stubborn thief

Chapter 237 Step Camp
Along the Huangshui River, Juerwan Valley.

Liu Chengzong led his staff and entourage to stand on the westernmost pier of Xining Guard, and said to Wang Wenxiu beside him, "Let's begin."

The flag is fluttered, and the drums of the Buying Civil War are beating.

The well-equipped soldiers led the lightly armed auxiliary soldiers to trot out of the ground nest, and under the leadership of the officer, they assembled a column with weapons and ran out of the camp.

It took a short time to form the hollow phalanx he often used outside the camp.

Chen Shifo stood in the back row, staring eagerly at the army formation, observing Liu Chengzong's army.

Anyway, what happened in the military formation, even a lama who didn't know how to do it, thought it was very fierce.

Master Buddha sighed in his heart, the elder brother's vision of holding his thighs is really amazing, but his business thinking is not good enough, so he has to work hard in the city to build warehouses.

He had inquired a long time ago that the Lion Army's military discipline was very strict and they were not allowed to harass the people, but as long as they were consensual, sex between men and women was not prohibited, and the soldiers also rotated for holidays.

He told his elder brother that there are more than 1 bachelors, they should borrow money out of their own pockets, and open a row of kilns in the west of the city to ensure that they will make a lot of money.

But the elder brother didn't listen, what should I do if the troops are suddenly pulled away, why are they pulled away, this is training soldiers, and seeing the sound of the war drum, countless evil spirits emerge from the contiguous nests, how scary.

But Liu Chengzong can see the way. On the whole, the soldiers are not proficient in forming a front, and they are a bit slower than in the past.

He turned his head and asked, "Is there a problem with the construction of the camp, or is there too many new recruits in the team, and the combat power has dropped?"

Wang Wenxiu knew what he was asking, and explained from the side: "There are a lot of veterans in the team, and it is very convenient to lead auxiliary soldiers in formation, but this period of training, whether it is running or running, is a little more tiring than in northern Shaanxi."

"I asked the locals, and they said that it's the same way from the east, and they will get used to it after a while, so I asked them to gather slowly first, mainly to practice the new camp, and remember that the rules are not wrong, which is more important than speed."

Liu Chengzong nodded slowly, he understood what Wang Wenxiu said, altitude sickness.

Altitude sickness is mainly due to the rapid increase in altitude, and the body is not used to it. The marching speed they came here was very fast, but it was much slower than traveling thousands of miles a day, so there was no large-scale reaction.

Only Xining is higher than northern Shaanxi and has less oxygen, so soldiers are more likely to feel tired after strenuous exercise.

During these days, he could really feel that this reorganization was very effective, at least it made the generals of the three military battalions think more clearly about military issues, and he looked like a general.

Wang Wenxiu introduced: "Now there are six sentry commanders in each battalion, one commander in each of the front, rear, left, and right sides, and two commanders in the front and back in the formation, connected end to end on all sides."

Liu Chengzong took a brief look at the army formation, picked up the binoculars to observe carefully, Wang Wenxiu's formation was thinner than their previous formation.

It's a bit like Xu Lun's new formation of breaking captives during the Jiajing period, with a hundred steps to square.

With one hundred shi, there are two columns for each shi, and the heads of the shi stand in the team with small flags on their backs, forming a large horizontal team of six people, with a width of about 100 people on all sides.

Each of the four generals led a team to stand in a corner of the army formation, forming a reinforcement to the four corners of the army formation.

Liu Chengzong saw that the soldiers in each horizontal line were holding the same weapons, so he asked, "Have you redistributed the weapons of the 12 men in the Shichang Department?"

"Yes, our team focuses on warriors. There are 12 people in two columns, divided into four parts: left front, right front, left rear, and right rear, each with three people."

Wang Wenxiu introduced: "The brave commander in the left front and the right front are the commanding officer, the left rear is the commander in charge, and the right rear commander is the fire commander. The first row of auxiliary soldiers holds spears, the second row of auxiliary soldiers holds knives, shields and javelins, and the third row of brave commanders and commanders hold javelins. The bows, the fourth row of auxiliary soldiers hold fire blunderbuss, the fifth row of auxiliary soldiers hold three-eyed blunderbuss, the sixth row of fire chiefs and Shichang hold bird blunderbuss."

After all, Wang Wenxiu said: "It's the same as the captain's flag. It's just an idea. The number of flags is not enough, and we are still working on it; the firearms are not so standard. The four, five, and six rows of firearms are all mixed with firecrackers, three-eyed, and bird blunderbusses. There are many three eyes, but not enough bird guns."

Liu Chengzong nodded: "Half of the firearms are very good. I will think of a way for the bird blunderbuss. When the Military Weapons Bureau is completed, one to three guns will be matched with a carrying gun."

Wang Wenxiu asked, "Carrying the gun?"

"Yes." Liu Chengzong nodded: "The big bird guns used by the two of you, I see that there are pearl cannons in your team, the captain uses them?"

