Chapter 37: The Strength and Weakness of Friend and Foe

Those six thousand troops were indeed, as Old Seventeen had stated, the result of Zhu Cailang's brilliant strategic deployment and rigorous training.

In the beginning, Zhu Cailang's core force consisted of merely a hundred personal guards around Old Seventeen and five hundred soldiers brought out from the capital.

Following the reorganization in Linqing and a major battle in Dongming, those five hundred former recruits had rapidly matured into veterans, with many becoming competent junior officers. This effectively alleviated the greatest challenge that had long plagued Zhu Cailang's army expansion: the severe shortage of officers.

Although Zhu Cailang had already begun accelerating the compilation of various military training manuals and books, and a military academy accompanying the army would soon be established among the personal guards, such a long-term plan could not resolve the immediate crisis of the officer famine.

Fortunately, after the victory at Dongming, a large number of promising officer candidates were tempered through actual combat, standing out and rapidly growing into barely serviceable frontline officers.

At the same time, in the aftermath of the Dongming battle, the Linqing Garrison was integrated into the Shandong Command, bringing both completely under Zhu Cailang's control. As the wounded gradually returned, although the total strength of the Shandong Command and Linqing Garrison, which once stood at eight thousand, was reduced to six thousand, those who remained were combat-hardened veterans, resulting in a substantial and genuine increase in overall combat effectiveness.

With five hundred core members and a base of soldiers tempered by the Dongming campaign, after a round of restructuring by Zhu Cailang, a brand-new Shandong Command six thousand strong emerged.

Ultimately, Zhu Cailang commanded a force comprising over two hundred personal guards, three hundred headquarters staff, three thousand infantrymen, one thousand artillerists, five hundred cavalrymen, and one thousand auxiliary troops.

In the span of a mere month, a new army once plagued by endless internal friction and fresh recruits straight from the hearth had taken on the impressive bearing of a formidable fighting force. How could this not be the result of Zhu Cailang's endless stream of brilliant tactics?

Leaving aside the steady distribution of rations and pay, the crisp and handsome new uniforms, and the generous provisions of wine and meat, which regular government army ever truly respected its soldiers as Zhu Cailang did?

Moreover, this respect was far from superficial. It was built upon military merit medals, honor, and countless amounts of wealth and grain.

Which commander would be willing to spare the time and effort for something like a field hospital?

As for the concept of honor, it was the first time in his decades of military life that Old Seventeen had heard of it from Zhu Cailang. It was also the first time he truly understood and personally experienced it under Zhu Cailang's command.

Serving as a soldier under Zhu Cailang meant being a proud, upright, and steadfast man of integrity.

Once such a conviction was forged, the formidable power erupted by these unpretentious men completely surpassed Old Seventeen's imagination.

Of course, there were still many issues hindering the enhancement of this army's combat capability. For instance, the officer famine continued to plague Zhu Cailang. The shortage was acute not only among junior officers but especially among senior ones. Furthermore, the lack of general literacy meant that the potential of officers tempered through combat varied greatly in their growth. Added to this was Zhu Cailang's concern that a hasty and indiscriminate army expansion might harbor unexpected hidden dangers.

Yet, Zhu Cailang clearly did not have the luxury of time to slowly resolve these matters at the moment.

In this battle, Zhu Cailang did not participate personally, instead leaving it to generals like Liu Sheng and Xu Yanqi to gain valuable experience.

Although, in Zhu Cailang's view, the landing operation had suffered from far too many flaws—such as poor coordination between various units, chaotic transmission of military orders, negligible artillery support during the beachhead assault, and a series of minor and major mistakes—

Zhu Cailang chose not to intervene, opting instead to let the rear handle the rectifications.

As the battle unfolded to this point, everything remained firmly under control.

The abundance of oversights merely reflected Zhu Cailang's exceptionally high standards; the roving rebel forces guarding the Liuyuankou Ferry were clearly not as formidable as the enemy envisioned in his demands.

Faced with the offensive of artillery fire from the ships and musket volleys from the shore, the rebel forces, who launched multiple charges in an attempt to retake the ferry, fell to the ground in rows after rows.

Although their assault had reached the third wave, through Zhu Cailang's monocular telescope, their formation was still advancing in dense charges. Furthermore, even though the artillery vessels of Liuquan had already fired three rounds, the rebel artillery failed entirely to hit the government forces' gunboats on the Yellow River.

"Su Feng'er, among the rebel scum, can the troops guarding the Liuyuankou Ferry be considered top-tier?" Zhu Cailang looked at a woman beside him wearing a pristine white nurse's uniform, smiled, and handed the monocular telescope to Su Feng'er.

This person was, naturally, a captive from the forces of Red Lady who had surrendered to the government army.

Otherwise, there would be no other faction among the rebel forces that fielded female soldiers.

Su Feng'er took the telescope, examined it with curious fascination, and soon began to observe with narrowed eyes: "My Lord, from what this humble woman can see, these troops appear to be under the command of Liu Tuotian, a subordinate of Yuan Shizhong. Moreover, those sent into battle are merely displaced refugees and brave commoners, not the armored elite from Liu Tuotian's personal guard. Put within the Rebel King's forces, troops like these would likely not even rank in the third tier."

"Oh?" Zhu Cailang asked, expressing curiosity about the internal conditions of the rebel army.

And Su Feng'er, for her part, answered everything she knew without reservation.

Li Zicheng's army possessed distinct characteristics. They conscripted able-bodied men aged fifteen to forty as reserve troops; only those who survived rigorous training could become frontline infantrymen, and only infantrymen who displayed exceptional prowess in battle and similarly harsh training could eventually become cavalrymen.

Qualified infantrymen were awarded armor based on their tally of enemy heads and personal valor, receiving either cotton-padded armor or iron armor. Elite cavalrymen each had three to four warhorses to ride in rotation. There were even rumors that these warhorses were fed in a very peculiar manner: the roving bandits would slit open a human's belly to use as a manger, placing the forage inside mixed with human blood to feed the horses. Warhorses fed in this manner would enter the battlefield stamping their hooves and grinding their teeth, eager to devour the enemy, appearing like tigers and leopards beholding sheep, their very gaze distinct from that of ordinary mules and horses.

Zhu Cailang simply smiled at such rumors and offered no comment.

At the same time, depending on each elite cavalryman's personal rank, he could be assigned anywhere from one to ten coerced commoners as auxiliary personnel, tasked with leading horses, carrying supplies, or attending to meals, each with their own distinct duties. This meant their core combatants fought for their lives and needed not concern themselves with anything other than combat and training, strictly functioning as fighting forces.

Li Zicheng also stipulated that when marching past cities or towns, no one was permitted to dwell inside houses; everyone had to camp in cloth tents. Upon making camp, the cavalry drills of various units were tested on the spot, with Li Zicheng himself occasionally presiding over the exercises. The troops rested shortly after sunset and generally did not march at night, rising to eat at the fourth watch every day before lining up to await orders. When facing the enemy in battle, if the man in the front so much as glanced back, the man behind him was authorized to execute him to enforce military discipline. Furthermore, they would soak executed corpses in oil, stand them upright on the ground, and ignite them—the so-called "binding corpses as torches." Through such a series of severe disciplinary measures, the rebel army indeed possessed combat effectiveness far surpassing that of ordinary government troops.

At the same time, Zhu Cailang learned with a knowing amusement that the rebel army was increasingly shedding its nature as roving bandits. (To be continued.)