Before the expedition, Zhu Di inspected the three armies as usual.
When the review came to Li Yunze's regiment camp, even a veteran soldier was shocked and amazed by his momentum.
This is no lie. Even the Zhu Gaoxu brothers who were following him couldn't fault him.
The reason is also very simple. The entire battalion's soldiers and horses are arranged neatly, horizontally and vertically like a straight line. Even under the scorching sun, they remain motionless, like a giant piece of tofu.
Compared with other loose queues around it, it is really in the center of the cone and is extremely conspicuous.
Since he was placed in the military camp, as the 'good saint's grandson', he naturally had to be assigned a troop of troops.
Zhu Di didn't give much, just three thousand soldiers per battalion.
During the few months he stayed in the camp, in addition to enriching himself, Li Yunze spent a large part of his energy on training the soldiers and horses.
Other regiments and camps practice every ten days, but they practiced every five days.
But here in Li Yunze, there is high-intensity training almost every day. What's terrible is that he even shows up in a military formation.
Not to mention the actual combat effect, at least it looks like a strong army.
Zhu Di looked at Li Yunze with satisfaction, "The military training is good."
Li Yunze, expressionless, responded with a military salute.
It costs money to train soldiers well.
Others practiced every ten days and every five days. But Li Yunze practiced almost every day. This was absolutely unimaginable in the cold weapon era.
Anyone who exercises for ten days can be called an elite soldier.
Those who do it every five days are truly elite.
What are the soldiers and horses who train every day? They are special forces?
The sergeants of the Ming Dynasty did not have a high level of consciousness. Li Yunze wanted them to practice every day. There was no other way but to feed them.
One is to provide enough meals, and there must be meat for every meal.
If you don't have enough food and meat, you won't be able to withstand this level of high-intensity training.
The other one is not to take empty pay, but to give the sergeants a full salary, and then pay a training reward out of his own pocket.
This is equivalent to giving double pay and double wages to the sergeants.
Only when you are well fed with wine, meat and money can you train such an elite army.
Zhu Di was very satisfied with this, so he made a circle around the soldiers and horses of the battalion. After waiting for a while, he felt that everyone was indeed standing like a benchmark, and then he laughed and walked down.
"I really can't understand this nephew."
Zhu Gaosui whispered next to his second brother, "I can make money as a writer, and I can deal with Yang Rong. Faced with the old man's temptation and pressure, I have to hold on without saying a word. When it comes to martial arts, I can actually train such an elite soldier."
I can't understand this man who is capable of both literary and military skills.
.”
Zhu Gaoxu, with a dark face, didn't reply all the way.
He has ability and vision, knows how to be patient, and even more knows how to please the old man.
If it were Zhu Gaochi who was like this, he would not have any thoughts of competing for the reserve. He should have invested long ago.
'The boss must not be allowed to take over.'
Zhu Gaoxu's only thought at this time was to prevent the boss from ascending the throne. If that happened, he would really have no chance.
In the autumn and July of the 21st year of Yongle, Zhu Di personally led an army of 200,000 to the north of the Great Wall.
The army was so powerful that the entire grassland was shaken.
"Zhanji." On a hill somewhere in the prairie, Zhu Di looked at the mighty army marching below him and asked with high spirits, "How powerful is the Huangming army?"
"The military power is mighty." Li Yunze said truthfully, "If we are in the Central Plains, we will go wild and destroy the country and establish unification."
"Um?"
Zhu Di, who heard something in his words, immediately turned around and thought for a moment, "You mean, it won't work on the grassland?"
"The problem on the grassland is not the strength of the troops, but the lack of enemies."
Li Yunze's face remained calm and his heart did not beat, "The grassland is huge, almost as big as the Central Plains. There are cities in the Central Plains, and large armies go straight to the cities to fight. But there are no cities to speak of on the grassland. There are only tribes that live in pursuit of water and grass. We
People who are not familiar with the place come here to find someone.
A home, let alone 200,000 yuan, even 400,000 yuan is like salt in the sea. If you want to find a home, you just have to try your luck."
Zhu Di looked back and said noncommittally, "How do you think we should fight?"
"Of course, I learned from the champion, recruited herdsmen who are proficient in grassland geography as guides, and led the elite cavalry to attack Huanglong through thousands of miles of circuits!"
Throughout the dynasties, from Yan and Zhao during the Warring States Period to the present, Huo Qubing was the most outstanding and capable person in dealing with the grassland tribes.
He was the one who truly grasped the weakness of the nomadic tribes. He used cavalry against cavalry to attack them and destroy their main force in one battle, causing the nomadic tribes to collapse immediately.
It's a pity that for thousands of years, there has only been one Huo Qubing.
Zhu Di said nothing and rode down the hill directly into the army.
Li Yunze asked for war three times and wanted to lead his army on a long expedition alone, but Zhu Di refused each time.
Zhu Di was not afraid that he would be in any danger. After all, after going to the battlefield, Zhu Di was not the emperor, but the commander-in-chief of the three armies.
