Chapter 883: Sleeping Together, Shining in Spring Light

Two hundred miles south of Tongzhou, at sunset, the setting sun was like blood.

This place was already far from towns, rarely visited by people; the fifteenth had not yet arrived, the cold winter had not yet ended, and the wilderness was filled with withered grass.

Green mountains were hidden on the left and right, shadowed by the setting sun, creating large shadows, with birds singing and beasts roaring from time to time.

A fairly large army, with bright armor and rumbling carriages and horses, was marching on the official road.

A large group of cavalry marched at the front of the team, followed by thousands of armored infantry, and then various types of vehicles.

The army's formation was strict, its actions were orderly, and grassroots officers like squad leaders and platoon leaders walked alongside the formation, urging the soldiers to maintain military discipline.

Almost all the cavalry and infantry carried firearms on their backs, bundled with special cloth bags, so outsiders couldn't tell what was inside for a while.

This time, the army was equipped with firearms, except for nearly eight hundred new-style breech-loading guns, the rest were still improved Lu Mi guns.

Although this improved Lu Mi gun had amazing power when lined up and fired, its performance and craftsmanship were far inferior to the new-style breech-loading guns.

Because it used the muzzle-loading method, not only was the reloading speed slow, but the gun barrel firing and loose gunpowder were very easy to get damp.

To ensure the effectiveness of the firearms in battle, they were usually packed into cloth bags to prevent dampness; this was the usage experience explored by the Divine Machine Camp through long-term training.

However, the newly developed breech-loading firearms were very different in combat usage and did not have the limitations of the improved firearms.

Not only was the craftsmanship and structure greatly improved, but they also adopted quick breech-loading and used independently formed bullets.

Nearly eight hundred breech-loading guns firing in formation would have more than two orders of magnitude more power than the improved Lu Mi guns.

This was also Jia Cong's most important firepower trump card for the Love Shenjing Camp's expedition.

Among the large number of vehicles accompanying the army, some transported grain and supplies.

Another thirty-odd horse-drawn vehicles were covered tightly with waterproof cotton cloth, and the true appearance of the transported items could not be seen.

But these thirty vehicles were heavily guarded, with hundreds of soldiers arching around the vehicles, carrying swords and bows, their expressions alert, surrounding these vehicles airtight.

These thirty large vehicles were pulling thirty cannons, including ten improved Red-Clothed Cannons and twenty improved Folangji Cannons.

These cannons were the strongest combat power of the six-thousand-man Love Shenjing Camp, and the thirty cannons were equipped with five hundred artillerymen responsible for transporting, positioning, and firing the cannons.

Among the six-thousand-man Love Shenjing Camp army, the cannon towing speed was the slowest, each vehicle equipped with two or three horses, and the rapid march was still slower than the infantry.

Therefore, the speed of the Divine Machine Camp's advance was ultimately determined by the speed of the cannon vehicles, maintaining a fast walking state overall, and the march intensity was kept moderate.

At the front and back of the large team, two hundred fast-horse scouts galloped back and forth, patrolling within five miles, strengthening vigilance, and exploring for enemy traces.

Another one hundred vanguard cavalry protruded ten miles ahead of the large team, moving rapidly in hidden batches, exploring the road, and looking for a place to camp.

The thousands-strong Divine Machine Camp army, like gears with a tight structure, engaged tightly, operated efficiently, and moved toward Tongzhou in an orderly manner.

Jia Cong and Ai Li rode side by side, marching at the front of the team, with five or six personal guards clearing the way in front of them.

Since the expedition, Ai Li hadn't spoken much, following closely by Jia Cong's side, looking no different from Jia Cong's other personal guards.

Yu Xiuzhu had been rotated to the Liaodong Firearm Camp and had participated in the Jurchen war with the army, but at that time he was just a small soldier in the army.

Naturally, he was not as close to Jia Cong, who was the Regional Commander, as Guo Zhigui, Jiang Xiao Liu, and others.

He only vaguely remembered that when Jia Cong went north to pursue and suppress the Jurchen Three Guards, he had a female guard with him; he only vaguely remembered her appearance but didn't know her identity.

So when he saw her at the East Prefecture corner gate, he felt full of curiosity, and after being reminded and scolded by Jiang Xiao Liu, he very wisely closed his mouth.

Ai Li mixed into the personal guard cavalry team, and other soldiers naturally wouldn't pay attention.

Other personal guards saw Jia Cong being close to her and knew that Jia Cong came from a noble military family, thinking that Ai Li was a trusted follower of the Rongguo Prefecture, so they didn't dare to approach or offend her.

Therefore, in this army of thousands, adding a delicate big girl actually seemed not at all discordant and was very calm.

When the sun set and the sky gradually darkened, the vanguard fast cavalry identified the road ahead and found a suitable campsite.

The army arrived at the Linxi campsite, and the internal affairs of each team's camp were managed by the Assistant Regional Commander Lin Zhen, so Jia Cong didn't need to worry too much.

Jia Cong only deployed the camp order for each army according to the characteristics of the firearm army, for the sake of emergency response in camping.

The outer perimeter of the camp was surrounded by two thousand firearm soldiers, the second perimeter was stationed with two thousand cavalry, and the third layer of the camp was also stationed with more than one thousand firearm soldiers.

