Chapter 220 219 Awakening

Ma Fang naturally knew very well about the troubles of night battles these days, that is, he had not told Wei Guangde and Dong Yiyuan before.

But now, Ma Fang feels a little regretful.

He was worried that Wei Guangde would be persuaded by Liu Dazhang and Tian Shiwei and eventually give up the opportunity to raid Anda Khan's camp.

If I had known this, I should have analyzed the battle situation in detail with Wei Guangde yesterday. It was a rare opportunity.

However, at this time, Shangguan did not speak, and he naturally had no chance to speak.

Wei Guangde also heard the conversation between the three of them. Liu Dazhang's statement that he was timid to fight was credible and he did not want to fight. Tian Shiwei could not find a good idea and did not support night fighting out of safety considerations.

After discussing for a long time, Wei Guangde also thought of what to do, and said directly and forcefully to Liu Dazhang and Tian Shiwei: "Before I came, Master Weng Pu had strict orders, and we must fight. You have all read the military orders sent before, and now this is Say, either we will attack our headquarters in a night battle tonight, or you will come up with other plans."

Wei Guangde's tough performance made Liu Dazhang feel a little embarrassed. He did not doubt Weng Pu's determination to ask their Xuanfu army to fight. The previous military order could not be faked, but it was indeed not an opportunity at that time.

Now I have a chance, but I can't think of a good strategy in a hurry.

Wei Guangde glanced at the generals in the next round and said to Liu Dazhang: "In this way, you keep the generals who have strategies under your account, and let the others go down to rest first. The lieutenants of each battalion go back to prepare. Fighting must be fought." of."

Liu Dazhang knew that his idea of ​​procrastination might not work, so he had to ask a few veterans with battlefield experience to stay and help him find a solution later.

But just as the other generals who were not named were about to leave, Wei Guangde suddenly asked: "I came to Xuanfu and saw that the guard here only eats two meals a day?"

"Yes, our Xuanfu has always been like this."

Liu Dazhang was surprised, but he still said.

Wei Guangde thought for a while before continuing: "We will give the soldiers an extra meal at noon today, and then send them all back to sleep. From midnight, we will have another meal."

Although it was not determined whether it was a night battle or something else, Wei Guangde wanted to get things done now. Let the soldiers have a meal at noon and then go to bed. As long as they lie in bed, don't worry about who can't sleep. They will feel better at night. of.

In this era, the Ming Dynasty had already had "three meals a day" in the south, while most people in the north still maintained "two meals a day". However, this was only for the lives of the lower class people. For the dignitaries, they naturally did not Worry about food.

Some people who can barely live a decent life still eat three meals a day during the busy farming season. Only in winter, when the days are short and the nights are long, they only eat two meals a day.

When it came to the Ming army, Wei Guangde had already noticed that they still had two meals a day.

In the morning, we have a meal at about ten o'clock, which is Si hour. In the afternoon, we have a meal at four or five o'clock, which is Shen hour, and then go to bed after dark.

At this moment, Wei Guangde thought that he had thought of everything he should have thought of. When he was feeling a little complacent, Ma Fang in the hall suddenly said: "Sir, you also need to prepare torches and other items for night use."

"Huh? Yes, Mr. Liu, please tell me to go down."

At this time, Wei Guangde turned around and said politely to the commander-in-chief Liu Dazhang.

A few miles outside Baoan Prefecture, a group of Ming Army patrols were walking slowly forward towards the camp of the Anda tribe.

Unlike the Ming Army's cavalry, which used to have as many as thirty or forty people and as few as a dozen people, this group of Ming Army cavalry has nearly a hundred people.

"Master Wei, about ten miles ahead is the Wanhu camp of the Anda tribe."

At this time, a middle-aged man in the uniform of a guerrilla general said to a young boy with an immature face next to him, but this boy was wearing a blue official robe.

"We'd better hurry up. After seeing this, we still need to go see what Ada Khan's camp looks like."

That young man was naturally Wei Guangde. While the Xuanfu army was preparing for war, he asked Ma Fang to take him out to see the situation in the Anda camp, so as to compare it and see if the previously agreed tactics were still there. Mistakes.

Wei Guangde knew very well that if he won this battle, he would get countless benefits. Although there was also a hidden worry, that is, he would be transferred to a military and civilian position by the court, but he could not care about that much at the moment. Everything was still focused on promotion and wealth.

A military civil servant was a military civil servant. After all, he was also from the Hanlin Academy, and he was considered to be a well-established member of the civil service system. He might still be transferred back if he could figure out a way.

