I met Zuo Guangxian during the campaign in Guan Nei, and we had a chance to meet him several times.
When Hezu Dabi was in Liaodong outside the Pass, and in the seventh year of Chongzhen, the Jin army destroyed the entrance to the Great Wall and invaded Datong.
At that time, Cao Wenzhao led his troops out of the city to fight in the field with Hou Jin soldiers. Zu Dabi was also in Datong at the time and also led his troops out together, so Chen Wang still had an impression.
"I've seen General Zuo and General Zu."
Chen Wang, Cao Wenzhao and He Renlong finished the ceremony, stepped forward a little, clasped their fists and saluted again.
Although I don’t know why Zuo Guangxian and Zu Dabi came with Cao Wenzhao, there is always no mistake if etiquette is in place.
"I remembered."
Zuo Guangxian also clasped his fists and returned the salute, but Zu Dabi grinned and laughed.
"When we were in Datong."
When Zu Dabi smiled, the gentle temperament on his body disappeared in an instant, and his peaceful look disappeared.
There was a fierce look in his eyes, and he looked eager to fight, as if he was eager to try.
"It's a great honor for General Zu to remember me."
Chen Wang originally thought that Zu Dabi didn't know him. After all, he was just a servant at that time.
"Twenty teams left the city, fifteen teams returned to the city, and the fourteenth team did not make any achievements, and the men and horses were injured."
"Only one team came back with hundreds of people and level 13 heads. You are the leader of the team. How could I not remember that?"
When the Hou Jin invaded, they scattered and looted, so Cao Wenzhao and Zu Dabi also counterattacked, sending fine cavalry and servants out of the city to kill the scattered Hou Jin soldiers.
However, most of the cavalry sent out returned without success. Only one team of cavalry rescued more than a hundred people when they returned, and even took the heads of thirteen Houjin soldiers, which caused a stir in the city. sensation.
Zu Dabi heard Chen Wang's name, which sounded familiar to him, but he couldn't remember where he had seen it.
Now that I saw Chen Wang, I recalled what happened in Datong for a moment.
Zuo Guangxian's eyes flashed, and his eyes when looking at Chen Wang couldn't help but change slightly.
After all, the Jiannu in the north and the rogue bandits in the pass are completely different things. The difference in combat power between the two is not even the slightest.
Most of the time he and Chen Wang met were in Hong Chengchou's military tent. What he remembered most was when Chen Wang met Hong Chengchou for the first time.
Chen Wang presented the heads of Li Yangchun and Lin Shengquan in front of the tent. They were unstoppable.
At that time, I only heard that Chen Wang was excellent in military training and that he was able to match Qi Jun's intentions.
Zuo Guangxian had also seen the cavalry that came with Chen Wang at that time. Those cavalry were indeed more aggressive than the general cavalry of the Shaanxi Army, and their fierceness was more obvious.
After a brief exchange of greetings, Chen Wang followed Cao Wenzhao and got on the horse again, and then walked all the way to the side of the camp. At the same time, he also figured out why Zuo Guangxian and Zu Dabi followed.
The capital was in a hurry. There was only one day left to gather troops at Tongguan, and they would have to break camp and march north the day after.
When he led the troops over, the military meeting had just ended and several people were together, so he followed Cao Wenzhao.
Chen Wang also guessed a little bit about the deeper reasons.
This time, the Qing army entered the country and did not collect any returns at night. The Qing soldiers gathered more than 100,000 troops and swept southward along the gap in the Great Wall.
The Qing army's combat power was far superior to that of the rogue bandits, and they had no chance of winning when they fought alone against the enemy. Even if they combined to fight against the enemy, the chances of winning were slim.
This is a time when sincere cooperation is even more important. No one wants to be stabbed by an ally behind them during combat.
Cao Wenzhao, He Renlong, Zuo Guangxian, and Zu Dabi are all general soldiers, and the relationship between the four of them is not bad.
Cao Wenzhao was a humble man, good at communication, and good at fighting, so he had many friends with him.
Cao Wenzhao, He Renlong, Zuo Guangxian and Zu Dabi were all old acquaintances.
He Renlong and Zuo Guang first became acquainted with each other when they were fighting bandits in Shaanxi, and Zu Dabi had known each other since they were in Liaodong.
The reason why the four of them are together now is probably because they have agreed to support each other offensively and defensively.
The conversation between several people soon confirmed Chen Wang's thoughts.
This time, the main force of Beijing's aid to the capital was the troops from the three towns of Yansui, Guyuan and Ningxia.
The topics discussed by Cao Wenzhao and others were how to respond to the Qing army, and they had begun to assign tasks to each other.
Zuo Guang first raised his eyes and looked forward, looking at a group of soldiers marching on the official road not far away.
"I have long heard that Vice General Chen is very good at training his troops, but I have never been able to see him. Today I saw him and it turned out to be true."
When everyone saw Zuo Guangxian's eyes turned to the official road, their attention could not help but be distracted.
