"Report to your Majesty, the first echelon has landed on the island!"

"Okay, the second tier can set off!" This more than an hour was really like a year for Zhao Bing. He could finally breathe a sigh of relief when he learned that the first tier was safely on the island.

However, a huge rock was still hanging in Zhao Bing's heart, which was just the beginning of the rescue operation. The next second echelon was carrying three baggage ships supporting firepower. They wanted to safely deliver a rocket battalion and three bases of ammunition to the island. The night ship was dangerous, but they also had to implement light control. With the weak starlight night sailing, they not only had to avoid the surveillance sentries on the other side, but also bypass the shallows in the river. This was still a major test for them.

The time range of night battles generally refers to dusk to dawn. The night environment will have an impact on people's vision, perception, hearing, etc. Therefore, carrying out night battles is also a test of people's hearing, vision, balance and judgment. When Zhao Bing was in Qiongzhou, in order to improve the combat capabilities of the troops and prepare for crossing the sea to fight, he conducted night adaptive training for the troops, and also accumulated some experience.

The essential feature of the night is darkness. As night falls, the large radiation light source during the day disappears, thus reducing the brightness of natural scenery and poor visibility. According to Zhao Bing's experience, on a clear and moonless starry night, the distance between people's naked eyes can be seen in the open ground. The summer night is about 200 steps, and the winter starry night is only a few dozen steps. The starry night in spring and autumn is darker than in summer and winter, and the visibility is lower. Therefore, it is so difficult to smuggle under the starry night. If there is a slight deviation, it will deviate from the route.

Darkness can also reduce the color sense of people, making people's eyes able to recognize depth and shadows, and also make people have an illusion of distance and land objects. Dark things are usually very close, while light colors are far away; objects with small differences in background and objects with similar shapes and sizes are difficult to distinguish; point-shaped and linear objects are observed at different angles at the same distance, and the distance is not suitable. In such an environment, colored, especially dark and low targets, and fixed targets are not easy to detect, which limits the performance of weapon sighting and aiming performance.

In addition, in dark conditions, due to poor visibility and difficulty in observation, people's pupils naturally dilate, which not only easily leads to fatigue, but also leads to errors and illusions in their perception. Dirt pits, earthen bunches, ditches, etc. are mistakenly considered flat ground at night. Even trained soldiers, land objects will become abnormal at first glance at night. They often mistake a group of soldiers for bushes, road piles for scattered lines, and villages for woods. While the dark night makes observation, shooting, command and communications restricted, it also makes it difficult to judge the direction, road selection and organizational coordination.

"Report to Your Majesty, the second echelon has set out, and Chief Chen will take the boat to the island to establish a forward command post." The lookout report said.

"This guy is anxious and wants to go into battle in person." Zhao Bing curled his lips and chuckled.

"Your Majesty is here to supervise the battle, how dare General Chen slack off!" Li Sanniang said.

"This rescue operation is a risk for me and President Chen. If you don't do it well, you will be ruined!" Zhao Bing said with a wry smile. He knew that there was huge controversy over using the army to rescue more than 20 soldiers trapped behind enemy lines, both in the court and in the military system.

This question is complicated and simple. The rise of the scholar class in the Song Dynasty caused the military to be suppressed and the status was low. The military system that came into Song Dynasty also made the world have no favoritism for military and military. The Song people's idea was: "Those who dare to be thieves are all brave and powerful people who are Chai An and are in charge of all the troops, and they are just right." This is what Song Taizu said: This strategy of recruiting and raising troops can achieve "a hundred generations of benefits", making "the world's fierce and dereliction of duty guards are all guards of good people." "In bad years, there will be rebels without rebels, and there will be rebels without rebels."

Based on this idea, when Emperor Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty was in charge of Hangzhou, the people who violated the law, regardless of the severity of the circumstances, would assassinate all soldiers. During the Southern Song Dynasty, it was also stipulated that "the robbers should be violated, and the distant people should be accompanied by the army stationed in the distance, and the traffic control of the army"; even at that time, the criminals received by various armies every year were "not worried about thousands of people, and most of them were robbers." In Yanzhou, the Southern Song Dynasty, "the evil young people in the city disturbed the city", and in order to prevent the situation from escalating, the magistrate Xiaosun "secretly registered his name and replenished the military quota."

