In the eighth year of Chongzhen, August 30th.
On the official road outside Chunhua City, a group of soldiers wearing blue military uniforms stood at attention.
The fiery red flags fluttered in the wind, and the sound of hunting lingered in everyone's ears.
The east is getting whiter and the sky is getting brighter.
Chen Wang wore a red tassel felt hat and a crimson arrow jacket. He held the reins in his hands, rode a war horse and led a dozen guards to walk slowly on the side of the official road.
On the official level, nearly 4,500 soldiers from two battalions under his command have completed their assembly.
Thanks to the defeated Ai Wannian and Zhang Waijia, Chen Wang captured a large amount of weapons and equipment from the defeated army.
But I don’t know why the third batch of ordnance promised by Hong Chengchou was not delivered.
Chen Wang guessed that Hong Chengchou felt that he had captured a lot of weapons in this battle.
The fighting on the front line was intense, so the transportation of ordnance was simply cut off.
Naturally, Chen Wang would not send someone out of curiosity to ask whether this batch of ordnance would be delivered.
Hong Chengchou was not an easy person to get along with. According to the records in the history books, it can be said that Hong Chengchou was bound to retaliate against his enemies.
It is better to believe that it exists than to believe that it does not exist.
If you don't have the eyesight to see it, it will not be a good thing if Hong Chengchou will remember it.
Anyway, the ordnance, armor and swords sent were only about a hundred or so.
The seizures after the Chunhua War, coupled with the ordnance allocated by the army before, were actually sufficient for Chen Wang now.
The army now has a total of 2,562 pieces of cloth armor, 957 pieces of mail armor, and 972 pieces of cotton armor.
There are more than 2,000 pieces of iron shield arms, more than 4,000 high-top helmets and hats, and more than 1,000 military uniforms.
Chen Wang, the directly affiliated ranger battalion, divided it into two parts according to the infantry and cavalry, with the cavalry at the front and the infantry at the rear.
There are 897 Liao cavalry in the front. Not counting the more than 50 servants sent by Cao Wenzhao, they are all fully equipped now.
A high-topped neck helmet, cloth face armor on the outside, chain mail on the inside, and arm coverings.
They were all wearing double armor, and had sabers, bows and arrows, and three-eyed blunderbuss all ready.
The equipment is even better than when they were under Zhang Waijia.
The quality of the cloth armor varies, and the iron pieces are inlaid inside. The number of iron pieces affects the protective ability of the cloth armor.
Chen Wang specially selected a batch of armor pieces for these Liao cavalry to ensure their protective power.
There are two divisions and eight divisions of infantry in the rear, three of which are recruits from Pizhou, and one division is veterans of the Zuo division in the front of Cao Wenzhao.
The other four rounds were the reorganization of the remnants of the army that Ai Wannian and Liu Chenggong had fled back from Xiangle.
To be honest, Chen Wang didn't want them.
But Hong Chengchou had already sent someone to deliver them, and they were also included in the formation of his battalion.
Chen Wang now has to take it even if he doesn't want it.
Most of these people are also from Shaanxi. After all, Ai Wannian was originally a staff general of Shenmu, and the deputy commander-in-chief of Gushan behind him was guarding Pingliang Mansion. Naturally, most of the soldiers under his command were from Shaanxi.
When the troops were attacking before, the remnants of the reorganized army from the four rounds were at the forefront.
Unexpectedly, these soldiers did not appear to be after the reorganization of the defeated army.
Whether they are defending the city or fighting in the field, they dare to fight and charge. Perhaps their enemies are particularly jealous when they meet, and their morale is so high that it is scary. ….
Not long after, Liu Chenggong also went to find Chen Wang again.
He briefly talked about the incident when he was ambushed in Xiangle.
These remaining soldiers followed Liu Chenggong and Wang Ximing to break out of the siege. Liu Chenggong meant that Chen Wang could not be too harsh.
Wang Ximing did not survive this difficulty after all, and died of illness in Xi'an not long ago.
Chen Wang did not reject Liu Chenggong's request. Although Liu Chenggong was demoted to a general, his qualifications were there and his connections still existed.
Moreover, the remnants of the four rounds did not do anything that violated military discipline, let alone any thorns.
Now it is not possible to rely solely on the new army. The old army still has its merits at this stage.
After the Battle of Chunhua, these eight divisions of soldiers had a total of 872 people.
However, Chen Wang assigned 144 people from the three bureaus originally recruited from Pizhou to serve as the flag general and deputy flag general of the new army.
In fact, there are 728 people left, and there are no additional troops for the time being.
After the mail armor was distributed to the Liao cavalry and some officers, it was basically gone.
Therefore, these 728 people only wore cloth face armor, high-top helmets, and arm coverings.
The rest of the armor, except for some spare parts, were distributed to the new military camps.
Nine hundred and thirty-seven pieces of cloth face armor, as well as the remaining iron arm shields, were given priority to the officers and sword and shield soldiers of the new army.
The 972 pieces of cotton armor that had not been used were given priority to the gunmen in the army.
Today, about one-third of the new army is fire gun soldiers.
There were not many muskets captured in this battle, and most of them were three-eyed muskets.
The reason is naturally because the fire gun soldiers under Li Zicheng are basically equipped with three-eyed blunderbuss and rarely use bird blunderbuss.
Among the ordnance brought by Hong Chengchou, there were not many bird cannons, and most of them were three-eyed cannons.
Therefore, all of the one-third of the fire gun soldiers are basically equipped with three-eyed guns.
Chen Wang did not insist on using the matchlock gun.
After carefully weighing the pros and cons and thinking over and over again.
