In the Ming Dynasty, at least in the eyes of these officers in Chen Wenjun's ancestors who once existed as members of the Qi family's army, it was basically a fantasy that they didn't even dare to imagine.

The reason for this is not only that Qi Jiguang and the Mandarin Duck Formation are as famous as that, but more importantly, the Ming army under Chen Wen has almost never been defeated in hand-to-hand combat since it became an army with the fine-tuned southern anti-Japanese and northern border Mandarin Duck formations.

The characteristics of the Mandarin Duck Formation, both offensive and defensive, made the Ming army under Chen Wen benefit a lot in hand-to-hand combat, but since the Qing army has begun to try to find a way to restrain the Mandarin Duck Formation, and has noticed the role of the wolf, then he needs to prepare for this in advance.

"Brother Wu, Brother Lou, the two of you have ancestors who have followed Qi Shaobao in your clan and even in your ancestors, and you have also sat in a position that is not low, so why Qi Shaobao invented the Mandarin Duck Array must be very clear, right?"

When Qi Jiguang was fighting against the Japanese in the south, the opponents he faced were the Japanese who used two-handed Japanese knives, bamboo guns, and bird guns. However, the Ming army was defeated by the guards, and the soldiers could not fight, and they often collapsed at the touch of a button in the face of the Japanese invaders.

The Mandarin Duck Formation has both offense and defense, and at the same time has formed a combat system in which the long and short soldiers intersect and cooperate with each other in the unit area, and the warriors who rely on the destruction of the battle are good at individual combat, and need space to wield weapons, so that a situation of fighting more and less will be formed on the battlefield, and even if the Japanese Kou who fight alone are brave, with one enemy two, five, or even twelve people, they are bound to die under the chaotic blade.

The reason why the Ming army under Chen Wen was able to suppress even the more experienced Qing army in hand-to-hand combat was because the Qing army was now in the same battle formation, relying on those so-called warriors to break the formation with personal bravery. As a result, there must be a gap between each soldier to facilitate the wielding of weapons, and the relatively dense battle formation of the Mandarin Duck Formation is the nemesis of such opponents.

Hearing Chen Wen's question, Wu Dengke and Lou Jiye nodded naturally, but they didn't say anything, but waited for what Chen Wen wanted to say next. Because they know it well. Chen Wen knew even more about that legendary army and that famous general than they did, but he didn't know where Chen Wen's knowledge came from.

"When Qi Shaobao was fighting against the Japanese in the south, he invented the Mandarin Duck Formation in view of the characteristics of the Japanese who were good at individual combat, and overwhelmed the enemy with all forces, so he was invincible. When it came time to go to the northern border, because the combat methods of the Mongol Tatars were completely different from those of the Japanese invaders, Qi Shaobao decided to use infantry battalions, horse battalions, vehicle artillery battalions and baggage battalions to form a multi-arm joint combat system, and the Mandarin Duck Formation also made corresponding changes, so it was still invincible. ”

Mid to late Ming Dynasty. The Mongols still fought in the same way as they did in the Yuan Empire, with light and heavy cavalry cooperating with each other, but they were far less clear than their ancestors. Under such circumstances, the Mongols faced by Qi Jiguang in Jizhen often used cavalry to destroy the formation, and then completely tore the formation apart with a large-scale cavalry charge, so as to achieve victory.

When the opponent's combat mode changes, the way of dealing with it will inevitably change, and this is extremely normal among soldiers in ancient and modern times, both in China and abroad. Qi Jiguang also responded. Qi Jiguang's artillery battalion and baggage battalion used side vans to protect the infantry behind the vehicles, and used firearms such as Furlong machines, tiger squat cannons, and bird guns to achieve killing. Then attack with the same massive use of firearms in cavalry, thus crushing the opponent.

Even if the car formation of the partial van is broken, the infantry behind the formation can also form an improved mandarin duck formation, relying on the firearms of the firearms team and the bows and arrows, javelins, guns, sticks and other weapons used by the mandarin duck array killer team to resist the attack of the Mongolian cavalry, and then the cavalry pushes back, so Qi Jiguang can often defeat tens of thousands of Mongolian cavalry with a few thousand people in Jizhen. Or even extermination.

"In the battle behind the Siming Mountain Palace, and in the subsequent battles, although the Tartars we faced formed a formation to attack and defend, if we wanted to destroy the battle, we still had to rely on those sharp soldiers with swords and shields. Since weapons require space, each soldier must be spaced apart. And this also gave the Mandarin Duck Formation a chance to fight more and less, just like when the Qi family army faced the Japanese invaders. ”

But in the battle of Xiaoshun Town a month ago, the Tartars had realized the power of the Mandarin Duck Array, and began to try to use spears to curb the effect of the wolf and the momentum of the attack of the soldiers in the array, and finally relied on the war of attrition to defeat the Wang Division. Although we won that battle, but the Mandarin Duck Formation is no longer as invincible as before, if it were not for the Nantang Battalion to accelerate the collapse of the Sifu Green Battalion with artillery approaching bombardment, the Yiwu Battalion may not be able to hold out until the Nantang Battalion broke the formation purely with infantry. ”

Hearing this, Wu Dengke immediately got up and knelt down, claiming that he was guilty of capital crimes. And Chen Wen didn't actually want to be held responsible, so he hurriedly helped him up and continued to say his words to everyone present.

