Two months ago, with the help of Chen Wen, Yu Guowang captured the Tiantai county town that had made him return with a feather, and with the manpower and material resources of Tiantai County, the strength of Yu Guowang's department has also been improved to a certain extent. Next, although Chen Wen quietly left the Ming army sequence that made a big fuss in Taizhou, but in his old brother Jintang successfully repeated Chen Wen's previous old skills, and Yu and Jin also successfully won Sanmen County, which is not far from Tiantai County.

During this period, the morale of the Taizhou Ming army was greatly boosted by Yu Guowang's successive battles, and then with continuous attacks, it caused a lot of danger to the Taizhou Qing army and the Qing army on the southern line preparing to go north from Taizhou to Zhoushan. Especially when the coalition formed by Yu Guowang, Jintang and several other Taizhou Ming troops approached Linhai County, the capital of Taizhou, even Ma Jinbao was forced to suspend the military operation north to Zhoushan, thus sharing great pressure on the Zhoushan Ming army.

When he faced the main forces of the Qing army in Taizhou and Jinhua for the first time in Linhai County, Yu Guowang relied on the stage-type and unfinished Spanish phalanx that Chen Wen passed on to him, and it took almost no too much effort to defuse Ma Jinbao's offensive.

The two county towns of Lianke led the anti-Qing movement in the entire Taizhou, and even repelled the attack of the strong Qing army, thus holding some of the enemy troops for the Son of Heaven who was in the battle array, which was the most glorious period of Yu Guowang's military career so far, even more beautiful than when he was named Xinchangbo.

After some celebrations, Yu Guowang did not forget to continue to maintain a presence in the local area, which was the purpose of his visit, and the only thing he could do for the Son of Heaven who gave him the title.

However, after the Qing army made a comeback, the "Spanish phalanx" that had surprised Yu Guowang and the Ming army in Taizhou became as fragile as papyrus under the attack of the Qing army after changing tactics.

It was still that battlefield, and when the Qing army approached, they brought out a door tiger squat cannon hidden in the array. At that moment, after discovering the intentions of the Qing army. The Ming army under Yu Guowang was almost stunned for a moment, then fell into fear and could not extricate themselves, and then began to retreat unconsciously, and even those officers forgot their mission.

As the cannon sounded, the flames spit out by the tiger squat cannon swept away towards the Ming army's front with iron sand and stones. After an instant, the shield bearers in the first row of Yu Guowang's Spanish phalanx were almost swept away. Even the pikemen who approached were somewhat hit by such primitive shotshots.

In fact, there were not many people who were really killed on the spot, or who were worried about their lives, and more Ming soldiers only suffered limited flesh wounds. However, the flames, gunsmoke, and ensuing casualties from the artillery still shattered the Taizhou Ming army, which was not a strong soldier before, in an instant.

Fear tore at the will of Yu Guowang's Ming army like a demon, and those hand-to-hand infantry who had been only vassals in the army a few months ago, and even until that moment, were immediately crushed by fear, and they threw down their blades and turned around and fled screaming. And those bird-strickmen who were regarded as elite in Yu Guowang's army could not stop the rush of these routs at all, and were even coerced into fleeing.

In this way, the Spanish phalanx, which had been training for several months and had shown great combat ability in the competition and the first encounter with the Qing army, was completely torn apart after the Tiger Squat cannon was loaded, ignited, and fired.

Riding on a warhorse. Yu Guowang was stunned as the soldiers in the front row screamed and fled, even to the point that he couldn't care about the direction. Fear spread, and the entire battle array was like ink-soaked white paper, rapidly dyeing black from the front line until the entire battle array was scattered.

The Chinese army's front was shattered in an instant, and the Qing troops on both flanks also launched a fierce attack, Yu Guowang, who was still in disbelief, watched Jintang's flag being cut down, and watched Gao Yiqing lead his own soldiers to launch a decisive counterattack against the Qing army, but his ears were full of fearful screams.

