Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 367
According to the original marching route, Chongzhen will lead the new army to Huangmei County in Huangzhou Prefecture via Susong County, and then go straight to Huanggang to join Zheng Hongkui's navy.

There is also a batch of new army equipment in the navy.

However, as soon as the army arrived at Fengxiang Station, there was a fast horse to report.

The bandits in the Dabie Mountains descended in large numbers and surrounded Ying County.

Chongzhen almost laughed out loud when he heard the news. It was really hard to find a place to find them. It took no effort to get them. I didn't know where to find you, but you sent them to your door yourself.

The Dabie Mountains are high mountains and dense forests, and bandits have been rampant since ancient times.

Especially after the two gangs of Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng crossed the border, many old thieves stayed in the Dabie Mountains and joined forces with the bandits in the mountains.

Coupled with the Jiashen national disaster, the imperial court's control over the local area was greatly weakened, and mountainous areas like Dabie Mountain almost became a paradise for bandits and bandits. In addition to controlling the county town, the local officials almost completely gave up the vast villages. It can let bandits and bandits from all walks of life plunder wantonly.

Two years ago, Chongzhen led the Shizi Battalion into Shanbie Mountain. One was to train the spirit of hard work of the scholars, and the other was to train soldiers under the guise of suppressing bandits. It is a pity that these bandits are very cunning, and they were diverted by rumors early. Elsewhere, Shiziying broke into more than a dozen cottages but failed to catch a group of bandits or bandits.

In the end, he had no choice but to use Zuo Liangyu's army to train his courage.

However, by mistake, this time the new army unexpectedly ran into him.

Immediately, Chongzhen led the new army to divert to Yingshan, and at the same time ordered the cavalry battalion and Yiding to follow up on both wings.

After finally catching such an opportunity, it is natural to strive to wipe out all the bandits in the Dabie Mountains, so cavalry must be sent to outflank the two wings to form a siege.

By noon the next day, Chongzhen led the new army to the eastern suburbs of Yingshan County.

I saw that the bandits had already got the news and set up a formation. Except for a small number of bandits who continued to deter the county, most of the bandits lined up with the county behind their backs, forming a huge horizontal formation.

This was somewhat beyond Chongzhen's expectations.

Chongzhen originally thought that the bandits would flee early after learning of the arrival of the official army.

In this case, they would have to rely on the cavalry to outflank the two wings, intercept the bandits, and hand them over to the new army for training.

But it never occurred to them that the bandits did not run away, but uncharacteristically set up a formation to meet the enemy. This was simply a once-in-a-lifetime excellent training opportunity for the new army.

In fact, the bandits on the opposite side regarded the new army as the guard army of Luzhou Prefecture.

Ma Shiying, the governor of Fengyang, once mobilized the guard troops of Fengyang Mansion, Luzhou Mansion, and Anqing Mansion to go into the mountain to suppress the bandits, but they were defeated by the bandits instead, so the bandits were not afraid of the guard troops at all.

Because the new army was wearing bright red cloth face armor, and because it had become dirty from the long march, it looked no different from the bright red mandarin duck battle jackets of the Guards Army.

Moreover, the new army has less than [-] people, so the bandits are even more confident.

Seeing this, Chongzhen smiled and said: "It's interesting, I'm afraid there will be tens of thousands of people ahead?"

"Don't talk about seven or eight thousand." Yan Yingyuan said, "there are thousands of old bandits in armor."

"There are so many bandits." Gao Qiqian was frightened, "The bandits in the entire Dabie Mountains are here, right?"

"It's probably close." Wang Cheng'en said, "There were several heavy snowfalls in the winter of last year and the first month of the year. These bandits probably couldn't find anything to eat, so they joined forces and wanted to take down a county town to survive. "

"It's better this way." Chongzhen laughed. "When all one guy is wiped out, the Dabie Mountains should stop, and the people in the mountains can live a peaceful life."

Then he said to Xu Yingwei and Yan Yingyuan: "Array in line, strike in three stages."

"Yes!" Xu Yingyuan and Yan Yingyuan ran to the front of the new army immediately, swiping their waist sabers twice.

If there is an army of tens of thousands in formation to fight, they must be commanded through the command flag, otherwise they will not be able to see clearly from a long distance, but the same is true for a battle formation with less than [-] people.

The eight soldiers who received the order quickly rectified the infantry formation of the headquarters, and Xu Yingyuan and Yan Yingyuan also quickly rectified the formations of the Laodong and Jiangyin generals.

Ten total, all arranged in a line array of three rows in front and back.

Xu Yingwei and Xu Yingwei continued to swing their knives, and the ten generals began to move, one after another, and finally formed a standard line array of three rows of nine hundred people each.

This is not difficult, the new army has been practicing for nearly half a year.

Xu Yingwei and Xu Yingwei once again waved their waist knives and shouted at the same time: "All bayonets!"

The 2700 new troops took off the bayonet sleeves from their waists one after another, and stuck the barrels hard.

The socket bayonet was made by Zhang Dagou Scissors Shop according to the style designed by Chongzhen.

Because the size of the socket bayonet was standardized, the cost was increased to five qian.

This price is really not cheap. You can buy five waist knives for the price of one barrel bayonet.

