Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 185: Go Go Go
The spring breeze blew through the woods, and the new branches and leaves rustled in the wind.

The rays of the rising sun spread across the earth, and layers of orange-red gauze slowly faded away, revealing the blue sky under the sunlight.

A little bird flapped its wings and soared into the sky, passing over the tops of scattered trees and finally landed on the branch of a big tree.

It twisted its nimble neck and looked around, but did not find the person lurking among the branches, "Li Simin".

Li Simin was wearing a camouflage uniform made of leaves, and a monocular telescope was fixed on a tree branch.

From time to time, he put his right eye close to observe the movements of enemy soldiers in the distance.

Two teammates, "Luo Dachui" and "Storm Rat", were lying under the big tree. They were half buried underground and had not moved for several hours. They probably went offline to play other games.

After a while, another little bird flew over and stayed next to the first bird.

"Li Simin" observed the two lovely birds intently. The two birds chirped and hummed softly, like a couple on a date on Chinese Valentine's Day with endless things to talk about.

This overflowing cuteness made Li Simin's teeth itch, and he suddenly felt a strong urge to grab the two cute birds in his hands and squeeze them to death.

This is certainly not a sign of mental abnormality, but rather the brain's hedging mechanism against cute creatures.

Following the sound of horse hooves, two birds spread their wings and flew high.

Li Simin quickly looked in the direction of the sound and found traces of enemy soldiers through the telescope.

A large number of cavalrymen with flags appeared in the field of vision, and the infantry followed behind the cavalrymen and marched quickly.

As some scouts returned, the government army's infantry and cavalry chose a small town to station, and a steady stream of infantry and cavalry gathered from the northwest.

Auxiliary soldiers and local militia are easy to distinguish. The former wear a tattered battle jacket, straw sandals, and an iron helmet. Their weapons are either spears or muskets that can be used as hammers.

The latter was dressed cleanly and simply and had a thin body. If he had not held a spear and a sword in his hands, he would have been mistaken for a refugee.

The number of enemy soldiers was increasing, and the temporary camp was taking shape. Li Simin judged that this should be the main force of the western government army.

He adjusted his posture and lay on the branch, like a quilt hanging on an iron rod, then called up the game operation interface and clicked "Exit Game".

With a flash of white light, Li Simin's consciousness returned to reality.

He quickly unlocked his phone, opened his social media app, and sent a message to both the Beggars' Army group and the reconnaissance group. "We've discovered the main enemy force in grid C4, with a force of no less than 40,000. Also, those two bastards, Luo Dachui and Storm Rat, are online and AFK, not helping me at all. Remember to deduct their military merit points..."

"Information received, your achievement has been recorded. A corresponding contribution will also be deducted for idle dogs."

Within a minute, two anonymous users suddenly appeared in the group, saying, "No! I'm just going to the bathroom, I'm not offline!"

"You were in the bathroom for two hours and fell into the pit, right?"

"Please, we won't dare to do it next time."

"Then we'll talk about it next time..."

"Gan!"

……

After receiving the message, "Summer Duck" quickly came online, and the soft "doll" that was originally sleeping in the recliner suddenly became firm.

Xia Ya approached Sula, who was staring at a map of Henan divided into dozens of grids. "Grid C4 has revealed the main force of the Western Route Army..."

"Bingsi." Sula murmured softly, drawing a circle around the marked spot with a charcoal pencil. Then, he compared the distances between the enemy and us. "The government troops have indeed caught up, but they are still at least forty miles away from us, a day's walk."

"Summer Duck": "We've decimated most of the government scouts. He probably can't grasp our army's specific movements."

Huang Chao sat firmly on the wooden chair and crossed his legs. "Then what are we waiting for? We can take advantage of the night to get close to them. Then we can have a decisive battle with the Western Route Army during the day."

"It's indeed possible. Today is sunny and cloudless, and it's a full moon. The full moon will be very bright tonight."

"That's inappropriate," Su La objected. "We and the auxiliary troops can still fight after covering forty miles, but many of the new and veteran militiamen are probably seriously lagging behind. Rather than letting them drag us down, we should separate them."

"You want to divide the troops?"

"Yes. Didn't the brothers who died in the battle reveal the information? They said our main force only had 40,000 men, but our total strength was 50,000! We used the same tactic to separate 40,000 weaker troops and pretend to cross the river south to mislead the government troops—"

"Then you send out 10,000 elite troops to advance—" Summer Duck finally grasped Sula's strategic intentions, "and catch the enemy off guard."

Sula smiled, her tone growing more excited. "The scouting teams along the way were our eyes and ears, helping us avoid enemy scouts and reach the correct location. Furthermore, there were many forests near enemy garrisons, providing ample space for us to rest and recuperate once we reached our destination."

"Well, how do we catch the enemy off guard?" Huang Chao asked when he didn't understand.

"If you were the commander-in-chief of the government army and heard that the main force of the Qihuo army was crossing the river and heading south, what would you do?" asked "Sula".

"I'll be thankful that my enemy has escaped. I'll just loot the place for a few days and have some fun. Then, when the bandits go to attack our allies, I'll attack them from behind and turn the tide."

"Hahahaha..." Liu, Guan and Zhang burst into laughter.

