Outside the city of Huangzhou Prefecture, Zhang Xianzhong came riding a tall horse.
It was a good horse, with a shoulder height of 1.4 meters, a smooth figure and a strong physique. Zhang Xianzhong was wearing armor and a red cloak, and he looked majestic sitting on the horse.
In comparison, when Zhao Han entered Nanjing last year, his dress seemed too shabby.
Because the weather was hot, I only wore a linen shirt.
It's summer now, and Zhang Xianzhong is also hot. Armor, helmet, cloak, everything is ready.
"Father!"
Sun Kewang fell on the ground and knelt to welcome Zhang Xianzhong into the city.
Zhang Xianzhong didn't even bother to look at his adopted son, and rode directly into the city. While beating him, he saved enough face, at least he was not whipped in public.
Seeing Zhang Xianzhong riding away, Sun Kewang quickly got up and caught up to lead the horse for his adoptive father.
Arriving at the official residence, Zhang Xianzhong immediately summoned the generals.
"I heard that Guangji County was also lost?" Zhang Xianzhong asked.
Sun Kewang felt particularly uncomfortable and replied in a low voice: "It's lost, and all the passages out of the mountain have been occupied."
Originally, Zhao Han only wanted two and a half counties. Since there was a fight, he decided to take three counties and occupy some mountainous areas, completely blocking the passage from Qizhou to Huangmei County.
"All the defenders of the three counties were swallowed up?" Zhang Xianzhong asked again.
Sun Kewang replied: "All the generals under Hai'er's command were released after they surrendered, but the ordinary soldiers were swallowed up by those named Zhao."
Zhang Xianzhong nodded and said: "Since he is willing to release your generals, Zhao Han has no intention of really falling out. You have done an excellent job in civil affairs. This time, your vitality is seriously injured. Let's recover in Huangzhou Mansion."
"My child, please obey." Sun Kewang could only obey.
Of the 20,000 soldiers and 30,000 civilians brought out by Sun Kewang, only more than 5,000 people fled back one after another, all of whom had wives, children, and children in Huangzhou Prefecture. The remaining ones did not want to come back at all, and were eager to join Zhao Tianwang, and maybe they could be separated directly.
to the land.
Sun Kewang lost not only the land of three counties, but also tens of thousands of people!
After a moment of silence, Zhang Xianzhong asked: "There are really only a few thousand enemy troops this time? How did you lose?"
"There are about five thousand enemy troops, all of whom are soldiers." Sun Kewang couldn't help but have a look of fear on his face as he thought of the battle that day. "The military book says, 'It's as immovable as a mountain.' Five thousand people standing there are really as strong as a mountain."
Same. Their firearms are extremely powerful, the artillery can fire a long distance, and the muskets can only be fired after twenty or thirty steps. Their formation is also powerful, and the infantry charge with several times the strength cannot be charged at all."
Zhang Xianzhong asked: "How does it compare with Tianxiong Army?"
Sun Kewang thought about it carefully and said: "The Tianxiong army cannot form such a tight formation. My father can ask Feng Shuangli about the cavalry he led that day."
Feng Shuangli said: "Your Majesty, the Jiangxi soldiers are not afraid of the cavalry. At a distance of fifty or sixty steps, facing the cavalry charge, the Jiangxi soldiers would not move. They really did not move, not even moving their feet. The cavalry rushed over and shot arrows, but they just raised their shields.
You can block arrows without moving your legs at all. In fact, if you don’t raise your shield, you can’t shoot anything in the Warring States period. Their soldiers all have armor.”
"It is true that they all have armor, not leather armor," the general Guan Youcai interjected. "That day I led four thousand men to outflank the flanks. The Jiangxi soldiers in front of me were at most seven to eight hundred. The small soldiers were all wearing fine cotton armor and iron armor.
They were lining the inside of the armor, and they also wore rattan armor with iron plates. I attacked seven or eight hundred with four thousand men, but they were blocked by the wolf's trap. They couldn't get through. Soldiers who could get past the wolf's trap would be beaten when they entered.
Stabbed to death. Even the armor worn by those small soldiers was worthy of our generals. We didn’t fight 5,000 soldiers that day, we fought 5,000 generals!”
hiss!
