Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Li Bao, Zhang Bor and other Puzhou people also followed Ju Ming to the village.

Along the way, Zhang Guangdao introduced the situation to them, explaining the origin of this village and how Ju Ming suppressed bandits in the first place.

After climbing the mountain and arriving at the village, more than eighty village warriors had already arrived. This was the number after the expansion.

They work during the busy farming season and practice during the slack farming season, and their family taxes are reduced accordingly. And they will take turns to recruit people from them to follow Zhang Guangdao to escort tea to Shaanxi for sale. There is wages for escorting the goods.

"Is this Isamura?"

Li Bao's eyes widened.

More than half of the security team members were wearing rattan armor and rattan helmets. If there weren't too few craftsmen making rattan armor, all of them would have been wearing armor, because the soaked rattan was more than enough.

And the weapons are more formal than before.

Each team has two shield players, one is the long player and one is the shield player. Together with the captain, they form the backbone of the team, while the wolf-slingers and spearmen are part of the joint force.

The long card player held a large shield. The shield was made of hard wood with a few small pieces of iron nailed horizontally.

The tallest and strongest person can serve as the long card player, and a three-pound iron bone flower is hung around the waist as a spare. Their food treatment is also the best. During training, each meal must be guaranteed to have one or two bites of meat.

The rattan player has the most weapons. In addition to the rattan shield, there is also a waist sword.

The waist knife is not hung on the waist, but placed horizontally on the back of the shield, so that it can be drawn out as quickly as possible to kill the enemy.

Like Qi Jiajun, Tengpai players also have three javelins, which they throw out before engaging the enemy.

If you encounter elite infantry in the future, it will be difficult for the Wolf Hunter to be effective, and you will have to rely on the Shield Hand to attack and defend.

Especially when the long weapons of both sides poke each other, they often reach a stalemate, and it is difficult to cause casualties even if they poke each other for a long time. At this moment, long poker players need to stabilize their position. The rattan players, on the other hand, kept their bodies low and rushed through the middle area at the risk of death, slashing the legs and feet of the enemies in the front row with their swords.

Of course, the team leader is the real core. Their weapon is a spear with a triangular flag on the tip. Moreover, each squad leader must carry a bow and arrow, and must know spearmanship, archery and tactical command.

"Jingdong is in chaos, and Hanzhong is not at peace either," Zhu Ming sighed. "Exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes are getting heavier and heavier. There is already civil unrest in the Huanghuangxia area. If this continues, it is inevitable that thieves will appear in droves. Daming Village is prospering day by day, and we must Train village warriors to defend their hometown.”

Li Bao and Zhang Boring were both from Shandong, and they deeply believed in this.

If there is any village in Shandong that does not train strong men to protect their homes, they will be visited by thieves sooner or later.

It's just that none of the village heroes in Shandong are wearing armor on a large scale...even if it's just rattan armor.

Ju Ming found a chair and sat down, then ordered: "Let's get started."

Zhang Guangdao rode to the front of the school ground and gave the order, and the village heroes quickly lined up.

At the beginning, the Yuanyang Formation was practiced, and then it changed into the Liangyi Formation.

When the Liangyi Formation is formed, the squad leader stands in the center of the front row, with the shield bearers on his left and right. The two wolf soldiers are outside, the two spearmen are inside, and the remaining two spearmen and two boring men are behind. Compared with the Yuanyang Formation, the combat width of the Liangyi Formation is directly doubled.

Immediately, the village heroes transformed into the Three Talents Formation, and the combat width of the troops increased again. Except for the two boring palladium soldiers who stayed behind, the rest of the soldiers were in the front row killing the enemy.

There is also a Xiao Sancai Formation, which is used by dividing the Yuanyang Formation into two.

Each formation change is to cope with different situations and is adjusted according to the enemy's situation and terrain. It can adapt to various terrains such as hillsides, ravines, fields, riverbanks, flatlands, lanes, etc. No matter what situation is encountered, as long as the team leader adjusts his tactics quickly, he can defeat more and less in a local space.

After the various formations were drilled, confrontation drills began.

All the javelin heads have been taken off. When the two teams are approaching, the team leader shoots with a bow and arrow (without arrows), and the rattan player throws the javelin one after another.

Two arrows and three javelins were thrown, and white spots were left on the vine armor of the soldiers on both sides.

As the two sides advanced, they changed their formations almost simultaneously, turning into the widest three-talent formation. The wolf and the spear poked at each other, and it was difficult to break through.

The rattan player drew his sword, raised his round shield to protect his head, and charged forward while half-crouching. At this time, the long weapons were all mixed together and it was impossible to stab downwards. The Tengpai player rushed forward and chopped off the legs and feet.

The vigilance player immediately took up the position of the rattan player and stabbed the rattan player at the enemy rattan player.

"What kind of military formation is this?" Zhang Bor was extremely surprised. He had not only read military books, but also studied the formation maps of the Song Dynasty.

Ju Ming smiled and said: "Mandarin duck formation."

Zhang Bor thought for a while and asked: "How to resist the cavalry?"

Zhu Ming shook his head: "On the Great Plains, the Yuanyang Formation is of very little use. Not to mention resisting cavalry, even ordinary infantry formations are difficult to fight. They can only be used as a small force to win by surprise. The real use of the Yuanyang Formation is to be used in lanes. , valleys, mountains, fields and other complex terrains.”

Li Bao said: "It's just enough for Hanzhong."

