Long-distance field marching at night is one of the subjects in the recruit camp training. It is listed as one of the most difficult subjects in the training syllabus evaluation system of the Combat Training Department. It is a first-class and difficult-to-train military project.
Among the various departments under the Northern Command, most of the troops have only participated once during the recruit training period. Only those officers who are veterans have certain experience, and these experiences were basically gained during the White Wolf Mountain period.
What's more, in order to simulate the environment of being pursued by the enemy in wartime, Zhang Xingzhong strictly ordered not to light lanterns and torches, and also required the entire army to remain silent during the march, which made tonight's field march training even more difficult.
Fortunately, the Yingzhou Army has always paid more attention to the food nutrition of the soldiers. In addition to ensuring three meals a day, there is also an extremely rich supply of beef, sheep, pork, fish, game, vegetables, etc. Various poultry and eggs are also often supplemented, so the soldiers' bodies have been
Great improvement, more than half of the soldiers have eliminated the night blindness that makes them unable to see their fingers at night, and the remaining soldiers have also improved their night vision capabilities, which has laid a good foundation for night marches.
Of course, this kind of treatment standard far exceeds that of all armies of this era. In addition to Li Chengzhong's unstinting investment in the large amount of property he confiscated when he captured Liucheng, he also sacrificed the entire Liucheng people's clothing and food.
Only the parties involved themselves understand how bitter and tragic the outcome will be.
Launching a long-distance silent march in the field was a temporary decision made by Zhang Xingzhong, the commander of the northern headquarters of the inspection school. As the commander-in-chief of the entire army, he only needed to make decisions and issue orders. The specific matters were left to the command staff of the Yuhou Hous.
To realize and complete. Within an hour when the entire army packed up and set up camp, the command headquarters had detailed Zhang Xingzhong's order on paper and urgently formulated a detailed and feasible march plan.
Plan C is the continuation of Plan A, so the eastward march route has already been determined. The scout troops in the cavalry battalion have already conducted many surveys on this route. Because of the night training, the new march plan has a certain impact on the scouts.
The reconnaissance method was adjusted, requiring the number of scouts in the former army's cavalry battalion to be increased from one team of fifty cavalry to two teams of one hundred cavalry. One cavalry was set up every fifty steps on the marching route as a marching guide, forming a two-long line in front of the advancing army.
Here, there is a continuous and uninterrupted guidance line.
In order to cope with the imaginary environment that they may be pursued by enemy cavalry at any time, the march layout was changed from the long snake marching method to the array marching method. Each group of ten people were arranged horizontally on the front width, and two adjacent groups were spaced twenty years apart.
There are thirty steps between each capital to ensure that there is enough space and time to form a square formation when encountering an enemy attack. At the same time, one hundred knights from each capital are arranged at a distance of a hundred steps on both sides of the army as flanks. All soldiers except
Except for the cavalry who are performing scouting duties in the front, all cavalry and infantry are led by horses to conserve horse power. The war horses are covered with masks and their hooves are tied with cotton grass to prevent excessive noise.
Compared with the original plan C, the choice of traveling route is closer to Helong Mountain. After bypassing the northern foot of Helong Mountain, it will turn to Luming Swamp five miles away in the north direction, and then follow the tributary of Bailangshui
Luming Creek continues eastward. The reason for making this adjustment is to find identifiable reference objects when marching at night - the silhouette of Helong Mountain under the night and the sound of the gurgling Luming Creek are both excellent directions.
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The march of the army was slower than Zhang Xingzhong expected, especially the first ten miles, which took a full hour. Because things happened in a hurry, many troops were not fully prepared. So at the beginning, some of them were still with the team.
There were some minor problems, such as the formation was not strict enough. The front and rear formations were either disconnected or crowded together. There was also a situation where the troops and the cavalry leading the way missed each other when they were advancing. Fortunately, it didn't take long for them to find each other again.
, the troops returned to the correct direction after deviating from the target route for half a mile.
All this is within Zhang Xingzhong's tolerable range. He still has confidence in the grassroots officers who command the troops. Most of these grassroots officers are veterans of the Bailangshan period. They have experienced many such night marches at that time. He also has confidence in the grassroots officers who command the troops.
The soldiers of this unit are very confident. These soldiers are trained in a completely different training method from this era. Although the training period is relatively short, their conditioned reflex obedience to discipline is already much higher than that of other armies. He
I believe that as long as the troops are given time to adapt, the army will be able to adjust itself well and create miracles one after another.
In Zhang Xingzhong's eyes, Li Chengzhong's military training method is actually very ordinary. In essence, it only has two points, namely, the discipline training of soldiers and the cultivation of grassroots military technical awareness. However, this training method will
The requirements to be met are clearly detailed one by one, and all kinds of training are specific and detailed to the extreme. Under the guidance of this military training idea, soldiers are trained like wooden men, and the pursuit of discipline and obedience reaches an extreme blindness;
The training of junior officers also consumes a lot of energy, and the requirements for their training are too strict. It can be said that these junior officers are measured by the standards of important generals in the army. It seems that in Li Chengzhong's view, these junior officers -
—Including corps commanders, team leaders and team leaders, they are all high-level military generals. Not only are they required to know how to train troops and command, they are also required to be able to read and write military reports!
