prosperous age

"How is he going to build a camp?"

Wei Guangde asked curiously.

"I'm worried about this too."

Tan Lun smiled bitterly and said, "As soon as he opened his mouth, he asked me for three thousand mules and horses. Where can I find them for him?"

Wei Guangde also clicked his tongue when he heard this, but he was more interested in how Qi Jiguang's camp was planned to be configured.

"His camp is actually a scaled-down version of the carriage camp. It is still arranged in a sidecar, but because the carriage carries a large amount of grain, grass and ammunition, a single carriage requires eight draft horses. Eight horses are more expensive than the carriage camp.

Moreover, each of his baggage vehicles is equipped with two Fran machine cannons and six blunderbuss, which are completely enlarged versions of tanks.

According to his report, the baggage battalion set out to transport baggage to the front line, and more were added. Each vehicle was equipped with an infantry battalion team, which was completely used as a chariot battalion.

By the way, he also said that if necessary on the battlefield, the baggage battalion can be directly integrated into the chariot battalion to increase the width of the camp.

Jizhen and the Ministry of War have already emptied their arsenals for the two chariot battalions, and now they have to build three more supply battalions."

Tan Lun said very distressed.

However, Wei Guangde didn't pay attention to Tan Lun's expression, but looked very interested in it, and was still thinking about what Qi Jiguang's transport camp would look like after it was completed.

The sidecars equipped by Qi Jiguang's chariot battalion were initially pushed by chariots and soldiers in turns, without the use of draft horses.

Later, in order to ensure the combat effectiveness of the chariots and soldiers and not waste energy on the carts, each cart was equipped with two draft horses.

The draft horses Qi Jiguang prepared for the baggage camp required eight draft horses per cart. Wei Guangde could roughly imagine what this so-called baggage cart looked like. It looked like a heavy armored vehicle.

what does this mean?

The baggage battalion must also have its own scout horses. After discovering an enemy attack, they can quickly connect the baggage vehicles with each other and go into battle just like the chariot battalion.

On the front line, if you encounter a powerful enemy, the chariots in the supply camp can not only expand the size of the military formation and make the military formation more relaxed, but can even be arranged internally, that is, establishing a second line of defense for the military formation and increasing the number of troops. The thickness of the array.

Even if the enemy breaks through the first layer of the chariot fortress, they can still use baggage vehicles to form a second line of defense to maintain the defense line of the battle formation.

The layout of the sidecar means that when attacked by the enemy or encamped, the customs of the car camp will also be followed.

To be honest, as long as the supply of materials is sufficient, such a camp can be set up very quickly and put into use on the battlefield.

But what Wei Guangde is most happy about is that if Qi Jiguang really sets up such a supply battalion, then he will not be afraid of constraints from the Liaodong Army when Qi Jiguang's troops are deployed in Liaodong in the future.

Qi Jiguang's car camp, equipped with a certain amount of infantry and cavalry battalions, can gather 10,000 horses, and there are three baggage battalions with logistical support, which is enough to support a high-intensity war for half a month.

Are the Jurchens capable of fighting a high-intensity war with the Ming army?

Wei Guangde didn't believe it. Even if he gathered all the Jurchen tribes and gathered tens of thousands of people, he wouldn't be afraid.

Such a Ming army formation was equipped with nearly a thousand Franco machine guns, and the cavalry and infantry camps carried a large number of squatting tiger cannons and blunderbuss. Even if they faced 100,000 Mongolian cavalry, they could keep the battle formation intact.

Wei Guangde lowered his head and thought for a while, and suddenly realized another problem.

After he came to the Ming Dynasty, especially since he entered the court, he has always been superstitious about those people he heard about in later generations.

Among them were not only Yu Dayou, but also Qi Jiguang. The only exception was Ma Fang. He had not known this person before. Ma Fang earned his respect entirely by virtue of his battlefield achievements.

In fact, Ma Fang was also the person who took the greatest credit for him, and achieved huge results in Xuanda's war against the Mongols.

But after all, Ma Fang is older, and Wei Guangde knows that Ma Fang will not continue to be in charge of Datong for too long.

It's not that he needs to be transferred, but that he can't do anything anymore. When he reaches a certain age, he will have to take a back seat and can no longer sleep in the open air in the border town.

Yu Dayou should be able to last another ten years, while Qi Jiguang should be able to work for another twenty years. After all, Yu Dayou is more than ten years older than Qi Jiguang.

Wei Guangde's current control of the army still chooses to bet on Qi Jiguang.

As a military commander who was widely praised in later generations, he naturally had merits.

However, because of his superstition about the two of them, Wei Guangde had only been free to care about them for a long time.

Through private correspondence with Ma Fang and Yu Dayou, he knew what they wanted, and he tried his best to help them arrange it in the court to meet their needs.

If I have a request, I will explain it in a letter and ask for their help.

Among them, the one with the most demands is naturally from Yu Dayou. After all, Yu Dayou is now in charge of the Southern Navy, and Wei Guangde's most profitable business is now sea trade.

