West Nuan Pavilion of Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Youtang had just finished his morning dynasty in the morning and was now catching up on his sleep on the dragon couch.

Standing outside the door were Yanhai, the head of Qianqing Palace, Li Guang, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Palace, and Su Yin, the young girl who had been rescued from Fengmingyuan not long ago.

Because Su Yin was pretty and homeless, Zhu Youtang kept her by his side. As the frequency of Su Yin's appearance on orders increased in the past few days, Zhu Youtang's heart was already ready to move.

"Su Yin, where are you?"

"Miss Su, the emperor has called you." Li Guang said with a smile.

Su Yin immediately blushed and ignored Li Guang. She quickly ran into the Nuan Pavilion and responded: "Your Majesty is here. He's coming."

Zhu Youtang rubbed his eyes and asked sleepily: "What time is it now?"

Su Yin said softly: "It is time to reply to Your Majesty."

Zhu Youtang stretched, rubbed his shoulders and said with a bitter smile: "Su Yin, I feel my shoulders are sore. Come and rub them for me. Let Li Guang and Yan Hai come in together."

After receiving the emperor's summons, Li Guang and Yan Hai ran in.

"Yan Hai, I remember that Ma Wensheng handed over a piece of information. You find it and read it to me. While Yan Hai was looking for the memorial, Zhu Youtang immediately asked: "Li Guang, what I entrusted you to do. How are you doing? Have you found out the dirty things in the harem? I heard that you got a lot of money, but I don't know how things are going."

Li Guangxuan smiled and said: "Your Majesty, please rest assured. The slaves and maids have replaced a group of people in various departments of the inner palace, as well as the attendants who come in and out, and the palace people who guard the various palace gates. The slaves and maids have also been replaced by the royal confidants." .”

"Well...if something unexpected happens, you also know what will happen to you." After Yan Hai found Ma Wensheng's memorial and read it, Zhu Youtang was overjoyed: "It seems that the new firearm has been successfully tested. Go to the capital camp quickly. Tell Ma Wensheng, I understand what he means, the military parade will be today. I will give him enough time to prepare on the school field!"

After Yan Hai left, Zhu Youtang, Su Yin, and several young eunuchs chatted for a few more words before going to Dongnuang Pavilion to change their military uniforms. He couldn't wait to see the heroic appearance of the Ming Dynasty soldiers.

...

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Accompanied by neat shouts, the Ming Dynasty infantry and cavalry battalions were gathering into formation as quickly as possible.

"Your Majesty, Ma Wensheng, please forgive me for not being able to meet you from afar," the two said in unison.

"My dear friends, please rise quickly. I will pardon your innocence. I have read the memorials you have submitted. Have the new firearms been equipped with the entire army?" Zhu Youtang asked happily.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me, we..." Wang Shu hesitated in speaking. Ma Wensheng next to him also turned a little red.

All this was seen by Zhu Youtang. He was about to speak but was interrupted by Li Guangxian: "If Wang Shangshu has any difficulties, just tell him. Your Majesty is also a wise king. He will try his best to solve it for you. "

Hearing the kind words from the eunuch Li Guang, Ma Wensheng immediately cast a grateful look at Li Guang.

Being able to let Li Guang speak kindly to Wang Shu and Ma Wensheng shows that Li Guang really has the ability to observe people's emotions. Knowing that he attaches great importance to the training of the Beijing camp, even if they make a little mistake, he will not blame them. Secondly, By speaking for them, Li Guang could be a favor, and maybe Ma Wensheng and Wang Shu would be kind to him afterwards, which would be very helpful for his career in the rest of his life.

But Zhu Youtang was not angry because Li Guang took the opportunity to speak from him.

"Oh? Aiqing, if you have any doubts, it's okay to say so!" Zhu Youtang glanced at Li Guang and laughed loudly.

"To answer your Majesty's question, due to the construction of the Ordnance Department and the continuous development and improvement of new firearms, silver is in short supply. The new firearms are not currently equipped with the entire army, with only 216 guns. Moreover, the previous firearms were worn out.

