Daming kill

Chapter 211
On the morning of the last day of April in the 16th year of Chongzhen, Zhang Qing, the deputy battalion commander of the cavalry battalion, was quietly watching an intelligence report in the dormitory of the cavalry camp at the foot of Yeji Mountain.

He didn't go out for training today.

The rough-skinned Ma Lan finally recovered from his injuries and was able to ride a horse for training. Zhang Qing also got a rare chance to rest, which was also his first rest since the end of the Qizhou battle.

But Zhang Qing didn't let himself completely relax because of this.

Instead, he took advantage of this rare quiet moment to carefully read a new report on the military establishment of Li Zicheng's troops sent by the General Staff Office.

The amount of information in this intelligence report is huge, and it needs to be read carefully.However, the level of confidentiality is not high, so he was able to take it back to the dormitory for a closer look.

Zhang Qing has been literate since he was a child. He used to be a businessman with a small and well-off family background so that he has received sufficient education.

Before, Zhang Qing also saw several reports about Li Zicheng's troops' formation and combat characteristics compiled by the staff office, but they were all incomplete and many of the information were outdated.

But this time it was very different.

Thanks to the fact that the Peasant Army not only couldn't help the business travellers, but also strongly encouraged and helped them, and the army at this time generally lacked the concept of secrecy, the increasingly efficient staff office roughly figured out the latest situation of Li Zicheng's army changes in a short period of time.

Li Zicheng's military forces were unified and standardized immediately after the establishment of his new regime, completely getting rid of the bandit armed mode and transforming into the regime's army mode.

The significance is extremely significant.

In the occupied area, Li Zicheng recruited all men over the age of 15 and under [-] as soldiers, and for the first time divided the newly reorganized military forces into two categories: field troops and local defense forces.

Under Li Zicheng, there were two generals with power: Tian Jianxiu and Liu Zongmin.

Tian Jianxiu is mainly "admiral of all battalions", while Liu Zongmin is mainly in command of the Zhongquan pro-army.

Among them, the field troops consisted of five battalions.

They are the five battalions of center, left, right, front and rear, also known as "Zhongji, Zuofu, right wing, forward and stamina."

Among them, the cavalry is the core and key military force of the Fifth Battalion.

The Zhongying is the Zhongquan Pro-Army, also known as the Zhongjunying, or Shuaibiaoying.

Under it, there are five lower-level battalions: middle, left, right, front, and rear, generally called the standard battalion, and its generals are called "standard generals."There are teams under the standard battalion, and the five standard battalions have a total of 100 cavalry teams, that is, each standard battalion has 20 cavalry teams, and the number of infantry teams is unknown.

The brigade is the current basic combat unit of Li Zicheng's troops, with about 50 cavalry and 100 to 150 infantry.

The organization under the team is the whistle, and it is also the usual minimum organization.

Of course, there may be smaller groups, but they are not formal and uniform.

There are four battalions on the left, right, front, and rear parallel to the Zhongquan pro-army, and each battalion has one general.

The left camp: General Liu Fangliang, the right camp: General Liu Xiyao, the front camp: General Yuan Zongdi, the rear camp: General Li Guo.

These five battalions and their generals are the famous and widely circulated 22 generals of the five battalions in history (who are the 22 generals, there is some controversy in history).

He Jin was also appointed as the general of the system, on the right of the generals, that is, above the generals of the various systems.

Li Ping also just confirmed that Ge Zuo was not killed.

In fact, Li Ping was both shocked and not surprised that Luo Rucai was killed.

There is no room for two tigers on one mountain, let alone two tigers with completely different aspirations.Luo Rucai wanted to continue to be a bandit and only wanted to eat, drink and have fun, but Li Zicheng wanted to be king.

Such an ending is already doomed, it is nothing more than time and what method will be used in the end.

Li Ping also probably understood why Li Zicheng stopped his army in Wuchang and returned to Xiangyang.

The front, rear, left, and right battalions each have two lower-level battalions, left and right, and teams under each left and right battalion.

Each of the four battalions leads about 30 teams of cavalry, and there are a total of more than 130 teams of cavalry (current information is uncertain), which are divided into the left and right battalions.

The number of infantry units in the four battalions is also unknown, mainly due to the different organization, but it is roughly known that each battalion of the fifth battalion has about 1 infantry.

The total number of cavalry in the fifth battalion is about 230 teams with more than 1 people, 5 to [-] horses, and the total infantry strength is about [-].

The 6 cavalry and infantry in the five battalions are all elite soldiers, excluding auxiliary soldiers, miscellaneous personnel and family members. Each cavalry team has about [-] or [-] children, and the main herds the horses.

Regardless of infantry or cavalry, each main soldier of the fifth battalion will be equipped with 10 to 20 auxiliary soldiers and miscellaneous personnel. If counting them, the total strength of the fifth battalion is about one million.

