After a brief discussion with Wang Bing, Deng Gui decided to set up the township camp, appointing Xu Huai as the commander-in-chief, Jin Longquan as the inspector on behalf of the patrol office, and Tang Pan, Zhonghe and Yin Peng as the commanders. Deng Gui also immediately ordered the requisition of the yards on the left and right sides of Zheng the butcher's shop, connecting the doors between them, to serve as the headquarters of the township camp.
Deng Gui also gave a serious order to Tang Pan and Zhonghe: "Tang Pan, listen carefully. From now on, until the enemy is defeated, you must follow Xu Huai's lead and follow him. Zhonghe, from today on, you will be a military officer in the township camp. If you violate the rules of the prefecture and county militia, don't blame the patrol inspection department for using military law to punish you during special periods. In addition to the reward for killing the enemy, the patrol inspection department will also provide the township camp with weapons, food and fodder. You don't need to worry..."
Tang Pan and Zhonghe both nodded in agreement. Deng Gui then assigned a clerk to Xu Huai and Jin Longquan to assist in the reorganization of the township camp, the accounting of money and grain rewards, and other matters.
Xu Huai pointed at Zheng the Butcher and Chen Gui and said, "The fat geese and roasted mutton in the butcher shop are delicious. You should just follow Jin Jianying and have a few roasted fat geese and mutton for every meal. Damn the thieves. I can't let the people I brought out eat coarse food all day and go to the battlefield to kill thieves..."
In the past two days, Xu Huaigan led a group of hooligans who had no idea about fighting in formation to go out to the streets to provoke a fight. To put it bluntly, he saw that Pan Chenghu was afraid of fighting and wanted to preserve his strength.
Hunting down several bandits in two days without any casualties on our side has greatly boosted the morale of the Huaiyuan army and civilians. However, as the bandits build strongholds on the periphery and more big bandits and stubborn gangsters come over and collude with Chen Zixiao, Zhong Changqing, Pan Chenghu, Gao Xiangzhong and others, the subsequent battles will become increasingly brutal.
Although Zheng Tu and Chen Gui were truly impressed by him, apart from being good at cooking good meat and having some small plans in mind, his skills in using feet, fists and sticks were really not satisfactory.
Xu Huai did not expect them to have any unique insights and understanding on the deployment of troops. It was not easy to recruit two loyal followers nowadays, and he did not want them to lose their lives in vain on the battlefield. Now he sent them to follow Jin Longquan to be responsible for the food of so many people in the village camp.
"Fat goose and roast lamb are easy to prepare, and my wife is good at them!" said Zheng the butcher.
He had a blast following Xu Huai into battle these past two days, and there was also reward money to share. How could he be willing to fall behind and just take care of the food and cooking?
"Aren't you afraid that the head of Jindu will fuck your wife?" Xu Huai glared at Zheng the butcher and said without further ado, "And Tian Yanyan and the others, keep a close eye on them for me. Don't let any of them get sleepy, or they won't be able to sell for a good price in the future!"
Jin Longquan glanced at Zheng Tu's wife's barrel-like waist, thinking that his taste was not that picky, right? But Zheng Tu's wife glanced at him with a little watery eyes, which frightened Jin Longquan: This woman is not a good person.
"Master Xu, aren't you afraid that Zheng Tu and Chen Gui, two sneaky guys, will steal food?" the scoundrels started to make a fuss.
"That's true. Tian Yanyan and the others should be kept under your wife's watch. I'm worried about the two of you!" Seeing that Zheng Tu was still complaining, Xu Huai urged him to catch a fat sheep, stew it with sauce and serve as a lunch snack for everyone.
The people in Tongbai Mountain were poor, and the villagers only had breakfast and dinner every day. Rich families would have an extra meal at noon, but even if it was roasted lamb, it was usually called a snack.
