Chapter 560: The Charge Saber

From Ningyuan County to Lanzhou was not far, and soon Liu Yiyong returned.

At first Liu Chengzong thought Liu Yiyong's analysis was just the nonsense of a young man who had never been on a battlefield, but after Liu Yiyong told him the details, Liu Chengzong could not help but reassess the combat strength of Zhang Yichuan's troops.

Liu Yiyong found it difficult to explain Zhang Yichuan's combat strength to Liu Chengzong directly, so he performed a set of saber techniques on the spot in the Marshal's Manor.

The saber form was very short; afraid that he could not see clearly or remember it, Liu Yiyong performed it three times in the main hall of the Marshal's Manor. Liu Chengzong frowned more and more as he watched, and finally waved his hand and said, "Stop, I see it clearly now."

See it clearly? If the Feathered Forest Cavalry performed it two more times... no need for two more times — he felt he had already learned this saber form right now.

Because this saber form was too plain and simple; one could even say it was very crude.

The attacks were just a head-splitting chop, a left sweep, a right sweep, and a thrust; the defense was just deflecting — deflecting up, down, left, right. Basically every movement was for attack.

"As expected, the Grand Marshal sees it clearly at a glance." Liu Yiyong smiled. "Your subordinate also remembered it after watching a few times. This is all they know."

Liu Chengzong was very puzzled. He stood up and made a posture with his bare hands, asking, "When chopping, why change the move into a thrust? I saw the transition was very smooth. What is the meaning of sweeping backward? And this footwork — does it just keep moving forward?"

Liu Yiyong smiled very plainly. "They say if there is a helmet, or if the weapon is blocked, then thrust it in. Same when deflecting. The Grand Marshal is right about the footwork — actually they have no real footwork, it's just advancing forward. The feet must not stop."

"The backward sweep is the same. First advance forward. If it's a long-shafted spear or lance, deflect it; once deflected, go inside and chop however is most convenient. If it's a short weapon, then deliver a head-splitting chop. Regardless of length, once deflected or blocked, ignore it. As you pass by the opponent, sweep one slash backward and keep advancing forward."

Liu Chengzong nodded thoughtfully. "No parrying exchanges. I roughly understand."

The feeling this saber form gave him was just like the feeling Zhang Yichuan's troops gave Liu Yiyong: confusion.

Liu Chengzong had systematically studied many weapons — bows, meteor hammers, spears and lances, and so on — but the saber, the weapon he was most familiar with, he had never systematically studied any saber art except for the executioner's blade technique.

In fact, never having systematically studied saber arts did not hinder him from being more combat-capable than those martial instructors guarding homes and estates, because he was strong and powerful, battle-hardened, had more real combat experience than those who created martial arts, and most importantly, his cuts were precise.

Precision was important. When the border troops at Fish River Fort had no battalion drills, they trained on their own, and what they trained was precision.

A new recruit without practice, let alone wielding a saber, could not even land a punch on the point he wanted to hit. An inch or two off — that was the difference between cutting flesh and cutting armor when using a saber.

But almost none of them trained with the saber. Large-scale battalion drills were for battle formations; company-level small drills were for bows, horses, mounted archery, long spears, and firearms. Fighting behind the formation lines — what proper officer would lead troops in training with short sabers?

Only in small-scale skirmishes or when entering the chaos of melee, when spears and lances were broken and arrows exhausted, would they draw their secondary weapon and fight desperately... No one put their main energy into saber training. Like wrestling, most people treated it as a relaxing game in their spare time.

However, this did not prevent Liu the Lion from seeing the inner workings of this saber form.

It had almost no defense, especially neglecting leg defense. It placed great emphasis on body movement. The feet never stopped, always advancing forward. That backward sweeping slash — infantry could use it, and cavalry could too.

This was absolutely not a civilian saber form, because the characteristics of civilian martial arts are very distinct: limited weapon choices, more caution about causing harm due to legal restrictions, specialization in one weapon, application scenarios mostly one-on-one or one-against-many, with more consideration for aesthetics and controllable techniques for wounding and maiming.

For example, attacking the hands and feet, correspondingly using the weapon to defend the hands and feet, picking one weapon you like, striving to refine one martial art toward perfection, practicing it a lifetime, able to adapt to all situations, even cultivating one's character and nurturing one's nature, stressing martial virtue, so as not to kill someone with one move and end up with a lawsuit.

The military, however, had no such fuss. Learning the battalion-formation weapons and being able to use them was enough. There was no need to consider one person handling all situations. The opposing saber master was contemplating a sneak attack on your hand, and the crossbowmen behind you had already shot him full of arrows like a hedgehog. Even a Sword Saint before you could not withstand a Frankish cannon.

But this was precisely where Liu Chengzong felt conflicted about this saber form. This saber form was not impressive enough in the civilian world, and in military formations, there was likewise no need to spend effort mastering it.

In a battle formation state, this saber was useless again. The advantage of short weapons was portability, used as a secondary arm. And the iron law of the battlefield from ancient times to the present had never changed: make the enemy die on the path of their advance. Therefore, long weapons were the masters that dominated the battlefield.

