across the Quartet

Chapter Two

"Drums stand by!"

"Drum Charge!"

"The central army sticks to it, charges on both wings, kill!"

"kill--"

On the field of the Martial Arts School in Dongyuan Camp, tens of thousands of armored men were divided into several square formations, and they were conducting daily routine drills under the supervision of the commanders of each battalion: the flags were flying, the drums were beeping, and the soldiers were fighting The shouts of killing shook the sky, and when tens of thousands of spears were held up at the same time, it seemed that even the soles of their feet were shaking.

Such a majestic and well-organized performance showed Li Mujun's strict discipline and well-trained training.Under the influence of the atmosphere, the recruits also ignited for the first time the surging blood that only those in the army can experience. Although exhaustion and panic cannot be said to be swept away, at least most of them have been ignored-it seems that even if there is a sudden death in front of them The real cavalry of the Qin army can also rush forward with red eyes regardless.

However, not every recruit can be put into formal training so quickly.For example, Gai Nie or Ge Da's "Bi" battalion, due to the recent incorporation of a large number of refugees who joined the army, their discipline and quality are worrying; However, the recruits of the Bizi Battalion could only run around the martial arts field in heavy armor.This is the most tedious exercise for improving physical strength, but it is also enough to make many people complain.

At about noon, the dazzling sunlight hung high above the head, and the herald in front suddenly said: "The hundred circles are full, stop!"

With the sound of "Aiyo" one after another, many people staggered and sat on the ground, some grabbed Can Xue and stuffed it into their mouths, chewed a few mouthfuls, and then gradually recovered.

"Get up! Get up! Look at how cowardly you are!! Are you worthy of calling me Old Zhao Jun!"

From a distance, Gai Nie was the only one among the group of people standing upright, like an abandoned flagpole on a defeated battlefield; the corporal leader beside him was kicking and kicking the other people in the corps.

"Oh, don't pull it, Captain, we only pulled the empty string [-] times yesterday, and we still can't lift this arm up to now..." A man with small eyes and a big beard stood up, rubbing his waist and legs. Get up and complain.

"Fart! Look at Ge Da, doesn't he practice the same as you? Why did he—"

"Of course it's different, that's Brother Ge!"

Brother Beard spoke with confidence.Wu Zhang couldn't hide his embarrassment on his face.To say that at the end of the hundred laps, even he himself could not help but blush and pant like a cow; Ge Da, who was neither blushing nor panting, was as calm as if he took a small walk after eating. .This can put his old face as a corporal leader.

Five people for one army, ten people for one team, is the minimum formation common to the armies of various countries at present.According to the ancient system, "Wu" originally referred to the five adjacent households, which set up a team leader. During wartime conscription, one person from each of these five families was recruited to form a team, and they cooperated with each other in battle.However, in today's war-torn world, wars continue, unless there is an emergency like Changping, countries will not deploy troops before the battle; the people in this army are unlikely to be neighbors to each other anymore, it is just a false name.As for the newcomers recruited by Zhao Jun this time, all four were randomly mixed into one team, and one of the veterans was selected as the team leader, so that the new recruits could get acquainted with the environment faster.But he didn't expect that within a few days after joining the army, Ge Da had formed an unclear relationship with their corporal leader.

Here's the thing.It was the second night after Ge Da entered the "bi" camp, and all of them slept in a big army tent.At night, the corporal got up to relieve himself, rubbed his eyes in a daze, and found a dark shadow standing straight in the middle of the big tent. He couldn't help being surprised, and opened his mouth "Oh my god!!!" and woke up everyone in the tent.I lit the fire folder, only to realize that it was the recruit Ge Da, who was sitting cross-legged on his seat, with his eyes closed, and his head was bouncing in a regular way—he fell asleep sitting up.

"Bastard! What kind of sleeping method is this?! Are you a horse?!"

This group is rough people, no one knows that this is the breathing posture of martial arts practitioners; although the corporal leader woke Ge Da up and scolded him, he blushed a lot, especially in front of a group of recruits. Shocked, he looked really timid and shameless.From then on, I couldn't help but slightly hated this strange person.

