On the night after the Hongmen Banquet, He Longzhou, the battalion officer of the Black Wolf Regiment, led the first battalion and arrived in Taicang Prefecture City.
The light cavalry was at the head and tail of the team, the artillery was in the middle of the team, and the most elite grenadiers and musketeers were at the front.
The first battalion of the Eighth Corps has a total strength of 1,500 men. It has a battalion officer, a battalion-level training officer, four commanders, an independent cavalry unit, three sub-trainers, and four commanders under each commander. The flag captain has twenty corps commanders. Artillery support can be moved down to flag corps-level combat units.
In the third year of Taichu, the Eighth Corps was completed. Some of the original repetitive structures were streamlined - such as the Tangma Flag Team of each battalion and the Night Flag Team, which were all unified into independent cavalry teams.
The Eighth Corps suffered more than half of its casualties during the Eastern Conquest of Japan, and its military strength has been in a state of tension over the years.
Among the six battalions under Zhao's command, only the first battalion barely reached full strength.
Although the force has been reduced, it has received priority supply of various firearms.
Thanks to Zhao Lijiao's hard work, the **** ordered that the latest weapons developed by the workshop should be equipped with the Black Wolf Corps for use as soon as possible after testing.
How fast and economical.
This is the mantra of Zhao Lingjiao and the fighting philosophy upheld by the Eighth Corps.
Compared with the first, second, and third main corps, the main battalion of the Black Wolf Corps with 1,500 people is only one-half of the battalion-level establishment of the fraternal troops.
It belongs to the "Pocket Corps" among the twelve major corps.
However, although the sparrow is small, it has all the internal organs.
Taking the first battalion as an example, the 1,500 men include: 200 light cavalry, 100 grenadiers, 600 gunmen, 200 sword and shield soldiers, 300 pikemen, and 100 aerial scouts. .
This is a comprehensive combat force covering multiple arms and spanning land and air. Its comprehensive combat power cannot be underestimated.
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"Longtou, do you want to send Tang Ma into the city to explore it? Or, put a ball first and go up to take a look."
Ball is not a curse word, but the abbreviation of the reconnaissance hot air balloons used by various corps. When hot air balloons first started flying, many people were afraid of the huge thing.
Now, hot air balloons appear on every battlefield.
He Longzhou was called the leader in front of the instructor and the four commanders.
Lin Zhenbei, the instructor of the first battalion, was a scholar in his twenties. He quickly came out and persuaded the chief officer.
There are always two of the four generals who suggest that the Eighth Corps should wait a little before entering the city. After all, they have been on the road for five or six days, and the city is currently unclear of outposts. If the army rushes in directly like this, the risk will be too great.
He Longzhou waved his hand: "No need, the only Japanese troops defending the city are the Japanese troops in front of me, only more than a thousand people."
Lin Zhenbei continued: "There are three to four thousand people fighting in Taicang Prefecture City, otherwise Zhang Jinglue's soldiers would have defeated the slave chieftain long ago."
He Longzhou has followed Zhao Ledjiao since the Tianqi years and participated in the Battle of Kyushu. Like other veterans of the Black Wolf Corps, his family was also killed in Kyushu back then. Although he now has a new home, a wife and children, but every day The first time you get drunk or have a nightmare, you will go back fifteen years.
"What is Gaofu?" He Longzhou is a native of Xiangyang and knows nothing about the dialects of Suzhou and Hangzhou.
"They are green-skinned scoundrels. There are many such people in the Taicang area of Suzhou. During the Jiajing period, Japanese pirates were rampant in the southeast. The imperial court organized a large number of Japanese troops, tens of thousands of them. Once the Japanese pirates were driven away, they would not care about these soldiers. Many of them were Gradually, he became a gangster, living by bullying, fighting, and fighting..."
He Longzhou waved his hands and said disapprovingly: "It turns out they are just a bunch of gangsters. I thought they were three-headed and six-armed. If they dare to obstruct our army, they will be killed. What are you talking about?"
Lin Zhenbei listened and wanted to speak again. He Longzhou said impatiently:
"Brother Lin, I don't have time to chat with you. General Zhao gave me ten days. Today is already the ninth day. Before sunset today, we must enter Taicang and kill the rebels."
Lin Zhenbei nodded silently.
He knew a little about the past of the Eighth Corps, but he never understood why the entire army had such an impatient attitude.
From Zhao Shujiao, the commander of the corps, to the following six... all the veterans who had participated in the Eastern Expedition to the Japanese Kingdom were like being hit by a talisman, scrambling to be the first in everything.
For example, the Qi Army's newly replaced Type 36 rifle has just begun to be tried out by other corps. All soldiers in the Black Wolf Corps already know how to disassemble and maintain it.
Another example is that in March of the first year of Guangde, the entire army began to train the skirmish line method of infantry coordination, and the Eighth Corps was the first to complete it.
Thanks to the widespread use of steam engines, craftsmen and students also began to improve in arithmetic.
In terms of tactics, more innovations also first appeared in Taicang Prefecture.
The original queuing to shoot and the phalanx of hearts, which were modeled on the drills used in the Napoleonic Wars of the 18th century, have been completely cancelled.
Except for the pikemen, almost all other arms fight in separate lines.
According to Zhao Shujiao's observation, in this kind of completely free shooting, the Qi army relied on the advantage of firepower and continued to output, and its combat power was far above the queue wall.
However, the pressure faced by scattered soldiers can be imagined.
According to Zhao Shujiao’s own diary, it can be seen that:
"Howling in the ears. Even if it can't hit you, it will make a little noise when it lands at your feet, because it is almost always fired after aiming.
In other words, those short soldiers, when lined up in a horizontal formation, are often worth two coppers and lead bullets.
He Longzhou rejected all requests that might delay the war process.
He just wanted a quick victory, to leave here as soon as possible, resolve the dispute in Taicang, and then return to Shandong to continue preparing for the Eighth Corps' eastward expedition to Japan.
But now, things seem to have changed.
Zhao Lingjiao told Zhang Yingqian that if he wanted to seek revenge against the Japanese pirates as soon as possible, he must first stabilize the situation in Taicang.
“All troops and horses, prepare to enter the city!
