Chapter 1698 Renzijuan takes the lead

 He Huchen finally received a letter from Feng Ziying when he was leaving the city.

At this time, He Huchen felt much more at ease when he received Feng Ziying's letter.

The letter was very long and rich in content. It was only after He Huchen read it several times that he finally understood why he was eagerly arranged by King Zhonghui to go out of the city to seize Gonghua City at this time.

The emperor was in coma after being assassinated, the threat of war that might be brought about by the rebellion of Niu Jizong, the governor of Xuan Dynasty, and the significance of the Xuanfu army and the Jizhen army competing for time to control the capital city and outside. Feng Ziying informed her in the letter without any concealment. Here comes He Huchen.

At this time, He Huchen realized that it was Feng Ziying who gave King Zhonghui the suggestion to use the Beijing Camp, especially the Fifth Army Camp, and his own unit would definitely bear the brunt. Feng Ziying naturally included this step in his calculations.

The Fifth Army Camp dispatched 8,000 men, which was close to 60% of the strength of the Fifth Army Camp, which had just formed less than 15,000 men. This was also He Huchen’s suggestion to King Zhonghui, and at that time King Zhonghui even hoped to dispatch Twelve thousand people.

In He Huchen's view, it is of little significance for too many troops without combat effectiveness and combat experience to leave the capital, and may even act as a drag. The march will be slow, the military morale will be unstable, and morale will be low. If there is little trouble, it may collapse. Just a burden.

Rather than that, it would be better to use your own unit of 5,000 people as the main force and attach it to an army with stronger combat effectiveness and more cooperation.

If these eight thousand people can't withstand a blow from the Xuanfu army, then another three to five thousand people can't do it either.

King Zhonghui finally accepted He Huchen's suggestion, with 8,000 men, to see if Gonghua City could be defended in this battle.

He Huchen chewed over the contents of the letter and realized the importance of this battle to him.

If he can resist the Xuanfu army's entry into the palace in this battle, then his reputation will be completely established in the Fifth Army Camp and even the Xinjing Camp. He will be promoted to other positions in the future, and he will even covet the three major camps of the Jingying Camp. The possibility of a general is not impossible.

He Huchen didn't care much about this. What he cared about more was whether these five thousand men and horses, to be precise, three thousand basic strength plus two thousand men and horses later assigned. After several months of painstaking training, whether they could achieve what they wanted. Achieve the expected power and effect.

He Huchen specially organized a group of officers to study and consider the Spanish Grand Square, Morris Line and Line Volley tactics taught to him by Feng Ziying, and chose the tactics that best suited his side.

In the end, they came to the conclusion that the Spanish Grand Square was suitable when the troops were extremely strong, but it was not suitable when it only had a force of 5,000 men.

The Morris horizontal team is the most suitable. Ten teams take turns to shoot to maintain firepower output, and then use the spearmen in the middle to provide auxiliary protection. However, there is also a problem, that is, when faced with the enemy's superior cavalry attack, for The formation change requirements are very high. The spearmen must quickly move from the center to the periphery to protect the firecrackers. This takes time, and it is easy to disrupt the firecrackers' formation, which will greatly affect the firepower output.

The line volley tactic is undoubtedly the most advanced, but its requirements are higher because its formation is thinner. This is based on the fact that the gunmen must have certain melee capabilities. Otherwise, once the cavalry breaks through, it will be a disaster. A disaster.

At present, He Huchen's department has completed the equipment of 2,400 ordinary fire muskets, that is, matchlocks, and another 300 heavy hawkbill muskets (Musket) have also been equipped.

Since the eagle-billed gun is too heavy and needs to be supported by a gun stand, each eagle-billed gunman needs to be equipped with an auxiliary soldier.

The purpose of the auxiliary soldiers is firstly to help set up the gun mount, secondly to help complete a series of charging and loading processes to improve efficiency, and thirdly to temporarily replace the gunner when the gunman is injured or killed, and it can also be regarded as a reserve gunner. Make preparations and accumulate experience. When the new heavy-duty gunmen are in place, you can immediately push these auxiliary gunmen to the front line as official gunmen.

After obtaining 2,000 additional soldiers, He Huchen assigned them to 1,500 spearmen. This force was relatively simple, because most of them were veterans and had experience in holding spears. The other five Three hundred of the hundred are arranged as artillery troops, thirty squatting tiger cannons can form a strike group, and the other two hundred are used as auxiliary troops, mainly used for logistics, transportation and support.

This is also the suggestion Feng Ziying gave him. To establish a new type of army that is different from the traditional old-fashioned kind, the logistics support and transportation capabilities must be greatly improved, and dedicated logistics support forces are particularly important.

But this is all a story for another day. To truly establish it according to Feng Ziying's idea will not be achieved overnight, and He Huchen is just a staff general, and he is not qualified to make such major changes to the military system now.

As soon as he left the capital, He Huchen ordered his troops to speed up their march.

