Southern Ming Rebel Army

"Sword and shield soldiers in front, spearmen in the back, archers shooting," the captains in each formation shouted at the top of their lungs. The archers shot a round of arrows towards the open space in front, and the arrows were densely shot within about 150 steps in front of the sword and shield soldiers.

"Archer, shoot again, lower." Another round of arrows was shot out. This time the range was about one hundred steps. This time the force was slightly stronger, and the arrows hit the ground, splashing a cloud of dust.

"Sword and shield soldiers, stand close together, lower your heads, and spearmen thrust forward." Upon hearing this, the sword and shield soldiers in the front row all lowered their heads, put their shields close together, and the spearmen thrust out from over the shields.

"Kill, kill, kill!" Yu Youtian shouted encouragingly and stabbed more than ten times. After hearing the sound of stop from behind, Yu Youtian rested his gun on the ground, his chest heaving slightly. After a short rest, Yu Youtian looked behind him. As soon as he turned his head, he heard a scolding voice from behind, "Don't look back. What are you looking at?" Yu Youtian heard that it was the voice of his squad leader, and he turned his head away in fright, not daring to look back again.

Meng Jun commanded the soldiers of the two towns to make a few simple maneuvers, such as advancing in the front and encircling on both wings. The soldiers' advance was still so-so, but when he ordered the two wings to retreat fifty steps, the two formations were almost in chaos. Lin Shiqi, who was standing on the slope and watching, was so angry that he wanted to whip them one by one with a whip. Seeing this scene, Meng Jun shook his head helplessly. It seemed that retreating at any time was a taboo on the battlefield. This was still a drill, and there was no real enemy on the opposite side. If the enemy cavalry charged at this time, the two wings would surely flee in panic. Once the two wings fled, the center formation would be helpless even by gods.

Those who do some fancy moves before a battle, such as retreating from the middle and outflanking the enemy on both wings, thinking of making a fool of themselves, are probably fantasizing. On the battlefield, their own soldiers actually don't know the situation. They can only see the people around them. The sound of the advancing drums means that the fighting is still going on. Once the order to retreat is given, the soldiers will wonder if they have lost and they should run away. At this time, as long as someone shouts that they have lost, they may just collapse.

Even with simple commands, the soldiers were obviously unfamiliar with them and lacked coordination with each other. For example, the sword and shield soldiers were too far forward and the spearmen could not keep up. In some formations, the spearmen in the back row were too far forward and huddled together with the sword and shield soldiers. The advancing formation was also uneven, and the generals' faces turned pale. Meng Jun did not think it was a big problem. After all, it was the first military formation exercise and he did not expect it to be perfect.

"Since ancient times, soldiers from the south have never been able to defeat soldiers from the north. The strongest soldiers in the south of our dynasty are only the Qi Family Army and the White Spear Army, while there have been many strong armies in the north. Suzhou has always been a prosperous place in the south of the Yangtze River. The soldiers recruited here are incomparable to those in the north of the Yangtze River. Governor, I'm afraid that the newly built armies in the two towns cannot fight against the elite Eight Banners on the battlefield." Lin Shiqi looked at the soldiers below and said to Meng Jun in a hoarse voice.

"Everything depends on human effort. The Eastern Tartars are fierce, but they are few in number. The Green Camp is the vanguard in every battle, and the cavalry rushes out when the enemy is about to collapse. Most of the enemies we are facing are Green Camp soldiers. These are the former Ming troops that surrendered to the Eastern Tartars and were reorganized. These soldiers are not necessarily very strong. Our training focuses on formations, an upright group, generous salaries, strict military laws, more training, building strong camps, and fighting stupid battles. We have few cavalry and many infantry. In the densely networked Jiangnan area, the Eight Banners Cavalry cannot cut off the food supply as they do in the north. The navy comes first in the south, and it is urgent to form a navy."

"Navy? Suzhou is not near the river, so where can we build a navy?" Lin Shiqi asked with some confusion.

Meng Jun looked into the distance and slowly said, "Songjiang Prefecture." After that, Lin Shiqi did not respond. The two continued to watch the military exercise not far away.

Meng Jun actually knew that the soldiers recruited in the rich places of Suzhou were not good enough. Even in Qi Jiguang's Jixiao Xinshu, it was said that poor people should be recruited instead of soldiers from rich places. Qi Jiguang did not use the slippery people in the city, the cunning people, the people with uncertain expressions, and those who were not afraid of the government and were reckless. Only honest people from the countryside were used, who were black, big and strong, able to endure hardship, with firm skin and flesh on their hands and faces, and the color of earth. This is the opening chapter of Jixiao Xinshu, the chapter on the soldiers.

However, Meng Jun was different from Qi Jiguang. Qi Jiguang had the strong support of Zhang Juzheng. He could select soldiers from all over Jiangnan, and the entire Ming Dynasty was his rear. Meng Jun did not have such conditions at all. He took Suzhou by chance by surprise, so he could only form an army with the people of Suzhou and adapt to local conditions.

"How long will it take to pick up so many arrows? The arrowheads are all blunt. I'm so tired," Yu Youtian muttered softly. "Brother Yu, what did you say?" Xiao Chang next to him couldn't hear clearly, so he came over and asked.

"Nothing to say, pick it up quickly, and then go back to the camp. It's so hot." Yu Youtian took a sip of water from the kettle, shook his head and wiped the sweat off his forehead. This military pay is indeed a job to do whenever you get the money. I am destined to be a hard worker. But why don't the soldiers in the third and fifth ranks have to pick up the trash, but I have to pick up the trash here, Yu Youtian thought a little depressed.

In the afternoon, the auxiliary soldiers set up camp near the river in the suburbs. They carried buckets to the river to fill water, cut wood, and dug trenches. They dug a 12-foot wide ditch around the camp, leaving only a few passages. At the same time, they set up fences at the camp. Meng Jun looked at the busy figures of the auxiliary soldiers and thought that if the army was dispatched and there was no wood for the camping site, he would have to form a circle with chariots and add trenches. Thinking of this, Meng Jun immediately took out a notebook from his arms, wrote down this matter, and asked people to make carriages as soon as he returned to the city.

Just as the soldiers of the two towns were setting up camp, two spies hiding in the nearby forests were concentrating on watching the Meng army in the distance. One of them asked in confusion, "What are they doing?"

"It looks like a military drill. You can see clearly whether these soldiers have armor or not."

"It looks like there is no armor." The spy opened his eyes wide and looked carefully for a while. After a while, he said with certainty, "No, there is definitely no armor. If there was armor, it wouldn't be able to move so fast."

"There are a lot of people, estimated to be more than 30,000. Most of them are not armored, but are equipped with swords, spears and shields. There are not many cavalry and no firearms. We are really lucky today. We can spy so clearly without entering the city," said the spy happily.

"Look at this formation. There are so many new recruits. They probably won't be very good at fighting. But these bandits are so generous that they dress all the soldiers in the same clothes. Tsk tsk tsk," another spy smacked his lips.

"They have occupied such a fertile city like Suzhou. How much money does that cost? These clothes are nothing. Okay, that's enough. Let's go back to Jiangning and report to Governor Hong. There should be some soldiers in Suzhou, but the main force is here. Let's go."