The "medal soldiers" in the Song Dynasty were still unregular combat soldiers, while there were many troops stationed in the army stationed in the Southern Song Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong, Li Xianzhong, the commander of Chizhou, used the "people who could wear belts" in the army to be the soldiers of the imperial army; during the reign of Emperor Ningzong, he used "rectomed robbers" and gathered people to buy private merchants, and killed and captured people... all of them were assigned to the garrison, and stipulated the service life of the troops stationed in the garrison. The number of troops was changed to the tattoo and became the "main army" for the entire battle.

In fact, the barracks of soldiers in the Song Dynasty were like prisoners; according to the custom of Tang Wei, they were stabbed with words on their faces, called "Min Nie". The tattoos on their faces were mainly to prevent soldiers from escaping. Local soldiers also had military names called "Chiji", so people called soldiers "Chila". Not to mention the treatment of those criminals who were assassinated and joined the army. At that time, the social status of soldiers was already at the bottom of society.

This shows from another perspective that the Song Dynasty's military mate was not only an important source of soldiers engaged in errands, but also one of the direct sources of soldiers engaged in combat garrisons. In the eyes of everyone, soldiers were basically equivalent to criminals or refugees. After Zhao Bing came to power, he had a high standard for recruiting soldiers. Soldiers not only took strong body as the standard, but also required family innocence.

Of course, there are also troops and prisoners of war in the army, but these people often do not enter the combat troops, but "hard labor camps". Although they are managed by the army, they are not necessarily affiliated with the Ministry of War, and some are managed by the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue. They are responsible for the dangers of mining, salt drying, building cities, water control and other dangers, and are also arduous. However, this is still difficult to change the world's view of the army in a short period of time. Therefore, he dispatched a large army at all costs and risked the re-starting war with the Mongol Yuan to save more than a dozen "criminals", which is difficult to accept.

Zhao Bing, who has always been good at calculating and likes to consider costs, also knows that the price of this operation is much more than the pension given to more than 20 dead soldiers, and what he does is definitely a loss-making business. But he still insists on doing it, so he naturally has different ideas. In addition to the promise of the farewell party, it is also to improve the cohesion of the army. All the troops in the army can understand that they are not fighting alone, but are backed by a huge force headed by the emperor. Once in trouble, even if they are far away from thousands of mountains and rivers, they will rescue them at all costs, making them proud of joining the group and thus improve their combat effectiveness.

Zhao Bing knew that even if he failed, he would win the trust and support of the army. However, he would inevitably give excuses to those who opposed his improvement of his military status, which would trigger inquiries and impeachments from court officials. What is the best way to be happy about merit, military force, arbitrary acts, etc., a big hat would constantly be put on himself, and would also confront himself at the moral level, questioning whether it is worth sacrificing one or more people to save one person, or even bringing back a few bodies. And they would also use this as an excuse to decree their ruling ability to weaken his power.

Zhao Bing knew that they would not be able to dismiss his throne at the moment, but Chen Fenglin was in trouble and would definitely be regarded as a scapegoat. Removing his post to return home was considered a virtue of his ancestors, and if he didn't do it well, he would have to sit in the prison. Therefore, the outcome of this battle not only concerns whether his throne is stable, but also concerns his wealth and life. So from that perspective, he and Chen Fenglin have to work hard to complete the rescue mission, and as the person involved, the pressure he bears is much greater than that of him.

"I hope they can successfully land on the island!" Zhao Bing came to the observation window, picked up the telescope and watched the three baggage ships sail out of the water camp one after another at a distance of fifty steps, he murmured.

Looking from the top of the mountain to the river, he could only vaguely see the anchor light signs laid by the vanguard troops, which were rising and falling on the water surface reflected by the starlight, appearing and disappearing, intermittently connecting into a light belt. The vanguard ship sailed night along the route indicated by the vanguard, while the rear ship followed with its tracks. Since only the tail lights of the front ship were lit, the two ships had to narrow the distance so that they could see the position of the front ship.

However, due to the small distance, once an undercurrent is encountered, a collision accident may occur. Falling into the water on the dark river is not a fun thing. In the blink of an eye, it will be washed away by the river, or be swept into the bottom of the water by the undercurrent, or even disappear without a trace without any trace before rescue. This made Zhao Bing very worried, and felt that he was even more worried than being on the boat, so he could at least grasp the situation, but at the moment he could only watch and could do nothing.

