Chapter 713 812 Grand Review Demonstration

"Well said."

Minister of Personnel Yang Bo said.

He shouldn't have come here, but after all, he was the governor of the border town and a person who knew military affairs in the court, so he applauded loudly after hearing Wei Guangde's words.

Although the civil officials looked down on the current nobles, it did not mean that they did not respect the nobles of the first generation.

Zhu Xizhong looked back at Yang Bo who was already standing beside the reviewing platform, nodded and said, "Okay."

Although many processes were omitted because it was a drill, this was also to avoid the suspicion of usurpation, but the performance of the Ming army in the review ceremony had to be carried out.

With the sound of "click" neat footsteps coming from far to near, the first team composed of the central army of the Beijing camp appeared on the left side of the reviewing platform.

They did not live up to Qi Jiguang's six-month training. Perhaps they were just bad soldiers before they were selected, but at this moment, wearing the brand new red mandarin duck battle jacket of the Ming army, some attributes inherited in their blood seemed to be stimulated.

All the soldiers walked in unison under the guidance of the flags.

"Hey, the military might is really magnificent."

As they appeared in front of the reviewing platform, the nobles and officials who were originally sitting on the chairs had stood up and stood by the platform, wanting to watch the exercise more closely.

And the one who spoke was Yang Bo, the Minister of Personnel.

Yang Bo spent almost his entire career in border towns.

First he was the governor of Gansu, then he managed the military affairs of Jizhen and Baoding. In the middle of Jiajing, he began to be the governor of Xuandashan and Shanxi, becoming the real governor of the three borders. Later, he was transferred to the governor of Jiliao. When he returned to the court, he served as the Minister of War and the Shaobao. He was deeply trusted by Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty and regarded as his right-hand man.

Having been in the border towns for many years, he naturally saw many Ming troops, including many elite ones.

However, most of these troops were well-equipped and brave in combat, but they would not have such uniform movements.

After the initial shock, Yang Bo had already reacted. Although Qi Jiguang trained his three armies, these were actually useless on the battlefield.

In war, what is needed is the bravery and combat skills of the soldiers.

Bravery is not easy to train, mainly due to one's personality, while combat skills are often passed down from generation to generation in the Ming army.

Why did the Beijing camp collapse after Tumu Fortress? It was because the elite troops were all wiped out and the inheritance was broken.

At least, before seeing Qi Jiguang's new fighting style, most people would only think that the soldiers trained by Qi Jiguang were just show-offs, which looked good but were useless.

"Which troops are these?"

Lu Diaoyang, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites, suddenly asked.

The officials of the Ministry of Rites came to check the etiquette in the review to see if there were any violations, and if they were found, they should be corrected in time.

Zhu Xizhong pointed to the large flag unfurled in front of the army and introduced: "Minister Lu, this is the flag of the Central Army of the Five Army Camp."

"Central Army? Oh, it's really majestic."

Lü Diaoyang nodded and praised.

Although the Five Army Camp is called the Five Army, it is actually mainly the Central Army. The other four armies are the Left and Right Patrols and the Left and Right Wings. It is easy to judge the specific tasks based on the name.

The Left and Right Patrols are mainly cavalry, responsible for reconnaissance and scouting within a 180-degree range. They are also deployed on the left and right wings of the army to form a barrier during war.

The Left and Right Wings are the left and right wings guarding the Central Army. They have fewer troops than the Central Army and similar equipment, but they are equipped with more firearms and crossbows.

The Five Army Camp is the main force of the army, and the Central Army is the regular troops, which are only used for direct combat with the enemy, so they are equipped according to the Ming Army standard. The first row is the sword and shield soldiers, followed by the spearmen to guard the formation, and the bird gunners and crossbowmen are surrounded in the middle.

Compared with other military formations, the Central Army Camp is second to none in terms of number of people and equipment among the Ming army participating in this review. Not only does it have nearly 10,000 people, but the brand-new armor and weapons are also eye-catching.

"Preemptive strike, Prime Minister Qi trained good soldiers."

As the Minister of War, Huo Yi was also generous with his praise.

After the Central Army arrived at the Grand Review Stage, it stopped while the military flags were waving, and began to practice for the officials on the stage.

As the horns and the flags at the four corners of the military formation danced rhythmically, the outermost sword and shield soldiers seemed to have received orders at the same time, and the shields were tightly connected without leaving a gap.

The neatness of the movements instantly attracted people's attention.

What was even more amazing was that at the moment when the shield wall appeared, countless spears protruded from the shield wall, either raised horizontally or stabbed diagonally, and the military formation became like a hedgehog in just an instant.

"Stand still like a mountain, stand still like a mountain"

The army below shouted out a uniform slogan at this moment, shocking the civil and military officials watching the ceremony on the reviewing stand.

The spears protruding outward began to shake rhythmically in the sound of the military bugle, either stabbing outward or waving continuously, and the hedgehog seemed to come alive in an instant.

