Chapter 132: What is it like to lead navy troops for the first time?
In the last chapter, the four generals for the naval selection were Huang Gai, Zhou Tai, Jiang Qin, and Yang Lin.

Huang Gai was the main general in charge of the overall situation, Zhou Tai was the deputy commander of the sword and shield troops, Jiang Qin was the second deputy commander of the boatman, and Yang Lin was the third deputy commander of the archers.

In naval battles, the swordsman and shieldman's main responsibilities are boarding combat and protecting archers.

The boatman controls the advance and retreat of the ship, and the archers are the main firepower.

Huang Gai, Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin were all proficient in naval warfare, but Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin were not convinced of Huang Gai and thought that they could do it too.

Before Yang Lin joined the army, his family had been hunters for generations. Although he didn't know much about naval combat and shooting, the other three had no objection to his appointment.

Therefore, after comprehensive consideration, Jin Mao decided that Huang Gai, Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin would temporarily assume their positions. After the battle, whoever had the greatest contribution would become the main general.

In other words, the three are in a competitive relationship, but they need to cooperate sincerely in this battle, otherwise, whoever messes up Jinmao will be killed.

Military law is not a joke, and neither is war!

No matter how unwilling Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin were to accept Huang Gai, they had to endure it.

The second day of May.

Huang Gai received an order and set out today to clear the Yangtze River to ensure the smooth flow of water.

It was the first time for Huang Gai to command a battle of 5,000 men. There were many things he didn’t understand. These days, he had been reading the experience of leading troops written for him by Jin Mao.

This made Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin very envious.

Because large-scale troop combat is exactly what the next officer training class will teach.

Huang Gai is a newcomer. How could he be qualified to learn and practice in advance? This is not fair!

However, with Jin Mao's order hanging over their heads, the two men did not dare to make any move, but were also waiting to see Huang Gai make a fool of himself.

"Youping, how long do you think it will take for Huang Gai to make a fool of himself?"

Facing Jiang Qin's question, Zhou Tai looked at him sideways and kindly reminded him, "The Lord has ordered that anyone who hinders the march and fighting for any reason during the war will be executed immediately!"

"You think your life is too long, so you dare to do something tricky?"

Jiang Qin said awkwardly, "I don't know how to dispatch. If there is a mistake, you can't blame me."

"If you don't understand, then learn!" Zhou Tai said seriously: "Huang Gongfu has books, but he doesn't necessarily learn better than us who don't have books."

"Once there was Yu Zhongxiang, who made the lord look at him with new eyes in thirteen days." Jiang Qin exaggeratedly said: "Now there is Zhou Youping, who made me look at him with new eyes in a hundred days!"

"Get lost!" Zhou Tai said impatiently, "Don't interfere with my work."

Zhou Tai arrived at the dock. On the left were nine Mengchong warships and a tower ship, and on the right were a hundred transport ships and five hundred small wooden boats.

Each Mengchong warship could only carry twenty helmsmen, thirty archers and thirty swordsmen and shieldmen. Even so, the space inside the ship was very crowded. Normally, the swordsmen and shieldmen had to take turns replacing with the helmsmen.

The tower ship is larger and can carry 300 archers, 50 helmsmen and 200 sword and shield soldiers.

The transport ship is divided into two decks, the lower deck carries grain and the upper deck carries people. If it is fully loaded with grain, it can carry about 200 shi. If it is fully loaded with people, it can transport 100 people, including 20 boatmen.

That is to say, among the five thousand navy troops, there are at least one thousand boatmen, one thousand archers and three thousand sword and shield soldiers.

The actual situation is that the archers remain unchanged, while the sword and shield men are not much different from the boatmen. This is an adjustment made by Jin Mao in order to make the navy move faster.

Small wooden boats were mainly used to transport food and to replace troops when transport ships were damaged.

The hundred transport ships were under the management of Zhou Tai, the Mengchong warships and tower ships were under the management of Huang Gai, and the small boats were under the management of Jiang Qin.

From the division of labor, it can be seen that Huang Gai is responsible for being the vanguard and opening the way, Zhou Tai is responsible for the movement of the central army and engaging in battle, and Jiang Qin is responsible for logistics.

As for Yang Lin, he was under the command of Huang Gai in the vanguard, Zhou Tai in the central army, and Jiang Qin in the logistics. Of course, his main responsibilities remained unchanged.

Shoot! Shoot! Shoot the damn arrow!
This is also the reason why everyone has no objection to Yang Lin.

As a first step in the expedition, Huang Gai had to take all the large and small ships with him, and a total of 50,000 shi of grain and fodder to Piling County.

From the moment of departure, the entire navy entered wartime, and all actions were carried out according to military law.

Everything was fine at the beginning. After all, all the ships were on the lake, and we could not fall behind as long as we looked at the flags of the tower ships.

Once we arrived in Wuxi and entered the narrow river channel, problems began to arise.

The first issue: unified dispatch or command!

Huang Gai led the battle column in front to clear the way, and they were moving very fast, but the transport ships were fully loaded, so how could they go any faster?

It was easy on the lake, as Huang Gai could observe the progress of each boat with his naked eyes and wait for those who fell behind.

In the river, large ships can only go one by one, and small ships can only go two or three abreast. More than 600 ships have to be stretched out for a length of more than 20 miles, so you can't see the head but not the tail.

Just two days after the vanguard arrived at Piliang, half of the ships had fallen behind!
Most of them lost track after the rest stop and took the wrong fork in the river.

Fortunately, Jin Mao had anticipated this situation and led the rear army along Huang Gai's route, gathering troops along the way, thus avoiding a major disaster.

...

Qu'a County.

When Jin Mao led his team passing by this place, they stayed for one night and set up camp.

