Chapter 103 Let the Liaoxi Army see that the Tartars are nothing but this
Both the Shanhaiguan camp soldiers and the Liao soldiers outside the pass were basically formed after the second year of the Tianqi period, so the shortage rate was not high, and the combat soldiers were all trained according to the Qi family chariot camp and were more familiar with the operation of firearms.

"A total of 614 soldiers were selected. The standard battalion originally had more than 980 musketeers, but only about 370 were eliminated. During the target shooting, more than 4,900 reloads were performed, more than 1,500 kilograms of gunpowder were consumed, and more than 80 muskets were destroyed."

Yuan Bogong, the captain of the standard camp, reported today's results to the commander with a distressed look on his face. More than a thousand kilograms of gunpowder were used, which he felt was a bit of a waste.

According to Ji Xiaoxinshu and Qi Jiguang's experience, a bird gun with a charge of three cents of gunpowder can generally achieve a 60% hit rate when shooting at a round target at a distance of one hundred paces.

Therefore, when selecting mounted musketeers, each candidate had to conduct five shooting attempts, and only those who hit the target three or more times would be selected.

"Yang Lin is good at training soldiers, but how much gunpowder do we have left? If not much, we can ask for some from the two reinforcements."

The screening results gave Li Hao a pleasant surprise. Nearly two-thirds of the candidates passed the test, which was considered a strong force among the official troops in the late Ming Dynasty.

Among the more than 2,700 battalion soldiers, according to the Ming army's convention, there would only be about 40% musketeers, the rest were sword and shield soldiers, halberd holders, livestock managers, artillery managers, fire soldiers, etc., as well as a large number of auxiliary soldiers.

"We still have more than 24,000 kilograms of gunpowder. There is enough gunpowder. Every time the navy from Juehua Island comes, they will also deliver 1,000 to 2,000 kilograms on board to distribute to the various camps of the Liao army."

Yuan Bogong replied.

It was still early, and Li Hao ordered the selection of archers and martial arts experts from the surrendered soldiers. Of course, the Mongolian soldiers transferred from Yizhou also participated in the selection.

This standard battalion is the template for the reform. When the situation stabilizes in the future, the Jinzhou general plans to carry out similar reorganization in all battalions in the rear.

Only charging cavalry would be equipped with two horses, while mounted musketeers only needed one horse. Even so, the Vanguard Town was still short of war horses and urgently needed to go to the grassland to collect some food.

The captains, battalion commanders and hundred commanders organized their soldiers to continue the screening. Li Hao stood up and took a few personal soldiers to publicize the treatment he gave to his soldiers.

"You are all from Northern Zhili, right? How many brothers are there in your family? How much land do you have? Are you married? Do you have a house for you to start a family?"

I asked all the questions and got similar answers.

Most of the soldiers in the camp have two or three brothers in their families. Not to mention owning land, they can't even be tenants, so they run away to join the army and get paid.

Few people started families. Soldiers were discriminated against in the last years of the dynasty. The situation inside the Great Wall was relatively stable, and men from tenant families were more popular in the marriage market than soldiers.

As for having a roof over your head, that's out of the question.

"From now on, all my subordinates and soldiers will be given 50 acres of land, and no matter what their background is, they will all be given land and houses."

Guanningjin has about 5,000 hectares of fertile land, or 500,000 acres of cultivated land.

There are about 200,000 mu of cultivated land near Jinzhou, Youtun and Dalinghhebao. Guangning and Yizhou have large territories, with about 600,000 to 700,000 mu of cultivated land.

Apart from the land needed to resettle refugees and the families of the former Dunjun troops in Jinyou and other places, there was not much vacant good farmland available.

Li Hao plans to expand the field troops under the jurisdiction of Qianfeng Town to about 20,000. This will require the division of one million acres of land. This summer and autumn, he must capture Liaoyang and Haizhou areas, and then move northward step by step to squeeze the Later Jin's activity area.

The three cities of Gaifu Jin in the south and the coastal hilly terrain on the east side of the Qianshan Mountains must also be gradually recovered.

During this process, he had to rely on elite Ming troops to pursue and arrest small groups of Tatars roaming around in southern Liaoning. He alone could not clear the territory of hundreds of miles.

Li Hao planned to let all the Ming soldiers see how he killed and dispersed the Eight Banners Tatars in the next battle, so that they would understand that the Tatar soldiers were also made of flesh and would lie down if they were cut with a single blow.

In order to eliminate the fear of fighting among some soldiers in the camp.

The commander-in-chief's promise boosted the morale of the soldiers in the camp and the surrendered soldiers, especially the surrendered soldiers. They had already witnessed Marshal Li's amazing fighting power with their own eyes and had no intention of being his enemy. Now that they had been divided into lands like the regular bannermen of the Later Jin Dynasty, their sense of belonging was greatly increased.

In the evening, the entire military camp was still busy with the evaluation, but the Jinzhou general was invited to the central army tent by the general of the reinforcements.

"General Li, Haizhou City has sent a message that General Zhao has decided to lead the generals and servants in the city to attack the Tartar camp after the Tartars cross the river in large numbers."

The guerrilla Jin Guoqi of the Guancheng reinforcements reported back to Zhao Lujiao's battle plan. In the past ten days, the east bank of Sancha River was not peaceful.

