For generals, making achievements is their ideal and hope. For soldiers, one is to be able to support their families, and the other is to take revenge.
Judging from the composition of the Dongjiang Army, the majority are those who have a deep hatred against the Jianlu. This is also the biggest difference from Liao Zhen, although they are all mainly Liao people.
Soldiers who don't want to be generals are not good soldiers, but most soldiers cannot serve in the army for a lifetime. They still hope that the war will end soon and they can live peacefully and happily with their families.
But even if they serve as soldiers for food and salary, Dongjiang Town strives to give them the best treatment so that they can have no worries and concentrate on fighting.
After all, sufficient food and pay is the basic condition for an army to have combat effectiveness. As the army continues to expand, there will be fewer and fewer people who have personal hatred against the captives.
Therefore, a strong army, sufficient food and pay, and strict military discipline have become the three major elements to maintain the combat effectiveness of the Dongjiang Army.
In fact, the army in the feudal era did not have overly complicated means to ensure combat effectiveness. Being able to achieve these three points is already remarkable and can be called a strong army.
Guo Dajing's transformation of the Dongjiang Army not only improved the treatment of soldiers, but also improved their social status. Not bowing before officials, bowing and beating their breasts, offering sacrifices in cemeteries, etc. were all political aspects.
Taking pride in joining the army and being proud of military achievements has formed a custom among the soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town. Even if you retire, you will receive care from all aspects of the government and be able to hold your head high and accept the admiration of the people.
The custom of worshiping warriors is not deeply felt by the newly arrived immigrants, but the common people in Dongjiang Town are already well aware of it.
There is a soldier in the family. Not to mention the food and salary earned, the various preferential treatment policies are enough for the family to take a big step forward from the stage of food and clothing.
Therefore, marrying a soldier became the first choice for many people with daughters. Speaking of free love, in that era, it was the order of the parents.
Guo Dajing also formulated rules and regulations for the marriage of soldiers, mainly to encourage and assist. There is no restriction on marriage. From the perspective of population increase, he even hopes that married men with children will join the army.
"You join the army at the age of 15, and you don't return until you are 80 years old." This situation will not occur in the Dongjiang Army. The normal service age is from 20 to 40, and the age of officers is even more relaxed.
Of course, this is the current regulation. If Liaodong is pacified, the army will be disbanded and downsized, and the retired officers and soldiers will have enough food and clothing, and their families will be reunited.
Moreover, after retirement, there will be a large reward based on years and combat achievements, which is tempting enough.
As long as Liaodong is pacified, nothing will be a problem. There is no need to worry about not being able to keep up with the material aspects, or things happening that are not expected to happen.
The policy of preferential treatment for soldiers is becoming more and more perfect, and the combat effectiveness of the Dongjiang Army has also been continuously improved. In the battles in the past few years, this has become more and more obvious.
Just as the special operations battalion was approaching Crow Falcon Pass, the troops led by Guo Dajing launched another fierce battle with Jianlu between Tonghua and Hetuala.
This group of prisoners was the three thousand defenders of Hetuala. After receiving the news, they almost mobilized to intercept the enemy who was advancing alone.
In Jia La'e Zhenhu Xing'a's view, the enemy should be three to four thousand people, with a maximum of five or six thousand people. Their nature is to harass and contain, and it is impossible to be a main attack.
Therefore, after he sent a messenger to Shenyang and reported the situation to the surrounding areas, he led the entire garrison to dispatch to defeat the enemy in the wild.
Regarding defending the city, Hu Xing'a felt that his army was not good at it. Field combat was the advantage of the Jianzhou warriors. They were able to be invincible and defeat many enemies with a small number.
Moreover, if he only retreated to Hetuala, it meant that other places would be damaged and destroyed by the enemy. He did not want to be so passive.
The results of the first battle seemed to have verified his judgment. First, there were a thousand and then two thousand enemy cavalry. Before contact, they turned around and fled, not daring to fight against the Jianzhou warriors.
"Pursue!" Hu Xing'a gave the order without much hesitation.
With equal forces, a cavalry duel and the unparalleled cavalry shooting of the Jianzhou warriors will inflict a heavy, even annihilating blow to the enemy.
The enemy was firing flag rockets, but from Hu Xing'a's point of view, even if there were reinforcements behind him, even if the enemy was twice as large, he would not be a match for his own army in a field battle.
Of course he did not expect that with the help of telescopes, Liu Xingzuo's troops had already detected the enemy's situation in advance and sent out signals in advance to prepare the rear infantry to prepare for the battle.
Feeling uncertain about this, Liu Xingzuo also ordered the cavalry to scatter iron mulberry pears from time to time during the retreat, and sent a small group of lancers to block the attack.
