Liu Chengzong was busy in Shaanxi until early April.
The Lion Battalion has been stationed in the Dianshan River Valley south of Crouching Mountain.
Taking advantage of the opportunity to bury their subordinates and place injured soldiers, Liu Chengzong and several sentry commanders had plenty of time to summarize their post-war experience.
Liu Chengzong mainly discovered two things.
In the battle with Aimu, they suffered very few direct casualties in the close-quarters night attack.
More than half of the casualties came from the cannons in the southeast corner of Yi City. The narrow terrain of the Wen'an Yi River Valley made the artillery scatters extremely powerful. One cannon shot all over the subway, and could even be sprayed directly into the river two hundred steps away. On the other side of the mountain.
The auxiliary soldiers with uneven armor could hardly withstand this kind of damage.
The auxiliary soldiers of the Lion Battalion all have armor, but most of the armors are not complete sets. Some wear helmets, some wear chains, some directly wear shawls or sleeveless armor, and some people wear armor tied under their cotton-padded jackets. skirt.
"Why is this happening?"
In the Chinese military tent in the camp, Liu Chengzong was puzzled by this problem: "We have enough armor, unless someone sells the spoils."
In the early days, armored weapons were stored as war trophies in the labor and baggage outposts. As the Lion Battalion distributed the reward money, the sergeants in the battalion set off a rush to buy them in Huojiabao.
Anyway, their money doesn't have much use, so from top to bottom, the captain is willing to pay to buy armor for each team, and the captain and even the captain are also willing to buy armor for their subordinates.
This is even more true when it comes to the war soldiers. When the Lion Battalion entered Shanxi and only robbed a fort, they received an income of 20,000 taels, which gave them a very glorious prospect.
Bringing extraordinary hope and vision to the Lion Camp, the soldiers are willing to exchange all their money for armor weapons, and they can't wait to arm their auxiliary soldiers to the teeth, hoping to survive the next battle.
Better days are ahead.
Liu Chengzong summarized the sales and expenditures of the work posts and baggage posts in those days. Although the entire battalion was not fully equipped with armor, the profits were enough for most of the auxiliary soldiers to wear neat armor.
And they have a set of rules for allocating war profits based on rank and military merit. Except for the battalion headquarters, no one is extremely rich, and there is no possibility of buying up all the armor.
But in battle, the troops behaved differently.
"No, no, no, this is impossible." Cao Yao waved his hands one after another and said, "The sergeants in the battalion are all surrounded by the sentry camp. They don't even have a chance to contact anyone, let alone not meeting anyone else. Who are they going to sell it to?"
Yang Yao also said: "The armor of the auxiliary soldiers in the civil war at my sentry post is sufficient, but the auxiliary soldiers don't wear them during the battle. They just hang up a few pieces and go into battle. I always feel that they are not well-trained as fighting soldiers."
"General, my rear guard is like this too."
Wang Wenxiu also echoed the words, stroking his beard and shaking his head: "I dare to climb the city wall and just wear a shirt. Every time I go into battle, I don't have time to talk about it. When I talk about it after the battle, I just get over it. The problem is not cured." "
Just when several sentry commanders were confused, Chengyun was a little unsure. He thought for a long time before whispering: "Brother, I may know what's going on."
Cheng Yun glanced at the Jiujiu warriors sitting next to him, sighed, raised his head and said, "They can't wear it. I also have a suit of armor, but I can't wear it. The auxiliary soldiers... may not be physically stronger than me."
Not only Liu Chengzong was stunned, but also officers such as Cao Yao, Wang Wenxiu, and Yang Yao were stunned.
Shangtianhou, who was sitting next to him, took a deep look at Chengyun, nodded to Liu Chengzong and said, "Yes, I'm embarrassed to say it. Let Chengyun tell me, I can't wear the full armor."
"Can't you?"
Cao Yao's eyes widened and he said, "When I first joined the army, I weighed forty pounds in Henan and nothing happened!"
Liu Chengzong figured it out. Everyone has their own curse of knowledge. At first, he didn't think about it.
It's like saying that he can shoot a war bow of eighty, ninety or even one hundred kilograms. If someone is said to be weaker, then the first thought in his mind is that he can shoot a sixty kilogram bow.
But in fact, most people cannot even lift 30 pounds without training.
They are all veterans who are accustomed to armor, and they don't even think about the fact that some people can't wear armor, because in their minds, those who can't wear armor are the weaklings who feel tired and tired when wearing it, and want to be lazy.
This is completely different from the inability to wear armor mentioned by Heavenly Monkey and Chengyun.
Moreover, the physical fitness of these two people is relatively good among the auxiliary soldiers. At least Chengyun never suffered from hunger during the four-year drought in northern Shaanxi.
This is just like when Cao Yao first joined the army. The young man in the late Wanli years had enough to eat and drink in the army, and his body became accustomed to bearing heavy loads in two months.
The auxiliary soldiers among the refugees are different.
