. When the army marched through the fog, it was like Wei Tuo exorcising demons, with a bit of murderous aura.

Xia Lin rode out of the west gate of Chang'an on his horse, with no one seeing him off.

But at this moment, Yang Ying was in a house that could see them leaving the city, with a smile on his face. After watching for a while, he turned around and said, "How arrogant! Using 70,000 infantrymen to fight against 80,000 cavalrymen is simply a foolish dream."

"Master Yang, it's quite interesting that Li Yuan asked him to go to war. It's obvious that he wants to preserve his strength."

"Hahahaha, Li Yuan just has no one to use. Who else can help him except the Third Princess? I didn't expect this silly boy to actually fall for Li Yuan's trick. It's very interesting. In my opinion, he is exaggerating a bit when he is the best in the world."

Yang Ying put his hands behind his back and folded his fan: "Hey, what do you think is on that cart? Food and fodder? It doesn't look like that."

"I heard that they are some weapons that can fight against cavalry."

"Hahahahaha..."

Yang Ying laughed loudly, "Everyone knows that the only thing that can fight against cavalry is cavalry. His tricks are just to make people laugh. Never mind. If he can come back, let him know that he can't do whatever he wants in this big world. But I really value his talent. If I can use it, I don't mind guaranteeing his prosperity for ten generations."

The army rumbled forward. Xia Lin did not bring anyone else but Dong Niang, because she was the one who single-handedly built up the medical team of the Green Forest Army. Now that they were on the battlefield, having one more miracle doctor would ultimately mean fewer casualties.

"Winter Mother."

"Ah."

Xia Lin rode to Dong Niang's carriage and said, "If you are tired, take a nap. We still have to march for seven days."

"I'm not sleepy. Has there been any news from Jinling? Is my grandfather's case resolved?"

Xia Lin shook his head. "Not yet. A few days ago, a letter came from Jinling saying that Gao Shilian is now fighting with the noble families. He seems to want to use your grandfather's story to defeat that Situ or something. So it won't be effective for a while."

Dong Niang said, "Then I'll sleep for a while."

"Ok."

The carriage moved forward slowly. Even God seemed to have given Xia Lin all the green lights these days. The weather was sunny throughout the spring day.

Don't underestimate such a sunny day. If it rains a little, the efficiency of the baggage vehicles will be reduced and the entire army will be delayed by one to three days. If this time difference is taken advantage of by the enemy, it will be difficult to defeat the enemy even with technological superiority when we are lagging behind in terms of numbers and arms.

But fortunately, God is watching over us and the weather was sunny all the way.

The forced march requires a rest every two and a half hours, and this is when the new army's logistical support capabilities can be seen. Didn't the two city gate generals come with them before? They are now in charge of the sentry work here.

In the past, when they were fighting, they would sit down on the spot to rest and then start eating some hard-to-swallow food.

But they had learned something new today. As soon as the order for the army to rest was passed down and the flags in front were raised, the horse-drawn carriages behind them immediately came up. Every five hundred people formed a small camp, and each small camp was equipped with a carriage. After the carriages were unloaded, someone would immediately take the horses to eat and drink water, while the people on the carriages began to unfold the carriage boxes, and then lifted buckets of warm boiled water from above for the soldiers to drink.

That’s not all. They cooked on the spot. One carriage had to prepare meals for 500 people in one hour. It sounds incredible, but the two city defense generals actually saw it all.

In just one hour, three dishes, one soup, two meat dishes, one vegetable dish and hot white rice were carried out of the car.

A large piece of fat meat stewed with soybeans, a piece of smoked chicken, a portion of vegetables, and a spoonful of egg soup. It has oil, salt, meat and eggs. It is very delicious and can be eaten with rice.

They didn't understand before how the Green Forest Army could be so well-fed, but now it seems that a huge amount of money was spent. In any other army, they would only raise death squads, but here everyone can eat.

So they asked curiously, "Do you usually eat like this?"

"General, this is how we eat. But if a real fight breaks out, we may not be able to eat it. We can only eat dried meat and candies." The soldier next to him took out dry food from his backpack: "But the rear will try their best to ensure our food."

The general at the city gate took the dried meat and candy bars and took a look. Even such emergency items were better than what the Tang army ate on a daily basis.

At this moment they knew that what everyone said about this being the elite was not an exaggeration at all. If they were not the elite, no one would be willing to eat this stuff, and even the landlords could not afford to eat it.

Just as he was about to ask a few more questions, a horn sounded on the other end. All the soldiers instantly recovered from their relaxed state, stood up and continued to move forward. The remaining carriages began to pack up the dishes and other things they had left behind without stopping for a moment. The whole process was seamless.

