On the large playground of the military camp at the Outer Campus of Nanjing, neat footsteps stirred up dust all over the sky. The phalanxes of pikemen and gunmen, first formed into single-unit teams, passed in front of a group of inspecting people. Each soldier is fully armed, wearing a brand-new red jacket with a half-body plate armor made of iron sheets. He is carrying a Zhangba long spear, a turtle-dove-footed fire blunderbuss, or a bird blunderbuss with spikes. He does not squint, but Pay full attention to the officer's command voice.
These young officers, selected from the new army to overcome the difficulties, all stood on the left side of the first row of their respective phalanxes. They wore plate armor that was stronger than ordinary soldiers. They were accompanied by a foreign general and a general. , a drummer, and a trumpeter.
Amid their commands, the marching infantry phalanx suddenly began to change and reorganize. Two smaller musket phalanxes (composed of a company of 120 men) and a larger musket phalanx (composed of two companies) were combined into three to form a battalion-level Morris phalanx—— The pikemen are in the middle, and the gunmen are on the wings. Among them, the pikemen formed five horizontal columns, while the firecrackers on both wings formed twelve columns, each column consisting of ten people.
After completing the change of formation, the battalion-level phalanx continued to advance, with the pikemen marching forward in unison. The fire rifle soldiers advanced while rotating - the first soldier in the column pretended to shoot, and then walked from the gap between the columns to the last row and pretended to load the ammunition.
This tactic was translated by Tang Ruowang into the "Ten-man Rotary Reloading Method" in order to provide continuous dense firepower as the phalanx advanced.
After the phalanx moved forward for a certain distance, a rush of war drums sounded. Immediately afterwards, the entire phalanx suddenly stopped advancing and began a second formation change. The fire rifle soldiers originally located on both wings of the phalanx moved forward in four platoon-level columns, starting from the top of the two wings, and then moved forward respectively. Turn left and right so that the two four-way columns run opposite each other until they meet and then turn together to form a four-line horizontal formation. When all the four-way columns at the platoon level followed up for the first time and completed their turn and formation changes.
A nine-row horizontal formation with firecrackers in front and spears in front was formed. The pikemen at the rear spread out slightly under the command of the officer, forming a relatively loose five-line horizontal array of pikes with large gaps.
Suddenly, a harsh suona sound sounded. The firecrackers who originally formed four rows of horizontal formation dispersed in a hurry, turned around and passed through the gap between the pike soldiers, ran to the back of the pike formation, and formed a team again...
"Okay! Okay! Fireguns and spears work very well together. You can fire in volleys or in rounds... You can also use spears to fight against the enemy's cavalry! General Shi, this tactic is not a typical Morris tactic. Bar?"
The person who was asking Shi Rui'an was Zhu Cixiang, the crown prince of Fujun in the Ming Dynasty. He is now taking Wu Sanfu, Wang Qi, Wu Guoyong, Hao Yaoqi and other generals of the New Army to review the First Infantry Regiment of the Model Army, which has just completed the first phase of training, in the military camp of Dajiaochang.
The one who was demonstrating the formation for Zhu Cixiang was the First Battalion of the First Infantry Regiment.
The foreign general Shi Ruien was wearing a very fancy flying fish suit - his current official title was the commander of the Generalissimo's Mansion and the commander of the Tongzhi Model Army. According to Zhu Cixiang's regulations, he could wear a fancy flying fish suit.
Hearing Zhu Cixiang's question in English, foreign general Shi Ruien immediately laughed triumphantly and replied: "Your Highness, as you said, this is indeed not a typical Morris tactic. Because most of your musketeers are equipped with bayonets, Have certain melee combat capabilities. So they will play a greater role in future battles... Your infantry phalanx will be more offensive than Morris's phalanx.
Of course, when the sleeve bayonet was introduced to Europe, Dutch tactics and Swedish tactics would definitely be improved accordingly. The role of pikemen on the battlefield will become less and less, and may one day disappear entirely. "
Zhu Cixiang nodded. Shi Yangren's judgment was similar to the situation in history. He asked again: "How long will it take to disappear?"
Shi Ruien shrugged, "Your Highness, I can't answer your question... At least for now, we still need long guns. So I suggest that you reorganize the four musketeers after the training of the four European teams is completed. It is a European-style team. After getting a certain number of pikemen, a musketeer regiment can be split into two European-style regiments. Your four musketeers can quickly become eight musketeers, so you can quickly have ten Two European regiments, one artillery regiment, and two cavalry regiments. This will be a huge army!"
Twelve infantry regiments have 30,000 men, and two cavalry regiments and one artillery regiment have 5,000 men. In this way, the number of the Model Army can quickly reach 35,000.
This scale is large enough in Europe, but in China, it is far from being large enough to support the battle to restore the Central Plains. However, Prince Zhu can still rely on them to withstand a fierce attack by the Eight Banners!
"Sanfu," Zhu Cihong called Wu Sanfu to his side, "detach 8,000 spearmen and 2,000 heavy troops from each division, and organize them into the model army... The four fire gun regiments will be recruited later. Adapt it into eight model regiments, and then transfer some foreign generals and officers from the original model regiments to the new model regiments."
Wu Sanfu has long ceased to be the commander of the new army to overcome difficulties, because the new army to overcome difficulties no longer has a commander. However, Zhu Cixiang did not leave him idle. Instead, he made him the chief soldier of the Model Army - of course, he was still a "commander with orders" and could not manage anything and could not make much money.
"I accept the decree." Wu Sanfu received the decree respectfully without asking any questions. Because his mind is not on military affairs at all now, but on his sister's belly.
Wu Sanmei is already nine months pregnant and will give birth at any time - whether she can give birth to a son will affect the Wu family's future status in the Ming Dynasty.
In addition, Wu Sanmei had a strong rival in Zhu Cihong's harem, Zheng Sen's sister Zheng Chagu.
Although Zhu Cixiang still held back his words, he asked Tea Girl to learn palace etiquette from Ning Xiangyu. But Wu Sanfu has already found out that Zhu Cixiang also has a special regard for this little girl from the Zheng family... And this little girl from the Zheng family is also very good at life, she is very generous and doesn't care about money! So she hasn't been in the palace for a long time, but everyone from top to bottom says good things about her!
If Wu Sanmei cannot give birth to a son this time, and Zheng Chagu has a son first, Sanmei's status as a harem lady will be in jeopardy!
In addition, Zheng Zhilong had many wives and concubines, as well as so many daughters that he could not even count them with two slaps! If Tea Girl can't give birth to a son, he can send other daughters to the palace, and he can send a few more!
Wu Xiang was afraid of his wife, so he didn't have many children, only two daughters. Among them, Sister Wu San was older than Wu Sangui and had been married for many years.
What if Wu Sanmei really can't give birth to a son? Who can help with childbirth? Wu Sangui did have two daughters, but they were too young and not yet in the Ming Dynasty...
Wu Sanfu didn’t dare to think about it anymore!
Just when Wu Sanfu agreed to Zhu Cixiang's order, a sound of horse hoofbeats suddenly sounded. Zhu Cixiang looked back and saw Chen Shifang, the admiral of Dongchang, coming on horseback.
Before the people arrived, they started shouting on horseback: "Master Qiansui, Wu Xuanshi is expecting a baby!"