Both the Eight Banners Camp and the Ming Army in Haizhou City had a large number of war horses. The supply of fodder for the horses was insufficient, so both sides sent elite cavalry out of the city and the camp to herd the horses, and used idle civilians to cut grass everywhere.

The Later Jin cavalry was highly mobile and naturally unwilling to set up a strong camp and confront the Ming army. Therefore, they herded their horses to the vicinity of Haizhou City many times, intending to lure the Ming army inside the city out to fight.

Zhao Lushi was a stubborn person and could not resist such temptation, but he was also afraid that after a fierce battle outside the city, he would end up like He Shixian outside Shenyang, with the commander killed in battle and no one to lead the soldiers in the city. So he only sent his generals out of the city to grab horses in the first few times.

When the Tartar felt that he could not lure the Ming army commander in the city, he led five or six hundred servants to engage in a fierce battle.

Both sides sent small-scale cavalry to fight back and forth. The battle resulted in few casualties, only about one or two hundred. The Later Jin side lost a lot of horses. There was not enough fodder for the war horses in Haizhou City, and the horses became thinner due to hunger.

"We should focus on stability. We can afford a confrontation of 10,000 or 20,000 men. If we encounter a strong enemy, please ask General Zhao to lead the troops back to Haizhou City. I will take care of everything in the West Bank military camp. As for the horses, ask the Dongjiang soldiers in the city to go out and help cut grass."

More than 3,000 Dongjiang soldiers from Lushun and other places arrived, led by Mao Chenglu, and all went to Haizhou City. Only a few hundred naval soldiers came to the military camp on the west bank.

Jin Guoqi took the order and sent his trusted servant back to report to the general of Shanhaiguan.

Zu Dashou, the commander of the Ningqian reinforcements, had some other ideas. He pointed at the map and said:

"General Li, the Sancha River is turbulent and muddy, but the water volume is not as high as that of the Shuangtaizi River, and the river surface is also narrow. It would be better if we move some units of the Liao army to the west of the Shuangtaizi River, or to Xining Fort west of the Daliao River, to lengthen the Tartars' supply route and wait for them to tire themselves out."

When this person is not thinking about making money, he is quite reliable and has strong execution ability.

"No, the Tartar camp is near Dongchang Fort. Once our army retreats, what will happen if Amin leads his troops back to besiege Haizhou City? I can't mobilize so many Eight Banners soldiers with only a few hundred cavalrymen. They will definitely disperse their cavalry and station them in various large villages and forts to prevent harassment."

The Later Jin army was short of manpower. Rather than saying that the Ming army was confronting the Later Jin army across the river, it would be more accurate to say that Li Hao was using this group of soldiers to whet Nurhaci's appetite.

Without these more than 10,000 able-bodied men, it would be impossible for them to send a large army to Sanchahe.

If the Ming army really withdrew to the relatively safe west bank of Shuangtaizi River, Nurhaci and the Eight Banners Beile would give up the idea of ​​robbing able-bodied men and would turn back to besiege Haizhou City as soon as possible.

Zu Dashou, with gray hair, sighed deeply, "Then we have to mobilize the soldiers in the camp to dig more trenches in the next few days and defend the camp. We also have to send out cavalry of one or two hundred people. Once we find that the Tartars are crossing the river, we have to send boatmen and naval soldiers to stop them. We must make sure that the Tartars do not exceed ten thousand soldiers."

Jin Guoqi added: "We also need to send people to guard the river route that Marshal Li will take when he returns to the south. We can't guarantee that the Tartars will take this route."

He pointed to the section where the Hun River overlapped with the Liao Great Wall.

"That's not necessary. That road runs along the river. When I went south, thirty or forty people got stuck in the mud. It was even more impossible for ox carts and other baggage to pass."

Although the upper reaches of the Hun River can be crossed by wading without boats, the lower reaches of the river to the confluence with the Sancha River are all rotten land. If the Later Jin wanted to transport ox carts, shield carts and other military equipment, it would not be possible to take this detour.

After Li Hao caused a big disturbance in Shenyang, he sent his surrendered soldiers to plunder a lot of ox carts and carry food southward. However, when they entered the boundary between Liaohetao and Hunhe River, they had to abandon the carts and head south. The food was carried back on their shoulders and in their hands.

"Guo Qi, I have learned your lesson. I would like to ask General Li for instructions on how to guard the village in the next few days."

The guerrilla general of Guancheng saluted.

Li Hao glanced at him. He was a capable general in his mid-thirties. His temperament was similar to Zhao Luejiao's, he was rather reckless. His ability to defend a stronghold was not as good as Zu Dashou's.

"Zu Zhen's arrangement is good. We should follow this strategy before the Tartars launch a large-scale siege."

"After Amin leads his troops to surround the village, I will lead the elite troops to fight. I will charge into the battle array alone first, kill a group of people, and then charge with another one or two hundred elite troops. At that time, each of your camps will send soldiers to watch the battle around the camp."

"This move is to clearly tell the Liao army that the Tartars are no better than this!"

PS: To make up for last night’s update, today there will be two updates as normal. Please vote for me and give me monthly votes.

(End of this chapter)