Zuo Guangxian's eyes were wandering around. There was no ordinary person who could serve as the commander-in-chief of a town in a nine-border town. His eyes were naturally vicious.
On the road, a group of Hanzhong Army soldiers who were entering the camp were in neat formation and coordinated their movements.
Dozens or hundreds of people walked almost in unison, with solemn military looks and murderous intent.
Zu Dabi looked at the marching Hanzhong troops, a hint of displeasure flashed deep in his eyes.
Chen Wang is not an unknown person in Shaanxi now. Basically, all the officers and soldiers in Shaanxi know that Hong Chengchou commented on Chen Wang.
Chen Wangchu was famous for being good at military training, and he adopted Qi Jun's military training methods.
Qi's army was the southern army, and the conflict between the northern and southern armies had always existed, reaching its maximum during the Wanli period.
Although a lot of conflicts have been eliminated now, there are still some remnants.
Zu Dabi was naturally quite uncomfortable, but he just frowned slightly and didn't say anything else.
Although Chen Wang used the Southern Army's method to train his troops, Chen Wang was from Liaodong and was a close associate of Cao Wenzhao, and his servants and cavalry were all Liao cavalry.
"These soldiers under your command are carrying blunderbuss on their backs?"
Cao Wenzhao's attention was not on the marching soldiers on the official road at first. It was because of Zuo Guangxian's actions that he noticed something different.
He saw that many soldiers under Chen Wang's command seemed to be carrying something, like a blunderbuss.
However, muskets are usually carried on the shoulder rather than on the back.
Moreover, the strange blunderbuss is longer than ordinary bird blunderbuss, and its appearance is quite strange.
"Reporting back to the general, what they are carrying on their backs is a newly made blunderbuss from the Hanzhongwei Ordnance Bureau, called 'Sea Oath'. It is a fire blunderbuss that is an improvement from the bird blunderbuss."
"Improve?"
Cao Wenzhao looked at the strange-looking muskets on the backs of the soldiers with some curiosity.
He knew a lot about Hanzhong Guard. Now that Chen Wang had removed his position as deputy guard general, he was still the commander of Hanzhong Guard.
According to common sense, as the deputy commander-in-chief, Chen Wang had to be granted the official position of the governor's office no matter what. The status of a small guard commander and deputy commander was too low for the deputy commander-in-chief.
However, this matter was tacitly approved by Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting.
Hanzhong Mansion has a special geographical location, and it was also the vassal place of King Rui. At that time, Hanzhong Mansion was surrounded by wolves, and extraordinary actions were taken at an extraordinary time, which led to Chen Wang's rectification of Hanzhong Wei.
Chen Wang was also very measured. He only divided part of the jurisdiction of Hanzhong Wei and recruited refugees to rebuild the two destroyed Qianhu residences in the north. Both Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting knew these things.
It is not a secret that the Hanzhong Guard Ordnance Bureau is also under the control of Chen Wang.
Chen Wang winked at Hu Zhili who was following him and explained.
"Except for the cavalry, most of the troops under the general's command are elite cavalry from Liaodong. The rest of the troops are basically recruited from refugees, mostly from Hanzhong and Qingyang."
"There are many people who can ride horses, but not many who can use crossbows."
"If we train from scratch, I'm afraid it will take at least a year and a half of hard work before we can barely get on the battlefield. Therefore, most of the infantry in the army are equipped with muskets."
Archers are difficult to train, and a qualified infantry archer must undergo at least several years of training before he can be effective on the battlefield.
This is not the case with the fire gun. It only takes less than half a month of practice to learn how to load and change the dressing, and you will be quite proficient in the method of inducing and releasing it.
Fireguns are no different from bows and arrows. You just need to hold the trigger and aim at the enemy through the rear sight and crosshair.
A gunman who has been trained for several months can play a big role on the battlefield.
While Chen Wang was explaining, Hu Zhili understood the situation and stepped out of the crowd, calling out a soldier carrying a gun on his back from the queue.
"These muskets were produced by the Hanzhongwei Ordnance Bureau. The Ministry of Industry's muskets were really unusable, so after the last general took over the Ordnance Bureau, he began to rectify them."
"Nowadays, there are enough materials for these firecrackers, and you can find craftsmen according to the inscriptions on the weapons. They will basically not explode."
The first thing Cao Wenzhao felt after taking the handed musket was that it was heavy. It was much heavier than ordinary bird muskets. It also had an extra butt, and it seemed to be much more beautiful.
Cao Wenzhao was not surprised that Chen Wang popularized bird guns in the army on a large scale.
He had read "New Book of Jixiao" and "Records of Military Training" and knew Qi Jiguang's evaluation and praise of bird guns.
But the strange thing is that he didn't see a place for placing a match rope on the gun.
"The Oath Gun does not use a match rope, but uses a self-generated fire gun, using flint to make fire."
"Self-made firecracker?"
Cao Wenzhao's mind was spinning. It sounded familiar to him, but he couldn't remember where he had heard it.