Long spears, bows and crossbows, firearms, cannons — the longer, the better.

So Liu Chengzong did not understand the logic of this saber form's existence. In civilian usage scenarios, it was full of openings everywhere. And on the battlefield, judging by the existing moves, the only application form was when the enemy troops were not in formation and were dispersed.

Only under such conditions, with groups of soldiers in skirmish formation, charging with sabers toward enemy troops who had not yet formed up and were dispersed, would one chop fail to kill and there be the next one, never turning back, always advancing forward, until they cut through the enemy formation.

Soldiers who would be surrounded and doomed if they stopped were the ones who used this saber form.

And in this kind of situation, this saber form had no openings. Hmm... it might be a bit costly in lives, but viewed as a whole, it was almost flawless.

So this saber form was very unreasonable. Where would there be enemies not in formation, dispersed, waiting for you to cut them down? Besides, if such an opportunity truly existed, you would just directly roll over them with a cavalry unit.

With such doubts, Liu Chengzong paced slowly in the hall, pondering this saber form that looked very simple yet was extremely practical under specific conditions. After he sat back down, he raised his eyes and asked, "What is this saber form called?"

"Charge."

Liu Yiyong said very seriously, "Just 'Charge.' They all call this the Charge Saber."

Charge.

Liu Chengzong nodded, as if thinking of something, and laughed silently. "A very fitting name."

He roughly knew who created this saber form. Zhang Yichuan had first served under Gao Yingxiang and later allied with Li Zicheng, dealing with both the Dashing King and the Dashing General. But the probability was slightly higher that it was Li Zicheng who would actually put this kind of saber form into real combat.

"Of Zhang Yichuan's nine thousand troops, how many know how to use this saber form?"

As soon as he asked, Liu Chengzong regretted posing such a simple question. This saber form was too simple. He could use it after watching it twice. Anyone could use it after practicing for three days, and could clearly grasp the logic of this saber form:

Charge forward. Those with ability charge the enemy formation; those without ability charge the formation of life and death. In short, toward the person blocking your way — one chop to the head, one thrust as a variation, one backward sweep as you pass by. For each opponent, regardless of life or death, only three moves. Get through if you can; die if you cannot.

"Everyone."

After Liu Yiyong said this, he explained, "Zhang Yichuan recruits troops without turning anyone away — men and women, old and young, strong and frail. Anyone who can run is issued a saber. After learning this saber form, when they encounter government troops, they run, making the government troops chase. When they can run no more, they turn and charge back. As long as the government troops are dispersed, if enough people charge back, they can scatter the government troops' formation."

"He said that in the past, when they campaigned jointly with the five battalions of the Dashing Army, as long as they charged open the enemy formation, Li Zicheng's Dashing Battalion cavalry would rout the government troops."

Liu Chengzong frowned inwardly: This is far too idealized.

He asked, "With just famine refugees, even if issued sabers, the government troops only need to chase them a couple of steps and they scatter in all directions. Even if the government troops disperse, if not enough people charge back, it's still useless."

"The Grand Marshal is right; this is also your subordinate's doubt. However, according to Zhang Yichuan, once their people learn this saber form, when they run, they pay attention to running with the main group, in order to seek a path to survival." Liu Yiyong thought for a moment and answered, "Your subordinate believes it is like what the cavalry section's drill manual at the Marshal's Manor Academy teaches: when cavalry charge each other, regardless of friend or foe, in a hundred-man company there are only three true warriors."

The orphans of the Feathered Forest Cavalry had all attended classes in the various arms sections of the Academy, and they could recite the drill manuals like treasured heirlooms.

Liu Chengzong had also heard of this theory of the three true warriors in cavalry. It was created by Yang Yao, the cavalry commander of the Lion Battalion. Specifically, it said that in a hundred-man cavalry company, when forced to charge with leveled lances, out of a hundred men, only three were true warriors who dared to fight desperately to take the enemy's head. Another seven were followers who only focused on saving their own lives and parrying during the charge.

The remaining ninety were nothing more than fools with neither courage nor brains, only following the crowd, letting the bravery or cowardice of others decide their own life or death.

When others charged heroically, they followed along and stabbed the corpses a couple of times, sharing the glory; when others fled in cowardice, they could not escape and were ground into meat paste, their livers and brains smeared on the ground.

Regarding this theory, Liu Chengzong, as a vanguard of the cavalry, felt that, hmm... it was a kind of psychological suggestion to instill faith and courage. It might not be correct, rigorous, or reasonable, but it was useful.

The enemy might not have only three true warriors, but if the very front of our cavalry unit had ten squad leaders who firmly believed in this theory, the entire unit would not turn their horses during the charge. And since cavalry charges only rarely truly collided head-on, if the enemy turned aside at the last moment, it confirmed that the enemy had ninety fools who followed the crowd.

Conversely, if both sides had the courage to charge head-on, both would certainly suffer heavy losses. Our cavalry unit, firmly believing the enemy had only three true warriors, would definitely have higher morale in battle. If the first wave charged and killed ten enemy cavalrymen, they might believe victory was assured and launch a second collision; the enemy certainly would not have such courage.