"I thought that each team would have 60 people, and there would be a team of Yongzhu or Tiger Crouching, but the number is not enough at present, so there can only be one team for each team, about 120 people per team."

Liu Chengzong nodded, there was nothing he could do in this situation.

For a long time, the only weapons that Lion Camp can independently manufacture are arrow shafts.

The biggest source of equipment is capture, and other weapons manufacturing depends on fate, so for them, what they want to equip is one thing, and what they actually equip is another.

Fortunately, this predicament has passed.

When the camp began to change, Liu Chengzong thought about all the resources around him that could be used by him.

He had seen chieftain Chen's cavalry soldiers, all of them carrying blunderbusses.

While spending money and making money, a dozen chieftains should be able to make a hundred bird guns a month, or just let them forge the pipes, harvest and supervise the quality, and the gun beds and drilled pipes can be made by themselves.

There is also the Arms Bureau of Xiningwei, they can't be left idle, and I have to talk to my elder brother about this matter.

As for the Lion Army's weapons bureau, it will be more difficult to carry the guns. After this winter, if there are [-] guns to carry the guns, it will be much more comfortable to fight.

Calculating from his position, individual firearms are still difficult to make, but the pressure on raw materials is relatively small.

Casting cannons is easier, but consumes too much raw materials.

Although it is time-consuming to make clay molds, it is actually just preparation time, and the time for continuous production can be ignored.

The most exciting time for the battalion operation to change came. The four-faced sergeant fired at each level under the order of the officer. First, the arrows were thrown, and then the small cannons were fired, and then the firecrackers, three-eyed blunderbuss, and bird blunderbuss were fired in turn.

Immediately, the army formation was divided into a horizontal formation, the front headquarters remained unchanged, and the left and right sides were placed from the back to the sides, changing from a column to a horizontal formation.

In addition to the two headquarters of the Chinese army, a two-tiered horizontal team with four in the front and two in the back was formed.

Wang Wenxiu said: "The front left is Luo Rucai, the chief executive of the left thousand, the front right is Yang Chengzu, the chief executive of the right thousand, and the back is Li Laojie, the chief executive of the middle thousand. They can be three folds. If there is a cavalry team at this time, they can cover behind or support the two wings."

Listening to Wang Wenxiu's report of the names of the three Buying Qianzong, Liu Chengzong couldn't help smiling.

Participating in the infantry battalion is very particular about selecting troops, and must require one-third of the soldiers under his command to be composed of frontier troops, but it is not so particular about generals at the level of Qian Zong and Ba Zong.

Wang Wenxiu only asked for one thing, having fought tough battles and being strong-willed, nothing else mattered.

So he was assigned these three people.

They have all fought tough battles, and sometimes they fought bad battles, and their wills are very tenacious, but these three people have never led any good soldiers in their lives.

All of them were peasant army generals.

In fact, Liu Chengzong let Luo Rucai and Yang Chengzu be the chief executives, and there is a large degree of appreciation for merit.

These two men made great achievements in instigating the Pingliang rebellion and raised a lot of money and food for the team. His original intention was to give these two semi-independent leaders the authority to continue leading the team by themselves.

After all, from the bottom of his heart, in fact, Liu Shizi still doesn't think much of these two bad fighters.

He was deeply impressed by the two men's ability to lead troops and fight. Either the troops were blown up in one winter, or Yang Chengzu was picked out of the dead, and Luo Rucai ran away without a trace.

But Wang Wenxiu didn't see it that way and convinced him.

He followed Liu Chengzong and basically played the whole game as the infantry sentinel. The biggest feeling is that every time he wins a battle, he is indispensable, but he has never been the opportunity to break the battle.

He only needs to hold the battle line, artillery and cavalry, and one of them will be able to break the formation.

Therefore, Wang Wenxiu's theory is that the victory of the battle depends on the cavalry and artillery; but whether the battle can be won depends on the infantry.

In Wang Wenxiu's view, peasant army generals who have fought many bad battles have an advantage.

Luo Rucai, Yang Chengzu, and Li Laozhen alone, each of them had the experience of being beaten to the point of losing their helmets and armor.

As long as there is still energy to fight, the morale of the soldiers may not be able to bear it, but for their spirit, is more than half of the casualties count?
They fought those bad battles, put them in the regular army, and called them just to save themselves, and the career of an officer was basically over.

But they are different. Bad battles are due to lack of military knowledge, and lack of knowledge can be learned, but the experience of fierce battles must be poured out with blood and human lives.

Liu Chengzong looked at the army formation, and now after a short period of practice, the three thousand chiefs of the Buying looked pretty good, so he turned his head and said to Wang Wenxiu: "These three people are also okay."

Wang Wenxiu nodded and said: "They are happy to be incorporated into the training camp as generals."

While talking, the infantry battalion, which had become a large horizontal formation, practiced a variety of battalion exercises in the valley, such as marching and shooting, walking fast, outflanking in horizontal formation, changing from horizontal to column, and retreating and outflanking.

