Section 83: Flag sacrifice and war begins

It was already daybreak, and major civil and military officials and local celebrities from Qiongzhou Prefecture and Hainan Province arrived one after another. Sedan sedans and horses continued to arrive. The area around the earthen platform became a gathering place for gauze hats and square scarves. They were very grateful to be able to meet today.

Everyone must have felt very honored and excited at the grand ceremony. While chatting reservedly, they stretched their necks and looked around, waiting for the coach to appear.

On the earth platform, two tiger-skin seats have been placed. One is the seat of He Rubin, the chief military officer guarding Guangdong, and the other is the seat of Zhao Ruyi, the left-hand political officer guarding the Hainan Province Supervisory Army.

Suddenly, a horn sounded, and the entourage of He Rubin and Zhao Ruyi began to enter the school grounds. The two dismounted in front of the platform, and boarded the platform with cheers and crowds.

Under the platform were surrounded by He Rubin's generals, soldiers and servants, a total of three to four hundred people, all wearing helmets and armor, with swords and spears in order. He Rubin and Zhao Ruyi were already in the middle, surrounded by their generals and staff.

He sat down on the high chair. He Rubin was leaning sideways and saying something to Zhao Ruyi. Zhao Ruyi sat calmly, slightly raising his slender face, twirling three strands of his beard, and just nodded slightly, looking cold and conceited.

On both sides of them, according to the custom of left civil and right military, stood two rows of higher-status civil and military officials and staff. As usual, they all lowered their hands and held their breath, showing a respectful and solemn look.

Many soldiers and horses had gathered on the school grounds. The invited local gentry sighed in surprise while twirling their beards. They talked in low voices and pointed at the various flags fluttering on the school grounds. No one could tell how many there were.

Soldiers and horses.

The older ones among them can still vaguely remember the grand occasion of the official army crossing the sea to suppress the campaign during the Wanli Period. It seems that this time is not inferior to that of the past - the official army crossing the sea was said to have 50,000 troops.

Apart from He Rubin's Zhenbiao and retainers, Zhibiao and Fubiao troops gathered here, the Guangdong Ming Army had a total of four generals and a guerrilla unit sent to Qiongshan: Chaozhou General and Qiongya General.

, General Lei Lian, General Chaozhou and Guangdong training guerrilla general.

These five generals are different from the empty lieutenants, generals, and guerrillas that became increasingly common in the late Ming Dynasty. They are real military attachés with titles in each defense zone. Basically, the main force in Guangdong, except for the Dongxishan generals who guard against Yao,

Almost all the troops were mobilized. The officials, gentry and people of Qiongzhou had not seen such a formation for decades.

Gou Chengxuan was watching from a distance on the hillside. He was on a high ground and could see clearly. While he was watching, he only heard someone shouting,

"What an injustice! What an injustice! This villain is a good citizen!"

He was startled slightly, and turned around. It turned out that there were several prisoners who had stripped their upper bodies and were tied up, with scars all over their bodies from being tortured. They were being escorted by several soldiers and driven towards the school grounds. They staggered as they walked,

while shouting.

"This villain is an ordinary merchant. He only goes to Lingao to buy and sell needles, threads and brains. Please forgive me!"

"The villain is not careful, he is wronged, he is wronged!"

Gou Chengxuan thought he had caught a spy, but the old soldier behind him whispered: "This is to beheaded to sacrifice the flag." Then he sighed, "I heard they are all small businessmen, because they have been to Lingao.

Caught."

"Oh, it turns out I went to do business with the thief! He deserves to be killed!" Gou Chengxuan suddenly screamed. If so many people hadn't been greedy for the thief's petty profits, how could the thief be so rampant and gather more than ten thousand people?

People and horses. I heard that when Goujiazhuang was destroyed, many people came to Yanchang Village to help the thieves carry weapons. After the stronghold was broken, they had a share in carrying Goujiazhuang’s property and even demolishing houses. This time when I return to Lingao, I will definitely

The whole village of Yanchang Village was to be slaughtered, leaving no one alive! He thought to himself that women could not be allowed to live!

