After intense preparations, the entire army front pressed forward.

Different from the excellent baggage and auxiliary system of the Heping Army, Shandong Town and Xu Town are mainly based on a large number of people, and when the war is approaching, Zhu Dadian uses the governor's seal to write to various prefectures and prefectures, and urgently recruits and recruits people to listen to them.

At present, there are less than 20,000 soldiers on the front line in Jinan and Dezhou, but the number of requisitioned soldiers is more than 100,000.

The ancients marched and fought wars, claiming to be millions and hundreds of thousands, but in fact, the more people were mobilized, the greater the number and water used for logistical support.

"Quan Bin, you see, it's the same as an ant colony?"

When the army crossed the plain and Texas was in sight, the whole road became more and more crowded, and a large number of officers and soldiers and civilians were crowded together, crowded and pushed each other, and if you stood on a high place and watched, it was really like an ant colony.

This kind of caustic evaluation is not appropriate for friendly forces, that is, a brainless person like Cao Qing blurts out.

Zhang Quanbin just shook his head lightly and did not answer.

The mobilization and involvement of the Ming army this time was a rare big scene after the battle between Zhu Xianzhen and Songshan in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen.

Sun Chuanting's last battle in Henan cannot be discussed, and the people of insight in the court and Sun Chuanting himself know that there is a situation of defeat and no victory, and there is no chance at all.

In the current battle, the morale of the whole army is high, and there is a strong confidence in defeating the enemy.

You must know that the enemy on the opposite side is the Jurchen Eight Banners, and recalling the fact that the Ming army has no wild victory over the Eight Banners from the Wanli period, you can also know how hard it is to come by this high morale in front of you.

This is also due to the attack of Zhu Dayou, the governor of Shandong sent by Shandong Town and the Qing court in the past six months. Obviously, Zhu Dayou, a former Ming bureaucrat, is too unproductive, and like Ke Someone, the chief soldier of Jiaodong, he has become the target of the training of colleagues in Shandong Town.

After more than half a year, the same fight was braided soldiers, but it boosted the morale of Shandong Town.

Moreover, many of the main predecessors of Shandong Town are thieves from the Shun Army, and the more they have contact with the Eastern Captives, such as the Ming army in Liaozhen and Jizhen, they may be more afraid.

For example, a thief like Shunjun has always been the lowest person who comes out with a knife to find a way to survive, and his social status and income are far worse than that of the border army in Liaozhen.

As the saying goes, those who are barefoot are not afraid to wear shoes, at least here in Shandong Town, due to the material supplement of the crown prince and the support of moral public opinion, the morale of the entire military town is high, and the number of Ming troops opposite Linqing is not much, and the momentum is very strong.

In any case, these Ming officers and soldiers with high morale in front of them are about what Emperor Chongzhen imagined in his heart when he transferred troops and dispatched generals.

If it is expressed by a cartoon, the image of the former Ming army in the hearts of themselves and the people is that of beggars and thieves.

In the emperor's heart, he is a strong tiger.

In the minds of the enemy, it is a pile of moving armor and weapons.

The situation now is completely different from back then.

"The two standards are good!"

When the two were observing, a young officer rode over, because this officer and the attaché were both in the military uniform of the Pingyu Army, so Zhang Quanbin and Cao Qing's guards did not step forward to stop them, and when the young officer arrived closer, jumped off the horse, snapped on his left chest, and then clenched his fist straight out, and saluted a beautiful military salute, before greeting the two standards with a smile.

"Bai Wenlu, is it you kid?"

Cao Qing's eyes lit up, he stepped forward and hit the young officer's chest hard, hitting the other party backwards, and then showed a wry smile on his face.

"Cao Biaotong, now he is just a team officer, so he can only be bullied by you."

The young officer who was beaten was a silver star, two stars worse than Cao Qing and Zhang Quanbin, and should be the position of an deputy battalion officer and team officer, according to the system of the Ming army, it should be a garrison commander.

Obviously, this is a well-dressed person, the crimson military uniform is very clean, the medals on the chest are placed just right, and the copper buttons are shiny together.

The artillery emblem on the cuffs is the obvious mark of the artillery battalion officer, the navy blue breeches are washed clean and straight, and the most striking thing is the black leather boots on the feet.

"You kid, dare to hurt Lao Tzu?" Listening to the other party's words, Cao Qing's eyes widened, and he shouted: "We don't care about our official position, just talk about the amount of alcohol, are you a kid?" ”

"Hey, hey, no."

When Cao Qing was the battalion officer, this Bai Wenlu was the officer under his command, and he was born in Nanjing's Beijing camp.

Later, Bai Wenlu was ordered to be transferred to the artillery battalion, and when he met Cao Qing again at this time, the other party had already been promoted to the standard.

This time it's a long way off, and it's no wonder that this kid is a little sour.

"Without the permission of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, you Cao Qing dare to drink?"

