That night, Zhao Jin took Li Ping, Shi Ming and Wang Chengwu to visit Zuo Menggeng as planned. In addition to paying tribute to a few pieces of jewelry that everyone had collected, they also presented a dozen pieces of soap.

The main reason why they didn't give money directly was that it was useless if it was too little, and they couldn't afford it if it was too much, and normally Zuo Mengeng would not be a person who was short of money.

After hesitantly trying the soap that Zhao Jin had been bragging about for a long time, Zuo Mengeng, who was not very interested in meeting Zhao Jin and others, soon became happy.

In fact, the effect of soap is not much greater than that of rice water, fragrant noodles and soap locust commonly used by noble men like Zuo Mengeng. It may even make the skin dry and astringent.

But soap is easy to use, and it is effective in removing oil stains on the skin quickly. These two advantages are precisely the favorites of men who like simplicity when it comes to washing.

Because of his happiness and novelty, Zuo Mengeng specially evaluated and compared the respective advantages and disadvantages of these washing supplies to Zhao Jin and others.

Only then did Li Ping know that Zuo Menggeng usually used rice water and fragrant noodles, while saponin was used less frequently. Moreover, Zuo Mengeng actually used the rice water commonly used by poor people for the first time, mainly because of his wife's suggestion.

It affects the skin, and his wife learned it from Gong Litou, saying it is good for the skin.

In the palace, this word made several people feel a chill in their hearts.

Zuo Mengeng also likes fragrant noodles, mainly because they use a lot of ingredients, look high-end, and are very fragrant.

Fragrant noodles are a kind of mixed noodles made from ground beans (peas) and supplemented with spices and Chinese medicine.

When used, melt it in water and wash it with water. In the past, people often made fragrant noodles into bean shapes that were easy to carry and place, so they were also called bath beans.

Li Ping's knowledge that Xiangmian'er is so unpopular is thanks to the beauty-loving Zhao Lanyue, who did this before there was soap.

However, Zuo Mengeng didn't understand Zhao Jin and others' naming of soap "soap". After asking carefully, Zhao Jin and others almost missed the point because they didn't know what soap was. Zuo Mengeng was not a fool after all.

It turns out that Zhejiang's saponins are very famous. It is said that the fruits of the saponaria tree are especially large and have good decontamination effects. Therefore, people call this saponins fat beads, or soap. Soap is mentioned in Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica".

Special records.

However, fortunately, the use of fat beads is not very widespread, and not many are used in the north. Zhao Jin and Li Ping have never been to Zhejiang, nor have they been to the south, so it is normal that they have not used them. Zuo Mengeng just made fun of them.

A few words, but I didn’t dwell on this issue.

But it is obviously inappropriate to call soap "soap" anymore.

Since the "soap" presented by Zhao Jin obviously had a strange smell, Zuo Mengeng suggested that we simply call this new type of washing product that Zhao Jin said was a family heirloom of his subordinates "soap"! Zhao Jin and others were a little frightened.

Congratulations again and again.

After deciding on the name of the soap, Zuo Mengeng was even more excited. He was probably also excited about naming an object for the first time.

With this enthusiasm, Zuo Mengeng once again praised Zhao Jin's ability in doing things in recent times, and affirmed Zhao Jin's contribution to the work these days.

In the middle, after listening to Zhao Jin's praise of Shi Ming, Zuo Mengeng got excited for a while and even had a small competition with Shi Ming.

Zuo Menggeng's martial prowess is not a boast, he still follows his father's lead.

But Shi Ming was not a fool. He seized this opportunity and amazed Zuo Menggeng with the more scientific modern fighting skills of later generations.

While Zuo Mengeng couldn't stop praising him, Shi Ming even vaguely expressed that he had not been the Zhao family's guard leader for a long time. He had also served in the army before and had led No. 10 men.

Zuo Mengeng was indeed interested, so he asked a few more questions.

Shi Ming's explanation was simple and fluent. A newly recruited army was recruited to prevent thieves in a certain place in Hebei. Later, it was dispersed due to lack of food and pay and the thieves were too powerful. Later, in order to help the Zhao family who had been kind to him, he was willing to become a soldier.

He never left the guard.

