Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

early morning.

Zhu Ming woke up rubbing his sleepy eyes and came to the deck to get some air.

There is still mist on the river, but the sun has risen from the east.

Last night all the archers slept with their clothes on, their weapons beside them, just waiting for the bandits to come and attack them.

However, nothing happened...

While the hutou soldiers were making fire and cooking, the servant supervisor came up to him and said, "Zhu Dutou, give me a team of archers. I'll go back to the county seat and resume my duties immediately."

"Your Majesty will not join the army?" Zhu Ming asked.

The servant Supervisor Jun said: "The money and food are in charge of the government officials, and the war is under the command of the capital commander. It doesn't matter whether I go or not."

Ju Ming smiled and said, "Okay, I'll send you a team of archers."

As the representative of Xiangzhi County, this guy just wants to go back with his belongings as soon as possible. Moreover, we have already found out that the new member has a house in the county, and there is money hidden there waiting to be received.

The servants and supervisors were too lazy to take care of what happened next.

Because Xiangzhi County has made enough money and made two windfalls, with a total income of nearly ten thousand yuan.

Stay safe!

A group of miscellaneous soldiers were thrown to the house servants and supervisors. The men fled in the boat without even bothering to eat breakfast.

Going back was going against the current, and the speed was much slower. At least I was able to move all the belongings in before the city gate closed. The iron money was heavy and plentiful, so in order to save time, they simply hired dock coolies and let the team of miscellaneous soldiers maintain law and order throughout the process.

The coolies were paid double their usual wages, and they were all cheerful and motivated.

The county official had already got off work. Hearing the news at home, he came to see the news and was filled with jealousy.

Xiang Zhixian was a little scared, and after all the belongings were moved, he did not immediately move the money hidden in the county seat.

He asked his servant: "Are these archers Zhu Chenggong's confidants?"

The servant replied: "There are more than 300 archers, and more than 200 regular soldiers are selected. Those are Zhu Chenggong's confidants, and they are all taken to Heifeng Stronghold to fight. These eleven people are just miscellaneous soldiers in the hands of the archers."

Xiang Zhixian suddenly had a plan and called all eleven archers to the backyard of the county government office.

Pointing to the two baskets of iron money, he said to the magistrate: "These are all given to you. Whoever is the leader can take them and distribute them himself."

"Thank you, Lord County!" Captain Archer was overjoyed.

Xiang Zhixian then said: "Zhu Dutou has sufficient troops. You don't have to go back. You can stay in the county Weisi as a standing archer. From now on, as long as you listen to me, you will have plenty of money and your family's taxes will be exempted."

The eleven archers were elated after hearing this. They couldn't stand the rules and did not take the initiative to become soldiers. They were quick-thinking people and could easily be bribed with some benefits.

In a small and remote county like Xixiang County, there is no quota for standing archers, but it is basically between ten and twenty people. They used to be Zhu Zhu's confidants, but now they are all vacant, which is convenient for cultivating influence in the county magistrate.

Xiang Zhixian said: "From now on, there will be a county captain, and you must also listen to me. Do you understand me?"

The archer captain immediately knelt down and said: "Eat the food of the county magistrate and work for the magistrate!"

"Very good," Xiang Zhixian asked again, "You are not soldiers, have you learned the Mandarin Duck Formation?"

The captain of the archers said: "We have all practiced."

Xiang Zhixian was even more satisfied. When Ju Ming's archers were disbanded, he would have the strongest fighting force in the county.

He felt that it was still not safe, so he ordered: "When the other archers come back, you can recruit another team. No fighting soldiers, just miscellaneous soldiers like you. It's best if you are not close to Zhu Dutou!"

"Yes!" Captain Archer understood.

Xiang Zhixian was all smiles, so he had two teams of archers, a total of 22 people at his disposal.

…

In the morning, Ju Ming continued to advance with his archers.

Soon we came to the riverside village downstream. It couldn't be called a village. There were only a dozen households. It was an outpost established by Heifeng Village.

