prosperous age

Chapter 713 812 Reading Demonstration
"well said."

Yang Bo, the official minister, said.

He shouldn't have come here, but after all, Governor Bian Zhen was also someone who knew the military in the court, so he applauded loudly after hearing Wei Guangde's words.

Although civil servants look down on current nobles, it does not mean that they do not respect the first generation of nobles.

Zhu Xizhong looked back at Yang Bo, who was already standing by the Grand Parade, nodded and said, "Okay."

Although it is a drill, many processes are omitted to avoid the suspicion of overstepping, but all the performances of the Grand Parade and the Ming Army must be carried out.

As the neat footsteps of "ka ka" sounded from far to near, the first queue composed of the Beijing Camp's Chinese Army appeared on the left side of the Grand Parade.

They lived up to Qi Jiguang's half-year training. Maybe they were just bad soldiers before they were selected, but at this moment, wearing the brand-new Ming army's red mandarin duck war coat, some of the attributes inherited in the blood seemed to be stimulated. Average.

All the soldiers walked over in unison, with their heads held high and under the guidance of the guidance flag.

"Hey, the military might is really majestic."

As they appeared in front of the grand review stage, the nobles and officials who were still sitting on their chairs had already stood up and stood at the edge of the stage, wanting to watch the drill more closely.

The person who spoke was none other than Yang Bo, the Minister of Civil Affairs.

Yang Bo spent almost his entire official career in border towns.

First he was governor of Gansu, and then he was in charge of the military affairs of Jizhen and Baoding. In the middle of Jiajing period, he became the governor of the three towns in Shanxi and became the real governor of the three sides. Later he was transferred to the governor of Jiliao and returned to the imperial court to serve as Minister of War and Shaobao. He was deeply loved by the Ming Dynasty. Shizong relied heavily on him and regarded him as his right and left hand.

Being in the border town all year round, I have naturally seen many Ming troops, including some elites.

However, most of these armies are well-equipped and fight bravely, but they do not move in such a uniform manner.

Just after the initial shock, Yang Bo had already realized that although Qi Jiguang trained his three armies to use their arms and fingers, these were actually of no use on the battlefield.

In war, what is needed is the bravery and fighting skills of the soldiers.

Bravery is not easy to practice, mainly due to a person's personality, and combat skills are often passed down from generation to generation in the Ming army.

Why did the Beijing camp collapse after Tumu Fort? It was because all the elites were wiped out and the inheritance was cut off.

At the very least, before seeing his novel fighting style, most people would just think that the soldiers trained by Qi Jiguang were just showy and useless.

"Which troop is this?"

Lu Tiaoyang, the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, suddenly asked.

When officials from the Ministry of Etiquette come, they actually check the etiquette during the parade to see if there is anything that exceeds the regulations. If they find any, they must make corrections in time.

Zhu Xizhong pointed to the large flag unfurled in front of the military formation and introduced: "Secretary Lu, this is the military flag of the Fifth Military Camp."

"Chinese army? Oh, they are really powerful."

Lu Tiaoyang nodded in praise.

Although the Fifth Army Camp is called the Fifth Army, it is actually dominated by the Central Army, and the other four armies are respectively the left and right sentries and the left and right camps. It is easy to judge the specific tasks based on this name.

The left and right sentinel armies are mainly cavalry and are responsible for the work of reconnaissance within 180 degrees to the left and right. During war, they are also deployed on the left and right wings of the army to form barriers.

The left and right wings are the left and right wings that guard the central army. Their troops are much smaller than that of the central army. Their equipment is similar, but they are equipped with more firearms and crossbows.

The fifth military camp is the main force in the battle, and the Chinese army is the regular soldiers, which are only used for direct battles with the enemy. Therefore, they are equipped according to the standards of the Ming army. The first row is the sword and shield bearers, followed by the spearmen to protect the formation, the gunmen and the The crossbowmen were surrounded in the middle.

Compared with other military formations, the Chinese military camp is second to none in terms of number of people and equipment among the Ming army. Not only does it have nearly [-] people, but its brand-new armor and weapons are also eye-catching.

"You have the head start. Premier Qi has trained his troops well."

Huo Yi, as the Minister of the Ministry of War, also praised him generously.

After the Chinese army arrived at the grand parade stage, they stopped while the military flag was waving and were about to start practicing with the officials on the stage.

As the horns and the flags at the four corners of the military formation danced rhythmically, the outermost sword and shield soldiers responded in unison as if they had received orders at the same time, and the shields were tightly connected without leaving any gaps.

The neatness of the movements is instantly eye-catching.

What's even more amazing is that the moment the shield wall appeared, countless spears protruded from the shield wall, either raised horizontally or thrust diagonally. The military formation turned into a hedgehog in an instant.

"Moveless as a mountain, motionless as a mountain"

The military formation below shouted neat slogans at this moment, which shocked the civil and military officials watching the ceremony on the grand review stage.

