Chapter 13 Wuqi Town (III)

Outside the town general's house, a large group of people were crowded at the door, blocking the road.Not only are there remnants of the imperial guards living in Wuqi Town to recover from injuries, but also many local elderly, weak, women and children. People come here with different moods.

This is obviously a good thing Yang Biao and the other two did. He didn't want to gather like many people in a short time when he spreads news.

Except for dozens of remnants of the imperial guards, these almost abandoned old and weak people lived quietly. Suddenly they gathered together and found that there were so many people, at least hundreds.

At first glance, the eyes were covered with gray hair and cloth with cloth, and the women seemed to like to wrap their hair in the bupa to go out.

Seeing Li Desheng about to speak, Guo Shao stood up first, clasped his fists and held his tribute, shouting loudly: Dear fellow villagers...

Suddenly, a group of eyes looked over. It seemed that everyone was looking at him in this situation. Guo Shao had not experienced it on such an occasion for a long time, and he felt a little nervous.

He cleared his throat and said: The Khitans went south this time to take advantage of the emptiness of Zhaoyi's main force attacking Jinyang with the official army, and raided... Chengmeng general General Li raised me and asked me to serve as deputy general to assist in defense.After saying that, Guo Shao ignored Li Desheng's frown and had no intention of refuting.

He continued to say loudly: We came here to recuperate from a month ago. The people of Wuqi Town provided housing and clothing, and gave food regardless of family difficulties... The kindness of water should be rewarded by a real man; all the villagers treat others sincerely, which makes people deeply grateful.Today we need brothers, how can we stand by and watch?Dare to lose your life!

People were quiet, without noise or cheering, just like this dilapidated town with dull air.But they all listened.

Guo Shao's eyes swept over the remaining soldiers of the imperial guards and shouted: In the Battle of Gaoping, Zhang Yuanhui, the most powerful general of the Northern Han Army, rushed to me and was killed on the spot!I have two brothers who are surrounded by enemy soldiers, and I can kill the enemy with one or ten!The official family and the commander Zhang Du, the commander in front of the hall, once personally praised him, saying, "It is advisable to be appointed as the commander."Speaking of the emperor and the high throne in public, Guo Shao bowed his fists to the north, and recognized the authority of the court to emphasize his authority, and continued to say that the soldiers stationed in Wuqi Town this time, and their subordinates are different. Should they scatter in a hurry or reorganize them into an army in a critical moment?If there is someone with a higher military position than me, I am willing to stand up and order the soldiers and speak now...

Since there is no, Guo will take over the scattered military power stationed in Wuqi Town from now on!I have a list of wounded soldiers placed in Wuqi Town, and those who stayed are still the positions of imperial guards; those who want to run away are deserters.Today's affairs will be reported to the front office of the Palace in the future.Guo Shao did not allow others to tell me about it, and of course he did not want the number of the only soldiers to be reduced again.

The troops were silent and no one was willing to stand up and object.

Guo Shao was very satisfied with this and immediately incited the people: I know there are many veterans present. You have served the country all your life and are fighting for others. Now the time is for the barbarians to trample on your homeland, kill and humiliate your relatives, and fight for themselves!The Khitans in Liao Kingdom burned, killed and robbed, and died if they didn’t fight. They picked up their weapons and used their last passion to defend their families!Dear fellow comrades and brothers and sisters, I will be able to defend the people and fight to the battlefield with you, and I feel infinite glory!

Slowly, many gray-haired people stood up from the crowd, and some people said: The old man has killed people after he had been in the army.Including me, I don’t have many days to live anyway, and I will die if I die...

Guo Shao took the opportunity to say: Since all the villagers think that this general can take on this position, in order to prepare for the war, it is legal for me to issue a conscript order in Wuqi Town!

He immediately issued the first conscript order, to select people who can still be exiled to help defend, and every household must also provide personnel and follow the arrangements fortifications fortifications.

In front of everyone in the town, the town general Li Desheng did not object on the spot. He changed from raw rice to cooked rice in a few seconds.

Li Desheng had no choice but to agree with the method proposed by Guo Shao before. He took people to Luzhou to buy supplies and left his servants to help govern the people.

Those old men who claim to have been with the army are all over fifty years old; this place is not young and strong at all, and even young and strong will not be sent to Wuqi Town.

Guo Shao and others could only lower the standard of the selection of soldiers, picking those who looked less than 70 years old, who walked more quickly and were more energetic.

After choosing for a long time, I got 68 people.

These old soldiers also dug out broken copper and iron armor from their homes that they had not used, which was better than nothing, and some of them had weapons.

Before leaving, the town general finally became generous and dedicated his armor, sword and bow, but only one pair.

He was busy until noon and someone came over to greet Guo Shao. He looked back and found that it was Zuo You, a civil servant in the army.

This man has a straight face, a thorny beard, and a round-necked robe, but he is very thin.

Zuo You said: I have any suggestions below, would Guo Lang be willing to listen?

Guo Shao put down the bow and arrow in his hand and hurriedly told him to speak out loud.

Zuo You said: It is urgent to not only organize the troops into a registered roster, but also establish military laws and rules as soon as possible so that rewards and punishments can be proven.After not giving up, I wrote the "Four Dead Order" and asked Guo Lang to read it.

