Chapter 586 Hey! Now you guys have something to play with

But do you still remember why we said before that the Po Lu Army was seriously under-strength?

In fact, a part of them are stationed at various checkpoints in Jiangnan and Lingnan. There are about 40,000 people along the line here, in order to curb further rebellion in Lingnan.

Lingnan is a very complicated place. It is not just as simple as the mountains are high and the emperor is far away. The system differentiated by the terrain and culture here is too complicated. As a result, there was no trade route connecting Lingnan for a long time. The situation is similar to that in Africa. The conflicts and contradictions between different tribes and cultures for hundreds and thousands of years have made this place prone to problems.

Therefore, the borders of Jiangnan Road are heavily guarded.

When Xia Lin came back, he was in a very miserable state. The days of hiding from pursuers in the mountains made him look no different from a beggar. Not only was he covered with bugs, but the thorns on the mountain also made him look as wounded as an old M.

When his situation was reported to the Jiangnan Road garrison general, he was scared to death.

“What? You said the Marshal had people chase him in Lingnan? He almost died?”

Before the person who came to report could even say a word, the garrison general had already stumbled out the door, his footsteps moving faster than when he went to attend his father’s funeral.

The person who reported it followed closely behind: “General, don’t panic…”

“Are you still not panicking? If the Marshal suffers any loss in this area, both you and I will lose our heads.”

“The Marshal has fallen asleep. You can’t see him now.”

Hearing this, the general heaved a sigh of relief. Then he changed his mind and said, “Return to the camp and mobilize the troops. Draw out 5,000 elite soldiers!”

“General… to mobilize so many troops requires the signature of the Marshal or the Young Master. Isn’t it inappropriate for you to do this?”

“What’s appropriate or inappropriate? I’ll do it if I tell you to. If you don’t see elite soldiers lined up when you wake up tomorrow, I’ll chop you to death with one axe.”

Xia Lin and the other three slept soundly, after all, they were too tired these days. But the garrison troops here were busy. There were about 12,000 people stationed here. It was a bit difficult to extract almost half of the soldiers from these 10,000 people.

But now even if this thing is as difficult as ascending to heaven, we have to do it.

Are you kidding? The boss of Jiangnan Road and the young marshal of Wei was bullied by the country bumpkins of Lingnan Road. So this matter must be done no matter what.

The news of their troop deployment soon reached the ears of the eldest son through carrier pigeons. One has to know that carrier pigeons are not used easily unless it is an emergency military matter. Now that the pigeons have flown over, the eldest son, Xia Lin’s brother-in-law, slammed the table when he saw it.

You have to know that the people who were tortured badly this time included not only Xia Lin but also his younger brother. Although the two of them were a little naughty, there was no need to ask for reasons for protecting their brother. Moreover, it was said that they were chased by bandits for many days.

Is this okay?

So the eldest son simply burned the letter of information and pretended that he knew nothing about it. His ignorance was connivance, and those who knew understood it.

Soon, the news also spread to the new army’s camp. As for how it spread, no one knew, but it just spread.

Although the new army was derived from the Pulu Army, its entire military system was different from that of the Pulu Army. It was completely raised by Xia Lin.

In the Po Lu Army, Xia Lin was the junior commander, because the Po Lu Army belonged to Lao Guo. But in the New Army and the Green Forest Army, Xia Lin was the real commander.

Holy shit, the Marshal was bullied like that?
If the New Army had not had military discipline, they would have mutinied that afternoon. But that afternoon, the six generals of the New Army took turns to ask the eldest son for instructions. They asked for a pass so that the New Army could march westward!
The eldest son tried his best to persuade her, but to no avail. He could only helplessly say, “Choose five thousand light cavalrymen and march day and night.”

With this statement, it was considered as tacit consent. The five thousand cavalrymen did not waste any words and marched out of the city in a mighty manner.

The Jiangnan Road has a very sound support mechanism, with maintenance and supply points every fifty miles. The cavalry have long been accustomed to it during training, and most people this time thought it was a routine cavalry training.

However, this time the cavalry was fully equipped. In addition to bows and crossbows, each person carried a musket and eighty rounds of bullets, which were standard equipment for advanced soldiers.

The perspective goes back to Xia Lin’s side. They slept in bed for three days, occasionally getting up to eat, take a shit, and then continue sleeping.

The extreme fatigue after the adrenaline burst made it impossible for them to stay awake. In addition, they had not slept well or eaten well in these days. It was exciting, but they had to pay for it.