"Although it is somewhat unjust, it is your own fault!" a voice said not far away. Gou Chengxuan turned around and saw that this person was Qian Taichong, Zhao Ruyi's staff. Gou Chengxuan quickly flattered: "Brother, what you said is extremely

yes!"

Qian Taichong snorted coldly. He looked down upon this retired scholar. He did not go to the school today - his fame was too low and he had no official position. When he went to the school, he could only stand far away and wait on the class. Qian Taichong

Chong is a proud and arrogant person, how can he bear such contempt? Just watch the excitement in the military camp.

He had always thought highly of himself, and he knew that Zhao Ruyi was willing to ask him to be his staff not because of admiration for his moral articles, but because of the kindness introduced by his fellow villagers. When he first arrived in Qiongzhou, a land of southern barbarians, he was not allowed to think of anything that could be done.

Zhao Shenzheng was sent to Guangzhou when he showed off his skills and made an impressive move - obviously he was not taken seriously.

In several strategic meetings to suppress thieves, Qian Taichong had been eager to try out some strategies and win the admiration of everyone. However, he had no military experience at all and had never read military books. Even talking about military affairs on paper was ineffective.

He had no choice but to talk about people's hearts and minds, which made everyone hate him.

He was originally too lazy to deal with people like Gou Chengxuan, but since he wanted to make a difference in the aftermath of the Lingao war, he had no choice but to be polite to this rare Lingao native.

"They are just greedy for some small profits, so they go to Lingao to do business. It is indeed too much to insist that they are spies for the thief." Qian Taichong said, "However, as the saying goes, the people in the countryside are afraid of punishment.

They must be afraid of severe punishment! If they are allowed to follow the trend of profit without punishment, other stupid people will regard the government as merciful and can be bullied, and will imitate them one after another. Within a year and a half, people's hearts will definitely change, and they will not wait for the thieves to cause chaos.

, Qiongzhou is not mine!"

He spoke so boldly, Gou Chengxuan could only listen respectfully. He very much agreed with the fact that ordinary people fear punishment and pursue profit. Just as he was about to think about what words to say to satisfy him, suddenly the sound of cannons sounded again.

It rang.

The few prisoners just now were pushed and shoved under the flagpole of the school ground. These common people, including small traders traveling to Lingao, and those who accidentally said a few good words about the thieves in Qiongshan, were all arrested.

The spy who was a thief was captured.

They were ordered to kneel down. Several swordsmen came over, and with the sound of cannons, several bloody human heads fell to the ground one by one and were placed under the flagpole.

Immediately afterwards, twenty-four large snare drums started beating. The sound of the drums was low and the rhythm was concise and unembellished. Instead, it had an awe-inspiring power. When the beating became passionate, even the heaven and earth seemed to shake. As the vibrations

The heart-wrenching drumbeats and horns suddenly sounded, and a red flag was raised on the podium.

The army gathered in the distance like dark clouds slowly began to move. Like the faint thunder before a heavy rain, the footsteps of the soldiers became louder.

Hands, spearmen pointing their spears slantingly at the sky, firearms hands carrying three-eyed blunderbuss and bird blunderbuss... one after another, each in a certain formation, walked over in neat steps, countless flags were flying under the soldiers

The smoke and dust they kicked up were floating in the air.

The horns were wailing, the drums were rumbling, and the troops participating in the military parade were the most elite part of the Ming army crossing the sea, with a total of 7,000 people. The armored battles were neatly organized and well-equipped, and they had an overwhelming momentum.

This was the first time in his life that Qian Taichong participated in such a large-scale military parade. He couldn't help but get excited, and his heart was trembling slightly because of nervousness. He squeezed the fan in his hand and stared intently at the marching troops in the smoke.

This army is worthy of a battle! Qian Taichong thought that the imperial court still has elite soldiers and generals. The officers and soldiers he saw on the way to the curtain were either tired and lazy, or they were arrogant and capable. Now seeing such elite troops,

He couldn't help but feel reassured about this campaign, feeling that victory was only a matter of time.

"Everyone says that the Kun thieves have strict discipline and neat ranks. I think they are just like this. They may not be able to beat the elites under He Zhentai's command!"

