With Deng Gui, Wang Bing, Lu Xiong and others around, Xu Huai didn't need to worry about trivial matters. After eating and drinking, he went straight to sleep in the backyard of the butcher shop. When he woke up the next day, he saw Yin Peng and his men practicing formation in the small yard. There were twice as many young and strong men as the dozen hooligans yesterday.
In addition, Tang Pan, a senior official of the Inspection Office, was wearing armor and carrying a bow and sword. He was standing in the yard with a young man, as if waiting for him.
Tang Pan is a rare expert among the younger generation of the Tang clan. He is usually arrogant in the military camp and even Xu Xin'an is not taken seriously by him.
However, Xu Huai just disliked the Tang family, so he glanced at Tang Pan and the young man, took a wooden bucket to fetch a bucket of water from the well in the corner of the yard, and stood in front of the porch to pour water on his head and wash his face.
Tian Yanyan brought breakfast on a wooden plate and passed by Tang Pan, but deliberately lowered her head and didn't look at him.
Xu Huai thought, he hasn't even talked to Xu Xin'an about promising Tian Yanyan to him, but Xu Xin'an's head is already green?
Seeing that the tray brought by Tian Yanyan contained only a wheat cake and a bowl of porridge, Xu Huai frowned and asked, "You want to order right now?"
"Medical books say that if you feel tired in the morning, it's better to eat light breakfast!" Tian Yanyan said aggrievedly.
"Qingdan, you bastard! What kind of shitty medical book are you reading? You guys get up and pluck the strings of the zither for nothing, sit by the window with a tattered book in your arms and think about seducing men, look disgusted, and can die after eating half a wheat cake. Am I the same as you? Go and get two more wheat cakes and some cold braised meat!" Xu Huai shouted in dissatisfaction, "I don't need to marry a wife, so why don't you spend the reward money on eating and drinking?"
"Master Xu, why can't you be gentler to the young lady?" Zhu Ruffian came over to say, "Miss Yanyan is as fresh and tender as if she were squeezed out of water and powder. Others would be afraid that she would melt in their hands. But you are so good as to send her to do such rough work..."
"Tian Yanyan's ransom is worth 500 strings of cash. If you, my grandson, can get 30 heads of criminals in battle, you can buy her back and feel sorry for her. Who cares how I scold her?" Xu Huai laughed, "How about you rascals, gather together 30 heads of criminals and ransom Tian Yanyan for fun?"
"Haha, what a great idea!" The ruffians laughed and discussed going into battle to collect enough heads to redeem Tian Yanyan, and then taking turns to serve each of them for two days, which would be an absolute heavenly enjoyment.
When these rascals talked about this, their expressions were extremely vulgar, and they looked at Tian Yanyan with unscrupulous eyes.
In front of this group of ruffians, Wang Xuan went back to the military camp and had not come over yet. Tian Yanyan could only take the porridge and cakes back to the kitchen with tears in her eyes to prepare breakfast for Xu Huai again.
…
…
Seeing that Xu Huai ignored them and treated Tian Yanyan so rudely, Tang Pan gritted his teeth. After a long while, he and the young man came over and said with a dark face: "Mr. Deng ordered me and my brother to lead people to follow Master Xu to the market to fight against the bandits today..."
"Are you Zhonghe, the one whose whole family died and who was afraid of death, so he crawled out of a dog hole?" Xu Huai was sitting on the steps, looked up and saw that the young man was handsome, and asked in a muffled voice.
"I have never been afraid of death. I will keep my life to avenge the Zhong family!" Zhong He said with gritted teeth, veins on his forehead twitching.
"It's no use saying these harsh words to me. When we go out to the market later, you can fight your own games and just don't get in our way." Xu Huaihun said generously.
The fact that Tang Pan and Zhong He dared to stand up today shows that there are still brave men among the big clans and the soldiers in the military camp, which is a good thing; Deng Gui asked them to go out and fight, probably because he wanted to sharpen the fighting spirit of the soldiers in the military camp.
However, Pan Chenghu's troops crossed the Baijian River yesterday afternoon, which was faster than he expected. It can be concluded that this was a timely adjustment made by Zheng Hui based on the changes in the situation in Huaiyuan .
