Due to the obstruction of Helan Mountain, the climate of the Ningxia Plain is basically self-contained and has little influence from the outside world. However, when winter comes, the Ningxia Plain is not immune. Every year, as long as it is November, the climate of Ningxia Town begins to cool rapidly. In mid-November, the first snow fell.

If it was before, after the first snow came, the military households in Ningxia Town could breathe a sigh of relief. Generally speaking, the Tartars would not have been dispatched at this time. If it snows continuously, the alarm for the Tartars to move south can basically be lifted. The military households, who have been extremely nervous from beginning to end of the year, can finally spend the winter with peace of mind.

When cavalry fights outside, the first thing to ensure is, of course, the forage of the war horses. Neither the cavalry of the Ming army nor the cavalry of the Tatars was an exception. A war horse consumes thirty catties of forage a day. It is also necessary to mix the corresponding nutritious auxiliary materials such as soybeans and distiller's grains into the forage. Such a rate of consumption is absolutely impossible to maintain without a large warehouse stockpile, relying on the grass in the field alone.

Mongolian horses raised by the Tatars have a strong ability to survive, and in the short term, they can maintain a certain combat effectiveness by relying on grass in the wild. This is the Mongolian iron cavalry in the past, which can fight in the south and the north, and the east and the west, and travel thousands of miles in a few long distances, but there is no logistical worries. However, with the onset of winter, the grass in the wild has almost withered, and even Mongolian horses can no longer survive in the wild.

The most effective way for the Han people to deal with the nomads going south was to clear the wilderness. Let the war horses of the nomads not get enough forage to replenish them, so they have to retreat. The sides of the Great Wall in the Ming Dynasty were not allowed to live on either side of the Great Wall in the strict sense. There are no villages, no market towns, no cities, and the nomads cannot find supply points. Of course, the military households don't count. The military households are the army, and they are responsible for guarding the Great Wall.

The Great Wall of Ningxia Town was originally in the area of Zhenyuanguan. Later, the Ningxia Zhenguan army shrank its forces, abandoned Zhenyuan Pass, and retracted the Great Wall back to the area of Weizhenbao. It's a pity that the Great Wall after the contraction can't stop the southward pace of the Tartars. Basically, the Great Wall in the territory of Ningxia Town has been abolished. Passive defense, there is definitely no way out.

After Xu Xingxia formed the White Army, the primary goal of expansion was to expand the Ming army's defense line to the area around Zhenyuan Pass. This is not only the development needs of his personal white-clothed army, but also to better ensure that the entire town of Ningxia will no longer be harassed by the Tartar cavalry. Subconsciously, Xu Xingxia already regarded Ningxia Town as his own territory.

"Da Da Da!"

Outside the Zhenyuan Pass, the sound of horses' hooves was constantly heard.

This is the scout team led by Ming Hao, cruising back and forth on the Gobi Desert outside Zhenyuan Pass to prevent any suspicious people from approaching. After a period of training, the number of scouts under Ming Hao's command has increased to about twenty. All of them are rangers, and they are all first-class in terms of horse control skills, reaction skills, and observation skills. If the Tartar cavalry had moved south, they would have found out.

After Xu Xingxia officially served as the Qianhu of Zhenshuo Fort, he became more attractive to the rangers. Through the relationship between Chi Hu, Wang Xia, Mao Shisan and others, Xu Xingxia unabashedly released the rumors, hoping that the majority of rangers would take the initiative to take refuge in the command of the white-clothed army. As long as all kinds of skills meet the basic standards of the assessment, after taking refuge, they will be awarded the position of Xiaoqi at the least. If it is very good, it may even become a general flag.

In addition, as long as the majority of rangers take the initiative to join the White Army, as long as they are willing to abide by the discipline of the White Army, they will be forgiven. As long as they have committed crimes in the past, as long as they are not the most heinous crimes, such as murder, forcible annihilation, kidnapping, etc., they can be acquitted of the past. Such favorable conditions naturally aroused the enthusiastic response of the rangers, and they took the initiative to come and defect. Sometimes several rangers arrive in a day.

Most of the rangers, to put it bluntly, are actually desperate young soldiers, or fugitive military households who have fallen into the grass. The life of the ranger is not as perfect as outsiders imagine. There are very few people who mix well among them, and those who mix badly account for the vast majority. Some people don't even see their own future. If there is a legitimate errand that can support themselves and their families, who wants to be a ranger?

After a large number of rangers came over, Xu Xingxia found in his casual chat with them that many rangers had eaten the last meal but not the next, and the possibility of sudden death was also very large. Seriously, there are a lot of enemies of the rangers. The officers and soldiers are their enemies, and other rangers may also be their enemies, and even horse thieves are the enemies of the rangers. Sporadic rangers, most likely dead, don't know how they died.

