It has been the fourth year of Chongzhen, from the new yuan to the fifteenth day of the first month, Li Zicheng is a real holiday, except for reading the messages sent to Xining from all over the country, it is basically to go shopping, accompany his wife and concubine to eat, and then tease the children to cry.

It wasn't until after the Lantern Festival that the students of Xining Girls' School returned to Xining, and he focused on teaching in the school, but every few days, he had to go to the craftsman's workshop to learn about the production of Xining rifles.

On 10 February, the craftsman's workshop dismantled more than 100 carts, and finally built enough rifles for the 500 households of the Zhou Bin Department, a total of more than 500 rifles, and guaranteed one for each person.

The 500 households newly formed last year also preliminarily completed their basic training and officially became auxiliary troops.

According to Li Zicheng's plan, the rifle to be built next will be delivered to the Song Ministry of Culture, and now in Xining, there is only one hundred infantry households, but when Li Zicheng went to the training ground last time to inspect it, he was quite dissatisfied with the mental outlook of the soldiers of the Song Ministry of Culture, and even rarely scolded Song Wen.

Since then, Li Zicheng has sent his own soldiers several times to visit secretly, and even once, when he passed by the training ground, he did not alarm the soldiers, but quietly appeared at the training ground.

Maybe Song Wen was scolded and woke up, maybe he didn't dare to abuse Li Zicheng's tiger power, the daily training of the 700th soldiers, Song Wen would come to the scene in person, and the soldiers were scolded if they were a little slack.

Li Zicheng decided to summon Song Wen in the study of the Hou Ya.

"Your Excellency, your subordinates...... Subordinates are confused! As soon as Song Wen entered the door, he knelt on the ground, kneeling a few steps, and when he arrived in front of Li Zicheng, he leaned down and prostrate on the ground.

"Song Baihu, please get up!" Li Zicheng got out of the chair, came to Song Wen, helped him up, pressed him on the wooden chair opposite, and asked He Xiaomi to serve tea, before he returned to the main seat, and chuckled: "If a person is not a sage, who can be without fault?" Knowing that mistakes can be changed, good is great, Song Baihu doesn't have to mind! ”

"Adult......" Song Wen was at a loss, so he had to pick up the tea cup, but the tea was too hot, and his trembling hands almost knocked over the lid of the cup.

The more the adults smiled, the more he felt guilty, as if he was a soft egg among the hundred officials.

He is the first hundred household officials to be scolded by adults, and adults have always been known for their strictness in governing the army, why is it his subordinate......

Li Zicheng continued to be calm, if his subordinates made some small mistakes, he would naturally criticize them strictly, and even punish them, but his subordinates made serious mistakes, especially if he had realized his mistakes and was trying his best to correct them, he should still be given the opportunity to correct them.

"Of the seven hundred household officials of the Xining Army, five of them have been promoted to thousands of households, so doesn't Song Baihu have any ideas?"

"My lord......" Song Wen raised his head, his eyes suddenly lit up, and disappeared quickly, who doesn't want to be promoted? When I returned to Xining, I thought I would have more opportunities, but I didn't expect that I would become the first hundred household officials to be scolded.

The adults were promoted step by step from a small flag officer to a thousand-household official, and they have always been strict with the soldiers, and even did not hesitate to kill people in the training ground......

"Yunshui and Shuangxi are all cavalry, not to mention him, the 600th household of Ma Youshui, whether it is in Jishi County, or in the bloody battle of Ganzhou, in the face of death, in front of the enemy, the soldiers are united and have the same hatred; Zhou Bin's 500th household, the battle of the Triangle City, is even more with his own strength, the soldiers died forty percent, and the soldiers were all wounded, but finally withstood the repeated attacks of the Mongols, the small walls of the Triangle City are short, Zhou Bin did not complain, all the anger was sprinkled on the Mongols. Such an army, such a soldier, if there is no strict discipline on weekdays, can you expect that in front of the enemy, when death comes, the brothers will suddenly have blood? ”

"Your Excellency, your subordinates...... Subordinates know their mistakes...... His subordinates are willing to be punished by adults......"

Song Wen put down the tea cup, hurriedly left the seat, and prostrated in front of Li Zicheng again.

"Why does Song Baihu need to be like this? Get up, sit down," Li Zicheng waited for Song Wen to sit down again, and said: "I say this, not to punish you - if you want to be punished, I won't wait until today, I just want to tell you that strict training, the bloody nature of soldiers, is the foundation of strong combat effectiveness, without this foundation, no matter what kind of advanced weapons, it is in vain!" ”

“……”

"The 700th household also had a glorious record, in Fuqiang Fort, when the army was only ten days old, it was still able to fight to the death with the Mongols, in Gulangsuo, it was even more like a rainbow momentum, so long time has passed, the soldiers have not only not improved, but even the level of the past can not reach ......"

"My lord, brothers...... Brothers are looking forward to the rifle too much......"

"If you can't train bloody, even if you have a rifle, you can't be considered a strong soldier," Li Zicheng sighed lightly, "Xining is a place of four wars, surrounded by strong enemies, if you want to be comfortable for a long time, war is inevitable, I understand the brothers' desire to make meritorious contributions, as long as the level of training goes up, whether it is to stay in Xining or rush to the battlefield, as long as you complete the tasks assigned by Wei Li, why worry about no military merits?" ”

"My lord, my subordinates understand, my subordinates must be strict in training, and they will never drag the Xining Army back!"