Chen Wang discovered that although Li Zicheng learned the tactics he used, his insights and application were superior to his.
Although he was very cautious, he still made the mistake of dogmatism.
They just used it mechanically and installed bird cannons blindly, instead of using three-eye cannons and other firearms.
The power and range of the bird gun are indeed greater and longer than the three-eyed gun.
The reloading time has been improved by more than half with the addition of paper shell ammunition. Only five or six rows of skilled bird gun soldiers are needed to achieve a cycle of firing, with an almost continuous effect.
But there is a very big flaw here. Even if it is continuous, the density of firepower still cannot prevent the enemy from rushing closer.
Therefore, in this period when flintlocks were immature and matchlock technology was mature, there were still a large number of soldiers at home and abroad holding cold weapons to protect the musketeers.
After the three-eyed gun has fired the projectiles, subsequent loading is extremely difficult and cumbersome.
The reloading time is several times that of a gun, so it is generally only used as a one-time consumable.
But the three-eyed gun has one advantage, which is unmatched by the bird gun.
It fires quickly, and the instantaneous fire coverage is denser, causing huge casualties to the enemy in an instant, and can effectively contain a large number of enemy troops. ….
Although the three-eyed gun has a short shooting range, its armor-piercing ability is lower than that of the bird gun.
However, the armor coverage rate of rogue bandits is extremely low. Those who can wear iron armor are elite cavalry. Most of the horse troops only have cotton armor, not to mention infantry and hungry soldiers.
The three-eyed gun is actually the best choice now.
The main enemies we face now are rogue bandits with extremely low armor coverage, rather than Houjin wearing heavy armor.
Hou Jin entered the Pass again in the eleventh year of Chongzhen. At that time, Lu Xiangsheng was recruited to the north to defend.
The enemy was replaced by the Hou Jin soldiers, so they had to wait until the eleventh year of Chongzhen.
In addition to firecrackers, there are also many artillery pieces in the army.
Counting the seizures, there were a total of 20 Tiger Crouching Cannons, 56 small-sized Folan Machines, and 20 medium-sized Folan Machines.
Part of it was the ordnance allocated by Hong Chengchou, and the other part was captured from Li Zicheng.
There are also four cannons. Those four cannons were the artillery used by Li Zicheng in the ambush battle at Qiutou Town.
During the previous Chunhua War, Li Zicheng also used these cannons to bombard the city wall.
Perhaps because of the limited effect, or perhaps because of the lack of gunpowder and projectiles, it only rang for a few times and then stopped.
In the process of escaping, it was naturally impossible for Li Zicheng to take the heavy artillery with him.
The cannon is a large-scale artillery used in the Ming Dynasty. It has been in use since the Jiajing period and generally weighs more than 500 kilograms.
The projectiles fired weighed more than four kilograms and were deafening when fired, as powerful as thunder.
When used to bombard tightly arranged military formations and crowds, it can cause a large number of casualties and give a huge blow to their morale.
The cannon is much lighter than the Hongyi cannon, and its range and power are naturally shorter and weaker than the Hongyi cannon.
The sword and shield soldiers were the least, with only two in one team, accounting for about one-sixth of the total number.
The pikemen were the largest, accounting for almost half.
Naturally, there were no archers at all, and all the new army recruited were hungry soldiers.
If they could shoot arrows, they would have been directly promoted to the ranks early on.
Those who can archery and ride horses can be selected into the cavalry army and troops without any merit. They only need to speak out.
Of course, there are also many other positions such as flag bearer, trumpeter, drummer, messenger, etc.
The composition of the army is not entirely composed of pure soldiers. These military positions also have their own significance.
After all, if you just rely on shouting at the top of your lungs during a march, it will be difficult to command even a battlefield of hundreds of people.
As for the New Army, including the appointed flag generals and deputy flag generals, the number has reached 2,844.
Chen Wang made a new rule, and he personally distributed all the military pay to everyone in the two battalions every month.
Now Chen Wang is not short of money, and everyone can pay enough.
The shortcomings of the Jia Ding system are too great, and Chen Wang does not want to continue to implement the Jia Ding system.
Most of the officers and generals of the Liao Cavalry had died in the battle, leaving no one to support their families.
The same was true among the infantry. There were not many servants, so Chen Wang was prepared to let nature take its course for the time being.
As for the new military camp, Chen Wang naturally would not let anyone raise a family.
In addition to everyone's salary being paid according to their military rank, only the skill assessment level every three months can affect their salary.
The assessment level is divided into four levels, continuing the previous four levels of upper, middle, lower and unsatisfactory.
The top grade earns two and a half taels per month, the middle grade earns two and a half taels, the inferior grade earns one and a half taels, and the unqualified earners one and a half taels.
Those who fail will not only need to practice more, but will also be punished, and those whose assessment results are too poor will have a certain amount of monthly salary deducted.
The soldiers in the new barracks were paid one tael per month for the first three months, and the assessment period was set three months later, which was mid-November.
Chen Wang took one last look back at Chunhua City to the east.
The team spread from his position to the Chunhua City Gate at the end of the official road to the east.
Now thinking about the war that happened in Chunhua not long ago, Chen Wang still felt a little frightened.
There are too many variables in using small things to make big things happen, and using a small number to defeat a large number of people.
But the result was worth it. Not only was he promoted to a battalion general, but he also recruited a battalion of auxiliary soldiers.
The relatively spacious official road was already crowded with soldiers under his command.
Chen Wang turned his head straight again, looked forward, and raised the riding crop in his hand.
It's still not time to stop yet.
Time is running out and the situation is critical.
There is no room for neglect or slackness...
Luo Xiaoming
