Southern Ming: A boy soldier at the beginning, supporting the world

Chapter 127 Army Expansion
The rebels were caught in the trap and realized that the Zhaoyong Army was prepared. Before they could engage in battle, they all fled in panic.

The night raid came quickly and left quickly. Soon, the rapid sound of war drums came from the secret sentry post, indicating that the rebels had retreated.

The gongs were sounded to fire, and the drums were beaten to pursue. Inside the camp, the musketeers, artillerymen, and archers heard the drums and quickly stopped firing.

The cavalry captain Wu Jie had already selected thirty heavily armored cavalrymen, each of whom lit a torch, opened the camp gate and chased the rebels. The rest of the cavalry remained on guard, and the rest continued to rest.

At dawn, Wu Jie led his troops back. He looked excited, and there were two bloody heads hanging on his horse, indicating that he had won the battle. After entering the camp, the soldiers congratulated him one after another.

"Reporting to the commander-in-chief, the cavalry team killed fourteen enemies, captured three enemies, and seized five war horses." Wu Jie came to the central military camp to report the victory, his pride evident in his words.

"Yes, that's right. Send someone to interrogate the prisoners. Please sit down and have some tea first. We will discuss the siege."

Wu Jie picked up a cup of tea and drank it all, then said, "The rebels fled to the east gate, and I led my army to pursue them. I wanted to rush in when they entered the city. But the defenders did not open the gate, but fired randomly from the top of the city. The rebels turned around and went to the north gate, but were caught up by my army."

"A night pursuit, is there any problem?"

"We can't see the road clearly, and we can't go fast on horseback. The enemy knows the terrain well, wears black clothes, doesn't use torches, and is in the dark. Our troops are on horseback, use torches, and are in the light. We can only get close to the enemy to find their tracks."

"Fortunately, the rebels are a motley crowd. If they had been prepared, they could have sent troops to support them in advance..."

Wu Jie said nonchalantly, "The bandits are a motley crowd, and they are not well-prepared. It's good that they dare to attack at night. Even if they send troops to support them, my cavalry can crush them."

Danchu shook his head and said, "A general must not underestimate the enemy and must keep enough backup. Wu Jie, do you know why I made you the cavalry captain?"

Wu Jie is the sergeant of the third team and also an old man from Yuan Cong. He said casually: "The cavalry team is composed entirely of cavalrymen who often charge into battle. I am brave and courageous, so I was appointed as the cavalry captain."

"That's one aspect. A general must be brave and have strategy. If he is brave but not strategic, he is just a common man and cannot shoulder the responsibility. The cavalry is under the command of the standard camp. If you stay by my side, I can give you instructions at any time."

Wu Jie blushed as he thought of his former comrades, most of whom had become battalion officers, while he was still the captain, because he was brave but not wise.

Dan Chu spoke earnestly, placing high hopes on Wu Jie: "Once we capture the five garrisons, our army will surely earn a lot of money. Add to that the summer taxes from Yong'an and Zhaoping, and it will be enough to recruit another 1,000 or 2,000 soldiers. By then, you will be promoted to battalion commander anyway, so you must not underestimate the enemy like this again."

Yes, Wei Guosong was the captain of the old first team, and it goes without saying that he was the commander of the infantry battalion. Kuang Shi and Cao Yu were the sergeants of the old third team, one was the commander of the second infantry battalion, and the other was the commander of the baggage battalion. Chen Wu was originally Jiao Lian's personal soldier, and now he is the commander of the third infantry battalion. Even Mo Erzhen, the boy from the Mo family, has been promoted to the commander of the fourth infantry battalion.

Although as a cavalry captain, he has many opportunities to show off, but after all, he is not as glorious as the battalion commander.

"Marshal, should we expand the cavalry unit into a cavalry battalion? I still want to lead the cavalry."

Cavalry costs much more than infantry.

Guangxi lacks good horses. A short pony, common in the south, can be bought for just over ten taels. This kind of horse can be used as a draft horse or pack horse, used to transport baggage and artillery, but is not suitable as a war horse. A good Yunnan horse costs more than fifteen taels in Guangxi. A large Western horse is even more expensive, costing more than twenty taels. The breeding of war horses is even more of a bottomless pit. A war horse needs to eat 0.9 to 1.2 shi of beans per month, plus 30 bundles of grass. A bundle of grass is 15 jin, which means that a war horse needs to eat 450 jin of grass per month. Converted into silver, a war horse needs 1.5 taels in normal times, and 2.1 taels in wartime.