There has been no maintenance all year round, and an average of 60 out of 100 shots exploded. For the safety of the entire army and for the sake of insurance, I recommend that all old firearms be replaced with new ones." After Wang Shu finished speaking, Ma Wensheng was even more dismayed.

Sorry, after all, this is asking the emperor for money.

Zhu Youtang also understood the meaning of Wang Shu's words. It was obvious that there was not enough money to develop new firearms such as firefly guns. Moreover, the old firearms were in dilapidated condition and often exploded, making them useless.

Zhu Youtang understands this truth. To put it bluntly, war is fought with money. It is rare for an army to have high combat effectiveness without spending money to arm it.

"Your Majesty, in addition to the research and development of new firearms, I have submitted an application to the Military War Bureau for the rest of the armaments of the soldiers. However, it has been ten days and the War Bureau still has no accurate information." Ma Wensheng could not hold it any longer.

, if Wang Shu had to do everything for him, he would be embarrassed to work with Wang Shu again afterwards, so he would leave the unpleasant task of filing a lawsuit to himself.

Seeing Zhu Youtang thinking for a moment, Li Guang said, "Your Majesty, I have also discovered something recently. I just don't know whether I should say it or not."

"Speak." Zhu Youtang replied lightly.

"Your Majesty often goes to Nanhaizi for hunting. There are more than 2,000 Pure Army soldiers in Nanhaizi. These Pure Army soldiers are just idle if they are idle. Why not ask the director of the Military War Bureau to issue an order to distribute the unused equipment to these Pure Army soldiers, and no matter how much they are added, they will be idle."

Practicing can also protect the emperor."

After Li Guang finished speaking, he bowed down, like a "licking dog".

Zhu Youtang remained calm after hearing this, but he had already scolded Li Guang dozens of times in his heart.

"Jing" has a superficial meaning, meaning "cleanliness". In the feudal period, "purification" meant that men were castrated, that is, eunuchs. Therefore, "Jingjun" in the Ming Dynasty actually meant "purification army".

That is to say: an army composed of eunuchs. This "pure army" army belongs to the emperor.

The most famous one is the eunuch Wei Zhongxian. When he controlled the government, he personally trained a group of pure soldiers, selected 40,000 eunuchs, and gave them the most luxurious equipment and the most generous salaries, in order to make them obey.

But this army failed to meet expectations. When Li Zicheng's army came to the city, the first batch to surrender were these "pure troops".

"Li Guang, you have been thinking a lot about me recently. These pure soldiers have been castrated and have no masculinity. They have no power to restrain a chicken. How can they be of much use? Why do you ask them to protect me?

Intentions?" Zhu Youtang said coldly, his words full of murderous intent.

When Li Guang heard this, he quickly fell to the ground, crying and begging for mercy: "Your Majesty, please forgive me, Your Majesty, please forgive me. I am doing this for your own good. I will never dare to do it again..."

The person in charge of the War Bureau was arranged by Huaien, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony. Li Guang, the eunuch, recently saw that Huaien was ill and tried every means to exclude Huaien and weaken Huaien's power. If he didn't treat him, he would

Li Guang is afraid that he doesn't know how high the sky is.

Zhu Youtang ignored Li Guang, snorted coldly, and continued to ask: "Change the manager of the Military War Bureau and let Huaien choose another one. Apart from armaments, what other difficulties are there?"

Wang Shu hesitated for a while and then said: "Your Majesty, what is left is the pension and reward for the soldiers after the war. I believe that the infantry should be rewarded and rewarded uniformly for combat, while the cavalry should be treated according to the combat situation."

When Zhu Youtang heard about the reward, he thought it was nothing. After all, under the heavy reward, there must be brave men. Qi Jiguang, the famous anti-Japanese general of the Ming Dynasty, offered a very high bounty to the soldiers. Each team killed a Japanese pirate and was rewarded with silver.

Thirty taels. Kill ten for three hundred taels, and kill one hundred for three thousand taels.

