Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 121: Ming Dynasty Loyal Official, I, the Player

Gucheng is more than a hundred miles away from Xiangyang, and the news of Xiying's rebellion reached Xiangyang the next day.

Xiong Wencan was furious when he learned that it was the Inspector General Lin Mingqiu who tricked Zhang Xianzhong into the banquet and killed him at the banquet, causing the soldiers in the West Camp to rebel.

"Ultimately incompetent! Unforeseen disaster!"

In front of a group of staff, Xiong Wencan growled and picked up the table and pushed it forward. There was a loud bang, and the pens, ink, paper and inkstone fell to the ground.

The "joy" of overturning the table did not bring satisfaction. The old governor with white hair was breathing heavily, his chest heaving, and his hands clenched into fists.

"This Governor has repeatedly warned us not to act rashly against Zhang Xianzhong. It's not time to eliminate him yet. The Eastern Tartars have invaded the interior of China. Reports of enemy troops have been seen in Shandong. The Ministry of War has sent military orders to support the emperor once every ten days. Also, in the Central Plains, there are beggar bandits causing chaos and killing our vassal states.

There are warning smoke signals everywhere, and troops have to be mobilized to defend against the enemy at every turn. How can we have the spare time to force the Western bandits!
Lin Mingqiu was greedy for merit but failed to achieve it, and ended up causing a huge disaster. It would be a relief if he died, but it has become the job of us living people to clean up the mess!

If the Western bandits start to roam and cause chaos in several provinces, how will this governor explain this to His Majesty?

Seeing the governor's face flushed with anger, a group of civil servants stood up and advised, "Governor Xiong, please take care of yourself. The safety of several provinces within the Great Wall depends on you, Governor Xiong."

An aide brought him a cup of warm tea. Xiong Wencan took it and took a big sip, trying his best to calm his anger.

The other staff members called servants to clean up the overturned tables.

Xiong Wencan thought to himself that ever since he was appointed governor of several provinces by His Majesty, good news has been coming one after another.

But in the spring and summer of this year, it was as if things had reached their limit and would turn into the opposite. Bad news came one after another, and news of assassinations and riots in various places came like snowflakes.

News about the Jiannu, the Qihuo bandits, the Western bandits, and even the Chuang bandits came one after another.

It's like a group of demons and monsters suddenly broke through the seal, scattered everywhere and wreaked havoc on the world.

A few years ago, when the bandit leader Gao Yingxiang was in power, he also caused chaos, but was eventually defeated by the imperial court's army.

Unexpectedly, just as the great chaos subsided, a new chaos arose.

There were "Yellow-shaking thieves" causing chaos in Sichuan, rioting madmen roaming around Huguang, and "revolutionary left-wing anti-thieves" entrenched in the border between Nanzhi and Jiangxi.

In the remote, mountainous regions of Guangdong and Guangxi, there were also uprisings by mountain dwellers, and the chieftains of Yunnan and Guizhou, whose forces had recently been pacified, were experiencing periods of instability. Reports of unusual "flying demons" in the sky were also repeated in various parts of the country.

There is chaos everywhere.

Xiong Wencan suddenly thought that the chaos and strange phenomena seemed like signs of a change of dynasty. Could it be that the Ming Dynasty was about to end?
impossible! This is absolutely impossible!

Xiong Wencan was shocked by his own wild thoughts. He thought to himself that the Ming Dynasty would indeed be doomed, but it would not happen in his generation, at most ten or twenty years later.

He had already been buried by then, so he had no time to care about his affairs after his death.

Right now, the mess caused by the rebellion of the Western bandits must be dealt with as a priority.

Xiong Wencan immediately ordered the two generals to dispatch 20,000 troops to the west to suppress the western bandits, and sent another 10,000 elite troops to garrison in Nanyang to prevent the Qihuo bandits from suddenly moving south.

As a result, he had less than 20,000 soldiers at his disposal. After distributing them everywhere, he had no energy left to wipe out the beggar bandits.

But he didn't have enough food and money to recruit more soldiers.

If he and his civil servants paid out of their own pockets, and the gentry of Xiangyang and the King of Xiang generously donated hundreds of thousands of silver, it would be more than enough to recruit tens of thousands of soldiers. After only a few months of training, they would be able to assist 10,000 to 20,000 elite troops to march north to Henan and cooperate with the Henan government troops to wipe out the beggar bandits in one fell swoop.

Unfortunately.

These people are good at harming the public interest and enriching themselves. It is absolutely impossible to ask them to work for the Ming Dynasty at their own expense.

After all, any new dynasty that overthrows the Ming Dynasty will still make use of officials, gentry and powerful people like them. How can you get away with it if you don't have money to use connections?

"What should we do with the order from the Ministry of War to support the king? If we send more troops north to support the king, the Xiangyang area will be empty..." A civil servant said, "I'm not afraid of death, but I'm worried about losing our vassal states, and you will all be implicated."

Everyone looked around the crude military map, and suddenly someone pointed at a corner in the southeast of Henan.

"Why not dispatch this Li Youji to the north to support the king?"

"Are you talking about Li Mu, the Li Youji who, with his humble status, mobilized the local militia and defeated the Tiger Bandits?"

"It was this man. A few months ago, he was severely injured in the campaign against the Tiger Bandits, yet he boasted to the grain officials in Henan that he would go north to support the emperor. Once he trained his soldiers, he would go north to kill the Tartars without a problem. This was rumored among the local gentry and people. It makes sense to transfer him north now."

"But he has the responsibility to guard against the Qihuo bandits advancing eastward. If he is transferred away, what will happen if the Qihuo bandits sneak into Southern Zhili and threaten Nanjing?"

After these words were spoken, the officials and staff fell silent. They smiled at each other, and saw the same secret in each other's faces.