"Yes, except for guns and firearms, the bandits are not very good at attacking and stabbing, but they rely on strong ships and cannons." Gou Chengxuan was also shocked by the astonishing momentum of the parade. He said this partly to flatter him.

Qian Taichong was half truthful. Seeing the momentum of the army, Gou Chengxuan felt that it would not be a problem to wipe out all the ugly thieves.

At the end of the military parade, the yellow flag on the stage was raised, the drums rumbled again, and all the soldiers suddenly let go of their throats and let out an earth-shattering shout. As soon as the gong sounded, the school grounds suddenly became silent again.

"It's time to practice the formation!" Qian Taichong said excitedly.

After a while, a general hurriedly came to the commanding platform and handed a formation booklet to Zhao Ruyi with both hands.

The drums beat rapidly again, and the team that was originally in a square formation began to run rapidly. The square formation turned into a long snake-like column in an instant. Qian Taichong saw that this formation changed not only rapidly, but also

And it was neat and orderly, without any chaos. He secretly shouted: "Okay!" Mr. He is indeed a veteran, and his troops are indeed elite!

Then, as the gongs and drums changed, the thousands of people and horses continued to change their formations and perform formations. The sound of drums rose and fell, and the formations also changed again and again. Sometimes there was a long snake formation, sometimes two.

The ceremonial formation, sometimes the Tai Chi formation, sometimes the chain formation, sometimes the chariot formation... changed into more than a dozen styles. Thousands of soldiers in armor carried weapons and ran back and forth in the dust for almost an hour.

Qian Taichong's eyes widened, and his interest grew higher and higher. A feeling of heroism and enthusiasm arose in his heart, and he couldn't help shouting: "Please come to Lingyan Pavilion for a while, like a scholar with ten thousand households!"

Gou Chengxuan was startled by him and thought he was going crazy. She quickly moved a few steps away.

***Practice continues.

…

While they were mesmerized by the sight, a large high-powered telescope on the mountain not far away was also watching the lively scene of the school grounds.

Telegrams one after another were continuously transmitted via radio to the field army headquarters in Ma Niao.

"The total size of the enemy's army is 22,000. The main force is about 8,000."

"The enemy force includes about 2,000 local warriors."

"Twenty Hongyi cannons."

…

Cameras equipped with high-power focal length lenses filmed the entire military training process. That night, He Ming and all the officers above the battalion saw the video USB disk sent by the special reconnaissance team in Ma Niao's headquarters. The two team members read the video from

Qiongshan arrived at Chengmai on foot at a rapid march, and then Yu Zhiqian drove a motorcycle to Ma Niao Lai himself.

As the spectacular military exercise appeared on the screen, everyone gradually became fascinated and started talking:

"It's so spectacular! It's so different from any other period movie!" Dongmen Chuiyu said in surprise.

"Yes, the beheading scene alone is very spectacular. Five people's heads fell off in one go! It's just like killing a chicken!"

"He Rubin's main force is still very elite! The queue is not bad, but it is not neat enough."

"This large group is far worse than North Korea."

…

After much discussion, everyone concluded that the quality of the Ming army's individual soldiers was good, and the overall morale of the army was not bad, but the content of the military training was obviously outdated and outdated.

"They are still playing the same formation changes as a group. In fact, things like the long snake formation are of little use even in this time and space. It is purely a formality. As for stacking Arhats, somersaults, etc., they are basically

It’s almost like acrobatics.”

"No matter what they are practicing, according to the people in the big library, after the flag parade, the troops will be dispatched. It's time for us to dispatch too." He Ming said, "Breakfast will be provided according to Category A standards tomorrow! At 6 o'clock

Departure on time. Now let's check the watch," he said, raising his hand.

"Everyone, go and have a rest. There are still a few hours until dawn to get a good sleep. We still have many things to do in Chengmai tomorrow. Disband!"

At 5:30 in the morning, He Ming got up from the thatched bed and got dressed. The orderly brought him water to wash his face. As soon as he finished washing his face, he quickly ate the porridge brought by the orderly. As soon as he finished breakfast, he immediately

Order: "Blow the drums and the trumpets!"
To be continued...