When the father and son traveled through time, it was here that they begged for food.

It was quite emotional to revisit my old place.

Zhang Guangdao was already standing on the riverside to greet them. He led his troops to go further downstream last night and crossed the river in a small boat in the dark to ambush. The purpose, of course, is to intercept the bandits' retreat and cut off the bandits' retreat.

Unfortunately, the bandits did not come, and all preparations were in vain.

Zhang Guangdao couldn't help complaining: "Yang Ying was so frightened that he didn't dare to attack and burn the boat at night. Even more than a dozen families on the riverside all fled into the mountains, and they fled in such a hurry that they lost some food." take away."

Chen Ziyi guessed: "It seems that the bandits have low morale and are completely afraid to leave the stronghold."

"Now we can only attack by force, let's go." Ju Ming ordered.

The river entering the mountain is too small, and large ships can easily run aground. Food can only be transported in small boats, and all personnel can walk ashore.

After walking two or three miles, you can see private houses.

They were all thatched houses. The mountain search team came back and reported: "Dutou, there is no one in those houses. The grain, livestock, and rice cookers have all been taken away."

"Explore again."

"yes!"

Zhang Guangdao pointed forward and said: "We still have to go forward and go around the mountain col over there to reach the foot of Heifeng Village. Every time the officers and soldiers come to suppress the bandits, the farmers at the bottom of the mountain will evacuate and all of them will retreat to Heifeng Village on the mountain to defend themselves. .”

As the team bypassed the mountain col, the terrain opened up a lot, with more thatched houses and farmland appearing.

As we continued forward, it suddenly narrowed, and mountains appeared in front of us.

The side close to the river is a cliff, and the other slopes are also relatively steep.

"It's not difficult to climb." Chen Ziyi looked at the hillsides.

Zhang Guangdao said: "It is not difficult to climb at the foot of the mountain, but halfway up the mountain, the place where you can walk becomes very narrow. As you continue up, it becomes narrower and steeper. The few places where you can not walk on the mountain path have also been set up. Traps, officers and soldiers need to eliminate the traps while climbing up against falling rocks."

There were traps at their feet and falling rocks above their heads, which really made things difficult for the officers and soldiers.

After all, the officers and soldiers who came to suppress bandits in the past were all temporarily recruited archers and had not been seriously trained. If you step on a few traps and get hit with rocks a few times, you will probably have to flee on the spot.

"Camp on the shore first." Ju Ming ordered.

The civilian husband and soldiers immediately took action to move the food on board to the shore.

They say they are setting up camp, but in fact they just lay down a few rows of wooden fences. Real veterans will be amused when they see this.

Ju Ming still doesn't know how to set up camp. His relevant knowledge comes from "Records of Military Training".

According to the "Records of Military Training", after the army had lunch, it was time to consider setting up camp.

Qi Jiguang said that the general, the generals of the front camp, the other camp generals, and the officers of the Chinese army would go to the outpost in person after lunch. From one to three o'clock in the afternoon, the general and accompanying officers should climb up to observe the terrain in advance. After the large force catches up, the camping site is basically selected, and then the Chinese army flag is set up and specific camping matters are arranged.

While setting up camp, sentry riders should be sent out to check the situation.

There are auxiliary soldiers who need to go out to cut trees, collect firewood, and cut grass to feed the horses. These all need to leave the camp, and the number of people must be counted when returning. If there are few people coming back, there may be an accident, so a small team of elite soldiers should be sent to look for them. If you come back too often, there must be a spy, and you must investigate carefully.

All of these are clearly written, but Ju Ming doesn't know the details, so he just has to figure out how to do it.

For example, pooping, Qi Jiguang also talked about it in the camping chapter, but it seems to only apply to small-scale camping. He currently has a small number of troops, so he can do this. If he has tens of thousands of troops, how can he make the soldiers shit?

If tens of thousands of people faced off against the enemy for a month, how much urine would they produce? If it is not handled hygienically, it can easily lead to infectious diseases.

