There are many reasons that affect morale.

Some soldiers are homesick, and it has been almost April since they left home at the end of last year, which has lasted nearly half a year, and it is understandable to be homesick in a foreign country.

However, when they were in Nanjing, these soldiers often only had the opportunity to return home at the end of the year, and it stands to reason that half a year would not make them feel homesick.

Some soldiers were worried that they would not be able to return home alive, although Yang Chao's more than 600 soldiers had less than 40 casualties in the battle with the captives, which was less than 10%, but no one wanted to be that one.

There is a very cruel punishment in the West, called the 11th Whip Order, for the whole army that made a mistake, it was decided by lot, and one out of ten people was selected to kill, this kind of punishment was considered the most cruel, under this kind of punishment, the soldiers were extremely afraid of military law.

Therefore, it is a very terrible thing for an army to be able to withstand 10% casualties, and it can generally only be endured under very special circumstances.

Yang Chao's army suffered nearly 10% casualties, and the soldiers were understandably worried that they would die.

There are also soldiers who are worried that if they die, their families will be afraid in the future, and their parents will have no one to support.

Yang Chao's military salary has always been the most satisfying thing for soldiers, never in arrears, and it is paid in full every time, so these people come to be soldiers for military salaries, and any patriotic spirit and service to the country are all false, and no one believes them when they say it.

After Yang Chao learned of the soldier's concern, he finally understood that all the problems were still worries about the future.

Worrying that you won't be able to live, there is indeed a fear of death, but there is also a fear that your relatives will not be supported in the future.

To sum up, the root cause of morale problems is that soldiers see no hope, feel uncertain about the future, and fear of death.

Come to think of it. Yang Chao felt that the soldiers' spirits should be relieved and that they would have no worries.

Tell the soldiers, the dead soldiers. You can get a generous pension, a hundred taels for small soldiers. The team is two hundred, the flag is three hundred, and the total is five hundred taels, which is enough to support their parents.

Yang Chao quickly informed the officers of these pension standards and asked them to convey them to the soldiers.

The most important thing is to make sure that the soldiers have a clear hope that they can return alive.

The soldiers should be told that they can go home, at least most of them. And will go home soon.

Therefore, Yang Chao immediately summoned all the soldiers to give a lecture.

"Brothers! I know that everyone is homesick, and I, Yang Chao, are also homesick. But why are we here? Because of the Eastern Tartars, they rode horses and ran to our Ming Dynasty, they burned and looted all kinds of evil, they killed our Ming people, robbed our Ming gold and silver property, and also arrested our Ming men back as slaves, and captured our women back as maids. If we don't come to Haizhou, they will go to Nanjing to rob and kill, so the imperial court sent us to King Qin. ”

Yang Chaoxiao is righteous. But seeing that the effect is not good, half a year has already exhausted the soldiers' spirits, and it is true that two days ago they were still enthusiastic and dared to charge at the captives. But it doesn't prevent them from being depressed today, and besides, even the people who read poetry and books don't have any national righteousness, let alone these military households from the bottom of society, the country treats them badly, don't expect them to be loyal to the country, power and obligation are mutual, and when the country is ruined, the vast majority of the scholars who are tolerant of the court will surrender, not to mention these military households who are usually just struggling to survive.

See this happens. Yang Chao immediately shouted loudly: "Brothers, are you afraid of Tartars? Are you a seed? ”

After asking. Looking at Zhao Kang and the other soldiers, Zhao Kang immediately shouted: "Don't be afraid." We are not a seed. ”

Yang Chao continued: "Yes, you are not a bad seed, you are all heroes. Just the day before yesterday, I saw you, the same you, with a broken spear, and dared to charge at the captives and cavalry. Is there still such a hero in this world? It's just you! ”

The praise finally gave the soldiers a little sense of honor, and the thought of their brave behavior three days ago slowly stirred up.

But suddenly Yang Chao's tone changed: "I know that you are all heroes, and you are not afraid of Tartars." It's just that you miss home, you miss your parents. I also miss home and my parents. But now it's not that I don't want to take you home, it's that there's a bunch of robbers in the north, and it's they who won't let us go home! ”

Yang Chao changed his tone again and became excited: "They won't let us go home!" Brothers, they are cavalry, we are infantry, they are now lying next to us like vicious dogs, and as soon as we go, they will come up and bite us, and they will not stop until they bite us off a piece of meat. ”

After a pause, Yang Chao asked: "Brothers, you say, these Tartars are here, how do we go?" ”

"Kill them!"

Zhao Kang took the lead in shouting.

"Kill them all!"

The others shouted.

"Yes, kill all the Tartars, kill all the Tartars to go home!"

Yang Chao shouted loudly.

"Kill the Tartars and go home! Kill the Tartars and go home! ”

Yang Chao shouted slogans, the whole army shouted, emotions stirred, and morale was completely mobilized.

Take advantage of this opportunity to attack immediately!

