Daming kill

Chapter 39

That night, Zhao Jin took Li Ping, Shi Ming and Wang Chengwu to visit Zuo Menggeng as planned. In addition to paying tribute to a few pieces of jewelry that everyone had put together, he also gave a dozen pieces of soap.

The main reason for not sending money directly is that if there is too little money, it is useless, and if it is too much, they can't afford to give it away, and normally Zuo Menggeng is not a person who is short of money.

Zuo Menggeng, who was not very interested in meeting Zhao Jin and others, soon became happy after trying the soap that Zhao Jin had been bragging about for a long time.

In fact, the effect of soap is not necessarily much better than the rice washing water, fragrant noodles and saponins commonly used by nobles like Zuo Menggeng, and it may even make the skin dry and astringent.

But soap is easy to use and has a good and fast effect on removing oil from the skin, and these two advantages are precisely the favorites of men who like simple washing.

Because of the joy and novelty, Zuo Menggeng also specially commented and compared the advantages and disadvantages of these washing products to Zhao Jin and the others.

Only then did Li Ping know that Zuo Menggeng usually used rice washing water and fragrant noodles more, while saponin was used less.Moreover, Zuo Menggeng's first use of the poor people's habit of washing rice water was mainly due to his wife's influence, and his wife learned it from the palace, saying that it is good for the skin.

In the palace, this word made several people tremble in their hearts.

Zuo Menggeng also likes the fragrant noodles, mainly because it uses a lot of materials, looks high-end, and is very fragrant.

Fragrant noodles are a kind of mixed noodles made of peas (peas) ground into noodles, supplemented with spices and traditional Chinese medicine.

Put it in water to melt when using it, and wash it with water.In the past, people often made fragrant noodles into bean shapes that are easy to carry and place, so they are also called bath beans.

It is thanks to Zhao Lanyue, who loves beauty, that Li Ping knows that Xiangmian is so unpopular. She did this before there was no soap.

However, Zuo Menggeng didn't understand Zhao Jin and others naming the soap "soap". After careful questioning, Zhao Jin and others almost missed the point because they didn't know what soap was. Zuo Menggeng was not a fool after all.

It turns out that the saponins in Zhejiang are very famous. It is said that the fruits of the saponins are particularly large and have good decontamination effects, so people call this saponins fat beads, or soap. Soap is listed in Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica". special records.

Fortunately, the use of fat beads is not very widespread, and there are not many used in the north. Zhao Jin and Li Ping have never been to Zhejiang, nor have they been to the south. A few words, but not entangled in this issue.

But it is obviously inappropriate to call soap "soap" again.

Since the "soap" offered by Zhao Jin obviously has a strange fragrance, Zuo Menggeng suggested that this new type of washing product that Zhao Jin said was passed down by his subordinates should be called "soap"!Zhao Jin and others, who were a little bit shocked, naturally praised it again and again.

After deciding on the name of the soap, Zuo Menggeng was even more happy, probably also excited that he was naming an object for the first time.

With this kind of enthusiasm, Zuo Menggeng highly praised Zhao Jin's ability to be a man and do things recently, and affirmed Zhao Jin's hard work these days.

In the middle, Zuo Menggeng, after listening to Zhao Jin's flattery to Shi Ming, felt itchy for a while, and even had a little competition with Shi Ming.

Zuo Menggeng's martial prowess is not bragging, he still follows his father.

But Shi Ming didn't do it, he seized this opportunity and amazed Zuo Menggeng with his more scientific modern fighting skills.

Amidst Zuo Menggeng's constant praise, Shi Ming even implicitly expressed that he had not been the head of the Zhao family's guards for a long time, had served in the army before, and had also led No. [-] people.

Zuo Menggeng was really interested, so he asked a few more questions.

Shi Ming's explanation is simple and fluent. A newly recruited army in a certain place in Hebei was used to guard against bandits. Later, due to lack of food and pay and the bandits were too powerful, they dispersed.Later, in order to help the Zhao family who had been kind to him, he willingly became a guard and never gave up.

