Chapter 135: The size of the team increases dramatically, and the military and civilians are heading north
"Report to the commander-in-chief!"
Hongmei hurried to the meeting hall of the Wang Family Courtyard in Dingbian City and reported to Li Dingguo, "After a day and a night of recruiting new people, our work results are quite gratifying."
"The number of reserve soldiers and logistics personnel successfully recruited this time exceeded our previous expectations."
"It should be because they were harmed too much by the government troops. Many people have lost their families and have an irreconcilable hatred for the government troops. As a result, the number of people we recruited exceeded 100,000, reaching a frightening number of more than 115,000!"
"To this end, I promptly added dozens of recruiting offices yesterday and sent two hundred combat soldiers who have completed preliminary cultural studies to help. We dealt with it in a timely manner and have registered all the new recruits."
Hongmei's little face had an unconcealed smile, and she was obviously very satisfied with the current situation. She continued, "Tang Guangqiang and Huang Zhanglong, the soldiers of the two battalions, have also completed the tasks you specifically assigned them, and completed the procurement of various materials."
"However, all the money we had previously saved, including gold and jewelry, has been completely spent."
"These grains, swords, guns, bows and arrows, cloth, daily necessities and other supplies are enough for us to initially arm our greatly expanded team, and can also meet everyone's food and drink problems for about a month."
"I have to say that these big merchants who have not left Dingbian City have quite amazing backgrounds."
"I guess the reason why they have so many weapons and food in stock is probably related to the smuggling of the Tartars outside the Great Wall."
"After we raised the price and made unlimited purchases, they easily took out a large amount of materials that were in urgent need of the grassland, such as weapons, food, iron pots, and tea."
"Even the government troops entrenched here did not dare to plunder them at will. This is enough to prove that the power of the people behind them is beyond our imagination."
Hongmei's guess is most likely true.
Because Dingbian City is located on the inner edge of the Outer Great Wall, outside the Outer Great Wall is the Dongtao Plain where a large number of Tatar tribes of all sizes are entrenched.
In the entire vast Hetao region, the Dongtao Plain is the best natural pasture with fertile soil, abundant grass and water. It is even rumored that there are more than a dozen large and small spiritual grass pastures!
In the current Ming Dynasty, all the spiritual grass pastures still under the control of the imperial court combined are not as numerous as those in the Dongtao Plain, and the quality is even inferior.
It is conceivable how huge the business opportunities hidden in Dingbian City are.
On this vast Dongtao Plain, there are too many precious materials that the Ming Dynasty is in urgent need of.
Therefore, many trading caravans of wealthy merchants are stationed in Dingbian City all year round.
This is also the reason why Zhang Xianzhong, the Eighth King, did not have enough money to spend even though he obtained so much.
It's simple. In Dingbian City, no matter how much money you have to spend, these big merchants with unfathomable background can easily meet your large purchasing needs. You don't have to worry about not being able to purchase enough various commodities and materials.
These unscrupulous merchants are so bold that they don't care who the customers are. They will sell to you as long as you have money. They only care about profit.
No matter you are a rebel or a Tartar, as long as you bid high enough, most goods, including weapons, can be obtained for you quickly.
"Ha ha……"
After hearing this, Li Dingguo chuckled and said, "It is the same for all big merchants in every dynasty. As long as the price is high enough, there is nothing that cannot be sold. There are no exceptions."
"But having said that, there is one thing that is commendable about these big merchants today: they put credit first and attach great importance to business reputation."
He was right. Even though these unscrupulous merchants in the Ming Empire had many faults, they were much better than those in the 21st century on Earth in his previous life in terms of credit and reputation.
They regard their own reputation as more important than their own lives.
In this era, any merchant who dares to sell inferior goods as good ones and cheat people will be treated like a rat crossing the street, and everyone will shout and beat him.
Once your credibility is gone and your reputation is ruined, you will soon be completely destroyed.
"Hongmei, you did a great job and were very thoughtful."
Li Dingguo praised him generously, "Inform all the soldiers of our Fuxing Army to continue their march after lunch to avoid delays."
"In order to avoid being targeted by the government troops, we must leave the border as soon as possible and avoid any chance of getting away with it."
"Pass the order and have the soldiers, especially the newly recruited civilians, prepare to set out."
"We will set out on time at 3:15 . today and leave Dingbian City as soon as possible!"
At this most critical moment, Li Dingguo did not want any accidents to happen to his team.
"Yes! Commander-in-Chief!"
Hongmei looked solemn and took the order and left.
