Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 9: Strange things to live in
"The spear is in front, the short weapon is in the middle, and the sword and shield are on both sides. This is the small three talents."

"If we encounter a large battle, the archers should be in the front. The crossbowmen should shoot arrows when they are 150 steps away from the enemy, and the archers should shoot arrows when they are 60 steps away from the enemy."

"If the enemy is within twenty steps, all archers and crossbowmen should abandon their bows and crossbows and order the stationed troops to collect them."

"The archers and crossbowmen first tied their arms, brought their swords and clubs with them, and then joined the front lines in the battle. The cavalry and the jumping troops..."

"Kill, kill, kill—"

At noon, when the soldiers in the Jiuquan City military camp were busy repairing the barracks, solemn sounds were heard on the parade ground.

Although the sound was not loud, it attracted many people's attention.

On the training ground inside the military camp, ten soldiers in armor were training according to Liu Jilian's command.

While explaining the small three-talent formation that the third group usually trained in, he also explained how the main army fought.

Compared with many illiterate team leaders, he spoke in a leisurely manner, and was able to answer questions from time to time and translate them into vernacular so that it was not difficult for the third group of soldiers to understand.

It was three days ago that the Shazhou Army recaptured Jiuquan, and Liu Jilian and others also produced enough soil within three days, waiting for it to dry in the shade before building mud houses.

Seeing that the problems of food, clothing, housing and transportation were solved, Liu Jilong began to train his group.

He did not introduce any modern training methods because there was not enough food for his daily training.

At that time, people only eat corn, and each person only has two pounds of corn. Oil, salt, meat and other supplies are extremely scarce. Basically, they eat wild vegetables with millet, and at most a little sauce.

Under such eating conditions, training could only be kept simple, so Liu Jilong could only train his own men to cooperate in the face of an enemy.

As long as they practice the "Small Three Talents Formation" into muscle memory, their group will be able to practice it too.

Even though it was such a simple training, after only one morning of training, Zhang Chang and his classmates lay down on the training ground complaining in pain.

“I’m exhausted…”

Zhang Chang was gasping for breath, and the other nine people were not much better.

"Take a rest. Zhang Chang, you and Zhao Qian will go buy some rice and meat for dinner!"

As Liu Jilong spoke, he suddenly took out some money from his waist and threw it over.

Zhang Chang sat up immediately after hearing this, stretched out his hand and grabbed the half-paid money: "Okay!"

The other nine people also sat up and couldn't help swallowing.

"Boss, are you buying them all?"

“Buy them all!”

Zhang Chang asked, and Liu Jilong answered, adding: "First buy three catties of meat and a bushel of rice. If there is any left, buy some oil and salt."

"Then place the bid and go now!" Zhang Chang happily put the money into his arms, and at the same time turned his head to look at a young man who got up and gestured: "Zhao Qian, let's go!"

"Hey!" Zhao Qian followed happily, and the other eight people also became excited, chatting and laughing about when they last ate meat.

After they discussed for about a quarter of an hour, a voice rang out from behind Liu Jilong: "I heard that you used your own money to buy rice and meat for the soldiers?"

Liu Jilong subconsciously turned around and saw Zhang Huaishen, dressed in armor, coming behind him at some point.

He turned around to look at the group of people laughing and cursing in his heart: "What a bunch of idiots!"

"Captain, these are all the money and food that were captured and distributed on the battlefield. They are not hidden away by the government!"

Liu Jilong quickly stood up and explained to Zhang Huaishen. Zhang Huaishen nodded: "I didn't say you hid money and grain."

Taking a deep breath, Zhang Huaishen slowly said, "The army outside the city has assembled and is ready to march. I just saw you training your soldiers for several hours in the corner of the training ground. Your skills are quite good..."

"I don't deserve it." Liu Jilong still responded carefully. This move made Zhang Huaishen frown but also added a bit of admiration.

"The third group is the Tangqi group of our regiment. These people I transferred to you are all from herding backgrounds and have good horsemanship."

"The army is setting out, and I have no way of leaving you any good horses, but I have left you eleven inferior horses."

"Take good care of them. I hope to see the third group restored to its former self when I return."

After all, Zhang Huaishen valued Liu Jilong, so he left him a poor horse that could be used for equestrian training.

Liu Jilong also knew that Zhang Huaishen would not give things for free, and that there was a reward behind everything he gave, so he bowed quickly.

"Your Majesty will definitely train the brothers as soon as possible, and they will join the regiment after the captain returns triumphantly!" His words made Zhang Huaishen look at him meaningfully, but Liu Jilong did not avoid it and his eyes met Zhang Huaishen's.

