Fenghou

Chapter 1024 Decline
Inside the big tent, Chen Qing looked at the three prisoners of war, all of whom were Khitans and sentinel cavalry. Each of them only wore a pair of shorts, and their upper body and legs were bare. The military doctor of the Song Army was measuring their height and weight.

The three people in front of him really shocked Chen Qing and how short and thin they were. Of course, Donghu people are not tall, and Khitan people and Jurchen people are generally around [-] meters tall, but they are very strong in physique, and they are all as strong as they are. Like a beast.

But the three Khitans in front of them were surprisingly skinny, and they were actually sentinel cavalry, the elite army of the golden soldiers.

The leather armor they wore was on the ground. Chen Qing picked up the leather armor and looked at it carefully. The leather armor was very rough, the leather was not tanned enough, and the toughness was not enough. A sharp spear could pierce through it with a single blow.

This made Chen Qing a little surprised, indicating that ordinary Donghu soldiers wore ordinary leather armor, just like the signing army.

In the West Valley of Dasan Pass, in Qinzhou and in Ganquan Fort, Chen Qingdu fought against Jinbing's Donghu army. The opponents were all wearing iron armor, but it was not as high-quality as the Jurchen army's iron armor, but it could definitely block a hundred steps Outside the crossbow fire.

In just seven or eight years, the overall equipment of the Jin soldiers has dropped significantly, and the three Eastern Hu scouts are far inferior to the Western Army scouts in terms of height and weight. Does this also indicate the decline of the Jin country's national strength?
"Military teacher, what do you think?" Chen Qing smiled and asked Zhang Xiao next to him.

Zhang Xiao pondered for a while and said: "Since the Jin soldiers occupied the Central Plains, they have actually been consuming the wealth accumulated by the Song Dynasty and sucking the blood of the people of the Song Dynasty. All of them are able to equip iron armor, and all of them are physically strong, and now their equipment and physical fitness are getting worse and worse, which means that the Song Dynasty has been sucked dry by them, and the financial resources of the Central Plains can no longer support the Jin soldiers."

"The military adviser is right. Judging from their previous confessions, they usually don't have meat in their meals. Like the signing army soldiers, they are all bread. Even the Jurchen soldiers can't guarantee to eat meat in large pieces, they can only eat meat So much so that this sentinel cavalry was ordered to go south to Fugou County to snatch the sheep of the farmers, and the food of the army has not improved when the war is approaching, which will seriously affect the morale of the opposing army."

Zhang Xiao nodded, "If you dig deeper, you will find a lot of details. From the thinness of the three of you, you can tell that the other party's military resources are very poor. They are all ordinary Khitan herdsmen. They only conscripted the army and went south a year ago. Even the herdsmen are so thin. , indicating that the Khitan and Xi people were brutally oppressed by the Kingdom of Jin, and indirectly said that the Donghu people's military resources will be exhausted."

At this time, Liu Qiong stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, all the scouts are here."

"Take him to the tent of the Chinese army. If I have something to ask him, the military advisor will come with you!"

Shen Qing, the scout of the Eagle Army, was brought into the tent of the Chinese army. He was a little nervous, and knelt down on one knee to salute, "Shen Qing, the scout of the Flying Eagle Army, sees Your Highness!"

"Shen Dutou, please stand up and speak!"

"Thank you, Your Highness!"

Chen Qing looked at Shen Qing, saw that he was tall and straight, with a clear appearance, and his gestures were decisive and resolute like a soldier, Chen Qing secretly nodded and praised him, this person is a talent.

Chen Qing said again: "The three prisoners of war you captured this time are indeed very important, but I want to know the detailed process of your capture of the enemy army. I want to know the details and try to be as detailed as possible."

"Reporting to Your Highness, I was ordered to investigate the enemy situation in Fugou County, but we found no enemy situation in Fugou County for three days. We planned to return as planned, but when we had our last lunch, we found that this scout was running from the official road in the north. Come"

Shen Qing then described the situation of the encounter with the enemy army in detail, and finally said: "Three people still ran away, because I was a scout and was about to leave, so I couldn't talk about leaking secrets, so I didn't chase them."

Chen Qing asked, "How far were you from them when you ambush?"

"Forty steps!"