Bai Wenlu softened, but Zhang Quanbin didn't let go of Cao Qing, and said with a straight face: "You take a sip and try it?" At the moment of the great enemy, His Royal Highness relies on it deeply, you kid dare to drink? ”

Rao is Cao Qing's temper like firecrackers, and at this time, he was also out of line, so he only said with a cold face: "Listen to His Royal Highness the Prince, it's not a shame to give him a soft old man...... On the way to Tianjin, I was stabbed off my horse, and His Royal Highness turned around and carried me up, turned around and threw it to others...... If it weren't for Your Highness, I don't know where I would have turned into dry bones. ”

Zhang Quanbin said coldly: "You have said this a hundred times. ”

"Like, even I can hear the calluses in my ears."

"It doesn't matter how many times, it's in my heart anyway." Cao Qing said with great emotion: "Even if His Highness didn't save my life, anyway, Lao Cao's eight and a half catties are for His Highness." Since His Royal Highness said that he would fight Dongyu and recover Liaoyang all the way, my heart has been hot. When I came out of Yanjing, I saw Wei Xun die in His Highness's arms, and when I saw His Highness's expression, I couldn't wait to cut down all those bastards. Anyway, our old Cao is with His Royal Highness in this life. ”

"You kid!" When these words came out, even Zhang Quanbin couldn't hold back, snorted, and said with a smile: "It's really a bad deal!" ”

"How much stronger are you than our old Cao, there are people in our capital camp, if it weren't for His Royal Highness, who would have any success."

After a few people gossiped like this, Cao Qingcai suddenly remembered and asked Bai Wenlu, "Why are you here?" I remember that the Henan battlefield was equipped with an artillery battalion, and when I came over, I was running into an artillery battalion, and the 12-pounder cannon that opened the way was a water cannon, but I envied Lao Tzu. ”

There are three artillery battalions in total, and it takes a lot of effort to get an old nose.

The bronze used to cast the cannon alone cost an unimaginable amount of money. At that time, the Ming army also had field artillery, but the casting process was generally not up to par, the three-pound cannon was a very small cannon, and the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty had to cast five or six hundred catties, and the six-pounder cannon had to weigh hundreds of catties and thousands of catties.

With such a small artillery and such a large weight, it is really inconvenient to use it for field battles. When the artillery team is in place, I'm afraid the daylily will be cold.

Historical recordsChuang Camp also has its own cannon casting craftsmen, and it seems that artillery was also used in the attack on Kaifeng, but the level of cannon casting in Chuang Camp is probably much worse than that of the Ming army, anyway, the effect is limited, if you can cast a large-caliber qualified artillery, Li Zicheng will not have to be able to defeat Kaifeng City four times.

As for the artillery of the Qing army, Kong Youde took the experience from Sun Yuanhua, and the thieves originally planned to take away this cannon master, but later Sun Yuanhua insisted on not surrendering, but the rebels slaughtered Denglai, and they never attacked Sun Yuanhua.

This can be regarded as a kind of respect for senior engineers by soldiers, but Chongzhen definitely does not have this awareness, Sun Yuanhua escaped his surname in the hands of Kong Youde, and when he arrived in Yanjing, he was asked for his head.

The level of artillery casting in the Ming army is not good, and the Qing army is also the eldest brother, not to mention the second brother. When John Tang was in Yanjing, all he cast was five or six thousand catties of Hongyi cannons used to defend the city, and the power was enough, but it was a fool's dream to use it for field warfare. With a weight of five or six thousand catties, it is not easy to drag it in future generations, let alone the current level of transportation.

The artillery of the Ming army, which could be moved, was all on the gun compartment car, which was stupid and difficult to transport, and it was difficult to use it in field battles.

The concept of the so-called vehicle artillery battalion can only be based on small firearms such as the cannon and the Franc machine.

The molten iron used in the Qingjiang camp to cast cannons is also difficult to qualify, and Zhu Cihong has nothing to do in this regard, after all, he is just a liberal arts student, and he knows more or less about the general things, but if he wants to use it in casting cannons and blast furnaces, it is beyond his ability.

Fortunately, molten iron is not good, copper is fine. Daming copper mining is no longer successful, and the copper used to cast cannons only needs to be placed at the highest priority level.

At that time, the Europeans also happened to be dominated by bronze cannons, and the water art of using bronze cannons was perfect, not to mention those specially trained missionaries, even ordinary officers and pirates also had a lot of research on cannon casting.

The hook-up with the Jesus-Société does have a necessary surname, but it is just the official hat of an astronomical priest and the promise of a free mission...... Now the Jesú Society has done its best, not only to send a large number of qualified personnel, but also to hear that there are plans to move the headquarters to China, but the situation in China has not yet been determined, so there is no conclusion.

In Macao, two companies of mercenaries were being formed, although Zhu Cihong repeatedly said that he did not need to, but these European forces in Nanyang were very accumulative, and this war in China had attracted the attention of all the countries that had entered the threshold of civilization at that time.

"The artillery battalion has been established for too short a time," Bai Wenlu, who is familiar with the inside story, did not hide Cao Qing's questions, and replied with a smile: "No matter how powerful those Taixi people are, they must have copper and craftsmen, and when the cannon body comes out, there must be a gun carriage roulette or something to build. ”

(To be continued)