Regarding his relationship with Qi Jiguang, because of his relationship with Tan Lun, Wei Guangde did not communicate with him directly and usually chose to communicate with him through Tan Lun.

Qi Jiguang's victory over the Duoyan tribe in this field battle was indeed good, but Wei Guangde was more concerned about the actual combat power of the Jizhen Army and whether it could realize his own ideas.

When Qi Jiguang trained in the Beijing camp, Wei Guangde had seen it and admired his training level very much.

But Jingying is Jingying after all, and Qi Jiguang cannot transform it according to his ideas.

But now the Jizhen Army is different. The reorganized battalions are all carried out according to his ideas, and the military headquarters is equipped with the required firearms and horses.

Regarding the specific configuration, Wei Guangde had seen the paper data, but he didn’t know how to actually practice it.

"Brother Zili, you went to Ji Town for inspection at the beginning of the year. How is the army compiled and trained by Yuan Jing?"

Wei Guangde suddenly raised his head, looked at Tan Lun and asked.

"very good."

Tan Lun quickly replied, "The current Jizhen Cavalry Camp has nearly 3,000 cavalry, nearly half of which are mounted infantry. It has 60 tiger crouching cannons, more than 500 matchlock guns, and more than 300 quick guns. , rejecting more than 600 cavalry guns.

To be precise, the cavalry camp in Ji Town is not the cavalry we are familiar with, which is specially used for fighting on horseback, but mounted infantry. The war horses only increase mobility.

During the war, they dismounted and blocked the camp with horse guns. They used the entire battalion of squatting tiger cannons, nearly a thousand firearms and more than a thousand bows and crossbows to fight against the enemy. After defeating the enemy, hundreds of cavalry rushed out to pursue them. "

Tan Lun gave Wei Guangde a detailed introduction to the combat ideas of the Jizhen Cavalry from the beginning, letting him know that the Jizhen Cavalry was very different from previous cavalry.

I first explained this to Wei Guangde because he was also shocked when he first saw it.

These days, when talking about cavalry, what naturally comes to mind is to rush into battle immediately, but Qi Jiguang took a different approach and used mounted infantry.

You know, the war horses of the Ming Dynasty were very precious. If he had known that the war horses that Qi Jiguang was going to were used for, he would have replaced the war horses with mules for him.

"Equestrian infantry?"

Wei Guangde was also shocked when he heard Tan Lun's introduction.

After all, he thought he knew a lot about the Ming cavalry of this era. He had witnessed the cavalry battles of this era in Xuanfu with his own eyes. However, to Tan Lun's expectation, Wei Guangde was not surprised that Qi Jiguang used mounted infantry.

Because Wei Guangde saw many such posts in later generations, which actually introduced the so-called invincible riding and archery skills of the Manchus. But in fact, if you carefully study their combat, you will find that it is not what everyone imagined.

Maneuvering on horseback, fighting with dismounts, heavy armored soldiers in front, and archers in the back. This is the secret of the Manchu Eight Banners soldiers to conquer the world. It is essentially the fighting style of European heavy armored infantry.

Of course, those articles were written by history enthusiasts, and strictly speaking they only represent the opinions of one family. Wei Guangde did not believe them all.

But because he had read such an article, he was more able to accept that Qi Jiguang's Jizhen Cavalry Camp was actually such a force.

Wei Guangde also thought when he read these articles at that time, that is, comparing the Jurchens and the Mongols, the Jurchens are inherently inferior to the Mongols in riding and shooting, and only the Mongols are the real people on horseback.

But why did the Mongolian cavalry weaken at the end of the Ming Dynasty, but the Jurchens rose up and defeated the Ming army and the Mongols?

Is it really because the Jurchens are also a people on horseback?

Wei Guangde didn't think so. By reading battle reports and communicating with Tan Lun, Wei Guangde already knew that the land where the Jurchens lived was actually not suitable for feeding a large number of war horses. It was not a grassland, and it was not a good place for horses to live.

The land where the Jurchens live now is mostly mountainous, and their production and life are mainly fishing and hunting. Their toughness may be the reason why they were able to carve out a world in the late Ming Dynasty.

As for their opponents at the same time, whether the Ming army began to use firearms or the Mongols had been beaten to the point of losing their courage by the Ming army, they could only bend their bows and shoot eagles. Close combat became the weakness of the Ming army and the Mongols.

Due to technical limitations, firearms cannot completely isolate the enemy with barrage like in later generations. As long as they can reach close combat, they can defeat the enemy formation.

The Jizhen cavalry trained by Qi Jiguang actually used a fighting style similar to that of the Qing Dynasty, which surprised Wei Guangde.

"If I have time, I'll go to Ji Town to watch the riding camp training."

Wei Guangde spoke to Tan Lun.

"Okay, cough."

Tan Lun agreed, then coughed violently.

"Brother Zili, please pay attention to your health."

Wei Guangde saw this and hurriedly stroked his back to persuade him.

"It's an old problem, it doesn't bother me."

Tan Lun waved his hand and said.

