Time flies, and it’s mid-May in a blink of an eye.
After Tan Xiaoda and the craftsmen settled down, they began to get busy. Liu Yan also handed over all the three hundred kilograms of iron materials that Liu Yan had brought back from Wangjiazhuang to Tan Xiaoda and others, and also handed over the charcoal in the fort, as well as some blacksmithing materials. All the tools were given to them.
"Just go ahead and do it. The more finished muskets you make, the more money and food you will get!"
With Liu Yan's words, Tan Xiaoda and others were full of energy and were busy almost day and night every day. This momentum made everyone in Chen Jiang's soap workshop marvel, and at the same time, all his subordinates stepped up their work. stand up.
After settling down Tan Xiaoda and others, Liu Yan also received a batch of weapons in his hands. If there are any shortcomings, he can just let Tan Xiaoda and others build them. As for armor, Liu Yan doesn't consider it at all now. Firstly, the manpower and materials in hand cannot meet the demand for large-scale armor building. Secondly, Liu Yan's current financial resources cannot support the cost of all armors.
"Let's wait until we have more experience in the future."
However, the armor was not yet equipped, but the weapons were ready. Liu Yan began to select young men from the military households to add to the Dun army.
At this time in the Ming Dynasty, the garrison soldiers in various forts generally did not have to go out to fight, so it was rare to see garrison training, but how could Liu Yan give up because of this?
Not to mention that the Jiannu Tatars in the north continued their southern march and were repeatedly poisoned north of the Yellow River, but the army of bandits in the northwest was not a good thing either. The bandits' fronts even rushed into various parts of Shandong.
Therefore, Liu Yan must raise a fighting force of his own as soon as possible. This is something that cannot wait for us.
So Liu Yan decided to start training soldiers. What he relies on now is his own martial arts and the rich knowledge of later generations.
However, for training soldiers and horses, Liu Yan decided to strictly follow Qi Jiguang's "New Book of Ji Xiao" and "Record of Military Training". The practical ones are the best. Liu Yan believes that this is the most suitable for his army at present. Training manual.
There are currently eighty-three adult men in Dapanbao, but after excluding the old and weak among them, there are only sixty-two young men suitable for training. And these sixty-two people have been eating well every day since they joined Dapanbao. After these hours of training in building forts, clearing wasteland, etc., their physical conditions are much better than before, and they can fully adapt to the new situation. down military training.
In the evening of that day, after all the military households returned to Dapanbao, Liu Yan took 62 young men outside the fort and announced in public that from now on, some military training would be conducted every night.
Liu Yan's current wealth is not enough to support retired soldiers, and the manpower situation in Dapanbao does not allow all 62 people to retire. As for the remaining old and weak men and women, they work in the fort, responsible for the logistics of training, as well as some miscellaneous tasks that can be done at night.
At this time, the sun was setting, and the light inside and outside the Dapan Fort also dimmed. Fortunately, Liu Yan had asked Chen Xun to prepare many braziers in advance, and the light in the open space outside the fort was enough.
At this time, dozens of young people gathered together, and the twelve Dunjun soldiers were also gathered here by Liu Yan. After the formation, everyone was excited and curious. At this time, the sun had set, and the breeze outside the fort was very comfortable. , the seventy-four young men and Dunjun soldiers were in a happy mood, laughing and chatting in twos and threes.
After a while, Liu Yan came out with Chen Xun and Wang Yue. Liu Yan looked at everyone and saw that all these young and strong men were standing crookedly and staggering around. Only the twelve Dunjun soldiers were relatively better. However, in Liu Yan's opinion, he was not considered a qualified soldier.
Liu Yan sighed in his heart, soldiers who have not been strictly trained are just a mob. It seems that now these soldiers under his command have to be trained from the most basic formation. Moreover, in ancient battles, strict formations and strict discipline have always been very important. Those who can maintain a strict formation are tigers and wolves. Without formations, there is a mob.
Qi Jiguang once said: "Open a large formation to face a powerful enemy. Thousands of people line up in a majestic formation. The brave cannot go first, and the timid cannot follow. The spears are poking at each other, and the spears are poking away. Among the thousands of troops, there are only One person can be invincible in the world." Liu Yan also deeply believed in emphasizing the importance of formation and discipline.
Liu Yan first asked everyone to be quiet. Originally, Wang Yue wanted Liu Yan to lecture, but Liu Yan thought it was not necessary, so he started to reorganize.
According to Liu Yan's plan, there were a total of seventy-four Dunjun soldiers together with Qingzhuang, a military householder. However, Liu Yan brought out two Dunjun soldiers, Wang Bo and Zhang Yi, and the remaining people were divided into four teams, each with The team consisted of eighteen people, each led by Chen Xun, Wang Yue, Wang Bo, and Zhang Yi. This made the four of them very happy. Wang Bo and Zhang Yi were Dunjun soldiers themselves, but now they could compete with Chen Xun and Wang Yue. Keeping pace, this is Liu Yan's important use of the two.
At this time, Wang Bo and Zhang Yi burst into laughter. They did not expect that they would also lead troops. Chen Xun also laughed when he looked at the two of them. The two Dunjun soldiers under him were now coming to the fore, and he was also happy in his heart. Only Wang Yue was a little uninterested, but he didn't expect that Wang Bo and Zhang Yi were also on an equal footing with him.
After Liu Yan assigned the members of each team, he ignored the mood of the four people and directly asked the four people to return to the team. They all stood in front of their respective teams, and then said loudly: "I recruited you today to train you in battle formation skills. Right now The war is in turmoil, and the world is still not at peace. In the past few months, the Tatars invaded the border areas, and the Tatar troops have even rushed into Shandong. You also know this. Although we are a fort here, we still need to practice skills, so that in the future Only then can you protect your wife and family."