Besides, the corps leader didn't like the four new pawns in their corps anyway.Most of Zhao's army were tall and burly northern men, and Li Mu treated his soldiers very generously, often rewarding his subordinates with wine and meat. Except for the hungry people who had joined the army for a few days, the soldiers who stayed for a long time were raised to be big, fat and strong.As for his subordinate, a baby-faced boy named Aji, who claims to be 16 years old, but his small body is less than five feet, and he is only fourteen or fifteen years old when he dies. I don't know how he got in here.A bearded man named Niu Er, who was overweight, was said to be a cook in Wucheng, who fled after the fall of Wucheng;The other man is also the longest in the family. In order to distinguish him from Ge Da, everyone calls him Lao Hu.Old Hu, who is thick-backed and powerful, is a little blunt, and he is always half a beat slower than others when practicing.The rest is Ge Da, who is quite tall, but as thin as a stick, especially the waist, one arm can be circled around, can he draw a bow and lift a shield?Wu Zhang was very suspicious.

Besides, Ge Da is always silent and has a gloomy temperament.In addition to his "sitting and sleeping" eccentricity, he has many magical places.According to the old rules in the barracks, these new recruits have to undertake a lot of military chores besides daily drills; and the corporal chief has a heart of selfish revenge, and often picks out difficult ones and assigns them to Ge Da; However, these jobs, which are extremely troublesome even in the eyes of veterans, are not difficult for this strange man:

Let him wash the horses, and he can get along well with hundreds of sturdy war horses from the Yunzhong Prairie, and none of them are frightened and kicked, as if he was raised in a stable since he was a child.

Let him dig a stove, he can dig every hole not too big, not small, not deep, not shallow, and he has considered the angle of facing the wind and sheltering from the wind, as if he has been a soldier for decades.

Asking him to butcher pigs and sheep, he lifted the knife so swiftly that he didn't get a drop of blood on his body, as if he knew how to butcher pigs from the womb.

... There is no need to repeat all kinds of other things.The corporal leader's face changed from the initial embarrassment to the later shock, and finally he couldn't remember the original intention of revenge at all. He just insisted on making things difficult, trying to figure out what else this guy could do.However, judging from Ge Da's performance, it seems that there is nothing he can't do; the most hateful thing is that even if this guy did something that shocked others, his face was always expressionless, as if saying "" What are you all watching me do? Is there something wrong?"

Ge Da's reputation gradually spread among the recruits.Compared with the complicated mentality of the corporal leader, other recruits are very welcome to such a capable person; and although this brother doesn't talk often, he is very talkative. When other people in a battalion encounter difficult jobs, they just need to say hello. Come to help without saying a word; neither thank you nor take credit, and leave when you are done with work, which can be called straightforward.So even though the corporal leader repeatedly reprimanded others deliberately using Ge Da as an example during the drill, he failed to isolate him. On the contrary, many recruits took the initiative to come together to call them brothers, and they were very enthusiastic.Wu Zhang often feels that Ge Da is the one who is more convinced by the other three people in Yiwuli than himself.

One day it was the captain's turn to patrol the camp, and he suddenly saw Ge Da holding a small stick in his hand and drawing something on the sand; and Aji and Lao Hu, two idiots, squatting aside Concentrate on watching him draw.

After painting for a while, Ge Da actually opened his mouth for the first time, and he was eloquent.

"The vanguard of the Qin army is often mixed with infantry and cavalry. When the two armies confront each other, they first fire crossbows and arrows. When the distance gets closer, the cavalry rushes forward first, breaking up the opponent's formation with a sharp cone formation, and the rear is heavily armored. The infantry all pressed forward to cover up the kill. After the three waves of impact, the opponent must have suffered a lot of losses. The formation they formed in the martial arts field just now looked a bit like the crane wing formation, but there were several differences; the Qin army was sharp, ordinary Outflanking may not have any effect, but after such a change by the general, our cavalry can deliberately slow down, let the Qin army's iron cavalry pass first, and then start to charge horizontally; The halberd soldiers are designed to hook the legs of the horses and play an auxiliary role. I think these arrangements are not so much like crane wings, but rather like a pair of pliers, which can cut off the cooperation between the Qin army's infantry and cavalry, making its head and tail Can't take care of each other."

"...Brother Ge knows a lot!" This is Aji.

"...Ah? What did you just say?" This is Lao Hu.

The corporal leader looked at the seriousness of the three of them pointing the battlefield, and finally couldn't bear it anymore and rushed out to kick each of them. "Just a pawn, dare to fart like this! Do you understand what the general means?"