"At present, the Western Regions, Hexi and Longyou are all occupied by the Tibetans. If we can succeed in our eastern expedition, the Western Regions will surely be shaken, and the people of all ethnic groups in the Western Regions will rise up, overthrow the Tibetan tyranny, and return to the Tang Dynasty with us."

"I gave you these supplies and took such good care of you, not for anything else, but just so you can kill more foreign soldiers when you go into battle."

"If you are... forget it, just get busy."

Zhang Huaishen seemed to have a lot to say to Liu Jilong, but halfway through, he felt that it was useless to say so much, so he sighed and turned away.

Seeing him leave, Liu Jilong was stunned for a moment, but after he came to his senses, he still gave him a gift in a loud voice: "Wait for the captain to return triumphantly!"

Soon, Zhang Huaishen had gone far away. Liu Jilong then turned around and cursed: "What a bunch of idiots! They saw the captain coming but didn't even inform me!"

"If you are so careless, when you go to the battlefield in the future, I'm afraid that even the foreign bandits will approach you without you even noticing."

"Everyone, stand up and practice for another half an hour!"

Everyone was scolded, but they didn't dare to refute. They could only stand together and start practicing.

Soon, shouts of killing were heard again on the parade ground, and Zhang Huaishen, who was leaving, mounted his horse after walking out of the parade ground and arrived outside the city in a cup of tea.

At this moment, nearly two thousand Shazhou soldiers were preparing for battle outside the city. Among them, the number of soldiers wearing armor had expanded to six regiments, and 60% of them were wearing armor.

The only flaw is that these soldiers are all wearing Tibetan armor, not the Tang armor that everyone is thinking about.

Looking at the soldiers in Shazhou, Zhang Huaishen felt excited and a little disappointed.

Amid such mixed emotions, he rode his horse to the center of the army, skillfully dismounted and walked into the tent.

At this moment, the big tent was full of people coming in and out. After Zhang Huaishen walked in, he saw the empty environment and Zhang Yichao standing in the main seat.

"uncle!"

Since it was not a formal occasion, Zhang Huaishen addressed him as uncle.

Zhang Yichao glanced at him after hearing this, then pointed at the map in his hand and said:

"There is no news about the spies I placed in Fulu, Zhangye and other cities. They must have been discovered."

"Although it's only ninety miles from Jiuquan to Fulu, there are troops from the Long family and the Huihe on the way. The soldiers are marching with armor on their backs. It will probably take four days to reach Fulu."

Normally, a large army does not wear armor or ride horses when marching. This is why there are so many examples of surprise attacks in ancient and modern history where the outnumbered side won against the larger side.

If three thousand armored men launched a surprise attack on an unprepared army of one hundred thousand, it would be enough to defeat the army.

It’s a pity that the situation in Hexi is complicated, and the soldiers of Shazhou do not have the right to travel without armor.

Faced with such a situation, Zhang Yichao, as the commander, could only proceed step by step, and the soldiers also had to endure a lot of hardships.

"Fulu City is small and can be taken in two days. The key is the road from Fulu to Zhangye."

Zhang Huaishen responded, "This stretch of road is over 320 miles long. Outside the city are basically the pastures of the Long family and the Huihe people. Even the Tibetans dare not become their enemies."

"If we march into Zhangye, we will inevitably have conflicts with them."

"Hmm..." Zhang Yichao nodded in agreement: "After being defeated by the Khitans, these Huihe people fled everywhere. I heard that Tingzhou, the former seat of Beiting, was occupied by them."

"In time, these Huihe people may become a powerful force in the Western Regions..."

After Zhang Yichao finished speaking, he breathed a sigh of relief, and Zhang Huaishen said, "I just went to test that fellow Liu Jilong."

"That fellow really knew that my army would march to Ganzhou, and he even said that he would wait for me to return triumphantly."

"Not surprising." Zhang Yichao did not find it strange and just ordered:
"Liu Jilong is a man of great courage, literacy, and clean family background. We must not let him go."

"After we recover Fulu this time, you don't have to come back. Just transfer him to Fulu directly."

"Yes!" Zhang Huaishen agreed, but then hesitated:

"If we want to win him over, we will be doing him an injustice. But if we promote him to be the captain of a team or a brigade, the position will not be high enough. This..."

Facing his hesitation, Zhang Yichao's eyes were calm and he spoke steadily: "After we recapture Ganzhou, there will be plenty of positions for him, but we have to see if he can achieve success first."

(End of this chapter)