Shi Ming tampered with his original resume and improved his image without consulting everyone, and he answered questions fluently. They were well prepared at first sight. Although Zhao Jin and Li Ping were surprised by the suddenness, they didn't say anything, and instead helped Shi Ming make peace.

sentence.

At that time, the land of Hebei was also in turmoil, and there were many stories like this. Zuo Menggeng did not show any doubts or ask any more questions. He just praised Shi Ming's loyalty.

Shi Ming was in a good mood and could hardly hide his smile.

The next morning, when everyone gathered at Zhao Jin's place again as scheduled, Shi Ming's face was still full of joy, but this time there were two more people, Li Shengcai and Liu Shixiong.

Zhao Jin gave everyone a handwritten booklet, which contained the rules he had recorded in the Ming army. There was a lot of content, so it was no wonder that he was so kind and went out of his way to copy a copy for everyone.

Referring to the booklet, Zhao Jin talked for a whole morning, which also opened Li Ping's eyes.

Without the support of modern communication technology, Li Ping has always been curious about how to command large armies in ancient times. Especially for people like Zuo Liangyu, who often have more than 100,000 troops, it is impossible for him to have no rules. But Li Ping's

The body's original level and incomplete memory cannot provide sufficient answers.

It wasn't until he listened to Zhao Jin's explanation that Li Ping understood that the Ming army relied on a complete command system based on flags, musical instruments and Tangqi. It was also a relatively mature and complex command system.

Once there are more than ten thousand people, there is no limit.

Just relying on shouting to issue instructions, even without considering the timeliness issue of passing them down one level, even after reaching the most basic combat unit-Wu Heshi, there will always be some soldiers who may not be able to listen due to various reasons.

to the command.

Moreover, how to identify one's own commander's command and avoid confusion with neighboring troops is also a matter of great difficulty.

The development of complex and numerous flags by the Ming army should be related to this. They were trying to optimize their command as much as possible and let it reach the lowest level, and it seemed to have achieved results.

Generally speaking, soldiers only need to follow the flag of their own small group and master the simplest semaphore, and then officers at all levels will lead them to follow the flag of the upper-level unit, which can ensure that there will be no chaos at the most basic level.

The flag language is also very simple. Nodding the flag forward means moving forward; nodding the flag left means turning left; nodding the flag right means turning right; turning around and nodding backward means asking the soldiers to retreat.

Of course, more complex flags can convey more commands and information, and ensure that the troops carry out more complex actions. Although they require long-term training, they can achieve more precise control of the troops.

It’s just that the flag is only a single-layer command after all, and it has great limitations. Especially when people are nervous and in a combat state, their eyes sometimes cannot be distracted. At this time, the golden drum instrument that stimulates the ears is very important.

"March with beating drums and retreat with gold" is the most straightforward and effective command method.

Of course it can't actually be that simple.

Ancient battles placed great emphasis on rhythm control, which was the most effective way to ensure that the troops would not be in chaos, so the army would use drums to control the speed of soldiers.

There are two types of drums in the Ming Dynasty army, one is the beating drum and the other is the walking drum. The walking drum does not have a high sense of existence in modern people's impression, but it is indeed the most important drum for commanding infantry to attack the enemy because it controls

To increase the speed of the soldiers to engage the enemy, by beating the drum a little, the infantry will advance ten steps. This is a very important means for them to maintain their physical strength and maintain a unified rhythm.

The beating drum is the well-known Chinese army drum. It appears in all the movies. When the drum is beaten, the whole army charges.

But in fact, beating the drum means beating the drum continuously. It is the final charge command after the army approaches the enemy. Upon hearing it, the infantry will run forward and charge. It is used in the final stage.

Another very important thing is the bō luō, which is a kind of horn made of conch shells. When the bō luō is blown, the soldiers who are resting will get up. Blow it again to ask the horsemen to mount their horses and the chariots.

The soldiers are on their chariots, and the infantrymen stand in line with their weapons in hand.

The ringing of gold is also very particular. One ringing of gold is to ask the soldiers of each department to stop attacking and stand still. The second ringing of gold is to ask the soldiers to slowly retreat back to their own formation. The continuous ringing of gold is to ask the soldiers of each department to quickly retreat and run a few steps to escape the battle, and then turn around and stand to the enemy.