Such a bonus system means that if the entire team kills 60 Japanese pirates in a year, it will basically make a fortune. For example, eight soldiers on the front line can each receive 150 taels of silver, which is equivalent to a national defense team.

Minister's income.

Although Ma Wensheng may not have as large a reward as Qi Jiguang, it still costs a lot of money. Moreover, it is the Beijing camp and belongs directly to him. If the military salary he gives is low, others will naturally not be very motivated to work for you.

"I'm sure. As for the specific reward intensity, I will ask the cabinet to come up with a charter immediately when I get back. Aiqing, just rest assured and train the troops. I don't want to go all the way here this time. Let me see the results." Zhu Youtang

With a wave of his hand, he issued an order.

Wang Shu and Ma Wensheng were both excited when they heard this. They clasped their fists and said, "I obey the decree!"

I saw Ma Wensheng take a few steps forward, glanced at the pacesetters, and said, "Let the military parade begin."

The pacesetter immediately understood and waved the general's flag up and down. The waving speed of the military flag became faster and faster, and the shouts of death on the field gradually became quiet.

Ma Wen ascended to the general platform and shouted loudly: "Soldiers, today the Emperor wants to see the results of our training in the past few months. Today you are going to show your best condition and bring out your murderous aura. Do you have any?"

confidence?"

"Yes, yes!" all the soldiers in the Beijing camp shouted in unison, the shouts shaking the sky.

"The martial arts performance begins!"

Following Ma Wensheng's military order, the officers of each battalion in the Beijing Camp began to issue orders.

"Infantry battalion inspection!"

On the ground, a pair of teams with swords rushed out.

"Kill! Kill!"

Although the opposite side was filled with straw men, these soldiers with swords still fought bravely to chop them down.

Zhu Youtang nodded, extremely satisfied, and said: "Well...it does have murderous intent!"

Ma Wensheng was very excited after hearing this. It was the highest honor to be recognized by the emperor.

"Cavalry battalion inspection!"

As soon as the order was given, the ground in the racecourse shook and horses' hooves burst into formation.

After the cavalry passed by, the sky was filled with loess.

During the charge, the cavalry was divided into two teams. During the charge, the two teams of cavalry slashed and hacked at the straw men along the road. When the last cavalryman finished the race, the two teams of cavalry turned their horses' heads and circled around.

Implement splitting and interleaving tactics.

It is worth mentioning that during the outflanking process, both teams of cavalry pulled out something similar to a mace from their waists.

Zhu Youtang couldn't help shouting: "Three-eyed gun."

This kind of mace has a long shaft and a large attack range. It is originally a blunt weapon. It can be attached with nails, barbs, etc. If it is hit, even if it does not die, it will have to shed layers of skin. In the early Ming Dynasty

Sometimes the goal of the cavalry is not to kill the enemy, but to prevent the enemy from escaping or losing the ability to fight. The Mongolian cavalry must have a deep understanding of this.

"Listen to our team's orders and fire a gun a hundred steps away from the target. Violation will be punished by military law!"

There was a martial arts performance in the capital's racecourse. There was enough distance for the horses to gallop, but when the straw men were about a hundred paces away, the two teams of cavalry set up three-eyed muskets, fired three muskets in a row, and then continued to use them as melee weapons to strike.

.

To this day, all the Ming Dynasty's Jiubian military towns are equipped with this kind of three-eyed fire blunderbuss.

In the hands of the Ming army, this kind of three-eye firearm can be very effective against the grassland nomads.

Coupled with the continuous diversification of the Ming army's cavalry tactics, Zhu Youtang believed that this cavalry would definitely become a weapon of the Ming Dynasty in the future.

Zhu Youtang was very satisfied when he saw the Ming cavalry performing martial arts, and asked Ma Wensheng: "Approximately how many cavalry do we have now?"

"In reply to Your Majesty, due to the scarcity of high-quality war horses, there are currently only 3,423 cavalrymen in the Beijing camp."

"It's still small, we need to expand it." Zhu Youtang shook his head.
Chapter completed!