In the small pavilion on the second floor of the restaurant on the bank of the Hunshui River, Du Zhongxiao and Shi Quanbin sat opposite each other. There are a few side dishes on the table, which are extremely exquisite. A pot of wine next to it was warm in hot water. The artillery battalion and cavalry battalion here have been seen, and Shi Quanbin decided to leave and go to Tangzhou to see the infantry there.

After drinking a glass of wine, Du Zhongxiao said: "Looking at the group practice, it seems that I am not very satisfied with the camp Tianxiang army. ”

Shi Quanbin said: "Lift, it's not the first time we've met. At that time, Xia Xianggong of Hedong Road, you were the judge of the state, and I was the governor of Lu Xuan, and it was very pleasant to work together back then. At that time, he was promoted to a young age, and he was an official for several years, and he did an excellent job in Yongcheng County. To tell you the truth, Yongcheng is still in short supply, how many people want to be a magistrate there. Even Bozhou is also a place where important ministers and foreign ministers are willing to go. In Yongcheng for the county, in the camp of Jingxi Road, Changping Division was promoted, and the court and everyone who did the promotion were in the eyes. As long as it is in the locality, there will be political achievements in promotion, and there are few people in the world who can compare. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "The group has practiced. ”

When he was in the state, Du Zhongxiao was Xia Zhu's main assistant, and he had a lot of dealings with Shi Quanbin, who led the troops on behalf of the road at that time. Perhaps it was because of this origin that the imperial court would let him watch the army. Shi Quanbin led the troops mediocrely, everything followed the rules, and there was nothing commendable about it. Du Zhongxiao has business dealings with him, and he has no friendship in private, so he can only be regarded as working together.

Although there is no achievement in leading the troops, after all, he has seen it in the barracks, and Shi Quanbin has his own opinions about the army. This time I came to the camp and the army, and it was really hard to say. The artillery made his eyes light up, and he didn't expect at all that this weapon would form a branch of the army and could be used in this way. However, he was a little disappointed in his understanding of the cavalry, and felt that Du Zhongxiao relied too much on artillery and restricted the development of cavalry.

The two drank a glass of wine, and Shi Quanbin said: "Don't hide it, this time I went south to Pingnong Zhigao, and the imperial court took Di Taiwei as the main general." It is customary to have a deputy commander, but the officials of the DPRK and China said that the commander of the supervising army on the side could not go all out to suppress the thieves, so he did not set it up, and everything was decided by Captain Di. ”

Since Liu Ping's defeat, Huang Dehe lied about the military situation and was beheaded by Wen Yanbo, and now there are few prison troops in the DPRK, but the official claim is gone, which does not mean that the matter is gone. Take a few roads along the border as an example, or take the horse to bear, or the governor of the capital, all of whom are served by the inner servants, have the responsibility of supervising the army. Shi Quanbin himself, when he was appointed and acted as the commander of the army, the commander of the army was second, and his main responsibility was to supervise the army on Hedong Road.

When Di Qing was determined to be the commander of Zhengnan, he was originally going to send an inner servant as his deputy, but he was opposed by the courtiers and finally gave him full power. This is especially the point that civil officials are keeping a close eye on, and as long as there are internal servants among the subordinates of the marshal ministers, it will arouse strong opposition.

Speaking of this, Shi Quanbin sighed: "In addition to the first way to the south, the official family and the prime minister were originally scheduled to be promoted to another way. To promote as a commander, I am the deputy. But this time I went to the army to take a look, and now I really have some drumming. The Yingtianxiang Army is mainly artillery, and it can go to Quang Nam by two roads, and there is no train to reach it, so it can only rely on water transportation. There is no comparison with the Central Plains, how can artillery be used? The artillery is inconvenient, so it should be used as cavalry, but I see that the cavalry in the army is still far worse than the forbidden army. You can't blame the promotion and commander of the army, the box army is the box army, there is a lack of people and horses, there is no way. Captain Di Tai's expedition to the south this time can transfer 15,000 northwest cavalry, plus the elite cavalry of the forbidden army, more than 20,000 people! Among them, there are many ironclad cavalry, facing the enemy head-on, how is Nong Zhigao an opponent? That guy suffered a lot, and when he looked back, it was difficult to camp the field and the army. ”

Du Zhongxiao was stunned for a while, he didn't expect that there was such a hidden feeling. Di Qing's expedition this time was huge, the level was rare, and the power was unprecedented. Indeed, because of the opposition of the courtiers, his deputy office was removed and given full powers. But I didn't expect that the position of the prison army was still there, and it was Shi Quanbin in front of him. Speaking of which, it's not the same as before.

