Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye it was five years since Chongzhen. Not long after, Kuaiqi, who had already arranged to monitor the thawing situation in the Bohai Sea, quickly returned to the capital.
On this morning, although the sun emerged, the cold wind was still blowing, making the sunlight appear very weak and not allowing people to feel any warmth.
However, the school ground in the Beijing camp was already full of soldiers. Today was the day when Emperor Chongzhen reviewed the new army, and every soldier stood in high spirits.
The new sergeant wore thick cotton armor and a new military uniform. He held the flintlock gun in his right hand and leaned on the ground. The bayonet on the muzzle reflected the sunlight and looked particularly dazzling.
Under the general platform, the generals headed by Cao Wenzhao were also standing in the cold wind, waiting with the soldiers for the arrival of Emperor Chongzhen.
Based on this kind of weather, everyone was mentally prepared. It was estimated that it would take some time to see Emperor Chongzhen. After all, it was too cold today, so it was reasonable to arrive a little later.
However, Emperor Chongzhen did not come as late as they expected. They stood there for less than half an hour before the imperial chariot arrived at the Beijing Camp. What they did not expect was that Emperor Chongzhen came on horseback.
Without the company of civil and military officials, only Zhong Jinwei accompanied him. Emperor Chongzhen was in good spirits, not afraid of the biting cold wind, and joked with Zhong Jinwei from time to time.
In the second half of the platform, a shield was specially built to block the wind. However, Emperor Chongzhen did not pass by. Instead, he stood in front of the platform and looked at the approximately 13,000 new soldiers below.
After the kneeling ceremony, the new sergeants changed their stance from resting to standing at attention. They held their heads high and chests high, trying their best to show their high spirits in front of Emperor Chongzhen.
Emperor Chongzhen looked at the new army, and then turned to notice the Han general who accompanied him. He found that although the Han general looked taller and more powerful, in the cold wind, he lacked the radiance of the new army.
A fierce spirit.
In such a comparison, the elite of the new army became more prominent. Emperor Chongzhen was very satisfied with this, and he nodded to Zhong Jinwei.
Zhong Jinwei turned around and ordered to Cao Wenzhao behind him: "The exercise begins." Cao Wenzhao was the actual commander of the exercise and immediately began to convey the general's orders through the command flag.
On the general stage, Emperor Chongzhen finally walked to the main seat and sat down, accompanied by Zhong Jinwei.
Under the general's command, the new soldiers began to shrink their ranks and make preparations for the exercise, while giving up a large open space in the middle.
As the drums sounded, five hundred new sergeants on horseback began to appear from the left side of the dianjiang platform. They passed by the platform in a normal march. When they passed the dianjiang platform and made a semicircle, they suddenly rushed out from the front.
Jianlu played by soldiers from the Fifth Army Camp.
Emperor Chongzhen watched with great interest as he saw the new soldiers dismounting quickly, forming a formation within a short period of time, and holding up their flintlock rifles in preparation.
Regardless of safety concerns, the new sergeants in the exercise were not issued lead bullets. They just pretended to have lead bullets, fired, reloaded, and fired again.
Emperor Chongzhen noticed that the new soldiers were reloading very quickly. He was a little surprised and asked Zhong Jinwei: "Master Zhong, is the operation of the flintlock gun also so fast on the battlefield?"
Zhong Jinwei leaned slightly towards Emperor Chongzhen, and then explained: "The steps are similar, except that there is one lead bullet missing, and the actual loading speed is probably as fast."
At this time, another group of simulated prisoners rushed out from the side of the new army. The new army began to change the formation calmly, from the "one" formation to the "eight" formation. The formation change was very fast.
It was fast and there was no panic at all.
When Emperor Chongzhen saw this, he asked Zhong Jinwei again: "Master Zhong, if the number is large, will there be any problems with this change of queue?"
He knew that it was easy to change the formation with few people, but with more people, it might not be that simple. Therefore, he asked this question.
Zhong Jinwei smiled and replied to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, the new army is based on teams. It has been established in advance. When encountering the enemy, it changes the formation temporarily and changes according to the predetermined guidelines. Therefore, no matter how many people there are, there will not be many omissions.
.”
Emperor Chongzhen nodded after hearing this and continued to watch.
Then thousands of new troops entered the army and performed the attack and advance, that is, rolling and shooting in formation, and after defeating the enemy, they mounted their horses to pursue, then dismounted and fired, and other tactics.
About half an hour later, the close combat performance began, with the fifth army battalion practicing with the new army. Then the imperial guards brought by Emperor Chongzhen randomly selected some of the new soldiers for a live ammunition target inspection.
When Jinyiwei reported the results to Emperor Chongzhen, he was very satisfied. Because he had done his homework before coming and read Qi Jiguang's "New Book of Jixiao", and knew that the shooting level of these new soldiers had reached the requirements set by Qi Jiguang.
above level.
Then the artillery came out, the field artillery, and the vehicle camp passed through the school grounds respectively, and then conducted live ammunition shooting.
Emperor Chongzhen saw the power of the cluster of artillery through the telescope, and he couldn't help but be secretly frightened. This power is indeed not comparable to cold weapons. No matter how powerful Jianlu's cavalry is, under the large-scale coverage of so many artillery, they can only be defeated in the battlefield.
.
When Emperor Chongzhen finished watching the artillery unit's drill, Zhong Jinwei smiled and pointed at the three hundred fusiliers who had started to come on stage and said: "Your Majesty, these three hundred fusiliers are different from the previous fusiliers. They are equipped with
They are all rifled flintlock muskets."
Emperor Chongzhen also knew about the rifled flintlock rifle before, and Fan Jun, the eunuch in charge of the Military War Bureau, reported this to him. But now that he saw the new army using it, he was still very interested.
Emperor Chongzhen also knew that this kind of gun was not easy to make. The most skilled gunsmiths in the war department spent a lot of effort to make it.
In order to give Emperor Chongzhen an intuitive impression, rifled fusiliers and ordinary fusiliers fired live ammunition at the same time. The advantages of rifled guns were once again proven in terms of range and accuracy.
"Your Majesty, this rifled fusilier unit will focus on sniping at the generals among the Jianlu captives. Hitting a snake within a few inches should break down the morale of the Jianlu captives more easily than before." Zhong Jinwei introduced to Emperor Chongzhen.
Emperor Chongzhen's spirit was always high, and he responded to Zhong Jinwei with a smile: "Yes, Master Zhong, if there are any other good things, remember to let them make them, the more powerful the better!"
Zhong Jinwei smiled after hearing this and said: "Your Majesty, I really want them to build a bomber, but they can't do it."
There was only one person close to Emperor Chongzhen, Zhong Jinwei, so it didn't matter that he came to be known by later generations.
Emperor Chongzhen actually just said this. He understood that Zhong Jinwei would naturally say if it could be done under the current conditions. However, he was very interested. Taking advantage of the time now, he watched the exercise and discussed it with Zhong Jinwei.
Those incredible things will come in later generations.