On May 20th of the fifth year of Wanli, the new army, which had been renovating in Zhaoqing for a few days, headed towards Xinyi under the leadership of Ling Yunyi and Liu Xian.
Also accompanying the new army were nine thousand soldiers led by Gaozhou General Chen Lin.
The so-called warrior soldiers, also called "Wolf soldiers", refer to the chieftain soldiers distributed in northwest Guangxi and parts of southern Guizhou. The ethnic classification is later divided into Yao people and Zhuang people. There is no consensus. But for the warriors who were born and raised here.
For soldiers, ethnic categories are imposed by outsiders and they themselves don't care.
The first use of 俍 soldiers in the Ming Dynasty was during the Yingzong period. In the winter of October of the second year of Zhengtong, when he was the chief military officer of Guangxi, the governor Shan Yunshang reported to the court, "In the local official areas of the left and right rivers, there are many people and few fields, so the 俍 soldiers
The soldiers are brave and are feared by thieves." It was suggested that the imperial court "select the leaders of the committee and lead them to cultivate the wasteland near the mountains and cut off the way for thieves to come and go" in order to stabilize the place.
The wolf soldiers fought bravely. History records that "the wolf soldiers in Dongguan, Nandan, Guangxi, and the three states of Guangxi were able to defeat the masses with a small number, and they won nine times out of ten. Why, the local officials of the three states were as rough as the Qin Dynasty
According to the law, the first prisoner is the most meritorious, the military order is strict, the reward is also heavy, and the number of soldiers is not afraid of death." The combat ability far exceeds that of the guards, and in the late Ming Dynasty, there was even a saying that "Guangxi soldiers are the best in the world".
The reputation of Guangxi soldiers for being brave and capable has been passed down to later generations. Marshal Peng Dehuai even commented on the enemies of the Red Army during the Long March: "The Guizhou Army and the Dian Army are two sheep, the Hunan Army is a wolf, and the Guangxi monkey is the Gui Army, as fierce as a tiger.
As evil as a wolf.”
Therefore, after the Yingzong period, the Ming court, which had tasted the benefits, relied more and more on the use of martyrs. In the later period, it even dispatched martyrs to Jiangsu and Zhejiang to fight against Japanese pirates. During the Jiajing period, "Mrs. Wa" led martyrs to fight against Japanese pirates in the south of the Yangtze River, and she was called "
Heroine".
However, there are also huge drawbacks to the use of martyr soldiers. The martyr soldiers are essentially mercenaries of the imperial court, and their command power is in the hands of various chieftains. The imperial court lacks effective means of control, which leads to chaos in military discipline and the burning of civilians.
There are so many examples that people fear wolf soldiers more than thieves.
In the Ming Dynasty, there were many records such as "The wolf soldiers were called in to plunder, loot and kill, and the chickens and dogs were not spared, and the plot was not hidden. It is nothing more than this." During the Zhengde period, there was the rebellion of the bandits Liu Liu and Liu Qi.
, the imperial court transferred Yongshun, and Baojing and Liang announced the consolation of troops to suppress the army. They gathered plunder all the way, and no one could bear it. The bandits once said to the people who were robbed: We come here like a comb, and the chieftain soldiers are like a grate - this shows the military discipline of the soldiers.
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However, for this group of soldiers who were moving with the New Army, there was really someone who could suppress them. This person was Gaozhou General Chen Lin.
Chen Lin, courtesy name Chaojue. Born in the 11th year of Jiajing, a native of Shaozhou, he is now forty-five years old. In the 41st year of Jiajing, Chen Lin led the way to pacify the civil unrest in Chaozhou, Yingde and other places, and was promoted to the commanding officer, and later to the Guangdong garrison.
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During Yin Zhengmao's stay in Guangdong and Guangxi, he vigorously promoted Chen Lin, a brave and resourceful general. In the first year of Wanli, Chen Lin successively defeated the rebels of Deng Shenglong and the Jieyang bandit Zhong Yuequan; in March of the second year of Wanli, due to Zhang Yuanxun's troops,
General Li Chengli defeated the Chaozhou thief Zhu Liangbao, and Yin Zhengmao temporarily granted Chen Lin the post of General Counsel, allowing Chen Lin to command a militia force. After pacifying Zhu Liangbao, Chen Lin was awarded the title of Zhaoqing Guerrilla General, and was transferred to Gaozhou Counselor General.