It is self-evident that the emperor and the Ministry of War attach great importance to the Xinjing Camp. This can be seen in the equipment of mules and horses. Thousands of mules and horses and a large number of carriages can easily carry all the ordnance and supplies needed by the army and march. The speed is greatly increased.

 As soon as you leave the capital, go all the way west, pass through Qinghedian, and you can see Gonghua City in the distance.

Qinghedian is the last market town to the west of the capital city, but if the army approaches here, it will be basically out of danger.

He Huchen has never given up on training in the past year, which made his unit's marching ability and morale completely different from those of the previous Beijing camp. According to Feng Ziying, it must be built according to the standards of the border army. It can no longer be based on the original We should treat it with the pampered Beijing camp model, otherwise the defeat of Santun camp will continue to happen again.

Feng Ziying even mentioned to He Huchen and Yang Zhaoji that when the formation of the Beijing camp is completed, it should be considered to take turns guarding the border with the border troops and use battles instead of training to maintain the combat effectiveness of the Beijing camp and prevent the degradation of combat effectiveness.

He Huchen also greatly agreed with this point. In his opinion, the old Beijing camp gradually deteriorated without fighting for decades, and was eventually reduced to a pile of waste.

The continuous march of more than one hundred miles was undoubtedly a huge test for He Huchen's troops. Fortunately, there were enough mules, horses and vehicles. Even so, there were still more than a thousand people behind in this march, but let He Huchen was satisfied that the three thousand troops basically maintained their formation in accordance with his requirements and never fell behind.

Of course the speed couldn't be very fast, and constant adjustments and rest were still needed on the way, but he finally arrived at Gonghua City within He Huchen's scheduled time.

There are only one thousand households in the garrison in Gonghua City, and they have already received notifications from Jizhen and the Ministry of War. Just when they were anxious, the arrival of He Huchen's troops finally put their minds at ease.

Zhao Keming's tribe came to Gonghua City with He Huchen's tribe. This is also the tribe that He Huchen looks up to. However, they are basically organized according to the old Beijing camp model, with spears, swords, shields, and cavalry. Their marching speed and ability are also It cannot be compared with He Huchen's department.

When the vanguard of He Huchen's troops entered Gonghua City, they were still thirty miles east of Gonghua City, which clearly shows the gap between the two groups.

He Huchen has never been to Gonghua City, but the conditions of these fortresses are similar. There are only two gates, and the Yu River passes diagonally next to Gonghua City less than two miles ahead.

He Huchen did not dare to neglect, and asked his soldiers to quickly enter the city to deploy defenses and settle down. Everyone was exhausted from the march, but he did not dare to rest.

He called in Qianhu and asked for a long time to get an understanding of the situation around Gonghua City.

This official road comes from Longhu Terrace. There is another town called Hongqiao about 30 miles ahead, and Hongqiao is less than 40 miles away from Longhu Terrace. This is the main pass along the way. .

If the Xuanfu army comes over, it is estimated that they have already controlled Longhutai. Now Changping in the north and Baiyangkou and Zhenbiancheng in the south will not be spared. The Xuanfu army must ensure the safety of these two wings. This is for the general. The most basic quality.

I asked if any scouts from the Xuanfu Army had come today, but this Qianhu didn't know anything. However, he admitted that during this period, soldiers on horseback often passed through the fields, and some strangers came to inquire about the situation. If nothing unexpected happened, These are all scouts of the Xuanfu army.

I learned that the water in the Yu River has swelled a lot due to the autumn rain some time ago. If you want to come from the Red Bridge, you must pass the stone bridge in front. Otherwise, you can only cross the river from the Red Bridge, but the Red Bridge Crossing the river, Henan is full of wilderness, which is extremely disadvantageous for marching. Under normal circumstances, it is impossible for a large army to walk in the wilderness, which will greatly limit the marching speed.

"How wide and long is the stone bridge?" He Huchen asked, and immediately sent out scouts in the direction of the Red Bridge to see where the Xuanfu army had arrived.

"It's about three feet wide. This is the official road from Yanqing. It's about ten feet long." The Yu River is not very wide, but it is now late autumn, and the rising water has made the water surface a lot wider. .

Although the scouts were sent out, He Huchen still felt a little uneasy. However, it was already dark and the soldiers were exhausted and looked forward to resting early.

According to the incoming speed of the Xuanfu Army and the intelligence obtained, the Xuanfu Army stabilized the situation on both sides after taking control of Longhu Platform. Even if they continued to the east, they would probably reach the Red Bridge line at most, which should be still far away from Gonghua City. There is a distance, but thirty miles is nothing to the cavalry.

He Huchen thought for a while, then gritted his teeth and issued the order, ordering one hundred eagle-billed gunmen and three hundred fire gunmen to cooperate with five hundred spearmen to quickly rush to the Yuhe Stone Bridge in front. If what these thousand households said was true, If the Yu River rises, this stone bridge will become the key to blocking the Xuanfu army, and at least it will cause a lot of trouble to the Xuanfu army.

 (End of this chapter)