Ming Empire

Chapter 6 Worry Becomes Reality
The two brothers came to Cao Bianjiao's big tent one by one, and drove back all his subordinates.

"Cousin, I have an ominous premonition. Maybe Wang Pu, Wu Sangui and others will flee with their troops before the war begins," Cao Yue reiterated his point of view. In front of Cao Bianjiao, he doesn't need to worry too much, "If If this is the case, it will definitely lead to the defeat of the army. Cousin, Bijia Mountain was captured by Jiannu, all food and grass were lost, and the morale of the army was fluctuating. Anything could happen, and we had to be prepared.”

The situation is critical, and Cao Yue, who knew the outcome of the Songjin Battle in history, is not in a hurry.

Cao Bianjiao is aware of the military discipline of the Ming army today, and has experienced many times when the army was defeated. Thinking about what happened today and the attitudes of the other general soldiers during the discussion, he sighed and accepted what Cao Yue said. Speak out against.In the end, he said helplessly: "If the general soldiers in this battle can work together, Jiannu will definitely not be able to get a bargain, but if someone seeks an opportunity to escape, then this battle..."

Although Cao Bianjiao didn't say the following words, anyone can understand the meaning.

However, Cao Bianjiao is a tiger general who has experienced countless life and death fights. After losing his composure for a while, he immediately calmed down, turned his head and said to Cao Yue: "Fifth brother, then we have to discuss how to deal with the worst situation."

"Cousin, when I was resting on the bed today, my little brother thought a lot about war and came up with a different way of fighting." Without waiting for Cao Bianjiao to say anything specific, Cao Yue first expressed some of his thoughts Said it out: "My Ming army is far superior to Jiannu in terms of number and equipment, but most of the time we are at a disadvantage in the battle against Jiannu, even if we rely on a strong city. After thinking about it, I feel that the most important thing is The reason is that there are problems with our tactics, especially in the use of firearms. If the firearms are used properly, it will be very easy to defeat Jiannu."

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, science and technology had been quite developed. The Ming army was equipped not only with artillery, but also muskets, including bird blunderbuss, fire blunderbuss and three-eyed blunderbuss.It stands to reason that when an army equipped with firearms meets a Qing army with cold weapons, it is easy to win.But the fact is exactly the opposite. The Qing army completely defeated the Ming army in terms of combat effectiveness. A few hundred cavalry riding the Eight Banners dared to attack the tens of thousands of Ming troops, and the Ming army was often defeated.

Why is there such a situation?The main reason is that the military discipline of the Ming army was corrupt at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and the soldiers completely lost their blood. When fighting, most people wanted to flee for their lives. The combat effectiveness of such an army is scum.Another important reason for the low combat effectiveness of the Ming army is that it did not make good use of firearms and did not bring out the power of firearms.

Before crossing, Cao Yue was a retired military officer, a top student who graduated from Shijiazhuang Army Academy, and was a lieutenant colonel and battalion commander of a field force before changing his career.Although it is said that he has experienced real wars in the army, he has experienced a lot of actual military exercises, and he still has a lot of experience in how to exert the combat effectiveness of his men and horses.The most important thing is that because of his interest, he has studied countless ancient and modern battles during the ten years of studying in the military academy and leading troops. He also studied the war situation in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. He knew that the Ming army's combat effectiveness was low at the end of the Ming Dynasty. s reason.

In fact, anyone who knows a little bit of military knowledge knows that an army with cold weapons is completely unable to compete with an army equipped with artillery and muskets. If you shoot, it is almost a one-sided massacre.

In the movie "Burning the Old Summer Palace", this is the scene when the Qing army fought against the Eight-Power Allied Forces.

But now that the Ming army is using firearms, this is not the case. The soldiers are fighting on their own. come forward.

The uneven musket shooting did not cause much damage to the charging cavalry, so the tactics had to be changed.

"Change the tactics?" Cao Bianjiao was surprised when he heard this.

"Yes," Cao Yue nodded firmly, without explaining too much, he said directly: "Cousin, my little brother has come up with a way to greatly increase the power of the Musketeers."

"What way?"

"I can't explain the specifics at once, so I will gather the servants together and explain while demonstrating!"

"Okay!" Cao Bianjiao immediately agreed, and immediately made a big deal with Cao Yue.

Cao Yue, who has recovered part of his original body's memory, is no longer unfamiliar with everything, as if he has completely entered the state.He skillfully ordered Cao Jie, the commander of the servants who were waiting outside the tent, to gather all his guards.

The Jia Ding army is a big monster in the Ming army.In the last years of the Ming Dynasty, the military equipment of the Ming Dynasty was slack, the military system was destroyed, and corruption became commonplace. It became a common phenomenon for the commander-in-chief in charge of the military to deduct military pay and eat empty pay.However, the commander-in-chief will maintain a private army. This private army is the most well-equipped, and the salary will not be deducted. It is the most elite force in the hands of the commander-in-chief.

Although Cao Bianjiao and Cao Yue's father, Cao Wenzhao, would not deduct military salaries on a large scale or eat empty salaries, they also had such an army in their hands.There are 700 servants around Cao Yue, most of whom followed his father Cao Wenzhao to fight everywhere. After Cao Wenzhao died, the remaining troops followed Cao Yue.Cao Bianjiao and Cao Yue's family troops can also be regarded as the most elite troops in the ASEAN Army.

More importantly, the servants only have their masters in their eyes, and there is no imperial court. All of them obey the orders of their masters.