Chen Lin was born to lead troops. He has a stout figure and amazing physical strength. His eyes are not big but slender, always flashing with a fierce light, his nose is wide and his mouth is low, and his voice is low and hoarse. People will know this person as soon as they meet him.
Not easy to deal with.
The soldiers and chieftains under his rule were like a mouse to a cat, and no one was afraid of him, because this man was more ferocious. When Chen Lin first became a general, because the soldiers refused to obey, Chen Lin once singled out the soldiers in the school field with a sword.
Warriors have long and short weapons.
Due to the enthusiasm of the fight, he knocked down the weapons of several wolf soldiers in succession, and then cut off their forearms. Chen Lin painted his face with blood and continued to shout a challenge, but none of the wolf soldiers dared to respond.
On the one hand, Chen Lin was brave and powerful, but on the other hand, he was also wise and greedy. Since his days in the army, he had been predatory, killing prisoners for credit, and bribing his superiors to do anything - which just matched Yin Zhengmao's temper.
Zhang Juzheng's followers like Yin Zhengmao have similar temperaments and temperaments. They only seek merit in doing things and don't care about anything else. Their reputations are not very good in the Ming Dynasty official circles. They are greedy for merit and money, and they are not stingy with their subordinates. Chen Lin gave most of what he gained from robbery.
Boss, I gave a small head to the soldiers, leaving some soup for myself. After a few years of this, Chen Lin, who led the soldiers to bow down to the ground, could use them like arms and fingers.
This march is 480 miles from Zhaoqing to Xinyi and is planned to march for fifteen days. As soon as the two armies walked on the road, the gap was immediately obvious: the new army was trained like a wooden man, even though it had traveled thousands of miles.
, the queue is not scattered. However, most of the soldiers led by Chen Lin do not even have military uniforms. Most of them have black cloth shoes and black cloth headbands. Some have weapons on their shoulders, some carry them, and they walk with great energy.
When walking, the queues are uneven in thickness and there is no requirement to line up in an orderly manner.
Liu Xian and Deng Zilong, both commanders-in-chief and deputy commanders, had fought in Guangdong and knew that the combat effectiveness of these skinny soldiers could not be judged by their appearance. However, the middle and lower-level officers of the New Army had been brainwashed by the concept of martial arts that "discipline is combat effectiveness"
, seeing the soldiers looking like this, their disdain was palpable.
The New Army transferred to Guangdong for training. Every day after the two armies were stationed, seminars were held with Chen Zan as a teacher to teach the officers of the New Army.
Chen Zan has never been to a martial arts school, but in the past six months, he has met several officers from Guangdong and Guangxi who graduated from martial arts and had exchanges with them. In Chen Zan's opinion, these officers who returned to Guangdong and Guangxi from martial arts schools - basically
Everyone was so stupid.
After these people came back, they copied the martial arts training methods to their own garrison, and copied all the formation, garrison and marching methods. However, how could the soldiers in the garrison have the supplies of the new army in the Beijing camp? They practiced for less than half a month.
, there were only two people who provoked the mutiny, leaving all these graduates disgraced.
Therefore, Chen Zan, a general who fought through a sea of blood, did not think highly of martial arts officers. However, under the orders of Ling Yunyi, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, he had no choice but to listen to these lessons.
On the first day, the two armies were stationed on the north bank of the Xijiang River. Before dinner, Chen Zan gave a lecture in the big tent. He first used Luopang Mountain as an example to give an overview of the impact of the dense forest and mountain terrain on the march, and then emphasized:
: "Luopang Mountain is high and densely forested, with criss-crossing trails. The first thing to do when marching is to be vigilant..."