Not long after, Wei Guangde saw the Mongolian tents set up in the wilderness from a distance, and then saw a row of low wooden fences.

"This is their camp?"

When Wei Guangde saw this, he couldn't suppress a burst of ecstasy in his heart.

The Mongolian camp was too crude.

It's not like Wei Guangde has never seen the Ming army camp. Not to mention the arrangement of the internal tents, there are many things to pay attention to. Even outside the camp, in addition to wooden fences being erected to prevent anyone from seeing what is going on inside the camp, there are also Several rows of horses were placed outside the camp gate.

If the combat readiness level is high, pits and sheep and horse walls will be built outside the camp to prevent sneak attacks and cavalry raids from the opponent.

At this point, although there is no such thing as a telescope in this era, and it cannot be seen clearly from a distance, the general situation is still clear at a glance.

The camp is just a row of low fences, and the tents inside are only roughly arranged, which is relatively messy.

Just as he was about to move forward, Ma Fang on the side pulled his horse's head and said, "Sir, you can't get any closer, otherwise the Tatar cavalry will be attracted."

When Wei Guangde heard this, he knew what was good and bad. There was no need to provoke a war at this time, so as not to expose his whereabouts and let Altan Khan prepare.

"Then let's go around and stay away from them."

Wei Guangde nodded and said to Ma Fang.

Then the group stopped approaching the Tatar camp and started to walk out, away from the Tatar camp, and continued to move forward.

"Can we touch the row of wooden fences if we approach the Tatar camp before dawn?"

On the way, Wei Guangde asked Ma Fang in a low voice.

"Absolutely impossible."

Ma Fang shook his head. "Although the Tatar camp is simple, they raise a lot of hunting dogs in the camp. They are distributed in all directions at night. As long as our people approach, they will attract dogs to bark."

When Wei Guangde saw the Tatar camp, the first thing he thought of was the special operations of the future. Can he send out elite soldiers first, those who serve as scouts at night?

According to Ma Fang, most of the brave soldiers in the Ming army will serve in this position, and they are also proficient in various weapons, at least they have a special skill.

Before the Ming army attacks, send a team to sneak in to find Altan Khan's tent. When the Ming army's attack causes a brief chaos in the Tatar camp, capture or kill Altan Khan alive, and the great achievement will be achieved.

Just hearing Ma Fang say that the Mongols will set up hunting dogs everywhere when they set up camp, this thing is really hard to deal with.

The slightest movement outside will make them bark, attracting patrolling soldiers.

There were dog thieves in later generations, but they would take advantage of the owner's inattention and throw some drugged food to the dog while it was barking, or simply rob it openly, covering the dog with a bag, loading it into a car and running away.

These tricks obviously cannot be used here.

"Is it the same in all the departments in Xuanfu? I saw that your army has dogs."

Wei Guangde said casually.

"I stayed there for a long time, so my army has dogs. Some other generals have dogs, and some don't."

As the two talked, the group went farther and farther.

It was summer at this time, and it was getting dark. It was only at the beginning of the Wu hour that the sky began to gradually darken, and it was completely dark at the Hai hour.

The military camp inside and outside Baoanzhou, which should have been quiet at this time in the past, was different today.

Although there were not many soldiers in the military camp, there were already many conscripted civilians carrying a large number of torches and other things in and out of the military camp. These things that had been prepared for an afternoon were to be placed at designated locations.

Many soldiers who had slept in the barracks for half a day could no longer lie down. They dared not go out when they stood up, so they could only stand behind the door and look out through the gaps in the doors and windows.

The main passages of the camp were lit with fires as usual, so that they could vaguely see the shadows of people outside.

At noon, the soldiers were happy to have an unexpected meal, but after being driven back to the barracks after the meal, the old soldiers realized something and they were afraid that they would not spend a peaceful night.

The newly recruited soldiers were quite excited at first, but after seeing the performance of the old soldiers, they gradually guessed something.

At first, some people planned to get up and go out after sleeping, but as soon as they opened the door, they were driven back by the soldiers outside the door and continued to sleep in bed. If they did not obey the military order, they would be beaten with ten military sticks.

No one wanted to be beaten, so they could only lie in bed honestly.

But after lying for a long time, not only could they not sleep, but they also felt uncomfortable all over.

Gradually, they found that as long as they didn't go out, the patrolling soldiers outside didn't care much about them, so at this time, many people had already gotten up, sitting or standing in the house, and started to discuss.

In fact, there was nothing much to say, just whether they were going to fight the Tartars tonight, otherwise they would never drive them back to sleep.