Ju Ming said: "If a large group of thieves comes to invade, each team will also be assigned a soldier. The soldier is responsible for cutting off the ears to replace the head. Military merit belongs to the entire team. Those who are extraordinarily brave will also be recorded by the team. In an emergency, The soldiers will also join the battle. Further back, there will also be archers and crossbowmen to follow the Yuanyang Formation."

Zhang Boring said: "You can present this array to the imperial court, and it will surely be praised by the imperial court."

Ju Ming said amusedly: "The main battlefield of the Song Dynasty was in the north. Even in the north there are places suitable for the Mandarin Duck Formation, but are the monarchs and ministers really willing to adopt it? They are unwilling to change, at least the civil servants are too lazy to change."

Zhang Bor hesitated to speak, it seemed that this was indeed the case.

The confrontation training has ended, and the village warriors are conducting martial arts drills.

There are many wooden frames erected in front. Below the wooden frames, at various heights, wooden balls are hung with ropes. The spearmen poked at those wooden balls, imitating attacks on the enemy's neck, crotch and other vital points.

There were also some bamboo poles hanging, dangling here and there. The wolf's hands stirred the bamboo poles instead of poking them. The boring and palladium hand pushes the bamboo pole away, or rotates the boring and palladium to stir the bamboo pole. Their responsibility is not to kill the enemy, but to disrupt and block the enemy.

The rattan players practice fighting in pairs, and sometimes they also practice sparring with spearmen, or practice javelin throwing.

The long-player player always plays the big shield and needs to use the big shield to make the best use of it. Their usual physical training tasks are the heaviest. They have to lift stone locks even at home, and they also receive food subsidies during non-training seasons. When it comes to a really dangerous moment, or when they are attacking a city, they need to wield the iron bone flower to attack the fortress and hit people.

Zhu Ming called Zhang Guangdao and praised him: "You have practiced very well. You have not slacked off these days. Each person will be rewarded with two hundred coins."

Zhang Guangdao smiled and said: "You can't do this just by practicing. Every time I go to Shaanxi to sell tea, I will rotate a group of followers. There are bandits everywhere along the way. They have seen blood more or less, so they have a fierceness about them." spirit."

"The good idea is to see blood." Ju Ming was even more satisfied.

Zhang Guangdao said in a low voice: "I proposed smuggling tea, not just to make money, but to train soldiers. The real purpose is to travel over mountains and ridges all year round, your temper will calm down, you will be more willing to obey orders, and you will also exercise your ability to march in mountainous areas."

Ju Ming smiled and said, "Brother Zhang has the talent of a general."

After watching some training, Zhang Guangdao began to compete with Li Bao and Zhang Bor in martial arts.

As expected, Li Bao was still in the developmental stage. Except for his superiority in riding and horseback archery, he could only tie with Zhang Guangdao in flat ground archery. All other martial arts were defeated by Zhang Guangdao.

Zhang Bor is only good at swordsmanship and his riding skills are pretty good. He is more like a knight-errant. His martial arts skills will be at a disadvantage on the battlefield.

"Brother Zhang is really a good man!" Li Bao was convinced.

Zhang Guangdao said: "Your riding skills are so good, how did you develop them?"

Li Bao said: "There are many horse owners in various parts of Jingdong, and the imperial horse administration has caused great harm to the people. But I have benefited from it. I have been riding the family pony since I was a few years old. It can be said that I grew up on a horse."

"No wonder," Zhang Guangdao said to Zhu Ming, "Brother Li is so good at riding that even Chen Ziyi can't compare to him."

Ju Ming smiled and said: "If he joins the army, he will definitely be a cavalry commander."

But in history, how did Li Bao become a naval admiral? This man has never even seen the sea now.

Although Zhang Bor was inferior to others in various skills, he did not think about practicing martial arts. He was more interested in the Yuanyang Formation. After the discussion, Zhang Guangdao was asked to learn the secrets of the formation, and he even squatted down and used stones to draw pictures to understand.

After hanging out in the village for half a day, Ju Ming went down to inspect the village again.

Zhang Bor came from a wealthy family, and Li Bao and his brother-in-law Liu Kui were also considered wealthy households in the village. Although they have feelings, they still remain on the surface.

Only Yang Pu, a rooster and dog robber, was greatly shocked after visiting the village.

Yang Pu came from a truly miserable background. He could sense the specialness of Daming Village from the expressions of the villagers.

Most of the farmers on Jingdong Road are dull and "simple" in the writings of literati. Many famous officials have said this about Shandong farmers. But once forced, Shandong farmers will become vicious and turn into thieves to plunder everywhere.

Daming Village is different. The villagers are full of vigor and enthusiasm for life.

For Yang Pu, this is a real paradise. If he settles down in Daming Village, he will never steal again. He is willing to work hard to farm the land, and then find a wife and have children to live a stable life.

That kind of life must be very comfortable, and it doesn't matter if it's a little hard or a little tiring.

After walking for a while, Yang Pu finally couldn't help but ask: "Ms. sir, can I settle down in the village in the future?"

"Why are you thinking about this?" Zhu Ming asked.

Yang Pu said: "It's very nice here, better than the countryside in Puzhou. I plan to open up more than ten acres of land and find a hard-working mother-in-law, then I won't need anything."

"Good ambition." Ju Ming laughed.

That's all Yang Pu's pursuit is to become a small landowner or farmer. He really didn't want to be a thief, otherwise he wouldn't have taken the risk to join Ju Ming.

Everyone walked back all the way. When passing by the inn, Ling Guxu and other Yangzhou scholars came out of the inn to meet them.

"Why don't you send someone to tell Dalang when he returns home? When we got the news, we hurried over." Ling Guxu smiled broadly.