A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 193 Fate
As for the equipment of the various troops under his command, ordinary sergeants naturally use swords, guns, and firecrackers, and the soldiers are also equipped with firecrackers and waist knives.

From July of the ninth year of Chongzhen to July of the tenth year of Chongzhen, the craftsmen of Shunxiangbao made more than 200 firecrackers.Since July of the tenth year of Chongzhen, thanks to the hydraulic drilling machine, the number of firecrackers per month has increased to more than 400. In addition to the original more than 800 firecrackers, now the Wangdou army has a total of more than 4000 firecrackers, including warehouse storage. door fire gun.Even if Wang Dou expands his army to a battalion of thousands of people, these firecrackers are still enough to use.

However, there is a shortage of armor. In July of the ninth year of Chongzhen, Shun Xiangbao had more than 250 pairs of excellent armor made by itself. By the end of last year, there were more than 350 pairs of excellent armor.Shunxiang Fort has set up ten hydraulic forging machines, and from this year onwards, more than 60 pairs of excellent iron armor will be born every month.Finally, there are the original armors of Zhoucheng and Shunxiang Fort, including more than 500 pairs of armors captured by the Qing army that can be used.In this way, Wang Dou has more than 1000 pairs of armor in total, and every five sergeants can wear one armor. The proportion of armored sergeants owned is very high in the Ming army.

Even so, Wang Dou is still not satisfied. He can continuously train cheap troops, which does not mean that he does not want to give his subordinates good weapons and equipment. However, due to the limitation of reality, he can only accumulate bit by bit.

There are more than 600 troops left, Wang Dou decided to train a cavalry team of 500 or [-] people, and the rest of the cavalry can only be the logistics support team for this cavalry.

Wang Dou had more than 1000 mules and horses in his hands, but all the horses were selected until night. Dou had more than 200 horses, and Wang Dou had more than 150 mules and horses for the battalion's supply and artillery teams. In this way, Wang Dou had only more than 600 mules and horses available for use, and I don't know how many of them are war horse.

To train cavalry, a cavalry of 400 men will cost money and food equal to the cost of infantry of 3000 men. The important thing is that cavalry is difficult to train. Cavalry must have excellent riding skills and a good understanding of the habits of horses, especially for their own mounts. Get used to it.Perhaps after half a year of hard training, you can be proficient in riding horses, but if you want to use it to fight in formation, you may not be able to do it in less than three years, so this cavalry team can only be used as mounted infantry to improve the mobility of the army.

Thinking about the battles in the second half of this year, Wang Dou looked at Li Guangheng. He heard that Li Guangheng liked cavalry the most, and he was also good at riding and shooting. His understanding of cavalry training was higher than that of Han and North Korea.His ancestors came from the Qi family army, and he also has some incense connections with himself.

And he is Han Zhong's father-in-law, as long as he has talent, so what if he praises him?Of course, you have to test him first.

Seeing Wang Dou looking at him, Li Guangheng hurriedly sat up straight. Since he arrived at Shun Township Fort, he felt that he was in a difficult position. Although he made some contributions in suppressing the bandits last year, he was not conspicuous. Li Guangheng was also invited, he was surprised and happy, he sat upright and dared not move a little.

After the lord guard swept his eyes, he sat up straight and his eyes were full of anticipation.

Wang Dou smiled and said: "I heard that Li Baihu has a lot of insight into cavalry training, why don't you come and listen to it."

Everyone present looked at Li Guangheng. Li Guangheng was overjoyed. He knew that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If his answer satisfied the garrison, the newly-built cavalry would belong to him.He stood up, cupped his fists, and said in a loud voice: "Master Garrison asked, and the humble officer dared to speak out."

He said: "There are rumors in the world that to train cavalry soldiers, you need to choose pawns from the frontier fortresses who are good at riding Han or Hu'er, so that you can get twice the result with half the effort. I think this is absurd."

He said: "My humble opinion is that there is nothing special about cavalry training. I just concentrate on practicing four characters, even if I have never ridden a horse. Within two years, I can train a qualified cavalry."

Everyone whispered in the audience, some people disagreed, thinking that Li Guangheng was talking empty words, Han Zhong also looked at his father-in-law with some concern, father-in-law, please don't blow your hair out and sweep old Han's face.

"There is a specialization in the art industry. If you ride a horse from an early age, can you become a strong cavalry? I think it is not the case. It is like boiling water and pouring tea. We pour it all our lives, and it is not as good as those who have just learned the tea ceremony for a few months. The same goes for the military."

Wang Dou was very interested, it was the first time he heard this kind of statement, he said: "According to Li Baihu's opinion, how would you train cavalry?"

Li Guangheng said: "If the garrison asks the humble officer to train the cavalry, he must first allow the humble officer to select tall and long-armed cavalry candidates from each team."

Wang Dou nodded, and Li Guangheng said: "After the soldiers are assembled, the low-level cavalry training is to practice the soldier's infantry skills one day, and the next day to teach the riding skills. The low-level method is to practice riding without giving soldiers Saddle pedals, after falling like this for three months, you can stand upside down on the horse freely, and it is easy to run like flying with the saddle pedals. Of course, during these three months, the cavalry soldiers also have to grind with their own horses every day , bathing and feeding, getting to know the nature of horses.”

