In Hongwu, we started as rebels

Chapter 638 Young Soldiers Eager to Establish Merit

A cool breeze was blowing outside, and the bustling crowds created a lively atmosphere.

But the room remained quiet throughout.

Only the "clack-clack-clack" sound of the sewing machine filled the air.

The silence lasted for almost fifteen minutes.

After Lu Yunyi finished sewing the cloth in his hand, he looked up.

Seeing that Zhang Huai'an was still staring at him, he laughed:

"Your father is right."

You new recruits are so arrogant and ignorant; you don't know what the battlefield is really like.

Zhang Huai'an's breath hitched, and he quickly said:

"My lord, I have seen what a battlefield looks like."

When did you experience this?

“I followed my father to Huguang to quell the rebellion. At that time, I was a staff officer in the army, doing map surveying,” Zhang Huai’an replied.

Lu Yunyi nodded and said:

Seeing something doesn't mean you've experienced it.
On the actual battlefield, those who can move freely even with empty heads are the elite.
If one can still maintain rational thinking, then that's an officer; merely observing doesn't equate to having experienced it.

Lu Yunyi put down the cloth in his hand, went to the side to pour himself a cup of tea, and asked:

How does it feel to be on the battlefield?

Zhang Huai'an looked thoughtful, and after a long while, he shook his head:

"My lord, to tell you the truth, I didn't feel anything."
I just felt the rebels were too weak.

And
Even their own soldiers were somewhat foolish.

Lu Yunyi simply smiled at this:
"Don't you feel that there are clearly better options and directions for attacking?"
The soldiers, however, simply couldn't see it.

"So, they'll just fight head-on in that heavily guarded area?"

Zhang Huai'an's eyes widened slightly, and he nodded repeatedly:

"That's what it feels like."

"Those involved are often confused, while bystanders see things clearly."

From the outside, you're seeing the entire battlefield.

When you find yourself on the battlefield, all you see is hacking and slashing, and bloodshed.

There were also severed limbs and broken arms, and enemy and friendly soldiers lying on the ground, howling in agony.

"This is my first time personally fighting on the battlefield."

There's only one feeling: it's noisy, way too noisy.

They couldn't even hear what was being said, so they could only drift along with the current.

They clung tightly to their comrades, hoping for some assistance in the face of the enemy.

Lu Yunyi spoke and laughed, then suddenly remembered something:
"By the way, the enemy we faced that time wasn't even the regular army of the Northern Yuan."
Instead, they were bandits driven to Qingzhou by the Northern Yuan, and we were ordered to attack them.

Before this, I also longed to go to the battlefield and kill the enemy.
He imagined himself as a great general, strategizing and commanding.
But ever since then, I've felt that I should avoid going to the battlefield if possible; it's not a good place.

After all, in the torrent of war, you cannot control your own destiny.
They could only drift along, never knowing when they might be shot dead by an arrow.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Huai'an looked surprised and sized up Lu Yunyi.

He greatly admired the man before him, even setting aside his past glorious achievements.

The numerous arrangements made after arriving in Daning City left him speechless.

There were clerks in the military who specifically explained the original intention and purpose of the orders to these officers.

Since arriving in Daning City, everything has proceeded smoothly.
Almost nothing went wrong.
As expected, everything is moving in a positive direction.

Zhang Huai'an was not a complacent person.
He knew that if he were to handle this matter, he would be completely lost.

Yet this man, who is so skilled in strategizing, actually said he didn't want to go to the battlefield?

Absolutely ridiculous!
If he had that kind of ability, he'd be fighting every day!

"My lord, is the battlefield really that terrifying?"

Zhang Huai'an thought of his father, who had said the same thing.

"You've never been on the battlefield, so I can't explain it to you in detail."

"Are all the soldiers under your command who want to go to war new recruits? What about the veterans?" Lu Yunyi asked with a smile.

Zhang Huai'an looked thoughtful.

I recalled the silent demeanor of those veterans during our usual conversations.
Then he said:
"The lord is right, those who want to go to war are all new recruits."
The old soldier hardly spoke.

"The veteran has been through the battlefield; he knows it's not a good place."
Only you guys are fearless.

Zhang Huai'an's expression changed repeatedly.
After much thought, I still want to go out and fight a war.

The other day, we dealt with the elite troops of the Doyan tribe with no effort whatsoever.

"My lord, the enemy army has arrived in Daning."

I just want to ride across the grasslands and defend the country's borders.
"Now that there's no war to fight, watching those grassland people act so arrogantly is incredibly frustrating," Zhang Huai'an said.

Lu Yunyi picked up his teacup, returned to his desk, and sat down, beginning to search through the documents.

Soon, a light blue document was handed over:

"Look, the Baisong tribe is located five hundred li to the north."
Even if you enter the grassland from Qingzhou, you still have to travel at least two hundred miles.

