Amid the rhythmic drumbeats, a phalanx of sixty-four scholars formed a long snake formation and slowly advanced along the gentle mountains outside Taihu County.
Xu Yingwei grasped the spear shaft with both hands and raised the spear.
At the same time, Wu Yingji followed closely and walked to the beat of the drum.
At the beginning, Xu Yingwei and his group walked up the phalanx along a gentle slope, so they could only see the sky and could not see the rebel soldiers and Taihu City in front of them.
But when the phalanx crossed the top of the gentle slope and headed down, the vision suddenly opened up.
Looking around, I saw the small Taihu City about three miles ahead.
In the wilderness in front of Taihu City, the dark bandits had already formed a formation.
The rebel soldiers were all infantry, and they formed a wider and thicker infantry square. This square was at least about 800 paces wide, with more than a dozen rows in front and behind.
Xu Yingwei couldn't help but glance at both sides of his square formation.
I saw that the square formation of the scholar camp was only 500 steps wide, and only six rows deep in front and back.
When Xu Yingwei once again turned his gaze to the wilderness ahead and landed on the oncoming black phalanx of thieves, Xu Yingwei couldn't help but sigh and felt a little flustered for no reason.
"Brother Youzhen." Wu Yingji, who was walking in front, suddenly lowered his voice and said.
"Do you think we can win? The thieves are more than three times our number!"
Xu Yingwei wanted to say that he would definitely win, but when his words came to his lips, he turned into: "I don't know."
Not only that, Xu Yingwei even heard some vibrato in his voice because his facial muscles were a little tight, which affected the normal sound production of his mouth.
Xu Yingwei's performance is pretty good.
The teeth of many Qin Wang scholars were already chattering, but they were covered up by the beating of drums, footsteps and the shouts of the senior scholars, so no one else could hear them.
But fear is growing like weeds.
This is normal. Every recruit will feel fear when they first enter the battlefield.
This is a battlefield. You may die in the next second. There is great terror between life and death. Who can be unafraid?
The difference is that some recruits can overcome this fear with strong beliefs. Once they successfully overcome this fear, they can help the recruits build strong self-confidence, and they will become calm and calm when they go to the battlefield again.
No matter what kind of enemy you face, you can follow the training step by step.
By that time, the recruit will have grown into a qualified veteran.
However, some recruits are unable to overcome this fear and shrink under the strong pressure of life and death. Then it will be difficult to get out of this fear in the future.
This is true for individuals, and it is also true for a newly created army.
Someone has said that the strength of an army is closely related to its first commander. If the first military commander is strong, the army will be strong. If the first military commander is weak, the army will be weak.
But in fact, whether an army is strong or not, in addition to the first military commander, the first battle is also crucial!
After withstanding the pressure in the first battle, I immediately gained a strong wave of self-confidence, and my upper limit will be higher in the future.
However, once they fail to withstand the pressure in the first battle and flee collectively from the battlefield, then this army will be in great trouble, because when the critical moment comes again in the future, the soldiers of this army will have the scene of the rout in the first battle popping up in their minds.
Then the will will be shaken, and the morale will be drained in an instant like diabetes.
Shiziying is at such a critical juncture.
If you can withstand the pressure, the future will be smooth.
And if you can't bear it, the road ahead will be difficult.
This does not mean that it will be impossible to become a strong soldier from now on, but it will become extremely difficult, and it will take many times more effort to overcome fear and re-establish unyielding faith.
…
On a mountaintop a few miles away, Chongzhen was watching closely through a telescope.
Behind Chongzhen were Hu Guozhu, Zhu Cijiong, Wu Batan and more than a hundred Yiding.
Hu Guozhu said with some worry: "Your Majesty, although Zuo Liangyu has a disobedient heart, he has yet to show his disobedience. So this time, one of his own people will beat his own people. Is this really good?"
"No problem." Chongzhen said calmly, "I have strictly ordered the left army not to fire arrows, and they don't have cannons either."
"But they have a lot of muskets." Hu Guozhu said with a frown, "Even if the hit rate is low, they will still hit people."
"As long as you don't hit the face directly from fifty steps away, it won't be a big problem. It's just a wound and bleeding." Chongzhen said in a cold tone, "It's better than losing your life when facing Jiannu in the future."
After a pause, Chongzhen continued: "What's more, the left army may not be able to hold out until fifty steps before firing the muskets. If nothing happens, the musketeers of the left army will fire the muskets within a hundred steps."
"That's right." Hu Guozhu breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this.
Chongzhen said again: "You should also go back and prepare, and seize the opportunity."
"I accept the order." Hu Guozhu bowed his head to the ground, then stood up and walked down the hill.
At this time, Zhu Cijiong said to Chongzhen: "Now let's see if the Shizi Battalion can withstand the pressure. If it can withstand the pressure, then this army will be considered mature, but if it cannot withstand it, it will be in trouble."
"It's no trouble, it just takes a little more effort."
Although Chongzhen said it was nothing, his hands were already clenched.
And because I held it too hard, even my knuckles started to turn white.
