The way the Zhejiang Army practiced firearms really impressed Zhang Jing and others, and it could even be said to be shocking.
The Zhejiang Army first launched a round of earth-shaking artillery bombardment, and as soon as the bombardment stopped, they advanced forward in nine neat rows. After arriving at the designated location, the first wave of three rows of people fired together while squatting, bending over, and standing upright. After firing, they retreated to the last row to reload ammunition, and then the next wave of three people came forward to fire in unison.
Wave after wave, like waves, continuous, the intensity of the firepower is jaw-dropping and shocking.
They had never heard of or seen such a way of practicing firearms before. It was the first time in history.
All the Ming troops they had seen used firearms as an auxiliary weapon and mainly relied on cold weapons. They had never relied on firearms as much as the Zhejiang Army. No, the Zhejiang Army was no longer relying on firearms. The Zhejiang Army was even more powerful than the Shenjinying. It was already pure firearms, and the types of firearms used were also simple. Currently, they had seen two types of firearms, one was a new type of small cannon, and the other was a standardized musket.
The general Ming army, no, all Ming armies except the Zhejiang army, are a mixture of cold and hot weapons. About 80% of them are cold weapons, and about 10% or 20% are firearms. There are also many types of firearms, including rockets, three-eyed guns, fire guns, thunderbolts, poisonous fire, divine fire flying crows, etc. Each firearm has its own use. Rockets can charge and set fires, artillery and thunderbolts are excellent for defending the city, three-eyed guns and fire guns are powerful enough to break armor, and divine fire flying crows can shoot 300 steps, making the enemy tremble... However, all firearms are used for auxiliary purposes, and combat is still mainly based on cold weapons. Firearms are also mixed in cold weapon battle formations for limited use.
It was the same when everyone was practicing with firearms. Firearms soldiers were mixed into the army, together with spearmen, archers, shield soldiers, etc. Their status was the same as that of crossbowmen, and their tactics were basically the same. They took advantage of the long range of firearms and used them as long-range damage like bows and crossbows. Once in close combat, the firearms soldiers would either retreat to the second line with the archers and fire suddenly under the protection of the melee soldiers, or they would put down their firearms and directly wield cold weapons to become melee soldiers.
It is precisely because the Ming army has always been like this that the Zhejiang army's firearms training seems to be groundbreaking, and it left such a deep and shocking impression on Zhang Jing and others.
After a dozen waves of firearms, the field drills came to a temporary halt, with the air filled with pungent smoke.
"Zihou, what's the matter with your Zhejiang army practicing firearms in this way?" Zhang Jing asked Zhu Ping'an with his head tilted.
"Your Excellency, it's actually just four words." Zhu Ping'an replied.
"Which four words?" Zhao Wenhua on the side asked Zhu Ping'an with interest, taking the lead over Zhang Jing.
“Nothing special, just play to your strengths and avoid your weaknesses.” Zhu Pingan replied.
Hearing this, Zhang Jing touched his chin, Hu Zongxian seemed to be thinking about something, and the others obviously didn't know why.
"Zihou, please tell me in detail." Zhao Wenhua urged. He also didn't know the reason. He was not well versed in military affairs. Firearms were a relatively niche category in the Ming Dynasty Military Atlas. It was normal for Zhao Wenhua not to know about it.
"My Lord, the advantage of firearms over cold weapons such as swords, bows and crossbows lies in their power. I have carefully studied the current firearms tactics and found that all current firearms tactics have failed to effectively exert the power of firearms. They only use firearms as a supplement to bows and crossbows, and only exert a small part of the power of firearms. I have carefully studied the bow and crossbow battle formations, combined with the characteristics of firearms themselves, and created the battle formations that our Zhejiang Army is currently practicing to maximize the power of firearms."
Zhu Ping'an briefly introduced the reasons and purposes for establishing the Zhejiang Army's firearms battle formation, which in short was to unleash the power of firearms.
"Well, go on." Zhao Wenhua nodded and tapped the armrest of the chair with his fingers, signaling Zhu Pingan to continue.
"The battle formations that our Zhejiang Army just practiced mainly have two aspects, or one tactic and one battle formation. The tactic is the infantry-artillery coordinated tactic, that is, the artillery and infantry cooperate in combat. This tactic has two points. One is to use artillery to shoot first and attack the enemy from a distance. When the enemy's formation is destroyed by the artillery and they fall into panic, the infantry will charge with muskets to the effective range and fire to destroy the enemy's manpower. The second point is that during the battle, the artillery will also fire at the same time. The range of artillery is far greater than that of muskets. The artillery will fire to support the infantry in combat, continuously suppress and attack the enemy's deep targets, continuously destroy the enemy's battle formation, kill the enemy, and undermine the enemy's morale."
"Of course, since our Zhejiang Army is still familiarizing itself with infantry-artillery coordination tactics, and the artillery and infantry are still in the process of getting used to each other, we can only practice the first point for now. When the artillery is more familiar with the artillery, can operate the artillery more accurately, and has a better understanding with the infantry, we will practice the second point to prevent the artillery from accidentally injuring the infantry. Now the artillery is almost meeting the requirements."
Zhu Ping'an stretched out his hand, pointed at the gunners and musketeers who were resting in the field, and spoke slowly.
Of course, these two points are only very superficial infantry-artillery coordination tactics, which can be regarded as fixed infantry-artillery coordination. Dynamic infantry-artillery coordination will also be practiced in the future. This requires the infantry and artillery to be more familiar with each other, especially the artillery needs to be more familiar and more accurate, otherwise it is easy to accidentally injure the infantry.
"Infantry-artillery coordination?"
After hearing this new term, everyone couldn't help but repeat it, then nodded slightly, and found that Zhu Ping'an was worthy of being the top scholar. This name was really meaningful. It seemed simple and easy to understand, but it actually had profound connotations.
"This is the tactics, what about the battle formation?" Zhao Wenhua asked.
Someone whispered, "It's just rows of people. How can you see any battle formation?"
The person who was muttering under his breath was either Zhang Bao or Wei Liangyi. Both of them were straightforward warriors with hot tempers. They had just suffered a setback at the camp and were still angry. They did not have the courage to confront or disparage Zhu Ping'an to his face, but they could not help but mutter a few times behind his back to vent a little and express their dissatisfaction.
This immediately caused a burst of laughter.
Zhu Pingan looked at him with a proud look on his face, pointing at the neatly lined soldiers in the field, and said in a resounding voice: "The firearms battle formation that our Zhejiang Army practices is called the Bravery and Discipline Formation. Only with the courage of a brave man winning when two men meet in a narrow road and the discipline of following orders can such a battle formation be deployed. Both are indispensable."
"Isn't it just standing in a row? Any two-legged soldier can do it. How can it be elevated to the level of requiring courage and discipline? It's too exaggerated."
Another mosquito-like ticking sound was heard, and it was immediately recognizable as the same sound.
Naturally, this caused another burst of laughter.
Indeed, in everyone's opinion, the firearms battle formation called "Yongji Formation" practiced by the Zhejiang Army was not a battle formation at all. Although the dripping sound just now was a bit exaggerated, it was the fact.
The Zhejiang troops just stood in rows and marched forward together, and when they reached the ground they opened fire and that was it.
How does it have anything to do with the courage of the brave who wins when two meet in a narrow road, and the discipline of enforcing orders.
Mr. Zhu's words are indeed a bit exaggerated.