After the North Korean envoy and Qian Qianyi left, Zhu Cixiang indeed began to assemble an army.
With an order, the central army, the front army, the rear army, and the left army began to move.
This time, Zhu Cixi also wanted to take the opportunity to test the speed of the army's assembly and departure.
As the saying goes, when marching and fighting, marching is in front and fighting is behind. It can be seen that marching is more important than fighting.
A real war only lasts a moment on the battlefield, but the dispatching and preparation of troops and horses, and the daily march and setting up camp are all extremely complex and rigorous tasks.
Zhu Cixi arrived in Tongzhou early with 5,000 Yulin troops and 5,000 Mongolian cavalry from Ran Duoer.
Thanks to the deal with the Tumote tribe, each army now has 5,000 cavalry trained, and the 5,000 Mongolian cavalry has also been temporarily assigned to the Royal Forest Army under the command of Randuoer.
The commanders of each army probably knew that His Majesty wanted to test the training of each army this time, so they all worked hard. As soon as they received the order, they began to quickly assemble the army and prepare to march to Tongzhou.
Of course, the fastest was the rear army that had encountered good luck several weeks ago. It had a distance advantage, and it only took four days from gathering to setting up camp north of Tongzhou.
Next is the Chinese Army. Although the Chinese Army is stationed far away in the Changping area, the army is already assembled and on standby.
Even without the large governorship of Hong Niangzi and 50,000 regular soldiers and 20,000 auxiliary soldiers, it only took six days to arrive in Tongzhou and set up camp.
Furthermore, Wu Sangui's former army in the south also only took seven days to reach Tongzhou with 70,000 auxiliary troops, more than 20,000 mules and horses, and thousands of carts.
The slowest one turned out to be the British Duke's Zuo Army. The Zuo Army was the second closest to Tongzhou, but it was the last to arrive, taking a full eight days.
Each army went to the stronghold alone. Zhu Cixiang saw the performance of each army. He was actually very satisfied with the nearly 300,000 troops that were assembled in only ten days. Such speed is already very rare.
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"The overall performance of the central army, front army, and rear army this time was pretty good. Although there was a bit of panic at the beginning of the assembly, they adjusted in time and managed to become chaotic but orderly.
But Zuo Qian's performance was too bad. It took five days just to assemble the army. Many generals were not in the army but in the capital.
What's more serious is that in the sixty miles from Sanhe to Tongzhou, in order to rush for time, they arrived in one day, regardless of the marching order. In the end, they arrived, but they completely let the sheep go. The soldiers did not know the generals, and the generals did not know the soldiers. This is
Marching for war?
In this way, if we were ambushed midway or were attacked by enemy cavalry, wouldn't the whole army collapse immediately and the blood of those killed would flow like a river?"
"I am incompetent, your Majesty, please punish me!"
The British Duke came out with a face of shame and knelt down to apologize. All the generals of the left army also came out and knelt down, almost all with their heads lowered.
The other generals of the three armies looked proud and gloating over their misfortune.
"Slow down, I can still accept it, but chaos is absolutely unacceptable. Marching is all about stability.
Especially for an army of tens of thousands, the more people there are, the more stable it is. If you don't even know this basic common sense, how can you command an army?
This is the first and last time that training will be like actual combat. Anyone who dares to be a child's play in the future will be dealt with in accordance with military law. Everyone, please stand up!"
Zhu Cixi had a straight face and waved his hand.
Naturally, he understood that the British masters and others dared to seize time and make such a fuss because they thought it was just a matter of skill, rather than a real enemy attack and a fight.
"I will obey your Majesty's teachings!"
All the generals responded in unison, obviously not expecting that His Majesty would attach so much importance to the exercises.
“This military exercise will be divided into three major items, namely army assembly, army marching and the overall strength of the army.
The first two items will be carried out completely according to actual combat, and the last item will randomly select 2,000 people from each army to conduct various assessments.
The first item of army assembly, since the right army has not yet been completed, is tentatively designated as the first center army, the second rear army, the third front army, and the fourth left army.
Next is the second item, the army march. Each army will carry two months of food from Tongzhou to Shanhaiguan, a journey of about a thousand miles. The Chinese army will allocate camps tomorrow and set off, and the rear army will set off again two days later, and so on, followed by
Front Army, Left Army.
This march will not only depend on who takes the shortest time to reach Shanhaiguan, but also the order of the march, the defense of the camp, night duty and some emergencies."
Zhu Cixiang glanced at the generals and said slowly.
Although doing this is quite expensive and troublesome, and there are still many risks, only in this way can the army always maintain a high level of vigilance.
In the absence of the Red Lady, the Chinese army was temporarily led by General Lei Ben. As soon as they returned to the camp, the 70,000 men and horses got busy, loading the two months of food needed by the army from the dock onto the carts.
These grains were all shipped from the south of the Yangtze River after the new year, and they were hoarded in Tongzhou for three million shi.
The next day, the Chinese army strictly followed the tradition of making food at the third watch, setting up camps at the fifth watch, and the cavalry going first, and marched towards Shanhaiguan in a mighty manner.
Two days later came the rear army, then the front army, and the left army. Each army had 5,000 cavalry, 50,000 regular soldiers, 20,000 auxiliary soldiers, and the same number of mules, horses and carts.
Such a large army stretched for hundreds of miles. Those who didn't know it seriously thought that Zhu Cihong wanted to personally conquer the Northeast and build slaves.
The civil servants in the capital who did not know the true situation did think so.
At first, the armies maintained a distance of one hundred miles, a two-day journey, but within two days the gap was revealed.
The Chinese army took the lead, marching sixty miles a day. When Randuoer's 5,000 Mongolian cavalry attacked, they were aware of it early and quickly lined up to meet the enemy.
At night, when faced with a sneak attack by 5,000 imperial guardsmen carrying torches, they could assemble to meet the enemy as soon as possible without leaving any opportunity to take advantage of them, and all the soldiers could remain calm and calm.
However, the response capabilities of the other three armed forces are much worse.
Although the front and rear armies could maintain a marching speed of fifty miles every day, when the sound of the enemy cavalry's approaching killing horn was heard, confusion still arose and they were unable to quickly assemble to meet the enemy.
Due to the rush for time, the team stretched too long, causing the head and tail to be unable to look at each other, especially the last baggage and auxiliary troops, who almost fled in all directions.
Wu Sangui and Zhou Yuji were both furious to death. Naturally, they understood that there could be no enemy cavalry, but His Majesty asked the five thousand Mongolian cavalry to test.
But there are imperial guards around them all the time, recording their every word and deed, so they don't dare to leak it in advance.
In the night attack, the two performed well. Because they could prepare, the army responded quickly and no big trouble occurred.
After all, for the sake of safety, the Royal Forest Army only waved flags and shouted in the distance with torches. Randall's cavalry also only passed by the army, allowing the soldiers to watch the incoming cavalry from a distance.
The worst performer was the left army commanded by the nobles. Facing the cavalry attack, it was really like herding sheep. Many soldiers dropped their weapons and ran towards the high ground, or went into the woods. Even some of the noble officers were panicked.
A group, and the night attack at night almost caused a camp roar.
This made Zhu Cixiang so angry that his Qiqiao was filled with smoke.
The British prince also almost ran out of breath and vomited blood.
Among all the armies, only the left army suffered casualties.