The five-battalion system was formally established, and the banner system was established accordingly.

The central government's pro-army has a green banner and a black flag, and Li Zicheng has a monologue with a silver mane and a silver pagoda.The flags of the left battalion are white, the banners of the right battalion are red, the banners of the front battalion are black, and the banners of the rear battalion are yellow.

In addition, Li Zicheng set up more than a dozen guards in Xiangyang, including Xiangyang Guards, Jingzhou Tongda Guards, Chengtian Yangwu Guards, and Runing Guards, and formed corresponding local defense forces, with hundreds of soldiers each. ranging from several thousand.

Among them, Chengtian Yangwuwei (named after Chengtian Mansion was renamed Yangwuzhou) near Wuchang was guarded by General Guoyi Baiwang, Hanchuan guarded by Mighty General Xie Yinglong, and Xianling was added Zuoying Duwei Ma Shitai as the guard. stationed separately.

At the same time, for the first time, all these troops have determined a unified military title according to their ranks.

The marshals from Li Zicheng are descended in descending order, General Quan, General Zhi, General Guoyi, General Mighty, Duwei, Zhang Brigade, Ministry Chief and Post Chief, a total of nine levels.The rank is also from the first rank to the ninth rank.

Li Zicheng clearly set the grades for officers of all ranks.

……

Although it was not the first time to see such detailed information about the enemy's false and true information, Zhang Qing still couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

What does it mean to know yourself and know your enemy? He thinks this is it.

As for the accuracy of this intelligence report, Zhang Qing did not doubt him.Over the past few months, he has long had a deep understanding of the "exaggerated" rigor of the various tasks of this army.

Although from the time point of view, this intelligence report on the formation of Li Zicheng's army came too fast and too comprehensive, but it is still credible and does not violate common sense.

In fact, this is not really a shortcut for Li Ping to take some kind of prophet.

It's not that hard to get, as long as you really pay serious attention to gathering intelligence, aggregating intelligence, and analyzing intelligence.

The information about Li Zicheng's army is public, and he has no intention of concealing it at all, and may even intentionally show it off to the outside world.

Especially when it involves the appointment of Ge Zuo He Jin and Liu Xiyao, it is estimated that they also want to send a strong signal to appease Ge Zuo and Luo Rucai's old ministries.

Lin Yangcheng should be temporarily under house arrest.

Because Luo Rucai and He Yilong who were killed had some subordinates who were unwilling to submit because it was difficult to get away at that time, they chose to pretend to submit to survive, but then fled after the reorganization was completed and stable, and many surrendered to the officers and soldiers.

In addition, the businessmen who came and went fairly freely also brought out a lot of information.

At the same time, many Ming people in the imperial court who were very concerned about Li Zicheng obtained roughly the same and detailed information about the reorganization of Li Zicheng's military forces.

In particular, the intelligence that Li Zicheng had a total of over one million soldiers and that the five battalions had [-] elite soldiers was surprisingly consistent.

The difference is mainly reflected in the fact that other Ming people often did not pay attention to the compilation details, and did not carefully identify and analyze various types of information that spread more and more errors, so that there were often a large number of obvious fallacies.

Zhang Qing was not clear about this, and there was no need to be clear. He only knew that although he had been in the army for many years, he was well-informed, but he had never seen an army that paid so much attention to the enemy.

Here, he is an old army but often opens his eyes.

This kind of notification about the enemy's establishment must be sent to the company level, and the requirements of officers above the company commander must be kept in mind, and then each company commander must organize the entire company to study, so that the officers and soldiers of the entire company can also have a general understanding.

The same applies to intelligence concerning the characteristics and methods of enemy operations.

In this way, once the two sides encounter each other one day, our commanders who are familiar with each other's details will undoubtedly be able to complete the judgment faster and more accurately and then take the initiative.

This is what a fighting army should look like.

However, after reading the information briefing and memorizing it silently for a while, Zhang Qing felt heavy again.

Li Zicheng's army has [-] elite soldiers, over [-] cavalry, and an army of over one million. Such military strength is undoubtedly the existence of giant beasts.

However, when Li Ping was facing strong military pressure from Zhang Xianzhong, he still asked everyone to learn and understand this, and sent the information in such a detailed manner.This shows that Li Ping has ideas, at least he has a strong sense of hostility.

This cannot but make Zhang Qing worry.

He knew very well that Li Ping's current strength was completely incomparable with Li Zicheng's.

Not even Zuo Liangyu is counted.

As the deputy battalion commander, Zhang Qing knew that Li Ping had overestimated the combat strength of the largest Zuo Liangyu military group in the entire Yangtze River region.

