Fine drizzle was scattered in the air, and when the wind blew, the white mist floated like smoke.

It was not a good thing that the Wuchang army encountered such weather as soon as they arrived. Tens of thousands of mighty horses and horses were stuck in the wilderness, and they could only set up camp in the rain, cut firewood, dig trenches, and drain water, which all made it more difficult. The weather in October,

If you get wet in the rain, you should be more careful about sudden diseases in the army.

Zhou Mengxiong returned to a dilapidated temple where the Chinese army was temporarily stationed in the evening. He was already soaked to the skin. Unexpectedly, as soon as he entered under the eaves, there were tiles on his head, and the rain seemed to stop falling.

A group of people walked into the ruined temple. The general looked at the drafty walls on all sides and the mud Buddha covered with dust and spider webs. He couldn't help but said: "The commander is going to stay here tonight, why doesn't anyone clean it up?"

Another said: "There is a village not far away. I heard that the first unit of the Huben Battalion is stationed there. Why doesn't the commander choose such a poor place to live in the village?"

At this time, Liu Mazi said sternly: "We are not out to fight for comfort. There are many people in the village, how can the Chinese army guarantee that there are no spies in a place like that? This temple is a bit dilapidated, but it is quiet. It makes people angry.

, let the handsome man dry his clothes."

Not long after, a group of generals sat in front of the Bodhisattva and took off their coats to light a fire. Suddenly, a woman wearing a curtain hat appeared at the door, holding a sword in her hand. The woman suddenly appeared in the middle of the army, and everyone was stunned.

, one of them whispered: "It's from the Ministry of Internal Affairs." Everyone looked suddenly. What the Ministry of Internal Affairs does can be easily understood by comparing it with the imperial factory guards; the people sent out to spy on the military situation are quite clear.

Not all of them are women, but because the predecessor of the Internal Affairs Ministry is an anti-evil sect, and the leader Yao Ji was once the concubine of Emperor Jianwen, so she has a high status in the sect, and almost all the people who can often meet Yao Ji are women. Those who can join the Chinese Army

The person who met Zhou Mengxiong was naturally also the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

When the woman saw a few disheveled men sitting next to the fire, she did not enter the house, but stood outside the threshold and said: "General Zhou, we have just received some reliable news. The British Duke Zhang Fu has sent a general.

In the North Route Army, this man's name is Zhu Mian." She saw Zhou Mengxiong frowning, as if he had never heard of Zhu Mian, so she added: "The son of Wu Jinbo Zhu Rong. Zhu Rong died in the first year of Hongxi, and Zhu Mian inherited the title.

"

Sure enough, Zhou Mengxiong said "Oh", as if he suddenly understood. The woman said: "If General Zhou is interested in the new commander-in-chief of the Northern Route Army, I can send someone back to Wuchang to get the files, including his family background and resume."

Everything is available.”

"Then you'll have a hard time." Zhou Mengxiong said. After hearing this, the woman bowed her hands and left.

It was the Xuande Dynasty, and there were still people with titles, almost without exception, who had made meritorious service in the "Battle of Jingnan", and Wu Jinbo was no exception. Zhou Mengxiong, who also participated in the "Battle of Jingnan", naturally heard about it

, so when the names of Wu Jinbo and Zhu Rong were mentioned, he knew their origins.

He was suddenly affected by a negative emotion and stared at the fire in a daze. The generals around him gradually stopped talking and fell silent.

People like Zhou Mengxiong cannot get rid of the influence of the civil war more than 20 years ago. How can it not be surprising that the opponents from many years ago are reunited on the battlefield? Not to mention Wu Jinbo, in fact, the British

Zhang Fu was also an old man from the Jingnan Campaign.

This kind of mood was caused by Zhou Mengxiong putting himself in the position of a loser, at least a former loser. He felt humiliated, unwilling and angry... Perhaps the person who really should feel defeated was Emperor Jianwen. When Zhou Mengxiong

Xiong is too young and has very limited power. He should not bear too much responsibility for such a failure, but human destiny is closely related to the general trend.

What kind of humiliation makes people most irritated and unacceptable? That is being defeated by someone you look down on, having a chance to win but losing completely, and being upset about your own mistakes afterwards. So anger always comes from the inability to accept one's own incompetence.

Zhou Mengxiong was originally a child of a family of military generals. The failure of the war caused him to lose everything and all his dreams of building a career as a man. For the next half of his life, he could only hide in the valley and farm. And he could only hear the same story in the distant shadows.

In that era, Zhang Fu was granted the title of Duke, Zhu Rong was granted the title of Wu Jinbo, and so and so were granted the title of marquis. The ancestors were honored with glory and wealth, and were respected by the world.

Such a contrast made him unable to balance for decades, but he could only hide in helplessness, seemingly living in depression for the rest of his life. But now, Zhou Mengxiong was in a trance in this ruined temple and suddenly realized that he had a heavy weapon and an opportunity.

Coming again and for the last time.

Zhou Mengxiong's mood gradually boiled in extreme complexity: There is no need to be afraid of those famous people, those things can belong to him. "Silk..." With the unique sound of metal, he pulled out the old saber from its sheath.

Halfway through, the others didn't know what else he was doing, so they all looked at him with bated breath.

When he noticed it, he suppressed his emotions and sheathed the knife again, and found that the area was so peaceful.

The rain has stopped, and there are still sporadic water drops dripping from the tiles on the eaves. "Wave, wave..." The crisp and soothing voice seemed to ring in his ears. Zhou Mengxiong closed his eyes slightly, and he was already following this feeling in his chest.

