Chapter 59 school field drill

The military exercise prepared for the governor's visit was arranged to be held on the school grounds outside the east gate of Huai'an Fucheng according to the order.It was a large earthen field that could accommodate thousands of soldiers and horses circling and galloping.From a long time ago, this area has been used for military purposes. The loose and soft land has become extremely hard under the trample of countless horseshoes and war boots, and it is full of large and small potholes. and criss-cross ruts.At first glance, the empty arena lay bare in broad daylight like the guilty, whip-scarred chest of a penal prisoner.Indeed, this is a land that has become numb and cold. Of course, there are no rolling rice waves, green trees and red flowers here, and even the humble and stubborn weeds are difficult to grow, because they are not allowed to take risks. When they come out, the violent whirlwind exuding the breath of death will roar to them, uprooting them, tearing them apart, and completely engulfing them...

From dawn, the elite divisions selected from the huge army under Dong Pingbo Liu Zeqing, the commander-in-chief of the Ming Dynasty stationed in Huai'an, began to enter the positions for inspection one after another.In the quiet field shrouded in night, the sound of footsteps brushing, the neighing of horses, and one or two particularly high-pitched passwords could be heard faintly.At first, these sounds seemed distant and indistinct, but gradually they became closer and clearer, and then they could distinguish the clang of weapons and the roar of artillery carriages.At this time, the army appeared. It was a few undercurrents wriggling slowly, converging from different directions in the misty Cebu.Sometimes they seem to be crossing forward, sometimes they are tangled together chaotically, and sometimes they walk, as if they have lost their way, and then go back inexplicably.But all this may be just an illusion, because they still continued to march unhurriedly, and finally stopped in their respective positions one after another.At this time, the towering city tower at the east gate of Huai'an Fucheng was already illuminated by the first rays of morning glow.Although it was still dark under the city wall, and the rude shouts of junior officers came from the position from time to time, it was still hidden and indistinct; but here and there, here and there, it was clear that the armor or the tip of the spear was sensed by the morning sun and shot out. reflective.

In order to show the master's ostentation and respect for distinguished guests, the military parade hall facing south on the north side of the school grounds has been completely decorated, and three silver chairs covered with tiger skins are placed in it.The tall general platform stands on the left side outside the hall as usual.On the top of a giant flagpole pointing directly at the sky, a big flag with the word "handsome" fluttered wildly in the morning wind.It was not until dawn that the main civil and military officials and local celebrities of Huai'an Mansion arrived one after another.As a result, the area around the military parade hall became a gathering place for gauze hats, square scarves and various official robes.They must all feel very honored and excited about being able to attend today's grand ceremony. While exchanging cheerful greetings, they stretched their necks, looked towards the official road painted golden by the rising sun, and waited for the distinguished guests to appear.

However, when entering the school grounds with Shi Kefa's entourage, Mao Xiang didn't pay much attention to the above-mentioned situations. Even after he was guided to a place that belonged to him in the martial arts parade hall, his whole mind was still distracted. Dorgon's letter was entrenched.It is true that just now he was very disgusted with Zhang Zilie's rash proposition of "fighting to the death", and hoped to make peace as much as possible; however, even he himself did not dare to believe that such a proposition would definitely work.If Jianlu insisted on the original arrogant request, then the only remaining option would be "fight to the death".However, judging from the fact that Li Zicheng was defeated and fled in one battle after Jianlu entered the pass, it is clear that his military strength is still higher than that of the peasant army.If it is said that the army of the Ming Dynasty could not even deal with the peasant army, how could it resist the attack of Jianlu?If he couldn't resist, then the result... Mao Xiang didn't dare to think about it anymore.Now, he just feels extremely terrified, because he clearly sees that the fate arranged for him by the master in the dark is not only that his hometown is devastated by war, but it is likely to be the subjects of those last dynasties in history. The worst fate that can be encountered - becoming a pariah under the conquest of "barbarians and aliens"! "Ah! No, never!" He yelled with hatred and fear in his heart, "Instead of doing that, it's better to fight to the death! Even if the Jianlu army is strong, we can rely on the Jianghuai natural danger, or we can still be like the Song Dynasty. , Seek the partial security of the left half of the river!" Thinking of the partial security of the Song family, it seemed that a glimmer of light appeared in front of his eyes, and he saw a glimmer of hope. "Well, partial security is naturally not a glorious thing, and it is not a long-term solution. But the first step in front of me, I'm afraid I can only hope for this; as for the rest, we can only talk about it later!" He said irritably and ashamedly think.Of course, even partial security must meet many conditions.The most important thing is to see whether the army can fight bravely.But now Liu Zeqing's army is guarding the throat of the north-south communication, so it can be said that the responsibility is extremely important... Thinking about it this way, Liu Zeqing - and even Tian Yang, suddenly became very important in Mao Xiang's mind, making him Involuntarily restraining the previous arrogance of accusing and despising them, on the contrary, a new and urgent expectation was born.It was only when Zhang Zilie who was standing next to him accidentally touched him that he suddenly became alarmed. He quickly calmed down, opened his eyes wide, and looked down the martial arts parade hall.

