Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 126: There are still many unpredictable things in the army

Liu Huai had felt something was wrong a long time ago.

This feeling had already arisen when he first arrived at the Tianping Army, and became more intense as time went on.

The reason is simple: the organizational structure of the Tianping Army cannot be said to be chaotic.

But not at all.

There is no staff document system.

There is no military messenger system.

There is no scout and sentry system.

Logistics and supply system, no.

It’s not that the most important command system doesn’t exist, but it’s like a young girl’s bellyband. Everyone knows it probably exists, but no one has ever seen it.

Unless a life-threatening situation arises, no one, whether the commander or the subordinate, knows whether the military order is still effective.

Take the most elite and capable Xin Army for example. Among these 2,500 people, there was only Xin Qiji as the leader, and there was not even a deputy leader.

Regardless of whether the position of leader is of the same rank as the commander-in-chief, as the commander of more than 2,000 soldiers, you don't even have a deputy position. Isn't it a bit too arrogant?

Apart from other things, when Xin Qiji was not in the army, whether attending military meetings, conducting reconnaissance at the front, or enforcing military law, who was in charge of the Xin army? Was this person worthy of the title?
When Liu Huai mentioned this matter to Xin Qiji, wanting to hear if he had any solution that he hadn't seen, Xin Qiji was visibly panicked.

Liu Huai also started to panic.

To use an inappropriate metaphor, Liu Huai felt like he was sitting on a heavy truck that should have been scrapped twenty years ago. The truck was overloaded with twice as much rubble, and the driver was severely myopic and had functional disabilities in his limbs.

Now this truck, which is about to fall apart, is speeding on the mountain path at a speed of 200 miles per hour. Liu Huai doesn't know whether the truck will first hit the mountain, roll down the ravine, or will inexplicably break into parts while speeding.

But no matter what, whether it was to show his sincerity or for the subsequent pincer attack on Yizhou, Liu Huai had to at least wait until the Tianping Army arrived in Fei County before discussing other matters.

Since the army officially entered the Mengshan Mountain area, Liu Huai's inner panic reached its peak.

Mount Mengshan is not an isolated peak. It is surrounded by typical hilly terrain, with large and small mounds undulating like waves on the sea, stretching endlessly.

It was one thing when Liu Huai and the other three walked this road, but it was another thing when nearly 100,000 people walked this road.

The very least is that when crossing the hilly area, even if there is a flat area of one or two miles on both sides of the Anzi River, it is impossible for 100,000 people to pass through together, and the troops must be divided.

But given the Tianping Army's organizational level, once one or two thousand people are sent out, it is really hard to say when they can come back, or even whether they can come back.

Liu Huai saw with his own eyes a mixed army of about five or six hundred people, young and old, coming out of the mountain valley with the banner of Tianping and directly joining forces with Xin's army, which confused Xin Qiji.

After asking carefully, I found out that these were Jia Rui's subordinates from the second group on the east coast. They lost their way while taking a detour among the hills. When they reunited, Jia Rui had already broken camp and left. They were confused and mixed up with Xin Qiji.

The most bizarre thing is that from beginning to end, Jia Rui did not send any scouts to look for this troop. It is very likely that he did not even know that one of his troops had been lost.

"What the fuck is this?"

Luo Huaiyan sighed as he held the document he had just written.

Immediately, a small stone hit his head.

Liu Huai was cleaning the wound on the leg of a little girl named San Ya and changing the medicine. Despite his busy schedule, he still took the time to throw a small stone at Luo Huaiyan to teach him a lesson.

As the saying goes, good things are hard to learn, but bad things are easy to learn. Luo Huaiyan's father, Luo Guzi, though not a great scholar, was a family of poets and scholars, raising his two sons to be well-mannered. But after Luo Huaiyan arrived in the army, his mouth immediately became as gilded as gold, and he began to talk dirty. Liu Huai didn't know how to explain this to Luo Huaiyan's father and brother.

Just as Liu Huai was about to scold Luo Huaiyan, Xin Qiji opened the door curtain and entered the tent: "Da Lang, why did you call me here in such a hurry?"

