"I have sent reconnaissance cavalry to search in the direction of Huang County," Zhu Mingxia said. "After the rebels captured Huang County yesterday, they are carrying out organized looting, burning and killing in the county. Most of the villages near the city have been destroyed." Read the full text] The first wave of refugees is now estimated to have formed. When we go out to take them in, we will at most encounter small groups of rebels, but not the main force."
Lu Wenyuan was already uneasy: "But the refugee group is very slow. I'm afraid they won't be able to walk two or three kilometers in an hour. The queue is too long..."
"It doesn't matter, I just need to maintain the order of the army. The containment team will still act as a whole. Once I encounter a large group of enemies, I will immediately gather the formation to resist. The county seat of Huang County is not far from here, you can come at any time reinforce."
Zhu Mingxia and Lu Wenyuan agreed on their contact information, and then he jogged all the way to the playground. The containment team had already assembled according to his order.
The containment team is more like an armed caravan than an army. Zhu Mingxia did a lot of work to carry out large-scale armed refugee accommodation in Shandong. Especially how to cover the slow-moving and large number of refugees, he made several different plans and tried different troop formations and equipment. Eventually a system was formed.
This system is roughly based on the concept of carts and trains used by Eastern European armies in the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the beginning of the Hussite Rebellion, Eastern European armies have commonly used large vehicle formations. Initially, carts used to transport baggage were used as mobile fortifications. The cart is only used as a protective bunker during defense and camping. Later, it gradually developed into a vehicle formation that could move while fighting. Cossack, Polish, and Russian armies became increasingly adept at using this tactic against the Tatars. When encountering an attack, the large convoy used the firearms and spears on the large vehicle to fight against the highly mobile Tatar light cavalry on both wings of the army, covering the movement of dismounted infantry, non-combatants and baggage.
This system is not available everywhere, and can only be used effectively in the flat terrain of Central and Eastern Europe. Although this area of Huang County is a hilly area, there are many flat lands along the coast and not many rivers. The use of large vehicle arrays can indeed play a certain role.
However, Zhu Mingxia didn't have many carts - even if he did, he couldn't find enough oxen to pull them, so his cart array was made up of purple electric carts. On the contrary, the car formation was somewhat different from that of Sun Yuanhua. However, Sun Yuanhua's vehicle formation relied on an immature firearm system. Whether his light artillery or muskets, they all had the problems of slow loading, short range and low accuracy. Of course, the same problem was the same in Europe, but the Ming army was miserable. His habit of using firearms: opening fire as soon as he sees the enemy charging, and then running away - so that the astonishing number of firearms owned by Ming Dynasty have never been able to effectively play their due role.
Zhu Mingxia didn't have this problem. Not only did he have enough high-quality firearms - he was much better than the British Brown Bess who defeated the Eight Banners powerful force in 1840. And the military is highly trained.
Finally, he had a secret weapon: several typewriters removed from naval battleships and temporarily installed on a Windrush-style two-wheeled trolley. Once this thing fires, it can be suppressed even if hundreds of Manchu bagarai charge together.
The reception team consists of three main parts: the escort team, which is responsible for armed protection and is composed of army soldiers from the northward detachment; and the civilian team, which is all people who can speak the local dialect-most of them are recent refugees. The civilian staff's job is to comfort the refugees. At the same time, order is maintained among the refugee ranks. Finally, there is the transport team. They carried part of the vehicles and livestock, transported the young, old, women and children among the refugees, and accelerated the march of the entire team. Zhu Mingxia's instruction to them was that they didn't need to pretend to be anything, but mainly to pretend to be people: especially children and women.
The transportation team and the civil affairs team are mainly composed of Qimujiang Xiangyong. Everyone has a standard machete, and some people also have standard spears, so they can engage in hand-to-hand combat when necessary. Although Lu Wenyuan felt that the spears were a bit in the way, Zhu Mingxia believed that the spears were very useful - firstly, the spears in formation could effectively deal with cavalry, and secondly, the spears could be used as crutches, which were very useful when walking in the snow. It can also be used to assemble a stretcher when necessary.
In addition to the soldiers, each reception team member must carry three people's rations and drinking water to replenish the refugees at any time - of course, large amounts of portable rations are transported by the transport team's vehicles and livestock. In order to facilitate the refugees to eat during the journey, the rations carried by the reception team are biscuits from the relief rations: these biscuits are similar to rice cakes and are baked with a mixture of rice flour, sweet potato flour, salt and sugar. The texture is crispy and fluffy. It is easy to digest and does not require a lot of drinking water when eating - it is difficult to provide them with safe drinking water in a timely manner when large groups of refugees are moving.