Ge Daxu swayed for a while, but the corporal leader didn't see it clearly, he thought it was just an accident, so the kick missed.He didn't make up for it either, and simply stepped on the sand painting on the ground.The other three just lowered their heads and let him stomp on them. After venting their anger, they were ordered to prepare fodder for the horses the next day.

Of course, the corporal commander would never have imagined that in the Chinese army's tent about half a mile away from them, General Li Mu was pointing at a figure that looked similar to Ge Nie's "hu painting" on the ground and said: "Step by step." The Fourth Battalion of the Army listened to the order - this pincer formation must be practiced proficiently within ten days."

The three generals lined up together and took orders with their hands clasped together.The majestic and imposing major general in silver armor and red robe who was born at the end neither stood out nor spoke, just snorted softly.

Oddly enough, no one was surprised.

With Li Mu's prestige in Zhao's army, all the confidant generals would be selfish, the school lieutenant Sima would not respect him, the infantry and knights would not love him, how could he allow others to be rude to him?Only the young general who was dissatisfied in every possible way in front of him, but everyone dared not speak out.

Because this one is Zhao Cong, Zhao Cong, Zhao Wangqian's direct brother.

This person rarely joined the army, and he was brave in the front line. Unfortunately, he was too high-minded and irritable, so he didn't like Li Mu, the well-known general in Zhao people.When General Hu Zhe died in the battle of Wucheng, Zhao Cong originally thought that according to his seniority and status, he should be the leading general; but he didn't want Zhao Wangqian to follow the advice of his courtiers and order Li Mu to lead the frontier army south from Yanmen Pass all the way. Replaced the post of General.Zhao Cong was dissatisfied with this superior who had lowered his head from the sky, and always wanted to show his ability to lead the army in front of the soldiers.When Huan Juan led the main force of the Qin army to attack Feixia, Zhao Cong once called for the battle very passionately: "I would like to lead [-] flying cavalry to help Feixia's siege." Li Mu said, "The enemy attacked and I rescued it. Therefore, Zhao Cong's proposal was rejected, and on the surface he stood still, but actually attacked the Qin camp instead, and set up an ambush on the road that the Qin army must save, and won the final victory.

With the victory of the battle of Feixia, Zhao Jun was all rejoicing, only Zhao Cong was very dissatisfied-according to my strategy, he might not be able to win; why is Li Mu so amazing?Afterwards, the military situation was suspended, and Li Mu was busy directing his subordinates to build fortifications and train new recruits; Zhao Cong insisted on his identity, and still had to find trouble from time to time.

"What advice, Young Master?" Li Mu was polite to him.

"The battle formation is just an empty theory in the art of war; Zhao Kuo was a generation of masters of formation back then, but he ended up like this. I advise the general not to pay too much attention to these rigid routines. The real way to fight the enemy is nothing more than' It's just the four characters "adapt to the situation."

Li Mu frowned and said nothing, but at this time the deputy general Sima Shang immediately said: "Young master's words are certainly reasonable. However, the situation of the battlefield is changing rapidly; creating one more formation is just adding one more variable to the enemy, so what is rigidity?" ?”

Zhao Cong still had a disdainful expression on his face, but what he said was: "The last general will take orders."

Not to mention these differences at the command level, the recruits are still learning the golden drum orders, fighting and riding and shooting day after day.After a day's practice, the pawns were so tired that they only had a short period of time to rest. Sometimes they gossip, and sometimes they can make a fuss; at this time, Ge Da never gets involved.His most common posture is to sit quietly on the side, his eyes seem to be near but far away, and he doesn't know where to look.

Because Ge Da never mentioned it himself, although many people became suspicious, no one knew his origin.Judging from his proficient skills, everyone guessed that his family was probably a hunter, but he also cut firewood, planted land, worked as a carpenter, built a city wall, killed pigs, herded sheep, raised horses... everything else I don't know.

However, no matter how well Ge Da performed in practice or daily labor, he was just a capable pawn and could not cause much trouble.The general trend that attracts the world's attention today is still the imminent confrontation between Qin and Zhao.

Since Huan Jue's defeat, the Qin State has replaced the main general Wang Jian; this is another world-renowned general whose reputation is not inferior to Li Mu's.Neither side dared to underestimate the strength of the other side, so they were extremely cautious in deploying troops, for fear that a wrong opportunity would be seized by the other side for a moment.The Qin army dispatched a large number of scouts to carefully explore the terrain and water source direction of the Taihang line, and speculate on Li Mu's possible arrangements.Zhao Jun was naturally not to be outdone, patrolling and guarding more intensively than during the war, in order to destroy the opponent's intention as much as possible.