Liu Yan looked serious when he spoke, and everyone below subconsciously stood up straighter. Chen Xun and Wang Bo were equally serious.
"From now on, when you come back from working in the military camp every day, you can go home and rest for half an hour, and then you have to start training. This is the case every day, rain or shine, and unshakable!"
After the training, Liu Yan first asked them to learn to stand in a queue, turn left and right, walk in unison, run, etc. Everyone felt novel at first, and then became a mess.
The queue was terrible to look at. Not to mention that the four teams were twisted and twisted, there were still many people who couldn't even tell the difference between left and right. This situation was not to mention the young and strong military households below, but even the small flag officer Wang Yue was in the same situation.
After an hour of training, everyone was more tired than after a day of farm work.
For several days, everyone still couldn't tell the difference between left and right, but Liu Yan came up with a way to tie a rope on the right arm of each young military household to mark the left and right, so that the situation gradually improved.
During the training, Liu Yan would patiently correct the mistakes of those military households and Dunjun troops at first. However, as time went by, Liu Yan saw that everyone still couldn't change their ways, and his temper became hot. Later, if someone stood in the wrong line again, Liu Yan would Yanbian couldn't help but pick up a stick and step forward to give him a good beating.
Strangely enough, Liu Yan's seemingly irritable method turned out to be more effective. Those military households and Dunjun who had been beaten would be more stable next time. Regarding being beaten, the young and strong military households and Dunjun soldiers seemed not to be surprised and were used to it. Even some military households and women watching the excitement laughed, while the person who was beaten looked embarrassed. Touch your head.
When nothing happens, the military households and women of Dapanbao will come outside to watch the training. While watching, everyone will give pointers and discuss how the children of each family are doing, who can stand better, etc. With others onlookers watching, the young and strong military households and Dunjun soldiers were even more energetic. They all worked hard and stood up straighter with arrogance.
As time went by, the night training in Dapanbao became a scene, and became a nighttime pastime for everyone in Dapanbao, and even the family members of the nearby Huolu Dundun Army. Many people gathered to watch every night. Seeing so many people watching his training, those military households and Dunjun soldiers also consciously became serious. Liu Yan's training results were getting better and better.
Just like this, after ten days of training, everyone's formation finally looked somewhat orderly. When Liu Yan beat the starting drum and asked them to trot in formation, everyone looked somewhat orderly.
On this day, the night training had just ended. Liu Yan was about to go back to the house when he saw that the oil lamp was still burning in the weapons workshop, so he went to see how Tan Xiaoda and the others were making muskets.
It was already late at night. When I came to the workshop, I saw that it was still very hot. In addition, it was already midsummer. Even if there was some cool breeze at night, it could not blow in. Liu Yan only felt a strong breeze. The heat came out, and I was sweating profusely in an instant.
Tan Xiaoda and others were working hard to build some blunderbuss, but it looked like they were still far away from completion. Liu Yan took a casual look and found that the making of these blunderbuss was really complicated. According to Tan Xiaoda's introduction, the first step in making this gun is the gun tube. After the wrought iron used to make the gun tube is red-hot, it is knocked on a steel core and rolled into an iron pipe. After cooling, it is wrapped in several layers. After hammering it carefully until it reaches a certain thickness, the steel core is pulled out and a section of the barrel is completed.
After making several sections of blunderbuss tubes in succession, weld the sections of blunderbuss tubes together one by one. This is the key. If the welding is not done well, it will easily cause boring. After the preliminary blunderbuss tube is completed, a steel cone is used to drill out the blunderbuss and the center is set. This takes the longest time, sometimes as long as a month.
After that, the inside of the boring machine is scraped clean with steel bars, and then various assemblies are carried out. Liu Yan didn't expect that there is so much knowledge and complexity in making a bird gun. It seems that making a bird gun can't be done well in a month. He'll take a look at it over time.
So Liu Yan encouraged everyone and told everyone to pay attention to rest and not to stay up too late, and then went back to the house to rest.
After the four teams of military households lined up for training for fifteen days, Liu Yan began to let them continue training in the queue one day, and start to supplement some things every other day.
For example, if everyone is asked to run in a queue, they will be considered qualified if they can run one mile in one breath without being out of breath and the queue is not seriously dispersed. After that, everyone was asked to run with heavy loads, and the weight was slowly increased. These were the most basic requirements for training hand strength, foot strength, and physical strength in Qi Jiguang's "Records of Military Training."
Five days later, it was already early June, and Liu Yan began to practice weapons for everyone.
Among the four teams, Liu Yan only allowed them to train with spears and waist knives for the time being. Among the eighteen people in each team, four brave and quick people are first selected to use swords, and the rest use guns. This man who wields the sword will be the candidate for the gunman in the future. Weapons were distributed to everyone one by one, and everyone was very happy.
After all the weapons were distributed, Liu Yan first taught everyone how to shoot, and he said loudly: "You are all watching."
I saw Liu Yan making a sideways gesture and raising his hands, and suddenly shouted: "Kill!"
After a loud roar, Liu Yan suddenly rushed forward, raised his gun and instantly stabbed a human-shaped wooden handle twenty steps ahead in the eyes, throat, heart, waist and feet. All actions seemed to be completed in the blink of an eye.
Everyone applauded, with Wang Yue shouting the loudest, and Chen Xun also sincerely praised: "What a good marksmanship!"
All the military households asked how they could be like Liu Yan. Liu Yan said: "Without him, if you are skilled, you can be like me if you prick ten thousand or one hundred thousand times a day like me."