The containment team has a radio station, which is carried by a military four-wheeled light carriage made by Lingao. It can keep in touch with the base at any time. Due to its preciousness, a cavalry squad is specially equipped to protect its safety.
Zhu Mingxia looked at the containment team gathered on the playground - everyone was fully dressed. Cold-proof clothing is readily available, although most refugees do not have enough clothing and rely entirely on fires to survive the winter. However, all those who were selected to join the rural brave team were issued cotton-padded clothes, trousers, cotton hats and gloves.
He randomly checked the equipment of some people and saw whether their leggings were strong. The soldiers in the northbound detachment had warm military boots to wear, but the country warriors could only be satisfied with reed sandals.
But this is not bad - how many refugees walked hundreds of miles barefoot in the cold wind to reach Qimu Island.
The condition of clothing was what he paid the most attention to, especially for the northbound detachment. Although northerners were recruited from the entire army to enrich the northbound detachment, the majority were still southerners, and many of them were reduced due to frostbite after winter.
"Have the troops had breakfast?" Zhu Mingxia asked Huang Xiong, who was following the inspection team. He served as the company commander of the northbound detachment. Because he was also a soldier in Dengzhou, the escort team chose his company as the backbone, and he served as team leader.
"Report to the leader, I have already eaten." Huang Xiong, wearing a gray military coat, raised his hands and saluted.
"How are the soldiers doing?"
"Report to the head: very high!"
"Can you leave immediately?"
"Report to the chief: anytime, anywhere!"
"Very good." Zhu Mingxia said. The soldiers had been completely lightly equipped, carrying only one day's worth of rations and water in addition to weapons, ammunition and warm clothing. The military flag remained in the camp, and according to the instructions, they did not carry identification documents or any documents. Zhu Mingxia has issued an order that all soldiers who died in the battle and their weapons and equipment must be recovered and are not allowed to be abandoned or buried on the spot.
He checked and found no major problems. Just as he was checking, the scout cavalry who came back from outside brought new news: there was a group of about two to three thousand refugees heading towards Qimu Island. Come. There is no major rebel activity nearby.
"The main force of the rebels is moving around Huang County, and some of them are transporting the supplies and food they grabbed to Dengzhou." The scout reported, "They kidnapped a large number of women and young adults and went to Dengzhou. Let the young adults transport the supplies. .”
"Is there a small group of rebels operating nearby?"
"Report: No, small groups of rebels are mostly active in several towns and cities around Huang County, and no one comes to the seaside."
"You have completed your mission very well. Go and rest first." Zhu Mingxia ordered.
"The troops are ready to set off!" Zhu Mingxia looked at his watch, "We will set off in fifteen minutes!"
At 8 a.m., an armed reception team composed of more than 400 people drove out of Willow Edge. The troops advanced in columns, and the cavalry company sent three times the search cavalry forward. In addition to being responsible for early warning of the enemy, they also had the task of discovering the refugee crowd in a timely manner. If they were a small group of refugees, the cavalry would directly bring them to the large army.
From Qimu Island to Huangxian County, the straight-line distance is only more than 20 kilometers. If you have enough food and are in good health, it will only take you seven or eight hours to complete the hike. But considering the status of the refugees, it would take at least two days to walk. Zhu Mingxia decided to take the risk and advance to a place about ten kilometers away from Huangxian County. At the same time, in order to facilitate the reception, he planned to find a village as a temporary camp at the midpoint of the entire route, leaving some people and food as a place for the reception and overnight stay for the refugees. Based on the current temperature, many refugees would die after spending one night in the wild. He wanted to reduce the mortality rate of refugees as much as possible.
At the same time, this camp can also accommodate scattered refugees on the road without having to take them on long marches.
The troops marched on the land covered with ice and snow. Although the weather was sunny, the severe freezing still brought great difficulties to the march. Especially for fully loaded carts, each cart had to be pulled by a few villagers using lassoes in front. Zhu Mingxia ordered the organization of a reception team to follow the rear of the team - the northbound detachment. He didn't think it was a big problem, but it was hard to say whether there would be large-scale stragglers in the newly established advancing column.
The land of Huang County outside Qimu Island was desolate. After walking for more than ten miles, I didn't hear a sound of chickens or dogs. The villages I passed were in dilapidated condition and there was no living person. Dead bodies can be seen on the road and in the wild from time to time. Most of them died of cold and starvation.
Zhu Mingxia did not ride a horse, but walked in the middle of the team on foot. He carried a SKS-D with a 30-round magazine on his back. Compared with many veterans who did not like semi-automatic weapons, he was very fond of this weapon.
The cold wind stung his face, but Zhu Mingxia didn't feel cold at all. He stopped from time to time to check the map and compass to make sure that the marching route did not deviate from the route he chose. To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly votes. Your support is my biggest motivation. )
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