The Zhu Houzhao brothers originally wanted to take a look at Jin Datong Mansion, but news came from Jinyiwei that several tribes in the north had begun to move. The Zhu Houzhao brothers headed directly to their destination.

Datong Mansion is extremely prosperous, although the relationship between Daming and the north is very tense, and there is no official long-term mutual trade, but there are still many private caravans to trade north, which is the so-called smuggling. These private caravans are all the teams of big businessmen, and they all have the shadow of officialdom behind them, so there is no way to stop smuggling, and Datong needs a lot of materials, which also creates the prosperity of Datong.

The Zhu Houzhao brothers' troops did not play the banner, but the good military appearance, new military uniforms, and weapons attracted passers-by to stop and watch from afar, but no one knew which unit it was.

After arriving in Datong, Dong Qinghai met the military attache with the highest official rank in Datong as the army of the land and water battalion, guarding the general army, and then explained that this time it was the guards who came to protect the Qincha, they were the vanguard troops, and then they waited for the arrival of the Qincha in Datong City.

Today's departure from Datong City didn't attract much attention, because Zhang Shilang was still in Shuozhou, and the senior officials of Datong Town thought that the water and land camp was to protect Zhang Shilang, and this time they went out to meet Zhang Shilang. Anyway, the documents of the Ministry of War can't be faked, and as long as the Ming Dynasty transfers more than 100 troops, it will require higher-level documents.

The Zhu Houzhao brothers converged with the land and water camp brought by Dong Qinghai, and the group headed northeast. This time, the water and land battalion brought out a total of 800 people, in addition to the 10 people who escorted the horses back to the camp, a total of 790 people here, as well as 30 escorts and 10 brocade guards.

Dong Qinghai's group of people set off about 10 days later than Zhu Houzhao's brothers, because they wanted to bring over the things made in the military factory. First of all, it is a partial van. The partial van is not a new thing, it has existed in ancient times, and what is built now is only an improved version. There are iron devices at the front and back of the carriages, which can be hooked together by several cars to form a simple wall. The body is 4 meters long, 2 meters wide and 5 meters high, and both sides of the car are wrapped in a layer of about 3 cm of iron sheet on the outside of solid wood to prevent arrows. On one side there are 4 shooting holes, 50 cm long and 20 cm wide, through which fighters can shoot outward in the event of a battle. There is also a cover plate for the firing hole, which can be lowered to make the carriage fully enclosed.

The partial van car also adopts axles, four wheels, and spring suspension systems, which are conducive to the load and driving of the car. Because it was wrapped in iron sheets, the carriage weighed more than 500 catties, so it used 3 horse-drawn carriages. 2,000 pounds of goods can be placed on it.

The military factory worked overtime to bring a total of 800 muskets, as well as 1,200 spare barrels, which could be disassembled and assembled in the event of a problem with the barrel.

This time, there were a total of 30 partial vans, which carried the cold weapons used to build the Mandarin Duck Array, as well as 100,000 rounds of paper ammunition, and the rest were grain, grass, cooking utensils and other materials. These grains and grass can basically meet the needs of more than 800 people for a month.

The procession was divided into four columns with the guards at the front, and the soldiers of the land and water battalion stood in two columns behind, and all the carriages were in the middle of the land and water camp.

At night, the team camped directly in the field, and the main purpose of this trip to Zhu Houzhao brothers was to train troops and understand the situation at the border passes. No matter how well a soldier is trained, if he has never been on the battlefield or fought in actual combat, he will not become a real strong army.

The camp at night also made Zhu Houzhao's brothers depressed, especially Zhu Houwei. In the past, when I read books, once the troops were described in the field, they were usually encamped and briefly skipped. When I really wanted to set up camp by myself, I realized that there were too many things to consider.

First of all, how to arrange the tents, where the officers and soldiers sleep, where to place the materials to be safe, what should be the shape of the camp, whether it is round or square, what defensive facilities should be placed on the periphery of the camp, whether it is a fence or antlers, how to arrange the patrol personnel at night, how much torches, braziers and other lighting facilities should be placed, and so on.

These problems really made the brothers bigger, but fortunately, Zhu Houzhao spent some military books, and finally knew a rough idea, so he made a brief arrangement.

