In a small plain composed of many low hills about fifteen kilometers outside Chenzhou City, there were a large number of Tang Army soldiers wearing blue clothes and red trousers on a hillside that was only tens of meters above the ground. And they were
They are the soldiers of the temporary fourth regiment.
At this time, they formed several square formations composed of hundreds of people around the hilltop. On the top of the hill, there were more than ten artillery pieces facing the northwest.
The square formations listed by the soldiers of the temporary fourth regiment were different from the line square formations commonly used by the Tang Army. This was because the firearms equipment of the temporary fourth regiment was not as good as that of the main force.
According to the reorganization plan of the Tang Army, the temporary regiment is a helpless organization due to insufficient firearms and equipment. Therefore, the temporary regiment cannot be organized into a pure musketeer regiment. However, because the temporary regiment also fights independently,
Therefore, there must be no shortage of necessary firearms, and they cannot be equipped with simple cold weapons like the spear regiment.
Therefore, the establishment of a temporary regiment usually consists of a musketeer battalion, four reserve battalions, and a baggage battalion. In addition, it also has a cavalry team of about fifty cavalry, a grenadier team, and a three-gun and five-pound team.
Field artillery, six two-pound shotguns, a large artillery unit with a total of nine artillery pieces.
At full strength, the total strength is approximately 3,500.
Opposite them, tens of thousands of Ming troops have already formed several super large square formations and are gradually advancing!
These two parties, one wants to break through the interception and the other wants to intercept, this means they are destined to have a battle!
Looking at the formation of the Ming army on the opposite side, you can tell that they are almost all guard soldiers. Although there are firearms troops, they should be those holding blunderbuss or small and medium-caliber bowl-mouth cannons. The Tang army has not discovered the Ming army before.
The musketry unit, and this has basically become an important basis for the Tang army to judge whether the Ming army is a garrison soldier or a recruitment force.
The recruitment of soldiers in the Ming army, especially those who directly belonged to senior civil servants, had already begun to reform and equip themselves with muskets in the past year. The Tang Army had already learned from intelligence that Zhang Yue's subordinates
There is a recruiting force with tens of thousands of soldiers. Of course, the specific number and equipment are still unknown.
Just like the current Ming army cannot accurately judge the detailed situation of the Tang army, it does not even know that the Tang army has disbanded its garrison.
"It's almost 500 meters. The enemy is about to enter the effective range of artillery. Let the artillery units be ready to fight for a while to dampen their spirit!" On the top of the hill, a man was wearing a satin dark blue military coat with a collar badge.
Gu Shizhong, who has the rank of colonel, said as he put down the monocular telescope in his hand.
The adjutant beside him immediately said: "Yes!"
Immediately, I saw him running to the artillery position not far away and whispering to the captain of the artillery team, a young man with the rank of captain.
If there are senior officials of the Tang Dynasty here, they will definitely be familiar with this young man, because this man is an early general of the Tang Dynasty, and he can be regarded as the earliest Conglong. However, with the development of the Tang Dynasty, he has already
It is Fang Tong, the son of Fang Dongquan, who has gradually become a marginalized figure.
This Fangtong is not old, only twenty years old this year, but he is also a veteran bandit. He joined the Guards at an early age and was gradually promoted to non-commissioned officers and officers. However, he went to learn artillery in the middle.
After graduating from the martial arts academy, he officially joined the artillery force and was successfully promoted to captain of the temporary Fourth Artillery Corps and to the rank of captain.
However, although he has developed smoothly in the military, his father Fang Dongquan has now been completely marginalized. During the army reorganization process in the second half of the year, Fang Dongquan was transferred back to Zhaoqing. Although he now has the rank of Army Major General, he holds the position of
But it is a dispensable position of special adviser to the Department of Operations.
The advisors at all levels in the Operations Department are also special positions used by Li Xuan to place a large number of officers who are unable to follow the sustainable development of the army due to limited personal abilities. There are 'special advisors', which are generally given to generals, and
'Senior Advisor' is used to place school officers, and 'Advisor' is used to place lieutenants.
However, although these consultants are still listed in the operations department and have offices in the operations department for them to work, in fact they are no longer able to participate in the daily affairs of the army, let alone combat command.
If the influence of the past is used, even the staff officers in the war department have higher power than them.
However, in order to appease them, Li Xuan would give them certain supplements in terms of military rank, salary, and title. For example, after Fang Dongquan was transferred to the nominal consultant of the War Department, his military rank was directly promoted by one level, from colonel to major general, and his title was also changed from
The viscount became an earl, and it was a title granted by Li Xuan to Fang Dongquan, which could be hereditary at reduced levels after three generations.
