In fact, when the sacrifice was over, Luo Ming had already sent almost half of his soldiers out - let them return to Meiquan to lead the troops.

Although the quality of Luo Ming's soldiers is good, not to mention this standing army of officers and non-commissioned officers, those soldiers who do compulsory military service are also veterans of the battlefield.

However, it is extremely difficult to select from among them those who are directly qualified to serve as middle and high-ranking officers.

This is not a tribal barbarian, an officer of the civilized world must be able to read a map, know how to calculate, and know all aspects of the army to be competent. Even if it is really a barbarian who leads the troops, there must be a staff officer by his side who understands this.

It would not be too much of a problem to pick out a small number of the best among the veterans to temporarily serve as junior non-commissioned officers such as captains, but the position of senior officers still had to be handed over to those who had previously served as officers.

Of course, in order to further train the ability of his officers, more than half of the people sent back by Luo Ming this time were selected by Luo Ming because of their outstanding performance in the previous marching and training, and they were temporarily promoted by half a level.

From the captain to the squad leader, from the squad leader to the squadron deputy, the original squadron deputy was temporarily turned into a regular ......

Although this can only be regarded as a qualification, it is impossible for them to actually be promoted to the first half level immediately, and they will be restored to their original state after the end of this incident.

But in the event that an officer falls in a war, or when the army needs to be expanded, these people are naturally the first to be promoted.

The source of soldiers under the all-people military training plus compulsory military service system is actually very good, and the number is quite large, and one of the key factors restricting it from giving full play to its full strength is the officers, and with this trick, this gap can be filled a lot.

Although Ariana had already arrived, and Luo Ming had one less pair of eyes that could stare directly at his territory, he could probably guess what was going to happen.

The soldiers return to the ranks, do a little recovery training, and then pack up and set out, all of which can add up to at least half a day, plus even more time spent on the road.

However, the next afternoon, Luo Ming still met his army.

In the distance, a puff of smoke and dust could be seen.

Next, Granty, dressed in a half-length armor and robes, and holding a spear with Rollin's banner, appeared in Rollin's field of vision.

Behind her, six knights, dressed in heavy armor, rode their horses.

After that, there were twelve scout cavalry and light cavalry, then hundreds of infantry and hundreds of men.

In the infantry, one person from each squad carries a small flag with the number of the squad written on it, and distinguishes it from the other squads in a different color.

Luo Ming counted it, there were a total of thirty small flags, which happened to be the number of one brigade and one more squadron. There are hundreds of those people, and they can also make up a redundant squadron at a critical moment.

Moreover, they carried a lot of artillery.

One field gun, two mountain guns, six Tiger squat guns, and two newly created miniature mountain guns.

To be honest, this reduced version of the mountain cannon looks similar to the Tiger Squat Cannon, but Luo Ming has still improved it with the experience of the soldiers and himself, so the range and power of the Tiger Squat Cannon have been increased compared to the Tiger Squat Cannon while the weight is about the same.

And its gun carriage has also undergone some improvements, making it more suitable for rough terrain and making it easier to drag.

Of course, no matter how much it is improved, it will not be easy to climb over the mountains and come and go freely on all kinds of terrain that is difficult for people to navigate, but in those mountain paths, it can almost walk on the ground.

Seeing the arrival of such an army, Luo Ming naturally had confidence.

Even if the population of the mountain is 10,000, now more than 1,000 people from the Inubu and the Second Ape Department have been surrendered, and there are only 9,000 left.

How many young and middle-aged men can produce from 9,000 men? Even at the extreme point of calculation, 30 percent of these men can fight, that is less than 3,000 men.

Luo Ming didn't believe that they could easily form a large-scale coalition and attack together. Even if the so-called coalition is formed, I am afraid that they lack mutual trust, and internal constraints are enough for them to drink a pot of their own first.

To put it more extremely, even if less than 3,000 people can attack together, Luo Ming is also confident that he will rely on the fortifications to hold on, these mountain people may still have a little ability to fight alone, and large-scale conflicts are not much stronger than group fights.

Or Luo Ming can also directly lead his troops to retreat in order to avoid the losses caused by holding on (such a large formation will definitely be discovered in advance), and when their coalition forces run out of food and disband, they dare to chase them out of the mountain? If they really dare to come out, Luo Ming will admire their courage.

The mountain people fought with Luo Ming's army on flat ground, and they didn't need infantry and cavalry to shoot, and it was estimated that they could harvest hundreds of heads by artillery alone.

Blowguns, javelins, slings, earthen hunting bows...... Either way, I have never heard of a range of up to two hundred meters.

Luo Ming's tiger squat cannon is actually no problem to hit two hundred meters, although it shoots a shotgun, and after flying two hundred meters, its strength has been greatly attenuated, and it is difficult to kill and injure a target, but it can still be injured when it hits a mountain man who is only wrapped in animal skin or even simply bare-chested.

Those more powerful artillery, firing shotguns from a distance of 300 meters, can inflict heavy casualties on these almost armourless soldiers, setting off bursts of bloody storms.

Besides, under the conditions of the mountain people, can they really make up 30 percent of the young and middle-aged men? Luo Ming expressed deep doubts about this.

All in all, when this army arrives, Luo Ming can be regarded as truly fearless.

Because Luo Ming and the vanguard had already built a stronghold in advance, and after bombing the mountain, they took a lot of gravel to use as reinforcement materials, and now the army almost no longer needs to do any civil engineering work, and can be stationed directly.

According to Luo Ming's instructions, along with the army, there were also some soldiers who were discharged due to disability, their injuries were relatively light, although it was difficult to return to the regular army to go to the battlefield, but there was absolutely no problem in obedience.

Luo Ming drew some of the strong men from the two Toucheng tribes and formed a separate servant army of nearly a hundred people, and placed a small number of active officers and these disabled soldiers as monitors and eyes.

Then, under the pretext that it would be dangerous in battle, he sent for the children and elders of the two tribes to move to a safer place in the rear—a hostage measure, of course, but it was needless to say.

The old and the young have all become hostages, and nearly a hundred of them have been drawn out to become a servant army that is unlikely to resist, so how can the remaining people brew a big enough turmoil?