Zhang Xianzhong took a breath, five thousand generals lined up in formation, the scene was terrifying just thinking about it.
Zhang Xianzhong confirmed: "The cavalry rushed twenty or thirty steps, and the formation on the opposite side was not disrupted?"
Feng Shuangli said: "Not only is there no chaos, but they can't move. The rattan players hold up their shields to block arrows, and the musketry soldiers hide behind and fire volleys. If they get close, there are also spears and wolves. Those wolves are too scary, and the horses are too scary."
I didn't dare to rush when I arrived, I was so scared that I ran away."
Sun Kewang added: "Jiangxi soldiers are all trained like military generals and servants."
Zhang Xianzhong suddenly felt powerless, Zhao Han was so damn rich!
Zhang Xianzhong's own direct troops only have one or two thousand men who can reach the level of servants. The other generals and adopted sons can each have at most four to five hundred men.
The rest are considered elite if they can wear leather armor!
Zhang Xianzhong warned in a deep voice: "Don't provoke Zhao Han anymore. Recruit more refugees to work in the fields and more craftsmen to make weapons and armor!"
"Kid, remember this!" Sun Kewang responded quickly.
Just when Zhang Xianzhong was admonishing Sun Kewang, Ai Nengqi had already conquered Xinye, Li Dingguo had conquered Tang County, and the Nanyang Basin would soon be named Zhang.
Further north, Li Zicheng swept across half of Shanxi and claimed to have an army of half a million men.
Sun Chuanting was appointed governor of Xuanda. In fact, he had almost given up on Xuanda and took Yang Guozhu, Wang Pu and other generals to block the passage from Shanxi to Beijing.
…
After defeating Sun Kewang, Jiangxi officials and peasant associations took over the territory and immediately divided the fields in Susong, Huangmei and Guangji counties.
Huang Shun and Fei Yinggong occupied Susong and tried to march towards Taihu County.
As a result, Taihu, Qianshan, Tongcheng, and Shucheng all surrendered, and they did not encounter resistance until they reached the capital of Luzhou.
Zhao Han just asked them to cross the river and occupy the cities along the river as a base for troops. Unexpectedly, they almost killed the Jianghuai area... It didn't count as a kill, because except for the battle with Sun Kewang, the counties they occupied next were all fought without blood.
The resistance of Luzhou Prefecture did not come from the official army, but from the rogue bandit Luo Rucai!
Luo Rucai first fell out with Zhang Xianzhong, and now he fell out with Li Zicheng, so he had no choice but to go it alone.
With Guangzhou as his base camp, he moved all the way east to occupy Lu'an counties, and finally got stuck in Luzhou Prefecture and could not conquer it.
By chance, Huang Shun and Fei Yinggong also came to attack Luzhou, and the two sides faced off a few miles outside the city.
The Datong Army divided its troops all the way to occupy the county town. At this moment, there were only 3,000 regular soldiers and 5,000 civilians left. And Luo Rucai's army, combined, totaled 60,000 to 70,000 people.
"There is an order from the main town. There is not enough food and grass. The march is suspended!"
Huang Shunzheng was planning a night attack. The plan was proposed by Fei Yinggong, and he received a military order from Zhao Han before he started.
"Retreat to Shucheng." Fei Yingcong felt helpless.
"well!"
Huang Shun could only withdraw his troops in despair. He was also an old man who raised troops in Wuxing Town. To be honest, all abilities were very ordinary. He relied solely on his seniority and accumulated military exploits (mostly hard work). This year, he was finally able to lead the army alone. Unexpectedly, he would be able to lead the army alone at the critical moment.
Can't really fight.
Not only has this road been withdrawn, but all armies have stopped and will be expanded again.
The armies of the East, West, South, North, Middle and Five Houses have all been expanded, and the number of people in each house has increased from 5,000 to 7,500.
In addition, the number of Zhao Han's personal soldiers increased from 1,000 to 2,000.
The Shanghai, Ningbo, and Fuzhou Coast Guards will each have 500 additional personnel, while the Guangzhou Coast Guard will remain unchanged at 1,000 personnel.
Coupled with the 2,000 cavalry being trained on Jeju Island, the number of Zhao Han's regular army soldiers reaches 44,000!
