Over the Peach Blossom Collection, the sky was clear and cloudless, and even the cold wind had given face to lay down.
The word “windy and sunny” couldn’t be more appropriate.
Surrounding villagers from early in the morning heard the sound of this pass and pass thump thump thump thump thump thump thump, at first thought this is who hosted a wedding ceremony to set off firecrackers, many village women kicked up the man still in the nest, let him go down to see who hosted a wedding, how did not notify us of it, the townsmen and villagers, do not want to go to lend a hand to help ah.
Early in the morning, many men in the village went out to check the situation, and at the entrance of the village, they bumped into several townspeople who also came out to check the situation.
After checking the situation, they confirmed that no one in their village was hosting a wedding, nor were any of their children secretly setting off firecrackers. The source of the sound seemed to be at the foot of the Peach Blossom Hill, and several villagers went over to check it out.
Then they saw the black smoke filled Peach Blossom Collection schoolyard, as well as the increasingly clear sound of banging and firing guns.
What’s going on? Is Peach Blossom Gathering haunted? A burst of black smoke, and the sound of bang bang bang is several times louder than firecrackers.
“Heavy military camp, idle people retreat.” The Zhejiang Army patrols were the first to spot the villagers checking out the situation and promptly held them back.
However, the villagers also got the truth of the matter from the Zhejiang army patrol soldiers, it wasn’t haunted, it wasn’t the release of firecrackers, but the Zhejiang army was firing the cannons.
It is not a secret that all the soldiers in the Ming Dynasty are equipped with cannons, only that there are not many of them.
After learning that the Zhejiang army is training cannons, the villagers went back to their homes to find their mothers-in-law to report.
The more seriously their own country’s soldiers train, the more relieved they are.
For the Zhejian army, early this morning, my lord ordered them to practice a new type of firearms battle formation – Yongji Formation.
Originally, looking at the seriousness of my lord, I thought that the firearms battle formation might be like the ancient famous Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation or Wolong Zhuge’s Eight Formations, which are as high-end and complex as that of the Eight Formations.
However, I never thought that the firearms battle formation that my lord had attached so much importance to was just a row stand.
Isn’t this the same as the first practice of standing at attention?
Only a little thinner than the initial standing position, when the military formation was very thick, there were more than ten rows, the current Yongji formation is only three rows; Oh, there is also, a lot more compact than the initial standing.
“I told you to stand compactly, I didn’t tell you to huddle together. Maintain the present distance between people, platoon to platoon, whether marching or standing or charging.”
“No matter what happens, even if it’s a rain of arrows, even if knives fall from the sky, you have to hold your formation for me. This is the test of our Zhejian army’s discipline, knives and mountains of fire, guns and bullets, people can die, but the formation can’t be messed up, nor can it be dispersed! Once the men in front fall, those behind must immediately step forward to fill in the empty spaces, keeping the formation intact.”
“Our formation is called the Brave Discipline Formation, why is it called the Brave Discipline Formation, it’s because the two main requirements of this battle formation are ‘courage’ and ‘discipline’, to be courageous in the face of a narrow road, to be able to win, to be able to break down in front of a mountain and not be disorganised in the formation. Only the most courageous and disciplined armies can form the Courage and Discipline Formation, and what our Zhejiang Army lacks the most is courage and discipline!”
“The reason why I want to form such a Brave Discipline Formation is very simple, it’s to utilise the power of firearms. After yesterday’s parade, I found out, I believe all of you have also found out, the accuracy and hit rate of the cannon is limited, within seventy metres the hit rate is a little more than fifty percent, one hundred and fifty metres the hit rate will be reduced to about thirty percent; and two hundred metres away the hit rate will be reduced to more than a little more than a little more than a hundred percent, such a hit rate, it is necessary to concentrate on the cannons intensively shooting to improve the hit rate, so that it has the power to kill. It is no exaggeration to say that the formation is the life of the Yongji Formation and the guarantee of the Yongji Formation’s combat effectiveness.”
Zhu Pingan divided the Zhejian army into three strands, each with three platoons, more than two thousand men were divided into nine platoons, each with more than two hundred and twenty men, one platoon was about one hundred metres long, and the nine platoons of men advanced forward like three giant waves.
Zhu Pingan held up a tin horn in the middle of the line, emphasising the importance of discipline and courage over and over again, explaining the principles of drilling the Brave Discipline Formation, and correcting from time to time the problems exposed during the drills of the generals.
Although the Zheijiang army in the army has always attached importance to the formation training, in the drill of courage and discipline formation accepted quite fast, but the courage and discipline formation is different from the formation training, the requirements of the more strict, in the actual drill, Zheijiang army still exposed a lot of problems.
Keep in line, even speed, easy to say, hard to do.
More than 220 people in a platoon, three platoons of more than 660 people, three units of more than 2,000 people to step coordinated uniform speed forward, can not go too fast, can not go too slow, in accordance with the fixed step allows forward, the difficulty is not generally large.
In addition, it is not easy to train in normal times, and it is even more difficult when it comes to the battlefield where there is a rain of bullets and the sound of killing.
From early in the morning, it had been practising for more than half an hour before the Zhejian army barely met Zhu Pingan’s minimum requirements.
After the formation took shape, the next step was to fire the cannons.
“Although our cannons are very powerful, the accuracy and range are limited, the hit rate within one hundred metres is only a little more than fifty percent, in order to bring out the power of the cannons, we must put the enemy closer to fight, we must wait for the enemy to enter within fifty metres before shooting. Don’t worry about the enemy’s cold arrows, we have cotton armour. Be sure to wait for the enemy to enter fifty metres and wait for the order to fire before firing together. The cannon is not like a bow and arrow, you can’t parry or shoot diagonally, you have to flatten the cannon with both hands and shoot forward flat.”
“Now the first unit comes forward, okay, stop, this position is fifty metres from the target. First platoon crouch down, second platoon bend over, third platoon stand straight, now load the ammunition and get ready to shoot!”
“Ready, fire!”
Zhu Pingan separated the three strands of the Zhejian army, one strand drilled shooting, and set up three rows of targets fifty metres in front of them.
The first unit of generals took out the oil paper ammunition packs, loaded the ammunition, pounded the knots with long iron sticks, fixed the fire rope, and got ready to shoot.
After Zhu Pingan gave the order, the first unit of three rows of generals let off the cannons together, “Bang Bang Bang ……”
Instantly black smoke rises.
These days the gunpowder are all smoky gunpowder, after shooting there is inevitably black smoke rising, as for smokeless gunpowder this kind of advanced gunpowder, Zhu Pingan has only heard of it, as a liberal arts student, he does not know how to make it, the principle is not known, not even the idea is not known.
