The Ming Dynasty: Starting with the border troops, it was overthrown and the Qing Dynasty was destro

Chapter 292 is full of details

Zheng Zhifeng didn't know how long she had slept, but she was awakened in a daze by a series of urgent and sharp bugle calls.

Woo——woo——woo——

Years of fighting made him suddenly open his eyes and reach under his pillow to grab a knife.

But when Zheng Zhifeng came to her senses, she found that what she heard all around her was not shouts of killing, but a series of urgent urgings.

"Get up quickly, the bugle is sounding!"

Inside the tent, figures could be seen everywhere, with soldiers quickly putting on their clothes, slippers, and organizing their equipment.

The entire process was orderly and almost completely silent.

Seeing this, Zheng Zhifeng breathed a sigh of relief, then rubbed her sleepy eyes and asked vaguely:
"Hey guys, it's not even dawn yet, what are you doing?"

Wang Laoshuan, who was binding his legs nearby, replied without looking up:
"What else can we do? The reveille has already sounded!"

"Training!"

"The commander in the ward said that the day's work begins in the morning, and breakfast can only be eaten after training."

Upon hearing the word "training," Zheng Zhifeng snapped to attention and immediately snapped back to reality.

He suddenly remembered the purpose of his trip, hurriedly scrambled to his feet, put on his coat, and followed the soldiers out of the tent.

At this time, the sky outside was just beginning to lighten, and the morning mist was thick.

Team leader Zhao Laoba was already standing in the open space outside the tent, urging in a low voice:

"Quick! Form ranks!"

"Same as always, let's climb the hill first."

The team of fifty people quickly assembled. Although they were all militiamen, after months of training, their formation was already quite impressive.

At Zhao Laoba's command, the team formed two lines and jogged towards the hilltop to the west of the camp.

Zheng Zhifeng, accompanied by three attendants, followed closely at the back of the procession.

Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, Zhao Laoba pointed to the distant hilltop and succinctly stated:

"In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, I ran up and then ran down."

"No breakfast if we're late, let's go!"

After saying that, he blew the bone whistle hanging around his neck.

As the sharp whistle blew, the soldiers in the ranks shot off like arrows, rushing towards the mountaintop.

Zheng Zhifeng was stunned by what she saw:
"Brother Zhao, what are you doing?"

"Didn't you say you'd have breakfast?"

Zhao Laoba didn't hold back and angrily rebuked him:
"Who's your brother? Call me squad leader during training!"

"Didn't you hear me? In the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, rush up and run down!"

"quick!"

Zheng Zhifeng was dumbfounded. She was fine yesterday, so why did she change her attitude today?

But seeing Zhao Laoba's serious expression, he couldn't say anything more, since he was the one who requested to come to the front-line team.

"Go ahead and charge! It's like everyone's runner before."

Zheng Zhifeng gritted her teeth and led her entourage towards the mountaintop.

The hillside in front of us didn't look high, but climbing it was incredibly difficult. The ground was sticky and muddy, and the soil was extremely loose, making it impossible to gain any leverage.

Zheng Zhifeng and her group ran until they were covered in sweat and panting heavily, finally managing to push and shove each other as they climbed to the top of the mountain.

But just as the group reached the mountaintop, before they could even sit down and catch their breath, they discovered that the soldiers who had arrived earlier had not stopped at all and had immediately turned around and rushed down the mountain!
"Brother Zheng! Hurry up and keep up!"

"If we're any slower, we'll miss lunch!"

When Wang Laoshuan passed by him, he kindly called out to him.

Zheng Zhifeng watched the soldiers rush off as if walking on flat ground, and could only manage a wry smile:
"Wow, such intense training right after waking up, there's probably going to be even tougher later on."

He had a bad feeling, but before he could think about it, he was left with only his three followers on the hilltop in the blink of an eye.

Helpless, Zheng Zhifeng could only force herself to stand up and stumble as she ran down the street.

This up-and-down journey, which took only the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, made him feel more tired than if he had been tossed around at sea all day.

When she reached the foot of the mountain, Zheng Zhifeng felt her calves trembling and her back was covered in sweat.

Seeing this, Zhao Laoba immediately came over, and together with his attendant, one on each side, helped Zheng Zhifeng up.
"It's alright, isn't it?"

"Let's go, let's go have breakfast!"

Zheng Zhifeng, panting heavily, pointed to the mountain behind her and asked haltingly:
"Zhao... Captain Zhao, is it really necessary?"

"What...what's going on here? Is this part of your usual training?"

Zhao Laoba shook his head and explained earnestly:
“Brother Zheng, you’re a seaman, you don’t understand this place in Guizhou.”

"Guizhou is known as a place where there is no flat land. The mountain roads are rugged and dangerous, and in many places you can only rely on your two legs."

"This training is called 'capture the flag by charging uphill,' a training method established by the King of Han when he led us in battles across Shanxi and Shaanxi."

"At that time, our army was short of horses. The only horses we had had to be given to the soldiers and cavalry, so we had to march on foot."

"Back then, we developed iron feet by using this method, which allowed us to run on mountain slopes and dirt roads."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Zhifeng suddenly realized what was going on. He straightened up and looked thoughtfully at the soldiers in front of him.

Although these people were sweating, they showed no signs of fatigue and were able to chat and laugh as they hurried to the cafeteria, walking briskly.

"No wonder they came from the Northwest."

Zheng Zhifeng was starving and didn't have time to say much. He followed Zhao Laoba and the others, jogging to the canteen to get the breakfast he had been longing for.

But breakfast was a huge disappointment to him.