It is such an ordinary two-point training method. Well, perhaps one should be added, that is, the cultivation of a sense of team honor. These terms are all common words spoken by Li Chengzhong, creating this strange army today. Zhang Xingzhong was able to
He found a unique temperament and inner meaning in this army, but he really couldn't tell what kind of specific temperament and inner meaning it was. But this kind of temperament and inner meaning made this army more capable in the face of sudden unexpected situations.
However, it can unleash astonishing combat effectiveness, which has been fully demonstrated in the decisive battle between Bailang Mountain and Pinbu.
At the same time, Zhang Xingzhong likes this army more and more. For a senior commander like him, commanding such an army is really a very comfortable thing. You only need to make overall decisions, and everything else will be controlled by this.
You can build an army by yourself, just like riding a cart. You only need to pull the oxen and horses in the direction of the cart, and the cart will move forward on its own without you having to think too hard. Such an experience was used in Zhang Xingzhong’s command to conquer
This was vividly felt during the battle in the Xiaoling River Basin.
As Zhang Xingzhong expected, all teams were defeated, and the team officers and team leaders began to solve various problems that had been exposed before during the rest of the march, such as increasing the distance between the front and rear of each team, and the team officers occasionally opened their mouths in the team.
The command to march in unison unified the entire team's progress again. Under the temporary advice of several Yuhou staff officers, the cavalry leading the way further narrowed the distance between each rider, and urgently wrapped an unknown Yu horse around their arms.
Where did the princes find the white cloth? What Zhang Xingzhong himself had to do was to answer "yes" or "no" when the princes of Yu asked for instructions.
As the whole army gradually adapted, the marching speed accelerated significantly. Chou Shi completely left He Longshan behind. By the end of Yin Shi, the scouts in front had found Luming Creek and began to guide the army onto the flat road beside the stream.
It is expected that after traveling another five miles, they will arrive at the widest channel of Luming River, which is the area known locally as Luming Swamp. At that time, the entire army will rest here for a while and take a short rest.
By this time, Zhang Xingzhong was already a little sleepy. Marching overnight is a painful thing, especially walking silently in such a dark night is a great challenge to willpower. He blinked hard and shook his head.
Forcibly dispelling his sleepiness, he turned around and asked Qin Yueshan, the combat officer beside him: "Is there any news about Wang Dalang?"
Wang Yibo, who is responsible for playing the role of the enemy cavalry, always maintains contact with the headquarters, but this contact is one-way, that is, the headquarters sends cavalry to actively contact Wang Yibo every half hour, and the two units under Wang Yibo's command are
The situation of the cavalry was reported back. The cavalry who went to contact were not allowed to reveal the whereabouts of the army. The specific pursuit route was judged and decided by Wang Yibo himself.
Qin Yueshan said: "Commander Wang had already caught up with the Logistics Capital at the end of the Chou period. According to the plan, all the troops in the Logistics Capital were counted among the casualties. However, Commander Wang subsequently pursued the wrong direction. As of the last scout report,
They deviated from the marching route of the entire army by about six miles. So far, the latest situation is not clear, and the scouts sent out have not yet returned."
The logistics have to carry the entire army's baggage, and the marching load is very heavy. It is expected that Wang Yibo will catch up with him. Zhang Xing nodded his head and said with a smile: "This Wang Dalang is conceited that the cavalry in his hands is well trained by Jie Li, but he is
There are times when we chase in the wrong direction. Okay, let’s speed up the pace and try to keep the whole army intact before dawn. Well, we might as well set up an ambush then and just wait for him to catch up!"
Qin Yueshan also smiled and said: "Well, I'll call the people immediately, and try to come up with a plan when we get to Lumingwazi in front. It's going to be dawn in more than half an hour, so why don't we just go to Lumingwazi
Waiting for work with ease, catch him off guard!"
At this time, it was the end of Yin and the beginning of Mao. The stars in the sky were gradually dimming, and it was the darkest time. But after this period, the sky would get brighter. Qin Yueshan's answer also meant that tonight's field march would be in Lumingwazi.
At the same time, in order to cheer up the spirits of the exhausted soldiers, Yu Housi conveyed the order to "speed up the pace and arrive at Luming Puddles as soon as possible and then the whole army rests" to all the marching troops.
They were immediately impressed.
At this moment, the scouts from the front came to report: Suspicious signs were found in Lumingwazi!
Zhang Xingzhong was stunned, and quickly led the Yuhou staff from the headquarters to the front. He saw that Wei Keming, the cavalry battalion commander responsible for commanding the front scouts, had come up with several cavalry officers: "Zhang Duyu, there is a situation ahead, someone
It is recommended that the army stop advancing immediately!"