[Chapter 297] The battle begins

(0297)

On New Year's Eve, Xu Xingxia and his white-clothed army spent the intense combat readiness duty.

After the battle, it happened to be lunch time. Although today's lunch came a little late, the soldiers of the White Army had no complaints. Amid the cheers of victory, the soldiers enjoyed their own lunch happily. The Tartar war horses who were killed and injured were also dragged back and joined the dining table. According to the most conservative estimate, these war horses could allow the White Army soldiers to eat stewed horse meat for ten days in a row. The soldiers who were formally organized were not very cold about this, but the auxiliary soldiers seemed very happy.

In ancient times, the army had the so-called auxiliary soldiers in wars. The White-Clothed Army was no exception. Xu Xingxia's current position was the Dai Qianhu of the Houqianhu of the Zuotunwei, and the military households under his command could be directly under the jurisdiction of 1,120. Therefore, the formal organization of the White-Clothed Army was 1,120. If this organization was exceeded, someone would probably have to make a fuss. In fact, the formal organization of the White-Clothed Army was indeed 1,120. Among them, the number of auxiliary soldiers was about 600.

However, when calculating the number of troops, Xu Xingxia was determined to calculate the auxiliary soldiers. According to him, as long as the Sun and Moon Guns are not equipped, no matter what they are, they are not counted. For example, if the officers of the White Army are not equipped with Sun and Moon Guns, they cannot be included in the 1,120 personnel. Among them, Xu Xingxia himself is not within the 1,120 personnel. Even the artillery battalion, chariot battalion and the Diaoqi Army were not included in the list when reporting to the garrison. It is even more impossible for the auxiliary soldiers to be reported.

In ancient times, what was the concept of auxiliary soldiers? They were not second-line troops. Auxiliary soldiers were traitors, hodgepodges, and everything was all inclusive. Their job was to serve formal soldiers, including sorting out the armor and weapons of soldiers, feeding war horses, camping and cooking, cleaning water sources, cleaning, clearing roads across mountains, building bridges when encountering water... It was somewhat similar to the logistics service staff in later generations. Modern troops had kitchen squads, and kitchen squads were also formally organized in the company. However, in ancient times, kids, grooms and so on were calculated separately.

In fact, auxiliary soldiers also have certain combat power and are equipped with waist knives. When necessary, they also need to be put into battle. If the troops suffer great losses, they will be directly supplemented into the troops, so it cannot be said to be pure logistics. In most Ming troops, auxiliary soldiers are also included in the number of personnel. Generally speaking, when the troops are dispatched, there will be a large number of auxiliary soldiers, generally one-fifth to one-half of the regular army.

The 600 auxiliary soldiers of the White-Clothed Army were also from Han slaves who were released by the Tatars. Their physical fitness was actually quite good. Not to mention their hatred for the Tartars. They were completely at ease with Xu Xingxia’s personal loyalty. In a sense, they were actually the direct reserve soldiers of the White-Clothed Army. As long as they were equipped with Sun and Moon guns, they would be included in the formal unit. However, for the time being, they could only exist in the form of auxiliary soldiers. There were big differences in weapons, equipment, status, and money and food.

In order to encourage everyone's fighting enthusiasm, the White Army is definitely not a system of big pot meals. It is absolutely impossible to do it well and badly. The tasks you undertake are different, and the benefits of getting money and food are different. It seems that the New Year's Eve dinner is naturally very rich, with big fish and meat. However, as auxiliary soldiers, they only have half of the food expenses of the regular army, and are naturally much inferior in terms of the specifications of the New Year's Eve dinner.

Fortunately, in the daytime battle, so many Tartar war horses were killed. After these war horses were dragged back, the auxiliary soldiers were also divided into 100. Six hundred auxiliary soldiers and 100 war horses, and stewed horses would definitely be tired of eating. Whether it was the Tartars or the Han people, when they went to fight, they would definitely ride the tallest and thickest war horses, with a lot of weight. A good-skilled knife hand can pick up hundreds of kilograms of horse meat from each war horse.

All of this is free, and it is delivered to the door by the Tartars on their own initiative.

For the soldiers of the White Army, the New Year's Eve of the 44th year of Wanli, they will never forget it. Because this is the first New Year's Eve in their lives where they can eat meat and vomit. The amount of various meats is too sufficient. Even if you are the number one big eater in the world, you can fill you up. After the New Year's Eve dinner, most soldiers will feel nauseous whenever they smell the meat.

Their only regret is that there is no wine. At this time of victory, fine wine is the most important thing to appear. Unfortunately, this regret is impossible to satisfy. Even if there is fine wine in front of them, they dare not drink it. Because they have to continue fighting anytime and anywhere, of course it is impossible to drink. The days ahead are still long, and they cherish all this in front of them. If drinking delays major events, they themselves cannot forgive themselves.

