Chapter 414: Five military camps, move out!

The Five Military Camps were the most powerful of the three major armies of the Ming army. They were field armies composed of elite cavalry and infantry selected from various provinces of the Ming Dynasty.

Since its establishment, the Five Military Camps has experienced many battles, the most famous of which include the Jingnan Campaign, the Pacification of Annan, the Five Northern Expeditions, the Luchuan Campaign, the Defense of BJ, the Chenghua Liting Campaign, and so on.

It is called the Five Army Camp because it is divided into the central army, the left wing army, the right wing army, the left sentinel army and the right sentinel army.

The original commander-in-chief of the Five Armies was Duke of Yingguo, Zhang Mao.

Unfortunately, Zhang Mao died at an untimely time, leaving the Five Military Camps leaderless. So before going on the expedition, Emperor Zhengde only brought the Three Thousand Camps and the Shenji Camp.

It was not until Ou Zanghua returned to Beijing that Duke Chengguo Zhu Fu was allowed to temporarily take over the post of commander-in-chief of the Fifth Army Camp and transfer the Fifth Army Camp to Panjiakou.

However, after Zhu Fu arrived at Panjiakou, he repeatedly advised Emperor Zhengde to return to Beijing as soon as possible, which made Boss Zhu very unhappy. He simply asked Zhu Fu to represent him and return to Beijing to attend the funeral of the Duke of Ying.

Afterwards, Boss Zhu promoted Ou Zanghua to the governor of the five military camps and handed over the command to him.

The post of governor-general was established in the sixth year of Zhengtong, but in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, there were only four regularly established governor-general positions, namely the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, the Governor-General of the Three Borders of Shaanxi, the Governor-General of Xuanda and Shanxi, and the Governor-General of Ji and Liao.

Although other governors were established at different times, most of them were temporarily set up in response to specific events and were not regularized.

At this moment, in the big tent, the five main generals of the five military camps, ten military officials, and twenty chief officers were all present. When Ou Zanghua walked in, everyone bowed and saluted and said, "Greetings, Lord Ou!"

"No need to formality, just sit down!" After Ou Zanghua bowed in return, everyone sat down one by one after hearing what he said.

Ou Zanghua looked around and saw that the five main generals were all nobles.

The chief general of the central army was Anxiang Marquis Zhang Duo, the chief general of the left wing army was Yongkang Marquis Xu Yuan, the chief general of the right wing army was Guangen Marquis Liu Yu, the chief general of the left patrol army was Taining Marquis Chen Ru, and the chief general of the right patrol army was Wuan Marquis Zheng Ying.

Among them, Marquis Yongkang, Earl Guangen and Marquis Wu'an came to power in the eighth year of Zhengde. Before that, the three main generals of the Beijing Camp had joined forces to replace Qiu Yue and Ou Zanghua in order to thoroughly rectify military discipline and restore the reputation of the Beijing Camp.

Marquis Taining Chen Ru inherited the title in the seventh year of Zhengde. The previous events had nothing to do with him personally, and his archery skills were outstanding among the nobles, so Emperor Zhengde let him off the hook and did not pursue the matter.

Wu'an Hou Zheng Ying was an old man in the Five Military Camp. He inherited the title in the 13th year of Chenghua and had been in the Five Military Camp for more than 20 years. Even though he had no merit, he had worked hard. Keeping him could stabilize the morale of the army, so he was fined a huge sum of money but his title was not stripped away.

In addition, all the twenty chief officers are Ou Zanghua's students.

At a glance, Zhang Miaosan, Li Mu, and Wang Twelve were all acquaintances.

When these people saw Ou Zanghua's gaze, they sat up straight, their expressions filled with excitement.

After all, the focus of the Beijing Camp’s reorganization was the Fifth Army Camp. Who said it had the largest number of people, the most chaotic management, and the most serious problems?
Of the five hundred Jiangxi military attachés, three hundred were deployed in the five military camps.

Therefore, even though these five nobles had different personalities and were unruly, they did not dare to be too arrogant in front of Ou Zanghua.

If they don't want to be decent, Ou Zanghua has plenty of ways to make them decent.

Ou Zanghua glanced around and said seriously, "Yesterday, the court received solid intelligence that the elite troops of Wuliangha and Duoyanwei have all moved south to invade our border. In view of this, the Kharchin tribe is currently in a weak defense, which is a godsend opportunity. Order the entire army to break camp and advance northward!"

"Yes!"

Everyone stood up collectively with a "clatter", clasped their fists and responded loudly. As Ou Zanghua's order was passed down, the entire camp began to move.

The first to leave the camp were the cavalry of the left and right sentinels. Because the cavalry were fast, they quickly advanced to a place two or three miles away from the camp, then stopped, stood still, formed a line, and began to be on alert.

Afterwards, the infantry units left the camp in turn according to their locations and directions, and lined up on all sides at a distance of twenty steps from the camp to stand guard.

Finally, the baggage train left the camp.

After everyone has left the camp, the order of departure changes again. The infantry will gather their troops and pass the cavalry to march in the front, and then the cavalry guards will lead the baggage train and march at a distance of two miles from the infantry.

During the march, hundreds of infantry and cavalry were responsible for delivering messages and exploring the way forward.

The Butang soldiers carried flags of various colors. If they encountered the enemy, they would wave a red flag to warn them. Once they found the enemy, they would immediately wave a yellow flag. If the enemy was numerous, they would use a green flag to warn them. If the enemy was weak, they would wave a white flag to inform them. If they encountered complex terrain or special obstacles, they would wave a black flag to warn them.

Each type of flag has its own function and must not be confused to ensure that the information is conveyed accurately.

If any abnormal situation is discovered during the exploration process, or if an enemy ambush is encountered, the Butang soldiers will immediately wave the flag to warn.

At this time, the Tangqi would ride back to the army without hesitation to report the danger. The commander would then quickly arrange the troops in battle array according to the terrain of the mountain, ready to fight the invading enemy.

Of course, if the Butang soldiers can survive a crisis, they can choose to temporarily flee to ensure their own safety without having to return to the barracks immediately. When the war is over, the Butang soldiers will receive a war reward of one head each.

In addition, as a specialized team for intelligence transmission, the actions of the Tangqi are crucial.

Therefore, the intelligence obtained by the Tangqi must be delivered directly and quickly to the commander-in-chief. Regardless of whether the intelligence is urgent or not, officers and soldiers along the way have no right to intercept and interrogate them.

Anyone who violates this rule and arbitrarily intercepts the Tangqi and interrogates them for intelligence will be severely punished according to military law.

During the march, in addition to the necessary baggage and food, each soldier also needed to carry two liters of roasted yellow rice, and the distribution was quite particular:

One liter is carefully ground into fine crumbs for quick consumption and digestion.

The other litre is packaged separately and kept in granular form for future use.

In addition, each person is provided with one and a half liters of flour, which is versatile and well prepared:

Five grams of flour are used to make sesame oil steamed cakes.

Wuheze is made into fried noodles, soaked in shochu and then dried in the sun, which not only adds flavor but also makes it easier to preserve.

The final five-grain flour is also used to make fried noodles, but this time it is soaked in salt and vinegar and then dried to meet different tastes and nutritional needs.

All of these items need to be carefully packed so that the soldiers can carry them with them and be ready to deal with various emergencies during the march.

As the five military camps set out, Yang Tinghe, Liang Chu and others felt a sense of relief in their hearts. Since the three major camps had all set out, then His Majesty should be able to return to the capital with them, right?

But when they turned Panjiakou upside down and couldn't find the Emperor Zhengde, they realized that something was wrong.
(End of this chapter)