The rhythm becomes calm and serene.

This sound reminds people of the sparse guqin playing in Boya's time, like the wisdom of the sages whispering in the ears.

…

After the weather cleared up, the military barracks became dusty. In short, the conditions for marching and fighting were certainly not comparable to those at home. They were either muddy or covered in dust. The original weeds on the ground were destroyed due to wall construction and trenching, and the soil turned up.

Being dried by the sun, it is easy for 700 to 800 people in a village to move on a piece of land to generate dust.

Zhou Mengxiong stood on the earth wall and looked around. He could see similar camps everywhere he looked to the left, right and behind. There were about 750 people in each camp, surrounded by earth walls, with sandbags on the walls, and dug holes outside the walls.

A deep ditch formed a defensive fortification. This kind of fortification was built around the camp during training in Wuchang. It was a method proposed by King Xiang. Later, the generals also recognized the advantages of this kind of fortification. It was not only simple to build but also quite practical. It could

A fortification that was easy to defend and difficult to attack was quickly built on the plains, and was rarely restricted by the terrain.

The forward Huben battalion marched to this point, and did nothing. First, they set up a defense line with many fortifications and camps scattered at random. To the east is the boundary of Wuchang County controlled by the official army (the county seat on the other side of the Yangtze River in Huangzhou Prefecture, called Ewangcheng before the Three Kingdoms period)

), the camps of the two armies are only ten miles apart. These camps start from Ya'er Lake in the north and reach Sanshan Lake in the south. They are twenty miles wide in length and breadth, almost blocking the way for the officers and soldiers to intersect and outflank. Unless they travel long distances to go around, they can't threaten them at all.

The rear flank of King Xiang's army.

However, Zhou Mengxiong sent out scouts and received news that the government and army had also built similar fortifications, with inner walls and outer trenches, as if they had been negotiated.

"Zhu Mian, the commander of the North Road, came from Jiujiang. He may have learned it from the defense of Yongding Camp in Jiujiang City and applied what he learned." Zhou Mengxiong explained to the generals. Only in this way can they have such a "tacit understanding" with each other.

This kind of camp fortification is adapted to firearms, and the functions of previous military camps were different.

Liu Mazi said: "The officers and soldiers transported grain from the river and built a wall in front of them, so some battles were fought."

Zhou Mengxiong looked through the files about Wu Jinbo sent by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and said calmly: "Zhang Fu mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops to attack Jiujiang City on three sides. The purpose was obviously to capture the Yongding Camp; and Jiujiang Yongding

Without rescue, the camp will definitely be defeated. Therefore, as long as the Northern Route Army blocks our reinforcements, there is no need to defeat the reinforcements. In the end, they will win. Even the Northern Route Army does not need to block us at all. They only need to establish a foothold here, and they will naturally win.

It can block the waist and threaten our army's supply and supply routes."

"So Zhu Mian is going to end up with us in this stupid place?" Liu Mazi frowned and asked, "How does the commander plan to build this kind of ditch wall fortification?"

Zhou Mengxiong touched the beard on the horse's face and said coldly: "There is no need to worry about this for the time being. Zhu Mian will lead the attack first."

Liu Mazi didn't know why, because the commander-in-chief just said that the enemy should defend while we attack, and then he speculated that the officers and soldiers would rush to attack. His words were indeed very contradictory. Zhou Mengxiong shook the dust off the file, turned around and handed it to the attendant, but

No more wasting words.

At this moment, I suddenly saw a number of riders riding in the dry fields. The smoke and dust rising on the light yellow road were very conspicuous. The Huben Camp Rangers who were moving in front quickly came up to meet them, and then I heard shouting in the distance.

, it seemed that the enemy troops were coming. However, not many people were seen. The defenders on the camp wall just watched from a distance. A few enemy horsemen did not conflict with the rangers. They suddenly shot an arrow, drew their horses and ran away.

After a while, the scout picked up an arrow tied with an envelope and sent it directly to Zhou Mengxiong. The general helped to open it and said, "It's an official and military general... The letter of engagement signed by Wu Jinbo will be announced tomorrow morning."

Set up a battle formation in the middle of the military camp."

Liu Mazi looked at Zhou Mengxiong in surprise: "The commander-in-chief has really succeeded!" All the generals looked at him in awe, and then they all wanted to fight and win.

But Zhou Mengxiong raised his hand to stop the generals beside him: "I won't accept them for a battle tomorrow."

After hearing this, the generals were very disappointed. The situation in front of them was that it was much better to leave the field fighting than to attack the fortifications. However, due to the fear of Zhou Mengxiong, no one dared to object.

At this time, Zhou Mengxiong looked back and said: "I guess Zhu Mian wanted to take the lead in the attack, not because of the order from Zhang Fu who was far away in Jiujiang, but because of his temperament. This person has many similar practices in the deeds we have collected, one of which

When he was besieged in the fortress of Jiaozhi Post Road, he did not want to defend and rushed to the barbarian camp preemptively. He believed that he could only defend by knocking down the opponent's spirit... This is also why I am unwilling to fight at this time. Most of our soldiers have not experienced actual combat.

, and came from afar to work hard for an attack, and rashly fought with the officers and soldiers who were waiting for work. If they lost more than they won, they lost morale. It is better to defend the camp first and then try to defeat the enemy. Zhu Mian is eager for quick success, so let him come and eat our fortifications.
Chapter completed!