Its troops numbered over ten thousand, with more than three thousand able-bodied men, and it also possessed a considerable number of warhorses.
They were the newly relocated people after the collapse of the Northern Yuan dynasty.

He had connections with some powerful figures in Daning and should have possessed a considerable amount of ironware.

In your estimation, how many troops would be needed to annihilate such a tribe?

"This"

Zhang Huai'an looked at the densely packed numbers on the document.
For a moment I felt dizzy and my head felt as big as a bucket.

"No rush. Take the documents back and read them slowly, then make your battle plan."

From the overall planning of food supplies to the transportation of grain, military training, troop deployment, combat, and post-war recovery, all of these require contingency plans.

After it's done, hand it over to Black Hawk for inspection.

Once a complete and mature battle plan is developed...

"You should send troops to see what a real battlefield is like."

Lu Yunyi sighed with some emotion:

"Your father entrusted you to me not to become an ordinary general who charges into battle."
You must be a commander, a general.

A general must be thoroughly familiar with all military affairs from top to bottom.

It would be too boring and tedious to ask you to memorize and recite.
It would be better to personally lead a battle; that would be more thorough.

Oh, and call Han Junyan, Cao Kai, and Wang Ding—all your friends from Beijing—over.
Let's study it together; many hands make light work.

Zhang Huai'an looked at the document in his hand.

I felt like I was carrying a huge mountain on my back, and a strong sense of pressure washed over me!

He wasn't afraid of fighting; rather, his mind was blank, and he didn't know where to begin.

His lips were dry, and his voice was a little hoarse.

"My lord, may I ask where this humble servant should begin?"

"Acquire it?" Lu Yunyi was stunned for a moment, then suddenly laughed:

"Look, you haven't even figured out how to crawl yet, and you're already trying to run. That won't work."

Zhang Huai'an blushed.
While passion can certainly fuel one's drive, it also provides a powerful foundation for action.

However, when faced with specific problems, mere enthusiasm is not enough.

"So, the last time we faced the three guards of Duoyan, it was Wu Fulu and Zhang Yu who organized the operation."
All the documents are stored in the accounting department; you can retrieve them.

Let's start by looking at how food and supplies are procured, and begin to study it.
Even copying verbatim always provides some direction.

"Yes!"

Zhang Huai'an's face lit up with joy.
In his view, having documents to copy makes formulating strategies easier.

Seeing his ambitious expression, Lu Yunyi nodded in satisfaction:

"Motivation is good, but I must remind you..."

When setting initial strategies and goals, don't aim too far ahead.

They were able to defeat an enemy force several times their size with only four thousand soldiers.

You absolutely cannot do that.

Your goal is to crush Bai Song's three thousand able-bodied men with twice the troops. Once you come up with a strategy that satisfies Black Hawk, you'll be considered to have mastered the basics.

"Yes!"

Despite saying that, Zhang Huai'an was still somewhat unconvinced.
I've decided that once I get back, I'll study this thoroughly and come up with a strategy that will amaze everyone!

"Alright, go back and study it. Don't cause any trouble for the Commander-in-Chief these days."

"Yes, my subordinates are resigning!"

As soon as Zhang Huai'an left the yamen, he saw Han Junyan rushing up.

He was the son of Han Xun, the Marquis of Dongping.

Now serving as a centurion in the army, he also participated in the ambush at the granary.
Now, they are also eager to kill the enemy and make meritorious contributions.

"Well? Did the master agree?" Han Junyan asked eagerly.

Zhang Huai'an clenched his fist:
"Do you know the Baisong tribe in the north of the city? It's a newly arrived tribe of ten thousand people."

Han Junyan shook his head: "I don't know."

Zhang Huai'an's initial enthusiasm and excitement vanished in an instant, and he let out a heavy sigh:
"The adults asked us to devise a strategy."

Once we have a strategy that satisfies General Liu, we can then send troops.

"Shall we formulate a strategy?"

Han Junyan froze on the spot, then suddenly felt a surge of joy, trembling with excitement:

"really?"

As a son of a noble family, he knew all too well what this meant.
—Key training! Key development! Major foreign war plans are usually jointly formulated by the several commanders and military officers of the Five Military Commissions.
Even small battles, such as suppressing rebellions, require the participation of the commander-in-chief and other officers of the garrisons.

Now, they can participate with a thousand households or a hundred households.

These honors made Han Junyan feel that coming to Da Ning was the right decision.

Father's judgment was right; Lord Lu is truly generous with his knowledge.

"Alright, come with me to get the documents."

The magistrate instructed us to formulate a plan based on the strategies employed by Lord Wu and Lord Zhang last time.

That time, it only took 4,000 soldiers to defeat the front-line camp of nearly 20,000 men of the Doyan Three Guards.
"We can't lose face either," Zhang Huai'an said.

