Emperor of the Red Chamber

Chapter 163 Those who offend the Great Zhou will be punished no matter how far away they are
Most of the princes and ministers in the Reviewing Tower were stunned.

Being able to fire without lighting the fuse, with such a fast firing rate and such a low misfire rate, and being able to charge with a bayonet, is truly unprecedented and a magical skill!

Although the flintlock rifle appeared in the Ming Dynasty, it has never been as good as the matchlock rifle. Now the flintlock rifle has been improved to be so sharp and domineering?

I have heard that the emperor ordered the Imperial Household Department to improve the flintlock rifle, but I didn’t take it seriously. Now that I see its effectiveness, I realize how ingenious it is!

At this moment, Yuan Qingbai glanced at the princes and ministers, and seeing that most of them were shocked, he smiled playfully, said nothing, and continued to focus his attention on the martial arts arena.

In the martial arts arena, the Dragon Riders Battalion, having completed their drill, began to leave.

Just now, two thousand dragoons charged on horseback with bayonets, causing the formation of the dragoon battalion to be dispersed. Now, when they retreated, they gathered quickly, and they managed to retreat with an orderly appearance and an orderly formation, and at a relatively fast speed. They were able to control their movements freely and were truly well-trained.

After the Dragon Rider Battalion had withdrawn, the Jianrui Battalion's drill began.

Although the drills of the Dragon Cavalry Battalion are mighty and majestic, they cannot compare with the Jianrui Battalion in terms of variety.

The Jianrui Battalion included 500 cavalrymen, 1,000 infantrymen, and 500 ladder soldiers. It had many training items, including ladders, flintlock shooting, artillery, infantry shooting, horseback shooting, combat, mountain warfare, and woodland warfare.

Yuan Qingbai even planned to have the Jianrui Battalion train in boat handling and swimming in preparation for naval battles. However, since there was no need for naval battles in the Northwest War, this plan has not been implemented yet and will be implemented later.

At this time, the Jianrui Battalion first practiced flintlock shooting.

Almost every one of the two thousand elite soldiers was equipped with a flintlock rifle.

They divided into three rounds and shot in turn.

Just like the two thousand dragoons who dismounted and fired three rounds of shots.

In Yuan Qingbai's previous life, almost all members of the Jianrui Battalion of the Qing Dynasty were equipped with muskets, and their musket equipment rate was far higher than that of other armies. However, the Jianrui Battalion of the Qing Dynasty was equipped with matchlock rifles, which were much inferior to the flintlock rifles equipped by the Jianrui Battalion of the Great Zhou Dynasty today.

After the Jianrui Battalion finished practicing flintlock shooting, they moved on to artillery practice.

Artillery combat is also a training program for the Jianrui Battalion.

Because the Jianrui Battalion sometimes needs artillery support in combat.

Also because of the great efforts to develop artillery during the reign of Emperor Jing'an, the artillery technology and strength of the Great Zhou Dynasty are the strongest in the world today. The Great Zhou army is accustomed to using artillery in combat, and artillery has also played an important role in the Great Zhou's previous wars.

After practicing artillery, the Jianrui Battalion practiced archery on foot and on horseback.

Among the two thousand elite soldiers, there were many cavalrymen who were good at riding and shooting.

The cavalrymen were seen riding their horses, galloping and shooting arrows at the target area. Each cavalryman fired three arrows in a short period of time. Except for a few who made mistakes, all the others hit the target with three arrows.

It was truly an astonishing feat for so many cavalrymen to perform the "one horse, three arrows" move together. Even the most elite cavalry of the Great Zhou could hardly match it.

What’s even more amazing is that horse archery is just one of the many training subjects of the Jianrui Battalion.

After completing the infantry and horse archery drills, the Jianrui Battalion then began practicing combat.

Fighting is important to the Jianrui Battalion because the army's tactics are centered around close combat.

Fighting is undoubtedly what the Jianrui Battalion is best at. After all, the two thousand Jianrui soldiers are almost all the brave warriors selected from among the hundreds of the Great Zhou army.

The Jianrui Battalion's combat training is divided into several types, including hard whip, waist knife, spear, dagger and hand-to-hand combat.

