Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 241 Haizhou Military Training

Although he didn't think that the captive soldiers would fight at night, but he was careful. Yang Chao still arranged for night duty. It was Zheng Yongwang's turn to lead people to the city to watch the night. In addition to his own flag, there were five infantry teams at his disposal. , a total of 100 people, patrolling the four city walls.

Up to now, although Yang Chao sent officers to organize the Minzhuang and Guards, he still maintained his own elite army system and always maintained an elite force with great combat effectiveness.

I also inspected the city defense at night. In addition to Zheng Yongwang leading people to patrol around, there are also people sitting at the base of the wall resting. Each of them is holding a long gun and leaning against the wall. Captive soldiers.

Yang Chao left a hundred elite soldiers to patrol, but he couldn't just rely on these 100 people. If he encountered a surprise attack, he would be hard to defend against. Therefore, there were still quite a few strong guards on the four walls, and there were 200 people on each wall.

"My lord, how does it feel to kill someone?"

There are also those who can't sleep and get together to chat.

Because it was dark and they couldn't use torches as targets, basically no one knew about Yang Chao's patrol.

Suddenly I heard a soldier asking the officer next to him.

"I don't feel it, it's like tearing apart the cloth!"

When the officer's voice sounded, Yang Chao felt very familiar. He knew that this was his subordinate, and he was a team leader. Now he was sent to Minzhuang to manage 100 people, and he was temporarily promoted to Baizong.

"My lord, I heard people say that killing someone has a murderous look, isn't it?"

the soldier asked again.

The officer replied, "I don't know."

The soldier said: "My father said it was true. He said that those who kill pigs have a murderous spirit in them. Pigs are afraid of them when they see them. People who kill dogs and dogs hide away when they see them."

The officer asked curiously, "Really?"

Yang Chao's officers are not very old, most of them are seventeen or eighteen years old, and less than one tenth of them are over 20 years old.

The young officer was still at an age of curiosity.

The soldier suddenly lost confidence: "It may not be true. I heard that the snake catcher is not afraid of him, and may bite him."

The officer snorted, with a bit of regret in his tone.

Yang Chao didn't disturb this group of officers and soldiers, and walked quietly with two personal soldiers.

Suddenly at the corner of the city came across a group of patrolling soldiers, they stopped Yang Chao suddenly.

"Who? Why did you move around without authorization?"

"Zheng Yongwang! It's me."

Yang Chao immediately heard Zheng Yongwang's voice.

Zheng Yongwang also heard Yang Chao's voice, and immediately stood at attention: "My lord!"

Yang Chao waved his hand: "Continue to patrol. You can send fewer people now, and you can't relax in the second half of the night. If there is a night attack, it will usually be in the second half of the night."

Zheng Yongwang said: "Take a bid to save money!"

Only then did Yang Chao walk down the tower, his confidence increased a lot, because he found that the soldiers were not as nervous as he imagined, and the folks were much better than he imagined, without showing any panic.

Yang Chao had a rare good night's sleep. The cock crowed the next day and immediately beat up the soldiers. Although there was no alarm from the city, it was time for them to go up and stand by. Although they were very tired, they really couldn't Let them be lazy, they must be awake before the captive soldiers attack the city, and they must warm up.

It doesn't take long for the officers to lead these people to run on the city walls, just run from one end to the other on the walls of their respective defenses.

The warm-up was not wasted, because they had just finished warming up. After Song Lian and some people brought a hot breakfast, the captive soldiers' horns sounded, and then groups of captive soldiers rushed out of the camp to start The city is under siege!

The battle started almost simultaneously on both sides of the southeast.

The captive soldiers pushed the shield chariot in front, followed by the elite infantry, driving long ladders.

There are also cavalry cruising around waiting for an opportunity, ready to pounce on reinforcements at any time.

"Li Wuliu!"

"To!"

Yang Chao immediately called Li Wuliu.

Face-to-face instruction: "You bring the gunners to prepare, and the tiger squatting guns will support you at any time."

"Yes!"

Li Wuliu saluted and was about to leave.

"and many more."

Yang Chao called him to stop.

Li Wuliu stood at attention again and saluted.

Yang Chao then said: "You should hurry up and train a new blunderbuss team in Haizhou. You can choose the number of people yourself, up to 300 people. The blunderbuss made by Haizhou people is also considered excellent."

Li Wuliu was overjoyed immediately, he was already like an expanded blunderbuss hand, and now he was No. 1 in the army advocating that the blunderbuss should be used for long-range combat first.

What made Yang Chao change his mind was not only that the gunners had already proven their worth, but the most important thing was that they found that the quality of the guns in Haizhou was really good.

Out of desperation, Yang Chao only used Haizhou's bird guns yesterday to make up for his losses. As a result, after a day, he found that the quality of Haizhou's bird guns was good.

