Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 68
"If it's an expedition, how should the luggage be configured?"

During the discussion, Zhu Youjian asked about the supplies for the expedition.

This question seems simple, but in fact, there are not many generals in the whole Ming Dynasty who can answer it.

Because since the death of Li Rusong, Li Hualong and others, very few people in the Ming army were able to go out to sweep the north.

And Qi Jin is one of the people who can answer this question, so he answered easily:

"For a large army to march on an expedition, it is necessary to calculate the number of days according to the distance, and then use one stone per person per month as the main food. This is the most basic supply of food and grass."

"In addition to this, before the expedition, each person must carry two liters of fried yellow rice with him."

"Here are two liters of yellow rice, one liter of ground rice, one liter of rice, and one liter of Wuhe flour."

"Wuhe made steamed cakes with sesame oil, Wuhe made fried noodles soaked in shochu, Wuhe made fried noodles soaked in salt and vinegar, each wrapped up and carried with you for emergencies."

"If it is an expedition to the south and the army is blocked by a big river, if the water is deep and there are no boats, then send good water men to swim to the opposite bank with the thick ropes in the army, and then erect the ropes on both sides of the river."

"After fixing, the soldiers cut down the bamboo and made it into a raft and put it on the rope to make a suspension bridge."

"If there are no trees nearby, then use long guns as temporary materials, tie them up and put them on ropes, and then lay armor on them as a road emergency."

"In order to avoid being attacked by half-crossing or setting up an ambush by the enemy, after the suspension bridge is built, not all of them will cross the river, but first select the elite troops to cross the river."

"After they have crossed the river, set up formations to guard and protect the troops crossing the river behind, and then each time a team passes, occupy a favorable terrain to form a team and cross the river one by one."

"Although we are careful everywhere, we have to consider the countermeasures in Zhongfu. After all, no matter how well the arrangement is, all incidents cannot be avoided."

"For example, when passing through deep valleys, dense forests, and narrow mountain roads, the pond riders in the interior have finished searching, and there may be omissions that were not found."

"So, once an ambush is encountered in this situation, it will inevitably be disconnected from the end to the end, and it will be broken into several parts and cannot be commanded in a unified manner."

"Therefore, when passing through such a place, the formation should be changed to the renju rewinding method."

"For example, take [-] people as an example, divide the [-] people into ten sentries, and each sentry has hundreds of people."

"When crossing the mountain road, the first post is advanced. Go to the first pond and see what flag the soldiers in the pond are raising. If there is no danger information, set up an array here to guard against the mountain."

"Then the second post crosses the first post and advances to the second pond, just like the first post guarding the mountain, and the rest of the posts advance in this order."

"In this way, we will be prepared step by step, even if the enemy soldiers ambush."

Qi Jin explained for Zhu Youjian, perhaps in his opinion, this knowledge is not a lucky secret, but in the current Ming Dynasty, it is not enough to find a person who can explain such simple and popular knowledge about generals number.

Zhu Youjian asked someone to write it down, thought about it himself, and then continued to ask:
"What should I do if I am camped and attacked during the march? What if it is in the dark?"

This question is very important. In Zhu Youjian's impression, the Jin army often attacked the Ming army at night, so he urgently needs to know what to do.

Regarding his question, Qi Jin explained unhurriedly:

"During the march, if there is something that needs to be suspended for three to five days or a period of time, in addition to setting up camps and setting up fortifications, we must also build beacon piers within a distance of one or two miles outside the camps as an early warning."

"When you see an enemy army coming to attack the village, light the beacon according to the number of people. Generally, ten people light a small torch, [-] to [-] people light a large torch, [-] to [-] people light two torches, and [-] to [-] people light a large torch. Three torches and increase accordingly."

"If the enemy comes to attack the stronghold and encounters strong wind and sand and low visibility, then the chief general will give repeated orders not to leave the stronghold to fight. The main purpose is to prevent the various troops from being hindered by the wind and sand after leaving the camp, unable to cooperate, and being defeated one by one by the enemy's cavalry."

"At this time, all the ministries can only stick to the camp, shoot with bows and crossbows, and then select elite cavalry, and quietly go out of the camp to find the enemy's back to attack."

"When you get to the enemy's territory, if you are not familiar with the geography, you need to find local residents as guides. Sometimes if you can't find residents, you will let captives act as guides."

"However, in order to prevent these people from providing false information, you can't just listen to what one person said, you have to search a lot, and then ask these people separately to see if the information provided in the end is consistent."

"Hmm..." Hearing this explanation, Zhu Youjian thought for a while and asked again after writing it down:

"I still have some problems. As the saying goes, "If one person exceeds ten thousand, there is no limit." When marching, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops can even be tens of miles long."

"If you lead an army of tens of thousands, how can you ensure that the mobilization of the ministries is correct and the information you get will not be wrong?"

Zhu Youjian's question was asked after consideration.

Because the Ming Dynasty had been involved in a security war with northern Mongolia for hundreds of years, although the generals had tens of thousands of troops in name, in fact they often only carried thousands of troops to the expedition.

This kind of law and order war has led to it. In many cases, the small battles of the Ming Dynasty were fought with great vigor, and the big battles with tens of thousands of people were a mess.

Throughout the Wanli period, there were only a few people capable of commanding tens of thousands of people in field battles, namely Li Chengliang, Li Rusong, Qi Jiguang, Ma Gui, Li Hualong and others.

During the reign of Tianqi, there was not even a general who could command tens of thousands of troops in field battles.

Although Xiong Tingbi is good, he is mainly defensive and uses defense as offense.

Qi Jin may not be able to, but when he was in the army in Jizhen, he had seen Qi Jiguang's command, and Qi Jiguang defeated [-] Mongolian cavalry with [-] chariots in the field, so he would naturally command at the corps level.

Sure enough, as soon as Zhu Youjian asked, Qi Jin was silent for a few seconds, and then said:
"The last general doesn't have the record of leading tens of thousands of troops, at most he leads tens of thousands of troops."

"But how to lead tens of thousands of troops without chaos, and even advance and retreat, this is what the uncle of the last general told the last general." He explained:
"Because the distance between the teams is too long, the golden drum is not heard from each other and the flag is invisible, so we can only rely on Tangqi or soldiers to transmit information, and there are [-] layers of Tangbing, and it is easy to make mistakes in layer-by-layer transmission."

"Therefore, when I was in Ji Town in the early years, my uncle's rule was that the message should not be full of nonsense, but the key points should be simplified, and the content should not exceed three sentences, and then passed on layer by layer."

"When passing it on, repeat the confirmation again, and then answer "I know" and continue to pass it on."

"Hmm..." Hearing this, Zhu Youjian nodded. He didn't expect Qi Jiguang to use such a simple method to deliver the news.

This kind of transmission is far more clever and concise than the use of flags and semaphores by the army.

But simplicity does not mean simplicity.

Some things seem simple, but they are difficult in actual combat, because he needs an army with high discipline and will.

To put it bluntly, the ancient army could not meet the discipline and will of the army of the later generations. A slightly elite army can be regarded as an elite army if it is drilled once every three days.

Even in the early Ming Dynasty, the army that drilled once every three days was already considered good. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, drills every ten days were considered to be dedicated to duty.

However, in such an era, the Qi family's army can persist in exercising every day, which is comparable to the strength of later generations, so it can naturally stick to the general's orders.

"Everything still depends on the training..." Zhu Youjian sighed, and then continued to look at the army training under the school field, without saying a word for a long time...

(End of this chapter)