After the New Year's Eve dinner, all the senior officers of the White-Clothed Army gathered next to Xu Xingxia, drinking goat milk while discussing future battle matters. The daytime battle is just a small prelude. Its only function is to remind the White-Clothed Army that this year will not be easy. Its main force should be dispatched soon.

The next battle is the real highlight. The most conservative estimate is that there will be a team of seven Tartars going south. The white-clothed army is not drunk, for this reason. Without a calm and sober mind, it is impossible to deal with the more difficult and more complex battles that will follow. Compared with the force of the troops of seven to one, no one dares to take it lightly.

Zachtai is Eriton's confidant, the troops led by him, and the elite of Eriton tribe. It is estimated that Eriton cannot bear his failure. This is not only a problem of strength damage, but also a problem of face and dignity. He had ridiculed too many people from the Hellerkin tribe before, but now it is his turn to be defeated. I don't know how many times he has to be ridiculed. For his own face, no matter how much the price he paid, Eriton is willing.

If Eriton wants to come to take revenge, he will inevitably bring all the remaining three thousand-man teams. This is his entire family, and he can only do a one-time business. If he is dispatched separately, he will only be able to die. Such stupid things are probably not allowed to do. For the Hellekin tribe, the Hellekin tribe is their last hope, and of course they cannot be dispatched by the Hellekin tribe itself. If the Hellekin tribe really sets out, the Hellekin tribe will definitely set out. In this way, all the Tartars will be dispatched.

"Master Qianhu, the Tartars are here again! Seven thousand-man teams!"

Sure enough, on the morning of the third day of the Chinese New Year, Minghao sent information.

According to Minghao's report, this time the entire cavalry of the Eridun tribe was arrived, with a total of three thousand-man teams. Behind Eridun, there were four thousand-man teams of the Hellejin tribe, which was the most troops that the Hellejin tribe could piece together. The Tartars of the seven thousand-man teams were divided into two routes, forming a large pliers, and coming to Zhenyuan Pass.

As Xu Xingxia and others expected, after Eridun was a little awake, he immediately felt something was wrong. Oh, the White-Clothing Army had the ability to defeat Gugler's two thousand-man teams, which shows that the combat effectiveness of the White-Clothing Army must be something special. I was very excited for a moment and only sent one thousand-man team to the south was not appropriate! In case of any accident, my old capital would have problems. In any case, Zach must avoid problems.

So, with the feeling of drunkenness, Eridun hurriedly led the remaining three thousand-man teams to the south. In order to prevent the tragic result of Zach Taiwan, Eridun's journey was very fast and approached Zhenyuan Pass on the first day of the New Year. Unfortunately, he was hit by a blow just after approaching Zhenyuan Pass. When he woke up early in the morning, he received a message that Zach Taiwan was almost wiped out. For a moment, Eridun's mind was buzzing.

"What should I do?" Eridun has been thinking about this issue in his mind since receiving the bad news from Zach. He could not tolerate his dignity and was challenged by others. He was even more unwilling to go back and face the sarcastic cold words of the senior executives of the Hellerkin tribe. Not only Eridun was unwilling to go back, but even his subordinates were unwilling to go back.

"These damn white-clothed soldiers..." Erito's brain was about to break.

When the defeated generals of Zachtai Thousand People Team fled back, Eridun thought it was his own troops, and such serious consequences occurred. As a result, after asking, he learned that they were really defeated by the Ming army. What's more, most of the defeated generals had no idea how they were defeated. Some of the defeated generals were even scared out of their courage and shouted to disrupt the morale of the army. Eridun was so angry that he ordered his personal guards to push them out, behead them and show them to the public, kill the chicken to warn the monkey.

Finally, after a day of painful thinking, Eridun decided to lead a large army to attack Zhenyuan Pass. Although there were only three thousand-man teams, he might not be the opponent of the White Army. However, Eridun was not a fool. He was sure that as long as he arrived at Zhenyuan Pass, the cavalry of the Hellejin tribe would definitely follow. At that time, the two tribes could join forces together, and perhaps kill all the Ming army and avenge Zachtai.

To be honest, Erikun's judgment is indeed very smart. Hellekin cannot allow Erikun to act alone. With Erikun's three thousand-man teams, it is definitely impossible to tear the defense line of the White-Clothed Army. If Erikun is also killed by the White-Clothed Army, only the Herikun tribe will be left, and he will not be able to deal with the White-Clothed Army's attack alone. There is no way, Hellekin had to lead his own troops and follow Erikun to go south, preparing to join forces and launch an attack.

The war began like this.

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Chapter completed!