Tiger Guards

Chapter 139 Northern Expedition
The fourth day of the first lunar month is the Wuxu day.

At the fourth watch, the north gate of Anyi opened.

The emperor's carriage slowly drove out, led by more than 200 Yulin knights, followed by a team of more than 300 mounted officials.

After that, there were 500 guards in the palace, and 200 people were left in Anyi to protect the queen.

Whether or not to bring the queen, imperial concubine and others with him to the battle was something that needed to be discussed repeatedly.

The people of Hedong were also afraid that after taking the empress, the emperor and the court would turn around and go from Beijiang to Henei via the Chenguanxing Pass.

But without the queen, Zhao Ji was worried that he would not be able to deceive the Huns.

It is more important to stabilize the morale of the people in Hedong than to deceive and instigate the Huns to cross the river to rob.

In this way, Fu Wan also followed the emperor's carriage to the north, Fu Shou and the concubines Dong and Zhao, and the beauty Song stayed in the Anyi Palace, and Fu De continued to lead 500 people to guard the treasury.

The emperor's carriage and a thousand infantry and cavalry left the city, leaving only more than two thousand Tiger Infantry soldiers selected by Zhao Ji in the city, plus a few hundred people stationed in the Beiguo military camp. Together, the actual number of various defenders in Anyi was nearly four thousand.

There were 5,000 Tiger Infantry soldiers going on the expedition, and one Tiger Infantry Hundred-Man Team required three Tiger Guards to serve as team officers and hundred-man supervisors.

The eight thousand Tiger Infantry took away two hundred and forty Tiger Guards.

Of the original 800 Tiger Guards, the imperial court gradually withdrew more than 100 of them. Therefore, when filling these vacancies, Zhao Ji always gave priority to those with strong physical strength.

Beijiang and Nanjiang took away some more Huben Lang. Now Zhao Ji only had 500 Huben knights, 300 of whom had participated in actual combat and were equipped with better horses and better armor, forming a medium-level armored knight.

This is a complete cavalry, the only iron fist force in the Northern Expedition.

The remaining 200 Tiger Guards were converted into heavy chariot soldiers. They wore heavy armor and sat on chariots during the march to deal with emergencies.

Once on the battlefield, they will also be an important assault force.

When moving short distances, these 200 heavily armored Tiger Guards can ride in carriages or on horseback.

Besides the five thousand Tiger Steps and five hundred Tiger Guards, the only ones left were Qu Bei's five hundred Xiongnu Knights and Xu Huang's eight hundred Hedong Knights.

There was no oath-taking ceremony. The emperor's carriage slowly advanced along the road, with troops from various teams standing on both sides of the road waiting to be inspected.

Zhao Ji didn't care how Xu Huang and Qu Bei commanded the army. His Tiger Infantry Army did not have middle or high-level military officers, and he directly managed the hundred-man team level.

The fifty Tiger Infantry teams participating in the Northern Expedition were equipped with five-color flags and divided into five-color thousand-man teams.

Internally, the ratio of combat soldiers to auxiliary soldiers is 70:30. Combat soldiers wear pure five-color flags and shawls, while auxiliary soldiers use mixed colors to distinguish the combat teams.

Each centurion's flag was embroidered with simple geometric patterns. Originally, the different teams in the army had animal patterns embroidered on their flags to distinguish them.

More advanced troops will use star-shaped flags to distinguish themselves internally. Only after years of daily interaction can one understand and identify these star-shaped flags.

Zhao Ji thought that animal patterns were too complicated, so he embroidered geometric patterns instead.

Even an embroidered hoe is easier to identify than animal patterns.

The emperor's carriage moved slowly. Liu Xie was wearing gilded armor and a golden helmet. He turned his head to look at the infantry formation on the left, and then turned sideways to look at the infantry formation on the right.

Before the carriage, Guanqiu Yi, leading two hundred Yulin knights, also reined in their horses and slowed down their pace.

He had fought many bad battles in his life, and was also amazed by Zhao Ji and Xu Huang's ability to train troops.

Regardless of whether they can fight or not, judging from the military appearance at this moment, they are completely different from the Li Guo army and the Hedong County soldiers.

Without middle and high-level military officers to serve as opinion leaders for the soldiers, Zhao Ji himself was the leader and representative of the soldiers' will.

A team of 100 people has unified standards, the products on the assembly line are the same, the required materials are basically fixed, and logistics are easy to calculate.

The advantage of a modular army is that it is easy to calculate financial and food expenditures, and it is also convenient to disassemble and reassemble.

This should be the way it should be for Zhao Ji. In all the tactical simulation games he has played, the armies are modular.

Even if the upper limit of modular military construction is not high, the lower limit is not too low either. The highlight is stability.

Zhao Ji watched the emperor's carriage approaching slowly, so he stood in the middle of the road in the dark of the moon, with the carriages of the ministers on his side.

There were five platforms in total. There were no protective guards or carriages, just a green umbrella. The nobles wore crowns and brocade robes and sat upright in the carriages.