Those people came here from serious hunger. Having enough food for several months or even half a year cannot make up for the consumption and damage to the body caused by enduring hunger for a long time.
In fact, their bodies are still recovering and their bodies are still preparing for the next drought.
"I understand. Several sentry commanders have gone back to ask the auxiliary soldiers. If it's because they can't be worn, then they have to find a way elsewhere."
Liu Chengzong was unwilling to accept this situation.
I would like to ask which general does not want his soldiers to be well-armored.
He wished that the entire army could wear it and reach the top level of military equipment of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty, and even the top level of equipment in the early Ming Dynasty.
Because he was born in the frontier army, he had the clearest understanding of the situation of the frontier army. In the Ming Dynasty, in order to deal with the problem of the perennial incursions of invaders from northern Mongolia, military development became more targeted.
The war horses have changed from fully equipped to half equipped or even lightly equipped, and the soldiers' armor has also changed from the eighty kilogram heavy armor of the foreign soldiers to the current medium armor of about forty kilograms.
The cavalry used soft bows, long arrows, fast horses and light knives as their main weapons, while the infantry used three-eyed blunderbuss with nine or ten lead pieces as their main weapon.
A large number of small field guns use a mixture of shotgun and solid bullets to kill rangers at close range.
Military thinking is a compromise between mobility and protection.
The sentry commanders dispersed. Cao Yao saw that Liu Chengzong was unwilling to accept the current situation. He followed them out of the military tent and found an excuse to return. He sighed and said, "Why didn't you think of this before?"
"Before, I didn't deserve to think about it before. Before we attacked Fenzhou and Pingyang, where were there so many armors?"
Liu Chengzong asked back and shook his head: "In the past, it was not surprising that the auxiliary soldiers wore less clothes and went into battle. Now they all have armor, and they still wear less clothes and go into battle. This makes them stand out."
"Then what are you going to do?"
Cao Yao said and came up with an idea: "I think it's better to bring the armor with you and let them practice wearing it when not fighting. The more they practice, the more they can wear it."
Liu Chengzong waved his hands freely and said: "I'm not too worried about this matter. I'm just thinking about the troops. We are all frontier troops. What we learn and use comes from the imperial court."
"No one knows what is going on in the east, but these things on the three sides of Shaanxi have spent decades or even hundreds of years figuring out a way to deal with the northern barbarians."
Liu Chengzong sat cross-legged on the carpet of the central military tent, raised his hand and pointed in front of him: "Our opponent is not the northern captives, we have to deal with the brisk officers and soldiers."
He put his hands together and separated them in front of him: "Either, be lighter and faster than them; or, be heavier and more ruthless than them."
After saying that, he clenched his fists and smiled at Cao Yao: "There is no country that is always strong and always weak. If we were to seize the world one day, we would still have to deal with the Donglu."
Cao Yao listened to the previous words very seriously, but he took the last sentence as a joke. He smiled and said: "It won't be our turn to think about Donglu in a while. Are you going to go lighter or heavier?" "
Cao Yao means cliches.
For a long time, Liu Chengzong's performance was novel and strange to him.
He had never seen Liu Chengzong worry that the various peasant armies would be wiped out by the official army. In fact, everyone was worried about this issue, but Liu Shizi never thought about it.
He is also not as keen on robbery and army expansion as other leaders.
Cao Yao thought more than once that as long as Liu Shishi was willing, he could annex seven or eight leaders at any time and directly expand the team to eight battalions.
But Liu Shizi didn't do this, and Cao Yao felt that the lion deliberately didn't do this, trying his best to suppress the lion's camp from forming his own consciousness, and not letting the lion's camp push him away.
For a whole year, except for the Xingzi River, they had not stayed anywhere seriously. The team wandered around, always doing whatever the lion wanted them to do.
Instead of running out of food and having to grab a handful, grab a handful.
This gave Cao Yao the feeling that Liu Shizi never worried about things in front of him, but he was very worried about things in three to five years.
Just the opposite with other leaders.
Others worry about what they will eat next, and other than that it will be fine if the sky falls; he is not worried about what he will eat next, he is only preparing for the day when the sky falls.
Liu Chengzong didn't know what Cao Yao was thinking. He frowned and thought about it for a while, then raised his hand and said, "My idea is that the combat soldiers are heavier and more ruthless, and the auxiliary soldiers are lighter and faster."
"I plan to ask the auxiliary soldiers to remove the armor pieces from the armor if they really can't wear a full set of armor, and put them on the soldier's uniform, on the chest and back."
Liu Chengzong said, while making gestures on his body: "Twelve or three pounds, wear a helmet, make armbands with a notch on the face, and shoot arrows without delay. In this way, the whole body is about thirty pounds."
As he spoke, he took a deep breath and said, "If I can't carry the thirty kilograms anymore, I won't be able to do anything. If I can't protect myself, I'll ask for my blessings and try to live long enough to be able to carry it."