Seeing Shi Quanbin frowning, Du Zhongxiao said: "Don't worry about the regimental training, the battalion Tianxiang army is well-trained, even if it only brings a small cannon, it is enough to defeat Nong Zhigao's chaotic army in front of the battle." I've always felt that the Praetorian Army underestimated the power of muskets. At a distance, with bullets and bayonets at close, they face the enemy head-on, which is much more powerful than swords, guns, bows and crossbows. People are flesh and blood, and even if they wear armor, they can't cope with the power of bullets. ”

Shi Quanbin said: "Lifting, it's not like that on the battlefield. Although the musket was sharp, it was only one row of guns in front at a time. How many people are left? I know that the practice of your army is to take turns firing guns in the first three platoons. But in this way, there are only three rows in one row, which is too weak. What if the enemy attacks a little bit with dead soldiers, and then breaks through the formation and then the whole army breaks through? The battle before the battle, the vertical and horizontal exchanges, must be taken care of. ”

Du Zhongxiao raised his glass and said, "It turns out that the group practice is worried about this matter!" Probably not. Have a drink, and I'll tell you more. ”

The two drank a glass of wine and ate some vegetables, Du Zhongxiao said: "The regimental training, the musketeers of the battalion Tianxiang Army, are indeed three rows in formation, but it is definitely not three rows in a row. Because of the use of muskets, the first three platoons and the last three platoons were far away, so the rear army should be arranged with the artillery position as the center. If the enemy concentrates a little attack, the musket array on the side will not be discussed, and the rear will support in time. First, there were more casualties in the front, so they were made up by a group of three rows of people in the rear. Again, if you break through the front formation, you will face the three rows behind, and it will still be the same. The array of attacks burned like a wick. The strength is insufficient, and the back is like adding oil. The deeper the enemy breaks through, the more all sides are covered by the fire of other military formations. Therefore, if the enemy breaks through a little, it must attack the flank, otherwise it will be a dead end. At this time, the side changed formations, and the enemy army was surrounded on three sides. Once it retreats, the next three rows come forward, and the formation returns to its original form. ”

To put it simply, the infantry is dominated by muskets, and the battlefield is controlled by artillery, so naturally the formation becomes linear, and it is no longer the previous phalanx. If you don't change the formation in this way, you will not be able to adapt to the tactics dominated by artillery, and the phalanx will be too dense for artillery. This is something that the forbidden army at this time, including Shi Quanbin, cannot understand. Just using guns, it doesn't change much, and each can find the right way to use it. The battlefield is dominated by artillery, and making artillery the king of the battlefield has changed too much, and the entire combat mode is completely different from before. The forbidden army's resistance to Du Zhongxiao's army, and Shi Quanbin's worry about the Yingtianxiang army, all came from this, not only because they were concerned about their personal status and authority.

Seeing that Shi Quanbin was confused, Du Zhongxiao dipped his chopsticks in the water, drew a rough formation and formation for him on the table, and explained them one by one. Looking at the huge gap between the rows, Shi Quanbin couldn't help frowning. It is the common sense of generals that the denser the military formation is on the verge of battle, shrinking their defensive area and strengthening the attack on the enemy as much as possible. The formation of the Yingtianxiang army is so sparse, what is going on?

Du Zhongxiao said: "In group practice, when people are holding sticks, they can count people close together, and face the enemy on all sides, right?" When you change the knives, guns and spears, you need to have some gaps in order to be able to swing them. Now with muskets, in order to facilitate the use of muskets, this will naturally be the case. Each row is tightly packed together, basically person to person, also to strengthen the power. Closer to three rows, in order to let them take turns shooting. The sparse between each of the three rows was due to the fact that the range of muskets was much greater than that of swords and guns, and the formation was naturally different from before. A team of thirty people is a row, and three rows are a small formation, which is just the number of a class. Three rows are staggered, and one squad controls a battlefield. Ten small formations formed a large formation, which happened to be a battalion, and the battlefield was in charge alone. The battalion commander makes the prime minister the overall situation, and the head of the capital is in the middle of the command, which is the arrangement of the battalion field and the army on the battlefield. ”

The establishment of the army under the battalion economy is mainly to adapt to the battlefield, and the daily management is just to take into account. With the battalion as a unit, there is no need for special arrangements in battle, and they will naturally spread out and control an important place. This is the case with the camp and the army, and in fact, the same is true for the forbidden army. However, the two are different in tactics, with different weapons, different areas of the battlefield under control, and different numbers of people.

Shi Quanbin watched Du Zhongxiao draw on the table, explaining in detail, and he couldn't make up his mind for a while, is this okay?

Du Zhongxiao didn't know if he could do it, he himself had never fought a war, he had no military experience, but he had only undergone a lot of training and study to understand the operational laws on the battlefield and form a method of operation according to the operational strategy. Of course, the experience of war is important, but without actual combat, the strategy of the battlefield can always be simulated. Even if there are shortcomings of one kind or another, the general direction should not be wrong.

At the time of the Volcano Army, the production of muskets and artillery was only the first step. When he arrived at Jingxi Road, with the Yingtianxiang Army, Du Zhongxiao understood the role of new weapons in warfare through training and exercises, and changed the form of warfare with weapons, and took a big step forward. This step goes much further than anything else, and if it can be tested by war, it will directly bring about changes in the military system and war. For most of the forces, it is impossible for them to come to this point, and the national strength cannot support them to organize an army of sufficient size. After this step, war becomes the exclusive domain of large countries, and small countries can only play a supporting role in war. Barely scraping together manpower, it is impossible for a small country to have such a strong material resource.

If the battalion Tianxiang army is fully organized, an army of about 50,000 people will destroy the country for most of the surrounding forces. Except for the Khitan and the party, they could not organize an army of this size, let alone manage and command. It is a party item, and being able to make up such an army is also the limit of national strength.

Over the past few years, Du Zhongxiao has organized the battalion and field troops to learn and understand the laws of war, and at the same time has talked about troops on paper and allocated sufficient material resources for such an army. Now the battalion field army is only equipped with people and guns, perfect logistics support, and all kinds of supported vehicles and animal power, and the battalion field affairs and Changping Division are all struggling to do, in fact, it is only a simplified version.