While the civilians and soldiers were setting up camp, Ju Ming sent several groups of archers to guard the relatively open hillside.

Then he personally led his troops up the mountain, followed by Zhang Guangdao, to observe the situation around the battlefield on the spot.

After half an hour of climbing, the mountain suddenly became steeper.

Zhang Guangdao pointed ahead and said: "You can climb up the hillsides on both sides of the road over there, but they are full of thorns and weeds, and there are many animal traps. In some places where it is convenient to dig pits, some pits have been dug, and there are Sharpened bamboo slices.”

"If it's just these, it won't be difficult to capture." Ju Ming said.

Zhang Guangdao said: "There are bandits guarding the hillside. Once the officers and soldiers climb up, they will push the rocks down. Even if there is a small group of officers and soldiers who climb up avoiding the stones and traps, they will be attacked by the bandits guarding above. "

Ju Ming asked: "Is there a more dangerous place?"

Zhang Guangdao said: "After capturing this place, if you continue to go up the mountain, there is still a key point. The mountain road can only accommodate two people walking side by side. There are cliffs on both sides of the mountain road, with one side of the cliff up and one side of the cliff going down. The top of the cliff , you can throw rocks down, and the officers and soldiers on the road cannot hide, so they must either retreat back or jump off the cliff."

Ju Ming took out a pen and paper and began to draw a simple diagram, marking a few key points.

As for the places higher up, it is temporarily impossible to observe with the naked eye, so Zhang Guangdao can only fill it in from memory.

"In the event of a sneak attack, where is the easiest place to climb?" Ju Ming asked again.

Zhang Guangdao said: "Take the boat and continue to go deep into the mountains. The cliffs on the river will become shorter and shorter. It will take about two or three days to climb up the mountain and go around to the back of Heifeng Village and then climb again. There are tigers, snakes, insects and rats in the mountains. There are so many ants that even bandits don’t dare to go there.”

Ju Ming asked: "Do you dare?"

"Why don't you dare?" Zhang Guangdao immediately expressed his stance, "I used to sell smuggled salt and traveled all over the mountains in Xixiang County. I naturally know how to avoid those big insects."

Ju Ming arranged: "Then you take three teams over. I will attack the less dangerous places here first, and then wait for you for three days before cooperating."

"I will definitely arrive within three days." Zhang Guangdao promised.

The two returned to the camp, and Chen Ziyi had already finished setting up camp.

Zhang Guangdao called his three teams to receive torches, dry food, medicinal powder and other supplies. These are all prepared in advance, especially the anthelmintic powder, which is quite expensive, so we have to ask the county magistrate for reimbursement.

Ju Ming sent all his soldiers to search the nearby hillsides to prevent bandits from observing secretly.

After making sure that his whereabouts would not be exposed, Zhang Guangdao led his troops and set off. Before it was dark, they took a boat to go back from the upstream.

After dinner, it was getting dark.

Ju Ming personally led people to patrol the camp. The camp with hundreds of people could be seen at a glance, and there was nothing to inspect.

Mainly to appease people's hearts, when meeting sentries, Ju Ming would always have a few words and tell them not to desert.

Walking all the way back to the tent, Chen Ziyi came over and volunteered, "I will be the pioneer tomorrow."

"Okay," Ju Ming took out a simple map. "Before the attack tomorrow, I will accompany you to familiarize yourself with the terrain. The crossed places on the map are the most dangerous places and must not be attacked by force. Once you attack here, you must stop and send people up the mountain. Persuade us to surrender, while we wait for Brother Zhang to lead his troops in a sneak attack."

"Do you want to put the door panel on?" Chen Ziyi asked.

Ju Ming smiled and said: "Of course you have to bring it, that thing is of great use."

The rattan players in Yuanyang Formation are divided into long players and short players. Long cards block long-range weapons, short cards block melee weapons.

Hearing that there were earthen bows and rolling stone attacks in Black Wind Village, Ju Ming got some door panels and used them temporarily as long cards.

While surveying the battlefield today, Ju Ming discovered that the door panel actually had another magical function!