Although Tang Pan was still not willing to be under Xu Huai's command, the militiamen and soldiers below him were already salivating when they heard that there would be a roasted mutton snack at noon, and they all cheered for Xu Huai.
Tang Pan, Zhonghe, Tang Qing, Tang Xia and others were still somewhat arrogant, but the lower-level soldiers and militiamen were much simpler in mind. Xu Huai's bravery had already impressed them!
The matter of setting up the rural camp has been decided, but it is only a rough outline. The more complicated matters are the registration and organization of the soldiers.
Given Xu Huai's current personality, he naturally doesn't have the patience to get involved in this matter, so he pushes everything to Jin Longquan, Tang Pan, Zhonghe, and Yin Peng.
He ordered his men to clear out the yard behind Zheng the Butcher's shop and use it as a training ground for martial arts exercises. He took a bow and arrow to practice rapid shooting.
Rapid shooting and continuous arrows have similarities, but also have some differences.
The chain arrows are mainly used to target strong enemies, making it difficult for them to avoid being attacked by a series of arrows; while the rapid shooting is about the archer capturing different targets at the fastest speed in the chaos between the two armies and shooting them accurately when the enemy army rushes to the front.
When two armies engage in battle, of course there is no need to consider shooting range or armor-piercing power. What is needed is to kill more enemy troops at close range in the shortest time possible to provide strong support for the generals and soldiers on the front line. Sometimes it is even necessary to move quickly on a chaotic battlefield, so of course it is better to use a light and soft bow.
Hard training in this area is also beneficial to improving the body's intuitive reflex ability.
Of course, setting up a few archery targets in various corners of the yard for practice is far from reflecting the real chaotic scene when two armies engage in battle. Xu Huai called in all the girls of Tian Yanyan and asked them to run around the yard holding an archery target.
In this case, the running of the women is one thing, but what is more important is that when arrows are shot randomly, the women's instinctive reaction after being frightened can better correct the deviations that may occur in the chaos.
The screams of the women who were frightened by the arrows reached the shop where Tang Pan and his men were discussing matters, which was really irritating to hear.
Deng Gui, Wang Bing, Lu Xiong, Tang Pan, Zhong He and others were serious people. Yin Peng had the least experience and was a little self-abased, so he didn't dare to say anything. Jin Longquan and Tang Tiande were both warriors, so they smiled and said, "Xu Xiaoge is a young man who can't hold back. We have to persuade him to be moderate!"
Considering that the upcoming battle would not be so easy, the Zhong clan soldiers led by Zhonghe were better, but these ruffians had not undergone strict training. Deng Gui and Lu Xiong thought of incorporating Tang Xia, another rising star of the Tang clan, into Yin Peng's team as a ten-general, and then mixing in five or six capable warriors to strengthen it; in addition, incorporating Tang Qing into the Zhong clan soldiers' team and letting Zhonghe be a ten-general.
The core tactics in the early stage were to use shallow attack tactics to provide support to Xu Huai, so that the enemy army would not dare to invade the streets lightly. Deng Gui and Wang Bing also repeatedly instructed Tang Pan, Zhonghe and the soldiers on the key points of the drill.
In addition to creating more obstacles for the enemy army to enter and exit the street market, we must also consider building a small defensive barrier with Zheng Butcher Shop as the center and using the thick walls of the four shops in front, behind, left and right.
Shops were the core industries of the families in the street market, and fire prevention and theft prevention were taken into consideration when they were first built.
The courtyard wall was built with bricks and stones, and was both high and thick. After the inside was opened up, wooden frames were set up along the inside of the wall for people to stand on and shoot the approaching thieves; the houses on the outside were demolished to prevent the thieves from using them for cover to approach.
There are many complicated matters involved, but since Jin Longquan is representing the Inspection Office as the camp supervisor, he will naturally be in charge of them all, and Tang Pan will assist him.
