On May 20, the fifth year of Wanli, the new army, which had been repaired in Zhaoqing for several days, set off towards Xinyi under the leadership of Ling Yunyi and Liu Xian.

Following the new army, there were nine thousand soldiers led by Gaozhou General Chen Lin.

The so-called "wolf soldiers" refer to chief soldiers distributed in northwestern Guangxi and some areas in southern Guizhou. There are the Yao people and the Zhuang people who say that they are not consistent. But for the "wolf soldiers" born here and raised here, the ethnic categories are all imposed by outsiders, and they themselves do not care.

The first time the military was used in the Ming court was during the reign of Emperor Yingzong. In October of the winter of the second year of Zhengtong, the then general of Guangxi, Du Governor Shanyun reported to the court, "The local officials on the left and right rivers are mostly local, with more people and few fields. The military soldiers are brave and are afraid of the thieves." It is recommended that the court "select the leader of the committee and lead them to farm the areas near the mountains and deserts, and cut off the road to the thieves" to calm the place.

The military soldiers are brave in fighting. History records that "Wolf soldiers are in Dongguan and Nandan, Guangxi, and the three states can defeat the crowd with fewer numbers, and nine out of ten outs will win. Why? The local officials of the three states are roughly like Qin's law, with the top priority of the leader of the enemy. The military order is strict, and the rewards are also heavy, and the soldiers are mostly willing to die." The combat capability is far superior to the military forces of the garrison. In the late Ming Dynasty, the saying "Guangxi's military troops are the best in the world" appeared.

The name of Guangxi soldiers who dared to fight and could fight has been passed down to later generations. Marshal Peng Dehuai even commented on the enemy of the Red Army during the Long March: "The Guizhou Army had two sheep, the Hunan Army was a wolf, and the Guangxi monkey was a Gui army, as fierce as a tiger and as evil as a wolf."

Therefore, after Emperor Yingzong, the Ming court, who tasted the sweetness, became increasingly dependent on the use of military troops, and later even dispatched military troops to the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas to fight against Japanese pirates. During the Jiajing period, the "Lady of the Wa family" led military troops to fight against Japanese pirates in Jiangnan, and was later called "a heroine".

However, the use of military soldiers also has great disadvantages. Military soldiers are essentially mercenaries of the court, and their command power is in the hands of various chieftains. The court lacks effective means of restraint, which leads to chaos in military discipline and many acts of burning and killing the people, so that the people have the saying that they are more afraid of wolf soldiers than thieves.

There were many records in the Ming Dynasty because of "the use of wolf soldiers, and the plunder and killing of chickens and dogs, and the plan was not hidden, and there was nothing more than this." During the Zhengde period, the thieves Liu Liu and Liu Qi were in rebellion. The court dispatched Yongshun, and Baojing and the two Xuan comforted the troops to cooperate in the suppression. The thieves gathered together all the way, and people could not bear it. The thieves once said to the looted people: We come like combs, and the chieftain soldiers were like combs - which shows the military discipline of the army.

However, for this army that was operating with the new army, there was really someone who could suppress them. This person was Chen Lin, the general of Gaozhou.

Chen Lin, whose courtesy name was Chaojue. He was born in the 11th year of Jiajing, was from Shaozhou. At this time, he was forty-five years old. In the 41st year of Jiajing, Chen Lin led the people's rebellion in Chaozhou, Yingde and other places and was promoted to commander-in-chief, and later promoted to the garrison of Guangdong.

During his time in Guangdong and Guangxi, Yin Zhengmao vigorously promoted Chen Lin, a brave and resourceful general. In the first year of Wanli, Chen Lin successively pacified Gaoyao Deng Shenglong's rebels and Jieyang bandit Zhong Yuequan; in March of the second year of Wanli, because Zhang Yuanxun's general Li Chengli was defeated in the battle against the bandit Zhu Liangbao of Chaozhou Prefecture, Yin Zhengmao temporarily granted Chen Lin the position of general, and asked Chen Lin to command a unit of military forces. After pacifying Zhu Liangbao, Chen Lin was awarded the title of guerrilla general of Zhaoqing and was transferred to Gaozhou.

Chen Lin was born with a material for leading troops. He was sturdy and had amazing strength. His eyes were not big but slender, and he always flashed with fierce light. His eagle's nose was wide and his voice was low and hoarse. When others met him, they knew that this person was not easy to meet.

The chieftains saw him like a mouse and saw a cat, and no one was afraid of him because this person was cruel. When Chen Lin was the first general, he was dissatisfied with the soldiers. Chen Lin once fought against the warriors with swords on the school ground.

Because of the attack, many wolves were knocked down by him in succession, and then cut off their forearms. Chen Lin continued to shout for challenges after smearing the face with blood, but no one dared to respond.

Chen Lin was extremely brave and powerful, but on the other hand, he was also wise and greedy. Since the day of the army, he has been plundering, killing prisoners and making achievements, and bribing his superiors to do everything - just in line with Yin Zhengmao's temper.

Zhang Juzheng's followers like Yin Zhengmao had similar temperaments and only wanted to make achievements in their work, and did not talk about the rest. They were not very famous in the Ming Dynasty officialdom. They were greedy for merit and money, and were not stingy with their subordinates. Chen Lin plundered what he gained, gave his boss to his boss and his little head to his soldiers, and he just left some soup to his soldiers. Over the past few years, Chen Lin used the soldiers who led them to throw themselves into the ground like a finger.

