To the sound of rumbling drums, more than a thousand heavily armored foot soldiers strode forward.

Zhao Quanbin's Spanish phalanx consisted of fifty or sixty people in a horizontal column, all of which were iron spearmen and halberders, and only the first or two columns of each horizontal column held square shields to resist the damage of the opponent's bows and arrows and throwing weapons.

Under the premise that there is no way to completely suppress the archers with the firepower output of their own side, an appropriate phalanx change is a must.

The depth of each battalion's phalanx is 20 columns, and if you want to give full play to the power of the firecrackers, when you are really fighting, the horizontal columns can be lengthened, and according to the situation of the battlefield, there is no problem in adding more than a dozen columns.

The largest drill of the Pingyu Army was a cavalry battalion, twelve infantry battalions, and two artillery battalions together.

As soon as the number of people crossed 10,000, there were already more than 30,000 people in the fifteen battalions plus the baggage auxiliaries, and of course the school field could not accommodate it, so it was carried out on the great plain at the south end of the barracks.

Of course, a lot of crops were trampled on, and later they made up for the damage according to the price.

The common people didn't have any complaints, one was to make up the money according to the price, and the other was to see a big bustle.

Because it was a formal exercise, the whole army wore red uniforms, big hats and leather boots, and marched with soldiers and drums.

That large-scale drill was a severe test for generals such as Zhu Cihong and Wei Yue, because the generals' command ability was high.

Han Xin's so-called how many soldiers someone can generalize, Liu Bang can command 100,000 soldiers, and he himself is as many as possible, just these conversations, insiders know that Han Xin has a true meaning.

In the era of cold weapons, communications and logistics, the average general can directly command 3,500 people, even if he is a good general, can command an army of tens of thousands of people, and can also solve a series of problems such as logistics supply and communications...... This set of things, just reading the military book is useless, if you don't fight a few decent large-scale battles, if you don't roll in the camp for many years, when the matter comes, you will be blind.

During the joint exercise, Zhu Cihong went into battle by himself, the entire staff department followed, and a large group of experienced generals helped to help the exercise, so that the drill was finally supported, and the hundreds of thousands of people who visited it did not make jokes in their eyes.

As a result, the pace of backward firing has been well trained, and at the same time, many middle- and lower-level generals and low-level military attaches and sergeants have been greatly trained.

The most important thing in the Spanish phalanx is the flexible and mobile command, and the experienced and very good veterans and commanders, without which they are basically useless.

It was so troublesome that some people in the army were quite dissatisfied.

Daming has its own Qi Shaobao, and now it can be regarded as a foot soldier, why use the formation of the Taixi people?

You know, there are really not many people in Daming who take Taixi in their eyes. The thousand-year-old empire has been strong and prosperous to this day, and the people of this nation have their own pride and self-confidence.

How many countries and how many nationalities are there in the whole of Asia, and which one has been strong for thousands of years like China?

Although the weak Song Dynasty was bullied enough, and the Mongols lost the country, it was a matter of the weak Song Dynasty, and it was not related to the Ming Dynasty.

Since the Ming Taizu drove away the Mongols with a three-foot sword, the confidence in foreign races, the confidence in Chinese civilization and force has returned to the hearts of the entire nation, and the Taixi people have been defeated by the Ming Dynasty many times.

These people are not the opponents of the Ming Dynasty, why should they learn their formations?

Wouldn't it be better to be an upright teacher to beg the thieves to destroy the Eastern Captives?

Qi Jiguang's afterglow is still there, many people in the army are Qi Shaobao's followers, and it can even be said that there are not a few who grew up watching Qi Shaobao's military books.

But there is no way, Qi Jiguang is a genius general, a rare combination of handsome and general. In terms of generals, he can invent and drill practical small formations, the battle loss ratio between the Ming army and the Japanese is really amazing, from weapons to cooperation, and even the rationing of the gangsters, Qi Jiguang is all clear, such a skill is already beyond the reach of ordinary people.

As for the commander of Jimen, he commanded 100,000 soldiers, invented the car formation, repaired the city and the enemy, how many years in Jizhen, how many years did the Mongols stop, although not like Li Chengliang, there were many people who turned their heads in, but who dares to deny that Qi Jiguang played a role in fixing the sea when he was in Jizhen?

Such a person is naturally handsome.

His training strategy was not allowed, and it was really not allowed by the conditions at the time, otherwise, the Beijing camp would really be retrained and reorganized as Qi Jiguang planned, and I am afraid that history would be different.

Qi Jiguang's omnipotence is not something that ordinary people can learn, but with the current situation of the Ming army, it is necessary to train a strong army that can use serious Ming army tactics and defeat the Qing army in a dignified manner...... Zhu Cihong has a very pessimistic attitude.