Waizhan's spear began to shake rhythmically amidst the sound of the bugle, either stabbing or swinging, and the hedgehog seemed to come alive in an instant.

"This is the most commonly used defensive formation when encountering the enemy. It uses a shield wall to defend. The spears wielded are used to cover the arrows projected at people."

Zhu Xizhong came here often during this period. He knew the specific usage of all military formation drills from Qi Jiguang before. Now he is explaining the drill items below to everyone.

When someone asked why the diagonal spear danced instead of thrusting out, he also explained the reason for this.

"After setting up camp, there are still changes to the formation."

Of course, the Chinese army will not stay like this all the time. After the defensive formation is completed, it will expand, put into a frontal combat formation, and then show the Chinese army's projection.

It's just that the ones responsible for the projection are the gunmen and crossbowmen who are still doing nothing and are surrounded by the army.

"dong dong dong"

With another burst of intensive drumming, the flags waving at the four corners of the military formation suddenly stopped. When they started to wave again, the military formation began to change. The spears were put away and the shield wall remained the same, but the military formation began to change.

There were gaps in the complete rectangular array, and as the sergeants changed positions, it gradually became seven parts. A hollow square array appeared on the outside, covered by large shields and spears, and inside there were several crossbows and musketeers.

As for the central formation they were guarding, although there was no large shield for protection, there was also a circle of small bucklers for protection, and there were still crossbowmen and musketeers inside.

"This is a change when facing the enemy's powerful cavalry attack. It can lead the enemy's cavalry into the formation for killing."

The Chinese army kept changing its formations, and Zhu Xizhong also kept introducing the purpose of the formations. The officials on the grand review stage looked satisfied at this time, stroking their beards and nodding.

At the end, the scattered military formations reunited into a whole, and the facing direction turned back from facing the Grand Parade. The sword, shield and spearmen on the side near the Grand Parade moved to the left, and the formation changed from a rectangular formation to a whole. It turned into a long snake formation, and gunners and crossbowmen appeared near the grand parade. "This is when the army launches into a head-on battle with the enemy. Swordsmen, shields and spears stabilize the position. They mainly shoot the enemies with crossbows and blunderbuss. The swordsmen and shieldmen in front wait for opportunities to break through the enemy's formation."

Zhu Xizhong continued to explain, because he was worried that the civil servants here would not understand.

As the formation was formed, the rumbling sound of bird cannons soon sounded, and the Ming army gunners behind the formation began to demonstrate three-stage strikes to the grand parade. For a while, there was only a trace of smoke in the sky above the military formation.

Just when some people were frowning, suddenly a cluster of arrows rose from the top of the military formation, and they all shot forward, blocking out the sky and the sun.

When the arrow rain appeared, Wei Guangde felt that the surrounding officials' breathing was stagnant. This dense rain of arrows was so intimidating that no one dared to stay within the range of the arrow rain.

The arrow rain was fired for ten consecutive rounds, and the gunman also completed three three-stage strikes, firing a total of nine rounds of volleys.

At this point, the Chinese army's show of force was basically over. As the horn sounded, the Ming army in the Long Snake Formation gradually shrank and returned to the original rectangular formation. After the whole army turned back and faced each other, they performed a military salute.

At the same time, dozens of cavalrymen had rushed out from the side of the Grand Parade and arrived at the empty field far away from the Grand Parade to test the killing effect.

The display time of the Chinese Military Camp is slightly longer, mainly because there are more items to be performed, and changes in the military formations also take time.

Following the Central Military Camp was the left sentry cavalry unit of the Fifth Military Camp, demonstrating riding skills and mounted shooting. The cavalry charged back and forth in front of the grand parade, then charged again, and then continued to perform three consecutive waves of mounted shooting demonstrations towards the empty field in the distance. , exit, followed by the right sentinel cavalry and the left and right military formations
However, the cavalry units of the Chinese army were mainly concentrated on the left and right posts, with a total of no more than a thousand cavalry. They were displayed separately, so their momentum was still a bit lacking.

The left and right Ye are similar to the Chinese Army, but due to their inferior strength, there is really nothing to see.

However, the display of the Fifth Army Camp was basically successful, that is, the movements were neat and very pleasing to the eye.

The current Ming army no longer has the ability to sweep across the desert. Coupled with the chaos of domestic horse politics, the shortage of horses in the Ming army has become very obvious.

After that came the cavalry unit of the Shenshu Camp, which was also divided into three battalions for display. Each battalion had about a thousand cavalry, demonstrating cavalry tactics amidst the rumble of horse hooves.

Wei Guangde has watched such drills many times, but because they were all conducted alone, he thought it was very majestic at the time. However, after the drill with the Chinese military formation, he still felt that something was missing.

By the way, it is momentum.

It's not that the cavalry in the Beijing camp are not spirited because they have never been on the battlefield, but the strength of the troops always feels a bit weak.

This reminded him of the unstoppable momentum of thousands of soldiers galloping across the battlefield during the Battle of Baoan Prefecture.

