In fact, Qinghe County probably knows Xiao Cheng's every move better than Xiao Cheng himself. After all, as a captain, Xiao Cheng's understanding of his army mostly comes from the reports of his captains, centurions, squad leaders and sergeants. Of course, most of the time, Captain Xiao relies more on his own intuition.
As for Qinghe County, through the efforts of the Jinguancheng Intelligence Station, they probably knew the time when Xiao Cheng would send troops earlier than Xiao Cheng. And when Xiao Cheng was conscripting men, the intelligence personnel of the Qinghe Intelligence Department had already joined Xiao Cheng's army through various means. Then they made two reports every day, one was summarized and sent to Qinghe County, and the other was polished and finally handed to Xiao Cheng.
But Captain Xiao was quite satisfied with all of this.
After all, his illiterate subordinates were able to submit a detailed report, for example, saying that there were only 300 dan and 5 hu of military rations left. This was something these soldiers would never have done before. In the past, they would at most say, "My lord, we are running out of food." As for the rest, Xiao Cheng and his captains had to find a solution.
Xiao Cheng had been suspicious, after all, his men were growing up so quickly that it was confusing. But after personally inspecting them, he felt relieved. It was nothing more than a few literate men captured during the conscription process. They were all accountants or something like that in the caravan. They weren't very good at rough labor, but they were quite useful in managing supplies and accounting. Captain Xiao, who knew how to assign people, immediately exempted those men from manual labor, exempted them from physical labor on the spot, and instructed his officers to "keep an eye on them and use them."
Well, in order to obtain the convenience of talents while avoiding the other party being a spy, Captain Xiao was very satisfied with his arrangement.
So when Xiao Cheng's troops were still on the way, Lin Hai had already organized several exercises in Qinghe on how to deal with Xiao Cheng, and finally decided on the eight-character policy of "using fighting instead of training, and using fighting to promote talks". Now the civilians are digging trenches, in fact, just to use this method to let the civilians build up their courage. No one really thinks that they can trap Xiao Cheng's troops with a few trenches dug temporarily. Of course, the various camps in the past few days were just built by the engineering troops to test their ability to build camps before the war, and they were used to make a false attack.
However, Lin Hai and the others had not expected that Xiao Cheng could make great use of several abandoned camps. It can only be said that everyone has their own expertise, and as long as it is not a war, Xiao Cheng's ability is worthy of recognition.
Following Xiao Cheng's order, dozens of soldiers rushed out under the leadership of the centurion captain. There was no other way. Even if he reorganized again and again, Xiao Cheng could not put together a full-strength centurion team.
"The enemy is leaving the camp." A lookout was standing outside the Qinghe civilian team, observing the movements of Xiao Cheng's troops. Seeing someone rushing out, the lookout quickly began to report the enemy's movements according to the manual.
Although Lin Hai had managed to tinker with a few telescopes, these, which relied entirely on hand-polished lenses, were extremely difficult to manufacture and weren't yet capable of being deployed to the scout level. However, given the close proximity this time, there wasn't much need for them. In the nearby forest, Lin Hai, with his entire team squatting in the woods observing the battle, decided he needed to find a way to improve his fine-tuning abilities. Otherwise, if they were further away from the enemy next time, would he have to have the scouts take cod liver oil to improve their vision?
"The enemy is approaching. They are soldiers with swords and shields but no bows and arrows. They are five hundred steps away." The lookout continued to sound the alarm.
However, when he heard that the other party did not bring a bow and arrow, the captain of the laborers who had already stood up and was ready to jump out of the trench bent down again and dug two hoes. The situation did not seem so urgent.
"The enemy is approaching, two hundred steps away."
"Everyone stop working, pack up, and get ready." The captain of the laborers shouted, and all the laborers began to pack up their things. After all, hoes, winnowing baskets and other things cost money, and they couldn't lose their things if they wanted to run away.
"The enemy is approaching, a hundred steps away."
"Everyone run! They're coming!" the captain shouted, and then he rushed out of the trench at the head of his men. Behind him were hundreds of other men carrying hoes and dustpans. They were running to the designated location as planned. The last one to hold the line was the lookout. As he ran, he kept shouting the alarm: "The enemy is approaching, only eighty steps away. Run faster! They are not wearing armor, so they can run faster than in the drill."
"This captain of the civilian laborers was quite calm. He waited until a hundred steps before giving the order to run. But why did he run first after giving the order?" Lin Hai was a little amused and didn't know whether to praise or criticize this captain.
"Principal, isn't that what you requested? We must follow the drill manual exactly. It clearly states that when the enemy lacks long-range weapons like bows and crossbows, the decoys can retreat at a distance of one hundred paces to achieve the best decoy effect. However, the commander must lead the way."
"Hey~~~~ What I meant by leading by example is that I'm afraid that the officers will run away before the subordinates, and keep their subordinates to lure the enemy. It doesn't mean that you should be the first to run after giving the order to run. Forget it, I'll have to refine this drill when I get back." Although Lin Hai was a little speechless, he understood it. After all, being chased and hacked to death is still a huge psychological pressure. This is different from being whipped when being caught during an exercise.
The laborers plunged into the woods, and Xiao Cheng's soldiers decided not to pursue them. They were all veterans, and judging by the way the laborers were running, they knew something was wrong. They were probably trying to lure the enemy into the woods, and if they entered the woods, they would be ambushed. So the centurion shouted, and the Xia soldiers slowed down, preparing to wander around a hundred or so paces outside the woods before returning to report.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com