This time, from Zhaoqing to Xinyi, it was planned to march for 15 days. The two armies walked on the road and made a difference: the new army was trained like wooden men, and even after thousands of miles of trekking, the queue was not scattered. Most of the soldiers led by Chen Lin did not even have military uniforms, most of them were black cloth and black shoes, black cloth bags, some were carrying weapons, and some carried them. They walked with great strength. The team was uneven in thickness and had no requirement for neat queues.

Liu Xian and Deng Zilong, the second commander of the deputy commander, both fought in Guangdong and knew that the combat effectiveness of these thin soldiers could not be judged from their appearance. However, the middle and lower-level officers of the new army had been brainwashed by the concept of martial arts "discipline is combat effectiveness". Seeing the soldiers' appearance, their disdain was beyond words.

The new army will transfer to Guangdong, and training is also an important purpose. After the two armies are stationed every day, a seminar will be held to let Chen Zan be a teacher and teach the new army officers.

Chen Zan has never been to martial arts, but in the past six months, he has met several officers from Guangdong and Guangxi who have graduated from martial arts and have communicated with each other. In Chen Zan's opinion, these officers who returned to Guangdong and Guangxi from martial arts are basically stupid.

After these people came back, they copied the martial arts and trained their own garrisons, and copied all the marching methods. However, the soldiers of the garrisons were not supported by the new army in Beijing? After less than half a month of training, two people caused a mutiny, which made these graduates all look dirty.

Therefore, Chen Zan, a general who came out of blood, did not look down on martial arts officers very much, but he was ordered by Ling Yunyi, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, so he had to give this lecture.

On the first day, the two armies were stationed on the north bank of the Xijiang River. Before having dinner, Chen Zan taught in the big tent. He first took Luobianshan as an example and explained the impact of the geographical advantage of dense forests on the march, and then emphasized: "Luobianshan is high and dense, with a crisscrossing path. The first thing to do is to advance is to be alert..."

In Chen Zan's view, the warning of mountain warfare must be placed in front, middle and back mail, and the elite soldiers must be placed in groups - at least a thousand people must be released to be responsible for the warning, and the protection of the food channels must be placed at the top of the list. Judging from the previous experience of dealing with the Yao people, what they are best at is to break the whole into pieces, then turn the zero into pieces, sneak attack the rear of the army, and cut off our food channels.

When the new army officer heard this, he looked at each other and thought that this was all annoyed by the teacher. The protection of the food channel was also the top priority in the plains - who could ignore it? Seeing that they were dissatisfied, Chen Zan picked up a wooden crossbow about two feet wide on the big table and said: "There is a poisonous arrow wood in the mountains of Luobian. The Yao people cut the skin and took the juice and applied it to the arrow. Although this arrow is not iron but made of bone, it does not have to be penetrated much deeper. It only scratches your skin and seals the throat with blood."

Chen Zan continued: "He is hiding in the dense forests on both sides of the mountain road. When your army passes, the crossbow will be like rain and you will leave in one wave. Kill five people in your army at one time. After two days, one or two hundred people will disappear without seeing them. - How can you respond?"

"If you stop strangling, he will run without a trace through the woods, and your food will not be transported; if you ignore the casualties, the number of poisonous arrows will become more and more dense, how many people will you have enough to kill him?"

Zhang Qianyu, the new army chief, raised his hand to signal. Seeing Chen Zan nodding, he stood up and said, "The new army has elite soldiers who do not collect the team at night. You can use scouts to attack the scouts. Both sides will strangle them - his crossbow is not as far away as my gun, so you can respond."

After hearing this, Chen Zan nodded and said, "This method is also the method I used. Therefore, I have the elite troops in front, middle and back, and I have to protect the main force from afar. The theory of food channels is fundamentally different from plains. Entering the mountains and forests, strangling everywhere, and fighting is no different from front and back!"

When the new army officers heard this, they all sucked a breath of the wet and hot air in Guangdong. Seeing that Chen Zan suppressed them, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. Because of his fierceness, it would be better not to smile. Seeing him, he called a soldier beside him and said, "Can you see how different his outfit is from our army?"

The new army officer looked carefully and saw that the soldier had a black cloth wrapped in his head, black clothes and black shoes, which was no different from the daytime. He shook his head and said he was unaware.

Chen Zan gave the answer: "I didn't know at first, but later I took them into the forest to know the benefits of this outfit. Please see, this Baotou is used to prevent sweating. After entering the forest, it was extremely hot and sweating ten times more than we are now! When we were fighting, sweat was flowing in our eyes. Where did you hit your bird gun?"

When the new army officers heard this, they all realized it. Chen Zan pointed to the leg of the soldier again and said, "Look at his pants, from his ankles to the entire calf, they were wrapped in cloth, which is to prevent poisonous insects. In the dense forest, you have seen poisonous insects that you have never seen before. If you don't have such leggings, the poisonous insects alone can kill us half!"

Seeing that the new army officers sitting below were looking for a speech, Chen Zan smiled and said, "Although the new army also has leggings, they use straps. I think it should be to prevent legs from swelling when walking - straps may not work. I think it is best to wrap them with cloth like wolves! If there is a little space left, the poisonous insects are pervasive. After entering the Luo side, our collar and cuffs must be tied tightly, and even if it is too hot, it cannot be loosened. Governor Ling has prepared leggings for the new army. When he turns around, he will send troops to teach you how to tie your legs and wrap your head."

Liu Xian had known about this before, and after hearing Chen Zan's words, he signaled to Ling Yunyi to express his gratitude. After hearing this lesson, the new army officers immediately outlined the scene in the battle of mountain forests. It turned out that the battle of southern forests was not the difficulty of attacking and killing the enemy, but the murderous intent that was everywhere in the dense forest!
Chapter completed!