"Your Majesty, the 102nd Division Chief requested a voyage!" At this time, a correspondent soldier came in and reported.

"What's the hurry? Tell Li Hongbin to keep calm. His current task is to rest, not to go to the island to cause trouble. When will he leave, he will have his own orders!" Zhao Bing said angrily.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" The communications soldier looked angry when he saw His Majesty, and did not dare to say more, so he quickly went down the mountain to repay him.

"Your Majesty, why did you use the troops of the Second Division this time? The strongest unit of the First Army should be the First Division, with the richest combat experience." Li Sanniang asked in surprise. She knew that after entering Jiangnan, all units were expanded. In the past, the division was promoted to army, and the regiment was promoted to division. As the main force, the first regiment inherited the original military number of the First Division, so they would naturally take advantage of it and retained the division's direct team and more officers and veterans.

"It is true that the first division is the strongest, but their main task is to garrison Jiankang City. The second division's strength is not inferior to the first division. The troops participating in the main attack only used some of the troops of a strengthening regiment and the division's direct troops. I asked the guard battalion to cooperate with them in the battle. In addition, the trapped troops belong to the second division. How can they say that if they don't go into battle?" Zhao Bing explained casually.

"Your Majesty has sent the guard camp also?" Li Sanniang said in surprise.

"Well, no matter how sharp the knife is, it will rust in the sheath for a long time. The guard battalion has not been on the battlefield for too long, so it is time to sharpen it. And after landing, a strong team must advance quickly, defeat the enemy troops besieging Guabu Mountain, and rescue the surrounded team and retreat quickly. At present, only the guard battalion can take on this responsibility." Zhao Bing nodded and said.

"How can you ensure your Majesty's safety?" Li Sanniang asked anxiously.

"Haha, this is the military camp of the Song Dynasty. Will they be unfavorable to me? Besides, Tan Fei only took away the first squadron, the second squadron and the support squadron are still here to guard the guards, so what's there to worry about?" Zhao Bing saw his nervous look and smiled.

"Oh!" Li Sanniang then breathed a sigh of relief and asked again, "Don't the landing troops go to the island to standby first? If the battle begins, wouldn't it be too late to lose the opportunity to cross the war!"

"I also intended this at first. I took the night to send the landing troops to the island for standby time. After the artillery fire was ready, the landing troops set up a pontoon bridge. However, Commander Liu of the navy thought that because the landing location was close to the mouth of Chushui River, the water flowed rapidly, it was very difficult to build a pontoon bridge, and it was difficult to achieve the effect of a surprise attack. It would be better for the landing troops to take a small warship to the waters of Qingzhou Island at night to standby time. After the artillery fire was ready, they could immediately land on a boat and land on the beach, which could reduce the preparation time in the middle. I thought it was extremely right, so I took his suggestion." Zhao Bing said.

"That is why your Majesty asked the landing troops to stay in Hong Kong for a rest and rest, and to accumulate energy, and are not in a hurry to land on the island!" Li Sanniang nodded and said.

"That is, they will stay on the ship until dawn at this moment. At that time, not only will they be physically and mentally exhausted, but their morale will also become extremely depressed!" Zhao Bing said.

"Your Majesty, the first echelon has sent a signal that the temporary dock has been built and the road has been opened, and subsequent troops can land on the island." The lookout post returned to report.

"Okay!" Zhao Bing nodded, saying that he knew, and looked at Li Sanniang and said, "It's still early, so you can go in and rest, so you don't have to accompany me."

"I can still hold on, let Concubine Chen rest first!" Li Sanniang shook her head and looked at Wang Yu to find that she was already lying on the table and fell asleep again, and said with a smile.

"Oh!" Zhao Bing sighed lightly, stepped forward and picked up Wang Yu with her legs, and sent him to the side hall and placed him gently on the bed. Li Sanniang took off her boots and pulled the quilt on her, but she was still asleep.

Although Zhao Bing was a little sleepy, he was not sleepy at all. Instead, the war was approaching, which made him a little excited. In the unbearable dark night, the second echelon successfully went to the island. Chen Fenglin opened a front-line command post and built a rocket launching position under his command. The weapons were also transported to the island and set up. Chen Fenglin was relieved to go to the island successfully. With such a brave general in front of command, it can ensure that most of the battle has been successful.
Chapter completed!