Those who disobey orders will be killed; those who escape first in the battle will be killed; those who leave their posts will be killed; those who take advantage of the chaos to avenge their personal revenge and bully the people will be killed.

It is simple and crude and covers foreseeable problems. The last one is even more long-term concerns. Guo Shao immediately glanced at Zuo You again and changed his words to Mr. Zuo: Why don’t Mr. Zuo recite these four beheads several times in public to know the entire army?

Seeing that he was so happy, Zuo You immediately bowed and said, "I'm taking the order."

In the afternoon of the same day, Guo Shao entrusted Zuo You to register his soldiers.

Then we started to organize the 28 recovered imperial guards and wounded soldiers into one team; the 70-year-old and weak soldiers were organized into one capital, and they were called town soldiers.

He served as the military envoy, Yang Biao served as the deputy envoy of the army and the ten generals of the imperial guards, and Luo Mengzi served as Changxing (the deputy squad); he also promoted three of the ten generals among the village soldiers.

Although the sparrow was small and had all the internal organs, she directly created an organization... and even asked Zuo You to be the title of marching counselor. The staff team was established, although there was only one person.

As the evening, Guo Shao and the four people were discussing matters around him, and Zuo You also began to participate in the discussion.

A second order was agreed to allow every citizen to contribute iron tools to the blacksmith shop in the town.

Yang Biao was responsible for training soldiers, Guo Shao was responsible for preparing materials and weapons, and Zuo You and Luo Mengzi supervising the construction of fortifications.

……

Wuqi Town originally had a rammed city wall, but it had been disrepaired and collapsed in many places. Now the recruitment of the people is just digging the dilapidated areas to repair them; the soil is taken directly with the soil from the trenches outside the wall and then rammed them with clay.

Yang Biao’s suggestion is to add a deep ditch to increase defense with sharpened bamboo in the ditch; to nail horse-repellent piles on the outside of the ditch.

Both manpower and materials are very scarce, so we can only achieve this.

This place is backed by the mountain to the north, and there are woods and bamboo forests on the mountain. Choose one to two meters of hard bamboo, and one end is sharpened, and it is a spear.

It is not as sharp and durable as iron guns, but it is also useful. It is lighter and longer than solid wood, and it can be used for infantry against cavalry temporarily; if it is not durable, a person can prepare several pieces, which can be used for those rural soldiers who help in defense.

The temporary old and weak soldiers were not fully clothed in armor, and most of the armors that the old soldiers turned out were rusted and damaged.

So they used wooden blocks and bamboo pieces to make simple scale armor that was not fully supplemented. The protection was not good, but it was better than nothing.

Two days later, he heard that Li Desheng had actually returned with two cars of things himself. Perhaps he was uneasy in Luzhou, but he was still afraid of Li Yun’s accountability?

When Guo Shao heard the news, he went out to see it and realized that this guy was definitely a stingy guy. He got some ragged iron around his neck. Fortunately, he had a lot of coarse grains in the two mule carts... His family's property must be more than just buying such things.

Guo Shao was inconvenient to argue with him, so he took the food openly.

Because after Li Desheng's wife and children were sent to Luzhou, there were no female relatives at home, Guo Shao and others had moved to the relatively spacious Li family as their resident.

When Li Desheng returned to his home, he saw that there were all kinds of miscellaneous things, which had been unrecognizable.

In the past two days, Guo Shao has turned the terrain of Wuqi Town several times again. When he welcomed Li Desheng back, he continued to discuss tactics with the people in the room:

Wuqi Town is surrounded by mountains on one side and is easily attacked on three sides. The wall is estimated to be nearly two miles long on foot.Our warriors only have a hundred soldiers, and most of them are old and weak. If we defend to the death, we will not have enough troops. We have always heard that the Khitans are good at fighting in the field, so we can't do it if we go out of the city to fight in the field. We have no cavalry and lack long-range bows and arrows, and we will be defeated when we fight.Only by trying to lure the enemy into the city, use the fortification terrain to prevent the enemy from spreading, and use the walls and alleys to annihilate the enemy; therefore, I asked the civil servants to build walls on the two central roads to separate the roads, which was the intention.

...Six and seven days passed in a blink of an eye. Wuqi Town was basically ready, but the surroundings were still as quiet as death, no different from countless days.

The soldiers were a little worried that the Khitan soldiers would not come.

It’s strange that it’s a good thing for the enemy to not come, but now people are looking forward to a battle.

Because everyone has been busy for many days, they have made irons to build fortifications, and have been trained to prepare fortifications. If they are not used, wouldn’t they be in vain?

As for what is the best result, people don’t seem to think about it.

The soldiers and generals were ready to go, and even the township soldiers were not convinced and looked forward to it. There were also a hundred people working chores to report to the city gate every day.

Guo Shao set up sentinels on all sides and miles away, and sent people to take turns to be scouts day and night.

There are also people on duty on the city wall every day, which is ready.

Why haven’t the Khitan soldiers come yet?The old man standing outside the door also muttered.

Guo Shao asked them to discuss it, of course he would not say anything better if he didn't do it, so as not to attack everyone's active fighting spirit.

The defense naturally has advantages in offense and defense, but it comes at the cost of giving up the initiative; whether to fight depends entirely on others, and you can't help yourself to the extent of your fight.