plumnovel Chapter 27 Bandit Suppression and Military Training
Chapter 27 Bandit Suppression and Military Training
"Keep your heads down! Have you all forgotten the rules of discipline?!"
"Quickly scatter and find cover, wait for the heavy infantry to come and provide support!"
In mid-March of the twelfth year of the Chongzhen reign, a banner (38 men) of the Imperial Guard's new army encountered trouble in the mountains north of Beijing during an operation to attack bandits.
At this moment, the newly formed army, which was leading the attack, was suddenly hit by arrows from several bandits in the mountain stronghold. After the casualties, chaos ensued.
However, Zhao Hu, the shed leader, remained calm in the face of danger and immediately ordered his soldiers to scatter and find cover in accordance with the rules and regulations.
Their vanguard consisted entirely of spearmen and shield bearers; there were no musketeers, and none of them knew how to shoot arrows.
In addition, the earthen stronghold built by this band of mountain bandits was located in a dangerous area, with only one narrow path that was obviously cut out by man to lead to the gate, so a direct assault would definitely not work.
The immediate priority is to disperse the troops into the woods on both sides of the road to reduce casualties and clear the way for subsequent reinforcements.
Before long, the flag commander, who had learned of the battle situation at the front, decisively dispatched two heavily armored Tiger Guards who had accompanied him that day to assist in the attack on the camp.
As two tall, heavily armored Tiger Guards held up their large shields against the bandits' light bows and arrows and pushed up the gate, five musketeers who followed opened fire from fifty paces away to suppress the bandits' archers on the wall.
The bandits, who had been relying on their advantageous terrain and three light bows to defend their stronghold, panicked when they realized they couldn't break through the government troops' armor and defenses.
After their only three archers were killed and wounded by the government troops' musketeers, the remaining bandits immediately fell into internal strife.
The not-so-sturdy gate was quickly smashed open by two heavily armored soldiers using their shields.
When Zhao Hu led his spearmen to charge into the stronghold, the bandits' so-called defense became a joke.
The well-armored and organized government troops easily defeated a group of routed mountain bandits, ending the battle with overwhelming force.
In fact, there was only one real offensive round.
Eight pikemen, advancing like a wall with their rifles raised, showcased the results of their nearly month-long training, during which they had been thrusting their spears hundreds of times a day.
With a volley of spear thrusts, five relatively fierce bandits were reduced to bloody gourds. Zhao Hu followed up and struck another bandit whose legs had gone limp, and the battle was over.
Those two heavily armored tiger guards weren't even able to unleash their close-combat abilities.
The remaining twenty-odd bandits obediently knelt down and begged for mercy, while the blood-stained cloth, silver, dried meat, and grain in their earthen stronghold naturally became spoils of war for the Ming army.
The more than three hundred taels of silver of varying quality brought a broad smile to the face of the flag commander who was directing today's battle.
According to the emperor's military order, the bandit suppression team could receive 30% of the silver captured, but only grain and other important materials had to be confiscated.
In this way, each of them could receive a hundred taels of silver as a share, which was a considerable income. If divided equally, it would mean that each of the lower-ranking soldiers would receive an extra month's salary.
Zhao Hu led his men to successfully storm the bandit's lair and was awarded a first-class military merit for killing a bandit. The banner chief ultimately rewarded him with six taels of silver.
However, Zhao Hu was quite annoyed that two of his brothers had been ambushed by bandits and suffered serious arrow wounds.
After the war, Zhao Hu, following the rules of the new army, made his own suggestions, hoping to equip the vanguard units like them with more swords and shields, or even give them iron armor directly.
Although the current standard cotton armor has iron plates inlaid inside, its protective ability is still acceptable, and it is also quite effective against the killing power of muskets and arrows from a distance.
However, it is still not as effective as lamellar armor for close-range attacks.
The flag chief took note of Zhao Hu's suggestion and wholeheartedly agreed with it.
After all, no military commander would not want his soldiers to have stronger armor protection.
Such a requirement might place an even greater burden on the imperial court's finances.
However, they don't need to worry about this issue; they only need to summarize and raise the problems encountered on the battlefield.
As for how to resolve it, that's a matter for their superiors and the emperor.
Similar scenes are playing out in several other nearby mountain areas.
Under Lu Xiang-sheng's arrangement, the Imperial Guard has now been broken up into smaller units, with teams (three banners forming a team, with more than 120 people) assigned to different areas to clear out scattered soldiers, bandits, and outlaws.
Amidst the fierce battles in the mountains, squads of newly recruited soldiers from the Imperial Guard gradually shed their nervousness and naivety, rapidly maturing in actual combat.
Some casualties were inevitable, but Emperor Chongzhen had already ordered that the wounded soldiers who had fought against the bandits be properly taken care of, and that all the soldiers who died in battle be treated as battlefield casualties.
His family members can still receive his military pay on a monthly basis until three years have passed, and all family land owned by them, as long as it is within fifty mu, will be exempt from taxes for life.
For farmland exceeding fifty mu, taxes will naturally be levied normally, with at most a reduction or exemption at the discretion of the authorities.
The tax-exempt land for the families of martyrs, like the military farmland in the northern part of Beijing today, could not be bought or sold privately; it could only be sold to the imperial court.
This would greatly prevent local gentry from taking advantage of loopholes to seize tax-exempt land belonging to military families, thus protecting the rights and interests of martyrs' families.
With such generous compensation and benefits as a safety net, all the imperial guard units participating in the bandit suppression campaign were eager to make a name for themselves and achieve great merit.
Along with them, the local standing army, which cooperated in sealing off various mountain passes and strategic points, was also in high spirits and launched several proactive attacks to search the mountains, achieving some success.
As a result, the bandits in the mountains north of Beijing were quickly terrified by the Imperial Guard's aggressive suppression efforts.
In previous years, government troops had also entered the mountains to suppress bandits, but those garrison troops or old and weak town soldiers, who were like beggars, were just putting on a show. When they fought, they were timid and had no fighting spirit.
But now the imperial troops sent into the mountains to suppress the bandits are all able-bodied young soldiers. They are well-equipped, energetic, and full of killing intent. They become extremely excited as soon as they see the bandits' stronghold.
There were only about ten thousand of them who had become bandits in the area north of Beijing.
The Imperial Guard was a reinforced unit with nearly three thousand soldiers!
Even ten thousand bandits gathered together wouldn't dare challenge three thousand well-organized government troops; if they were separated, they would be even less of a match for the government army, and there would be no chance of victory if they continued fighting.
Terrified, the bandits quickly surrendered and begged for their lives. Before Chongzhen's "amnesty decree" expired, they hurriedly sent people down the mountain to contact the government troops and discuss surrender.
Knowing this, Lu Xiang-sheng, in order to quickly put manpower back into well-drilling production and quell the banditry in the northern border, readily agreed to the surrender requests of most of the mountain bandits.
The imperial guards, who were busy suppressing bandits, were naturally somewhat unhappy about this.
After all, their hard-earned military achievements were about to vanish, which was a real pity.
Fortunately, Emperor Chongzhen, who had already returned to the capital, issued an order to send them westward into the Xuanfu region to continue suppressing the bandits.
Meanwhile, the second batch of newly trained troops are also ready to embark on their journey of bandit suppression and transformation, either heading north to Xuanfu or west to the Taihang Mountains.