Chapter 116 New developments in Jinzhou

At noon, after having dinner, Chongzhen and Chen Ye returned to Qianqing Palace to continue their discussions.

It is now April, and the war in Jinzhou is gradually heating up. Even Hong Chengchou has begun to set out for the Songshan, Tashan and Xingshan areas as planned.

So they also began to focus on the army. After a while, if the war becomes intense, the army will really be divided and withdrawn.

"Lao Zhu, are the newly formed artillery units ready? I see you haven't picked up those cannons yet."

"Now that preparations have been made, the training of the new army has just got on track and it's just starting to look good.

Wang Banban summarized the information yesterday. At present, each regiment has selected two companies based on their educational level to serve the artillery."

When Chongzhen heard the question, he said it clearly. This was indeed his only hope for his family now.

"Ten companies in total, two thousand men? Even with this small number of people, we can't use all the cannons."

When Chen Ye heard this number, he was a little dissatisfied. In modern times, an artillery company can equal a battalion.

Having experienced the hereditary phobia of insufficient firepower, Chen Ye wished that at least half of the entire army was artillery, so that the cannons could shoot his ass off.

"These are the ones that each regiment can select that best meet the requirements. According to what you said, owner, these people must be the best in the entire army.

It also requires a lot of strength, which is not easy to find, and there are one hundred and sixty squads, so it is not difficult to equip them with five hundred cannons, right?"

Hearing Chen Ye's dissatisfaction, Chongzhen said in embarrassment that two companies in each regiment were quite a lot of people. Considering the current establishment of the New Army, one company had two hundred people.

The current New Army is a quasi-modern organization composed of squads, platoons, companies, battalions, and regiments.

In fact, it can also correspond to the previous small flags, general flags, double hundred households, general commanders, and general soldiers.

There are four-level establishments below the regiment. There are 12 people in a squad of three and 48 people in a platoon. The platoon leader is a squad directly under the leadership of the platoon leader. The platoon leader is both the squad leader and the platoon leader.

There are two hundred people in a company because there is a company headquarters at the company level. The members of the headquarters include direct correspondents, chief and deputy platoon commanders, and a royal cadet who is responsible for daily life.

Further up is the battalion-level unit, also composed of four companies of 800 people, with the battalion-level headquarters plus a complete fire support platoon.

Finally, there is the regimental level, with three battalions plus a support company, a guard platoon and the regimental headquarters.

The configuration of the entire army has been perfectly subdivided according to the training manual. As long as Chen Ye's logistics can keep up, Chongzhen's army can be guaranteed to be directly commanded by him to the company level.

And this level is terrifying for any army in ancient times.

"A squad of twelve can only be equipped with two cannons at most. Forget it, just two cannons. A company can have thirty-two cannons. Combined with grenades, it's enough to knock Jiannu into confusion."

"Yes, yes, I think so too. Two artillery batteries per regiment is quite a lot. There is no war in the Ming Dynasty that can invest hundreds of cannons at once."

Chongzhen said happily that from the video demonstrations Chen Ye showed him, he really fell in love with the cannon that Chen Ye brought back.

The materials for this cannon made of pure alloy are actually sourced from American military industrial companies.

The rednecks in Texas are very considerate in using military materials. After all, in America, where alloy materials are cheap, using brass to go retro is crazy.

This also resulted in the weight of the entire artillery, excluding the gun mount, being less than 200 kilograms, and including the tractor, it was only over 600 kilograms.

But its caliber is one hundred millimeters, and it's a breech-loaded shell.

Because of the support of the primer and fuze, the entire artillery design is more similar to the smoothbore towed howitzer of later generations.

Chen Ye and Chongzhen were chatting about artillery. On the other side, Jinzhou was not calm, and the war was about to break out.

It had been two days since Hong Chengchou left the city from Ningyuan. The initial number was 60,000. At this time, the forward was already only more than ten miles away from Jinzhou.

The military forts along the road served him well against some of the slave-building spies, and at the same time, they also sent the news to the Qing army that they were about to arrive in Jinzhou.

"Commander, the food and fodder have been arranged properly, but why do you want to hide it from the general soldiers?"

Hong Chengchou's nephew Hong Tao asked Hong Chengchou strangely, and the recent events revealed an evil nature.

Hong Chengchou asked several generals to divide the troops and transport the grain and grass to Bijia Mountain, but then he asked himself to lead the elite troops and replaced the grain and grass in Bijia Mountain with ordinary straw.

The quartermaster who transported food every day was also replaced by Hong Chengchou as a confidant who did not have the nature of a frontier army. Everyone said that the food was transported from Beacon Mountain.

"It's nothing, just do as you are told.

Wu Sangui Wu Sangui, reply received."

"Governor-General, I am Wu Sangui, over."

"What's the situation over there? Have you encountered Jiannu in Rufeng Mountain? What do you mean if you don't accept it at night? It's over."

"Ye Bushou has lost a few, and we are still investigating. There are indeed two banners of Jiannu stationed in Rufeng Mountain, but I'm not sure whether that guy Jilharang is there or not."

"Continue to explore, and if it is confirmed that it is there, divide the troops according to the plan, and you will use firearms to attract firepower.

I divided my troops and went out, preparing to swallow up this slave-establishing army and give His Majesty a first prize.

It is passed down that His Majesty will reward fifty taels of silver for every Jiannu head, and the general soldiers and thousands of households can get 30% of it, as long as the money is rat tail.