Later, Tan Lunyou also introduced the Bu Ying where he saw Qi Jiguang training.

Unlike Wei Guangde who thought that the infantry camp was still practicing the Yuanyang formation according to the Zhejiang army model, Qi Jiguang's infantry training camp in Jizhen had about 2,700 people, divided into two parts.

One is the killer team, and the other is the firearms team. The killer team is similar to the Yuanyang Formation, with a variety of weapons, while the Bird Gun Team is only equipped with bird guns.

There are twelve people in a team, similar to the cavalry system, and then the three-by-three system, that is, three teams are one flag, and three flags are one bureau.

Further up is the division, which consists of two bureaus each of gun and gun killers, with a total of 449 members.

The Second Division is one department, with one member of the Qian General, who oversees the four cannon bureaus and the four killer bureaus, with a total of 889 members.

The three divisions constitute a battalion, consisting of one general, one member of the central army, three members of the general, six members of the commander, one member of the artifact commander, twenty-four hundred commanders, seventy-two banner commanders, and team commanders. Two hundred and sixteen, 2,160 soldiers; 1,800 gunslingers, 1,800 assassins, 216 fire soldiers, a total of 2,699 Member name.

Forty percent of the army is equipped with firearms, which is considered very high in this era. After all, the flaws of firearms are still very obvious these days.

The chariot camp has the largest number of troops in Jizhen's military camp system. The chariot camp has a standard configuration of more than 3,100 people and 128 tanks.

The whole battalion has one general officer, one member of the Chinese Army, two members of the Qianzong, nine members of the General, thirty-four of the Hundreds, 128 chariot officers, 128 rudder officers, and wolf machines. Seven hundred and sixty-eight hands, two hundred and fifty-six stick-hands,

General Yun's rockets and other chariots, 234 soldiers, 128 captains of surprise troops, 128 fire soldiers, 512 cannon players, and 200 rattan players sixty-six,

There are 256 soldiers, flags, drums, claws, beams, and road-opening generals, 268 application sergeants, and a total of 319 officers and soldiers.

Finally, Tan Lun added: "The supply camp that Yuan Jing wants to set up has eighty carts. Each cart is equipped with ten regular troops and ten additional troops. Plus flags and drums, claw scouts, beam builders, and road-opening generals, it is estimated that there will be Nineteen hundred people.

If you want Jizhen to dispatch 10,000 people to support Liaodong, the actual number of soldiers and horses plus supply camps to be used should be about 15,000. "

Wei Guangde thought for a while and said: "If that's the case, I think there is no need to bring the car camp, only the riding camp and the baggage camp."

"Without chariot camps, it would be difficult for a large army to attack fortresses. Only chariot camps are equipped with general cannons, which are powerful weapons for attacking cities and demolishing strongholds."

Tan Lun immediately reminded, "You want Ji Zhen's army to attack the Jurchen lair. Without a general's artillery, I'm afraid it will be difficult to succeed."

"Then allocate them from the vehicle camp. I think he will not only fight with the pedantic battalion soldiers, but also flexibly combine the vehicle, foot and cavalry camps according to the terrain."

Wei Guangde was not worried. Since he had already made up his mind to take time to inspect Jizhen, he would tell Qi Jiguang about the terrain outside the pass and let him plan how to lead his troops.

Qi Jiguang could even go and have a look in person.

Wei Guangde would not fight an uncertain battle. He had already begun to prepare for this battle when he was determined to plow the courtyard and clear holes. Helping Qi Jiguang set up a supply camp was the first step.

"Brother Zili, if Yuan Jing needs mules and horses, I'm afraid they will all fall on my brother's shoulders."

So, Wei Guangde said politely to Tan Lun again.

"Is it necessary?"

Tan Lun asked hesitantly.

Wei Guangde nodded, "Definitely."

"Well, we can only deploy them from Baoding and other prefectures first. Three thousand mules and horses cannot be purchased in a short time anyway.

The only way is to allocate it from the local area first, and then make up for it when it is purchased. "

Taipusi, a subordinate of the Ministry of War, is in charge of horse administration, and all purchases of mules and horses must go through the hands of Taipusi.

However, Tan Lun also knew that if the Ming Dynasty had to purchase such a large number of mules and horses in a short period of time, even if it was just draft horses, it would be beyond its means. There were really too few private horse owners to procure such a large number in a short period of time.

As for finance, it is not the key to purchasing mules and horses, because the money does not come from the Ministry of Household Affairs, but from the horse administration of Taipus Temple.

“In that case, I’ll leave this matter to Brother Zili.

I came here today because I was originally thinking about how to solve the problem of Ji Zhen's army advancing and retreating so that it can carry more baggage. Now that Yuan Jing has discovered it and thought of a solution, I will be more confident in sweeping away the Jurchen tribe in this way. "

Wei Guangde smiled.

"That's fine, first destroy the weak Jurchen tribe, and then deal with the barbarians later. Then our Ming border will be peaceful. This is also the responsibility of my Ministry of War."

Tan Lun nodded and smiled. (End of chapter)