He also thought about it, this was entirely a trouble of being wealthy.
I remember when he was in Yuhe Fort, wearing cotton armor with rusty cotton armor, and when he had worried about having too much armor.
At that time, he wanted to know that one day he would worry about this matter, and he would laugh out of his dreams.
Not only for him, but also for the auxiliary soldiers, it was also a worry for the wealthy. In fact, most of the peasant soldiers went into battle wearing clothes, so there was no armor.
It would be nice if you could grab an iron hat and wear it. Being a small boss might be the only way to get a pair of armor.
Cao Yao knew the structure of the shield. There were two handles behind the shield. The arms could pass through the handles. One handle was placed on the forearm, and the other was held in the hand.
What Liu Chengzong said does not affect shooting, is to pass the hand between the two handles and hold a bow or gun to shoot.
He thought carefully and nodded: "This shield is good. It has a round bulge on the outside and does not hinder the slight bending of the elbow when holding the gun. However, be sure to tell the craftsman that the shield must be turned over."
The flanging in Cao Yao's words means that the edge of the round shield is slightly raised, so that when the arrow hits the round shield, it will be blocked by the edge and will not hit the person.
"Needless to say, I will definitely remember it."
Liu Chengzong responded with a smile, and then said: "There is another thing. I didn't mention it just now. More wounded soldiers died this time than before. Many of them were burned to death after being injured."
The smile on his face disappeared: "Ai Mu asked the army to apply gold juice on the blades and arrows before breaking out. Is there any good defense method for this kind of thing?"
After the golden juice is boiled, the bacteria itself are basically killed, but it is a very good breeding ground for bacteria, and some bacteria may breed in it.
The reason why Aimu used this thing couldn't be simpler. Nearly two thousand of them were surrounded in the city for several days. The feces could not be transported out, so they simply put it on the top of the city to defend the city.
When necessary, mix it with boiling hot soup and pour it down. It will cause little direct harm but is extremely insulting. It will have a greater impact on the morale of the siege troops and lead to more deaths from subsequent infections.
Cao Yao shook his head. No one had a good idea for this thing. Even the armor couldn't stop it. Extensive burns and subsequent infections made it difficult even for gods to save it.
But then he thought of something, and said: "There is nothing you can do about applying poison on the knife. You can only avoid being chopped down, but attack the city. I remember that the Donglu were particularly good at attacking the city. When I was in Liaodong, I saw a kind of barrel ladder with four wheels. There is a wooden canopy above to protect the enemy from arrows and spears. When the ladder cannot be lowered and the city is empty, corpses are piled on the base and a ladder is built to attack the city."
Liu Chengzong had never seen that kind of scene. Cao Lao Cao painted a tragic siege map for him with just a few words.
The city was destroyed by artillery fire, and corpses that had fallen from the ladder were piled under the city. A slope gradually formed, and a ladder with a shed was erected on the city to block the view. Donglu climbed up on the corpse of his comrade.
He shook his head and said: "It's still difficult to attack the city!"
"You cherish your life too much. How many people in this world are destined to die."
Cao Yao paused, took a deep breath and said: "The Lion Camp has never fought a fierce battle. You have always been very smart. You hide from those who are difficult to fight. If you can't hide, you surround them. You don't want those who are with you to die. I know that."
"But a fierce battle will happen sooner or later. The troops who can only fight with the wind will suffer big losses in the future. Everyone will die by then, and the Lion Camp..."
Cao Yao scratched the scar on his face and said in a sincere tone: "The Lion Battalion can withstand much more casualties than you think. No amount of officers and soldiers can ask for food for these people. There are so many people who want to sacrifice their lives for you. We always fight these people." Bad fight."
Cao Yao smiled: "We are a bunch of people who have lost their talents."
Liu Chengzong smiled, Cao Yao's words came to his heart.
But this thing was beyond his control. He shook his head and said, "Just wait, a fierce battle will come soon. Didn't Master Gao say earlier that the two provinces were about to join forces? By then, even if he doesn't want to fight a vicious battle, he can still hide. but."
After that, he waved his hand and said: "By the way, help me find Song Shouzhen later and tell him about the normal training team of the battalion. I plan to divide the 80 literate people into eight sentries, starting from the sentry commander. , captain, and chief, all must be literate and learn every day.”
Liu Chengzong shook his head and said: "There are still too few talents. The combat auxiliary soldiers will wait first. If there are 80 more literate people, they will be arranged as well."
The two of them were talking here, and before Cao Yao started to complain for his junior officers, the voice of the monkey from the sky came from outside the Chinese army tent.
"General, great news!"
When the Sky Monkey came in, the Dirty Monkey rubbed his hands and sat down cross-legged. He said hello to Cao Yao and said: "The emperor has issued an edict to transfer silver from various places to Beijing. The silver team from Shaanxi will go to Hexi Road, which is Yanzhou. Go to Yan'an Prefecture and enter Yulin!"