Cao Yue, who wanted to change his tactics in a hurry, immediately thought of pulling his own servants to conduct an emergency drill to save his life.

There are 700 guard troops around Cao Yue. Their quality is considered high in the Ming army, but in the eyes of Cao Yue now, they are like mobs.He made up his mind that if he could escape this disaster, he must train his troops well and make them elite soldiers.

The ASEAN Army has nearly 2 people. As the deputy general of Cao Bianjiao, Cao Yue can command 5000 people, but now Cao Yue has no time to pay attention to the 5000 people he commanded. The time is too short. It is already very good to be able to change the tactics of the servants.

The feeling of holding Buddha's feet temporarily is really uncomfortable.

Soon, [-] servants were summoned. Under Cao Yue's order, [-] of them were divided into six rows, and the other [-] were on standby as support personnel.Every one hundred servants has a general who leads the team and holds a musket.Cao Yue divided them into teams of one, two, three, four, five and six. "Attention all teams, strictly obey the general's password." Cao Yue, who put on a military uniform, gave the order very majestically.

Cao Yue also briefly stated his requirements and asked all teams to strictly follow his orders.

While all the servants responded loudly, Cao Yue gave the first order: "The first team, take a step forward."

After hearing the order, the hundred servants of the first team each took a step forward, and the pace was fairly neat.Seeing that the queues are not chaotic, Cao Yue is quite satisfied.In order to avoid confusion, Cao Yue ordered each team to do it again, including forward, backward, squatting and other actions.

"Raise the gun! Okay, put it down!"

Cao Bianjiao, who was watching quietly from the side, seemed to understand Cao Yue's plan, and watched with interest.

"You guys did a great job," Cao Yue praised, and immediately started a new training order, "Strictly obey the general's order, and only fire when you hear the general shouting to shoot. The front team has finished shooting, Immediately retreat to the end, hurry up and fill the gunpowder and lead pellets!"

"Understood!" A neat voice responded to Cao Yue's order.

Cao Yue took a step back, raised the saber in his hand, and ordered loudly: "First team, get ready..."

After hearing the order, the first hundred servants immediately raised their muskets and aimed at the front in unison.

"shooting!"

Following Cao Yue's order, the hundreds of servants in the first row pressed down the hooks on their guns almost at the same time.The firearms of the Ming army include bird guns, fire guns, and three-eyed guns, all of which belong to the most elementary matchlock guns. The matchlock guns are equipped with a curved hook, and a piece of burning matchlock is sandwiched at the top of the hook. Press the match rope into the fire door, ignite the gunpowder in the powder chamber, and use the power of the gunpowder to shoot the bullets in the gun chamber.

As soon as Cao Yue's order was given, there was a deafening roar in the camp, and the strong smell of gunpowder wafted into the air.After shooting, the hundreds of guards in the first team immediately retreated behind the guards in the sixth row, and began to nervously load the ammunition.The movement of backing up and reloading was not so neat, and Cao Yue shook his head.

"Second team, get ready...shoot!"

The huge roar sounded again.

After two hours of tossing like this, the 700 servants were finally trained smoothly, and Cao Yue also heaved a sigh of satisfaction.

Afterwards, Cao Yue ordered Cao Jie, the leader of the Jiading troops, to continue training, and he followed Cao Bianjiao, who was completely aroused, back to the tent.

"Fifth brother, such a shooting method is really powerful and can be continuous." Cao Bianjiao couldn't help the excitement in his heart, and he stretched out his fist and punched Cao Yue heavily, "Brother, I really didn't expect that you would think of this Method. Uninterrupted shooting, the lethality of hundreds of muskets in a row is very huge. Before the cavalry of Jiannu rushed to the front of our army, they could all be shot and killed. Tonight, I will prepare all the muskets in the general for my brother The soldiers are all assembled and trained like you just now." While speaking, Cao Bianjiao yelled outside the tent: "Come on!"

Following Cao Bianjiao's shout, a personal soldier entered the account.

"Deputy Commander Zhao is ordered to immediately gather all musketeers and train overnight!"

Zhao Zhen, the deputy commander of the ASEAN Army, is Cao Bianjiao's right-hand man. In his early years, he followed Cao Yue's father, Cao Wenzhao, and made many achievements in battle. Much stronger than other military guards.The Musketeer Battalion in the army has always been in charge of Zhao Zhen, and Cao Bianjiao also asked Zhao Zhen to be in charge of the temporary training of the Musketeer Battalion.

The personal soldiers immediately went to pass the news to Zhao Zhen, the deputy commander who was urgently arranging tasks.

"Cousin, how many muskets are available in the army? How much ammunition?" Cao Yue once again suggested to Cao Bianjiao, "We must grasp these situations accurately."

"It makes sense, brother, let someone count the number of muskets and ammunition that can be used immediately!" Cao Bianjiao immediately agreed to Cao Yue's proposal, and the confidant who announced that he was in charge of military supplies and food took Cao Bing into his account and asked him to carefully count the existing guns and ammunition in the army. weapons and ammunition.

After Zhao Zhen, the deputy commander-in-chief, entered the account and listened to the order to leave to make preparations, Cao Yue and Cao Bianjiao also began to discuss how to fight the next battle. response.

While the two were discussing urgently about countermeasures, a shocking but expected news came: at the beginning of the shift, Wang Pu, the commander-in-chief of Datong, led his army to retreat in the direction of Ningyuan without reporting to Hong Chengchou.

(End of this chapter)