It was the fifteenth day of the first lunar month in the third year of Chongzhen reign of the Ming Dynasty.
Xi'an, Dongkuo New Town, outside Changle Gate.
The flag was fluttering, and on the open plain outside the moat, soldiers and horses were like clouds.
Nearly 30,000 soldiers were on horseback in front of the tent, wearing helmets and bright red hoods, standing in silence without saying a word. The 30,000 horse and infantry troops in front of the tent were roughly divided into three parts, one part was the horse army, and the other two parts were the infantry army.
Among them, the Ma Army numbered about 4,800, forming four regiment-level square formations. They were lined up in the north of the temporary school field outside Changle Gate, occupying a large open space. All the knights stood solemnly beside their horses, carrying bows and arrows on their backs, sabers on their shoulders, and carbines in their hands. They stood with their chests and belly raised, looking like door gods in paintings.
Of the knights who made up the four regiments of cavalry in front of the tent, less than half were "old knights" who followed Zhu Youjian from the Xuan Mansion, and most of them were "new knights" recruited in Xi'an - there were 2 people who followed Zhu Youjian on the expedition at that time. There are two cavalry regiments (both with two battalions), about 2,400 cavalry. Since 7800 cavalry were sent out to send infantry and young soldiers to serve as officers, only 1670 people are left in the two cavalry regiments. The two cavalry regiments almost became cavalry battalions.
Fortunately, there are many "loyal and loyal" people in Shaanxi. After the imperial list for recruiting knights and sergeants was posted, more than 10,000 people were quickly recruited. Zhu Youjian selected more than 3,000 strong men who could ride horses and archery, and "old men". Knights" were mixed together to form four new cavalry regiments in front of the tent.
Throughout the winter, these four cavalry regiments have been training formations and group charges in a large Wangzhuang (belonging to the Palace of the Prince of Qin) east of Dongkuo New City in Xi'an - all the "Shaanxi Zhongliang" who can be selected are They have good cavalry and shooting skills. Many of them were originally from the frontier cavalry, and some of them were even the servants of the frontier generals. Their martial arts skills are very good, but they are still not as good as the elite white-armored and red-armored Eight Banners. If you really want to fight in a melee or fight alone, you will definitely not be the opponent of the white-armored soldiers and the red-armored soldiers.
However, Zhu Youjian's idea of training the cavalry was not to let the knights fight the enemy alone, but to charge in formation and shoot with black guns (shooting with black guns is a tactic that never stops at night). However, the output of Lumi guns is limited. Under the auspices of Xu Guangqi and Tang Ruowang, a new artillery manufacturing bureau was opened in Xuanfu City, which specializes in imitating 3-pound guns and Lumi guns. However, the output is very low and it is difficult to satisfy the increasingly large front line. military needs. So now the new knights in front of the tent can only focus on training in formation and charging.
After two or three months of training, I was finally able to form a regimental-level "two-wall formation". If I cooperated with artillery and square infantry, I could fight against the Eight Banners soldiers.
Arranged on the left side of the four cavalry regiments are five infantry regiments. The infantry regiment of the Zhangqian Army is very large. The number of soldiers alone exceeds 4,200. In addition to a 200-person direct soldier team, the remaining 4,000 people form four thousand-man square formations - one battalion and one square formation. , when fully equipped, this thousand-man phalanx has 600 spearmen, 300 gunmen and 100 sword players. It is similar to the Spanish phalanx that was popular in Europe at the same time.
However, the output of turtle dove fire guns in Foshan, Guangdong is still insufficient. In the winter of the second year of Chongzhen and the first month of the third year of Chongzhen, there were only 1,500 turtle dove fire guns shipped to Xi'an (these fire guns were all orders placed by Sun Yuanhua before leaving Foshan) . Including the approximately 3,000 turtledove guns obtained previously, Zhu Youjian only had about 4,500 turtledove guns in total. About 900 of them are in reserve (the turtle dove guns are of better quality and have a long service life, but they will still be worn out, so there must be a certain number of spare guns), and the remaining 3,600 turtle dove guns are allocated to three infantry regiments.
These three infantry regiments formed the left division of the Zhangqian Infantry Army, commanded by Sun Chuanting, deputy general of the Zhangqian Infantry Army.
The remaining two infantry regiments did not have powerful turtle dove guns available for the time being, so Zhu Youjian could only ask the Bingzhan Bureau to get a batch of bird guns of decent quality for use.