Apart from a simple bowl of rice porridge, pickled vegetables, and two multigrain steamed buns for each person, there was nothing else special about the meal.

Zheng Zhifeng finished the porridge in two gulps, then ate a steamed bun with pickled vegetables, and couldn't help but be a little surprised:
"Captain Zhao, aren't we supposed to be doing drills and preparing for battle today?"

"Just this? Will that be enough?" Zhao Laoba waved his hand dismissively.
"Brother Zheng, you may not know this, but it is not advisable to eat too much in the morning."

"There will be a long-distance march training exercise later, so eating too much would be a bad thing."

"After the training is over, I guarantee you'll eat your fill."

Zheng Zhifeng was stunned, somewhat incredulous:

"Are you... still going to run?"

"Didn't we just finish that mountain run this morning?"

"What is a long-distance raid training exercise?"

In Zheng Zhifeng's vision, the subsequent training would likely consist of things like formation changes and shooting with bows and crossbows.

Anyway, everyone trains like this. If it's stricter, they might add some combat formations and high-intensity training for mutual confrontation.

He had never heard of any long-distance raid training exercise before.

Zhao Laoba glanced at him, his gaze as if he were looking at a greenhorn who had never seen the world:
"Where are you going?"

"The morning's hill-climbing and flag-capturing exercise is a practice of short-distance battlefield assaults and seizing high ground. The round trip is less than five or six miles of mountain road."

"Guizhou is all mountains and gullies, so the long-distance raids later on are the main event."

After saying that, Zhao Laoba finished the last mouthful of porridge and hurriedly led Zheng Zhifeng and her group back to the camp.

At this moment, the auxiliary soldiers responsible for distributing the swords and armor were already waiting outside the tent with wheelbarrows.

Zheng Zhifeng was also assigned a set of clothes:
A bright helmet with a neck guard, a heavy cloth-covered iron armor, a waist knife, a bow with a quiver full of thirty arrows, a water jug ​​filled with water, and a bag of dry rations for two days.

Zheng Zhifeng took each item and held them in her arms, her eyes wide with amazement.

He felt his hands getting heavier and his heart getting colder.

He looked up at Zhao Laoba and asked incredulously:

"Captain Zhao, are we bringing all this equipment?"

"Let's not talk about anything else, just this cloth armor alone, I'd say it weighs at least twenty pounds!"

"That iron helmet must weigh at least seven or eight pounds, right?"

"This waist knife, bow, and arrows will weigh another ten pounds or so!"

"Add to that the kettle, tinderbox, kitchen knife, dry rations... all this stuff must weigh forty or fifty pounds, right?"

"You're telling me now that I have to carry something weighing forty or fifty pounds for twenty miles through the mountains?"

Are you trying to make fun of me, Zheng?

Seeing his anxious expression, Zhao Laoba smiled instead, signaling him to calm down:
"Brother Zheng, I know you're in a hurry, but don't rush."

"Let me tell you something."

"First of all, our army has auxiliary soldiers."

“Take our squad of fifty men for example, we only have fifteen support soldiers.”

“When marching, less important heavy items such as helmets, quiver, rations, and tents can be thrown to auxiliary soldiers to share the burden.”

"What you really need to carry at all times is the cloth armor you wear and the weapons you carry with you."

"Besides, your weight is really nothing."

"Some brothers also need to bring muskets, gunpowder, and lead bullets."

"The artillerymen in the team are carrying tiger-squat cannons and small breech-loading cannons. Aren't those things heavier than what you're carrying?"

As he spoke, Zhao Laoba pointed to an open space not far away.
"Look over there."

Zheng Zhifeng looked in the direction he was pointing and saw three strong soldiers busily working around a short and powerful cannon.

The cannon was the tiger-squatting cannon commonly used by the Ming army. The cannon barrel weighed about fifty pounds and was fixed on a specially made wooden frame with two thick carrying poles at both ends of the frame.

Judging from its appearance, it should be a special carrying frame for transporting artillery, which is carried by soldiers working together, one in front and two behind, during marches.

There were also several sturdy wooden boxes next to it, which probably contained gunpowder and cannonballs.

On the other side, four or five musketeers were inspecting their flintlock muskets.

In addition to carrying muskets, they also had heavy gunpowder bottles, lead bullet bags, and slings hanging from their waists, making their load no less than Zheng Zhifeng's.

Zheng Zhifeng's eyes nearly popped out of her head, and she gasped in shock:
"hiss……"

"Your artillery has already been deployed to the squad level?"

"So extravagant?"

Zhao Laoba waved his hand with a hint of pride:
"What's this?"

"Our king attaches great importance to firearms, and they are already standard equipment in the army."

"This time we are launching a night raid across the river, which requires stealth and swift movement, so we are keeping everything simple and only bringing these light belongings."

"If we were to form a frontal array to meet the enemy head-on, that would be a truly grand spectacle!"

"First, heavy artillery will bombard the enemy several times to demoralize them, and then elite vanguards wearing three layers of heavy armor will charge into battle."

"That scene was truly earth-shattering; I dare say, no one could withstand it."

Zheng Zhifeng was speechless, deeply shocked, and could only let out a long sigh in the end:

"That's all."

"We've come all this way, we can't just back down now."

"Keep training, keep training! I refuse to believe you can kill me today!"

With that, he steeled himself, grabbed the cloth armor, and started to put it on.

Seeing this, Zhao Laoba quickly spoke up to stop him:

"Wait!"

"Brother Zheng, the order is wrong, tie your legs first."

(End of this chapter)