Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 279 We Are the Official Army
At the Niuzhuji battlefield, soldiers from three battalions of the 13th Regiment of the Shengwu Army were still bravely charging into the harbor.

Wang Zhiyuan, the battalion commander of the second battalion, led the team to the front. Each of them had a bamboo tube tied in front of him, a grenade hung behind his waist, and a fire starter or fuse hung on his belt.

Wang Zhiyuan was from the Chaohu Navy. When Lu Jin first joined the army and carried out the first Chaohu reorganization, he was just a squad leader. He was barefoot and wore straw sandals, a set of patched and tattered clothes, no armor, and held a simple spear made of a bamboo pole tied with scissors. He had been fighting with Lu Jin since then.

During the first siege on Zuo Junbi, he finally stripped off a set of clothes and shoes from the corpse of the Yuan army and put them on. Later, when Luzhou was captured and the Shengwu Army was officially expanded and established, he was promoted to platoon leader, married a wife, divided the land, and the bamboo pole in his hand was replaced by a real spear seized from the Yuan army.

In the second battle against Kang Maocai, his regiment was the first to break through the enemy's formation and made great contributions. After the war, the army was expanded again, and he was promoted to company commander. He also received a set of iron armor captured from the Yuan army, and the regiment was also classified as Lu Jin's imperial guard.

Later, when they went to attack Quanjiao and Chuzhou, although he did not contribute much that time, he was responsible for escorting Lu Jin to the front line, so he still benefited from it. After the war, the army was expanded again, and Chang Yuchun was promoted to commander, but he did not have a suitable battalion commander of a thousand households. So Lu Jin sent several company commanders including Wang Zhiyuan from the Imperial Guard to Chang Yuchun, and promoted them to battalion commanders of a thousand households.

Wang Zhiyuan never dreamed that one day he would be able to become an official as high as a thousand households, commanding eight or nine hundred soldiers. Now, when he sleeps with his wife in his arms at night, thinking about the fields at home full of crops and his status as an official, he wakes up with a smile in his dreams.

Later, he followed Chang Yuchun and was ordered to garrison in Chuzhou, and then moved to Quanjiao. Although there were no more battles, he felt that life was getting better and better.

He used to be a boatman, helping his family to operate the boat and fishing, and worked part-time in shipping, delivering goods for people. In order to find out what was written in the account book and what the goods were, he took two fish to the old scholar in the village to be his teacher, and learned some words and arithmetic. Although he could not write many words, he had laid a foundation.

Later, they were moved to Quanjiao, where they were assigned a training officer who was not only in charge of military law and food supplies, but also taught the soldiers to read, count, and sing military songs. Wang Zhiyuan was very happy, and every day he would take the "Quick Military Strategy" to ask the training officer to teach him. In this way, the two of them learned together "how to be a division commander."

Wang Zhiyuan often taught his soldiers, saying that it was not easy for him to find a teacher to teach him how to read. His family was poor, and he had to give the best and biggest fish to the teacher as a gift. Now the commander-in-chief has sent a teacher to the barracks to teach you for free. How dare you not study hard?

After that, he trained and studied day and night. At first, Wang Zhiyuan only knew the Mandarin Duck Formation, which was taught by Lu Jin by the Chaohu Lake. Later, he learned the Large Spear Square Formation. It was not until he was promoted to a battalion commander of a thousand households and was issued this "Quick Military Strategy" that he learned how a senior officer should lead troops, what they should do and what they should pay attention to during a war.

He learned how to use various weapons, the characteristics and application methods of various military arms, learned how to read maps, set up sand tables, learned how to "surround one point and two sides, surround three and leave one, and concentrate troops to attack the enemy's weak points", learned how to "coordinate company and platoon-level tactics of four groups to a team", learned how to "deploy ambush forces and select ambush locations", and learned the common formations in battle.

We learned the "big and small three-element formations, assault square formations, circular formations and hollow square formations" and learned "how to fight mobile warfare when the enemy is strong and we are weak, how to avoid the strong and attack the weak, avoid the enemy's main force, lure the enemy deep into our territory, and concentrate superior forces to defeat the enemy one by one."