"What are you laughing at?"

"I'm laughing at you for treating these government troops like fools. If I were a government soldier, I would definitely continue crossing the river to catch the bandits at their tail, and then wait for our allies to come north to attack from both sides... We can wait for the government troops to cross the river, and then surprise attack them halfway across."

"Since the plan is so good, let's get started! I want a river of blood!"

As the commander-in-chief of the entire army, "Sula" immediately ordered the troops to be divided.

Players played finger-guessing games to decide who would be the assault team and who would be the decoy team, ultimately selecting 2,000 players to participate in the operation. The "eliminated" players would command the militia to cross the river and head south.

This night march consisted of a total of 2,000 new and old players, 1,000 cavalry, 7,000 auxiliary troops, and more than 2,000 mules carrying armor and props.

The entire army marched for more than 30 miles along the bottom of the hill. Each player carried five days of dry food, and any showy gadgets not related to combat were left to the "decoy team."

At eight o'clock in the evening, a bright moon hangs high in the sky.

The gentle grayish-white moonlight illuminated the outline of the hill, and ten thousand beggar soldiers hurried along the bottom of the hill like black marching ants.

The captain uses "command voice" to communicate directly with "Sula". Although each conversation will consume a certain amount of merit points in advance, it can basically be replenished after the battle.

『Sula』, who was in the squadron, could not see what was happening in front of her. All she could see were the backs of players' heads and profiles.

Before setting off, the commander shared the intelligence of the Western Route Army:

Tens of thousands of government troops gathered in a small town thirty or forty miles away.

The Qihuo Army had to rush to a forest and hide before dawn, waiting for the government army's formation to loosen before they could attack in one go.

All the brothers who participated in the war were very excited.

Now they will face tens of thousands of government troops, an enemy that is several times their number!

Everyone knows that there is a huge disparity in military strength between the enemy and us, but everyone also knows that this is a deliberate move. Unless the government army has planted an "instant messaging" undercover agent in the Qihuo Army, it is impossible to detect the Qihuo Army's true intentions.

As time goes by, the optimistic mood gradually turns into passion and excitement, and the excitement and tension as if injected with chicken blood drives the players to walk fast.

We covered half the distance in just a few hours, taking two short breaks along the way.

During the third break, "Sula" sat on the ground and took out the mouthpiece from her mouth. A few drops of crystal saliva flowed out from the mouthpiece.

He raised his sleeve to wipe the saliva from the corner of his mouth, then took a sip of water.

A breeze blew by, ruffling the black hair at his temples, and the branches and leaves of the surrounding trees rustled in the wind.

The white moonlight shines through the branches and leaves, like silvery-white dye dotting the lush green ground, rendering this forest path like a dream.

"The entire army is on the road..." "Sula" ordered, and the legion commander's order was like a wave, spreading throughout the army along with the squad leader's message.

In a flash, almost all the players stood up, and urged their cavalry and auxiliary troops to move forward.

Figures crowded the forest path, warhorses and mules gnawing at each other, and the sharp blades of spears and halberds were wrapped in gray cloth to prevent them from being exposed in the moonlight.

All players stood still, quietly waiting for the brothers in the front row to take the first step.

After several hours of marching, the leading players suddenly saw some kind of fire flickering in a forest - the flickering light flickered, like Morse code transmitting information.

All safe.

The information conveyed by the reconnaissance team was quickly spread throughout the army through the commander.

"All troops, speed up and enter the woods!"

At the commander's command, 10,000 troops quickly entered the woods.

"Sula" climbed a tree and looked out. The enemy's campfires illuminated the sky above the camp. If the player still had the stamina, they could probably launch a night raid on the enemy camp.

It’s a pity that even the Fourth Calamity couldn’t withstand the forced march of dozens of miles.

"It's 3:30 in the morning. Everyone, take shelter and rest here to recover your strength. We'll respond based on the enemy situation tomorrow morning."

……

"The enemy troops crossed the river and headed south."

The scouts who discovered that tens of thousands of bandits had crossed the river quickly reported back, and the top leaders of the Ming army were surprised and delighted.

What was shocking was that the bandits suddenly headed south, fearing that they were going to roam and fight, or to threaten the prefectures and counties in southern Henan.

The good news is that the bandits did not dare to confront the Western Route Army head-on, and were actually scared so much that they crossed the river and ran away.

"The entire army will break camp and march south across the river to pursue the bandits!"

However, when Gao Mingheng's order was passed down, few generals obeyed it.

As soon as the soldiers heard that the main force of the bandits had moved south, they all went to the surrounding countryside to "collect food" like monkeys released from their golden hoop.

……

"Hahahaha! I guessed the behavior of the government troops! They really went to plunder and steal food." Huang Chao laughed loudly after hearing the movements of the government troops. He looked at Liu, Guan and Zhang who had laughed at him before and laughed uncontrollably.

"It seems that I am indeed not as good as you in controlling the temperament of the soldiers in the late Ming Dynasty."

"So what do we say next?"

"What else can we say? Since the enemy doesn't even want to attack them halfway across the river, but instead chooses the worst possible path of lax discipline, then we should just accept this great gift with dignity!"

(End of this chapter)