Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 197 Military Formation and the Yao Brothers

According to this standard, more than forty people were finally selected from hundreds of people. The remaining number was not because they could not be selected, but because Wang Jinwu, Lu Yishen, Li You and several other old brothers from Wangjiacun and Yangtoushan were included.

This requirement was strictly enforced by Zhu Shenzhui. After all, this first batch of people would become Zhu Shenzhui's real basic training force after training. In the future, these people would be the backbone and officers. In order to control this small army that has not yet reached a certain scale, it was quite necessary for Zhu Shenzhui to make such preparations from the very beginning.

The problem of weapons was not difficult. The military equipment from the guards had already been transported to the 100-household unit, and preparations had been made in advance. Except for some special weapons needed for the mandarin duck formation, ordinary weapons could be used.

Even if the weapons were newly made, the centurions had their own workshops, and it would only be a matter of time for Zhao Da, as the workshop manager, to lead the craftsmen to make them. Moreover, these people could not be called a real army at the beginning, but just a group of rabble. Lao Jin and his men had to proceed step by step, unite these people bit by bit, teach them the basics of formations and military discipline, and only proceed to the next step after they had trained well.

As for the military formation training method, the current one is mainly based on the Mandarin Duck Formation of the Qi Family Army, which is the military formation that the Qi Family Army is famous for. But Lao Jin also said that although the Mandarin Duck Formation is good, it is only suitable for infantry combat. If it is against cavalry, the Mandarin Duck Formation must not be used alone to fight the enemy, but must cooperate with the new formation formed after the Qi Family Army was transferred to the Jizhou Military Town.

This new formation was created on the basis of the Mandarin Duck Formation, and was developed by adding to and changing the original Mandarin Duck Formation. In addition to the basic Mandarin Duck Formation, a chariot formation was added. The so-called chariot was not an ordinary chariot. This kind of chariot was also created by Qi Jiguang and was called a "partial box chariot."

The entire vehicle has eight foldable boxes, with a total length of 15 feet. They are usually placed flat on the shaft and opened and erected behind one wheel to serve as a box during combat.

Dozens of chariots could be linked side by side to form a circular or square defensive stronghold. The two side panels of the screen could swing back and forth like door leaves to allow infantry to enter and exit.

In addition to these, a tank was also equipped with two Portuguese cannons, including a gunner.

A heavy chariot has nearly twenty professional gunners and direct combat personnel, a light chariot has about fifteen people, plus the mandarin duck formation cooperating on the left and right, and a certain number of musketeers, thus forming a complete combat team that can directly compete with cavalry head-on.

It has to be said that the Qi family army's tactics were really ahead of their time, and they directly defeated all the war modes of that era. Even a hundred years later, such tactics would still be extremely amazing.

Zhu Shenzui even saw the shadow of modern warfare in it. If these chariots were replaced by tanks, the mandarin duck formation was replaced by three-three infantry, and the musketeers were replaced by assaulters and firepower networks, this method of warfare would be no different from the warfare mode of the elite modern army during World War II.

Just imagine, in the era of cold weapons, how powerful such an army with advanced tactics would be. The combination of tactics and military branches that were ahead of their time, coupled with the tenacious combat effectiveness of the Qi Family Army, which army could stop it?
No wonder that in the Battle of Hunhe, the Later Jin Dynasty launched several attacks on Qi's army with several times more cavalry and artillery but failed to defeat Qi's army, but suffered heavy casualties. If Qi's army had not lost its reinforcements and had to fight alone and eventually exhausted, the Later Jin Dynasty might not have won this battle.

Of course, a complete military formation is not possible now. We must first practice the Mandarin Duck Formation to perfection. In addition, actual combat training is required. Only an army that has experienced the bloody battlefield can truly be called an army.

After reaching this level, the subsequent chariot formation drill can be carried out, which is a matter for the future, at least it is absolutely impossible in the first year. This is also why Lao Jin and Zhu Shenzhu said that it would take at least two years to train the soldiers. At first, Zhu Shenzhu thought that these two years were a bit exaggerated, but when he really figured out how to train the soldiers, he realized that these two years were too little for Lao Jin.

After the soldiers were selected, they were assigned one by one according to their specialties. The spearmen, sword and shieldmen, and wolf-whip men each performed their duties. In addition, each team in the Mandarin Duck Formation was also equipped with two musketeers. Each person had different requirements and the responsibilities they undertook were also different.

It took a whole day to allocate personnel and build the team. After adjustments, it was finally finalized. But this determination is only preliminary. In the later training, it will be adjusted according to the actual situation. If someone is not suitable for the position or cannot keep up with the training, Lao Jin and the other two have full rights to replace or even kick out the team. In this regard, Zhu Shenzhui gave the three veterans enough rights. Not to mention ordinary soldiers, even Wang Jinwu and Lu Yisheng will be dealt with if they are not competent.

A few days passed in the blink of an eye, and soon it was time for formal training.

The training was very boring. Zhu Shenzui watched patiently for two days and then stopped accompanying them. The specific training was nothing more than military records, queues, formations, etc. It was just the same few moves over and over again. It was not much different from the military training in later generations, except that it was more rigorous.