I learned 'intersperse and detour, split and encircle', 'encircle with heavy troops', 'siege a point and attack reinforcements', 'defend and counterattack, flexible defense', 'what is leverage tactics, find a fulcrum with equal strength on the battlefield, feint attack from the front, and rush forward from the flanks', 'what is the three-fierce tactics', 'what is four fast and one slow', and 'what is a pincer attack'.

It can be said that after learning this quick-learning military strategy, he has evolved from a fisherman's son to a tactical master.

Wang Zhiyuan likes this military book very much and admires Lu Jin very much. This book does not have any profound sentences, no confusing words, no ambiguous words, and it does not have the awkwardness of Sun Tzu's Art of War, which is full of great principles but no practical knowledge. The whole book is written in plain language, easy to understand, and you can understand it after reading it. This is the military book suitable for them, with no learning threshold.

But the training officers of their battalion always complained that the troops trained with this book of military tactics were not generals but war craftsmen. They were all assembly line generals, all cut from the same mold, and they all fought in the same way. The content was too ingenious and lacked the main points.

But Wang Zhiyuan doesn't care about all this. In his words, 'It's fine as long as we can win.' Yes, it's fine as long as we can win. Isn't the purpose of the army to win battles?

Later, their regiment achieved excellent training results and was the first to change into standard armor and replace unified standard weapons. His wife also made him two pairs of long soap boots with thousand-layer soles and put on standard red armor. Now he looks more like a general.

Wang Zhiyuan didn't understand so many things. He only knew that the Tartar government was too bad. His family worked hard to catch fish, but the banknotes they earned from selling fish could not even buy a bushel of rice. Prices were chaotic, the financial system collapsed, and the banknotes became waste paper. The money they earned from selling fish was not even enough to treat their younger sister's illness.

In order to leave food for them brothers and to prevent their seriously ill younger sister from continuing to suffer, their mother hugged her and jumped into the lake. That day, Wang Zhiyuan cried until his tears dried up and his voice became hoarse. His eldest brother told him that if they did not rebel, they would both starve to death sooner or later, so he followed the Red Turbans and became a rebel.

But as rebels, they could not defeat the government troops. Although they managed to snatch some food, they could not see any future or hope at all. If nothing unexpected happened, he would most likely die in the next encirclement and suppression by the government troops and become a cold text that was mentioned in passing in history books, probably without even a number to count. Sure enough, not long after, the eldest brother was killed by the government troops.

But after Lu Jin came, the situation was different. It was Lu Jin who taught them skills, led them to win battle after battle, and captured city after city. Life at home became better and better, and his official rank became higher and higher. Lu Jin was his sky, his adopted parents. As long as they obeyed the Marshal's orders, they would always win!

Now that the Marshal asked him to lead the troops across the river, he rushed to the front.

Wang Zhiyuan took the lead and chased the Yuan army for a while, and soon saw their target, the Yuan army's catapult position, and immediately raised his gun and shouted, "Three people in a group, don't be alone, pay attention to coordination, the second and third companies will encircle the left and right, and the first and fourth companies will follow me and charge hard!
"Where are your grenades? Are you holding them in your arms, waiting to give birth? Throw them towards where there are many people, blow them up, divide and surround them, and make a quick decision. Don't linger in the battle!"

swoosh————

At this moment, a stray arrow flew in from somewhere and hit Wang Zhiyuan in the chest.

Seeing this, the personal soldier holding the flag shouted, "Captain, be careful!"

"Why are you howling? I'm not dead!"

Wang Zhiyuan touched his chest. The arrow had pierced through the outer layer of cloth, and it seemed that the armor inside had also been chiseled open. This was a chisel-shaped armor-piercing arrow. Fortunately, there was a book in his arms that blocked the fatal blow for him. It was his favorite military book.
"Fuck you, you tore my armor and shot my books. I'm going to fight you, you damn Yuan thief, kill me!" After saying this, he pulled out the arrow in his chest, raised his gun and rushed forward.