In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, cavalry was still the most powerful branch of the military. With the productivity of the Eight Banners of Manchuria, it was originally unable to maintain an elite cavalry of 50,000 to 60,000 people. However, the Later Jin conquered Mongolia, broadening the source of war horses, and conquered Korea, obtaining food supplies.

Despite this, the Manchu population was not strong, and it was still difficult to feed the cavalry. The way for the Later Jin to survive was to plunder the Han people as serfs, then systematically slaughter the serfs, and use the saved food to feed the military horses. The Later Jin population was always small, and although a large number of Han people were plundered, the Han population continued to decrease. The reason was simple: using human food to feed the military horses.

Compared with the brutal Eight Banners, the Ming army and the peasant army were nothing compared to them. Most of the Ming army generals embezzled military pay and used a small amount of military pay to support their servants, which was actually to support cavalry. In wartime, the ones who could really fight against the Eight Banners were mainly these servants on horseback and in armor.

Although Danchu had occupied the two prefectures and counties of Yong'an and Zhaoping, he still could not afford to support too many soldiers and horses. He had to fight to support the war and rely on spoils of war to replenish military supplies.

"We need to expand a cavalry battalion, but a small battalion, with eight cavalrymen in a squad and more than eighty cavalrymen in a team."

The Zhaoyong Army currently has two cavalry teams. One of them was newly recruited and has incomplete war horses. It is still in training in Yong'an and has not even been awarded a team flag.

Wu Jie was slightly disappointed. By this calculation, the new cavalry battalion had less than 300 cavalrymen, which was far from the 500-man infantry battalion.

According to Danchu's idea, this expansion will also add two infantry battalions. In this way, the army will have a total of six infantry battalions, which will be divided into two infantry battalions, each battalion will have three infantry battalions. The musket team and artillery team will also be expanded and combined into a firearms battalion. The battalion will be expanded into a personal guard battalion, which will have a teaching team, a cavalry battalion, and a firearms battalion.

According to the organization of army-town-association-flag-battalion-team-outpost-squadron, the Zhaoyong Army will initially establish a flag organization, which will include a personal guard battalion, two infantry battalions, and a baggage battalion. In addition to the central army camp office, grain station, and direct teams such as the repair team and medical team, it is expected to reach more than 6,000 troops.

With the financial resources of Zhaoping and Yong'an, it was very stressful to support these 6,000 troops. There was no way to succeed except to collect rent and grain. This summer, Zhaoping County still had to pay rent and grain. Whether the Zhaoping army could capture the five garrisons would have a direct impact on the expansion of the army.

"From the looks of it, the rebels seem to have a lot of firearms." Wu Jie said, "When I led the cavalry to approach the city, the rebels' rockets were quite fierce, and they also had fire bricks, blowtorches and other weapons, making it almost impossible to get close."

"Yes, I have figured it out." Danchu said, "There is a military equipment bureau in Wutunso City, which can make bows and arrows, incendiary bombs, and even bird guns."

The Ming Dynasty separated the military and the government, and there were two local management systems: Dusi-Wei-Suo and Sheng-Fu-Zhouxian. In addition to assuming the tasks of farming, garrisoning, and dispatching soldiers, the Wei-Suo also set up military equipment bureaus to manage artisans and manufacture weapons and military equipment for the army.

The position of Jiangli was inherited from generation to generation, and they served in the Military Equipment Bureau, but they had no salary. They would receive rewards during festivals, which all depended on the mood of the superiors. In the same garrison, the status of the artisan households was not as good as that of the military households. Even the military households fled in large numbers, not to mention the artisan households.

The Wutunso Arsenal had been in decline for a long time and no longer produced bows and arrows or muskets, but mainly produced rockets.

Wu Jie was overjoyed and said, "Then we must attack Wutunso and take their craftsmen for our army."

Danchu smiled and said, "The rebels disturbed our army at night, and our army used the same method to punish them."

(End of this chapter)