Not counting the troops of Li Ping and Zhao Jinshiming, Li Ping estimated that Zuo Liangyu's troops were not elite, but only capable of fighting, that is, there were only a few thousand soldiers who could be drawn to the battlefield, and the remaining hundreds of thousands were just shams.

With such strength, it's no wonder Zuo Liangyu ran away from Li Zicheng.

Moreover, what Li Zicheng, who has completed internal unification, will do next has also become the key at the moment.

Xiangyang and the entire northern part of Huguang were looted by Zuo Liangyu and had no food for a long time. If Li Zicheng's army of millions did not want to starve to death, he had to move as soon as possible.

where to?
Going down the river to eat should be the best choice!
When Zhang Qing's head was hurting in a complicated mood, the door of his dormitory was suddenly pushed open without calling for a report, and then Zhang Ying walked in with a cheerful face.

"Brother, the clothes and sheets have been washed."

Knowing that Zhang Qing was off today, Zhang Ying changed her rotation on purpose, and then ran over to wash everything that could be washed in Zhang Qing's dormitory.

It's a big project, and it's really a joy to be able to get it done.

As for how she could get the news of Zhang Qing's rest so quickly and accurately, it was obvious who the spy was.

"Come and rest quickly, drink some tea, and eat some dates. Don't come to wash my clothes in the future, the orderly will do it for me." Zhang Qing said distressedly.

While speaking, Zhang Qing handed over the tea that was drying on the table and the specially prepared dried dates with both hands.

As the deputy battalion commander, Zhang Qing could actually ask the young orderlies in the battalion to serve him.

But after Zhang Ying took the tea and jujube with a smile and sat aside, she said indifferently: "Forget it, I don't trust those little orderlies. It would be nice if they can wash themselves clean. And I know your Most of the clothes are washed by myself, and then I am not willing to use soap. I will wash you with soap, it is clean and smells good."

Although Zhang Ying is a female soldier, she is just an ordinary soldier after all. It is impossible to distribute expensive and scarce soap to her, and it is also impossible for her salary to afford it.

But a woman who loves cleanliness has no natural resistance to soap.

Although Zhang Qing has a distribution of soap, he is also very nervous. Anyway, it is not enough to use every day.So he saved all of it and gave it to his sister Zhang Ying, and he was reluctant to use it at all.

"I'm a big man who doesn't need soap. Don't waste it in the future, just keep it for yourself." Although Zhang Qing's mouth was stiff, his heart was still sweet.

"Oh! I have enough. Now my sister-in-law has allotted soap, you, Brother Shouhouer and Brother Yuanye all give me the soap for myself, and I have enough. Besides, I have other channels, so I can't feel wronged. "Zhang Yinghao said angrily.

"Our Xiaoying has grown up, and we all have our own secret channels?" Zhang Qing suddenly smiled lovingly.

Regarding the matter between Ma Lan and Zhang Ying, Zhang Qing has been pretending to be deaf and dumb.

Being used to seeing life and death, he is not conservative or particular about the matters of men and women. Of course, the most important thing is that he recognizes the character of both Ma Yong and Ma Lang.

Although Malan, who is much younger than him, is his boss, he often makes him very unhappy.

"Oh! Brother, you are bad. When will you find me a sister-in-law! You are not young, you have to hurry up and leave a queen for our Zhang family."

Of course Zhang Ying knew what her brother meant, so she blushed and acted like a baby while quickly changing the subject.

"me…"

Boom...boom...boom...

Just when Zhang Qing was stuttering and didn't know how to answer, there were bursts of continuous gunfire from the south.

"Let's go to test the cannon!" Zhang Qing immediately suggested in a rescued way.

"Okay!" Zhang Ying answered very happily, without entanglement in the question just raised at all.

Notes:

Note 1:

Several historical books such as Ming Dynasty record that the flags of Li Zicheng's Zhongying and Zuoying were white, and they were distinguished only by the variegated colors on the flags of the Zhongying.This should be wrong, because it is difficult to distinguish from a distance, which is not conducive to command.

Tan Jicong's Yansui Town Chronicles and Guangxu's Mizhi County Chronicles record that the flag of Li Zicheng's Zhongying is green.Green and blue were Li Zicheng's favorite color, and later Dashun's clothing color was still blue, which should be more reasonable, so this record is accepted.

Note 2:

There is no clear record in the historical data of the ranks of the captains, commanders, department chiefs, and sentry chiefs.But these four-level officers should not be organized into the four-level organizational system. For example, the standard battalion has both General Guoyi and General Mighty.But it will not be all equipped at the first level, because the "whistle" has a high probability of being its smallest official organization unit.

Note 3:

The estimate of Zuo Liangyu's hundreds of thousands of troops' true combat power is based on history, and it is only overestimated and not underestimated.

(End of this chapter)