And this Charge Saber form was the same. Peasant army recruits who had no power to fight back against government troops believed they had mastered a saber form that, with collective strength, could cut down government troops. When routing, they would actively flee in one direction. The government troops, spurred by the reward for heads, would scatter to pursue and kill. When those who could not run and the unlucky were killed, the peasant soldiers who still had strength remaining would counter-charge the scattered formation with sabers, and there was indeed a chance to break through the government troops.

If aided by elite troops — not even that elite, just a few cavalry units composed of regular soldiers — it was possible to turn defeat into victory.

Clearly, this was a tactic devised out of desperation by the peasant armies fighting across Shanxi and the Central Plains. The core idea was asymmetric warfare.

Having understood this saber form, Liu the Lion now had a clear measure of Zhang Yichuan's troops' combat strength. Liu Yiyong's assessment of that unit was not false. He sighed and said, "Their entire army trains in this saber form. I'm afraid reorganization and integration training will take even longer."

He had been careless this time, taking it for granted that peasant armies that had lasted until now must be fairly strong... They were indeed not weak, but they were not on the same path as him. They did not follow the conventional route from peasant to soldier to elite at all; they followed the upgrade path of roving bandits, blade-wielders, and Guanzhong horse bandits.

From beginning to end, this path seemed never to have considered transforming into a regular army, carrying the tactics of scattered soldiers and stragglers through to the very end.

This tactic was not particularly brilliant in Liu Chengzong's eyes, but he could understand the peasant army's choice, especially the choice of a leader with limited strength like Zhang Yichuan. Limited strength meant no choice — anything was a lifeline.

And their opponent, the Great Ming Empire, was simply too strong.

In truth, the Great Ming was at its weakest right now, but because of the ancestral legacy, even at its weakest, it was still too strong for its enemies.

The ancestral legacy was that the dynasty was founded righteously.

If a dynasty is founded unrighteously — in other words, if the state's very existence lacks legitimacy — then even without any internal or external problems, any rebellion would draw far greater response.

Only a righteous founding can transform a family into a state, and a state into all under heaven, forging the most powerful talisman of protection.

Without transforming a family into a state, disloyal officials and powerful ministers would have a chance at successful rebellion; without transforming a state into all under heaven, commoners rising in revolt would also have a higher chance of success.

By all logic, this state should have perished long ago at those great hurdles — the Tumu debacle, the Jiajing Emperor's Daoist cultivation, the Wanli Emperor's neglect of governance — yet somehow it mastered the art of reanimating corpses, and has kept kicking all the way to the present, full of life and vigor.

This strength, embodied in the Great Ming, meant one thing: it could fight.

A hundred-year war still has decades of truce in between, but the Great Ming fought almost continuously for a hundred years across the six directions of the realm — finished fighting in the north and fought in the east, finished in the east and fought in the west, finished outside and a little thing split off from its own body to keep fighting.

Being able to fight does not necessarily mean certain victory, but resilience can bring terrifying pressure and despair to the enemy; as one side wanes and the other waxes, it helps secure the final win.

Even now, of those opponents who have crossed blades with the Great Ming over the past century, one after another has fallen, and very few still stand. Even the Later Jin, who have performed the best, are merely trying every means to maintain a state of "a wretched life is still better than a good death."

At this moment, even Hong Taiji would not believe the Great Ming would soon perish. Esen of the Choros couldn't destroy the Great Ming — what was he by comparison?

Only those standing on the Great Ming's side would believe they could sweep away the rebellions and annihilate the Later Jin.

This conviction meant that even now, with drought, flood, war, famine, and plague running rampant, the people of this land made forced choices, splitting into two factions even in a single place.

With grain insufficient to eat and the land unable to sustain so many people, people made a natural choice: one group became roving bandits answering the peasant army, and the other became stockade militias answering the government.

So Liu Chengzong could understand Zhang Yichuan's despair. At this moment, not a single peasant army truly believed they could ultimately overthrow the Great Ming; at most, they were all like the Later Jin, trying every means to maintain a state of staying alive.

It was just that their choice, made under such despair, brought great trouble to the Marshal Manor's reorganization efforts.

"I originally thought that incorporating Zhang Yichuan would save me some trouble. I never expected to find myself an even bigger problem."

Liu Chengzong smiled bitterly and shook his head. Enough equipment to arm an entire battalion had already been transported over.

Following Zhang Yichuan's old tactics, if the five reorganized battalions were sent to the front lines, they might luckily win the first battle, even the second, but once the government troops figured out their patterns, defeat would inevitably follow — and then that battalion's worth of equipment would be a gift to the enemy.

"The Henan five battalions can't learn battle formations in a short time. There isn't that much time. Let them learn as much as they can."

Liu Chengzong gave Liu Yiyong a few more instructions, then sent him back to Ningyuan County to train the troops. Immediately after, he issued an order throughout the Marshal Manor: "Summon the officers of Gansu, Xining, and Lintao to Lanzhou for a council of war. Prepare for the eastern campaign."

Good afternoon!