In other words, Fang Dongquan's son, Fang Tong, can inherit Fang Dongquan's earl title, and Fang Dongquan's grandson can also inherit the earl title. After that, the earl title will be reduced and hereditary.
Also enjoying the same treatment is Huang Xueren, a former bandit leader who also has not kept up with the times. Like Fang Dongquan, he was transferred back to the Ministry of War as a nominal special adviser, promoted to Army Major General, and was given the title of earl. After three generations, he was reduced to an internship.
privileges.
At present, only Fang Dongquan and Huang Xueren have the hereditary privilege of retaining the rank for three generations. This is because they are the earliest high-ranking generals from Conglong, and they have now withdrawn from the front line and lost their power. This is Li Xuan's view.
their compensation.
As for other people, it is unlikely that they will enjoy this kind of treatment.
After all, there are gains and losses. Those senior officials who still enjoy the power and have grown up with the growth of the Tang Dynasty, now that they enjoy the power, don't expect to have this kind of privilege to treat their descendants.
In other words, although Captain Fang Tong is inconspicuous in the Tang Army, his status is quite special. He is the eldest son of Earl Fang Dongquan, but the officially recognized eldest son of the earl will inherit the title of earl in the future.
people.
However, even so, he strictly implemented the orders issued by Gu Shizhong, a man who did not even have a title!
In the Army of the Tang Dynasty, obeying orders is the principle and bottom line that every soldier must follow. If he disobeys orders, even if Fang Tong is the heir apparent, he will probably be killed by the gendarmerie immediately!
After receiving the order, Fang Tong also took out the monocular telescope on his chest and looked at the Ming army in the distance. With a mere rank of captain, he was able to obtain a monocular telescope that ordinary majors and battalion commanders could not get. Naturally, it was not
Because he is so awesome, but because he has a good father. This telescope, together with the stainless steel handle on his waist, can be regarded as a command sword in this era. This was all given to him by his father Fang Dongquan.
of.
The output of telescopes in the Tang Dynasty was not very high. Even now they can get some transparent glass from foreigners. They no longer need to use crystals to make telescopes as before. However, the production of telescopes requires highly skilled craftsmen.
Polish it bit by bit by hand, otherwise you won't be able to get a high-magnification telescope at all.
Therefore, even if the cost is greatly reduced, it is only a reduction in material cost, while the labor cost is still the same, or even higher.
So the output is still very low, and the price can be considered high!
Therefore, the navy of the Tang Dynasty King's Division can generally only equip the battleships with high-power large-scale monocular telescopes, which are generally used by lookouts. As for the captains, only four telescopes can be equipped with them.
times the size of an ordinary handheld monocular telescope.
As for the army, usually only officers at the regimental commander level are assigned, or they are cavalry in high-tech units or battalion commanders in the artillery.
With Fang Tong's military rank and position, he couldn't get a telescope, but because he had a general father, Fang Dongquan directly gave Fang Tong his telescope, which only senior generals could get.
The gold tassels and the imperial command sword with rubies on the gold hilt were all given to him.
It can be seen that Fangdong Quanfangtong’s expectations are very high!
"The distance is 500, the enemy continues to approach, all artillery crews prepare!"
Fang Tong used his binoculars to follow through, and at the same time ordered the platoon leader and gunners under his command: "Prepare the five-pound cannon, load it with solid bullets, and target the enemy's front-row artillery unit!"
"Bearing 281, distance 450, load with solid bullets!"
The platoon commanders and gunners under his command were rapidly mentally calculating the shooting elements, including the very important charge amount and shooting angle.
Soon, the gunners of the three nearby five-pound field guns became busy. Although they said they were busy, in fact, they had already completed the relevant preparations. Now they were just loading the prepared medicine bags and projectiles.
It was just going on, and soon, the gunners of the three artillery pieces were controlling the artillery for the final subtle aiming.
The final aiming of the artillery is a special skill that is generally only possessed by the gunners of each gun. It is a skill developed through long-term experience. This is a kind of experience and has nothing to do with military theoretical knowledge!
Therefore, even the officers of the artillery unit would not be able to complete the last stage if they did not play with artillery every day.
So soon there was a report from the gunners of each artillery team: "Aiming completed!"
At this time, Fang Tong did not continue to give orders, but waited, waiting for the Ming army to continue to advance, and the Ming army did not disappoint him and continued to advance steadily. When the Ming army in the front row, especially those in the Ming army,
The gunners pushing the artillery forward also reached a distance of 450 meters.
Fang Tong decisively pulled out his father's gold-tasseled gold-plated ruby command knife. He raised the command knife high and pointed forward and shouted: "Shoot!"
The next moment, the rumble of cannons echoed in this small valley and plain!