…
Chongzhen was nervous, and the Qin princes on the battlefield were almost suffocated.
Xu Yingwei could clearly feel that his breathing was not smooth. The spear, which weighed only a few kilograms, seemed to be heavier than a boulder, weighing him down so much that he could hardly lift his hands. His legs also became stiff and his steps were deformed.
Wu Yingji, who was walking in front of Xu Yingwei, was even more unbearable and suddenly fell down.
Fortunately, Wu Yingji was holding a matchlock gun. If it had been a flintlock gun, it might have misfired.
Somewhat embarrassed, Wu Yingji got up and walked a few steps to catch up with the queue. However, being disturbed by Wu Yingji, the tension of Xu Yingwei and several nearby scholars was slightly relieved.
However, Xu Yingwei and the others soon became nervous again.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Because a swan sound suddenly sounded in front of me, followed immediately by a roar like a mountain roaring and a tsunami.
That low roar composed of thousands of voices gathered together has unimaginable penetrating power, crossing hundreds of steps of void in an instant and pouring into the ears of every diligent prince.
Xu Yingwei's breathing became heavy again, and his steps became stiff again.
Looking up, you can clearly see Zheng Sen holding his sword high and shouting loudly.
There was also a drummer walking in front and on the left who was also beating the war drum desperately, but Xu Yingwei could no longer hear any sound. Only the loud shouts from the traitors filled his ears.
At this time, the two months of hard training began to take effect.
Including Xu Yingwei, more than 6,000 Qinwang scholars acted completely based on instinct. Their thinking had actually stagnated and turned into a ball of paste. It was just a long and boring mechanical repetitive training that gave them
The body is left with a conditioned reflex-like stress response.
Seeing the scholar-general walking, he followed him.
From the corner of his eye, he saw the scholars on both sides and instinctively kept a straight line.
Xu Yingwei and the other scholars in the formation were still like this. Zheng Sen was walking at the front of the long snake formation, and he was under even greater pressure.
What does it mean to bear the brunt?
Zheng Sen's location is the first to bear the brunt!
But people are different. Although Zheng Sen is only twenty years old, younger than most of the scholars in the scholar camp, his ability to withstand pressure is obviously much stronger.
This may be related to his experiences when he was young.
When he was young, he went to sea many times with his father.
On the sea, Zheng Sen has seen huge hurricane waves like mountains.
That kind of coercion that can crush everything in the world is definitely not comparable to the mere 20,000 thieves in front.
So from beginning to end, Zheng Sen remained calm and calm, and continued to issue instructions.
When he encountered a phalanx that was moving too fast and found that his orders were ineffective, Zheng Sen would even go over and scold or beat the sergeant leader of that phalanx awake.
The distance between the two sides is slowly closing.
Finally got within a hundred steps.
"Bah! Bah! Bah!" The musketeers from the bandit formation took the lead in firing.
Accompanied by the loud sound of gunfire, the bandits' front line was obscured by gunpowder smoke.
"Ah! My leg! It hurts so much!" Several soldiers either held their stomachs or hugged their legs and fell to the ground, letting out bursts of shrill wails, but in fact there were only a few.
The entire phalanx of the scholar camp suddenly fell into chaos.
Someone has been injured, and someone will die next, and maybe it will be his turn.
An indescribable and huge fear completely swallowed up the soldiers in an instant.
At this time, the Shizi Camp was in great danger. As long as one scholar turned around and ran away, it would immediately trigger a herd effect and the entire Shizi Camp would collapse.
In the same way, as long as a soldier overcomes fear and moves forward bravely, the morale of the army can be stabilized.
It was Zheng Sen again. At the critical moment, he suddenly looked up to the sky and howled: "Comrades in the Shizi Camp, hold on, don't panic! Follow me forward, keep moving forward, move forward!"
Zheng Sen held his sword high and walked forward slowly.
More than sixty scholars caught a glimpse of it from the corner of their eyes and took the crucial step forward.
Immediately, more than 6,000 Qinwang scholars responded mechanically and instinctively.
The scholar phalanx, which was on the verge of collapse, regained its position and continued to advance forward with difficulty.
"Boom, boom, boom!" The bandit musketeers in front fired another row of muskets, and several more soldiers fell to the ground wailing, but this time the phalanx of soldiers remained intact.
The distance between the two sides soon came to within sixty steps.
The thieves fired three rows of muskets and began to charge.
But Shiziying has already passed the most difficult and dangerous moment.
Facing the tidal wave of thieves and spearmen in front, Zheng Sen slowly raised his sword and roared at the top of his voice: "Drummer, play the blunderbuss, get ready to fire the blunderbuss!"
Three rows of musketeers lit matches.
At this moment, thunderous rumblings suddenly sounded from both sides of the battlefield.
Immediately, the Shizi camp and the thieves who rushed over from the opposite side were horrified to find that the ground beneath their feet was shaking. What was going on?
PS: This chapter is for tomorrow. I will update it first. I found that some readers are really impatient and call for abandonment of the book without explaining things clearly. I am convinced.