This efficiency is undeniable. Although forced marching is indeed tiring, it is actually not a problem as long as you can eat well and have enough food. They even saw that the soldiers were chatting freely while eating, and they did not see any fatigue at all. The army ran for five days and finally arrived at the target location, Yazizui, at noon on the fifth day.

This place is a strategic location. Further ahead is Pingliang County. On the right is the Jing River, and on the left is a tributary of the Jing River. It is stuck at this river crossing pass.

After the soldiers arrived, the engineers immediately began earthwork. Cart after car of iron nets with tied ends were unloaded from the baggage trucks and began to be laid along the defense line. Trenches were also dug simultaneously.

No one had seen this tactic before, and it looked novel. The two generals at the city gate were quite surprised, but their duty was to go out on patrol, so naturally they did not have many opportunities to inquire about the use of this thing.

Soon, the spies who had set out three days in advance returned one after another and began to report the enemy's movements every hour.

This kind of war preparation continued until the morning of the fourth day, when something like a ball suddenly rose up from behind the army. There was a basket hanging under the ball with a person sitting in the basket. The person was adding a water-like substance that could burn under the ball, which made a whistling sound.

After the ball stabilized in the air, he took out a long cylindrical object and placed it in front of his eyes. After looking at it for a while, he waved the flag in his hand a few times.

The general at the city gate recognized the flag signal, which meant that there was no trouble ahead.

"My goodness, isn't this clairvoyance?"

They put down the binoculars in their hands and said, "This is a good thing. The Marshal said it was a gift for us? How could you be willing to give it away?"

"We are responsible for the sentinel mission, and this is the sentinel's treasure. You won't take it back, will you? I can't bear to part with it."

By now the trenches have been dug, and all the soldiers have entered the trenches for repairs. These past few days have been quite lively, with everyone eating, drinking, chatting and laughing, and it seems that there is no pressure at all.

About two miles to the rear, the artillery battalion had completed the layout of the artillery positions as planned, and the 112 six-mile cannons and four rocket launchers were fully combat-ready.

Xia Lin was sitting on the grass by the river at the moment. The Jing River in front of him was sparkling and the spring scenery was beautiful.

However, from time to time, civilians who had fled from the front would appear on the road. They said that the barbarians had already come to kill them, committing rape, looting and all kinds of evil, even to the point of killing anyone they saw.

Xia Lin didn't waste any time, but just told them one thing: none of those barbarians could get through.

According to the report of the spies, the Turkic general who led the invasion this time was a young general, only 24 years old, one or two years younger than Xialindu, and was Ashina Duobi's biological son Ashina Shabi. He was extremely intelligent since childhood, and at the age of 16 he could defeat half of the Turkic generals by military calculations, and was hailed as the most promising leader in reviving the Western Turkic Empire.

What Xia Lin was more concerned about was that the spies said that the weapons and armor used by the Turks had obvious traces of Han craftsmanship, and it could even be concluded that these must have been weapons and equipment provided by the interior.

Xia Lin had known that the aristocratic families would do such a thing, but he never expected they would go so far. Just to gain the immediate benefits, they would actually support foreign races to enter the country.

But think about it, it has always been like this. Merchants have no nationality and they don’t care about these things. What they care about is profit.

At this moment, Ashina Shabi was about 40 kilometers away from Xia Lin. Their spies had already discovered Xia Lin's trace, but the spies did not understand what kind of tactic this was, so they reported it to General Ashina.

"Hahahaha, this is the kind of warfare you're seeing? Do you think digging pits can deal with cavalry? Who's the other team's commander?"

"It's a man named Xia Lin."

When Ashina heard the name, he reacted for a moment, then his face immediately turned red.

The two names Xia Lin were truly a nightmare that he would never forget in his entire life. It was this person who expelled his family from the royal court, leaving them as stray dogs wandering outside.

Now it's finally good, they are finally strong, and the first battle he went out to fight was against this person who had been on his mind for nearly ten years. He learned to write Chinese characters for Xia Lin, and even married a Chinese woman, all in order to study the habits and ideas of the Chinese people.

"Good! Great! I'll let that man taste the sharp teeth of the prairie wolf!"

But at this moment, the lieutenant general next to him suddenly spoke up: "Your Highness, do not underestimate the enemy. Xia Lin is well-known in the Central Plains. Even if he meets Li Er, he will not be at a disadvantage."

"Hahaha, you Central Plains people are just cowards. What are you afraid of? Now I have a strong army, 140,000 versus 70,000, and I still have 80,000 to 90,000 cavalry! The advantage is mine!"

(End of this chapter)