"But the shortest distance for a scout to ambush is fifty steps, why do you need forty steps?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, if it is fifty steps, there are too many trees, which will obscure our vision and affect the effect of shooting crossbows, so we can only choose forty steps, which is the best line of sight and guarantees our sneak attack effect."

"Forty steps without alarming them?"

Shen Qing shook his head, "They didn't notice it at all, I also felt it myself, their sentry cavalry is the worst I have ever seen, even worse than ordinary cavalry, when their companions were shot, their first reaction was to run for their lives, no One person turned around and tried desperately, even when their leader shouted, they scattered and fled instead of gathering together and desperately."

"Do you understand Khitan?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, I have learned a little bit of humble occupation, and I know a little bit of Khitan and Jurchen."

Chen Qing nodded, and asked again: "When you buried the enemy's corpse, did you feel that the enemy's body was thinner?"

Shen Qing hurriedly said: "This is what I feel the most about. These thirty East Hu cavalry sentry cavalry are all relatively thin and light in weight. I specifically asked the captured leaders why they were all skinny and why they were selected. For the Rangers?"

"What did he say?" This was also a question that Chen Qing was very concerned about.

"He said that the sentry cavalry is selected based on the equestrian assessment. Although they are relatively thin, they are very skilled in equestrianism."

"Do you think they are good at horsemanship?"

"To be honest, it's very good. The three of them are wearing black hoods, their hands are tied behind their backs, and they use their feet to control the horse. They still keep up with our horses. If they are not afraid of our crossbow arrows, they might run away on horseback."

Chen Qing nodded, "That is to say, there are no such experienced soldiers who are good at equestrianism, strong and experienced?"

"It should be gone!"

"Retire, everyone! Each person will be rewarded with ten guan coins, and a great merit will be recorded once. As the leader, you will get five extra turns!"

Shen Qing was overjoyed, and hurriedly thanked him and left.

Here is a brief talk about the promotion and credits of the Western Army. Every time a battle starts, soldiers only need to participate in the battle, even if they are logistics soldiers who did not go into battle, they can get half of the effort. This is the smallest credit, which is considered hard work.

If you go to battle and don't run away, you can get a small merit, if you kill one or more enemies, you can get a medium merit, and if you kill three or more enemies, you can get a great merit.

After getting the credit, it will be reported to the Ministry of Officials, and then the Department of Officials will record it in the record. The merit is turned into a turn, half the work is half a turn, the minor work is one turn, the medium work is two turns, the great work is three turns, Shen Qing just added five Turn, it is a great credit.

Once you have accumulated ten ranks, you can be promoted to an official rank, and at the same time have the qualifications for official promotion, but whether you can be promoted depends on whether there are vacancies.

In order to reduce favor promotion, the Ministry of Officials will queue up. Those with higher official ranks will be promoted first, those with the same official rank and higher number of transfers will be given priority, and those with the same official rank with the same number of transfers will be given priority.

This is why seniority is especially valued in the army. This kind of qualifications are accumulated by everyone with their lives. How can they not be valued?
But in order to let the outstanding ones stand out, there is an exception promotion in the army. There are two situations in which the outstanding ones can be promoted exceptionally. One is when the main general is killed in battle, the deputy will be automatically promoted to the main general. If all the generals are dead, then take the initiative to stand Come out, and the outstanding soldiers who lead the soldiers to continue fighting will be promoted directly.

There is also a person who has made extraordinary achievements. For example, when Tang Qian served as the deputy commander, he single-handedly burned tens of thousands of grains and supplies of the enemy army, and was directly promoted from the deputy commander to the commander.

Shen Qing led his men to annihilate the enemy sentry cavalry and captured three prisoners of war. Chen Qing gave him the credit of adding five ranks.

However, Shen Qing has already accumulated six ranks of merit, and now that he has increased by five ranks, his official rank will be promoted to one level, and his official position can also be promoted to deputy commander. Of course, he is overjoyed.

Chen Qing pondered for a moment and then said to Zhang Xiao: "At the moment of the war, I believe that Wanyan Wushu will definitely find ways to improve the food of the soldiers and improve the morale of the army. There is not much oil and water to be squeezed in the states of the Central Plains. The biggest possibility is to transport mutton from Hebei to On the south bank of the Yellow River."

Zhang Xiao nodded, "Your Highness is right, now is the time to test General Niu Gao."

(End of this chapter)