In the midst of a blur. He was taken away from the battlefield by his soldiers, and then gathered the surviving remnants and returned to Tiantai Mountain. But this scene always echoed in Yu Guowang's mind. Exceptionally clear. And those questions that stirred deep in his heart also haunted him until now.

"Why, why is this happening?!"

Chen Wen could understand Yu Guowang's confusion and incomprehension, and even when he first heard that Yu Guowang's troops were easily defeated by the Qing army, he also had such a question, after all, it was a Spanish phalanx, even if it was only a phased product. But it was regarded by countless people in the network of later generations as a weapon that could easily crush the feudal army, how could it be so easy to be defeated by the green battalion, and not an elite green battalion?

But when you think about it, it's normal. The Spanish phalanx was strong, but it was only a battle formation. It can even be said that it is just a relatively strong shell, and the most important thing is those things inside. For example, a high degree of discipline, reasonable training, command such as an arm's command, and the most important team spirit are the soul of the Spanish phalanx and even the modern army phalanx in later generations.

However, Yu Guowang's army was essentially a feudal army that ate empty salaries, drank soldiers' blood to support his family, and was a pro-soldier: the system of large and small systems and soldiers as generals threatened the implementation of military discipline and the implementation of command; The exploitation and enslavement of non-commissioned officers by officers, and the difference in rank and treatment between pro-soldiers and ordinary soldiers, seriously affected the unity within the army, resulting in extremely serious damage to team spirit.

If the soul is weak, then the strongest shell is only a façade. Once the spirit breaks down, the body will also disintegrate and shatter, and it is naturally nothing new to be defeated by other tactics used by the same feudal army.

It's just that how to explain it to Yu Guowang......

"You know, the ancestor of the last general was a general of the Chinese army under the command of King Qiyang, and he was a Yu Ding during the reign of Mu Zong, and he was a businessman. At the beginning, the shopkeeper, shopkeeper, and account office in my family were all promoted by my fellows according to their performance over the years, and each level of promotion could increase the salary, and even own shares to pass on to children and grandchildren. Therefore, everyone in the shop worked hard to operate, and my family was even very rich. ”

Since then, as the number of shops has increased, it has also begun to spread far and near, due to the problem of the road. In some shops that are not convenient for supervision, there is cronyism among shopkeepers, so that the men see that there is no way to be promoted, and they no longer do their best; The phenomenon of colluding with the bookkeepers, customers, and the government to make profits from it has led to a lot of losses. Later, my family was forced to close some of the shops and reduce the scope of business in order to strengthen supervision and management. Reduce losses. ”

Yu Guowang has heard more or less about Chen Wen's fabricated life experience, but he doesn't understand what this has to do with the recurrence of the war in Taizhou.

"In the eyes of the last general, the same is true of things in the army."

For example, in the Tang Dynasty, the initial routine military system swept away the heroes at the end of the Sui Dynasty, and then destroyed the Turks, leveled Goguryeo, and swept the Western Regions. At that time, the Tang army except for the iron cavalry that rushed to the desert. More were foot soldiers with spears in hand, charging in the rain of Tartar arrows. ”

"In the era of Gaozong and Wuhou, land annexation was serious, the Juntian system was destroyed, and the status of the government soldiers became lower and lower, and the society was ashamed of becoming government soldiers. By the Kaiyuan and Tianbao periods, the military system collapsed to an extent beyond measure, and Xuanzong had to recruit troops as the main force of the Tang army. ”

"Since Xerne. The festival envoy began to prevail in a situation where the quality of the soldiers was on a downward trend. Commanders at all levels can only be skilled in combat warriors as the main force, and these warriors have gradually formed personal relationships with the main generals in order to improve their salary. As a result, only the generals in the army knew that there was a commander but did not know that there was a son of heaven, and then the Anshi Rebellion broke out, and the Tang Dynasty went into decline and even disappeared. ”