After taking refuge under the command of the White Army, most of the rangers were willing to choose the errand of the scout. The scouts of the army are relatively free to move, do not need to be bound by rules and regulations, and the salary is relatively high, which is suitable for the surnames of most rangers. Of course, not all Ranger can become scouts. The scout team of the White Army is limited. The vast majority of rangers eventually became musketeers.

Considering that the rangers prefer the special surname of free activities, Xu Xingxia specially set up a "Eagle Cavalry Army", with Feng Qingwu as the commander. There is no upper limit on the number of Eagle Cavalry, as long as they meet the requirements, they can apply to join the Eagle Cavalry. The biggest characteristic of the Eagle Cavalry is that it no longer pursues the salvo of the moon gun, but pursues the accurate shooting of the moon gun. As long as you can accurately hit the target at a distance of 100 meters, you are eligible to apply.

When the craftsman's workshop is mass-producing the moon gun, there will always be some guns with better quality and less deviation. Affected by the primitive processing technology, under normal circumstances, at a distance of 100 meters, the error value of the moon gun is basically about one foot (about 33.33 cm) to one foot and five inches (about 50 cm). If the deviation is less than three inches (about 10 centimeters), the quality is good.

Xu Xingxia asked people to pick out all these guns, and specially prepared them for the Eagle Cavalry, so that Feng Qingwu could teach them the key to accurate shooting. Most of the rangers have some talent for shooting accurately with muskets. After all, they used to use mounted archery as a self-defense skill. As long as the riding and archery kung fu is not very bad, for long-range shooting, there is some experience. These things are basically things that can only be understood but not spoken.

For these musketeers who could shoot accurately, Xu Xingxia used to call them "stragglers". It's all a concept I learned from the game. The combat effectiveness of musketeers in these years, even if they are soldiers with good marksmanship, is too far away from the sharpshooters and snipers of later generations, so Xu Xingxia does not dare to call them sharpshooters or snipers. You're going to blush like that. At a distance of 100 meters, there is an error of ten centimeters, do you dare to call it a sharpshooter?

Skirmishers, unlike the average musketeer, do not need a neat queue and do not need to shoot in a neat row. Each of them can grasp the shooting opportunity and choose the right shooting target by himself. Who was killed or wounded, only they know. Even, when needed, they can herd it out like a sheep, and basically don't care.

In the heat of the battlefield, the salvo of the musketeers is indispensable, and the accurate shooting of the skirmishers is equally important. Especially when it comes to dealing with enemy centurions or even thousands, a single shot fired by a sharpshooter is very likely to have an important impact on the battlefield. It would be even better if the enemy's supreme commander could be taken out with a single shot. It's not a dream. With an effective range of more than 300 meters, if the blind cat hits a dead mouse, the Mini bullet that gallops away just hits a certain big man, and this big man will definitely be tragic.

"Your first target is the centurion of the Tartars!" Xu Xingxia said.

Among the Tartar cavalry, the centurion was a very important role, they themselves were very brave, and they were always at the front of the charge. They were the most important backbone of the Tartar cavalry and had a significant impact on the morale of the Tartar cavalry. At the same time, the centurion was under the command of a hundred Tartar cavalry, and all other Tartar cavalry had to act according to his orders. If they are killed, the command of the Tartar cavalry will definitely be chaotic. At the same time, the morale of the Tartars will also be greatly hit. Therefore, the centurion of the Tartars will be the target of the stragglers of the White Army.

These carved cavalry soldiers of the white-clothed army want to exercise their clever marksmanship and high-intensity training, of course, it is indispensable. When the Eagle Cavalry fights, they can be relatively free. However, in peacetime training, it is more rigorous than other troops. Without strict training and iron discipline, wouldn't it be in vain if they went to the Tartars with the Yue Yue Gong? Therefore, Xu Xingxia is very concerned about the regular training of the Eagle Cavalry.

The shooting training of the Eagle Cavalry was in charge of Feng Qingwu. He is currently the best musketeer among all the officers and men of the White Army. After the last battle, he himself had figured out a set of effective ways to shoot. Spreading his shooting experience can effectively help other Eagle Cavalry soldiers improve.

The training of horse control tactics was in charge of Chi Hu. Chi Hu himself is also a ranger, and he has strong skills. The strongest is all kinds of equestrianism. This guy plays with horses, to the point of being superb. The soldiers of the Eagle Cavalry Army, as long as they can learn his seven commands, can gallop across the country without fear. Even if you encounter Mo Yuegen, there is a possibility of escape. The training in receiving enemy reconnaissance and hiding whereabouts was the responsibility of Ming Hao. Minghao himself is the captain of the scout team, and such an errand belongs to him.

(To be continued)