……
At three quarters after noon, the Fuxing Army, which was much larger in size than when it entered the city yesterday morning, slowly came out of the west gate of Dingbian City and marched along the official road, amid the complicated looks of the people along the way.
Because there were too many people, it took more than half an hour for the entire team to leave the city and slowly disappear at the end of the official road in the distance. In order to increase the speed of the march, Hongmei not only ordered the purchase of a large number of carriages, but also asked the craftsman camp, which was officially established last night, to build a large number of wooden carts overnight.
Tens of thousands of the elderly, the weak, women and children in the team all sat on large carts, and the strong young people and middle-aged men pushed the carts and followed the team forward.
In order to ensure that the army could leave Dingbian City in time and not delay important matters, Hongmei was busy and worked hard.
Fortunately, her talent in logistical management was so extraordinary that she managed to handle all the tangled affairs in good order.
All the warriors, combat soldiers, and a large number of logistics soldiers were mobilized by her. No one was left idle, and everyone was assigned tasks within their capabilities.
With the help of people like Li Dingguo and Xiao Douya, everything was finally sorted out before three quarters past noon, without delaying the army's departure.
This is probably the largest mass migration of people in the northwestern border area of the Ming Dynasty in the past decade.
There were about 120,000 troops, and even though they were marching in several columns on the official road, they stretched for more than ten miles!
Since all the old, weak, women and children were riding on large carts, the speed of the army was not slowed down and it could only barely match the normal marching speed.
Hundreds of warrior girls from the entire Suzaku Camp and more than two hundred warrior soldiers from the Azure Dragon Camp were divided into two columns on the left and right, marching on both sides of the road, guarding the people and maintaining order.
This is necessary.
Now, these civilians have just joined the logistics camp of the rebel army and have not received any training. If there is no one to command and supervise them in time, they will easily cause a big chaos.
Fortunately, the original Fuxing Army of nearly 5,000 soldiers had formed a complete set of rules and regulations to enforce orders. Under the command of Li Dingguo and Hongmei, they managed to avoid some bad situations.
Small problems that arise from time to time during the march can also be solved in a timely manner.
As time passed, the large army moved farther and farther away, and gradually more and more people adapted to this set of management methods, which made the team's marching speed begin to increase.
Most of the people walked, and even those who walked were basically young and middle-aged men, as well as some young boys and girls who could take care of themselves, and they did not have the physical strength to sustain exercise for too long.
After advancing about ten miles, the team would stop to rest for half an hour, drink water, eat some dry food to restore their strength.
This was thanks to the far-sighted Hongmei, who ordered the team of cooks, which had expanded to thousands of people, to prepare a large amount of dry food before setting off, thus avoiding further waste of time.
By dusk, the army had only advanced about twenty miles.
"Pass the order down, all people and all carriages and horses, try to get as close as possible, all soldiers work together to prepare for camping on the spot and prepare to spend the night!"
Seeing that it was getting late, Li Dingguo immediately gave the order.
At this time, the Fuxing Army's logistics battalion, whose number of members had increased dramatically, was mostly composed of ordinary people with limited physical strength, making it impossible for them to march continuously at night.
Camping at night is a must.
The soldiers used local materials to light bonfires one after another. There was a lot of noise and they were very busy.
The busiest groups are the cooks and kitchen ladies.
Although they have thousands of people, it is still quite hard to prepare food for so many people.
In order to make it easier for everyone to eat, Hongmei has divided the team of cooks and kitchen women into ten small teams, with one team arranged every one mile or so.
With the help of those people who had some free time, everyone worked together and managed to avoid a chaotic situation.
Under the current conditions, it is naturally impossible to build barracks. On this long journey to the outside of the Great Wall, we can only gather together and spend the night outdoors.
But there is nothing to worry about as there are plenty of bonfires for lighting and heating.
Most of these more than 100,000 refugees have experienced all kinds of hardships. As long as they can have enough food and water, have a stable environment, and spend the night by a campfire, they are already very satisfied.
They even felt fortunate that they had joined an unprecedented warm big family.
There is no bullying or random beatings or scolding here, and no one dares to commit crimes or cause trouble, so there is no need to worry about not having enough food to eat.
For them, what else is there to complain about?
They looked at the soldiers of the Restoration Army, their young faces were young but full of vitality, they were young but powerful, and they arranged things in an orderly manner. They couldn't help but respect them and didn't dare to have any improper thoughts.
Especially when they saw that the dinner they were given contained thick, hot broth, they felt even more grateful that they had joined this large team.
Amid the countless blazing bonfires, the civilians who had just joined the rebel army gradually relaxed their tensions, gathered together to rest, and laughter could be heard from time to time.
(End of this chapter)