Shi Ming falsified his original resume and exaggerated his image without discussing with everyone, and he answered the questions fluently.Although Zhao Jin and Li Ping were very surprised, they didn't express anything, and instead helped Shi Mingyuan with a few words.

At that time, the land of Hebei was also in chaos, there were many such stories, Zuo Menggeng didn't show any doubts and didn't ask more questions, he just praised Shi Ming's loyalty.

Shi Ming was in such a good mood that he could barely hide his smile.

The next morning, when everyone gathered at Zhao Jin's place again as promised, Shi Ming was still full of joy, but this time there were more Li Shengcai and Liu Shixiong.

Zhao Jin distributed a handwritten pamphlet to everyone, which contained the rules and regulations of the Ming army recorded by him.There is a lot of content, no wonder he would be so kind and not afraid of trouble to copy a copy for everyone.

Comparing with the booklet, Zhao Jin talked for a whole morning, which also opened Li Ping's eyes.

Without the support of modern communication technology, Li Ping has always been curious about how to command a large army to fight in ancient times. It is especially impossible for Zuo Liangyu, who can easily have more than [-] troops, to have no rules. The original level of the body and the incomplete memory cannot provide sufficient answers for it.

It wasn't until after listening to Zhao Jin's explanation that Li Ping realized that what the Ming army relied on was a complete command system built mainly on flags, musical instruments and Tangqi, and it was also a relatively mature and complex command system.

Once there are more than ten thousand people, there is no limit.

Just relying on shouting to issue instructions, even without considering the timeliness of passing down from one level to the next, even after reaching the most basic combat unit-Wu Heshi, there will always be some soldiers who may not be able to hear the instructions due to various reasons. to the command.

Moreover, how to identify the password of the commander of one's own side and not to mix up with friendly and neighboring troops will also be a matter that cannot be guaranteed to make mistakes.

The complex and numerous flags developed by the Ming army should be related to this. They are trying to optimize the command as much as possible and let the command go to the bottom, and it seems to have achieved the effect.

Generally speaking, soldiers only need to follow the flag of their own small group and master the simplest semaphore, and then officers at all levels will lead them to follow the flag of the higher-level unit, so as to ensure that the most basic chaos will not occur.

And the semaphore is also very simple.If the flag nods forward, it means to advance; if it nods to the left, it means to turn left; if it nods to the right, it means to turn right;

Of course, more complex flags can transmit more orders and information, and can ensure that the troops carry out more complex actions. Although it requires long-term training, it can achieve more precise control of the troops.

It's just that the flag is only a single-layer command after all, which has great limitations, especially when people are in a state of tension and combat, sometimes the eyes cannot be distracted. At this time, the golden drum instrument that stimulates the ears is very important.

"Beating the drums to march, and ringing the gold to withdraw the troops" is the most straightforward and effective command method.

Of course it can't be that simple.

Ancient combat places great emphasis on controlling the rhythm, which is the most effective way to ensure that the troops are not in chaos, so the army will use the sound of drums to control the speed of soldiers.

There are two kinds of drums in the Ming army, one is the beating drum and the other is the step drum.The infantry does not have a high sense of existence in the impression of modern people, but it is indeed the most important drum for commanding the infantry to attack the enemy, because it controls the speed at which the soldiers meet the enemy. If you beat the drum, the infantry will advance ten steps. It is important for them to maintain their strength and maintain a uniform rhythm.

The beating drum is the well-known Chinese army drum. It is all played in the movie. When the beating drum sounds, the whole army charges.

But in fact, beating drums means beating drums continuously, which is the final command for the army to charge after approaching the enemy. When it is heard, the infantry will rush forward and charge, and it is used in the final stage.

Another very important one is bō luō, which is a kind of horn made of conch shells.When blowing 哱啦, the soldiers who are resting are called to stand up, and when blowing again, it is called for the horse soldiers to mount their horses, the chariot soldiers to mount their chariots, and the infantry soldiers to stand up with their weapons.

