Chapter 71 The Flag Holder (Part 1)

The grass under my feet was a little slippery, and the flagpole in my hand became wet and sticky. What was even more uncomfortable was the feather arrows hanging on the armor, which kept swaying up and down as the footsteps moved. The arrow clusters that had been penetrated that were unable to continue moving forward were constantly cut through people's skin and meridians as the arrow shaft swayed, and it kept swaying, endlessly.

On several occasions, Zhang Dingbian wanted to stop first, pull out the arrows on his armor, sort out his boots, and then continue to rush. There was more than one flag holder in each battalion, one more and one less. In fact, the difference was not too big. However, there was a familiar voice that kept hovering in his ears, "Captain Zhang, don't be distracted, keep up with the team." "Captain Zhang, don't be distracted, keep up with the team." "Captain Zhang, don't be distracted."

The battalion commander only has three hundred-man teams under his command, and his positions are between the deputy Qianhun and the chief Baihun of Yuan Tianwan. The word "intern" is also added to the front. For Zhang Dingbian, who once served as the commander of the ten thousand men, he is not an ordinary talent. However, he is neither the veteran of the left army of Xuzhou, nor any strong backing or connections. As an outsider who lost all his subordinates, he is forced to surrender to the Huai'an army. This treatment cannot be considered low.

Moreover, according to the current rules of the Huai'an Army, all generals and assistants at the company commander and above must go through the training of the martial arts lecture hall. He went out to lead troops without passing this training, which is an exceptional promotion. If he doesn't know what to do, he may have to be rushed to the new training camp of the Privy Council, responsible for giving special guidance to the auxiliary soldiers.

So after Zhang Dingbian was stuffed into the 3024th Regiment, he did not show much dissatisfaction. He usually got along well with his superiors and colleagues. However, he still couldn't adapt to the Huai'an Army's almost rigid combat methods for a while, but this did not stump Liu Shisan, deputy battalion commander and executive teacher who had just returned from a short training in the martial arts hall. The latter solved the biggest problem for him with just one sentence. "If you don't know what to do, it depends on the red helmet tassels around you."

The one with red tassels on the helmet is a veteran. In the Huai'an army, there is another very bad term for this, called non-commissioned officers, which are also divided into several levels, holding military pay that is far higher than ordinary combat soldiers, but there is no command power equal to that of the officers. It can only be temporarily controlled when the latter is killed.

In addition, there are many other benefits to being a non-commissioned officer, such as priority promotion, and no arbitrary disposal without being tried by a military judge at the regiment level or above. After retiring due to injury, they will be given priority to urban management offices at all levels to serve important positions. According to the latest regulations, each non-commissioned officer will also be given to the honorary fields corresponding to the grade to reward his merits.

Such many special treatments are certainly jealous, but it is not easy to be a red helmet tassel. This position will only grant veterans who have excellent military achievements, loyalty and reliable, but have not learned to read and read, or are not capable of being officers for the time being. They have been in the army for the longest time, have the richest combat experience, and are also familiar with the various tactics and orders of the Huai'an Army. As long as there are three to five such non-commissioned officers in a company, the entire company will appear outstanding. If there are ten to fifteen senior non-commissioned officers in a battalion, the entire battalion will be looked up by the above, and they will be regarded as a vanguard in wartime. They will also enjoy various preferential treatments for food, fodder, military supplies, and military sources.

In the second battalion of the 3024th Regiment where Zhang Dingbian was located, there were seventeen non-commissioned officers at all levels, including his deputy Liu Shisan, who had just died in battle. He also worked as a special non-commissioned officer for a long time. Unlike other special non-commissioned officers, Liu Shisan was more ambitious and worked harder. He spent almost a full year and a half to learn to read and read, and passed the assessment of the brigade and the short-term training of the martial arts hall, so he was given priority promotion, and he was promoted from a special non-commissioned officer to a deputy battalion and an executive teacher.

In the eyes of many people, the latter official title is more dazzling than the previous one, because above the executive teaching, it is the regiment-level master-level military service, and the success of the military service is to become higher, the brigade-level Ming Dynasty chief, the military-level government affairs supervisor and the legion-level government affairs supervisor. Those who hold the last position can bypass the War Bureau and the Privy Council and report directly to the chief executive, and even interfere or decide on the appointment and removal of generals, impeach generals who are on the same level as themselves. Only in the war can retreat to the account and return all authority to the legion commander.

Therefore, most low-level generals and assistants get along relatively distant from their executives or masters to join the army, for fear that they will have any faults and will be caught by the other party, and report them layer by layer through the military supervision channel, which will affect their future. The generals and supervisors often deliberately keep an appropriate distance from the generals and assistants at the same level, so as not to have too deep interactions between the two parties and affect their responsibilities when necessary.

However, Liu Shisan, the executive teacher of the Second Battalion, was an exception. He worked as a disciple of the boat gang for a while before joining the army. Influenced by this experience, his temperament was very strong. After discovering that Zhang Dingbian was extraordinary, he deliberately strengthened his interactions with each other. It happened that Zhang Dingbian himself was not a scheming person, so the two chief and deputy battalion commanders, who were usually the same as me, soon got along with each other.