Among them, the hard whips used by the strong soldiers are longer and heavier, and only people with great physical strength can use them freely. Once the whip is swung, even heavy armor can hardly bear its force.

The long spears used by the Jianrui soldiers were made of wrought iron, were up to 13 inches (more than three meters) long, and had a blade nine inches long. Only people with great physical strength could use them with ease.

At this time, under the watchful eyes of Yuan Qingbai and other princes and ministers, the Jianrui Battalion practiced the use of whips, swords, spears, daggers, and hand-to-hand combat in front of the Parade Tower.

The next exercise was the ladder.

A ladder is a war machine used to climb over city walls and attack cities.

Ladders were often used to attack cities in ancient wars.

The Jianrui Camp has a fortress specially used for training ladder attacks, which is more than four meters high.

I saw a group of flintlock soldiers and archers shooting at the roof of the fortress. Under their cover, a group of elite soldiers drove a ladder and quickly climbed to the roof of the fortress. Following closely behind them, a group of elite soldiers with whips or swords quickly climbed the ladder and soon climbed to the top of the fortress...

After the ladder siege drill was completed, the Jianrui Battalion did not conduct any other drills.

It is not convenient to practice mountain warfare or woodland warfare today.

In fact, mountain warfare is an important training program for the Jianrui Battalion, and it is the program that the Jianrui Battalion has spent the most time training in the past year.

In the past year, the Jianrui Battalion has been conducting targeted training based on the needs of the war against the Dzungar Khanate, and the northwest is mountainous.

Yuan Qingbai believed that the most important thing for the Jianrui Battalion was not the various events such as ladders, flintlock shooting, artillery, infantry shooting, horse archery, and fighting.

The most important thing is a spirit of overcoming difficulties and being brave and fearless!

Over the past year, Yuan Qingbai has been instilling this spirit into the Jianrui Battalion.

With this spirit, the Jianrui Battalion can be a truly Jianrui Battalion and deserves the title of "the special operations force of this era".

According to Yuan Qingbai's plan, the Jianrui Battalion, a special operations force, has two responsibilities.

First, it is a strategic reserve force stationed in Shenjing, and it will be dispatched wherever there is a war that needs it.

Secondly, when it is stationed in Shenjing, it will not be idle. It will undergo strict training while guarding the emperor of the Great Zhou.

In Yuan Qingbai's previous life, the Jianrui Battalion of the Qing Dynasty was the strongest force during the Qianlong period. The Jianrui Battalion participated in more than half of the "Ten Complete Military Achievements" that Emperor Qianlong boasted about, and had made great achievements.

Yuan Qingbai believed that the Great Zhou Jianrui Battalion he had formed would be more powerful than the Jianrui Battalion of the Qing Dynasty in his previous life, and its military exploits would be more prominent. Today, the Jianrui Battalion could not demonstrate its spirit of overcoming difficulties and being brave and fearless, nor could it practice mountain warfare or forest warfare, but today, the Jianrui Battalion practiced many other projects, which once again shocked most of the princes and ministers.

My God, this Jianrui Battalion is truly a strong and battle-hardened army!

The princes and ministers were previously amazed at the might of the Dragon Cavalry Battalion, but now, after seeing the drills of the Jianrui Battalion, they were all amazed at the might of the Jianrui Battalion again.

In fact, in Yuan Qingbai's opinion, the word "mighty" is very appropriate to describe the Jianrui Battalion, while the word "agile" is more appropriate to describe the Jianrui Battalion.

The mighty Jianrui Battalion!

The agile dragon knight battalion!

These are the two mysterious armies that Yuan Qingbai has carefully prepared over the past year.

The main reason why he delayed the Northwest War until now was to prepare the Second Army.

Now, the Jianrui Battalion is powerful, the Dragon Cavalry Battalion is agile, and the Northwest War can begin. The Jianrui Battalion and the Dragon Cavalry Battalion will leave Beijing together the day after tomorrow and head to the Northwest.

So today, in addition to the military parade, we also have to take an oath!
Yuan Qingbai wanted to give a high-spirited mobilization speech.

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Unfortunately, in this era there were no good sound amplification equipment, no loudspeakers, and no radio.