Anyway, he was in a daze for three days. Finally, on the morning of the fourth day, Xia Lin sat up from the bed in a daze, took a cold shower, ate a big bowl of noodles, and was frightened when he opened the window.

Outside the camp, there were soldiers wearing the insignia of the new army doing drills everywhere, and the soldiers who were exercising with them were the soldiers of the Po Lu Army.

Although the two sides do not have the same military system, they are both under the Jiangnan Road system after all, and the overall coordination is quite good.

Xia Lin quickly put on his clothes and went downstairs. Soon, ten thousand soldiers gathered in front of him, including five thousand new army cavalry and five thousand elite troops to defeat the enemy.

These 10,000 elite soldiers, who were nourished by the good food in Jiangnan Road, would be so happy that their mouths would be swollen if they were placed next to the warlords outside.

“This is what you are doing?”

Xia Lin asked, and the two generals of the Po Lu Army and the New Army hurried forward: “Five thousand cavalry of the New Army and five thousand elite soldiers of the Po Lu Army’s Acacia Camp, all present!”

“Please give me your instructions, Marshal.”

“Please give me instructions, Marshal!”

From the title and tone, Xia Lin can clearly distinguish who is the direct line and who is the collateral line, but this is normal and does not require strict requirements. After all, the generals under Lao Guo have not all retired, so it is normal for people to recognize the old general.

“Okay, continue practicing.”

Xia Lin turned around and went back to the big tent. The Jiangnan Road garrison general was already waiting there. When he saw Xia Lin coming in, he quickly stood up and said, “General, the 5,000 new soldiers came here on a forced march. Although they are being replenished, half of the horses are still exhausted.”

“what?”

Xia Lin almost slapped himself: “This bunch… oh…”

He felt sorry for these horses, they were all purebreds brought from the horse farm on the grassland, and they would not be mobilized unless there was a major war. He didn’t expect these damn things… But forget it, forget it… They were able to rush here from Fuliang in three days, a distance of more than a thousand miles. This can be called an impossible task in the history of modern warfare. No wonder he felt that the Po Lu army looked at the new army with strange eyes, it turned out that they were looking at monsters.

After a while, the second brother and Xu Shiji also stood up. They were called into the big tent, and naturally they had to discuss how to use these 10,000 people.

The second brother naturally wouldn’t have any ideas, but Xu Shiji was different. After hearing that Xia Lin had assembled 10,000 elite troops, he began to stroke his chin and make bad plans.

Under normal timeline, Xu Shiji had already defeated Jie Li Khan of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate in Bingzhou and made him lose his mind, and was appointed as the governor of Bingzhou.

It’s absolutely impossible for such a person to have no shady tricks, so he stroked his chin and laughed.

“Brother, if you have something to say, just say it. Don’t just stand there laughing. It’s scary.”

Xu Shiji cleared his throat and said, “Bandits are good at hiding. If you lead 10,000 people to Lingnan, it will be harder than climbing to the sky to wipe out the bandits. It would be better…”

“Just tell me what you want to say, why are you keeping me in suspense?” The second brother slammed the table and started to curse: “You son of a bitch, you’re always playing tricks all day long.”

Xu Shiji coughed to cover up his embarrassment, then continued with a smile and said, “Why not split the army into several groups and ambush them in many towns in the guise of caravans? Then the three of us will go to Yao County and kill them with a surprise attack.”

Xia Lin rolled his eyes and said, “That’s a good idea. Let them pretend to be a merchant caravan and stay there. Then, before we arrive, they will flank us from behind and catch all the bandits in one fell swoop.”

“That’s right, catch them by surprise.”

“Okay.” Xia Lin nodded: “It’s you who are so sinister.”

“Hey, Third Brother. I don’t like what you said. This is not called being mean, it is the art of war. Warfare is all about deception.”

Xia Lin didn’t believe others who told him this, but he still believed Xu Shiji. Li Jing was dead, but the new generation of military god had this Xu Shiji. After all, in the official history, he was eventually the Duke of Ying, Li Ji. Although Li Jing was super first-rate, Xu Shiji could only be considered first-rate, but first-rate was first-rate. Although he was defeated by Liu Heita, he was the one who finally put down Liu Heita’s rebellion.

To judge a person, you have to look at his opponent. Liu Heita is no ordinary person. Xia Lin has begun to pay attention to this guy. After all, even if Liu Heita had better luck and more stable operations, it is still unclear whether the Sui Dynasty will be ruled by the Li or Liu family in the end.