Then it changed from a large horizontal formation to a hollow phalanx with three thousand headquarters, and then conducted a horizontal formation drill with the thousand headquarters, which was successively reduced to the five-post combined attack of the headquarters and the last hundred headquarters.

There is even a column of twelve soldiers attacking in units of Shi.

When all the exercises in all subjects were over, the army returned to the big square again. This time they used the donkey carts and formed a battalion of light carts.

Thirty chariots were placed on each side, two of which were linked together, twenty steps outside the formation, and three layers of barbed wire were sprinkled. The gaps left between the four chariots were filled by infantry, and firearms soldiers fired from the chariots.

Then the soldiers put away the caltrops, and the soldiers attacked through the gap, practicing chasing and fighting.

So far the whole camp is over.

In many subjects, some soldiers are proficient, some are unfamiliar, and some formation changes are not coherent; moreover, there is a large gap in the many weapons needed, and the baggage vehicles also need to be redesigned to adapt to the war.

But these are niggles that can be made up for.

Under ideal conditions, a full infantry battalion has 600 people, and requires [-] to [-] birdcracks, [-] to [-] carrying guns, and [-] small portable cannons.

Liu Chengzong calculated in his heart that the cost of these equipments would be about 600 taels, and it would take half a year to make them.

The cost of waist knives and spears is negligible, but it cannot be counted as armor. Based on a set of four taels of cloth, 1 sets would cost [-] taels.

It's not that Liu Chengzong loves money, it's that he can't turn silver into armor.

With the limited manufacturing capacity of the lion army craftsmen, it is already very good to be able to make a battalion of firearms in half a year, and there is no spare energy to knock out armor pieces.

Artisans, materials, artisans, and materials are the big questions.

"Train them well." Liu Chengzong put this matter in his heart, and said to Wang Wenxiu: "Standardize the infantry training, down to how many subjects a new recruit needs to practice, how many days for each subject, or how many days for the total subjects. "

Wang Wenxiu clasped her fists in response: "Yes!"

"Besides...it's not easy to practice now. Our people can basically ride horses. In the future, the next batch of recruits will have to teach them how to ride horses. Just be able to march on horseback."

Liu Chengzong said: "How about a battalion for half a year?"

Wang Wenxiu was a little embarrassed.

It's not difficult to train soldiers, but the difficulty is that he doesn't know who Liu Chengzong will throw into his hands in the future.

Frontier soldiers who have escaped from the army, deserters from the guards, fallen scholars, rural farmers, people fleeing famine and hunger, and old thieves.

The cost of training these people is different.

Those who have the foundation can form an army within a month of reorganization.

And those who have no foundation... Wang Wenxiu feels that the lives of most people in this world are not worth training for half a year.

These northern Shaanxi rebels have the same price in mind as Liu Chengzong. A stone of rice is five taels of silver, and half a year of training is equal to 30 taels of silver.

Wang Wenxiu said: "General, I can make them understand the instructions and understand the command flag to go to the battlefield within a month."

Liu Chengzong knew that Wang Wenxiu was right.

No matter how long you have trained, you are still a recruit if you don’t go to the battlefield. In fact, you will train for a month or two, mix with veterans, march, dispatch, and fight, and you will be a veteran if you survive the first three months.

"I know you're talking about whether it's worth it or not."

Liu Chengzong shook his head and said, "But there are too few Han people here, so it's not a matter of cost-effectiveness."

"When the Han people are gone, others will think your son is a Dazi, and my son is a Fanzi. They may be anything in the eyes of others, but they will never be a man."

"We really can only stay here forever."

This is actually what Liu Chengzong is most worried about.

He shook his head and patted Wang Wenxiu on the shoulder: "It's settled like this, one camp every six months... Damn it, I have to write a letter to Wang Ziyong."

Wang Ziyong is a double-edged sword, and Liu Chengzong has never known how to use it, but this time he needs Wang Ziyong's mobilization ability.

I don't know how the farming Wang Gao Yingxiang is doing in Shiziwan. If it's okay, let Wang Ziyong get some people from Shaanxi and Shanxi next year or the next year.

Gao Yingxiang provided some rations for people, and then provided some rations after Han Wang distributed Lumi, which was almost enough to survive.

Immigration is a difficult task. If the hungry people in northern Shaanxi have enough rations to go to Xining, then they are not hungry people.

As soon as Liu Chengzong's camp was over, he heard Dai Daozi report from a distance: "Commander, Gongbu Dorji from Riyue Mountain has come, and he brought a Mongolian nobleman, who is said to be Xiao Lazun's elder brother."

Xiao Lazun sent people over a little slower than he expected, but when he sent his brother, Liu Chengzong frowned, thinking: I didn't ask him for a proton either!
Soon, Yan Taiji, accompanied by several Mongolian cavalry, went to the outskirts of the camp and was taken to the pier.

Liu Shizi was very happy: "Tell me, what kind of tribute does Razun plan to pay me?"

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)