Zhao Han can attack at any time. This time, the strength of each academy has been directly increased by one-third. The influx of a large number of "new soldiers" will not reduce the combat effectiveness too much.
The total number of peasants and soldiers in each province exceeds one million!
Farming when he is busy, training troops when he is free, in a real life-and-death battle, Zhao Han can storm millions of soldiers.
This expansion is not only due to the expansion of the territory, but also due to previous actual combat feedback that the 5,000 troop quota is not fully matched with the military types.
Zhao Han, Pang Chunlai, Li Banghua, Mao Yuanyi, Xu Nianzu and others, after repeated discussions and with reference to the opinions of frontline generals, finally decided on the number of 7,500 troops in each academy.
Among these 7,500 people, there were 4,000 melee soldiers, 2,000 musketeers, 500 grenadiers, 500 artillerymen, and a total of 500 civilians, cooks, and doctors (the archers were eliminated).
The planned quota is 10,000, and the remaining 2,500 vacancies will be reserved for the cavalry in the future!
With ten thousand people and one full division, Zhao Han felt that ten divisions could unify the country.
Anqing.
7,500 new soldiers and veterans, including civilian personnel, are training.
Lu Xiangsheng looked at the doctors with a strange expression. A group of monks, Taoist priests, nuns, and Taoist nuns, dressed in monk's clothes, stood alone in a corner training queue. This scene was indeed too weird.
There were some before, but the number was limited. This time, there are many more due to the expansion of troops.
The training subjects of doctors are very different from those of combat soldiers. Only the formation is the same, running is carrying stretchers, and they also practice setting up tents and so on.
The five hundred grenadiers are also interesting. They used to be equipped only sporadically, but now they have become a standard unit.
"Hi!"
Groups of twenty people practice throwing medicine balls repeatedly.
He raised the ball high above his head with both arms, then threw it suddenly, then pulled out his sword and charged and chopped.
These grenadiers were specially selected to be tall and strong men, and all of them had excellent arm strength. Even in close combat, they were all strong soldiers. Anyway, they would rush in and kill people after throwing bombs.
As a missionary officer, Lu Xiangsheng naturally wanted to understand the soldiers. When he led the Tianxiong Army, he also shared the joys and sorrows with the soldiers.
While resting at the doctor's side, Lu Xiangsheng found a nun and asked, "What's your name?"
"Huijing." The nun replied.
"What's the common name?" Lu Xiangsheng asked.
The nun shook her head: "I don't know. My family was poor when I was a child, so I was sent to a nunnery at a young age. I have long forgotten my last name."
Lu Xiangsheng asked again: "Do you still believe in Buddhism now?"
The nun took off her hat, revealing her full head of hair, and said with a smile: "Now I only believe in Mr. Zhao. In fact, I have returned to secular life long ago. I only wear this outfit in the military camp. I even got married..." She pointed to the distance.
The Taoist priest who was carrying things said, "My husband has also returned to secular life. He will retire from the army when I get pregnant."
Lu Xiangsheng looked at the nun in front of him and then at the Taoist priest in the distance, not knowing what to say.
"Separate two thousand people and come here to carry the things!"
The soldiers who were practicing immediately divided into two thousand and ran to the entrance of the military camp to carry supplies.
The quartermaster shouted: "Army doctors, come quickly and get your clothes and shoes, and the fire gun soldiers come and get your new weapons!"
From now on, doctors no longer need to wear monks' clothes, but uniform canvas uniforms.
As for the Fire Gun Soldier's new weapon, Lu Xiangsheng's eyes gleamed when he saw it.
It's actually a dagger-like thing that can be inserted into the front end of the barrel, and the fire musket soldier will instantly turn into a spear soldier.
Liu Zhu stood on the general platform and summoned the fire gun soldiers to give training: "In the future, we will practice bayonet skills more. The main town has sent several bayonet skills instructors. In actual combat, if you understand any tricks, you can report them to yourselves."
Shangguan. If the moves you learn are useful, they will be promoted throughout the army!"
Lu Xiangsheng got a fire gun with a bayonet and tried to stab it a few times. He immediately praised it: "This thing is of great use."