If the beggars sneak into Nanzhi, it means that the threat to Henan will be greatly reduced, and then the officials of Nanzhili will have a headache.

Regardless of whether the beggar bandits win or lose, it will have little to do with the civil and military officials in their Xiangyang camp.

Most of the worries also disappeared.

"Since Li Youji is so devoted to serving his country, let's fulfill his sincere wish!"

……

The thousand cavalrymen were divided into two groups, those for close range gathered at 300 steps, and those for long range gathered at 1,000 steps.

A thousand cavalrymen were ready to go, and the horses under the riders trampled the ground, raising mud.

The cavalry kept a close eye on the infantry who were arranged in a hollow square on the charge route.

Their mission was to charge with all their might, breaking through the infantry lines and thereby training the militia to resist cavalry. Continuous "desensitization training" could help the infantry reduce their fear of cavalry charges.

You should know that there are many cases in history where infantry defeated cavalry.

The infantry maintained the battle line to block the charging horses, and when the horses turned into timid and slow-witted "four-legged stupid beasts", they would rush forward and kill both the riders and the horses.

Even if these thousand cavalrymen are our own people, they will never stop running.

Anyone with a discerning eye knows that a galloping warhorse is like a light tank running at full speed. If it knocks someone down, they will at least be injured, even if they don't kill them.

Therefore, the outer circle of the hollow square is composed of players, and the inner circle is Li Mu's combat soldiers and militia.

A total of 7,000 people participated in the desensitization training, including 1,000 volunteers for the Qing expedition, 3,000 new and old combat soldiers, and 3,000 selected militiamen.

Each hollow square has a thousand people.

Li Mu established a reward system. Anyone who dared to stand firm in the face of a cavalry charge without making a sound would be rewarded with a bushel of millet and be eligible for an evaluation.

In the future, their treatment will be improved and they will have priority in being selected as combat soldiers or cavalry soldiers.

Anyone injured by a warhorse will be given one month's paid leave and all medical expenses will be waived. If unfortunately they are killed, they will receive generous compensation according to the standards for death in battle, and those without children will be given the opportunity to adopt one.

Li Mu climbed onto the observation tower to observe the training.

As the long horn sounded, the 500 cavalry generals at close range immediately shouted to charge.

The rolling black torrent came overwhelmingly, the violent footsteps of the horses' hooves seemed to shake the earth, and the dust raised covered the cavalry column with a layer of gray gauze.

The sky in the direction of the cavalry seemed to be covered with dark clouds, and the dark aura following the team was like the hideous god of death.

The players standing in the front row of the formation also acted as officers, shouting out clear commands one after another.

"Hollow Square!"

The order resounded like thunder, and the soldiers reflexively formed a hollow square formation, with the bird gun team and artillery group being protected in the square formation.

Each hollow square also held up a black flag, with a creature consisting of only white bones curled up on the flag.

This is the military flag that Li Mu decided based on the opinions of the players. In the future, his Li family army will also be called the "Black Flag Army."

Li Mu looked into the distance through the telescope.

Only a group of "former servants" who had followed him south to fight the Tiger Bandits performed well and quickly formed a formation.

The other thousand-man teams were at a loss one after another, and the formations were in chaos.

Li Mu couldn't help but sigh in disappointment. This was the third desensitization training, and the recruits' performance was still so bad.

If they were facing not their own cavalry but the Jiannu cavalry, he doubted that these people would even have the courage to stand still.

Still totally unqualified.

Fortunately, the players’ regulating effect is very strong, like square molds, forcing the panicked recruits into the square formation.

"Bird gunners, get ready!"

The officers in the phalanx gave an order - the ammunition loaded into the bird guns did not contain bullets, but was just a test shot filled with gunpowder to boost courage, so as not to hurt their own war horses.

However, the military order was in vain. The recruits were all extremely frightened and their hands were in a panic when loading gunpowder. Even though the 500 cavalrymen at close range deliberately slowed down their speed, they still rushed to the front before the musketeers finished reloading.

The cavalry's charge speed is extremely fast. Once the cavalry speeds up and enters the sprint state, the musketeer will not have time to reload the second round and will be killed by the cavalry at close range.

Li Mu was very disappointed with the performance of the bird-gunners. More than half of them had not even loaded the gunpowder, and some had not even pulled out the pistol, but they were in a panic trying to pull the trigger and fire.

The speeding cavalry were like a wall of iron moving at high speed.

No one would be foolish enough to choose to use their body to block a locomotive, and few people could hold their position under the terrifying cavalry attack.

"Hold on!" The officer's order echoed again on the battlefield.

Even though a large number of war horses were frightened by the sharp spear tips and took detours, a large number of them still rushed into the formation and broke through the formation of new recruits.

Even though the cavalry that rushed into the front line had lost speed and were lambs to be slaughtered, the recruits still did not dare to take action.

The "broken" militiamen were like unlucky people drowned in water, with shouts, horse hooves and beatings sounds coming one after another.

The cavalry teams at long and short distances charged alternately several times. Li Mu looked at the "ruined soldiers" around him who were fleeing in all directions and sitting on the ground to rest with disappointment, and sighed in disappointment that the "desensitization training" still had a long way to go.

When the torrent beast stopped its attack, Li Mu was surprised to find that

After the flood, two teams of a thousand men remained standing. Their slanting spears were like the sharp spines on a hedgehog, ensuring that they "survived" the attacks of the cavalry.

Even if there were cavalry that rushed into the front line, they were "killed" by their joint efforts.

Li Mu thought with relief that the money, food and medicinal materials spent on several training sessions were not in vain.

At this time, a fast horse galloped out of the barracks, and a postman came with important documents asking to see the guerrilla general.

(End of this chapter)