There were not too many iron pear trees to block the road, and the Lancers were not very resolute in blocking, but they delayed the enemy's cavalry for a while and bought time for the infantry.
Starting from the simplest thinking, if the enemy does not want you to do something, you must do it. In the eyes of Hu Xing A and other Jianlu, these methods have become a fear of fighting and running away.
After removing obstacles and repelling the blocking enemy, Hu Xing'a led three thousand captives in hot pursuit and ran into the siege pocket quickly arranged by the opponent.
After receiving the signal, Li Weiluan immediately ordered the troops to deploy. One battalion of 3,000 men was divided into groups of 300 men, and spread out according to the terrain in the vast wilderness.
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The second battalion dispatched 2,000 men and rushed along both sides of the road for two or three miles, hiding in ditches and depressions with the help of trees and weeds.
These arrangements were discussed in advance and rehearsed many times. The officers could implement them quickly after receiving orders and complete them in the fastest possible time.
When Hu Xing'a led his troops to pursue him, his eyes suddenly opened up. What he saw was a battle formation of more than a thousand infantry blocking the road in front of them, and behind the battle formation were thousands of cavalry.
"Hey!" Huxing Ale stopped his horse and carefully observed the large and small battle formations on the opposite side and on both sides.
There were not many infantrymen in front of them, and they were blocked by dozens of vans. This was to be attacked with muskets, and then the cavalry was dispatched to fight.
In the fields on both sides, there are five small battle formations scattered at random. In front of the formation, there are only obstacles made of simple wooden spears to resist horses. Behind them are closely arranged musketeers and rows of black muzzles.
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This was the first time for Hu Xing'a, Li Weiluan, Liu Xingzuo and other generals to fight in the vast wilderness.
However, the Dongjiang Army has already conducted such drills in advance, and there are flying cavalry to press the formation. In the worst case, they will have a hard collision. When the forces are equal, there is little worry about failure.
Moreover, the tactics of infantry versus cavalry are also very simple, just hold on, hold on! If you don't collapse, just use muskets to injure the enemy as much as possible, and you'll basically complete the mission.
The pressure faced by Hu Xing'a was much greater. He looked at the opponent's strange formation and was a little confused, not knowing from which direction to attack.
Over the past few years, several battles with the Dongjiang Army followed a pattern. When Jianlu attacked, the Dongjiang Army relied on dangerous points or pre-set fortifications to defend, thereby repelling Jianlu's attack.
The reason why Hu Xing'a wanted to pursue him so hard was because he didn't want to give the enemy time to build fortifications and use their defense capabilities.
Obviously, he should have achieved his goal. But the opponent's formation left him a little confused.
If it is a hasty formation, like other Ming armies, Hu Xing'a can first use bows and arrows to disrupt the Ming army's battle formation, and then attack with cavalry to win.
This set of tactics was quite mature and sophisticated for the Jianlu. After rebelling against the Ming Dynasty, they relied on this tactics to defeat many Ming armies.
But when facing the Dongjiang Army, Hu Xing'a was hesitant because he knew that the Dongjiang Army's firearms were sharp and were not at the same level as other Ming armies.
If it was just a battle formation in front of him, Hu Xing'a could send out several groups of cavalry, galloping left and right, outflanking and attacking with ease. He believed that he would soon disrupt the opponent's position.
But the small battle formation on the flank shattered his idea. What's more, the enemy also had cavalry, so it was not easy to outflank them.
"Sir." Seeing the commander's hesitation, the general Doaro next to him said, "I humbly ask for orders to lead five hundred cavalry to attack first and attack the enemy on the left."
Hu Xing'a looked at this subordinate who volunteered for help, and said slowly: "The enemy formations are arranged at random, so they should coordinate with each other to support each other and exert cross firepower."
"I understand." There was a slanted scar on Doaro's copper-colored face, which was his glory. He was trembling slightly at this moment, showing a bit of ferocity, and said: "The most prominent wave of the first attack, with glancing shots.
Disorganize their formation, then rush in, and use the cover of the defeated troops to attack other battle formations."
It sounds like that, but it may not be that easy.
Hu Xing'a pondered for a moment and said in a deep voice: "Be more careful and don't underestimate the enemy."
"I humbly obey the order." Doaro bowed and accepted the order, reined in his horse and left.
Even though everything was going according to plan, Li Weiluan felt that he had a sure chance of victory, it just depended on the price. However, it was still not the Dongjiang Army's habit to be passively beaten.
The range of muskets is almost the same as that of bows and arrows, and the result of the duel is that they have a slight upper hand. However, the Dongjiang Army also has weapons with longer ranges, such as rockets that are easy to carry.