"This is the most commonly used defensive formation when encountering the enemy, using a shield wall for defense. The waving spears are to cover the arrows thrown at people."

Zhu Xizhong often comes here during this period. He has learned the specific usage of all the military formations from Qi Jiguang before. Now he is explaining the items of the exercises below to everyone.

When someone asked why the oblique spears were also dancing instead of stabbing out, he also explained the reason for doing so.

"After the camp is firmly established, there is still a change of formation."

Of course, the central army will not shrink like this all the time. After the defensive formation is completed, it will unfold and form a formation for frontal combat, and then show the projection of the central army.

The ones responsible for shooting are the musketeers and archers who are currently doing nothing and surrounded by the army.

"Bang, bang, bang"

With another burst of intensive drumming, the flags waving at the four corners of the military formation suddenly stopped. When they started to wave again, the military formation began to change. The spears were put away and the shield wall remained the same, but the military formation began to change.

There were gaps in the complete rectangular array, and as the sergeants changed positions, it gradually became seven parts. A hollow square array appeared on the outside, covered by large shields and spears, and inside there were several crossbows and musketeers.

As for the central formation they were guarding, although there was no large shield for protection, there was also a circle of small bucklers for protection, and there were still crossbowmen and musketeers inside.

"This is a change when facing the enemy's powerful cavalry attack. It can lead the enemy's cavalry into the formation for killing."

The Chinese army kept changing its formations, and Zhu Xizhong also kept introducing the purpose of the formations. The officials on the grand review stage all looked satisfied at this time, stroking their beards and nodding.

At the end, the scattered military formations reunited into a whole, and the facing direction turned from facing the Grand Parade to the back. The swordsmen, shieldmen and spearmen on the side near the Grand Parade moved to the left, and the formation changed from a rectangular formation to the left. It turned into a long snake formation, and gunners and crossbowmen appeared near the grand parade.

"This is when the army launches into a head-on battle with the enemy. Swordsmen, shields and spears stabilize the position. They mainly shoot the enemies with crossbows and blunderbuss. The swordsmen and shieldmen in front wait for opportunities to break through the enemy's formation."

Zhu Xizhong continued to explain, because he was worried that the civil servants here would not understand.

As the formation was formed, the rumbling sound of bird cannons soon sounded, and the Ming army gunners behind the formation began to demonstrate three-stage strikes to the grand parade. For a while, there was only a trace of smoke in the sky above the military formation.

Just when some people were frowning, suddenly a cluster of arrows rose from the top of the military formation, and they all shot forward, blocking out the sky and the sun.

When the arrow rain appeared, Wei Guangde felt that the surrounding officials' breathing was stagnant. This dense rain of arrows was so intimidating that no one dared to stay within the range of the arrow rain.

The arrow rain was fired for ten consecutive rounds, and the gunman also completed three three-stage strikes, firing a total of nine rounds of volleys.

At this point, the Chinese army's show of force was basically over. As the horn sounded, the Ming army in the Long Snake Formation gradually shrank and returned to the original rectangular formation. After the whole army turned back and faced each other, they performed a military salute.

At the same time, dozens of cavalrymen rushed out from the side of the Grand Parade and arrived at the empty field far away from the Grand Parade to test the killing effect.

The display time of the Chinese Military Camp is slightly longer, mainly because there are more items to be performed, and changes in military formations also take time.

Following the Central Military Camp was the left sentinel cavalry unit of the Fifth Military Camp, demonstrating riding skills and mounted shooting. The cavalry charged back and forth in front of the grand parade, then charged again, and then continued to perform three consecutive waves of mounted shooting demonstrations towards the empty field in the distance. , exit, followed by the right sentinel cavalry and the left and right military formations

However, the Chinese army's cavalry units were mainly concentrated on the left and right posts, with a total of no more than a thousand cavalry. They were displayed separately, so their momentum was still a bit lacking.

The left and right Ye are similar to the Chinese Army, but due to their inferior strength, there is really nothing to see.

However, the display of the Fifth Army Camp was basically successful, that is, the movements were neat and very pleasing to the eye.

The current Ming army no longer has the ability to sweep across the desert. Coupled with the chaos of domestic horse politics, the shortage of horses in the Ming army has become very obvious.

After that came the cavalry unit of the Shenshu Camp, which was also divided into three battalions for display. Each battalion had about a thousand cavalry, demonstrating cavalry tactics amidst the rumble of horse hooves.

Wei Guangde has watched such drills many times, but because they were all conducted alone, he thought it was very majestic at the time. However, after the drill with the Chinese military formation, he still felt that something was missing.

By the way, it’s momentum.

It's not that the cavalry in the Beijing camp are not spirited because they have never been on the battlefield, but the strength of the troops always feels a bit weak.

This reminded him of the unstoppable momentum of thousands of soldiers galloping across the battlefield during the Battle of Baoan Prefecture.