After inquiring about Jiang Yang, he finally understood that for the artisans of Ming Dynasty, making bird guns was not a very difficult technique. After all, Westerners had already regarded gunpowder weapons as their main weapons. There are many blacksmiths throughout Europe, so there is no reason why they cannot make excellent gunpowder weapons. In fact, during the Ming Dynasty, the Chinese and Westerners were on par in terms of firearm technology.

It's just that the system in the late Ming Dynasty was corrupt, and there was no direction to use force when they got up early, so there was no market for making weapons, so more firearms were not developed.

The development of a country's weapons is always related to the enemy's situation. For example, although the introduction of Western technology, the firecrackers of the Ming Dynasty are smaller than the Western ones, and the range is longer. This is because the opponents of the Ming Dynasty, Mongolia Both China and Manchuria have elite archers, and Western archers have already entered history, so the Ming Dynasty is more inclined to develop bird guns that can suppress archers in range, and Westerners tend to develop because they want to fight heavy cavalry. A powerful large-caliber musket that can penetrate the heavy armor of western knights.

The firearms of the Ming Dynasty and the West are different because their enemies are different, not because of any technical barriers.

Therefore, in all the guards of the Ming Dynasty, craftsmen who can make bird guns can actually be selected. As long as they have made it before and have experience, they can make excellent bird guns step by step. If the weapons are not good, it is because of corruption and cutting corners. It is not a technical factor, but an institutional factor.

All the guards in the Ming Dynasty happened to be able to pick out such craftsmen, because there were military bureaus or miscellaneous manufacturing bureaus similar to the Bingzhan Bureau in each guard. Just weapons.

But under normal circumstances, the weapons and equipment handed over by the local military bureaus are worse than those produced by the Central Eighth Bureau, and no one wants to ask for them.

It is undeniable that under this system, there are craftsmen who can make various weapons. Haizhou also has craftsmen who make bird guns and artillery. Although there are not many craftsmen, they have rich experience.

After asking Jiang Yang yesterday, Jiang Yang introduced a craftsman in their guard to Yang Chao. This is an old military craftsman, a craftsman affiliated to the East China Sea, and he has been in Haizhou since the beginning of Ming Dynasty. He is 50 years old. Many, the ancestral technology is very exquisite.

The old military craftsman told Yang Chao that the guns that Jiang Yang handed over to Yang Chao had been inspected by him one by one. Yang Chao was curious about how to test the quality of metal gun barrels without advanced electronic equipment. The craftsman told him to listen.

He also demonstrated it to Yang Chao once, by tapping the barrel with a small hammer, he could tell whether there were cracks in the barrel or not.

This is similar to the ultrasonic testing of later generations, but later generations use electronic instruments for analysis, and old military craftsmen rely entirely on experience.

Yang Chao knew that this kind of thing could not be promoted, and could only rely on the accumulation of experience. There was only one person in Haizhou, and he was also the master of making guns and cannons in Haizhou City.

The old military craftsman gave Yang Chao confidence. Since Haizhou can build the bird guns, why not let them build them now. The well-built bird guns will naturally equip their own army. , that is of course a last resort. If you can train a considerable number of blunderbuss troops at this time, the defense of the city will naturally be very sharp. Anyway, it will definitely take less time than a company of archers.

Li Wuliu is very keen on the establishment of large-scale bird guns, so he can't wait to go to pick soldiers for training today.

Although he was very dissatisfied with Lao Jin when he was in the Xinjiangkou Camp, this time he planned to select a new gunner according to Lao Jin's method of selecting soldiers. That is to choose a group of long arms and good eyes.

Li Wuliu was just fantasizing about military training. Today is too late. He has to fight on the city wall today, so he can only choose at night. Then he plans to pick an officer to train tomorrow, and the others will stay on the city to fight. Yes, for Li Wuliu, the captive soldiers outside the city at this time were giving military merit to the gunmen.

Compared to Li Wuliu who was still planning, the military officers in the north and west of the city had already organized the people to practice for a day.

To the north and west of the city is the Qiangwei River. Although the river is not wide, it is a natural river. Compared with the moat, it is much wider. The narrowest place is more than ten feet, and the widest place is even tens of feet. The most important thing is that the water flow is abundant, and the river course is very deep. Even if there is no one to stop it, the amount of earthwork alone is enough for the captive soldiers to drink a pot.

Anyway, after two days of filling, the captive soldiers insisted on advancing from the river bank by less than one zhang, not even a tenth. I have no leisure either, and I am actively training under the leadership of the officer.

The officers first trained these people to practice their steps according to the techniques they learned in Nanjing. As long as the steps can be practiced well, there will be no confusion.

But it's not just about practicing steps. It's a war now, not a normal time, so Yang Chao told them that they don't need to follow the steps, and they can train and assassinate in advance. Those who can't fight, so half a day to practice their steps, and half a day to let these soldiers learn to assassinate.

Because the filling of the river by captive soldiers on the northwest side of the city was not going well, so the soldiers on these two sides were mainly training, eating and drinking enough, and then assassinated in the air. Feeling nervous.

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(End of this chapter)