Ouyang Xuan appointed Cao Ergou to be responsible for the formation and training of the Perak Army. The size of the Perak Army of the newly formed army is 300. In addition to the 200 people from the previous Liuliba teaching team, 100 people were also transferred from various villages in the name of training the backbone of military skills. According to Ouyang Xuan's thinking, in order to give full play to the role of firearms, the formation of the Perak Army no longer follows the organizational structure of the cold weapon army. Therefore, it is not set up according to the "fire, team, battalion", etc., but is based on the modern army's "squad, platoon, and battalion". "Company" setting and implement the "three-three system". The smallest combat unit is a squad, with 10 people per squad. The third squad is a platoon, and the third platoon plus a company headquarters of 10 people, each company has 100 people. The entire army was organized into three companies, with Ouyang Xuan as the commander and Cao Ergou as the deputy commander. The first company was captained by Cao Ergou, the second company was captained by Shi Zhongshu, and the third company was captained by Yu San, the leader of Xiangshui Village who participated in military training. His father was the former leader of Xiangshui Village. Because he rose up to resist the brutal oppression of the Xiongben gang, five members of his family died at the hands of the bandits, and he was the only one to escape. At the joint defense meeting of various villages, he was the most determined and radical. This time Liuliba trained the military backbone of each village, and Yu San even participated in it personally. Of course, Ouyang Xuan's appointment was not just from a political point of view, but because Yu San was not only calm and resolute, but also brave. He had long-term sneak attacks on lone bandits, and no less than ten bandits died in his hands, so that Xiong Ben placed a reward of 100 kilograms of salt on his head.
In the cold weapon era, it took more than a year to train a soldier with qualified martial arts skills, and it even took several years for an archer. The Perak Army did not have so much time at all. Fortunately, the emergence of firearms changed the way the army trained. Ouyang Xuan planned to let the Perak Army use firearms as its main output method and coordinate with cold weapons to quickly form an army. According to the new mixed formation, each company of the Perak Army has three squads equipped with folding giant shields standing at the front and on both sides to protect against enemy bows and arrows; there are three squads equipped with spears about 3 meters long that are close to the giant shields. After the shield. In the future, the spears used in plain combat will be replaced by heavy spears up to 5 meters long to prevent cavalry attacks; another three squads will be equipped with light artillery as the main strike force.
The new formation method has a long range, high power, is simple to operate and easy to train. It can take as little as one month or as long as three months to train to form combat effectiveness. However, it requires extremely high discipline. If the enemy, especially the cavalry, gets close, if someone is on top of it. Failure to continuously attack and flee will lead to the collapse of the front and even the destruction of the entire army. Therefore, Ouyang Xuan asked the Perak Army to make discipline the focus of training and strengthen the soldiers' obedience awareness and execution ability in a harsh and ruthless way. Therefore, Ouyang Xuan did not choose the gentle and generous Huang Dagen, but asked the resolute and tenacious Cao Ergou to be responsible for training. Although the soldiers of the Pili Army were carefully selected mountain people, they were already hard-working people, but under Cao Ergou's devilish training, they still complained endlessly and cursed secretly. The swords were sharpened, and the fragrance of plum blossoms came from the bitter cold. After a period of training, the casual expressions on the soldiers' faces faded away, and there was a faint look of iron coldness, which made Ouyang Xuan feel relieved. He believed that over time, the Perak Army would become an army of warriors with iron-clad discipline and an army of warriors that would not change color despite the overwhelming weight.
With the full spread of industrial and mining production and military training, the problem of insufficient money and food that Ouyang Xuan had previously worried about gradually emerged. Although the labor forces involved in mining, logging, and smelting are prisoners of labor camps and laborers from various villages are shareholders, and do not need to pay extra money or food, the above-mentioned labor and training are high-intensity activities, which consume a lot of food and salt. Food can be purchased with thunderbolts. In the name of the army, temporary borrowings were made from various villages, which could be offset by iron farm tools and weapons, but salt could not be replenished. Villages used to be able to buy goods from Wanjiaping bandits at high prices, but now the channels are cut off, which makes Yang Xiucai, who is in charge of logistics, frowning all day long. This salt is absolutely indispensable. Short-term salt deficiency can be tolerated, but if it is long-term, people will be weak or even fall ill. Not only will production activities be greatly affected, but the combat effectiveness of the army will also plummet.
Ouyang Xuan also wanted to take advantage of Xiong Ben's defeat to open a way out of the mountain. On the third day after he defeated the Xiong Ben bandits, he sent someone with a letter to Chongqing Mansion to report his merits. However, he was blocked by bandits when passing through Wanjiaping. Although the courier risked his life to break through the blockade under the cover of grenades, the remaining escorting soldiers were unable to advance and had to retreat. According to reports from soldiers who participated in the battle, the bandits seemed to have found ways to deal with grenades. Some tried to throw the grenades back, while others used iron shields to suppress the grenades. Fortunately, during the Battle of Liuliba, Ouyang Xuan also discovered the problem of the grenade fuse taking too long to burn, so he adjusted the burning time to about 4 seconds, so that the improved grenade would explode shortly after landing. This time, the soldiers escorting the courier used improved grenades. This new change caused the bandits who tried to throw the grenades back to suffer a big loss, and their limbs were blown away by the grenade in their hands. However, the bandits used iron shields to suppress this move, which greatly reduced the grenade's killing effect, which gave the Wanjiaping bandits the confidence to fight against Liuliba. The worse news is that after the messenger forced his way through the blockade, Xiong Ben began to imitate Liuliba's overhaul of fortifications and began to retreat into defensive mode. He built a new earth-and-stone fortress above the mountain road at the Wanjiaping T-junction, tightly guarding the road in and out of the mountain. Now if the Perak Army wants to force its way through, it will have to pay huge casualties, and it is even more impossible for the caravan to pass. Therefore, going to the outside of the mountain to buy supplies through the secret trail discovered by Dong Hu has become Liuliba's only option at present.
Carrying out trade with Shanwai is not only to purchase necessary daily necessities, but also to earn the money needed for the development and growth of the Perak Army. In order to ensure that the first business event goes smoothly, Ouyang Xuan and others spent half a month planning and preparing. Since this trip was of great importance, he decided to lead the team himself, with Huang Dagen and Dong Hu accompanying him, while Yu Zhu stayed behind at Liuliba. In case of trouble, Cao Ergou and Lu Dezhi would discuss it together. This is a critical period for the training of industry, mining and the Perak Army. It is really impossible to spare more manpower, but 250 people were still squeezed out to prepare for this event. Among them, there were only 100 people in the armed caravan and another 150 people. Ten people are support staff. It was June, when the vegetation was growing wildly, and the hidden paths were covered with thorns. Two days before the caravan officially set off, Huang Dagen arranged for fifty logistics personnel to clear the road in advance with cutting tools and ropes. Another hundred porters accompanied the caravan to help carry food, water and mountain goods. Huang Dagen made this arrangement because the journey was long and difficult. After the armed caravan members arrived in the plains, in addition to carrying goods, they also carried weapons such as swords, shields, and grenades. The physical loss was too great. In fact, in order to reduce the load, the trading team carried high-value mountain goods such as animal skins and precious traditional Chinese medicines. Of course, these items were purchased on credit from various cottages.
After two days of arduous march, the caravan arrived at the foot of the mountain near Hengyuan Village to rest, while Kaidao and the porters and other logistics personnel returned to Liuliba along the original road. In line with the caution of sailing a thousand-year ship, Ouyang Xuan did not rush to Hengyuan Stronghold. Instead, he first sent scouts to find out the situation before leading the caravan into Hengyuan Stronghold.