We have to find a way to make up for it, otherwise after the Chinese army's stunning start, it will end in an anticlimactic situation.

Wei Guangde quickly calculated in his mind, and finally he came up with a solution.

He thought of the military parade during the founding of the People's Republic of China. At that time, the Air Force relied entirely on seizures and therefore lacked the number of fighter jets. Therefore, it arranged for fighter formations to pass through Tiananmen Square multiple times, creating the illusion of dozens of fighter jets out of thin air.

Since the separate drills of the cavalry battalions seem weak, it is better to assemble all the cavalry in the Beijing camp after the drill in the Beijing camp, including all the cavalry in the Fifth Army Camp, Shenshu Camp and Shenji Camp. There will be about 6,000 cavalry for another demonstration.

After Wei Guangde silently pondered for a while, he suddenly felt that it seemed feasible. He only needed to remove the flags of each battalion and create an extra force of thousands of elite cavalry out of thin air. The momentum of their charge should be enough to intimidate all the officials who consulted.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde moved lightly to Zhu Xizhong and whispered to him: "Gong Cheng, the cavalry of the Beijing camp are displayed separately like this, which makes the strength a little weak."

Wei Guangde leaned over and quickly spoke his thoughts in his ear.

After listening to Wei Guangde's words, Zhu Xizhong looked back, rolled his eyes, and then whispered: "Shandai's opinion is good. I will talk to Qi Jiguang when I get down to see if the research is feasible."

"As long as the futures index is replaced, they won't be able to tell the difference. After all, our Ming army is unified, so there is no chance for them to tell."

Wei Guangde whispered.

"The army over there and the Changping, Baoding, and Shandong armies also have cavalry. Do you want to include them in this exercise?"

Hearing Wei Guangde's words, Zhu Xizhong was convinced, but thinking that there were thousands of cavalry in other ministries, if they were all gathered together, they would probably be able to gather tens of thousands of cavalry, so he couldn't help but ask.

Wei Guangde shook his head, "That would be too eye-catching. After all, the armor of the soldiers and horses in the outer town is different from that of the Beijing camp. It would be easier to expose them if you use them."

The Ming army was weak. Although using this method to increase its momentum would be deceptive, after all, the parade was for the emperor and envoys from foreign vassals to see. Just fool them, as long as they believed that the Ming army still had a huge cavalry in the Beijing camp. Just the army.

After all, cavalry was still a strategic force before hot weapons became mainstream, and it was full of deterrence.

After the Beijing Camp display was completed, it was the officers and soldiers of Changping Town, followed by the Baoding Army and the Shandong Army, and the finale was the Zhejiang Army brought by Qi Jiguang.

The officials had little interest in the following military formations. They were amazed at the display at the Shenji Battalion. The main reason was that it was rare to see such a large number of firearms fired in a concentrated manner these days, and the momentum was comparable to the Chinese army's previous shooting display.

However, as Wei Guangde expected, the drills of the Zhejiang Army, or the prestigious Qi Army, were very baffling to the distinguished ministers on the high platform. That is to say, Zhu Xizhong knew some of its uses. In the end, it can only be said that this kind of battle formation is useful in the war. It is useless, but it has a significant effect on dealing with Japanese pirates.

"Shan Loan, is the Grand Parade the finale of the Zhejiang Army?"

As the Zhejiang soldiers retreated, Chen Yiqin asked.

"No, the Grand Parade ended by arranging for the elites from the nine-border towns to conduct actual combat drills, all of which were murderous tactics used on the battlefield."

Wei Guangde shook his head and said, "Each town requires different elites to be dispatched. For example, Datong selects archers, while Xuanfu, Ji Town and Ningxia Town select elite cavalry. At that time, Premier Qi will make arrangements again and strive to show the frontier war. force."

"It's a good idea to use the border army as the finale, but I still think it's better to use the Shenji Battalion."

The speaker was Yang Bo, the Minister of Civil Affairs. Apparently he was impressed by the powerful firepower of the Shenji Battalion and recommended the Shenji Battalion to be the finale of the final appearance.

"We'll see the results then. The Shenji camp is really good."

Zhu Xizhong was smiling all over his face at the moment. This drill did not disgrace him. He could also see the surprised expressions of the officials around him. Now the famous military official in the DPRK recommended the Shenji Battalion as the finale of the Beijing Camp. This was undoubtedly a good response. Jingying’s great affirmation.

"We will conduct a drill after the border troops arrive, and then we will arrange the order of review according to the situation."

Zhu Xizhong said.

To be honest, he was not very sure that Bian Jun was placed at the end. However, this preliminary order was the result of discussions between Wei Guangde, Tan Lun and Qi Jiguang, so he really couldn't veto it now, otherwise he would lose Wei Guangde's face.

"What do you think, Mr. Yang?"

Chen Yiqin asked.

"Can."

Hearing that the order would change according to the situation, Yang Bo naturally had no objection, so he nodded and replied.