"Let's go, let's go!" Han Junyan was also very excited.

Soon, the two arrived at the Bureau of Experiences of the Capital Command.

The Experience Department is located next to the cafeteria, near the back door.

It occupies the largest building complex within the entire military headquarters.
However, the office space was very cramped, consisting of only one room.
The remaining supplies were used to store documents exchanged daily.

You could see the clerks struggling to move around carrying documents taller than their heads.

There is more than one such person.

Upon arriving here, they immediately felt a strong sense of suffocation.

Before long, Zhang Huai'an met Wu Su'an, whose face had several ink spots.

The official's hair was disheveled at the moment, and he was completely buried in documents.
Zhang Huai'an had to stand on tiptoe to see his head through the document.

"Lord Wu, Lord Wu," Zhang Huai'an called softly.

Wu Su'an's thoughts were interrupted, a hint of impatience flashed in her eyes, and she abruptly raised her head.

But upon seeing Zhang Huai'an clad in armor, they were immediately stunned:
"Lord Zhang? What brings you here?"

Zhang Huai'an quickly explained his purpose.
Wu Su'an nodded in understanding, then scanned the small room and quickly spotted a clerk:
"Gao Jing, come here for a moment and take Lord Zhang to find the documents from last year's battle between the Front Army Scout Division and the three Doyan tribes."

Gao Jing is a young man in his twenties.
Having just put down a stack of documents, I heard an adult calling me and quickly answered:
"Yes, my lord."

Wu Su'an looked at Zhang Huai'an with some apology:
"Lord Zhang, I still have some documents to process. I would be grateful if you could go with him to retrieve them."

"Okay, you're busy."

Zhang Huai'an looked at the young man named Gao Jing and shook his head:
"Let's go."

Stepping outside, Gao Jing looked at the empty courtyard and asked:

"Sir, where is your car?"

"A car? What car?" Zhang Huai'an was full of questions.

Gao Jing smiled and said:
"It's like this, Lord Zhang, there were over three hundred volumes of war documents from last year."
It includes the allocation of provisions and post-disaster handling.
"You two can't carry this away; you'll need a handcart."

"How many??"

Zhang Huai'an stood there blankly for a moment, then leaned forward, his head filled with confusion.

"Lord Zhang, one bookshelf can hold three hundred books."

"And that war wouldn't be enough for one bookshelf; there should be around 340 books on it," Gao Jing explained.

"so much?"

Zhang Huai'an's voice suddenly rose in pitch.

This attracted a lot of attention, and Han Junyan, who was standing to the side, was stunned.

Before long, the two of them pulled the handcart.
In the document storage room, I saw bookshelves taller than a person.
I also saw that it was filled with documents.
Gao Jing carefully checked the booklet, and finally nodded:
"Lord Zhang, that's it, it's this very bookcase in front of you."

Zhang Huai'an finally understood why his father's hair was falling out in clumps when he was formulating military strategies.
So many documents,

Just looking at him makes me not want to fight.

The same applies to Han Junyan.
Zhang Huai'an casually picked up a book, gently flipped through it, and looked at the events recorded inside:

On the fifteenth day of the first month of winter in the twenty-first year of Hongwu (1380), there were 523 garrison soldiers in this camp.
Two and a half bushels of rice were cooked, accompanied by twenty catties of cured meat and ten baskets of vegetables. After three meals, three bushels of millet remained, half of the cured meat was left, and the vegetables were all gone.

The five earthenware pots, three wooden steamers, and twenty iron ladles used were all washed and cleaned and stored in the kitchen.

The soldiers on duty inspected the items in shifts and found no damage or missing parts. This photo is hereby taken for record-keeping.
Zhang Huai'an took out another book and casually flipped through it:

[On the 23rd day of the 7th month of the 21st year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty, at the hour of Mao (5-7 AM)]

Twelve elite scouts were dispatched, divided into three teams, each carrying thirty feathered arrows, one scimitar, five fire starters, and three days' worth of dried food. They rode strong horses out of the camp to investigate the strength and weakness of the Liao King's forces.

The first team traveled eastward along the old course of the Laoha River, reaching the territory of Kharachin.
They saw more than twenty cavalrymen from the Liao King's army, grazing their livestock by following the water and grass, with a herd of about three hundred horses, stationed on the southern slope of the pine forest.

The second team took the route through the Qilaotu Mountain Pass, inspecting three outposts along the way.
Three out of ten garrison soldiers carried iron guns, and each post was ten li apart, using smoke signals as a warning.

The last group headed north towards Nuluerhu Mountain, where they encountered woodcutters and laborers. They learned that the Liao King's tent was located eighty li north of the Huang River, with tents stretching as far as the eye could see and banners covering the fields. However, provisions were stored west of the Black Pine Forest, surrounded by deer antlers, and guarded by about a hundred soldiers.

