In the open space in front of Daming Gate, there is a large square paved with clear stones, which are hard and flat. When you step on it, you will make a crisp "tap-tap-tap-" sound.
The soldiers of the Muling Army formed two rows into a 100-man square with ten men horizontally and vertically. The two platoon leaders of each row stood on one side of the formation and walked past the tower in front of the Daming Gate.
The first thing to pass was a company of pikemen. Two square formations were seen neatly arranged, and every soldier was wearing polished iron armor, with their spears pointed straight at the sky. There were many spears, bright armor, mighty and majestic, and striding He walked past the gatehouse.
Although the number of people was small, the momentum was quite impressive. When they reached the gate tower, the phalanx suddenly stopped and turned to one side of the tower. The turning movement was something that Chongzhen monarch and ministers had never seen before, and then all the soldiers He kneeled on the ground and shouted three long lives to the gate tower. The soldiers were kneeling on the ground, but their spears were still upright, without any of them being crooked.
Chongzhen was very excited when he saw it and said: "It is indeed majestic."
The other ministers also nodded and praised in low voices. Only Wu Sangui remained calm, thinking that if he changed his troops, he would be no worse than them.
Next, the Musketeers Company and two reconnaissance platoons passed through. I saw the soldiers in these three square formations walking over in a posture that Chongzhen monarchs and ministers had never seen before. Each soldier was holding his hand with his right hand. The bottom of the musket is carried on the right shoulder, and the barrel of each musket is inserted with a sharp bayonet, shining with a chilling light; while the soldier's left hand swings back and forth as he advances. But no matter the pace or the The movements are almost all the same, and a square formation of a hundred people actually seems to be one person.
This is because when passing the city tower, the soldiers suddenly took off the muskets leaning on their shoulders. With a few neat movements, in the blink of an eye, they were holding the guns with both hands, the right hand holding the butt, and the left hand holding the gun. The middle end of the gun was pointing forward horizontally, pointing upward at a 45-degree angle. At the same time, the pace also changed from walking in step to walking in step. The sound of "bah-bah-bah--" when the footsteps landed on the bluestone ground, It also suddenly increased in size, becoming heavy and loud.
Moreover, the changes in pace and gun-holding movements are completed at the same time, with only a neat "click-click-click" sound. The entire movement is consistent, concise and neat, and coordinated. All the movements of each square team are The soldiers were all in complete agreement. When they passed through the middle of the gate tower, they also stopped to turn, knelt down to salute Chongzhen, shouted long live three times, and then stood up and moved forward again.
This was naturally a copycat of Shang Yi's modern military parade style in later generations of China, with only slight changes in some small details. However, this was something that the army had never seen before. Of course Chongzhen and the ministers had never seen it. , I just feel that it is both fresh and strange. From the moment I passed by the square formation, no matter how I looked horizontally, vertically, or slanted, raised my hands, or even waved my arms and held a gun, it was always a line. Just this kind of formation made people feel incomparable. The shock comes.
Sui Zhen was certainly dumbfounded, and all the ministers present were also horrified. They thought that the so-called military parade was just a formality, and that an army of more than 500 people could do anything. No one expected that Shang Yi would have such a shocking effect. When the phalanx passed, the heartbeats of many ministers were beating with the steps of the soldiers, and they even felt that their breathing was a little short. .
Even Wu Sangui couldn't help but be moved by it. For him, the pattern and movements of the array were secondary, but as the phalanx passed by, he could clearly feel that the phalanx brought out an indestructible momentum and suffocating force.
Murderous intent. Although Wu Sangui is young, he is also a famous general who has been on the battlefield for a long time. He knows that only an army that is well-trained, experienced in battles and has numerous military exploits can have such momentum and murderous intent. He also has to admit in his heart that in this regard, it is
My own Guan Ning cavalry is indeed inferior.
After all the square formations had passed, the five square formations lined up in a row and returned to the city tower together. In front of the city tower, they first changed from a one-word formation to a cross formation, and then to a five-square formation before stopping.
After observing the changes in the array, all the soldiers knelt on the ground and shouted three times to Chongzhen on the tower. And with the shouts, the spears and muskets in their hands also stood up and down, as if they were saluting Chongzhen again.
.
After the three shouts were completed, the soldiers still knelt down and did not move. Shang Yi took Zhou Shaohuan, Tong Dayong, Cheng Jin, Cheng Gang, Duan Peng and other generals to the front of the team, and also knelt on the ground to pay tribute to Chongzhen.
salute.
At this moment, Chongzhen's vanity was greatly satisfied. He felt that relying on this army could really wipe out the bandits and wipe out Manqing for himself, so he took a step forward on the tower and stretched out his hand.
He held up his hands in the air, laughed loudly, and said: "All the soldiers are at home, I have such a powerful army of tigers and wolves, so why worry about the uncertainty of the country?"
When Shang Yi returned to Jianji Hall again, all the ministers dispersed, leaving only three cabinet ministers, Chen Yan, Wu Zong, Wei Zaode and Zeng Hualong.
After seeing the ceremony, Chongzhen looked happy and said: "Shang Yi, I didn't expect that you are not only brave and good at fighting, but also so good at training soldiers and have such talent, I am very happy." He turned to Zeng Hualong and said: "Zeng Ai Qing, I am really
I want to thank you for selecting such a general for the imperial court."
Zeng Hualong and Shang Yi hurriedly said a few words of self-effacement. Chen Yan and Wei Zaode had jealous looks in their eyes. Only Wu Gang remained calm and waited for Chongzhen to return to his normal state a little before he went out to salute Chongzhen.