Their hair and beards were meticulously groomed, and their rough, unwashed hands were tucked into their sleeves, folded in front of them. Yang Biao looked at the vast procession of the emperor's carriages, then at the large armies of infantry and cavalry stationed on both sides of the road, and for a moment, he felt a mixture of emotions.

It was not just the ministers. Among the 300 eunuchs following the emperor's carriage, some were excited, some were worried, and some were regretful.

More than a hundred of them were from the Tiger Guards and were selected by the court to be palace officials. If they really wanted to leave and return to Zhao Ji's army, Zhao Ji would help them to be seconded back.

Therefore, these Huben officials were considered to have left the Huben system, and many of them even took off their armbands.

Most of the palace guards were sons of powerful families recommended to the court by Zhao Ji from the Tiger Step Army, and they gladly accepted them at the time.

The purpose of joining the army is to make achievements and be promoted to a higher rank; directly becoming a Langguan naturally saves time and risk.

Their departure made the various units in the army lose their connection, making it easier for Zhao Ji and Xu Huang to train them.

Seeing the emperor's carriage approaching slowly, Zhao Ji lightly kicked Yuelihei, pulled the reins to make way, and watched Guanqiu Yi lead the Yulin knights onto the Sushui wooden bridge.

When the emperor's carriage pulled by six horses passed by, Liu Xie looked at Zhao Ji and nodded slightly to him.

Zhao Ji also responded with a polite smile and watched the carriage slowly move on the wooden bridge.

There were officials who acted as horse servants, pulling the reins and controlling the carriage to pass slowly and steadily across the wooden bridge.

After them came the three hundred officials. Most of them did not dare to look at Zhao Ji. Some lowered their heads, some looked straight ahead, and some held their heads high and chests puffed out.

Zhao Ji carefully observed the team of Langguans and couldn't help but smile after confirming that there was no decent or successful young leader among them.

Next came the five hundred guards led by the palace guard Ling Shanghong. They were selected from the county soldiers with priority, but their equipment was similar to that of the Tiger Infantry and they had higher morale.

However, when they walked from the north gate of Anyi to here, the five centuries consisting of 500 guards became longer and longer, and the marching column became thinner.

Shang Hong rode his horse, his eyes fixed on the emperor's flag in front of him, as if he didn't notice Zhao Ji standing beside him.

After these five hundred people passed the Sushui Bridge, Zhao Ji looked at Xu Huang standing on the opposite side of the road, raised his right arm high, and pointed to the wooden bridge on the right.

Xu Huang rode out to the roadside and waved his spear. The first team of Hedong knights stepped out and turned around, followed by the second and third teams. Then Xu Huang himself followed the fourth team, and the remaining teams followed in an orderly manner, forming a large marching column and crossing the Sushui Bridge.

After crossing the bridge, Xu Huang had already ridden his horse to the front of the team, leading the entire Hedong knights to accelerate on the left side of the road, overtaking the emperor's carriage team and becoming the vanguard.

After the Hedong Knights came the Red Team and the Green Team Tiger Infantry, and after them came the five hundred Xiongnu volunteers.

Behind them were the Yellow Team and the White Team Tiger Infantry, with Zhao Ji leading the chariots of the nobles, the Tiger Knights, and the Tiger Charioteers.

The Black Team Tiger Infantry were the rearguard and the last vestiges of the battle. As they crossed the Sushui Bridge, the Anyi city gate slowly closed.

Zhao Yan returned by carriage, and a minor official also took the head of the high-ranking envoy Guo Yuan from the city gate and sent it to the official residence according to Zhao Ji's previous instructions.

Zhong Yao was lying on the couch. He had been in a very bad mood these past few days and no one came to help him clean up. The house was filled with a foul smell.

Even though he was almost recovered, Zhong Yao could no longer cry out and had no physical reaction when he saw his nephew's head rotting and pecked by crows.

He just lay there quietly, holding his nephew's head in his hands, speechless.

Maybe Zhao Ji could keep him and make fun of him.

However, Zhao Yan, who had served the country for 35 years, was accustomed to the coups in the Han Dynasty. Since Guo Yuan was killed, Zhong Yao was basically sentenced to death.

Because of this, no one dared to take care of Zhong Yao's hygiene during this period.

The sound of footsteps gradually came, and Zhong Yao looked at the door calmly.

Gao Chong stood at the door and couldn't help but raise his hand to cover his nose, turning his head to look at the accompanying warriors.

Several people immediately stepped forward, two of them controlled Zhong Yao, and another covered his mouth and nose.

After a while, Gao Chong stepped forward and touched Zhong Yao's broken leg. Not satisfied, he reached out and pressed his hand under Zhong Yao's neck.

After confirming that everything was alright, he turned and quickly walked out of the house. He breathed a sigh of relief before saying, "Zhong Yao was deeply saddened when he saw the head of his nephew Guo Yuan, and died of grief."

"Here."

The head of the official post station bowed deeply in response, and the two clerks also bowed deeply.

(End of this chapter)