In this case, the fact that he took people out to the streets to provoke twice yesterday evening and night must have been noticed by Zheng Hui.
It is unlikely that Zheng Hui would allow him to use this method comfortably to gradually improve the morale and resistance will of the Huaiyuan military and civilians; nor would he tolerate him using this method to continuously gain experience with so many ruffians.
Even if Pan Chenghu doesn't want to fight today, Zheng Hui will find a way to force him to do so.
Xu Huai had no plan to leave the market too far today. He wanted to walk to about four or five hundred steps to the east of the market and let the ruffians start cursing at the top of their lungs. This way, if he saw that the situation was not right, it would be convenient for him to escape back to the market.
If Tang Pan and Zhonghe could follow his lead and obey his orders, Xu Huai would not mind taking them out. But when these two grandsons came to talk to him, they were so angry that Xu Huai could guess with just his toes that if they really went out to the market, these two grandsons would definitely have a quarrel with him.
On the battlefield, things change rapidly and any hesitation will lead to disastrous consequences. How dare Xu Huai take them out to play?
His courage and spirit are commendable, but Xu Huai will not take on things that he cannot take care of.
Seeing Xu Huai's look of disgust, and actually thinking that they were in the way, the arrogant Tang Pan and Zhonghe, who had family hatred and clan feuds, almost got so angry that their noses became crooked.
They were unwilling to speak soft words to the fool in front of them, so they went out to find Deng Gui, intending to lead the army alone to test the blades of the bandits instead of joining forces with these rogues.
After Xu Huai had eaten and drunk his fill, he rode his horse with Yin Peng, Zhao Tu, Chen Gui and others to the east end of the street. From afar, he saw Tang Pan and Zhong He, each with more than 20 people, gathering at the east end of the street, preparing to go out.
On the slope east of the market, several teams of thieves were approaching, spying on what was happening in the market.
Xu Huai sat on the horse, pulled the reins and stopped in front of the barricades that blocked the main street. Deng Gui, Wang Bin and Lu Xiong were all standing here, looking out with frowns on their faces.
The number of bandits coming from Yingzizui did not increase, but whether it was the horses they rode, the swords and bows they carried, or the armor they wore, it was obvious that they were not the same group of new bandits who appeared yesterday.
The bandit army has already controlled several important locations outside Huaiyuan, such as Tiaohutan and Yingzizui. They worked overnight to replace the new bandits with fierce bandits. It would be difficult for them to detect it in advance. There might even be more bandits lying in ambush in the dense forests in the valleys, such as Yingzizui and Tiaohutan, which are beyond their sight.
However, Deng Gui, Wang Bing, Lu Xiong and others have sharp eyes, how could they not notice anything unusual?
Deng Gui, Wang Bing and Lu Xiong stopped Tang Pan's and Zhong He's troops. They were standing in front of the barricades to discuss something. Xu Huai rode his horse over to listen to their discussion. They were worried that if they went out to the street to engage with the enemy army as originally planned, it would probably be difficult to control casualties. And if they stayed in the street today and didn't go out to engage with the enemy army to continue to boost morale, they were worried that the morale that had been so hard to boost would be lost again.
Xu Huai could see that Wang Bin and Lu Xiong were also very hesitant. They knew that the enemy army had evil intentions, so it would be wrong for them to step into the trap or not.
Xu Huai placed the heavy Guan Yue bow across the front of the saddle and tapped it rhythmically.
"We still have to fight!" After receiving Xu Huai's hint, Lu Xiong said in a deep voice, "If we show weakness, the enemy will approach us, and we won't have time to create more obstacles along the edge of the street to restrict the enemy's entry and exit. However, there are certain rules for how to fight, come here and listen..."
"Yin Peng, you and Zheng Tu go over and listen." Xu Huai lazily pulled the reins and asked Yin Peng and Zheng Tu to go over and listen to Lu Xiong's specific tactical arrangements for today's battle.