We have to find a way to make up for it, otherwise after the Chinese army's stunning start, it will end in an anticlimactic situation.

Wei Guangde quickly calculated in his mind, and finally he came up with a solution.

He thought of the military parade during the founding of the People's Republic of China. At that time, the Air Force relied entirely on seizures and therefore lacked the number of fighter jets. Therefore, it arranged for fighter jet formations to pass through Tiananmen Square multiple times, creating the illusion of dozens of fighter jets out of thin air.

Since the separate drills of the cavalry battalions seem weak, it is better to assemble all the cavalry in the Beijing camp after the drill in the Beijing camp, including all the cavalry in the Fifth Army Camp, Shenshu Camp and Shenji Camp. There will be about [-] cavalry for another demonstration.

After Wei Guangde silently pondered for a while, he suddenly felt that it seemed feasible. He only needed to remove the flags of each battalion and create an extra force of thousands of elite cavalry out of thin air. The charge they launched should be enough to intimidate all the officials.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde moved lightly to Zhu Xizhong and whispered to him: "Mr. Cheng, the cavalry of each unit of the Beijing camp is displayed separately, and the strength is a little weak."

Wei Guangde leaned over and quickly spoke his thoughts in his ear.

After listening to Wei Guangde's words, Zhu Xizhong looked back, rolled his eyes, and then whispered: "Shandai's opinion is good. I will talk to Qi Jiguang when I get down to see if the research is feasible."

"As long as the futures index is replaced, they won't be able to tell the difference. After all, our Ming army is unified, so there is no chance for them to tell."

Wei Guangde said in a low voice.

"The army over there and the Changping, Baoding, and Shandong armies also have cavalry. Do you want to include them in this exercise?"

Hearing Wei Guangde's words, Zhu Xizhong was convinced, but thinking that there were thousands of cavalry in other ministries, if they were all gathered together, they would probably be able to make up ten thousand cavalry, so he couldn't help but ask.

Wei Guangde shook his head, "That would be too eye-catching. After all, the armor of the soldiers and horses in the outer town is different from that of the Beijing camp. It would be easier to expose them if you use them."

The Ming army was weak. Although using this method to build up its momentum would be deceptive, after all, the Grand Parade was for the emperor and envoys from foreign vassals to see. Just fool them, as long as they believed that the Ming army still had a huge cavalry in the Beijing camp. Just the army.

After all, cavalry was still a strategic force before hot weapons became mainstream, and it was full of deterrence.

After the Beijing Camp display was completed, it was the officers and soldiers of Changping Town, followed by the Baoding Army and the Shandong Army, and the finale was the Zhejiang Army brought by Qi Jiguang.

The officials had little interest in the following military formations. They were amazed at the display at the Shenji Camp. The main reason was that it was rare to see such a large number of firearms being fired in a concentrated manner these days, and the momentum was almost comparable to the Chinese army's previous shooting display.

However, as Wei Guangde expected, the drills of the Zhejiang Army, or the prestigious Qi Army, were very baffling to the noble ministers on the high platform. That is to say, Zhu Xizhong knew some of its uses. In the end, it can only be said that this kind of battle formation is useful in the war. It is useless, but it has a significant effect on dealing with Japanese pirates.

"Shan Loan, is the Grand Parade the finale of the Zhejiang Army?"

As the Zhejiang soldiers retreated, Chen Yiqin asked.

"No, the Grand Parade ended by arranging for the elites from the nine-border towns to conduct actual combat drills, all of which were murderous tactics used on the battlefield."

Wei Guangde shook his head and said, "Each town requires different elites to be dispatched. For example, Datong selects archers, while Xuanfu, Ji Town and Ningxia Town select elite cavalry. At that time, Premier Qi will make arrangements again and strive to show the frontier warfare. force."

"It's a good idea to use the border army as the finale, but I still think it's better to use the Shenji Battalion."

The speaker was Yang Bo, the Minister of Civil Affairs. Apparently he was impressed by the powerful firepower of the Shenji Battalion and recommended the Shenji Battalion to be the finale of the final appearance.

"We'll see the results then. The Shenji camp is really good."

Zhu Xizhong was smiling all over his face at the moment. This drill did not disgrace him. He could also see the surprised expressions of the officials around him. Now the famous military official in the DPRK recommended the Shenji Battalion as the finale of the Beijing Camp. This was undoubtedly a good response. Jingying’s great affirmation.

"We will conduct a drill after the border troops arrive, and then we will arrange the order of review according to the situation."

Zhu Xizhong said.

To be honest, he was not very sure that Bian Jun was placed at the end. However, this preliminary order was the result of discussions between Wei Guangde, Tan Lun and Qi Jiguang, so he really couldn't veto it now, otherwise he would lose Wei Guangde's face.

"What do you think, Mr. Yang?"

Chen Yiqin asked.

"can."

Hearing that the order would change according to the situation, Yang Bo naturally had no objection, so he nodded and replied.

(End of this chapter)