Yu Fan brought officials of all ranks to pay him a visit.

After the two sides exchanged greetings, they sat down. When Yu Fan saw Wang Lang sitting there, he could not help but shout angrily, "My lord, please execute this shameless old thief, Wang Lang!"

Then he recounted in detail what Wang Lang had done when he came to Qu'a County.

Jin Mao looked at Wang Lang with a half-smile and said, "Jing Xing, do you have anything to say to me?"

Wang Lang stood up calmly, bowed, and said, "This moment is just like that moment."

"At first, I was deceived by the old thief Sheng Xian and mistakenly believed that you were a traitor."

"So many of these actions are just to trip you up."

Wang Lang honestly took all of Yu Fan's attacks, and shamelessly recognized Jin Mao as his master. "Shameless old thief!" Yu Fan was furious: "How dare you be my colleague?!"

"Zhong Xiang!" Jin Mao calmed Yu Fan down with just a look.

"Jingxing, please continue."

Wang Lang glanced at Yu Fan calmly and said with a smile: "After the trip to Wu County, I repented and saw the true face of Sheng Xian, so I decided to work for you!"

"Right now, I just want to help you get the position of governor and do my best to complete my mission."

Yu Fan felt like vomiting after hearing this, and Xi Zhicai felt that Wang Lang was too shameless and felt inferior to him.

The soldiers looked at Jin Mao curiously, thinking to themselves, "So this is what our lord likes!"

Jin Mao frowned and said, "You are too kind, Lord Wang. We are both officials in the same court. How can we talk about each other? Stop calling me Ming Gong."

Suddenly, Wang Lang's face turned blue and purple and he felt humiliated.

"Speaking of lobbyists," Jin Mao suddenly laughed and said, "Yu Zhongxiang, why don't you and Wang Lang go to a county each to see who is more persuasive?"

Yu Fan immediately responded: "Yes!"

Wang Lang felt humiliated again and agreed without saying anything.

...

Piling County.

Huang Gai and others were collectively reprimanded for their mistakes during the march, and they all made up for their crimes with meritorious service.

Before setting out, Huang Gai convened the first naval meeting.

It had to be held. Huang Gai clearly felt that the problem originated from within.

He has the least experience here, so it is understandable that no one respects him. But if he continues to behave like this and causes important mistakes, Huang Gai will not forgive himself.

"I know you all don't obey me." Huang Gai stood up from the main seat and looked around. Some generals were staring at him, some were lowering their heads, and some were not offended.

"Tomorrow is the day to go to battle. I hope everyone can cooperate sincerely."

Huang Gai said: "As long as I can redeem myself from my crime, I am willing to give up my position as the commander-in-chief!"

"Are you serious?" Jiang Qin was the first to ask, unable to hold back, "Huang Gongfu, do you dare to swear?"

Huang Gai made his oath without hesitation.

Jiang Qin said happily: "From now on, I, Jiang Qin, am willing to obey your orders!"

“Me too.” “Me too.”

One after another.

Finally, only Zhou Tai was left, and everyone looked at him.

Zhou Tai stood up and said, "Huang Gongfu, you are too soft-hearted. The Lord has clearly stated that everything in wartime must be handled according to military law."

"Why do you keep silent about someone who has clearly violated military law?"

Zhou Tai shouted: "In my opinion, it would not be too much to kill half of the people here!"

"You disregard military law. Is this how you repay your lord's kindness?"

Honestly speaking, Zhou Tai was the person who cooperated best with Huang Gai along the way. It was amazing that only one or two of the hundred transport ships fell behind.

On the contrary, Jiang Qin was the one with too many small thoughts and did the worst job. If Zhou Tai was the commander, he would be the first one to be killed!

Huang Gai looked at Zhou Tai and did not answer. Instead, he asked, "Does First Mate Zhou have any objections?"

Zhou Tai clasped his fists and bowed his head, saying, "No objection!"

Huang Gai nodded. He knew Zhou Tai was very cooperative. He also knew many other things, but he could not deny that these arrogant soldiers were good at fighting. If there was anyone who could make them obedient, it was only Jin Mao.

Huang Gai had thought about Zhou Tai's approach. What if he killed all the criminals? Would he be able to continue to live like this in the future?

After all, he is different from Jinmao, so this is the only solution.

Anyway, according to the system, as long as he completes the task perfectly this time, it will be the best medal in Huang Gai's resume. It doesn't matter who the commander is, he will get it back sooner or later!

"Well, the meeting officially begins."

The thought only lasted for a moment, and Huang Gai adjusted his mindset and proposed solutions to the problems that were exposed.

"First, we need to solve the problem of sending messages. Since the fleet is too long and the front and rear are not connected, I think we can add a small team of messengers."

"Each small wooden boat of the team is equipped with four boatmen, who go back and forth on the river to pass on orders."

This was a messenger boat that Huang Gai had designed based on the land messenger vehicle, and no one had any objection.

"Also, during the night march, fire boats will be set up every two miles, and each unit will follow the fire boats."

"The tower ship will be stationed in the center, and the Mengchong warship and ten troop transport ships will go ahead as the vanguard."

Huang Gai looked at Zhou Tai and asked, "Could you, First Mate Zhou, be the vanguard?"

This can be considered as Huang Gai's return of favor. The vanguard is the part of the army that is easiest to gain military merit.

Zhou Tai understood immediately, straightened his back and said, "Why not!"

Huang Gai nodded and said: "If you encounter an enemy, annihilate them if they are few in number, or defend them if they are many and wait for the central army to arrive."

This requires maintaining a distance from the central army, neither too far nor too close.

Zhou Tai thought for a moment and agreed, "Yes."

(End of this chapter)