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Chapter 603 Coming out of seclusion
At the end of March 1615 in the Gregorian calendar, in mid-February of the 3th year of Jingyang in the Ming Dynasty, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty led most of the army out of Shanhaiguan and marched eastward along the Banghai Road.

More than 20,000 army troops were divided into two large groups, led by Army Governor Li Ruzhang and the emperor himself. They were ten miles apart and followed the post road to attack the first acropolis outside the pass, the Guangning Front Guards.

The army, like the navy, superficially inherited the military system of the Ming Dynasty Guards, which divided the more than 30,000 soldiers into five guards at the front, rear, left, right, and center, plus an engineer guard responsible for managing carriages, artillery carriages, and building bridges and paving roads.

Each guard has one commander, the third rank; two commanders, the fourth rank; four commanders, the fifth rank (replaced by staff officers), a total of about 5600 people.

Below the Wei are the Thousand Households, divided into five in the front, back, left, right and middle. Each Thousand Household has one person from the Thousand Household, the fifth rank; two deputy Thousand Households, from the fifth rank; four governors, the sixth rank (replaced by the staff officer) , a total of about 1120. There are also hundreds of households, trial hundred households, captains, chiefs, and corps commanders below. The general flag and small flags have been cancelled, and there are no staff officers.

In fact, the internal combat system has completely changed. As the most basic combat unit of the army, Baihu is regularly equipped with eight musketeers, two logistics teams, 100 long muskets, more than 30 short muskets, 30 war horses, 4 four-wheeled vans.

Hong Tao has no research on ancient military systems, nor does he want to. There are so many mature military systems in the era of hot weapons that can be learned from in later generations, so why bother thinking about the military configuration in a combat environment with cold weapons.

The set of things he got for the army had some shadows of later armies. The guards were brigades, the thousand households were regiments, and the hundred households were companies, but they were not copied. There were no battalion or platoon-level units, and squads were replaced by teams.

This is mainly done to simplify the hierarchy and make it easier to remember. Ancient soldiers were accustomed to the above-mentioned official positions. Suddenly everything changed and they had to get familiar with them again. If the structure was made too complicated, it would be easier to get messed up.

In this battle out of the pass, Hong Tao left the army's central guards at Shanhaiguan as a mobile unit. If any pass was not held, he could fill the gap in time. He only took the front, rear, left, right and engineer guards with him.

Li Ruzhang led the front and rear and engineering guards as the forward, and he himself led the left and right guards to the rear. During the march, the two forward guards will take turns sending out two to three hundred soldiers on horseback to cruise within ten miles in front of the army and on both wings in accordance with the drill. They serve as the tentacles and eyes of the army to prevent ambushes in complex terrain. .

Other troops marched in columns in units of a hundred households, and communicated simply with each other using brass trumpets, flags, angry wind lanterns and fireworks. In the event of a surprise attack, each household can decide to attack, retreat or defend on its own without receiving orders from superiors.

Baggage troops, no! The vans of each household carry enough food and drink for ten days and three bases of ammunition, which can enable them to attack and defend with three times more enemies for at least ten days.

If it is relatively close to the starting point, a small number of troops can be sent back for transportation. If you are far away from the starting point and there are no friendly troops around, you must rush to the next supply point to replenish your supplies before you run out of ammunition, otherwise your entire army will be annihilated.

Is fighting that simple? Hong Tao didn't know what others thought, but in his eyes it was just that simple. Back in the Song Dynasty, thousands of people could still defeat tens of thousands of troops from Xixia and Liao.

But there must be a prerequisite for ease, and there must be generational differences in equipment. If the Army also uses cold weapons, there will be nothing he can do. Let alone defeat more with less, there is still no chance of winning even when they are evenly matched. Liaodong in spring should be the most suitable for large-scale military operations. The climate is not too cold, and northern soldiers can fully adapt; there is no wind, snow and rain, and the roads will not be too muddy; most deciduous plants have not yet grown leaves, and the field of vision is relatively clear. Easily confused by terrain.

However, compared with Guan Nei, Liaodong is still relatively difficult to navigate, mainly because there are too many rivers. As the temperature rises and the snow melts, the amount of water is still quite large. For any river that can be shown on the map, the engineers will have to work for a long time to build the pontoon bridge, which seriously affects the marching speed.

Fortunately, Hong Tao was not in a hurry, or he had no target at all. The battle outside the pass is completely a blind stroll. Whoever you meet is the one who counts. If you don't meet anyone, then push it to Jinzhou in one go and strangle the Jurchen army harassing Xifengkou and other passes in the back. See if you come back!
The journey in the first two days went relatively smoothly. Although some unidentified riders were spotted along the way, they did not encounter any obstacles and successfully arrived at Guangning Qiantun Acropolis, which is more than 70 miles away from Shanhaiguan.

"Your Majesty, the city wall is still intact, but the houses in the city are in dilapidated condition. I sent people to check it out, but found not many traces of habitation. The Jurchen soldiers should not have been here yet. Will the army spend the night in the city tonight or stay in the city? Camping outside?”

Li Ruzhang was quite familiar with this acropolis. He passed by it more than once when he followed his eldest brother Li Rusong on his expeditions east and west. Youdao is moved by the scene, vividly remembering it, and it is very sad to see the desolate and dilapidated scene in front of you.

"I will lead the left and right guards and engineers into the city, and you will lead the front guard to station 3 miles south of the city. The horses and trenches must be prepared, and no carelessness can be allowed. Then send more exploration horses in the north and east directions, and the distance will be increased to 20 miles. , the number of secret whistles will be doubled after dark, and if there is no accident, the convoy that replenishes food and fodder will catch up tomorrow morning.”

Hong Tao has already seen the outline not far away in the telescope. The city wall is still complete, about 10 meters high and several hundred meters long, but the city gate is missing. This is the first preset supply point, but there is no need for the ship to dock yet.

"I feel that this trip is a bit strange. According to General Du's description, enemy troops have been spotted outside the pass for a long time, but they have never attacked the city in a large scale. After the army left the pass, we did see traces of the Jurchen army stationed along the way. There will be something fishy about retreating without fighting. I hope Your Majesty will think twice."

As the Army Governor, Li Ruzhang didn't have much pressure to go out alone to meet the enemy. However, the pressure of having the emperor as his charioteer was too much. He couldn't sleep well all night, and he always felt that there was something strange nearby.

"Let me ask you, after training the army for a long time, how do you evaluate this army?"

Hong Tao knew very well what Li Ruzhang meant, and he was gently persuading him to go back. It is a fact that Shanhaiguan is out and the enemy has fled. The imperial expedition has come to a successful end. There is no need to really take big risks.

"...I think that if we can't cut off its food, grass and ammunition first, and no longer have the convenience of the geographical location, we will be unbeatable on a flat place." Li Ruzhang thought for a while, organized his words slightly, and tried his best to make a subjective comment on the army. evaluated.

(End of this chapter)