Li Zicheng's main force is strong enough, not to mention a stone, the Qing army is a sudden attack, but in the battle of Tongguan, Li Zicheng mobilized most of the main force, and Duoduo fought a vicious battle, relying on the geographical advantages of Tongguan still failed many times, whether it was outflanking or raiding, it ended in failure.

Such a battle-hardened commander has rich combat experience, and all the generals under his command are experienced in a hundred battles, and his subordinates are also embers of a hundred battles, what is the result?

There are ready-made examples, even if Zhu Cihong himself raised himself to the level of Li Dingguo, but Duoduo is not Nikan, and the current Eight Banners cannot be compared with the Eight Banners in more than ten years!

"Zhang Quanbin, this guy, the training is not bad!"

Zhu Cihong, who had been watching the confrontation of the battalion phalanx immediately, finally nodded slowly and said to Wei Yue and the others: "I don't think Cao Qing can withstand it twice." ”

Now Zhang Quanbin's front of the firecracker has been constantly casting firearms, and it doesn't take too much arm strength to launch firearms, and it is very rare to put dozens of shots after a battle, and now the archers on the opposite side have all retreated, and the firecrackers in the two corners of the column are constantly pressuring, and the firecrackles in their hands to chase after those retreating archers.

According to past experience, when the heavily armored infantry rushed up after a while, they would be judged to have suffered serious losses within the range of about fifty or sixty paces.

Even if the morale is high and the generals are strong, when the losses are as high as more than 30%, how much can the remaining heavily armored pikemen do, or whether it is possible to break through the horizontal formation of twenty columns composed of spearmen and iron halberders, it is naturally needless to say.

"Your Highness, you still need to see it again."

As soon as Zhu Cihong said this, Li Gong, as the chief official of Cao Qing, naturally jumped out to fight the grievances. But Feng Kaizhang smiled on the side and said: "The victory and defeat have been decided, Your Highness, the speed of the fire hammer is getting faster and faster!" ”

Wei Yue, who had been silent, also nodded and said, "Indeed, I see that the firecracker is becoming more and more proficient. Driving away the archers can be suppressed by fire all the time, even considering that the East Captives have some artillery, but it is not too threatening. As for these heavily armored pikemen, they have been pressed and beaten by the musketeers all the time, and I think they are also hanging. ”

The fire gun is still fired by the arquebus, but the ignition powder and projectile are ordered, and the loading is much faster. As soon as these musketeers retreated, they cleaned the chamber with a strip, then loaded the gunpowder, loaded the projectile, and then strode forward, aiming, firing, the whole action was skillful and methodical, although the speed of firing could not be compared with that of a Taixi military attache like Gordon, but it was not much different.

This kind of circular shooting can ensure that the fire suppression of the entire array does not stop, what is needed is the calmness and skill of the firecracker, of course, what is more important is the maintenance of the gap between the formations, the control of the marching speed, the platoon control of the entire horizontal formation, etc., if you walk dozens of steps and it will be chaotic, this fancy and practical tactic will be useless.

Compared with the three-stage attack that the Ming army had long learned, this method of cyclic counterattack was more complex and advanced.

Because of this, the firepower exerted by the horizontal formation is excellent, and for those heavily armored pikemen who can't move quickly, it is one thing to be hit by the fire guns indiscriminately and without gaps for a long time, and the loss of personnel is another, and the huge psychological pressure is another.

If you really get to the battlefield, the real guns of the guns are whistling in your ears, and there are people around you who are falling, and blood is overflowing, and I am afraid that there are few people who can stick to it.

"Your Highness, the self-generated musket has also been made, and in a few months, I'm afraid it will be able to be reloaded."

Taking advantage of this little bit of leisure, Wang Yuan grinned at Zhu Cihong and said, "I heard that there is a short-handled self-generated musket, which is specially used for our cavalry battalion?" ”

"Well, that's what I said."

Zhu Cihong nodded and smiled: "It is too difficult for cavalry to use arquebuses, and it is too troublesome to ignite the charge on the horse." There is no need to ignite the torch when the firearm is released, pull the hammer, and when it is pulled, it will first cut off the installed powder cap, and then the fire hammer will hit the spark to lead the propellant...... Three shots from a self-generated musket can only be fired with one fire with an arquebus. ”

The self-made firearm is the flintlock pistol, which was installed in Europe for about 30 years at that time, and has already had a prototype in China during the Wanli period, and now the production of the Firearms Bureau is not an epoch-making high-tech, but there are some subtle changes in the loading and aiming of the ammunition, and the process is of course excellence, and the production is produced by assembly line operations to ensure quality.

However, Zhu Cihong has no plans to change equipment on a large scale for the time being, the technology of the flintlock pistol is really difficult to improve in the short term, the success rate of firing is not high, and it cannot be ignited at the moment of emergency...... However, it should be a good choice to equip a few battalions as an emergency firepower in a critical moment.

(To be continued)