Yang Chao made a quick decision.

"All officers and soldiers, leave the camp immediately and line up in a long formation! In the last battle, kill all the Tartars and go home immediately! ”

Soon, the soldiers with high morale were led by their respective officers to go out of the camp one by one.

The soldier was emotional, but Yang Chao was calm, and found that his ability to agitate was good, probably learned during the debate in college, sometimes the logic is not dominant, and he has to use his feelings to mess around, Yang Chao is proficient in this kind of scoundrel play.

At this time, the soldiers were very excited, looking at the captives to the north, and they hated to choose people to devour, and these Tartars had become the devil who prevented them from returning home.

But Yang Chao was very calm, and did not immediately let the soldiers charge, but began to set up the formation.

It was arranged in three phalanxes, with thirty shield chariots in the first row, thirty bird-bearers in the second row, thirty archers in the third row, spearmen in the fourth row, and fifteen sword and shield men on each side.

One phalanx of 150 people, three phalanxes of more than 400 people, the three phalanxes finished in a zigzag to advance, supporting each other and covering each other.

"Stand still!"

Everyone is stepping on the ground.

"Shout the password!"

"One-two, one-two!"

Each soldier shouted the command, stepped left and right, and soon more than 400 people formed a step point, like a drumstick beating the ground one by one.

Yang Chao's array attracted many people.

When he left the camp, the people in the warehouse area were excited, and they all knew that Lord Yang was going to fight Tartar again, so they ran out one after another, helping the old and the young to have a look.

The soldiers and civilians in Haizhou City also raised their heads, and even the people in the city also poured into the city, wanting to see how the Ming army who came to help killed the Tartars.

Even the governor of Haizhou got the news, and under the protection of his own group of family members, he personally stepped into the city to check.

Of course, the movement of Yang Chao's army could not hide from the eyes of the captives, and the captives also came out of the camp to assemble at this time.

Originally, there were more than 100 captives, and after collecting the remnants of the soldiers in the south, their number was still more than 100.

After the captives saw the Ming army out of the camp, they also put on a cavalry formation accordingly, as if they were planning to fight to the death.

However, the captives seem to have some scruples, and it is impossible not to let them worry about the experience of the annihilation of the captives in the south.

Therefore, they only set up in front of the camp, but they did not rush up immediately.

Yang Chao glanced coldly at the cavalry formation in front of the captive barracks.

There are still a lot of questions in my heart, and I can't understand what this captive soldier is still doing here, what motivates them to stay here, why they have to be entangled after losing so many people.

However, in the past few days, Yang Chao deliberately dragged this group of captives and secretly instigated them to attack, with the purpose of killing and injuring more.

Therefore, Yang Chao did not fire a single cannon in the past few days, otherwise the camp tent of the captives would not have existed at all, and it would have been flattened by artillery a long time ago.

As a result, Yang Chao stopped firing the artillery, and the captives probably thought that Yang Chao's ammunition was exhausted, so they came to harass him from time to time, and they didn't even move the camp tent, and they were still arranged near Yang Chao's camp.

Although he couldn't figure out the purpose of the captive, Yang Chao was very confident that after today's battle, he didn't need to think about the strange thoughts of this captive, because after today's battle, the captives would either flee or be killed, and their intentions would not make sense at all for the dead enemy.

After standing still for a quarter of an hour, Yang Chao shouted: "Let's go!" ”

His own soldiers moved first, and then the soldiers on both sides began to follow, walking slowly, slowly adjusting, and after more than ten steps, it was a neat straight line again.

After the wall formation began to advance, the captives still did not move, and there was even a faint panic, many of the captives' horses neighed, and the captives tried to control the formation so that they did not mess up the formation.

The war horse is psychic, and the uneasiness of the war horse reflects the will of the captive.

The wall array had advanced twenty paces, and the captive camp was two hundred steps away from the warehouse, and the captives were only one hundred and eighty steps away from Yang Chao's army at this time.

The wall array had advanced thirty paces, and the distance was one hundred and seventy paces, and the captives finally moved.

Slowly press the horse's speed and move forward.

The two sides were only 150 paces apart by ten paces.

Yang Chao himself was not in the military formation, but in the big camp, Yang Chao promised that his own soldiers would not take risks, and this time he had to stay in the camp.

Therefore, after the military formation was dispatched, Yang Chao returned to the camp instead, but always paid attention to the battlefield situation.

Seeing that the most prominent phalanx of the zigzag military formation was already about one hundred and fifty steps away from the captives, Yang Chao suddenly ordered:

"Fire!"

The order quickly reached the ears of every gunner who had been in place for a long time......

Five general cannons and four golden furlong machines were ignited at the same time, and a puff of white smoke came out of the muzzle, and the blazing shells roared out of the barrels and roared towards the camp of the captives.

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Thank you for coming and seeing, hot readers, just like the monthly ticket voted by the brothers in the past!! (To be continued).