At this moment, Song Wen had secretly made a decision, and in the future, the training ground would see the real chapter, and every soldier of the 700th household would have to exceed the standard of the Xining Army, otherwise, he would immediately roll up and get out.

"Song Baihu must be ready, the next batch of rifles produced by the craftsman's workshop will be handed over to your department for training," Li Zicheng looked at Song Wen with a faint smile on his face, "I don't ask you to familiarize yourself with rifles in the shortest possible time, but you have to ensure that every soldier who has been trained must become a qualified gunner!" ”

"Yes, my lord, my subordinates promise to complete the mission!" Song Wen gritted his teeth and said, "If any rabbit cub is half slack, I will serve them fiercely with a horsewhip!" ”

……………………………………………………………………

On the surface, Xining City is quiet and the water waves are not rising, but secretly, it has already been surging and the tide is beginning to move, and materials and personnel are inadvertently making the most conducive deployment for the expedition.

The ranger almost once a day, the news of the Mongolian Maili cadres along the Datong River continued to spread to Xining, and Wang Anping handed over the affairs of Longyou to his deputy and rushed to the Datong River in person.

Wu Ermao's Shadowless Gate, all appeared in the Datong Mountain, Datong River area, in order to get a more accurate information at close range, they even clashed with the Mongols, fortunately, the people of the Shadowless Gate are all equipped with stunts, although there are some small injuries, there is no death.

In Xining City, Li Zicheng is also making various preparations for the army's expedition, and three months' worth of grain and grass have been piled up near the north gate of Xining, ready to board the ship at any time.

Almost all the ships in Huangshui and its nearby tributaries were requisitioned by Weili, and when the time came for the army to go on the expedition, these ships had to be handed over to Weili unconditionally.

Bullets are the most important war material, and more than 10,000 rounds are prepared, and each soldier who goes into battle will be rationed 20 bullets, and within the effective range, these bullets are enough to kill and wound four or five thousand enemy troops.

According to the information sent back from the front, the Maili cadres really have such a large casualty, I am afraid that they will be extinct long ago, but be prepared, when facing the Mongolian cavalry on the battlefield, the accuracy of the rifle may not be comparable to the usual drills, besides, after defeating the Maili cadres, the 500th Zhou Bin will be stationed in the area of the Datong River, and the Maili cadres must always maintain a deterrent.

As the main force of this expedition, Zhou Bin is stepping up the final training outside the city, in order to deal with the cavalry, Liu Yunshui contributed almost half of the war horses, according to the previous horse water training method, outside the city to train gunners.

Li Zicheng even went to the training venue to guide the gunners in training tactics.

According to the experience of the Ganzhou operation, there are two main rifle tactics, one is the best range tactic of 200 steps, if the number of cavalry is not too much, like the Triangle City encountered Bayar's team of 100 people, the first wave of strikes, based on 200 steps, at this time the rifle target can already reach the maximum, maybe only one round of shooting, the enemy will be all finished.

The other is the 100-step death line tactic, if the number of cavalry is large, a round of shooting can not completely kill the enemy, then after consuming part of the enemy troops at a long distance, the target of the rifle is set at a distance of 100 steps, establish a fire blockade line, and use the uninterrupted fire formed by the "three-stage" shooting to block the enemy army away from 100 steps.

The reason why the blockade line is set at a distance of 100 paces is mainly because, in this era, whether it is the Ming army's bows and arrows, all kinds of firearms, and the arrows of the nomads, the range is within 100 steps, generally only about 50 steps, and the Mongolians with particularly strong arm strength, the range of the bow and arrow is only 60 or 70 steps, I can hit you, but you can only stare dryly, in front of the rifle, you only have the part of abuse.

Of course, this means that the number of enemy troops is not too much, and in case of an absolute number of cavalry, with the firing speed of Xining rifles, it may be difficult to suppress the enemy army outside the death line, then this death line must be expanded outward, preferably two hundred steps.

If you encounter the artillery of the Ming army, the gunners have no choice, the rifle is just a light weapon, the opponent is a bow and arrow, firearms, compared with the artillery as a heavy weapon, whether it is range or power, it is not an opponent at the same level.

Last time in Ganzhou, Li Zicheng was supposed to practice death line tactics on the battlefield, but unfortunately, the soldiers in Ganzhou refused to cooperate, after the casualties, they did not continue to rush forward, but only retreated backwards, no way, the gunners had to extend their firepower to a longer distance, although the soldiers in Ganzhou were shot, but this tactic was not practiced on the battlefield.

Li Zicheng only has theoretical experience now, and if he is really going to the battlefield, he has no idea what the effect will be in the face of the Mongolian cavalry.

In case the Mongol cavalry breaks through the formation formed by the gunners, and the two sides meet each other in short combat, it is almost a nightmare for the gunners, although they are equipped with waist knives, and can theoretically fight with the cavalry, but in the face of the speed of the cavalry, once the cavalry is approached, the rifle loses the opportunity to shoot, and the gunners have only two ways: surrender or die!

In order to prevent entering the final hand-to-hand combat, Li Zicheng decided to bring the cavalry of Liu Yunshui's department, if the rifle array was broken, the cavalry could only go up, although the cavalry would also have casualties, in front of the Mongolian cavalry, it was still at a disadvantage, but it was better than the infantry going up to die in vain.