"Be content, we didn't have this treatment before. If the superiors shouted, we had to fight, and they gave you time to sleep. This time, they also gave you food first, and there would be another meal when you go out later. It's not bad."

For the discussion of others, the veterans didn't pay much attention at first, but they were in a similar state at this time. They couldn't sleep, and some veterans spoke unconsciously.

In this era, most generals didn't sympathize with the soldiers. In their eyes, the soldiers were not as good as a dog raised by their own family.

Whether it was a war or anything else, they would not consider the physical condition of the soldiers. They just prepared a full meal before the battle so that they would have the strength to chop people.

"Dong! - Dong! Dong!" The sound of the night watchman, one slow and two fast, came from the streets of Baoanzhou. It was the night watchman patrolling at night.

Although there was a large army of Tartars stationed outside the state city, as an ancient profession, the night watchman still fulfilled his duties conscientiously.

But in the past, at three o'clock in the morning, there were few people on the street except himself.

If there were, they were soldiers patrolling the night with lanterns and torches.

But today, there were obviously many more pedestrians on the street, all of them were young and strong men, but they did not wear the standard military uniforms of the Ming army, but were dressed as ordinary people, carrying various things in their hands or on their backs, and traveling between the state office warehouse and the military camp.

Hearing the sound of the night watchman outside, Liu Dazhang, the general of Xuanfu, turned his head and said to Wei Guangde: "Sir Wei, are you sure you want to do it?"

Wei Guangde naturally knew what Liu Dazhang had planned. When he saw Liu Dazhang accepting the order to start the war so readily, Wei Guangde felt that he had preconceived the idea and wrote a document to Mr. Weng Puweng, as if he had done something unfair.

But now, he no longer feels this way at all.

Such incompetent officials should be captured, otherwise there will never be peace in Xuanfu in the future.

If something happens to the Xuanfu, the capital next to it will not be stable. Wei Guangde doesn't want to be sent to this ungrateful place to wipe his ass for Liu Dazhang's incompetence.

"Naturally, now the arrow is on the string and has to be fired."

Wei Guangde replied with a gentle smile on his lips.

"Let us inform you, let the soldiers prepare their meals, and leave them out at night to observe the movements of the Tatar camp."

Liu Dazhang was a little helpless at the moment and regretted going back on his word. He didn't want to offend Weng Pu.

It must be Weng Pu's intention to let the Xuanfu army go to war.

Although he doubted whether Wei Guangde's arrival was under Weng Pu's instructions, he did not dare to question it.

He didn't care about Wei Guangde, at least on such a major matter as starting a war, he didn't care about Wei Guangde's opinion. Although he was an official of the Hanlin Academy, he couldn't care less about Weng Pu.

The watchman who was patrolling the streets of Baoan Prefecture was walking on the empty street at this time. It was much more normal now. The figures of the civilian workers who were active before were gone. He was the only one on the whole street, carrying a lantern alone. There is a banger inside.

At this time, what he was thinking about was to complete the three clocking tasks as soon as possible so that he could go back and take a rest.

"Dong-dong! Dong! Dong", one slow and three fast sounds, which means that the time is already 1 o'clock in the morning, the fourth watch day.

"Hua Hua Hua"

Not far away, in the direction of the Baoan Prefecture government office, there were sudden sounds of footsteps, and then the watchman watched many people pouring out of the government office gate with torches.

There was a dense crowd of soldiers standing outside the gate. They all stood there quietly, holding a rein in their hands.

As people came out of the official office, people kept approaching, took the reins from the soldiers, and then got on their horses.

The watchman approaching the military camp in Baoan Prefecture City was so frightened that he hid on the street. In the middle of the night, more than ten torches were lit in front of the military camp gate. The gate of the military camp was open, and countless fully armed soldiers lined up. The queue ran out of the military camp gate

The city gate of Baoan Prefecture was opened at some point. When the night watchmen saw it, they hurried over to ask why. They were watchmen, and their responsibilities were not only to tell the time to the residents of the city, but also to prevent fire and theft, and to provide early warning. responsibilities.

Although he saw the bright lights at the city gate and many soldiers standing there, he still had to go over immediately to ask why. He had not received a notice from the Zhizhou Yamen that the city gate would be opened tonight.

"The army is dispatched, quickly avoid it."

When he was about to run close to the city gate, the familiar roar of the city gate official stopped him.

Not long after, dense footsteps were heard from the direction of the military camp in the distance.

The military camp outside Baoan Prefecture was also waking up in the middle of the night. Countless soldiers had already put on their armor and lined up with weapons in their hands.