The troops returned to camp at the end of the You hour (5-7 PM) and drew three maps, detailing the terrain, camp locations, and troop deployments.

The facts obtained are hereby respectfully presented to Lord Zhang Yu for his perusal.
"Gudu."

Zhang Huai'an looked at the document, a bead of cold sweat dripping from his forehead.

This seems different from the military reports and documents I saw in the capital.

Documents from my time in Beijing always stated that a small group of enemy troops was discovered and attacked in a certain place in a certain month of a certain year!
The enemy reinforcements arrived, and our army decisively defeated them!

It has always been simple and clear, but right now,
The three-day operation of the twelve people was several pages long.

Those four thousand people
Zhang Huai'an felt a wave of dizziness.

At this moment, Gao Jing reminded him:

"Lord Zhang, the clerks here have all been sorted."

If you take anything from it, please put it back immediately, otherwise the order of the documents will be incorrect.

Zhang Huai'an nodded in realization, having already accepted the assignment.
He glanced at Han Junyan, who was equally stunned, and tossed his head:

"Pull the cart, move it!"

Time passed, and nearly an hour had gone by.
The two then moved the documents to a specially vacated office room.

Looking at the documents that took up the entire desk,

Despite the cold December weather, both of them felt extremely irritable.

Han Junyan spoke up:

"We don't need to look at all these documents, do we?"
I doubt adults will read everything; they should just look at the final summary.

Zhang Huai'an wasn't sure whether Shangguan would look at everything or wait for an opportunity, so he looked at Han Junyan and said:
"Have Wang Ding and the others organize it. I'll go ask General Liu if we need this stuff or not."

"Okay," Han Junyan said.

Zhang Huai'an walked quickly,

Soon they found Liu Heiying, who was also buried among the documents, in the right wing of the back hall.

Seeing his expression, Zhang Huai'an slowed his pace slightly, swallowed hard, and felt that he had some answers in his heart.

"General Liu, I have something to ask you," Zhang Huai'an said.

"what's up?"

Liu Heiying didn't even look up, writing and talking at the same time, his pen flying across the page.

Zhang Huai'an quickly recounted what had happened.
Liu Heiying stopped writing, looked up, and stared at him with some surprise:
"You're going to formulate a battle strategy?"

Zhang Huai'an scratched his head sheepishly:

"General, we're just idling around anyway."

"Yeah, it's good to find something to do; it helps with growth."

Liu Heiying also strongly agreed with this way of dealing with them, and then said:

"As for whether or not to watch them all, the answer is definitely yes, we should watch them."

Among these details, the movements of scouts, the remaining supplies in the army, the food and provisions for the soldiers, and the consumption and maintenance of weapons and equipment must all be firmly remembered, as these are crucial to the outcome of the battle.

"Remember?" Zhang Huai'an looked puzzled.

"Yes, just remember."

On the battlefield, opportunities to engage the enemy are fleeting.
Even with telescopes and loudspeakers, which accelerate communication,
The commander must also react as quickly as possible.

"If you had the time to look up the documents, we wouldn't have had to fight this war," Liu Heiying explained.

"Huh?" Zhang Huai'an stammered.

"Sir, should we also record what the soldiers eat and use?"

Liu Heiying frowned slightly:
"Of course, not only do people's conditions fluctuate, but horses' conditions also fluctuate."

If there isn't enough food, it means the soldiers have expended a great deal of energy, having fought desperately on the battlefield.

If a lot of food is left uneaten, it means that the soldiers have health problems or low morale.

The two have vastly different combat capabilities on the battlefield.

If weakened soldiers are placed on the most intense battlefield, there's no way they can win.

In military campaigns, battlefield strategy is certainly important.
But once the war begins, troop deployment and on-the-spot performance become even more important.

If the right people are chosen, a battle that would otherwise be unwinnable can be won.
If the arrangements are wrong, a battle that could have been won can be lost.

In short, everything recorded in detail in the documents,
"If you memorize it all, you can't go wrong. Any more questions?"

Zhang Huai'an pursed his lips, sweating profusely, and quickly said:

"Sir, I don't think my father fights like this."

Liu Heiying stopped writing, his expression somewhat puzzled. After careful thought, he said:
"Each generation has its own way of playing."

In the past, everyone was starving and dead; human life was worthless, and even after someone died, countless others would flock to their grave.

But right now, there are only so many military households, and most of them are still farmers.

A defeat kills some elite troops, a victory kills even more elite troops.
The more battles are fought, the more new recruits are added, and the weaker the army becomes.

Therefore, careful planning and thrift are the battles our generation should be fighting.
Cherish every soldier's life.

Even warfare must evolve with the times; we must always strive to surpass our predecessors.

Zhang Huai'an's eyes widened in excitement at what he said!

"Yes, sir! This subordinate will definitely study hard and surpass my father!"

(End of this chapter)