Zhu Shenzhui did not continue to accompany them. Since these matters were handed over to the three veterans, and Wang Jinwu and Lu Yisheng were there, he did not need to spend too much time on this. As a "boss", he wanted results rather than processes, and achievements rather than interpretations. As long as the goal was achieved, there was no need to do it himself. Putting aside the training of soldiers, Zhu Shenzhui temporarily left the Hundred Households Office and went to the workshop.

The training here has been arranged, and he just needs to see the results. At the workshop, he has not had time to meet the fireworks craftsman who was hired at a high price. In addition, he also needs to go to Zhao Dahe's mine to see the current progress.

Yao Liang and Yao Yuan were fireworks craftsmen invited by Zhou Anmin from Nanzhili. The two were brothers and their ancestors made a living by making fireworks.

The couple, Yao Lao, was well-known in the industry and could be considered the best in the industry in Nanzhili. With their excellent skills in making fireworks, the Yao family was not rich, but they were considered a well-off family with some assets in the local area and lived a good life.

Unfortunately, two years ago, a disaster happened in the Yao family's workshop. Somehow the workshop accidentally caught fire, and the fire actually ignited the gunpowder in the workshop and the fireworks stored in the warehouse. This was a terrible incident, and the entire workshop was destroyed in a violent explosion.

In this accident, several workers in the workshop were killed or injured. Although Old Man Yao and his wife were lucky enough not to be killed or burned, they were also injured. In addition, the workshop was destroyed. Not only was the family property gone, but the casualties from the explosion and the compensation for the fireworks that had already been sold but not delivered made the Yao family bankrupt overnight.

The parents of the Yao brothers could not bear the shock and fell seriously ill. Not long after they survived, they died one after another. A good family was broken up in the blink of an eye. In order to bury their parents and compensate them, the Yao brothers borrowed a large sum of money, which barely helped them to take care of their parents' afterlife, but also left them with a lot of debts.

The Yao brothers had been developing fireworks since they were young, and their skills were considered good in the industry. But after this incident, their workshop was gone, and coupled with the overwhelming debt, the brothers' lives were really difficult.

Fortunately, Zhou Anmin sent people to Nanzhili to look for fireworks craftsmen at that time. After many famous fireworks craftsmen refused, they found the Yao brothers through guidance. For this reason, the Yao brothers discussed and decided to give it a try. Anyway, their family was almost ruined, and they had no property and capital to stand on. If the debt could not be repaid in the short term, it would be difficult for their family to turn things around with the help of the brothers.

In this way, the Yao brothers accepted the invitation, got a sum of money to pay off their debts, and followed the visitor all the way from Nanzhili to Luzhou Wei.

After arriving at Luzhouwei and resting for only two days, they followed Wang Jinwu from Luzhouwei to Zhaowuling. They originally thought that they would be placed in the Hundred Households Office in Zhaowuling, but they did not expect that they would stay in the Hundred Households Office for one night and then be brought to a workshop not far from Zhaowuling.

When they arrived at the workshop, Wang Jinwu handed them over to Zhao Da, who allocated a small courtyard for the brothers to live in. They lived there for a whole month without any movement. Zhao Da did not arrange any work for them every day, and no one took care of them. They had enough food, but the brothers felt more and more uncomfortable the longer they lived there. They didn't know what the owner, who spent so much money to bring them here, wanted them to do. He couldn't keep them here for nothing, right?
"Brother, have you asked? What did Uncle Zhao say?" Yao Yuan was eating, slurping the noodles, and after swallowing, he looked up and asked Yao Liang.

Yao Liang shook his head: "Uncle Zhao didn't say anything, he just told us brothers to continue waiting until the person in charge comes."

"We've been waiting for more than a month. How long do we have to wait? The person in charge is so weird. He brought us here from so far away and didn't even show up. Brother, do you think there is something fishy going on here?" Yao Yuan couldn't help asking again.

Yao Liang smiled bitterly and said, "Trick? What kind of trick could there be? How could anyone plot against us brothers now? Our family collapsed after our parents died. If it weren't for the money they gave us, we brothers would still be in debt. Besides, there must be a reason for bringing us all the way here. As for what the person in charge or the boss thinks, is it something we can guess? As long as they don't treat us brothers unfairly, we should just stay here patiently. There's no point in thinking too much."

"That makes sense." Yao Yuan nodded. What his elder brother said was right. They brothers had no property and no money. To put it bluntly, taking that money was like selling themselves. Apart from their fireworks skills, what else could make people miss them?

Even though his eldest sister-in-law was young and good-looking, she was after all just an ordinary person, not a beauty beyond compare. It was even more impossible that she had brought the two brothers from Nanzhili to Shanxi for this reason.

Moreover, they have been here for quite some time. This is a workshop for the guards. If nothing unexpected happens, they will probably have to go back to their old job of making fireworks. However, the two brothers thought about it and couldn't figure out that even if they were making fireworks, it wouldn't be necessary to spend so much money. Even though fireworks craftsmen were scarce in the north, they had never heard of doing this before.

(End of this chapter)