"If during the Longqing period, Qi Shaobao's plan to ask the guards from all over the country to go to Jizhen for rotation training can be implemented, in the face of the Mandarin Duck Formation of millions of people in our Emperor Ming, only tens of thousands of men are not enough to build slaves. But there is no such thing as if. ”

"Today we can succeed by copying Qi Shaobao's successful experience, but Qi Shaobao is no longer there, when the Tartars found out and tried to copy or restrain Qi Shuai's law, then we must continue along this path and carry out deeper changes, only in this way can we move step by step towards the final victory."

Chen Wen's speeches or debates have always been more provocative and persuasive while presenting facts and reasoning, and many speeches in later generations have a similar pattern, for Chen Wen just listened too much and got used to it.

It's just that the facts and truths told by Chen Wen really aroused some thinking and resonance among the people present, so that the opposition in the next place was not as resolute as before. And Chen Wen's improvement of the Mandarin Duck Array is not thorough, at least the original Mandarin Duck Formation still needs to be reserved before the improved version achieves results.

"The improved Mandarin Duck Formation this time is temporarily limited to the three battalions of soldiers, and the killer teams of the Mandarin Duck Formation of each garrison unit remain unchanged. And one or two old versions of the Mandarin Duck Array Killer Team should also be kept in the four infantry teams at each outpost,"

Many of Chen Wen's garrisons needed to be stationed in cities or dangerous places in order to achieve actual military control. These armies that were not built for the purpose of flat terrain field warfare should have a better effect on using the old version of the Mandarin Duck Formation than the improved version, after all, the improved version is essentially used to strengthen the thickness and density of the battle formation, so as to gain an advantage in the war of attrition against the superior Qing army, rather than pursuing omnipotence like the old version of the Mandarin Duck Formation.

"Great Marshal, the pointed flat shoulder of the fireman?"

"Keep it up."

Hearing this, Lou Jiye couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, as if he had unloaded a thousand pounds of burden, while Wu Dengke just nodded, it seemed that he was already waiting for the next topic.

"There is no longer any objection to the problem of the Mandarin Duck Array Killer Team, so Ben Shuai will continue, and the next one is the firearms team."

In Chen Wen's original plan, the firearms teams belonging to the infantry units were all equipped with bird guns, but the caliber of the bird guns themselves was relatively small, and they still belonged to the category of light arquebuses, and the killing effect of the Qing army wearing cloth armor was far from as good as imagined, so Chen Wen planned to toss out something else, but it was still a little far away from equipping the troops, so he could only pay attention to it for the time being.

No one raised any objections to the matter of the firearms team, after all, the new equipment sounded more lethal, and they did not have a plot like the Mandarin Duck Formation for the Bird Gun, so it was quickly recorded by Gu Shouli. The next artillery and water battalions still need relevant officers to continue the discussion, so they are not within the scope of discussion, and only the cavalry still raises some questions.

In the process of returning to the division to rescue Yiwu County, Chen Wen once led the cavalry team to fight hand-to-hand with the cavalry of the Fubiao battalion, although he paid a certain number of casualties, and even his arm was injured, but the overall casualties were far less than that of the Qing army.

This is related to Chen Wen's previous battle plan, and Li Ruixin's long-term training is also indispensable, at least as far as Chen Wen knows, Li Ruixin has spared no effort in training cavalry, especially after the battle of Siming Mountain Palace, and even some family heirloom techniques are not stingy to teach, only the magic skill of archery with feet has not been passed on.

Chen Wen knows very well why Li Ruixin is so positive, and he can understand his feelings. It's just that after the last cavalry battle, Chen Wen felt that it would be more beneficial for the Ming army to fight with the Qing cavalry in a group of five or ten people, so it was better to simply organize the cavalry according to Qi Jiguang's horse battalion, and from the point of view, it was also to maintain the principle of the Mandarin Duck Formation to fight more and fight less. It's just that......

"Marshal, there is no objection to the method of forming a battalion cavalry team with Qi Shuai's law, but the number of firearms in our department is insufficient, and it is necessary to use them in the firearms team, and it is difficult for Qi Shaobao's cavalry establishment to be completed."

The problem raised by Li Ruixin does exist, and Chen Wen has also thought of a solution. "The bird cavalry in the cavalry has been canceled, and the cavalry team is organized according to the two horse teams on the left and right of the horse battalion, but the specific use of the three-eyed gun or the riding bow is to be determined."

The reason why it is to be determined is that in addition to Chen Wen not being very clear about the actual effect of the equipment in the new establishment, what is more important is that the serious shortage of materials and military supplies cannot be alleviated for the time being, at least if Chen Wen does nothing, the materials in his hands will be able to last until March at most, but this is far from enough.

"The issue of military quartermaster will be discussed with Governor Sun, so you don't need to worry too much. However, before the mass production of new equipment, the army continued to use the old equipment for training and operations, and the new equipment was also a priority for combat barracks, followed by various garrison units. ”

"The subordinate obeys."

After the end of the war, Sun Yu was completely devoted to the work of the Jinhua prefect, and the quartermaster was temporarily taken by Gu Shouli. Hearing Chen Wen's order, Gu Shouli hurriedly got up.

After Gu Shouli sat down again, Chen Wen continued: "Calling you here today, in addition to the problem of organization, there is another important matter. Our ministry has recovered the entire territory of Jinhua Mansion, and the commander thinks that the establishment of Jinhua Town and Jinhuawei has become imperative. (To be continued.) )