At this time, the sun had already risen high, and the school field was temporarily empty, with no soldiers to be seen.It's just that on the western horizon, the shadows of many flags fluttered vaguely, and it was unclear how many soldiers and horses there were.On the other hand, around the Martial Arts Parade Hall, there were surprisingly many generals and schools in charge of guarding, at least two or three hundred of them, each with their armor on, ready to fight.Mao Xiang found that Shi Kefa, accompanied by Liu Zeqing and Tian Yang, had already taken the seat in the middle.The thin and thin Tian Yangzheng arched his hands and bowed his waist slightly, explaining something to Shi Kefa.Liu Zeqing sat quietly, slightly raised his handsome face with white lips and red lips, looking cold and conceited.On both sides of them, according to the habit of left civil and right military, stood two rows of high-ranking officials. As usual, they all lowered their hands and held their breath, putting on a respectful and solemn appearance.

"Well, it's getting late, why haven't you started yet?" Mao Xiang couldn't wait to think.At the same time, I noticed that three officers in military uniform walked down from the general platform next to the "Shuai" flag, hurried across the small open space in front of the military parade hall, and climbed up the hall along the steps on the left.When they passed by, Mao Xiang couldn't help being startled, and recognized that the tall and thin general in the lead was Liu Konghe, the deputy general who came to him to rescue him last night. "Oh, it's really him who directed today's drill! But I haven't informed Shi Gong of his entrustment yet!" Mao Xiang thought suddenly.Although he has become more and more convinced that the other party's complaint last night was obviously a shadow of a snake, and he was overly surprised; but since he agreed, he did not tell it in time, after all, it was a kind of breach of trust.However, on this occasion, it was too late to make amends. "Actually, it's impossible for the kind of thing he said to happen. Even if it really happened, Shi Gong will intervene. Then I will explain it for him!" After comforting himself like this, Mao Xiang calmed down a little. calm down.However, his gaze still followed Liu Konghe.It wasn't until the latter saluted Shi Kefa, got the order to start the drill, and hurried back to the general platform with his two assistants, that he looked away again.

At this time, everyone knew that the martial arts parade was about to start, and they suddenly became nervous.The hall became completely silent, only the flags of various sizes fluttered in the autumn wind, making the sound of hunting.Suddenly, there seemed to be a burst of thunder, and the thirty-six drums on both sides of the stage were beating together.The sound of the drums booming majesticly and violently, like a turbulent wave breaking through the embankment, one after another high and then one after another.At first, it was no different from ordinary drums, but after a few days, the majesty, self-esteem, and full awareness of one's own status and role appeared.Because there is no need to please the audience, its rhythm is concise and clear, simple and unpretentious; but because of this, it has a convincing power, a shocking effect. It seemed to vibrate.

Immediately after the first drum beat stopped, the whining horn blew.The loud and mighty sound of the horn is like a leaping dragon, circling and soaring over the school field, blown by the autumn wind, and drifting away far away, making people's hearts restrained and awed by the sound of the drum, and then again. Suddenly gave birth to a sense of bravery and heroism. The morale-boosting drums and horns rang three times, and with a gong, the yellow flag on the stage was lowered, and a clean and flat flag was erected.This is the signal to go out.Mao Xiang and other spectators in the Martial Arts Parade Hall all focused their eyes on the western horizon.When the Jingping flag turned into a red flag and the drums sounded again, the army gathered in the distance like a dark cloud seemed to be still hesitating, unwilling to take action, but in fact the action had already begun, but because of the distance, It seemed that the progress was slow and a little clumsy; but soon the speed was obviously accelerated. Gradually, the sound of hooves and footsteps became louder, and the figures of the soldiers could be distinguished clearly.The horse team walking in front was advancing rapidly in a formation of ten riders a row, and smoke and dust rose up where the horses galloped past.