"It's like a dynasty. From the self-defense station to the recruitment of troops, the main force of the battle has also changed from an infantry battle formation with pikemen as the main body to an infantry system with personal soldiers and family members as the backbone, and ordinary soldiers as vassals. ”

"Since the Liao Incident, the soldiers of the Eastern Captives have gained more combat experience in the process of annexing the Jurchen and Mongol tribes. However, the dynasty could only rely on a small number of personal soldiers and family members to fight, and was always in a situation of fighting more with less. Coupled with the system of civilian officials leading troops, the system of large and small, and the system of soldiers as generals, it has been defeated again and again until today. ”

"In the army before you, there were no exceptions to the bad habits of having soldiers, controlling the size of soldiers, and eating empty pay and drinking the blood of soldiers to support their families. It's just that the cavalry who eats empty salaries and drinks the blood of soldiers is changed to a fire-raising gunner, which is no different in nature, and it can even be said that the effect is even worse, because today's firearms technology is simply not enough to complete the main killing on the battlefield, and those car and artillery battalions when Sun Ge Lao trained the Guanning Army are the most obvious examples. ”

"To get back to the point, it's understandable that in your army, the bird-to-gun is treated better, and the same is true in Taixi, but you are based on the exploitation and enslavement of ordinary hand-to-hand infantry, plus the existence of ordinary soldiers as the private soldiers of generals at all levels, the cohesion of the battle formation can't be played much at all."

"On the battlefield, there is no cohesion between the hand-to-hand infantry, and they have to face the Tartar soldiers together, while the better treated bird gunners only need to stand in the back and shoot. If you want to be a meat shield and be exploited and enslaved, how much will can you have to fight? ”

"This ......"

Chen Wen's rhetorical question stunned Yu Guowang for a moment, he never thought that there was a problem with the system, because the civilian officials and commanders who led the army from the end of the Ming Dynasty to the present have not tried to change the military system. Most of them are like Yu Guowang who can't even think of this, and even if the rest can take this into account, they will never dare to offend their colleagues in order to test whether it is effective.

Yu Guowang clearly remembered that Chen Wen had previously disdained the old system in his army, and even privately suggested that the financial and military rights should be withdrawn. But at that time, because these officers had followed him for many years, he didn't want to do things in an end, and he was afraid that these officers who had lost their military power would surrender, so he had to politely refuse, and Chen Wen also turned to practice the Spanish phalanx with peace of mind.

"The reason why the last general taught you the Spanish phalanx is to rely on its dense formation to fight against the relatively loose formation composed of the front row of sharp men in the current Tartar army, and to achieve the advantage of fighting more and fighting less in the local battlefield."

"But the formation is just a formation, in the face of firearms, a weapon that can't even carry a shield, then you can only rely on the soldiers' will to fight, and then pounce on it to tear the opponent apart, in order to achieve victory, just like the last general's Nantang battalion did before. Otherwise, no matter how powerful the formation is, the soldiers' will is not firm enough, and they will never be able to exert their due power. ”

"So, how to improve the soldiers' will to fight?"

………………

Half an hour later, Chen Wen sent away the depressed Yu Guowang, the theory of the modern army and the current tradition are very different, he just chatted casually about the development of the Nantang battalion, and did not say too many sensational arguments, but these are still a little difficult for Yu Guowang to understand.

After settling Yu Guowang well, Chen Wen continued to rush to Hulu Town. By the time Chen Wen arrived, the personnel of the old camp and the people accompanying him had already arrived, and even the rearguard troops had arrived a few hours before his arrival.

But when he saw Wu Dengke and Li Ruixin, he was led to a remote military tent by these two without consolation. Immediately after entering the tent, the two fell to their knees and confessed to the death penalty.

"Dashuai, the last general is incompetent, and he has lost Governor Wang." (To be continued.) )