The inner circle of the camp parked cannon vehicles and stationed five hundred artillerymen, and the core of the camp was three hundred personal guards and the Regional Commander of the six-thousand-man Divine Machine Camp.

Jia Cong's camp deployment strategy was extremely orderly.

But the army only rested for one night and had to set off on the road at dawn, so this camp deployment was somewhat cumbersome, and the Assistant Regional Commander Lin Zhen asked for the reason.

Jia Cong said, "General Lin is a Mobile Corps Commander of the Divine Machine Camp and has followed the whole army in training; you should know that among these six thousand Divine Machine Camp soldiers, only nearly one thousand are old soldiers rotated from Liaodong."

"And among these thousand old soldiers, only three hundred have fought against the Jurchen Three Guards; they are the ones who have truly experienced actual combat with firearms."

"So when I first entered the camp to select soldiers, I promoted these people to squad leaders and platoon leaders, or selected them into the personal guard cavalry team as reserve military officers for combat readiness."

"The remaining five thousand or so people, although skilled in firearm training, have not experienced actual combat with firearms; you and I are generals in the army, and this is the top priority."

"Yesterday, military reports came from the front that the Remnant Yuan army had occupied Hongshu Collection, and the Northern Three Pass garrison was fighting fiercely with them at Yaoshan Station; I am afraid they have been in a stalemate for several days."

"After our army arrives in Tongzhou, it is estimated that we will not stop and will be immediately transferred to the front army to fight."

"Now that the war is so tight, there is no sufficient time to train soldiers; this is the trouble of insufficient response to the war, and we must not take it lightly."

"This time we are rushing to Tongzhou to garrison; because the cannon vehicles are not moving fast, this journey will take three days and four nights."

"Camping according to my strategy every night is an excellent opportunity to train soldiers, allowing each team in the army to become familiar with deployment and grind with each other in preparation for wartime."

"This kind of camping strategy is not only a method of camp deployment but also a formation for facing the enemy in the future."

"With the camp set up so steadily, if we encounter an enemy raid at night, the outer firearm team can immediately form a formation to counter, and the inner firearm soldiers can rotate in time."

"As long as the firearm soldiers slow down the enemy's charge, it will buy time for the artillery to fire; as long as the artillery fire covers it slightly, the enemy formation will definitely be in chaos..."

"Camping and deploying troops is the surface, and response and drill is the inside; you can convey the intention of this camp deployment to each army so that they can also have a count in their hearts."

Lin Zhen was also an old man in the army, but the Great Zhou had been peaceful for a long time, and he did not have actual combat military assets, but he knew the military strategy in the army.

Hearing Jia Cong's theory of camping and training soldiers, which was meticulous, unique, and had a strategy for firearm response, he was very impressed.

He said, "Your subordinate is dull and didn't know your military strategy; your correction has benefited your subordinate a lot; your talent as a famous general is admirable."

"Your subordinate will convey the order to each army to camp according to the law and will not dare to be slack..."

Jia Cong saw Lin Zhen walking hurriedly to handle the camp military affairs and just smiled slightly.

Turning back, he saw his personal guards had set up his camp, and a carriage accompanying the army was waiting outside the tent, on which was the luggage of Jia Cong and Ai Li.

Inside, there were not only the luggage of the two but also five or six birdcages, inside which were two Gyrfalcons and more than ten carrier pigeons.

Ai Li took raw meat from the ice bag, cut it into strips with a small knife, and was feeding the Gyrfalcons with a smile, muttering to herself, as if talking to the eagles.

The remaining sunset shone on the campsite, illuminating her pretty face pink, and her moving beautiful eyes reflected the sunset light, moist and colorful, extremely charming.

During the march during the day, she didn't want to attract attention and rarely spoke to Jia Cong, just following him and rushing on the road.

Now that they had set up camp, in the core area of the campsite, except for Jia Cong's personal guards surrounding the surroundings, there were no other miscellaneous people, so Ai Li naturally relaxed a lot.

Although she was wearing military uniform and still wearing an iron helmet on her head, it did not damage her beauty at all; she glanced at Lin Zhen who had left far away.

She smiled, "Yuzhang, have you learned to be bad after becoming an official? You are so good at lecturing others; but with a few words, you made the man surnamed Lin obedient."

Jia Cong scolded with a smile, "What nonsense are you talking about? Where am I fooling him? What I said is all serious military theory."

Ai Li smiled, "Your camp deployment and formation just now can prevent enemy night raids; later I will also let the eagle slave go to the sky to explore, so we can sleep steadily at night."

"But I have to feed them first, otherwise if I let them go out, they will only go hunting to fill their stomachs and forget to do business."

Jia Cong smiled, "These two eagle slaves have great use; didn't you bring a lot of pigeons? Why don't you let a few go out?"

Ai Li smiled, "These pigeons haven't been raised for long; although I have trained them, they are not as human as the eagle slave."

"And the further north we go, the more eagles and falcons there will be; eagles hunt at sunrise and sunset, and now it is just sunset."

"If I let the pigeons go to the sky now, they will all become the meals of eagles and falcons."

The two chatted casually, passing the time during the march; the fatigue and monotony of the day's journey also dissipated a lot with the tacit laughter.

After Ai Li fed the birds, Jia Cong accompanied her to the stream to fetch water so that she could change the water for the birds in the birdcages. ===== CHAPTER 884 =====