Gai Nie was in the middle of the game, and he was a low-level recruit, so he wouldn't be too clear about the battle situation; but he still saw some clues from the content of the drill and the route of the mountain patrol.These indescribable details of knowledge in the military camp, no military art master would specially record them, but they are very practical and he feels quite beneficial.However, if you can directly follow General Li Mu's deployment and tactical arrangements, then you will be truly inspired!It's a pity that no matter how fascinated he is, he is just a pawn now, without any military achievements, and it is quite difficult to meet the commander-in-chief of the Chinese army.

The hot summer was approaching, and soldiers were sent to the nearby mountains to cut down trees and strengthen the camp.One day, Gai Nie finished his work and was alone. Taking advantage of no one watching, he raised his breath and climbed up to the top of the highest cliff nearby.From a bird's-eye view from here, you can see the location of Zhao Jun's garrison, the layout of the camp, and the positions of the camps in the middle, front, rear, left, right, and each army; tolerance.Farther away, the horizontal peaks and side ridges are undulating and winding like a dragon's spine.Looking at Gai Nie, he couldn't help but feel the qi and blood in his chest. The majesty of the mountains and rivers, and the rise and fall of the family and country have never weighed so heavily on his heart.

Suddenly, he felt a strange breath behind him.

The sound of the toes hitting the ground was extremely light, and it seemed to have a beautiful rhythm; the person who came was definitely a rare master of lightness kung fu.

Ge Nie didn't dodge or dodge, and turned around calmly; it wasn't that he was pushing him, it's just that the mountain was bare, and there was no place to hide.The people who came didn't deliberately hide their footsteps, so it was obvious that they weren't hiding their heads and showing their tails.

The two met on the top of the mountain.This man was dressed as an alchemist, with a wide robe and big sleeves, and he had a bit of Taoist style; however, when he looked at the person in front of him carefully, there seemed to be two glints hidden in his dark eyes, which were nothing like what Lao Zhuang admired. Unnatural carefree temperament.

"Are you... Zhao's recruit?" The man glanced at Gai Nie's light armor, then shook his head suddenly, and said to himself, "Although this outfit looks similar, it's not right. Recently, it's empty, dangerous, Although the soldiers of the Shi and Bi Battalions do not need to practice, they only cut wood to build camps nearby. However, the mountain here is steep. How did you climb it? Besides, it is not early now, and you should eat at You hour, and you still have not returned to the camp at [-]:[-] Shen Shi , is to be dealt with according to the military law. Ah——You are here to look from afar, it seems to be to spy on my Zhao army camp; are you a spy of the Qin State?"

Gai Niezheng felt that this person looked familiar. When he heard this, he was startled and quickly replied: "I am not a spy, but a recruit from the Bizi Battalion. I have to go back now, and I can return to the camp before the gong strikes at three o'clock in Shenshi." .”

The man flicked his sleeves and said with a smile: "There are many lies. From here to the camp, even if you take the mountain path, it will take more than half an hour. How can you make it in time?"

"In time." Gai Nie couldn't say that he planned to jump from the top, so he could only stick to it.

"Hmph, you said you are a recruit from the Bizi Battalion, do you have a military badge?"

Gai Nie untied the bamboo plaque engraved with the word "Ge Da" from his waist without saying a word, and handed it forward; the alchemist stretched out his hand to pick it up, not wanting to experience a strange change the moment he touched the plaque.

Gai Nie's hand was like lightning, his thumb, index finger, and middle three fingers clasped his pulse gate, his moves were fierce and precise, like pinching the seven inches of a snake.

The alchemist turned pale with shock.For a person who has practiced martial arts to his level, many defenses have long been used to nature, and he can always react to the enemy's moves at the first time.But he didn't want Ge Nie's shot to be far faster than his alert speed.

"Unfathomable..." He secretly said, his heart tightened suddenly.

However, although Gai Nie restrained him, he didn't intend to take his life for a while.He had no choice but to calm himself down and wait and see.

"I've thought about it. The three reasons you just said for suspecting that I'm a secret agent are all reasonable. In the final analysis, it is unreasonable for you and me to appear here at this time." Gai Nie said seriously, "But But I know that I am not a spy. So, who are you?"

TBC