"Captain Zhang, don't be distracted and follow the team." Liu Shisan's voice sounded in his heart again, with a little anxiety and expectation.

"Don't get lost, keep up with the team." Zhang Dingbian opened his voice and repeated loudly, and at the same time adjusted his steps according to the movements of the red helmets on both sides.

Two brothers were separated by his left side, Zhang Wu, the deputy regiment commander, with scarlet tassels in his hand, and he also held a flag gun in his hand. Whenever the enemy troops blocking the road were defeated, the man would raise the flagpole and wave it left and right so that the brothers behind could recognize the latest attack direction.

On the right side, there were three other brothers. A special non-commissioned officer named Zheng from the camp, who was illiterate and had a headache when reading, but he was very clever. He could keep pace with the deputy commander with just the corner of his eyes, and at the same time he could free up enough energy to deal with the mountain people who were struggling from both wings. He saw that the man shook the flag suddenly and shook the body of the mountain people blocking the road. Then he sent the opponent to the side of his team, which was exactly the best position for a sword and shield hand to shoot.

"Ah,." The mountaineer let out a very short scream, and was chopped to the ground by the sword and shield hands. Several other mountaineering people who risked their lives rushed over were sent to the West by other brothers on the right side of Zhang Dingbian.

The blood that splashed up drenched Zhang Dingbian's helmet, making him feel that his helmet tassels began to turn red. He gritted his teeth and lifted half of the flagpole higher.

This action inspired his own morale and also attracted the attention of many enemy troops. Soon, dozens of feather arrows flew towards him, trying to turn Zhang Dingbian and the camp flag in his hand. However, most of the feather arrows shot out were swept away by the flags. Then they disappeared. There was only a cunning fish that escaped the net. They hit Zhang Dingbian's helmet, splashing a few sparks on the ground, and fell softly.

A brother beside him was not so lucky to be shot in the eye by a rifle arrow and fell to death with a scream. A soldier in the second row jumped out of the head of the injured without hesitation to fill the gap just exposed. The triangular bayonet in his hand was straight forward, and the tip of the knife treated with green alum oil reflected the faint blue starlight.

"Free shooting, free shooting while moving." Deputy regiment commander Zhang Wu was angry by the sudden rain of arrows, waved the battle flag, and roared a military order.

"With the fire, whee, whee, whee." The messy musket sounded, and white smoke rolled, blocking Zhang Dingbian's vision. Without looking, he closed his eyes, he also knew that the effect of this round of shooting would not be very good. Therefore, the firing rate of the gun was greatly improved than that of the mezzanine, but the accuracy was as unreasonable as it was. Unless it was a volley in line, its effect on the target was usually limited to frightening.

Sure enough, before the white smoke in front of him dissipated, another feathered arrow broke through the air, most of which were blocked by helmets and armor as usual, and failed to cause too much damage to the brothers in Huai'an army, but there were still two or three players who got what they wanted and shot the brothers beside Zhang Ding in a pool of blood.

The brothers in the back row silently crossed the injured and filled the vacancy. The regiment commanded the flag and the battalion-level flag on the right side continued to flutter in the wind and were sandwiched between two battle flags. Zhang Dingbian did not dare to act too cowardly. He continued to grit his teeth, lifted the flagpole, and moved his steps forward, neither daring to be too fast nor too slow.

Behind him, there were still other brothers fighting back at the enemy with muskets, but Bai Yan could no longer affect Zhang Dingbian's sight. He saw a large wave of enemy troops, estimated to be 500 to 700, who walked around from the side of the hill and tried to block his direction of progress. There were at least two to three hundred archers in the enemy's ranks, and there were hundreds of mountain people holding various Qimen weapons, each of whom was filled with fear and hatred.

"We should stop and use swords and shields to protect the entire army, and then let the grenadiers blow them apart." With intuition, an optimal response strategy surged in Zhang Dingbian's mind.

But what reached his ears was another command without wisdom, "Everyone has it, follow me and charge in hand and blade."

"Shibition charge."

"Shibition charge."

On both sides and behind, countless people responded wildly, the regiment-level command flag and the battalion-level recognition flag quickly pressed forward, and the two red helmets took the lead and ran wildly.

"If you don't know what to do, just look at the red helmet tassels around you." Zhang Dingbian's heart quickly rang out Liu Shisan's words, and he lowered his head suddenly. He used his helmet to face the feather arrows, guarding the Central Camp flag, and pointed forward at the same time, "Come with me in the Second Camp, charge in the hand and blade."

"Shibition charge."

"Shibition charge."

Countless robes responded with roars, and the entire team suddenly accelerated, crossing the corpses on the ground, and swept across the hills like a wind in front of the rain of arrows.

The feather arrow fell, and more than a dozen strokes fell to the ground. Others turned a blind eye to the injured. According to the habits developed during normal training, they followed the battle flags at the front of the team, and their paces continued to accelerate.

There is no turning point in the sea of ​​fire.
Chapter completed!