Chapter 156: How Elite Soldiers Are Made

“My Lord, this expedition does not need clever tricks anymore.”

Guo Jia, who usually liked to take unconventional approaches, chuckled softly. After exchanging a glance with Li Ji, he spoke: “Now that our territory has fine troops and many generals, and the morale is high, why do we need such complicated plans to deal with just some bandits?”

No clever tricks? Are you preparing for a direct fight?

Mo Xiaobai thought about it suspiciously and then looked at the General Administrator of Daming Village’s troops at this moment. Seeing his lord asking with his expression, Li Ji immediately nodded: “This subordinate shares Fengxiao’s opinion. We only need to wait for the bandits on their way back. Whether it is an ambush or a battle in formation, one fight will decide it all. We do not need to let my lord face danger like back then.”

Even Li Ji is so confident?

Hearing this, Mo Xiaobai could not help but smile.

Yes!

Unconsciously, Daming Village has actually become power ful. It is no longer the time when we only had a few cats and dogs, and even fighting a tiny mountain bandit group required me to pretend to be He Chun’s younger brother.

Although the group we face this time is also a large bandit camp, Daming Village now has the confidence to fight in formation.

If a formation battle can be won, why bother planning so many dangerous moves?

“My Lord, although the soldiers within the territory are well-trained, most of them have never seen a real battlefield. Since we now have a suitable opponent, I ask my lord to allow this subordinate to use the Water Bandits to train our troops.”

Li Ji spoke again, revealing his other consideration: “If we do not let the soldiers adapt to formation fighting as soon as possible, we might fear that in the future, when facing a fierce battle, we will collapse at the first touch and fail to become true Elite Soldiers.”

So you are using this as a chance to train the troops?

Since Li Ji said that, Mo Xiaobai had no reason to refuse, so he immediately nodded: “Good, we will follow what you say. This battle will be commanded by Maogong. Everyone else must obey his commands. I will only watch from the sidelines and will not interfere.”

“What?”

Hearing the first half of Mo Xiaobai’s words, Li Ji showed no change. But upon hearing the second half, he hurriedly spoke: “My Lord, this expedition will certainly win and never lose. My Lord might as well stay in the territory and wait for good news.”

“Maogong said this is Daming Village’s first formation battle, and we have a sure win. As the Lord of Daming Village, how can I sit here safely? Alright, I will agree to everything else, but this one is under my command.”

Mo Xiaobai waved his hand and said immediately: “Time is urgent. Since the decision is made, let us depart immediately. I have already had Zini prepare the soldiers’ rations for the outside. Maogong can go and collect them.”

“Yes!”

Seeing Mo Xiaobai’s determined expression, Li Ji could only clasp his fists to accept the order.

Mo Xiaobai was the Lord Li Ji had decided to serve for the rest of his life. In his heart, his status had quietly risen to match that of the former Taizong. Li Ji was not afraid that Mo Xiaobai would take away his command power on the battlefield; he was truly worried that if something unexpected happened, his Lord and Daming Village would be finished completely.

However, Mo Xiaobai’s stubbornness was sometimes no weaker than the former Taizong’s in Li Ji’s eyes. Knowing that persuasion was useless, he simply decided not to waste time.

When this short military meeting ended, the Elite Soldiers and strong generals of Daming Village quickly gathered in the square.

Zhang He led one hundred Heavy Halberd Soldiers. Behind Li Guang were nearly three hundred Rattan Armor Soldiers. Li Ji personally commanded one hundred Village Soldier spearbearers and one hundred Village Soldier archers.

Watching the loyal generals and soldiers with high morale, Mo Xiaobai sat on his horse, drew his Baron’s sword with his right hand, and shouted: “Let’s move out!”

…

The soldiers departed, marching north along Daye Marsh.

The first two days were uneventful, but from noon on the third day, patches of dark clouds began to drift across the sky.

By the evening of the fourth day, Mo Xiaobai, leading his soldiers, met the scouts who were still guarding the northwest entrance of Daye Marsh. Pouring rain, like a heavy bucket being dumped, swept down with the strong wind.

“Maogong, the weather looks bad,” Mo Xiaobai said, wiping the rain from his face with a shake of his head as he led his soldiers into the forest to avoid the rain.

Daming Village’s first large-scale expedition was hitting a heavy rainstorm.

One could only say that Heaven did not cooperate!

“My Lord, on the contrary, I think this rain has come at a timely moment.”

Li Ji sat on the side, wearing the Scale Armor he had taken from Han Meng, and spoke: “Rain might make movement inconvenient, but we have already arrived here. The rest is just a fight. Compared to sunny weather, the strong wind and heavy rain can instead make our soldiers more calm. Yes, it is cold, but it has not reached the level where it affects fighting.”

“You make sense, but anyway, we must not let this heavy rain affect our soldiers. Fortunately, I also made preparations before I left. Cooking a few pots of hot soup is no problem.”

As Mo Xiaobai spoke, he took out his Xumi Bag. Inside were several large pots he brought, a pile of firewood, and a small amount of meat. Originally, he prepared this for fear of having no time to gather wood and start a fire once they arrived, just to be safe. He did not expect to be able to use it right now.

He called on several soldiers to gather around the tree to start a fire. In less than half a period of time, the rich smell of meat soup began to drift out in all directions.

Watching the soldiers take out their own wooden bowls to hold the soup and drink it, Mo Xiaobai also summoned Li Ji, Li Guang, and a few others to his side: “This heavy rain came very quickly, and we were not prepared. That group of Water Bandits is probably in the same situation. According to the scouts, a group of Water Bandits withdraws from this place every five days. Although it is not time yet, we must consider whether they will withdraw early.”

“My Lord can rest assured. I have scattered my scouts ten li away. If we encounter Water Bandits who suddenly withdraw, they will send the news back in time,” Li Guang said while drinking the hot soup.

“The Flying General really has some experience in using scouts,” Mo Xiaobai said with a smile, praising him, and then turned to ask: “But if we encounter some opponents in the future who cannot be tracked by scouts, what will the Flying General do?”

“If there are really such troublesome opponents, this subordinate will certainly go to investigate personally and dare not delay the war time for this,” Li Guang said confidently. Mo Xiaobai shook his head after hearing this.

It seems Li Guang’s flaw still needs a method to cure.

After eating the meat soup, the soldiers leaned against each other to rest. The rainstorm was still fierce, but within the forest, an unshakable atmosphere was slowly growing among the soldiers.

Mo Xiaobai only then slightly understood what Li Ji meant by the rain coming at a timely moment. Perhaps the strong armies throughout history were all tempered in various harsh environments like this.

Silent waiting was like the dimness before dawn.

A sound of messy, trampling footsteps suddenly entered his ears. For Mo Xiaobai, it was no less than the appearance of the morning star.

“My Lord, the scouts are back.”

Li Guang also turned over and opened his eyes at this moment, gesturing for his scouts to come over quickly: “What is the situation ahead? Speak quickly.”

“My Lord, General, a large group of Water Bandits is approaching. They should be less than five li away now.” As soon as the Rattan Armor scout finished speaking, Mo Xiaobai, Li Guang, Li Ji, and Zhang He all stood up.

Before Li Ji could give any orders, the surrounding soldiers also stood up one by one, holding their weapons.

Li Ji waved his hand, leaving one hundred Rattan Armor Soldiers to stay behind in the forest. The other five hundred soldiers immediately stepped out of the woods and silently formed a Battle Formation.

A formation battle was about to start!