, retreated slowly.

Since the variations of drums, jins and guilu were relatively limited, the Ming army also developed other musical instruments to refine more instructions.

Among them, the suona horn is the most commonly used, because the sound of the suona is huge, and the timbre varies according to its different size and structure, and it can distinguish different commands in more detail.

For example, the trumpet flute is an ordinary suona played, which is used when the military commander holds a meeting. When the officers of each department hear the Chinese army playing the suona, they are asked to rush to the Chinese army's tent as soon as possible to start the military meeting, and then each receive military tasks.

But Zuo Liangyu did not use the suona when he retreated, but used the messenger. Maybe he was afraid that friendly and enemy troops would also hear it! He probably wanted to keep it a little secret.

Another example is the speaker, which will be used in many situations.

For example, when fighting, the flag will be nodded to indicate the direction, and then the trumpet will be blown to tell the soldiers that they can move forward in the direction of the flag.

Then the loudspeaker is also used to control the uniform dining of the troops.

Once the trumpet is blown, the fire soldiers (cooking soldiers) will clean up the stove and start cooking; blow the trumpet for the second time, which means that the meal is ready, and each army will go to their respective places to sit down and eat according to the team formation; blow the trumpet for the third time, which means eating

Time has passed, and each army has returned to the camp to await other orders.

At the same time, the horn is also an important command method for firearms troops.

The Ming army was a highly armed force, and the smoke and noise produced by the firearms troops' firing during this period were very loud. It was difficult to command with the kind of officers in the movies shouting "release". Look at the flag.

The effect is not great. The Ming army's firecrackers used the trumpet command method.

At this time, most of the fire gun troops used three to six rows of rounds due to slow loading.

The gunman listens to the captain blowing the trumpet, and the first row fires a volley, and then returns to the back row to reload; blows the trumpet again, and the second row fires a volley, then returns to the back row to reload, and so on.

When the enemy finally came close to engage in battle, the captain blew the trumpet continuously, and all the musketeers fired a volley and then retreated into the formation. Then the infantry listened to the drums and advanced to engage in battle.

In order to teach soldiers to obey the orders of flags and golden drum instruments, the Ming army specifically required soldiers to learn a song with the lyrics:

"Together we have one eye, together we have one ear, and together we have one heart. What thief cannot be killed? What merit cannot be achieved?"

On the battlefield, the commander-in-chief will mainly use the five-color flag to command the troops. This is a very important command flag for the Ming army and a very basic combat formation.

Why is it called a combat formation? In fact, it is a way of arranging troops with the central army in the center and arranged in rows, front, rear, left and right. This is a formation habit of facing the enemy on all sides, which has been developed from long-term battles with the highly mobile Mongols.

The five-color flags in the five directions are red in the front, black in the rear, cyan in the left, white in the right, and yellow in the center.

During the battle, the commander-in-chief will have all the five-color and five-square flags raised, and all units will be in formation according to the pre-war instructions, facing the enemy on all sides. Then the commander-in-chief will issue orders according to the development of the battle situation.

For example, if only the red flag is raised, the troops in the front camp will be ready to listen to orders; if only the black flag is raised, the troops in the rear camp will be ready; if the five flags are raised simultaneously, the entire army will be ready.

Of course, if a large corps of more than tens of thousands or even more than 100,000 people fights, the five-party five-color flag will become a second level, and the general can only rely on Tangqi to maintain contact and command with the generals, and

Give orders in the general direction.

Speaking of which, another very important Tangqi appeared.

Tangqi can be understood as scouts + communications troops. They are responsible for detecting the enemy's situation and reporting information during the march. In large-scale battles, they are capable and important liaison troops.

Usually when the army is marching, the general will send out Tangbao cavalry first. In the southern region, due to the terrain and the lack of horses, Tangbao infantry is also often sent.

Tang cavalry are organized based on ponds. In the north, there are usually five cavalry per pond, and in the south, there are usually ten cavalry plus ten infantry or all infantry per pond. Of course, this is not fixed, but depends on the actual situation and the situation of the army.
To be continued...