By the time everything was arranged, it was already past 9 o'clock in the evening, and it took more than 3 hours to settle the camp. In the big tent of the Chinese army, the exhausted Zhu Houwei said to Zhu Houzhao, who was also tired, "Marching and fighting is really not an easy job, and it is not as simple as it is written in the history books at all." The general only needs to give orders on how to attack and defend, and there are too many things to consider. Zhu Houzhao said with a smile, "The water and land battalion is a new army, everything is from scratch, and the soldiers have not been trained in these trivial matters." There are no real military talents in the army, so in the future, someone will be specially found to be responsible for these trivial matters, and it will be much easier to become a general in the future. ”

Zhu Houwei's eyes lit up: "It's better to have a staff system." Zhu Hou looked at his younger brother and asked, "What kind of staff system, you can tell me." ”

Zhu Houwei sat up straight, organized the language, and then said, "The staff officer mainly provides advice to the general, which is equivalent to the appearance of the ancient military advisor." Based on investigation, deduction, calculation, etc., the most suitable plan is formulated, and finally the army commander is given a choice. Staff officers do not lead, command the army, and have only the right to make suggestions to the commander, not the right to decide. Staff officers may have one staff officer at the level of the general flag, and one more at the level above. Zhu Houzhao thought for a while, "This is not bad, but there is no such official in the Ming military system, could it be that the water and land battalions set up this official position themselves?" Zhu Houwei smiled, "The staff officer only determines the responsibilities, as for the official position, it can be used in the military system, anyway, there should be an official position with similar functions." Zhu Houzhao nodded.

After a while, Dong Qinghai asked to see him. When they came in, the brothers found that he had brought 3 wooden boxes. Zhu Houzhao couldn't help asking, "What is this?" Dong Qinghai replied, "My lord, my subordinates don't know, it was Lao Tan who got to the barracks the day after the adults and His Royal Highness left, and said that he wanted me to hand it over to the two of them, but as for what it was, the subordinates didn't open it to check." ”

Zhu Houzhao was still a little puzzled, but Zhu Houwei smiled, "Yes, it's too timely, I will give Lao Tan and them a bonus when I go back." Zhu Hou glanced at him, "Do you know what it is?" Zhu Houwei smiled: "Don't you know when you open it?" ”

Zhu Houwei took a box, opened it, and smiled even more. I saw another copper tube inside, one large and one small, about 30 centimeters long, with lenses at both ends. There is also a fine pattern on the tube, which is a straight telescope. After Zhu Houwei picked it up, he walked to the door of the big tent, looked at it, and then nodded slightly, obviously very satisfied with this telescope.

At this time, Zhu Houzhao also held a telescope and watched at the door in the same way as Zhu Houwei. I was shocked at first glance, because the characters at about 200 meters can see the scenery clearly. Zhu Houzhao asked Zhu Houwei with a look of disbelief, "This" Zhu Houwei said with a smile, "The telescope can see distant objects clearly, as for how much effect it has, you must know it." It's been a few years, and finally got it out for them. Zhu Houzhao nodded, he did understand the role of this telescope, and at the same time, he also understood how important it was to be a craftsman in the lower society of the Ming Dynasty.

In the next few days of marching, the water and land battalions became a lot more proficient, and there was no problem with camping in the wilderness. This field camping training also made the two brothers discover many problems, the biggest problem is that there are no scouts, that is, the night in the Ming army. Without this class, you suddenly become like a blind person, and you have no way to understand the situation around you. But there is no way, if you don't collect at night, you have to ride a horse, and you have to learn some relevant knowledge, there is no such talent in the water and land battalions at present, so you can only slowly cultivate or dig people in other military camps in the future. Another is that we must establish a baggage battalion, and now the more than 30 people who are driving the car are all soldiers of the water and land battalions, and it is undoubtedly a waste of talent to let these soldiers who have undergone a lot of training go to catch the car, and the cooking class must also be re-established, and a cooking class must be configured to achieve a general flag (about 50 people, three small flags).

The team travels 30 kilometers a day, which is already very fast for the land and water battalion that walks all the way. After 3 days of marching, the soldiers of the land and water battalion had nothing, but the guards who came to protect the two highnesses were unbearable. The Zhu Houzhao brothers had an intuitive impression of these men from Beijing, all with big shoulders and round waists.

On the 6th day, the army finally arrived at their destination this time, Cat's Ear Fort.

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