Liu Huai didn't waste any time and threw a roll of documents that Luo Huaiyan had just sorted out to Xin Qiji.

Xin Qiji took the document and saw San Ya looking at him with her dark eyes. He couldn't help but smile: "My dear, does it still hurt?"

The third girl had a piece of linen on her head and replied weakly, "It hurts a little."

Liu Huai stroked San Ya's hair and said, "I just checked. The wound is festering and she's starting to have a fever. Sigh...it seems the liquor I found earlier wasn't strong enough."

Xin Qiji sighed. How could he not know that the wound had become inflamed? Infected wounds were a death sentence for adults these days, let alone a child?

Before the wound became inflamed, Liu Huai might be able to get some alcohol to disinfect and clean the wound, but after the wound became inflamed, at this time and place, even Liu Huai had no way to do it.

We can only rely on San Ya to hold on.

After Xin Qiji comforted San Ya for a few words, he forced himself to focus on the important matter. After opening the document, he read two lines by candlelight and rubbed his eyes again: "Da Lang, I have been busy all day and my eyes are really tired. Just tell me what you find."

"We officially entered the Mengshan area on the morning of August 9th, right?" Liu Huai said, waving his fingers. "It's now 9:00 PM on August 11th, which means the Tianping Army has been marching for three days."

As he spoke, Liu Huai patted the documents in his hand and said, "Before nightfall, I asked Guan Qilang to ask you for the military orders and correspondence of the Tianping Army in the past few days. I discovered something."

Liu Huai paused, his expression strange as he continued, "There are at least six armies of varying sizes, totaling approximately three thousand men...or rather, refugee groups. They left on the first day and haven't appeared since."

Xin Qiji's face changed. He snatched the document and began to read it carefully, regardless of the pain in his eyes.

Luo Huaiyan organized it very carefully. He wrote down the movement of a certain unit and where it was moved to, or the loss of contact with a certain unit and the subsequent reconnection, all of which were recorded in one place and connected to each other.

However, there were six armies that only had written inquiries sent back from each department, but no results or responses.

They are gone.

Xin Qiji frowned. "Could it be that they got separated? The Central Army and the Rear Army have also received many vanguards in the past few days. Or perhaps they simply felt that the journey was too long and difficult, so it wouldn't be surprising if they dispersed."

Liu Huai was speechless. So I... Oh, that's not right... Luo Erlang spent half a day sorting it out, and you came to this conclusion?

"As a general, you should be generous in your assessment of the enemy. Regardless of their true nature, Xin Wulang, let me ask you, if someone truly was acting as a shield, surrounding these three thousand men, killing them, driving them away, or forcing them to surrender, what would you do?"

Xin Qiji still shook his head. "If there really was a large army threatening the Tianping Army, they wouldn't be hiding so well. There would definitely be clues. How could they kill 3,000 people without making a sound? Killing 3,000 dogs wouldn't be that easy, let alone 3,000 people. Someone would always escape, someone would always report it."

Liu Huai was even more speechless. "Xin Wulang, is your information transmission system really so smooth? My loyal army has spared no effort to draw out elite troops and organize many scouts and military envoys, but we cannot guarantee that the central army can always know what is happening on the front line. Before the battle, we can only rely on the commander to make decisions. You don't even have these, how can you transmit information?
"Wu Lang, let me ask you, if a small soldier really escaped and fled to any army, how long would it take for the news he learned to reach you? He would have to report it through many layers of leadership. If even one soldier, captain, captain, or team leader didn't take it seriously, the news would be completely cut off."

Liu Huai ignored Xin Qiji's grim expression and continued, "If I were an enemy general, as long as I prevented these 3,000 men from fleeing en masse, I would be able to block the Tianping Army."

Xin Qiji still shook his head: "At the latest the day after tomorrow, the vanguard will arrive in Fei County, and we will be able to leave Mengshan and set up our battle array..."

Liu Huai interrupted him and said, "So, if there really is an enemy army, they will take action the day after tomorrow at the latest."

Before he finished speaking, a sudden noise came from outside the tent.

Liu Huai immediately shut up with a strange look on his face.

This is really a jinx.

(End of this chapter)