"Your Majesty, I would like to request the governor of Huguang to defeat the rogue bandits, but we need elite and brave soldiers who can recruit generals who dare to fight. Shang Yi is resourceful, brave and good at fighting, and his troops and horses are well-trained, so I ask you to mobilize Shang Yi's troops.
If you follow me forward, you will be able to defeat the bandits in one fell swoop and try to recover."
When Shang Yi heard this, he immediately knew what was going on.
At the beginning of the 16th year of Chongzhen (1163), the Ming Dynasty was beset with internal and external difficulties. The Qing army marched across Hebei and Shandong, plundering and plundering. The Central Plains area was thought to be occupied by Li Zicheng, who was moving south to capture Xiangyang, and Zhang Xianzhong also
Fighting out from Anhui, they conquered Huangmei, Guangji, Qizhou and other places. The two major peasant army forces in the late Ming Dynasty gathered in Hubei at the same time.
At this time, the Ming army staying in Hubei was Zuo Liangyu's tribe. However, under the attack of the two peasant army forces, Zuo Liangyu could only retreat again and again, and was in danger. By the end of March, the Qing army gradually withdrew northward, and the first
Assistant Zhou Yanru also asked himself to go out to supervise the army and went to Tongzhou. As for the important task of annihilating the peasant army at home, Chongzhen pinned his hopes on Wu Di.
Originally, Chongzhen hoped that Wu Di would come forward like Zhou Yanru and take the initiative to ask for orders. However, Wu Di had already become a proficient in official circles and knew that rogue bandits were different from the Qing army. Generally speaking, although the Qing army was fierce, it was difficult for them to rob. After that, they will automatically withdraw from the customs, at least for the first few times. However, the rogue bandits will always be on the land of the Ming Dynasty. Unless they are all wiped out, it will be difficult to quell them. Therefore, they have always pretended to be ignorant.
However, under repeated hints from Chongzhen, Wu Di finally had no choice but to agree to serve as the governor of Huguang as a cabinet scholar and minister of the Ministry of War, and to serve as Fang Langzhong as a judge of Dali Temple Wan Yuanji to praise military affairs.
But after all, Wu Di was sophisticated and knew very well that he had few soldiers and generals. Although there was Zuo Liangyu in Huguang, who had an army of 200,000, Zuo Liangyu's military discipline was ruined, and He is still famous for not listening to orders and going his own way. Hong Chengchou, Sun Chuanting, and Yang Sichang all suffered a lot at the beginning. If they just supervise Huguang like this, it is no different from death. Therefore, they asked Chongzhen to mobilize 30,000 elite troops to be able to Only under the leadership of the war general can he go south to supervise the army.
But at this time, most of the Ming Dynasty's troops, except for Zuo Liangyu's and Sun Chuanting's troops, were resisting the Qing army. Sun Chuanting was sitting in the pass and had the important task of protecting the capital and could not be easily mobilized. Therefore, there was no way to mobilize troops. He wanted Wu Di to lead him, let alone a general who could fight. Wu Di also made up his mind that he would never supervise the division without troops, so he just waited in the capital and refused to go to his post no matter how much Chongzhen urged. As a result, the two of them It's been consumed like this.
Although Chongzhen was becoming more and more dissatisfied with Wu Zong, Wu Zong was also in a dilemma. He knew that spending so much time was not the answer. The emperor's patience would have its limit after all. But if he did not lead his troops south, he would definitely accomplish nothing, and with the emperor's Personality, at that time, you will not care about the reasons why you have soldiers or not, and you will definitely not let yourself get away with it. It can be said that there is no way forward or backward.
But at this moment, Shang Yi appeared in front of the emperor and ministers of Chongzhen as if out of nowhere. In order to distinguish the authenticity of Shang Yi's military exploits, he temporarily forgot about the affairs of Supervisor Wu Di. Wu Di was also secretly happy in his heart. , first of all, it diverted Chongzhen's attention and bought him a lot of time. Secondly, if Shang Yi's military exploits are true, it means that this person does have some abilities, then take him south to supervise the division, and he will always be better than himself. It is not good to lead an army without one.
After confirming that Shang Yi's military exploits were true and seeing the military appearance of Shang Yi's troops with his own eyes, Wu Di couldn't help but feel happy. Shang Yi was like the man who fell from the sky to relieve himself. Therefore, as soon as he returned to Jianji Palace, Wu Di immediately made suggestions to Chongzhen and arranged for Shang Yi to follow him south to supervise the division.
In fact, Chongzhen was not unaware of Wu Zong's difficulties, but now the court really had no troops to send. After all, Hubei still had Zuo Liangyu to support him, and he could resist for a while, so he was quite dissatisfied with Wu Zong's delay in moving. . But now Wu Di proposed that transferring Shang Yi to go south to supervise the division was not always a solution. So he turned to Zeng Hualong and said, "Zeng Aiqing, what do you think?"
Because Shang Yi is now the garrison general in Shandong and a subordinate of Zeng Hualong, so if you want to adjust Shang Yi, you still need to ask for Zeng Hualong's opinion, even if it is a formality, you have to go.
Zeng Hualong had no objection to this. When the emperor asked him, he hurriedly said: "It is natural to contribute to the country. I have no objection."
Chongzhen was very satisfied and turned to Shang Yi and said, "Shang Aiqing, what do you think?"