And Mingjin is also particular about it.The sound of ringing gold is to ask the soldiers of all units to stop attacking and stand still, the second sound of ringing of gold is to ask the soldiers of all units to retreat slowly to the main formation, and the continuous ringing of gold is to ask the soldiers of all units to quickly retreat and run for a few steps to leave the battle, then turn around and stand still towards the enemy, and retreat slowly.

Due to the relatively limited changes in drums, gold and luo, the Ming army also developed other instruments to refine more instructions.

Among them, the suona horn is the most used, because the sound of the suona is huge, and the timbre changes according to the size and structure of the suona, which can distinguish different commands more carefully.

For example, the palm flute is to blow the ordinary suona, which is used when the chief general of the army holds a meeting.When the officers of the various ministries heard the Chinese army playing the suona, they asked them to rush to the Chinese army's tent as soon as possible to start the military meeting, and then each received military tasks.

But Zuo Liangyu didn't use the suona when he retreated, but used the messenger, probably because he was afraid of being heard by both friendly and enemy troops!He probably wanted to keep it a little secret.

Another example is the horn, which will be used in many occasions.

For example, during combat, the flag nods to indicate the direction first, and then blows the horn to tell the soldiers to move forward in the direction of the nod of the flag.

Then the horn is also a tool for controlling the troops to eat together.

Once the trumpet is blown, the fire soldiers (cooking soldiers) will clean up the stove and start cooking; the second blowing of the trumpet means that the meal is ready, and each army will go to their respective places to sit down and eat according to the team formation; the third blowing of the trumpet means eating The time has passed, and the armies returned to the camp to wait for other orders to act.

At the same time, the horn is also an important command method for firearms troops.

The Ming army was a highly weaponized army, and the smoke and noise produced by the firearms during this period were very loud. It was difficult to command by the officers in the movie who shouted "release". The role of the guns is not very big, the Ming army's firecrackers use the trumpet command method.

At this time, due to the slow loading of the firecrackers, most of them used three to six rows of burst fire.

The musketeers listened to the captain's blowing the horn, the first row fired, and then returned to the back row to load; after blowing the horn again, the second row fired, and then returned to the back row to load, in order.

In the end, when the enemy was close to the battle, the captain continued to blow the trumpet, and all the musketeers retreated to the formation after firing a salvo.

In order to make soldiers obey the orders of flags and golden drum instruments, the Ming army specially required soldiers to learn a song formula, the lyrics of which are:

"For one eye, one ear, and one heart, why shouldn't a thief be killed? What merits can't be established?"

On the battlefield, the main command of the troops is the five-sided five-color flag, which is a very important command flag for the Ming army and a very basic combat formation.

Why is it called a combat formation? In fact, it is a formation method in which the Chinese army is centered and arranged in front, back, left, and right. This is a four-sided formation habit developed by fighting against the highly mobile Mongols for a long time.

The five-color flags of the five directions are red in the front, black in the rear, blue in the left, white in the right, and yellow in the middle.

During the battle, the general will make people raise all the five-color and five-square flags, and each department must arrange the formation according to the command position before the battle, facing the enemy outward on all sides, and then the general will issue orders according to the development of the battle situation.

For example, if only the red flag is raised, the front battalion is required to be ready to listen to orders, only the black flag is raised, the rear battalion is required to prepare, and if the five flags are raised together, the entire army is required to prepare.

Of course, if a large corps with more than tens of thousands of people or even more than 10 people is fighting, the five-party and five-color flags will become a second-class level, and the main general can only rely on Tangqi to maintain contact and command with the generals. Give orders in general direction.

Speaking of this, another very important Tangqi appeared.

Tang cavalry can be understood as scouts + signal soldiers, and they do the task of detecting the enemy's situation and reporting information during the march. In the big battle, they are also important liaison soldiers.