However, he understood the flint fire, and not only did he understand it, but he also almost knew the benefits of abandoning the match rope and using flint instead.
"If you use flint to start the fire, the speed of shooting should be much faster than that of a match rope."
The oath of war was passed on in the hands of He Renlong, Zuo Guangxian and Zu Dabi.
Several of them are general soldiers, and their understanding of these weapons is no worse than that of ordinary craftsmen. Although the frontier army is mainly equipped with three-eyed blunderbuss, there are also many who use bird blunderbuss.
Using flint fire instead of match rope will undoubtedly leave a lot of reloading time.
"This gun should be used throughout the army."
Cao Wenzhao looked solemn, and in a short period of time, he had already made a decision in his heart.
He felt that if the fire blunderbuss fired by match ropes in the general were replaced by flint ignited fire blunderbuss, the combat effectiveness would definitely be improved a lot.
"General, please be kind."
Chen Wang thought slightly and said.
"Although flint ignition is more advanced than match ropes, the ignition rate is not high. Today it is only 60%."
The actual fire rate is over 70%, but Chen Wang naturally wants to lower it.
"Moreover, even if this gun is popularized throughout the army, I'm afraid not many people will know how to use it..."
Chen Wang didn't finish his words, but Cao Wenzhao already understood the meaning.
Not many people dare to use the muskets produced by the Ministry of Industry and local ordnance bureaus, and they have to pick and choose them. Even so, the explosion rate is still not low.
Many of the gunmen in the army were disfigured and injured as a result.
"I was impulsive."
Cao Wenzhao was a little helpless. He knew that Chen Wang was telling the truth.
Bird cannons are indeed sharp, but most of the cannons produced by the Ministry of Industry and Military Equipment have cut corners and are of worrying quality. No one really dares to use them.
This sea-sworn blunderbuss would end up like a bird blunderbuss.
"I have already submitted these guns to the governor and the army. The Hanzhong Guard Ordnance Bureau will make a batch of oath guns every month and send them to Xi'an. The general and several generals can request for transfer. With the general's help, It shouldn’t be difficult to get some muskets with the identities of several general soldiers.”
Chen Wang had no intention of concealing the matter of the Oath Gun, because once it was used, it was impossible to hide it. It was better to simply report its existence directly to Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou to make them less suspicious.
"Let's not talk about the cannons for now. I saw a lot of artillery pulled into the camp. These cannons like yours..."
Cao Wenzhao put down the blunderbuss in his hand, handed it back to Chen Gong, and continued to ask.
In the middle of the conversation, every one or two rounds, you can see a small cannon passing by, being dragged by two horses. Later, you can see a cannon with a larger barrel, being dragged by four horses. forward.
Cao Wenzhao knew that those artillery mounts were invented by Chen Wang in his early years, but Chen Wang had not seen those artillery mounts when he was in Lueyang before.
Chen Wang's original artillery in the army, except for the Franco machine and the tiger crouching cannon, only had eight copper-fired cannons.
Cao Wenzhao knew the origin of the eight bronze cannons, but the artillery in Chen Wang's army really didn't know where they came from.
"It is also a product of the Ordnance Bureau. The Hanzhongwei Ordnance Bureau has craftsmen who can make cannons. The general knows that I have been tinkering with cannons since I suffered the loss of artillery in Qiutou Town, so he asked people to cast cannons. .”
Regarding the large-scale casting of artillery, Chen Wang did not report all of it. There were some things that should be said and some things that should not be said. Chen Wang now has a sense of proportion.
"Some of these artillery pieces are newly cast and some are captured."
The artillery in the army are basically camouflaged and painted, and they are said to be iron cannons to the outside world.
After repeated consideration, Chen Wang brought a total of twenty bronze three-pound cannons and four five-pound cannons, for a total of twenty-four.
The three-jin cannon weighs about 470 kilograms, and the five-jin cannon weighs about 750 kilograms.
This weight is not heavy. Many of the copper hairpins originally in the army weighed more than a thousand kilograms.
Therefore, the more than twenty artillery pieces were not too eye-catching, but Cao Wenzhao still noticed them keenly.
The Tiger Crouching Cannon was of little use against the Qing army equipped with heavy armor, and they brought relatively few guns, basically only three in each round.
There haven't been many additions to the Fran cannon, so Chen Wang simply canceled them all later.
Reducing the types of weapons in the military will help alleviate the pressure on logistics.
"You have come a long way, let's go and rest today, and we will have a good get-together tomorrow."
Cao Wenzhao did not pay too much attention to the issue of artillery, but changed the topic. Now is not the time to talk about these things.
"The journey north this time is thousands of miles away, and the journey is difficult and difficult. Fighting against the Jiannu is different from fighting against the bandits. You have fought against the Jiannu for many years, so you should know how powerful they are."
"The war situation in the north is deteriorating. Jiannu has reached the capital a few days ago, but did not attack the city. Instead, he continued southward..."
"I am afraid that the slave-building army will go deeper this time. The governor has given orders to break camp and go north early the next morning."
(End of chapter)