Then there were shouts and explosions from all directions. Grenade after grenade was thrown into the Yuan army's formation, breaking it at the first sight. Then countless red-armored soldiers rushed over with guns raised, in groups of three, stabbing from top to bottom: one in the face, one in the chest, and one in the lower abdomen. Even if the enemy had great martial arts skills and could block one of them, they would never be able to block the other two guns.

In addition, their 5.4-meter-long battle guns took advantage of their length, and they also had grenades to break through the battle. After less than a minute of fighting, they immediately broke through the Yuan army formation in front of them, killing the Yuan soldiers and making them flee backwards crying for their parents. However, Wang Zhiyuan had already commanded the second and third companies to encircle their rear from both wings. Looking at the red frenzy surrounding them from all directions, Wang Zhiyuan shouted, "Surrender and you won't be killed!"

The Yuan troops in the encirclement laid down their weapons one after another.

After occupying the catapult position, the soldiers of the Second Battalion of Wang Zhiyuan untied the bamboo tube from their bodies and opened the lid of the bamboo tube. Inside was a rag soaked in grease. They reached out to pull out the rag and threw it at the catapults. Someone blew a fire starter and threw it upwards. Suddenly, a raging fire broke out. The raging flames quickly engulfed the entire catapult position, turning it into a sea of ​​fire!
On the other hand, in the direction of Niuzhuji leading to Caishiji of Neigang, Chang Yuchun was chasing and killing several thousand Yuan soldiers alone. He had more than fifty arrows sticking out of his body and was shot like a hedgehog, but he was still chasing bravely, scaring the Yuan soldiers in front as if they had seen a ghost. They didn't know what kind of man-eating monster this was and why it could still chase them after being shot by so many arrows.

Because Chang Yuchun also knew his own combat style, he deliberately put on an extra layer of armor before the battle. The outside was the standard red cloth armor, but the inside was an extra layer of captured Yuan army armor. The two layers weighed more than 100 kilograms. This was why he was not shot to death even after being hit by so many arrows.

The key point is that even with such a heavy load, Chang Yuchun still ran very fast, making the Yuan army chasing him cry for their parents, wishing that their parents had not given them two more legs. Once they were caught up by Chang Yuchun, they would be dead, and no one could withstand his attack.

However, charging so close to the front was not without cost. By this time, seven or eight flag bearers beside Chang Yuchun had been replaced, and all of them were shot dead. Even the current one had several arrows stuck in his body. It was really because they were charging too fast and too close to the front. There was also a red flag next to them, which was too conspicuous and attracted hatred. But every time the red flag was about to fall, there was always someone who took over the flagpole and charged forward with Chang Yuchun.

The soldiers are all incompetent, and the generals are all incompetent. The commander is so brave, how could the soldiers under his command be weak?

So, wherever Chang Yuchun rushed, the red flag followed, and the soldiers behind him chased him. Their commander rushed too fast, leaving behind only a string of Yuan army corpses lying on the ground in all directions.

The few Yuan soldiers at the end of the team were so scared that they were running away and mumbling nonsense, "Run! The government troops are coming! Run! The government troops are coming! "

Another Yuan soldier beside him ran out of breath, but still couldn't help but remind him, "Hu Laosan, huh, have you been beaten silly? Huh, we are the government troops!"

The Yuan soldier named Hu Laosan seemed not to hear anything and continued to mutter, "Government troops, government troops!" Then he looked back and saw Chang Yuchun approaching with a spear in hand. He was immediately frightened out of his wits and said, "Oh my god, the killing is coming! Run!"

Before he could react, an iron spear stabbed at him from behind and then popped out from his chest. Then Chang Yuchun swung his arm and threw Hu Laosan's body out like a sack. He then swept the iron spear across and knocked to the ground another Yuan soldier who had been following him. Without even looking to see whether the man was dead or not, he continued to chase him fiercely.

When the other Yuan troops in front saw this scene, they were also scared crazy and fled frantically while shouting "Government troops, government troops". In fact, the battle between the two sides had already made them a little stupid.