In Chen Zan's view, the security of mountain warfare requires elite troops to be deployed at the front, middle and rear outposts, and they must be deployed in groups - at least a thousand people must be released to be responsible for the security, and the protection of grain roads must be given top priority.
Judging from past experience in dealing with the Yao people, what they are best at is breaking them into parts, then breaking them into parts again, sneaking attacks on the army's retreat, and cutting off our food routes.
After hearing this, the officers of the New Army looked at each other, thinking that this was all because the teacher was tired of talking about it. The protection of grain roads was also a top priority in the plains - who could ignore it? Chen Zan saw that they were dissatisfied, so he picked up the
A wooden crossbow about two feet wide was placed on the big case and said: "There are poisonous arrow trees in Luopang Mountain. The Yao people cut their skins to get the juice and apply it on the arrows. Although the arrows are not made of iron but made of bone, they do not need to penetrate too much."
It's so deep, I only scratched a little bit of your skin, but you can see blood sealing your throat."
Chen Zan continued: "He was hiding in the dense forests on both sides of the mountain road. When your army passed by, his crossbows were fired like rain, and he left in a wave. He killed five of your army at once, and after two days, one or two hundred people were not seen.
Their face is gone—how to respond?"
"If you stop and strangle him, he will run away without a trace through the woods, and you will not be able to transport food and grass; if you ignore casualties, the poisonous arrows will become more and more dense, how many people do you have?"
Enough to kill him?"
Zhang Qianyu, the commander-in-chief of the New Army, raised his hand to signal. When Chen Zan nodded, he stood up and said, "The New Army has elite soldiers who stay awake at night. We can use scouts to fight scouts, and both sides will strangle them. His crossbow is not as far as my gun, so we can respond."
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After hearing this, Chen Zan nodded and said: "This method is also the method I use. That's why I have elite troops placed in the front, middle and back to protect the main force from a distance. The theory of food roads is fundamentally different from the plains. When entering the mountains and forests,
Strangulation is everywhere, and there is no distinction between before and after in combat!"
After hearing this, the officers of the New Army all took a breath of the humid and hot air of Guangdong. Seeing that Chen Zan calmed them down, a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth - because he looked so vicious, it was better not to smile. Seeing him, he called out to a soldier beside him:
: "You can see how his attire is different from that of our army?"
The officers of the New Army looked carefully and saw that the soldier had a black cloth wrapped around his head, black clothes and black shoes, which was no different from the daytime. They all shook their heads to express ignorance.
Chen Zan gave the answer: "I didn't know at first, but then I took them into the forest and realized the benefits of this outfit. Please see, this bun is used to prevent sweat. After entering the forest, it was extremely hot and stuffy.
We sweat ten times more than we do now! When fighting, the sweat is in your eyes, where will your blunderbuss go?"
After hearing this, the officers of the New Army suddenly realized. Chen Zan pointed to the leg of the soldier and said: "Look at his trousers, from the ankle to the entire calf, they are tightly wrapped with cloth. This is to prevent poisonous insects.
In the dense forest, there are densely packed poisonous insects that you have never seen before. Without these leggings, the poisonous insects alone could kill half of us!"
Seeing that any of the New Army officers sitting below wanted to speak, Chen Zan smiled and said: "Although the New Army also wears leggings, they use straps. I think it is to prevent the legs from swelling when walking - straps may not work. I think it is best."
Wrap them with cloth like wolf soldiers! If there is any gap left, the poisonous insects will be able to penetrate everywhere. After entering Luopang, our collars and cuffs must be tied tightly, and we cannot loosen them even if they are too hot - Governor Ling has given new instructions
When the army has prepared the step of tying your legs and wrapping your head, I will send the soldiers to teach you how to tie your legs and wrap your head."
Liu Xian had known about this for a long time, and after listening to Chen Zan's words, he expressed his gratitude to Ling Yunyi. After listening to this lesson, the New Army officers suddenly sketched out the scene of fighting in the mountains and dense forests - it turns out that fighting in the mountains and forests in the south,
What needs to be overcome is not the difficulty of attacking and killing the enemy, but the ubiquitous murderous intent in this dense forest!