When the officers and soldiers of the new army put on their bayonets, Xu Yingwei and Yan Yingyuan once again waved their swords and shouted: "Load flint, load bullets!"

The recruits took out flints from the leather pouches at their waists and put them on the triggers, and turned the nuts to lock them tightly. Then they took out a paper shell bullet from the bullet pouch and began to load the bullets.

Soon, all the filling is completed.

Compared with matchlock guns, flintlock guns, especially those equipped with paper shell bullets, are easy to load.

During the march of the previous half month, the new army would stop from time to time to practice loading bullets, so the whole process was extremely proficient, and it could be completed with eyes closed.

"Forward!" Accompanied by the roars of Xu Yingwei and Yan Yingyuan, the war drum sounded.

Amidst the sound of drums, 2700 new troops began to move forward at a uniform pace.

Xu Wuniu held a flintlock gun in front of his chest with both hands, and marched forward with the beat of the drum. The whole process was very familiar. He had trained in Grandpa's hometown for three months before, and this was what he practiced.

While walking forward, Xu Wuniu looked forward.

I saw that on the gentle slope ahead, there were all bandits.

Seeing this, Xu Wuniu was inevitably a little scared. There are so many bandits, can they beat them?
Xu Wuniu looked left and right subconsciously, but with this look, he quickly regained his composure, because on his left was Xu Dahu, and on his right was Xu Yinglong, all of them from the same village.

Behind them are all buddies who have played small games and grown up.

Looking forward again, Xu Wuniu became more calm.

Because Xu Yingwei was at the front of the team.

Boss Xu, a high-ranking official, is not afraid. What have we to be afraid of?

So Xu Wuniu kept his eyes on Xu Yingwei, listened to the sound of the drums, and just walked forward. If he walked too far, he would slow down a little, and always keep in line with the left and right.

The new army maintained its own rhythm and moved forward unhurriedly.

The bandits on the opposite side lost their composure and began to provoke wildly.

Some yelled, some slapped wooden signs, and some unbuttoned their lower garments to pee.

However, these threats and provocations by bandits did not have the slightest impact on the new army.

The new army is still just stepping on the drums, advancing unhurriedly, not fast but always moving forward.

Finally, when the distance between the two sides entered within two hundred steps, the bandits could no longer hold their breath. A tall and tall bandit leader roared, and all the bandits rushed down like a tide.

Bandits with tens of thousands of people lined up in dozens of horizontal lines,
Like the tide, wave after wave rushing down the gentle slope,
This visual effect, it should be said, is still very scary.

Xu Wuniu's heart was raised again, and he felt fear again.

However, Xu Wuniu's feet still did not stop, his eyes were fixed on Xu Yingwei, and his ears were always listening to the continuous sound of war drums. All of this had become a conditioned reflex.

However, this conditioned reflex does not come out of thin air.

It was a lot of ears and a few bloody heads in exchange.

Xu Yingwei had killed someone when he was training in Grandma's hometown.

During a training session, Xu Yingwei gathered dozens of cows to charge against their line formation. Two fellow villagers turned and ran away because of fear, and were beheaded directly.

In another training session, Xu Yingwei led them to rush towards a large red-hot fire.

Another fellow countryman was beheaded because he stopped by the fire and dared not move forward because of fear.

After beheading several heads, a fellow villager asked to quit, but he was also beheaded without any explanation.

After beheading, Xu Yingwei told them with a livid face that once enlisted in the army, he is a soldier, and soldiers are only allowed to move forward without permission, and those who disobey the order will be executed immediately!
When a few heads fell to the ground, Xu Wuniu and the others became paralyzed.

It was also from that moment that they understood the meaning of the word soldier.

It was also from that moment that they realized that the new performance book is not just a book.

Therefore, even if there were ten times more bandits in front, they would bite the bullet and move forward.

Because if you go back, you will die, but if you go forward, you may survive, and if you win, you can still remember the merits.

Ahead, thousands of bandits rushed down like a tide, wave after wave.

In a blink of an eye, the distance between the two sides was less than a hundred steps, and white smoke suddenly rose from among the bandits in the front row.

Scholars such as Xu Yingwei who were walking in front turned their heads away from their faces.

As long as the front face is avoided, the phoenix wing helmet can provide good shelter.

Xu Wuniu and other soldiers lowered their heads slightly, and the iron edge of the hat-shaped helmet was also sufficient to protect their faces.

After a while, Xu Wuniu heard a popping sound in his ear, which should be caused by lead or iron sand hitting a scholar's mountain armor or a soldier's cloth face armor.

But not a single scholar or soldier fell.

A hundred paces away, a blunderbuss is not enough to pierce through a cloth armor.

"Hold on, keep going!" Xu Yingwei raised his waist knife and howled.

Holding flintlock guns in both hands, Xu Wuniu stepped on the drums and walked forward at a leisurely pace.

The bandits that came flooding in like a tide quickly entered fifty paces, and with the screeching sound, a wave of arrows swept across the sky, but it was the bandits' earthen bow that shot out a row of arrows.

After a while, Xu Wuniu heard another sound of beeping.

Immediately, there was a bang from his hat-shaped helmet, which should have been hit by an arrow.

However, Xu Wuniu didn't pay attention to it, and continued to step on the drums at a leisurely pace.

(End of this chapter)