The Yuan army wore a variety of clothes, matched with a variety of armor, and had a variety of weapons, with only a green scarf wrapped around each person's head as a unified symbol.

Looking at the Shengwu Army behind him, they all wore red cloth straight armor, iron helmets and iron arms, with rivets all over their bodies, and the weapons in their hands were also uniform battle formation spears. They were well-trained and had a strict formation when fighting. Who was the government army? ! Who was the rebel? !
The Yuan army couldn't tell the difference between them as they fought each other.
"Ninety-six, ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred, commander, that's a hundred! That's a hundred! Stop killing, the Marshal must live!" Seeing Chang Yuchun kill several people in a row, the flag-bearer beside him helped count and couldn't help shouting to persuade him.

Chang Yuchun rushed forward a few steps, knocked down several Yuan soldiers in front of him, and shouted, "Those who surrender will be spared!"

The Yuan army in front seemed to have just woken up from a dream and finally came to their senses. Yes, we can still surrender! Immediately, a large number of them collapsed, some knelt on the ground to surrender, and some ran away from exhaustion.
It cannot be entirely blamed on their stupidity. It was just that Chang Yuchun's fighting style was too terrifying. They were worried that they would die if they surrendered, so they could only run for their lives. At this time, Chang Yuchun shouted for surrender, and more than 2,000 people surrendered one after another.

But Chang Yuchun didn't even look at these people. He walked straight through the surrendered soldiers and continued to chase the Yuan troops who were still fleeing in front.

The fallen soldiers were all numb when they saw this, "Oh my god, aren't you tired?"

Yan Duxian, a trainee battalion officer recommended by Li Huafu and interning with the 13th Regiment, witnessed with his own eyes Chang Yuchun charging with more than fifty arrows in his hands. He was stunned, thinking that this man was too fierce.

When they finally caught up, looking at the more than 2,000 surrendered soldiers lying on the ground, Yan Duxian immediately asked the third battalion commander Ping Ding, "Commander Ping, what should we do with these surrendered soldiers?"

"No matter what the command is, we will chase them there and keep chasing. The Marshal said that we must be brave and relentless in pursuit! Kill!" Pingding shouted immediately.

"What about these surrendered soldiers?"

"Leave it to the back."

"Behind? But we are at the back, there is no one behind." Yan Duxian was saying this, but when he looked up again, Pingding had already run to the front.

Well, he could only stay and gather those soldiers who had fallen behind and began to take prisoners. Seeing this group of fierce soldiers in red armor, even though there were only a hundred of them and there were more than two thousand prisoners, they were as honest as sheep and did not dare to resist at all.
Just as these prisoners were forced to surrender their weapons and line up on the roadside, suddenly a group of cavalry came galloping from the direction of Niuzhuji. A cavalryman with white armor and a white horse, holding a silver spear and a lance, galloped past them. Immediately afterwards, there was a rumbling sound of horse hooves like thunder. Nearly a thousand white-armored cavalrymen rushed towards this side, but did not pay any attention to them, and did not even say hello to Chang Yuchun. They directly broke through the defense line behind Caishiji and killed towards Dangtu City.

Ye Sheng's cavalry battalion went ashore, and Yu Tonghai also led the 9th regiment's combat battalion to land at the outer port of Niuzhuji. Another regiment of fresh troops was deployed to the battlefield, and the war in Caishiji would soon be settled.

On the Hezhou Port side, Lu Jin was watching the fire from the other side of the river. No, he was watching the enemy's catapults being burned by flames from the other side of the river. This solved the last obstacle to landing. He immediately ordered all the troops still remaining on the west bank to land with all their strength, eliminate the remaining enemies in Niuzhuji and Caishiji as soon as possible, and then assemble after Caishiji, preparing to meet at Dangtu.

At the order, Zhang Desheng's 17th Regiment and Zhang Wen's nd Brigade of the Imperial Guard began to board the ships. Lu Jin's personal soldiers also brought Yaoguang over, ready to cross the river with Lu Jin.

(End of this chapter)