These two infantry regiments using muskets formed the right division of the Zhangqian Army infantry, commanded by Sun Yingyuan, another infantry deputy general.
Although this infantry right division was newly established, its training was insufficient and its equipment was relatively poor. It was not equipped with turtledove guns. Therefore, their combat effectiveness was greatly reduced, but their formation was not bad. At least there was no problem when they stood still, and they were still quite powerful.
On the left side of the five Zhangqian Army infantry regiments are the so-called Yanshan and Daning Guards Corps. That is, the loyal and brave men of Shaanxi who were not selected as cavalry in front of the tent, numbering about seven to eight thousand.
They formed teams of hundreds and formed seventy or eighty small square formations. Each small phalanx of a hundred men includes 40 spearmen, 30 sword soldiers and 30 archers.
In fact, they did not belong to the Zhangqian Army, but the field army of Yanshan and Daning Towns. Although they are stationed in the army, their treatment is incomparable to that of the original veteran military households.
As long as these new military households brought their families to Yanshan and Daning, they would immediately receive 100 acres of land. This 100 acres of land is also a job field, and like the job field of the knight in front of the account, no taxes need to be paid. Moreover, these job fields can also be inherited by the descendants of the Tun Army - as long as the heirs can bear the military service of their fathers and ancestors and continue to serve as soldiers for the Ming Dynasty.
In addition to job fields, these new military households can also receive a military salary that decreases year by year. In the first three years of settling in Yanshan and Daning, they can receive a total of 30 taels (shi) of food and salary every year, and their benefits and The soldiers in the front army were exactly the same. Now the number of knights and infantry in the front army is the same, but the knights have 500 more acres of farmland.
The military household soldiers in Yanshan and Daning can also receive this amount in the first three years after settling down, because the land granted to them is different from the land granted by knights. The former received mature farmland, which they could eat immediately after renting it out. 500 acres of land can earn at least 200 shi of rent. However, the land in Yanshan and Daning is raw land or half-ripened land, and it is expensive, time-consuming and labor-intensive to cultivate it. Therefore, Zhu Youjian had to give them full military pay before the land was developed, and then it would decrease year by year. It will be reduced to 20 taels (stone) after three years, and to 10 taels (stone) after six years, and will not decrease again in the future.
In other words, the salary of Yanshan and Daning military household soldiers who cultivate mature fields is one-third of the infantry in front of the tent... It seems a bit small, but their service time is also short, and they only need to serve for one year. 4 months, and unless there is an emergency, they will not serve during busy farming periods.
The infantry in front of the tent are in the camp at all times. When they are not on expedition, they only have 36 days of vacation a year (3 days a month), and they are locked up in the military camp the rest of the time.
As for the knights in front of the tent, they theoretically serve for 6 months a year, and they are in camp at all times during the service period. However, during the specific implementation process, they were in service for much longer than 6 months. As long as they go on an expedition or serve as mission officers, there is no limit on their service time.
The 30,000 or so troops gathered in Xi'an such as Zhangqian, Yanshan, and Daning are now in battle mode, so they are in camp at all times, training hard in "997".
Although the training time is limited, it already feels like a powerful army!
Just by spreading out in formation, one can feel the murderous aura rushing towards them!
"Prince Su, Prince Qing, is my newly sharpened sword useful?"
Standing on the tower of Changlemen Urn City, Zhu Youjian, who was a little proud, was smiling and asking questions to the two princes who had just arrived in Xi'an.
These two princes are Su Wang Zhu Shihong and Qing Wang Zhu Shuai Zhen. Among them, Zhu Shihong is relatively young, only in his twenties. He is tall and elegant, and he really has the edge of a king. Zhu Shuai Zhen is an older uncle. Although his name has the word handsome in it, he is not handsome at all and has a plain appearance. He is the kind of person who is difficult to find in a crowd. And his eyes always flicker, giving people a feeling of timidity and fear of death.
"Long live my lord," Zhu Shuai Zhen said, "your sword is so sharp, I admire you so much... I heard that you want to entrust the king of Sai in the northwest, why not just grant it in Ningxia! I am old I am weak, there are not many people at home, and I really cannot control the fiefdom. I am willing to move inland, and I can go anywhere."
When Zhu Youjian heard this, he laughed proudly - was this the emperor's soldiers frightened?