It was the first time in Mao Xiang's life to participate in such a large-scale military parade. He couldn't help but get excited, and his heart trembled slightly because of nervousness.He tightly held the fan in his hand, staring intently at the approaching horse team.At this time, the first few rows of cavalry had already galloped to the front of the military parade hall, and those brave and vigorous riders with helmets and armor skillfully controlled the horses, keeping them at an appropriate distance.They trotted under control for a while, galloped for a while, and their footwork was spotless.And following their movements, the red tassels, iron armor, and the smooth fur of the war horse merged into a flickering torrent under the sun, which was dazzling and dizzying.Mao Xiang watched with all his attention, he couldn't help being surprised and happy.

However, before he was allowed to admire carefully, this whirlwind of death composed of steel and muscle had already whizzed past the front of the martial arts parade hall, and rushed out of sight in the blink of an eye.Mao Xiangzheng was a little bit regretful, the team behind had already arrived, the shield players with swords, the archers, and the spearmen, each in a certain formation, marched forward with neat and brave steps.There were more of them, estimated to be about 5,000 people, and the dust they raised was even bigger when they marched, which was quite overwhelming.Mao Xiang thought to himself: "Compared with the tired and lazy soldiers I saw along the way, this army is different, but it is still worthy of a battle!" He couldn't help turning his head and looked at Shi Kefa secretly, but found that the governor The adult sat there, without any expression on his black and thin face.On the other hand, Liu Zeqing, who was sitting next to him, squinted his eyes and kept stroking his beard, with a complacent smile hanging on the corner of his graceful mouth.

At this time, more and more soldiers and horses entered the school grounds. The cavalry and some infantry who had already passed through the military parade hall and galloped eastward had already turned around and re-entered the school grounds.Under the command of the red flag on the general platform, they began to run interspersed with each other.At first, Mao Xiang only felt that they were chaotic and out of shape, but after a while, the situation changed.The school field is no longer chaotic, and all the army horses have been arranged into five neat square formations.At this time, the yellow flag on the stage was raised, and the sound of drums rumbled again. All the soldiers suddenly let go of their throats and let out a shocking cry.Then, with the sound of a gong, the yellow flag was replaced by a white flag, and the school field became completely silent again. "Well, it's time to practice the formation." Mao Xiang heard someone whispering beside him.Sure enough, not long after, Liu Konghe, who was in charge of the command, hurried to the martial arts parade hall again, presented a map of formation to Shi Kefa with both hands, and then turned and retreated.In the meantime, Mao Xiang couldn't help following him again with his eyes, and at the same time secretly shook his head: "Isn't there nothing wrong with the military parade now? In fact, today Liu Zeqing is all about saving face in front of Shi Gong. How can there be another trouble? It’s ridiculous that this man is suspicious, he’s so mediocre!” Just thinking about it, Zhang Zilie suddenly touched him with his elbow and said in a low voice: "Look, it's going to become a long snake array!" Mao Xiang was stunned for a moment, followed his friend's instructions, and he saw a sign erected on the platform, with six big characters written on it: The square formation becomes the long snake formation.At this time, the red flag was raised again, and the soldiers and horses on the school field, cheered by the drums, ran quickly again.In the blink of an eye, the five square formations had turned into five long snake-like columns.Although Mao Xiang had read in the book that the characteristic of this long snake formation is "hit the head, the tail responds, hit the tail, the first responds, hit the middle, both the head and the tail respond", but he has never seen the performance with his own eyes.Now that this change is not only rapid, but also orderly, I secretly shouted: "Okay!" From then on, there was a full hour of practicing formations. The drums rose and fell, and the formations changed again and again. Sometimes there were two dragon formations, sometimes Taiji formations, and sometimes chain formations. There were more than ten changes in a row. kind of style.Mao Xiang opened his eyes and became more and more interested.If, at the beginning of the exercise, he had been a little nervous, having experienced such a scene for the first time, at this moment he was completely immersed in a new, strong, and open-minded pleasure.He temporarily forgot the previous worries, and felt a heroic and energetic feeling from the bottom of his heart.