An open space near Ferry No. 3 was brightly lit. Judging from the lights, the strength of the Ming Army far exceeded that of the Second Mixed Battalion of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty opposite.
However, Li Chunjing, who was at a military disadvantage, showed no fear on his face. He sat on his horse and looked at the Ming army in front, without saying a word for a long time.
The soldiers under his command were also quickly forming formation under the command of the officers of each team and platoon.
During this process, except for the commands shouted out by the officers from time to time, the soldiers did not make any noise.
Except for the sound of burning torches and the sound of footsteps, the soldiers of the entire second mixed battalion did not make a single sound, and even during the process of mobile formation, they did not take even one step more or less.
They seemed to be lifeless machines, rigidly and meticulously following the officer's orders to perform various actions!
This is naturally not because they are all dead or mute, but because they have already learned what to do and what to do in the past few months of rigorous training, whipping and other corporal punishments, and confinement. It's something you shouldn't do.
When the troops are in formation, even taking one step forward without an officer's order is a violation of military orders. If the officer tells you to take two steps, taking three steps is also a violation of military orders.
If it is during training, the whip will be whipped immediately, and even the comrades in the same platoon will be punished together.
Because almost all tactics of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty relied heavily on collective action. Every team and every faction was a whole, and it was impossible for soldiers to fight alone.
Therefore, from the beginning of training, we train them as a whole, either all of them are sent to complete the training, or all of them are punished.
Some extreme things will inevitably happen during this process. For example, if a recruit makes a mistake during training and the entire platoon is punished, he may be beaten and kicked by veterans in the same platoon in private.
Of course, if the officer discovers it, the entire platoon will inevitably be severely punished.
The military laws of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty were quite severe and even cruel, and the strict and strictly enforced military laws were the guarantee of the combat effectiveness of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty.
The reason why the New Army of the Tang Dynasty was able to enforce orders and prohibitions on these soldiers who were just farmers a few months ago did not rely on high welfare treatment, nor did it rely on officers and soldiers to eat and live together, nor did it rely on any belief. For example, let them fight for His Majesty and fight for their families.
It's because of the harsh daily training and military law. Through this harsh training, all the autonomy of the soldiers is worn away, turning them into puppets who can only obey orders and perform mechanical tactical actions.
Today, these soldiers are able to face the Ming army whose strength is five or six times their own, and they can still form a formation to meet the enemy without any disorder, and the formation is not disordered at all. This is the result of the brutal training of the new army of the Tang Dynasty.
Of course, no matter how cruel the training is, it cannot overcome the survival instinct of the soldiers. When the army collapses, those who should flee must still flee.
What Li Xuan and a group of officers wanted was to allow them to persist longer when facing powerful enemies.
In a battle, some armies collapse when the casualty rate reaches 5%, and some armies collapse when the casualty rate reaches 50%. This is the difference between cannon fodder and elites.
The Second Mixed Battalion was forming up to prepare the camp, and the Ming Army on the opposite side was doing the same thing. Not long after they landed on the beach, they encountered the Second Mixed Battalion of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty who was returning to Ferry No. 3.
They are now forming up in a hurry, but the Ming army obviously has not experienced the same brutal training as the new army of the Tang Dynasty in the past three months, so their formation speed is quite slow and appears messy.
When his troops were in formation, Li Chunjing didn't waste any time and immediately ordered: "The whole army should march together!"
At this time, they were still about three hundred meters away from the Ming army on the beach, and this distance was obviously impossible for them to fight, so they had to get closer.
The Ming army on the opposite side saw that the puppet Tang bandit army 300 meters away was gradually approaching. The officers yelled even louder, urging the soldiers to get into formation quickly, otherwise the formation would be scattered.
Even if we have a large number of troops, we may not be able to stop the uniform army of pseudo-Tang rebels on the opposite side.
Li Chunjing naturally saw the actions of the Ming army on the opposite side. He rode on his horse and accompanied the troops forward, while estimating the distance and the preparations of the Ming army on the opposite side.
"Don't stop, keep the formation and walk together!" Li Chunjing also asked the officers in the rear to maintain the formation of the troops.
At this time, the second mixed battalion listed the most commonly used and standard field offensive formation among the new army of the Tang Dynasty: spearmen in the center, musketeers on both sides, and sword, shield, and archers at the rear of the formation.
That's right, facing a strong enemy, Li Chunjing did not put up a defensive formation, but an offensive formation, because he wanted to take advantage of the Ming army's first landing on the beach and before it had a stable foothold, without seeking to annihilate them.
The Ming army numbering thousands would at least kill and injure a large number of their troops.
One step at a time, the soldiers of the Second Mixed Battalion held torches and advanced in the wilderness. The speed was neither fast nor slow, but they always maintained unity.
The distance of two hundred meters was quickly covered. At this time, Li Chunjing, who was riding a horse, raised his right hand: "Stop the whole army!"
After the voice fell, many officers in the rear also shouted: "Stop!"
After a while, Li Chunjing nodded slightly, and the musketry officer behind him immediately rode away and passed directly in front of his musketeer array: "Musketeers, listen to the order, prepare!"
Immediately, the musketeers put down the muskets they carried on their shoulders. These muskets had been loaded before!
The officers shouted again: "Light the fire!"
The soldiers immediately lit the match!
The musketeer officer had already galloped past the musketeers' array, returned to one side of the array, and raised his sword high: "Aim at the first row!"
A few seconds later, the command knife in his hand was pointed forward: "Shoot."
After the clear and dense gunshots rang out on the riverside, the officers of the musketeers did not even look at how many people of the Ming army had fallen on the opposite side, but continued to say: "Second row, step forward and take aim!"
"shooting!"
"The third row comes forward and takes aim!"
"shooting!"
The hundreds of musketeers in the musketry team have already launched an almost textbook multi-row shooting!
So much so that the gunshots kept ringing out, one after another, seemingly non-stop!
As the musketeers fired, people in the Ming army on the opposite side continued to fall. Although the number of people who fell was not large, people continued to fall, which had a great impact on the Ming army who were still in formation.
morale, the speed of formation will be even slower.
A leading Qianhu was so angry that he yelled a few words at a deputy Qianhu of the Ming Army in the rear, and then the deputy Qianhu of the Ming Army ran out quickly!
After a while, a group of archers rushed out from behind the Ming army array!