Usually when the army is marching, the chief general will send out the Tangbao cavalry first. Due to the terrain and the lack of horses in the southern region, there are often Tangbao infantry.

Tang cavalry is organized in ponds. In the north, there are usually five cavalry per pond, and in the south, there are usually ten cavalry plus ten infantry or all infantry per pond.Of course, this is not fixed, but depends on the actual situation and the situation of the army.

In principle, each pond should pay attention to looking at each other during the investigation, and cannot leave their respective sights. Once an emergency occurs, they must immediately warn the army.

When the army is marching, no matter how many routes it divides into, each route must set up pond riders, with a maximum of 24 ponds per route.

The distance between these Tangqi is one mile, and the maximum spread can reach more than [-] miles.When encountering the enemy, return from front to back in order to ensure that there is always a pool of people in contact with the enemy and keep the main general getting the latest information.

It can be said that Tang Qi is the eyes and ears of the army.

In order to solve the emergency military situation, Tangqi also has a flag communication method.When using the flag gun (the gun is three meters long, and a small flag [-] cm wide is placed under the gun head), shake it sharply from side to side to encounter the enemy suddenly, move it slowly to find the enemy but is still far away, and shake it in a circle means to encounter the enemy The army is in danger.

In addition, Tangqi will also use five-color flags.Such as encountering the enemy and waving the red flag, finding the enemy waving the yellow flag, many enemies waving the green flag, few people waving the white flag, terrain problems waving the black flag, etc.

Because Butang's maneuverability is too weak and too dangerous, it is also specially stipulated that if Butang encounters an ambush, if Butang is not killed, he can escape at will and not return to the army for the time being.When the war is over, each of the Tang soldiers will be rewarded with a first-level military exploit.

In addition, the information obtained by Tangqi is only passed on to the general. If any Tangqi returns to the camp to report the investigation information, no matter whether it is important or not, the officers and soldiers along the way are not allowed to intercept and interrogate them. They only need to go directly to the central army to report to the general, and then the general will call all the troops. Officers discuss.

If someone dares to intercept Tangqi to interrogate information on the way, he will be dealt with by military law.

As for camping, the Ming army clearly requested that a beacon pier be built within a distance of one or two miles outside the camp as a clear warning post.

Seeing the enemy army coming to attack the village, light the beacon according to the number of people. Generally, ten people light small torches, 200 to 400 people light large torches, 1000 to [-] people light two torches, and [-] to [-] people light three torches. Increase accordingly.

In addition, there is a special requirement.It is necessary to strictly manage the excretion of soldiers, and dig cesspit far away from the water source, but it seems that Zuo Liangyu's troops have never implemented it!

Since there are so many things in the booklet, Li Ping can only pick up some important and interesting ones to remember first. He estimates that if any army can do it all, let alone the elite!It is also enough to fight.Anyway, the Ming army in Zhuxian Town he saw didn't do much at all.

It seems that what Zuo Liangyu's troops lack is not military knowledge and command knowledge, but training and implementation are the biggest shortcomings.

However, Li Ping also noticed a problem, that is, these things are a bit fragmented, and many aspects are obviously incomplete or contradictory. It should be that the person who taught them only knew the surface, and Zhao Jin confirmed this view.

Li Ping had to lament that the military tradition of Zuo Liangyu's army was really average, and it was no wonder that his army was only a third-rate army.

After talking about so much content at once, it may feel novel at first, but then it is mainly boring. If you are not really interested, it is difficult to continue listening.

Li Shengcai and Liu Shixiong soon became a little restless and scratched their heads, and what Zhao Jin said basically did not exceed the notes in the booklet, it was nothing more than a little more detailed and combined with some examples, the two inevitably made a few words Whispering words, but not too much.

Shi Ming, who had been listening carefully all this time, was suddenly furious for some reason, and drove the two of them away.Li Ping didn't understand until Zhao Jin finally finished speaking and Shi Mingfei forced several people to go to his camp for a drink.

Shi Ming should be very satisfied with last night.

(End of this chapter)