Let me emphasize again, there is a lot of silver reward, and everyone has a chance. Anyone who seizes the military merits will be beheaded and their home will be confiscated upon reporting and verification! If you hear this, repeat it to me! It’s over!”

"Don't worry, Governor. I'll seize the military glory and behead you and confiscate your property."

On the other end of the intercom, Wu Sangui released the button with disdain. He felt that this so-called emphasis was a joke.

The reward this time was so generous, but he didn’t give priority to collecting heads. How could it be distributed fairly?

This has also been done in the military in the past dynasties. When the military merits of generals are counted, even if they are reported truthfully, the person being reported will change.

If you are good at it, the superiors will appreciate you and your achievements will be yours. If you are not good at it and the superior officer does not like it, then no matter how many you kill, it will still belong to others and you will be oppressed to death.

Of course, if there is a big battle that kills more than ten fierce men, any general will try to win over them, but whether they will be defeated in the process depends on their temperament.

On the walkie-talkie side, after hearing Wu Sangui's reply, Hong Chengchou put down the walkie-talkie. He had conveyed the message well. If he didn't obey...

He really obeyed Chongzhen. Their army tried for a long time and couldn't get the news, and they didn't know how Chongzhen found out.

The location of the Jurchen slaves recently transmitted through the radio, as well as the distribution of the number of people on each line, the military strength, and even whether they were Jurchens are extremely accurate.

This made Hong Chengchou, who had already done several sand table simulations, no longer worried at all, and moved steadily towards Jinzhou, pulling out nails continuously.

More than twenty miles away, at the foot of Rufeng Mountain, Jierhalang couldn't believe it when he heard the news about Niu Lu.

"What did you say? The Ming army will arrive in ten miles?"

"Your Majesty, please provide support as soon as possible. This wave of Ming army's attack has a large number of people and they are all elites. I'm afraid our army cannot withstand it."

"Are you all trash?

Forget it, you're welcome, let me meet you, Hong Chengchou, for a while to see if you can still fight as well as before.

Inform the yellow flag to prepare for the battle, and the two red flags to prepare their weapons. Don’t fail to follow them at the critical moment."

Jierhalang put on the armor, which was specially awarded to him by the emperor.

He had been waiting for this day for a long time. In order to force Hong Chengchou to leave seclusion, the Manchus tried every method they could think of.

In order to cut off the retreat route between Jinzhou and Guan Nei, and to block the Ming army coming for reinforcements, they specially set up their camp in Rufeng Mountain, which was the only way to pass.

This happens to be the main avenue for attacking Jinzhou. It is open and very suitable for cavalry to dispatch. Here, the Manchu and Qing attack power can be increased several times.

When he walked out of the camp, he saw the surrendered Wu Basi waiting, with a look of nothing on his face.

Just when he was worried that he couldn't find anyone to test him, Jierhalang's eyes suddenly lit up when he saw Wu Basi.

"Wu Basi, the Ming army is about to come into contact with our camp. You should quickly bring the people under your banner to fight as the vanguard and seek good fortune for our Qing Dynasty."

"Your Majesty, the Ming army is already marching in formation, I'm afraid the cavalry is of no use, right?

The slave thought it would be better to let the Qing Dynasty's firearms kill their majesty first, and then charge forward."

Wu Basi, who was originally a two-sided man, had no intention of fighting a bloody battle for the Qing Dynasty. Only a few days after becoming the flag leader, he was asked to test the speed of the opponent's musket. What was the difference between that and asking him to die?

"As the banner leader of the Qing Dynasty, what kind of warrior can you be if you don't dare to fight? You, the banner leader, haven't even received the imperial edict from the emperor, and you have already begun to lose your blood?"

"Yes, yes, I will prepare now."

Listening to Ji'erharang's words, Wu Basi knew that this disaster could not be avoided. He just wanted to face tens of thousands of Ming army troops, and his face was ashen, so he decided to wait as long as he could.

"Notify all banners immediately and prepare for battle."

Under the command of Jierhalang, Rufeng Mountain also began to prepare for war in an orderly manner.

Bronze fire cannons were pushed out one after another, facing the direction of the Ming army's attack. Each of these fire cannons had different looks and very different uses.

There are solid bullets, shotgun shells, and even a few explosive bullets. Nowadays, in the battles between the Ming and Qing Dynasties, firearms have become a habitual use in attacks.

Bow and arrow? What year is that antique?

The Jiannu slaves with the two red flags and the Jiannu slaves with the yellow flag were discussing happily while putting on their battle armor, not worried about the war at all.

Before the actual fight started, they were all confident that they could defeat Hong Chengchou. In their hearts, the Ming army was vulnerable, especially the Ming army that had left the turtle shell city.

In the distance, Hong Chengchou learned through the intercom that Wu Sangui, who was in the vanguard, and their artillery had begun to fire against the Qing army.

"Informed to speed up, the cavalry is ready to support on both sides, and the infantry is ready to attack forward when the opposite side runs out of gunpowder."

"Governor, we have discovered here that the Jiannu are moving towards the right wing of our army, but the cavalry has not discovered it yet."

"Immediately detach troops from the center and cooperate with the right wing to annihilate the invading Jiannu. At the same time, let the rear army become the center army and cancel the attack on both sides."

"Governor..."
Chapter completed!