The rocket launcher is not heavy either. It is just an iron frame, an iron cylinder, or even a simpler track device.
In order to march lightly, Li Weiluan's troops only carried dozens of six-barrel launchers and thousands of rockets. At this time, they had been set up behind the formation and were ready to fire at any time.
"Wait a moment." Li Weiluan lowered his raised hand, narrowed his eyes slightly, and did not give an immediate order to the artillery officer.
Jianlu had already taken action, and Li Weiluan wanted to see what tactics the enemy would use and the power of the large and small battle formations they had set up.
At least, this is also an opportunity to test one's own troops. Being able to withstand Jianlu's attack, even just once, will give the soldiers more practical combat experience.
Doaro led five hundred cavalrymen out of the large group and divided them into five teams, one for every hundred people, and rushed towards the small battle formation in the field.
One team after another, they passed diagonally less than a hundred meters in front of the enemy's formation, projecting a continuous rain of arrows at the enemy. This was Doaro's idea.
You must know that the shooting speed of bows and arrows is obviously faster than that of muskets. In the time it takes to pass by the enemy's formation, it can shoot at least three or four arrows, or even more.
The dense rain of arrows and the lack of power of cannons meant that even if other Ming troops had firearms, it was difficult for them to withstand the cavalry fire of prisoners or even the charge of heavy armored infantry.
Of course, the most important thing is the will to fight. Jianlu were brave and fearless of death, but most Ming troops lacked such fighting spirit.
Galloping with iron hooves, Doaro commanded his troops to rush straight towards the most prominent small battle formation. This was actually an illusion, a tactic commonly used by Jianlu, to induce the Ming army to open fire at a distance beyond the effective killing distance.
But Doaro and his troops were obviously disappointed, even though his attack was just a tentative attack to find a more suitable strategy for the commander, or to find the enemy's weaknesses.
The musketeers behind the horse were motionless. Under the officer's loud orders, the three rows of musketeers in front suddenly became closer.
The first row knelt, the second row bent, and the third row stood, with three rows of muskets pointing straight ahead. Nearly a hundred heavy musketeers stood on both sides, listening to the sharp whistle, and opened the nose of the machine...
If there are carts for cover, you should use large arrows with infantry bows, which have a longer range and greater power, and the damage done by enemy firearms will also be weakened.
Doaro was a little regretful, but the arrow was already on the string and he had to fire it. Riding on a horse, he could only use a short bow with compromised range and power, and he had to stay close to the enemy.
The charging cavalry turned around and swung their tails like comets, diagonally thrusting into the infantry formation.
The roar suddenly broke out, white smoke rose, and the heavy musketeers in the infantry battle formation took the lead in firing. They did not need to take careful aim, they just bombarded the enemy's cavalry brigade, whether it was a man or a horse, just hit it.
Even Jianlu's long bows and large arrows are inferior to heavy muskets in terms of range and power, not to mention the Jianlu cavalry who have to use short bows to shoot at a closer distance.
Clouds of blood mist splashed out, and dozens of Jianlu people were seen turning over on their backs amidst the sounds of people shouting and horses neighing. This affected Jianlu's continued galloping, and the formation was slightly chaotic.
After the heavy musketeer on the left finished shooting, he immediately retreated with his gun, retreated to the back of the formation, and nervously and quickly reloaded ammunition.
The sharp whistle sounded again, and the three rows of light musketeers who had already taken shooting positions stretched out their thumbs, opened the hammers, and placed their fingers on the outer ring of the trigger.
Musket training is the most important and most time-consuming subject in the Dongjiang Army. During training and actual combat, Guo Dajing and the officers also discovered a problem, that is, how to ensure that the soldiers fire at the same time.
It is impossible to completely eliminate nervousness, especially for recruits who lack actual combat experience. It is inevitable to accidentally pull the trigger.
This led to more detailed shooting steps, with the trigger head and hands not on the trigger, which prevented soldiers from accidentally shooting to the greatest extent.
The sound of hoofbeats was like thunder, and the Jianlu cavalry got closer. The long-awaited whistle sounded, and the musketeers felt relieved, put their fingers into the iron ring, and pulled the trigger.
There was no need to wait much longer, just three to five seconds later, the last sharp whistle finally sounded in my ears.
There was a roar like thunder, and thick white smoke rose into the air, almost obscuring the figures of the musketeers in the battle formation.
This was a fierce blow, and the power of the three rows of salvos was fully demonstrated. The dense lead bullets knocked down a large number of Jianlu troops, which greatly hindered the normal riding of Jianlu in the future.