So what’s the problem with his methods being able to deal with these insect-like creatures?
Xia Lin immediately began to make arrangements. He divided the team into smaller units and arranged them to set out towards Lingnan in batches disguised as merchant caravans. They stayed in various counties along the way so that they could collect information and provide mutual support.

A team consists of about 500 people, who set out in batches about seven days apart. Ten thousand people is not a lot. After all, a large caravan nowadays may have 2,000 to 3,000 people or even 4,000 to 5,000 people. However, they will usually have flags of large caravans as a sign, so it is better for them to split into medium-sized caravans so as not to attract attention.

The caravan set off, its wheels rolling towards Lingnan Road, and Xia Lin and his companions also sat on the ox cart of one of the “caravans”.

That’s how they got there in the first place, and now they’re repeating it again, but this time, Xia Lin and the others are going for a big one.

Suppress bandits? No, no, no, since Lingnan Road can’t manage this important trade route, why not let Jiangnan Road manage it?

Many towns they passed through along the way had wanted posters posted for Xia Lin and the other two. The description on the posters was that they were notorious bandits who had killed people without a trace, but no one could really remember their faces and could only give a general description. But the pictures they drew were really interesting, the second brother was drawn as a red-haired gorilla, Xu Shiji became a squinty-eyed thief, and Xia Lin looked like a wretched and mentally retarded person.

“Is this how they think of me?” Xu Shiji pointed at the wanted poster and turned around to ask, “I have a handsome appearance and am eight feet tall…”

“Come on, you’re fine.” Xia Lin crossed his arms, not knowing whether to laugh or cry: “Look at me.”

At this moment, the second brother was lost in deep thought in front of his own portrait. After a long while, he finally said, “Very powerful.”

“Your aesthetic sense must be sick.”

Xia Lin dragged him and was about to leave, but at this moment the county police officer stopped them: “You three, stop for a moment.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the hands of the “foot men” in the nearby caravan had already reached out to the top of the tarpaulin. If they got any momentum, they would attack the county town today.

The police officer walked up and looked at the wanted poster on the wall, then looked at them for a few more times, and then said impatiently: “Go, go, don’t hang around here, these are all big thieves, what can you think of?”

The second brother was a little indignant, but Xia Lin quickly pulled him aside and put on a smile: “Okay, okay, we’ll leave now. Thank you for your help, sir.”

The two patrol officers then rolled their eyes and slowly walked away, and the “foot men” slowly withdrew their hands.

The caravan continued to move forward. Defenses had been deployed along the way. One or two teams poured into each town. They also sold things, all of which were products from Jiangnan Road. Some were even military goods directly taken out from the warehouses of the two armies. Anyway, in those days of chaos and war, it was not surprising to sell anything.

Finally, seven days later, Xia Lin approached the outskirts of Yao County again.

Twenty days had passed since the last incident. Boss Hu was just angry, but he didn’t really want to negotiate with Jiangnan Dao. Anyway, if these three people had the ability, they should not enter the city. If they entered the city and were allowed to escape this time, Boss Hu would chop off his thing and feed it to the dogs.

Life went on the same way. Boss Hu was still all-powerful in Yao County, and the power of the Jiaolong Society was still suppressed in that small street, as if nothing had happened.

But today, on this midsummer night, two caravans entered Yao County, and along with them came the three people who had made Mr. Hu so angry.

“Speaking of which, I do have some respect for talent. Those three were able to kill more than 40 of my brothers. This skill is rare in the world.”

The head of the Hu clan was having dinner with the head of the other side of the river, a bandit leader named Ma. When the two of them were chatting, the head of the Hu clan even looked a little sad.

The leader of the Ma Gang smiled and said, “Boss Hu is quite interesting. If it were me, I would not be able to stand it.”

“Haha, Boss Ma, don’t say that. If you really meet him, you will naturally be happy.”

“It’s too late to say anything now, drink!”

The two were toasting each other when the third under Boss Hu walked in quickly, bent down and whispered in Boss Hu’s ear, “Boss, three more people have come from the county. Some say they are the same three people from last time! They are still living in the same place as before.”

Now it was Hu Dangjia’s turn to be stunned. He turned his head and said, “They? Dare to come?”

————-
Have you all gone on a spring outing? I haven’t left my room for several days. I crawl around in the dark every day, drinking a cup of tea and smoking a pack of cigarettes, writing a title all day. I feel like I’m going to be depressed.

(End of this chapter)