In this way, Yin Peng could see that the rural camp was still completely under the control of the Inspection Office, but Xu Huai did not participate in the meeting at this time, and he made the girls scream in the other courtyard. He really did not have the confidence to argue in front of Deng Gui and others.
Of course, Deng Gui still placed the most fundamental defense in the military camp.
Taking into account the rising water levels in summer and autumn, the uppermost section of the Huai River can only allow rafts to reach Xinyang downstream. In order to avoid being completely blocked by the enemy army, he had to recruit boatmen and make more large rafts as backup.
Tang Pan settled the staff in the east shop yard to rest for a while. He also heard faint voices of girls shouting and yelling coming from the shop yard behind. The officers and soldiers in the shop yard sounded very excited. He was so angry that he wanted to break down the door.
Yin Peng was thinking of picking out some good armor from the Inspection Office, so he and Tang Qing, with whom he had met once, came to find Tang Pan, wanting to take him to the Inspection Office's office together. But seeing his appearance, he knew what he was thinking.
Yin Peng was just about to persuade Tang Pan that out of sight, out of mind, when he heard a creaking sound and Tian Yanyan pushed the door open carrying tea. There was a black bruise on the left corner of her eye and on her chin.
"You're not in that yard?" Tang Qing asked in surprise.
"I just came from Master Xu's yard." Tian Yanyan said, covering her bruised chin.
"What's wrong with the corners of your eyes and chin? Did that bastard hit you?" Tang Pan asked angrily, his voice uncontrollably sharp.
"Well," Tian Yanyan felt so wronged that she wanted to cry, and she cried, "Master Xu asked us to run around in the yard with an archery target on our backs, and he shot arrows randomly. Although the arrows broke off, it still hurt when we were shot in a panic--"
"Ha..." Tang Qing and Yin Peng stood there in a daze, shouting and yelling for a long time. Is this the reason?
They saw that Tang Pan was obviously relieved. It was obvious that it was abnormal for Xu Huai to use the girls to practice archery, but it was better than what they had thought just now.
"Why are you here?" Tang Pan asked.
"Master Xu dislikes my flustered behavior and my frequent shouting and yelling like the big yellow dog in Lutai Village, which disturbs his mind, so he sent me here to serve Tang Jieji, and said..." Tian Yanyan lowered her voice, and she didn't dare to look at Tang Pan with her watery peach blossom eyes.
Tang Pan was confused by her appearance and asked, "What else did that bastard say?"
"Master Xu said, if Tang Jieji listens to him, he will let me serve here, help Tang Jieji and the soldiers to wash clothes and clean the house; and if Tang Jieji's team can kill ten bandits, he will let me accompany Tang Jieji for one night; if Tang Jieji doesn't listen to him, he will let me go back and accompany those scoundrels who kill pigs and sell meat, sleepy, sleepy," Tian Yanyan stared at Tang Pan pitifully and said, "You must not go to Master Xu to make trouble, I would rather serve tea and water here than go back and be frightened and bullied every moment!"
"Okay, you stay here for a while, and no one will dare to bully you again!" Tang Pan said in a deep voice.
"Well, Tang Jieji, you should comfort Miss Tian first. I suddenly remembered that I still have some things to do. I will look for Tang Jieji later to go to the military camp to pick out weapons and armor together!" After Yin Peng said this to Tang Pan, he turned around and ran to find Xu Huai.
Yesterday he secretly found out that the girl Xu Huai originally said he would give him was called Song Yuer, and today he also found an opportunity to talk to her.
Although Song Yuer was not like Tian Yanyan who sold her art instead of her body in Yuehonglou, she was also from a poor family. She was very amiable and attractive, and her voice was like tickling his heart. He liked her very much at the first sight.
But he was too shy to agree to it directly at first.
But at this moment, he was afraid that Xu Huai would get angry and really let Song Yuer and the other girls sleep with the rough men below, so he could only bite the bullet and go to Xu Huai to ask Song Yuer to go first...