For safety reasons, Yuan Qingbai was heavily protected.

Even if Yuan Qingbai stood on the reviewing tower and shouted at the top of his lungs, only the people on or near the reviewing tower could hear him.

Yuan Qingbai didn't need to make an impassioned speech.

The ways of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, the hatred between the Great Zhou and the Dzungar Khanate, the generous rewards and preferential treatment given by the Great Zhou to the Jianrui Battalion and the Longqi Battalion... these were repeatedly preached to the Jianrui Battalion and the Longqi Battalion.

The Jianrui Battalion and the Dragon Cavalry Battalion are also equipped with missionary generals.

However, Yuan Qingbai still wanted to do something special at today's oath-taking ceremony to boost military morale.

He stood on the parade tower, looking at the Jianrui Battalion and the Dragon Cavalry Battalion gathered on the parade ground, and shouted a sonorous and powerful oath: "Whoever offends the Great Zhou will be punished no matter how far away they are!"

This sentence comes from "Han Shu" written by Ban Gu in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Volume 70 of the Book of Han says: "It is appropriate to hang a dried head in the homes of the barbarians to show thousands of miles away that anyone who offends the mighty Han will be punished even though he is far away."

At this moment, Yuan Qingbai made some slight changes and shouted it out to suit the occasion.

Following Yuan Qingbai's shout, all the princes and ministers on the reviewing tower followed suit. Then, on the training ground, two thousand elite soldiers and two thousand dragoons also followed suit.

"Whoever offends our Great Zhou will be punished no matter how far away they are!"

"Whoever offends our Great Zhou will be punished no matter how far away they are!"

"Whoever offends our Great Zhou will be punished no matter how far away they are!"

"..."

The cheers were thunderous and resounded through the sky.

After a burst of high-spirited shouts, Yuan Qingbai raised his glass, and the princes and ministers followed suit.

That day, Emperor Tianlong led all the princes and ministers to toast the Jianrui Battalion and the Dragon Cavalry Battalion, paying tribute to the two armies in this way.

With this, today's military parade and oath-taking ceremony came to an end.

But it means a lot.

It boosted the morale of the Jianrui Battalion and the Dragon Cavalry Battalion.

It also allowed the princes and ministers to witness with their own eyes the extraordinary strength of the two armies, Yuan Qingbai's determination to destroy the Dzungar Khanate, and the strength of the Great Zhou to destroy the Dzungar Khanate.

Some princes and ministers began to have different ideas because of this.

"Qingbai has been the emperor for less than a year, but he already has the demeanor of my father. Oh, although my third brother and I have a feud, I have to admit that my third brother has given birth to a good son!"

The former twelfth prince and former general Wang Yuan Sijiang sighed in his heart.

"Third brother is really amazing. He has improved the flintlock rifle so well. I have never paid much attention to military affairs, but I am quite interested in this. I would like to ask third brother for a flintlock rifle to play with. I wonder if third brother would be willing to give it to me?"

Prince Su Rui Yuan Qingshu thought.

"No wonder His Majesty said earlier that he would not insist on withdrawing the Western troops after the two of us reviewed the Jianrui and Dragon Cavalry Battalions. These two armies are truly formidable. His Majesty has put a lot of effort into preparing for the Northwest War."

Jiang Mingzhi said to Song Jiahan, and Song Jiahan nodded in agreement.

"With the Jianrui and Longqi battalions of the Great Zhou, the destruction of the Dzungar Khanate is just around the corner. Wang Ziteng will make great military achievements and become more glorious and prominent. I must curry favor with him in order to repay him in the future."

Jia Yucun pondered.

"The emperor once said that if I did a good job in improving the flintlock rifle, I would be rewarded with money and property, and I could also be promoted to a higher position. Now the emperor has rewarded me with a lot of money and property. As long as the flintlock rifle is used in the war, I will be considered to have made military achievements and I can be promoted to a higher position. Your Majesty is sincere and I believe that the emperor will keep his promise."

Dai Jin was full of longing.

He longed for promotion, and what he longed for even more was a title.

For a craftsman like him, it would be a special honor to be knighted.

(End of this chapter)