Not to mention Wang Bing and Deng Gui, even Lu Xiong impressed Tang Pan and Zhong He. They certainly couldn't stand Xu Huai's rudeness and arrogance, but they had no achievements to criticize him, so they could only walk up to Lu Xiong and listen to him explain the specific arrangements.
"I used to be an old soldier of the Western Army. I believe many people know me. When I was in Huaiyuan, I often heard people talking about the Western Army and praising its bravery. However, few people mentioned the details of the Western Army's battles against the Dangxiang people in Jingyuan and other places. I will tell you about it today..." Lu Xiong looked around and explained the specific combat arrangements on behalf of Wang Bing and Deng Gui. He was better at details than Wang Bing and Deng Gui.
In order to defend against the Dangxiang people, Dai Viet stationed tens of thousands of imperial troops in Jingyuan and other places in Hexi, but they lacked good horses. The Western Army was mainly composed of infantry. Facing the Dangxiang people whose cavalry had an absolute advantage, the Western Army was strategically unable to conduct long-distance roundabout and mobile operations.
For nearly a hundred years, the Western Army had been fighting against the Dangxiang people by adopting the method of building forts and shallow attacks, expanding its territory little by little.
The situation they faced in Huaiyuan at this time was similar to the combat situation of the Western Army defending against the Dangxiang people. Trying to engage in a long-distance roundabout operation would undoubtedly be a humiliation to themselves.
Lu Xiong said all this because he was afraid that Tang Pan and Zhong He were young and hot-tempered, and if they went out of the street to come into contact with the bandits, it would be difficult for them to control their emotions, and they would be easily lured into an ambush deep within the enemy's territory by the bandits.
Deng Gui would gather three to five teams of soldiers in the street to prepare for reinforcements, but without cavalry, the distance for reinforcements was limited, and he also had to consider being able to withdraw to the street in time when the enemy troops swarmed in.
Therefore, when Xu Huai and his team go out to carry out the shallow attack tactics, the maximum distance of contact combat needs to be determined in advance.
The ruffians, the indignant young men, and the remnants of the Zhong family's army that Zhong He had assembled to fight had very weak ability to form a battle formation in the field, so Lu Xiong arranged these two teams to advance eastward along the horse trail, keeping a distance of about 200 to 300 steps between them, to ensure that when the enemy cavalry came over, they could form a battle formation in the shortest time possible to resist the impact.
The enemy cavalry usually would not directly attack the spear formation from the front, but would look for opportunities from the flanks, or shoot with bows and crossbows. As a result, Tang Pan led the patrol soldiers with more complete armor and better training to advance eastward on the rugged slope on the flank. The three teams of people always maintained a V-shaped formation to support each other.
In particular, the Wuzu team led by Tang Pan needed to move between the two wings of the horse trail and deal with the enemy cavalry's flanking maneuvers on different flanks, which was quite complicated and difficult.
The core of all this is to ensure that Xu Huai can come and go independently and seize opportunities.
Xu Huai's position was originally responsible for patrol duties, but now he became the core of the entire tactical arrangement. Seeing that Tang Pan was dissatisfied with Lu Xiong's arrangement, Xu Huai laughed and said:
"Zheng the butcher said that you were looking at Tian Yanyan's little breasts just now, and Tian Yanyan looked at you with eyes full of tears, so there must be an affair, and he asked me to keep a close eye on you. Do you think Zheng the butcher is talking nonsense, or do you really have intentions towards Tian Yanyan?"
Butcher Zheng helped Xu Huai lead the horse and whispered, "How can I have it?"
"Nonsense." Tang Pan is a rising star of the Tang family and is mature and steady in the military camp, but when Xu Huai revealed the truth, he could only deny it in panic.
"Well, I don't care whether Zheng Tu is talking nonsense or not. Let's do this. Find someone to lead the team for you, and you go to hunt the bandits independently. If you can hunt more bandit heads than me today, Tian Yanyan will let you sleep for a night for free!"
"You! I won't allow you to treat Tian Yanyan like this. Wait till I give her thirty heads of thieves in exchange!" Tang Panjun's face turned pale with anger, and he gritted his teeth and shouted, "Tang Xia, Tang Qing, you lead the team. Do you remember what Master Lu said just now?"