Dragon Sea Empire

Before Chen Di entered the gate of the camp, he was attracted by the military camp like a small city. After all, he is a veteran soldier who has experienced many battles and knows the importance of camping for a large army.

He kept nodding his head, checked the side of the ditch, and praised: "The depth and width of the outer ditch are just right, the enemy cannot easily cross over, and after the double wooden wall of the camp is knocked down, a bridge can be built over the ditch. It's a good idea to make it easier to attack."

He stood up, looked at the wooden watchtower and the brick fort, and said in amazement: "Your cannons are placed so high that they can't bombard the enemies who rushed near the camp."

Yin Feng smiled, walked into the gate and made a gesture of invitation to the old general: "Old General Chen, please look here..."

It turned out that there were more than a dozen 6-pound bronze cannons lined up on both sides of the watchtower and the gate, and there were gun windows on the wooden wall of the camp. Yin Feng took Chen Di to the gun mouth and opened the gun window, pointing to the open field in front of the gun muzzle. Said: "All the trees and thatch have been removed from this open space, the land has been leveled, and there is no shelter; we can bombard this area with shotguns here, and the enemy rushing nearby has nowhere to hide."

Chen Di nodded: "That's right. In this case, there are cannons to greet you no matter the distance, and it will be difficult for the enemy to attack the camp. However, why are your cannons placed on carts and supported by such a frame? This is... "

"This is a cannon carriage. This cast iron bracket is used to withstand the recoil force of the cannon when it is fired. The bracket can be stowed so that it can be lifted up to push the cannon carriage forward. Such a field gun - we call such a light gun a field gun, Such a field artillery vehicle can be easily pushed and pulled on the march. It is very light and can be put into the front line in time on the battlefield. After the support is unfolded, the cannon can be fired without digging a pit to support the cannon; in this way, the position can be moved in time when the support is retracted ,"

This is the cannon cart that has been promoted and used in large quantities. In the future, the king of the battlefield of the Chinese company, the cannon, will mainly rely on the cannon cart for maneuvering. position.

Lin Yue and other personal guards behind Yin Feng were a little surprised; generally, people other than the Zhonghua Company would not be brought into the barracks for a visit. Moreover, Yin Feng explained the layout of the camp in detail. Who is this old man Chen? .

At this time, there was a loud noise in the camp, followed by shouts of thousands of people, and the sound of guns firing. Chen Di was startled, and stood up with a whoosh: "What's going on?"

Yin Feng smiled: "It's okay, the soldiers are training, you can go and have a look, if there is anything wrong, please give me advice."

Turning around a few barracks, there is a large open space that has been leveled, fully half a mile square, and the two guards, each with more than 300 soldiers, are separated by more than a hundred steps, facing each other, and are shooting at each other; The gun is empty, but it is indeed loaded with ammunition. It is just that the lead bullets and iron bullets used in actual combat are replaced by paper bullets for training. In this way, during the training exercise, all the steps of loading ammunition cannot be omitted. Most of them had been burned to ashes when they flew out of the muzzle, and occasionally one or two paper bullets could not hurt anyone.

However, seeing the two teams lined up in three rows and shooting at each other, the smoke filled the sky, the sound of gunfire was loud, and the scene was like an actual battlefield. .

When the two teams were only 30 paces apart, officers from each team issued orders at the same time. The soldiers quickly fixed the wooden training bayonets, shouted to kill, and launched a bayonet charge to each other. The guard soldiers on both sides of the playground were boiling. Yelling and shouting all day long: "Cyclonus, kill, kill, don't be lenient,"

"Brothers of Gale Corps, grab the military flag,"

This is a confrontational actual combat exercise by Zhao Tie's first regiment "Hurricane Regiment" and Mai De's second regiment "Gale regiment". The one who penetrates the opponent's array, or defeats the opponent, and wins the opponent's flag is the winner.

The two sides each had a battalion of soldiers. Mai De's "Gale Regiment" deployed most of its troops on the front line, and left about [-] soldiers behind as a reserve team, while Zhao Tie's "Hurricane Regiment" suppressed the entire force. The formation of the gale group was impacted on the top, and the group flag followed the front line of the formation.

Both sides tried their best to maintain a strict formation, trying to attack the opponent's formation, trying to open a gap in the opponent's formation. At this time, the reserve team of the Gale Regiment played a decisive role. Under the command of a young officer, they quickly walked to the left flank of the Cyclonus regiment , Marching ten steps and firing a salvo, this action was noticed by the commander of the Cyclonus Regiment. Although they had all joined the front line, their strict discipline and long-term training enabled them to fight from the crowded center line in the fierce battle. More than 30 people were dispatched to the left wing to deal with the reserve team of the Gale Regiment. Unfortunately, the time was a little slower than that of the Gale Regiment. Yes, just arrived, more than 30 people formed a strict formation, and blocked the Gale Regiment reserve team that continued to develop the results with musket salvos, so that the rout of comrades in arms could temporarily gather behind them, but the front of the Cyclonus Regiment was already in chaos , It became a semicircle with the two wings shrinking inward, and the pressure on the central front increased greatly.