Wang Dou listened fascinated, this is the first time he heard of this new method of training cavalry, Wen Fangliang said with a smile: "Mr. Having a bruised nose and swollen face is a trivial matter, and fear of breaking hands and feet is also common."

Li Guangheng didn't take it seriously: "When training soldiers, it is inevitable that they will be injured. This is unavoidable."

Wang Dou said: "Li Baihu, continue talking."

Li Guangheng said respectfully, "Yes."

He said: "In the next few months, the humble job will be to practice cavalry horse martial arts and battle formation skills, how to use the horse gun and saber, and how to shoot arrows. In the second year, the sergeant is more familiar with the horse, so that the horse and man are one. , you can control the horse to charge the battle."

There was a lot of discussion among the people below, some agreed with Li Guangheng's training method, some disagreed, and they were so blushing and thick necked.Wang Dou didn't quite understand what Li Guangheng said, but he heard that he said it clearly and logically, so he must have said the truth, he smiled and said, "Okay, Li Baihu, I will leave this cavalry to you, but this will be done soon." Archery, I think it can be avoided, the cavalry is the same as the infantry, let's use firecrackers."

Li Guangheng was overjoyed at first, then a little surprised, don't you need to teach him to shoot arrows on horseback?He stayed for a while, but still surrendered.

Wang Dou said to Han Chao: "Brother Han, from this year onwards, your intelligence department will not accept any nights, and will mainly turn to Baoding Prefecture and Zhending Prefecture to collect intelligence and map. The following places are Mashuikou, Zijingguan, Yizhou, Zhuozhou, Laishui, Baoding Fucheng, Julu, and Jize are all atlases and information, try to collect as many details as possible, and you can report to me how much food you need."

It's time to prepare for this year's battle. In order to avoid the death of myself and Lu Xiangsheng, I must plan ahead now.

After listening to Wang Dou's words, everyone in the field had different expressions. The guard looked so far away, has he already cast his attention thousands of miles away?Following this daring boss, everyone's heart beats faster, and then their blood boils. The boss is energetic and courageous. If I follow closely, the territory will expand in the future, then I...

Han Chao took orders loudly, he was different from everyone's thinking, he guessed that Wang Dou had other deep meanings, but the nine years of war in Chongzhen had proved the foresight of the garrison master, he ordered it, and he did it himself.

Wang Dou looked at the crowd and said with a smile: "My Baoan Prefecture is developing smoothly. In just two years, there will be a lot of food and rice, but right now my Baoan Prefecture is still small, with a population of [-] to [-] and thousands of males. , Not enough. After the spring plowing, let’s all go out, let the recruits see the blood, and bring back some livestock grain and rice.”

He pondered: "I am determined not only to plunder livestock grain and rice this time, but also to plunder the population. No matter what method you use, before the autumn sowing, the population of Baoan Prefecture must be increased by at least 5, tens of thousands of males."

Everyone at the scene cheered and screamed strangely, seeing the joy of the crowd, Wang Dou suddenly felt a little sad.

There is a saying that he can't say well, this year's battle, if he fights by himself, how many soldiers under his command will die?One thousand, two thousand, or three thousand?How many of these familiar people will disappear?It's just that he was born in the troubled times of Ming Dynasty, and there is nowhere to find a paradise, so he has no choice. Perhaps, this is the fate of himself and everyone in Baoan Prefecture.

No matter how many troops I lose in the future, I need to replenish the population, so it is inevitable to plunder the population, and then train troops and horses, and then replenish...

……

After finally waiting for Wang Dou and others to finish discussing various military matters, Lin Daofu and Zhang Gui seized the opportunity, and Lin Daofu said: "My lord, I have all the military households in Bao'an Prefecture organized into an army, and they can only practice in their spare time. , when you are busy, you have to go home to work for your own fields, and soldiers are not allowed to go on expeditions. In view of this, the lower officials discussed with Mr. Zhang and came up with a solution. Is it feasible, Mr. Zhang?"

Wang Dou's subordinates are full of unemployed sergeants, and every time it comes to the busy farming season, the sergeants have to be released and let them go home to work. If they want to send troops to fight, they have to choose the season. After thinking about it, Wang Dou feels that there is no way to solve it. This question, the soldiers under my command are all the strong laborers of each family. Without them, how will their fields be cultivated?

This trouble has always troubled Wang Dou. Hearing that Lin Daofu has a solution, he hurriedly said, "What can you do? Tell me."

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Lao Bai Niu: The discussion was very lively, and I was very happy to read it. If there are disagreements, please restrain yourself and respect each other's different opinions.I can't say anything about the fate of the characters in the book, but one thing is that the protagonist will not suffer.

Another: I am writing this chapter today with a heavy heart. War is inevitable. The nine-year war in Chongzhen would have killed many people, including some people familiar to the protagonist, some officers and generals, etc. In the end, the war saved a lot, a lot The fate of the characters has changed, which made my outline change accordingly, increasing the difficulty of writing.It is normal to think about the joys and sorrows of characters, as long as they are reasonable and not obtrusive.Of course, in online novels, the protagonist's woman can't die, and can't give the protagonist anything, I know this.

(End of this chapter)