In a moment, the fighters of the Gale Regiment knocked down the entire row of opponents with gun stocks and bayonets, broke into the center of the Cyclonus Regiment's line, and went straight to the regiment flag. The soldiers of the Cyclonus Regiment were anxious to keep the regiment flag, But they messed up the formation, and as a result their position collapsed in an instant.

The hand-to-hand combat between the soldiers was completely spared. Many soldiers were beaten badly, with bruised noses and swollen faces. More than half of the soldiers had broken the training bayonets on their flintlock muskets and kept smashing them with the butts of their guns. It is simply treating the other party as a sworn enemy.

The drill referee officers on the side were busy dragging the wounded and bleeding soldiers out of the crowd, or busy stopping the fighting between the soldiers who were firing real fire.

"Okay, okay, you two are covered in paper wadding, you, your face is blooming, you are all dead, go to the side, oops, see clearly, I am wearing a red dress, yes Magistrate," the referee officer was busy dragging people in the crowd, and occasionally got hit by mistake.

Chen Di was speechless: "Captain Yin, is it necessary to train with live ammunition like this? What should the soldiers do if they are injured?"

Yin Feng replied simply: "You sweat more in normal times, and you bleed less in battle. Training is like fighting. There won't be any problems in real fighting."

"It makes sense, it makes sense,"

Yin Feng continued: "Our soldiers start training in the morning, rest for an hour at noon, and then have to train until evening, 360 five days a year, except for the 4 days off each month, Mid-Autumn Festival, New Year's Eve and Lantern Festival, the rest The time is non-stop training, such confrontational exercises are held every ten days, "

On the playground, the last few dozen flag guards of the Cyclonus Regiment suddenly took out their spears, cooperated with dozens of musketeers, surrounded the regiment flag in the middle of the crowd, and formed a small spear formation. Surrounding them, but unable to open the circle formation for a while, the commander of the Gale Regiment blew the conch, and the soldiers of the Gale Regiment stopped charging, and formed a neat team with the captain of each team as the core. Ten steps away, they surrounded the last 10 or so banner guards of the Cyclonus regiment in a half-moon shape.

"Aim and shoot,"

"Boom, boom," hundreds of flintlock muskets around the flag guard team fired together, and the soldiers of the Cyclonus regiment, together with their battle flags, fell into the thick gunpowder smoke.

"Hmm," the long sound of the conch horn sounded, announcing the end of the exercise. After all, the escort of the Chinese company started at sea. In order to maintain the tradition, the conch horn has always been used as a tool of communication.

"[-]% of the Cyclonus regiment will be killed in battle, lose the flag and lose, and [-]% of the Gale regiment will die in battle, win the flag and win," Mai De, the deputy commander of the infantry of the escort team, announced loudly. , loudly challenged the winner: "The next jungle battle, you wait and see,"

"Fuck you, our Gale Corps has won three games in the past month, see you in ten days if you are not convinced,"

"We're winning two games, and it's nothing for you to attack Manila," he said.

"Really or not, we are all going to attack Ganguanla people in Luzon, don't we?"

"Who said that people have to be kept on the island of Taiwan for defense?"

"Hey, don't worry about it, this month's bonus can be taken again, okay, brothers, let's go to the city to drink after the fuck, tomorrow is a day off,"

The soldiers lined up automatically, forming a neat line while discussing, and consciously joined the line according to the organization, team, and whistle to which they belonged.

Chen Di asked curiously: "Why are you assembled? Do you still know how to fuck?"

Yin Feng said with a smile: "Where, they are going to have lunch. The soldiers of the guard team form a line of three or two. They must pay attention to military appearance and discipline at any time and any place. They must go in groups when they go to dinner. They must act in a uniform way."

"Now we have three regiments of infantry. In addition to Hurricane and Gale in front of us, there is also a Hurricane regiment with insufficient numbers. Now we are conquering the rebel villages in Dadufan Kingdom in the north, as well as the forts and ports stationed in Taipei. will change defenses with the newly formed garrison in the next month,"

While talking, a group of tall foreigners with red hair and blue eyes came. When they saw Yin Feng, they stood at attention and saluted one by one. Chinese company mercenaries and instructors.

Chen Di said casually: "Captain Yin, it is very inappropriate to let these foreigners wander in the barracks. After all, they are Western barbarians with wolf ambitions, so we must guard against them."

Yin Feng smiled and thought to himself: There are far fewer foreigners in the barracks now, and the officers and instructors two years ago were all foreigners, you, an old general, don’t know what to say when you see it.”

Since the establishment of the Dutch East India Company, in addition to suffering a loss in Penghu Island in China, it defeated the Spanish and Portuguese navies in Java in 1603 and Malacca in 1606; Teaming up with the Chinese company to take down Macau, the war in various places is going well, and there is an urgent need for manpower, so many Dutch mercenaries have left Taiwan Island and returned to Batavia.

After watching the exercise, Chen Di did not comment, but walked silently in the barracks. Yin Feng led him to a large shed: "This is our big dining hall,"

"Big cafeteria," Chen Di nodded, and walked in, startled; because he couldn't hear any commotion outside the cafeteria, when he entered the door, he suddenly saw five or six hundred people silently sitting on a long table. The scene of eating, the magnificent scene of collective eating, but no one made any noise.

Chen Di nodded, and said in a low voice: "The enforcement of military discipline is so good, the Xiliu Camp and Qi's Army are no more than that."

In the afternoon, Yin Feng took Chen Di to the training ground of the artillery battalion. The first artillery battalion was called "Zhentian Battalion". It was a professional artillery unit formed by Yin Feng himself. In Ming Dynasty China at that time, it was probably the only one in the whole country.

At this moment, the artillery battalion was conducting live ammunition training by the river beach on the west side of the camp. Dozens of cannons repeatedly bombarded a cloth banner target more than a hundred paces away.

"Second whistle, Li Kuiqi team, open fire,"

These gunners were all trained under the hands of Portuguese and Dutch gunners, and Yin Feng specially set up a literacy class for them, and the missionary Baradas taught them some basic knowledge of physics. There are more than 500 people in the artillery battalion, all of whom are young. People and even teenagers are very quick to acquire knowledge, and there is no trouble of conflict between Chinese and Western cultures. They learn literacy and knowledge all in the guard barracks, and their daily training and accommodation are in the big camp, because many of them are orphans. , or the father has been away for many years.

There were also fifteen or sixteen-year-old young soldiers in the Ming army, but from Chen Di's point of view, the current gunner Li Kuiqi was too young, and he might not even be able to hold a cannonball.

In another time and space, Li Kuiqi, the pirate hero who competed with Zheng Zhilong for the dominance of the sea, is currently the best aimer in Yin Feng's artillery battalion; years of living at sea have given him a pair of good eyes, and Li Kuiqi, who is smart and studious, has a far-reaching grasp of the essentials of cannon shooting. Outperform peers and seniors.

"boom,"

The cannonball looked like it had eyes, and pierced a hole in the center of the target two hundred paces away. The young people on the gun emplaced cheered happily.

The captain of the artillery team found Yin Feng, and hurried forward to stand at attention to salute, "Good job, let Li Kuiqi come over," Yin Feng patted him on the shoulder.

Li Kuiqi appeared in front of Yin Feng with a tiger head and a tiger brain, his eyes were shining brightly, and he looked at Yin Feng with admiration without fear. After the Battle of Penghu, he fell in love with the feeling of the roar of the cannon, and he wanted to join the escort warship wholeheartedly. He had no choice but to join the infantry team first due to the rebellion of the sailors of the battleship team. When recruiting gunners, he was rejected because of his young age. Li Kuiqi ran outside the old camp and desperately asked to join. He was specially approved to participate in artillery training.

"Li Kuiqi, your grades in the previous assessments are all the best. Not bad, I will now promote you to be the instructor of the gunner training team,"

Li Kuiqi was shocked, and looked around in disbelief, his captain nodded with a smile, Yin Feng smiled and reached out to touch his head: "Why, don't believe me, hehe, didn't you report that you want to be a gunner on a battleship? I will let you train the gunners of the newly built Flying Leopard battleship. You must train them all to become master gunners in the shortest possible time. At that time, you will be the gunner of the Flying Leopard battleship. Time is running out and the battle is imminent. Can you not What a mistake,"

Li Kuiqi blushed excitedly, saluted by hitting his chest with his left hand, straightened his waist, raised his head and said loudly: "Yes, this subordinate will definitely complete the task,"

Next, Yin Feng took Chen Di to visit the drills of the sailor musketeers, which were as strict as the infantry, and the shooting training of the gunners of the battleships.

In the woodland on the east side of the camp, Chen Di visited some artillery loading and unloading training of the auxiliary troops, as well as the musket shooting training of the Zhuang Ding and militia teams selected from various places. Finally, he took Yin Feng to the training of the indigenous auxiliary troops. These are the indigenous fighters recruited by the Xingang Society, which was the first to form an alliance with the Chinese company, and are receiving the most basic drills such as marching and queuing.

"The aborigines of Luzon Island and the local aborigines have similar living customs, so I plan to take some aboriginal soldiers to Manila as an auxiliary force," Yin Feng explained, but found Chen Di absent-mindedly looking at the sunset in the distance.

On the Tainan Plain reddened by the setting sun, the lush land is falling asleep, and the lights are already lit up in the port city.

Chen Di suddenly said: "Captain Yin, your army of less than [-] people is enough to resist the imperial court's [-] troops, but your warship alone can keep [-] troops from Taiwan Island, Captain Yin, Do you really only want revenge, just to deal with the barbarians of Luzon?"