On the battlefield, anyone could die, so of course they wouldn't care.
The reason why he disagreed was because he felt that Li Yunze wanted to imitate Huo Qubing and take risks.
The success rate of this kind of thing is too low, and it is more likely that it will completely disappear on the vast prairie.
The soldiers and horses trained by Li Yunze are so elite, how can they be thrown away at will?
The huge army was just wandering around on the grassland, trying to find the main force of the grassland for a decisive battle.
But they were not stupid, how could they take the initiative to kill people? They all hid far away and did not give the Ming army, which was mainly infantry, a chance to fight decisively.
After going around and around for several months, the results were not much. On the contrary, the losses due to various reasons were more than the results.
Zhu Di, who was holding back his anger, had to retreat back to the frontier before the winter snowfall.
He did not return to the capital because he could feel that his time was running out and was afraid that after returning to the capital this time, he would never have the chance to go on an expedition.
In Guansai City, the Chinese army's tent is located.
"Don't ask the prince for money again." Zhu Di leaned sideways on the bed and played with the walnuts in his hand with his eyes closed. "Take the money from me."
Of course, the money that Li Yunze paid for his military training was not brought by him driving a forklift from the modern world.
He asked Zhu Gaochi for it.
No matter how short of money he is, Zhu Gaochi will not miss the money for training his troops.
Zhu Di naturally knew about this a long time ago, but he always turned a blind eye.
Naturally, there is another reason for mentioning this matter now.
"Expand your troops and horses." Zhu Di, who was spinning walnuts in his hand, said again, "Expand to ten thousand, half a step and half a ride."
Except for the three thousand battalions, this can be regarded as the highest proportion of cavalry among the Ming army.
Of course, Li Yunze understood what Zhu Di meant. He was thinking about it after the last expedition failed.
That is what Li Yunze said, doing the things of a champion.
Zhu Di was unwilling to leave before destroying the grassland, and was determined to make a last-ditch effort in the last moments.
Since Li Yunze has shown his talents and abilities, of course Zhu Di must give him enough support.
The double salary of ten thousand people was not a difficult task for Zhu Di, who still had millions of taels of silver in his hands.
"Train your troops well, we will go on an expedition in a few months. By then, I hope your troops will be put to good use."
What else could Li Yunze say? He could only bow his hands and say, "Yes."
The emperor lived in a frontier fortress, very close to the capital, but he was unwilling to return to the capital.
From the prince to various civil servants, they sent memorials one after another to invite the emperor to return.
Zhu Di ignored all of this.
But he kept asking for the mobilization of troops from all walks of life to gather at the frontier fortress, and at the same time constantly urged Beijing to supply various grain, grass and military supplies.
If it were any other emperor, the civil servants would still be delaying and passing the buck.
But facing an emperor like Zhu Di, the civil servants could only complain secretly while having to obey orders.
As time went by, more and more soldiers and horses gathered at the border area.
Zhu Di, who wanted to complete his victory in one battle in the last stage of his life, gathered almost all the capable soldiers in the country here.
The time came to the end of March in the 22nd year of Yongle. The spring had just begun to warm and the flowers were blooming. Not long after the cold wind left, Zhu Di, who was becoming increasingly sick, couldn't wait to lead his army to Mobei again.
This time, the total number of soldiers and horses reached an earth-shattering 400,000 troops!
In order to supply such a huge army, the Ming Dynasty mobilized millions of civilians to continuously maintain logistical supplies.
Just like what Li Yunze said, a force of this size would be a complete battle to destroy the country if used in the Central Plains.
The kind that can kill anyone.
This shows how powerful the country was in the early Ming Dynasty.
At this time, Li Yunze, whose identity was just an ordinary general in the army, had nothing to do with it.
He followed Zhu Di and worked hard to learn how to control such a large army.
After these days of study and practice, Li Yunze was already able to lead 10,000 soldiers and horses with ease, but with an army of 400,000, he might as well go to sleep.
Zhu Di was able to do it, and Li Yunze watched carefully and learned from the side, accumulating experience for himself.
From Zhu Di's side, naturally he could see clearly.
Instead of scolding him, he often took the initiative to answer questions and taught Li Yunze his experience in leading troops.
This made Zhu Gaoxu's eyes tear up and his teeth itch with hatred.
But he had no choice, because Zhu Di had extremely tight control over the army, and no one except his own troops could move him.
This time, Zhu Di was ruthless and built military stations and camps every hundred miles along the way to transport grain, grass and baggage layer by layer.
And he didn't care about anything, he just led the army all the way north and then north, as if he wanted to fight to the horizon.
The Oara side was not feeling well either. Hundreds of thousands of Ming troops surged in, greatly squeezing their living space.
Each tribe retreated again and again, and a large amount of pasture was lost, which already caused them to encounter a crisis of survival.
We have already retreated to Mobei. If we retreat any further, we will have no choice but to fight to the death.
On June 17, the 22nd year of Yongle, the Ming army, which had been marching northward, finally arrived at the banks of the Dalannamul River north of Haraholin.
Harakhorin was the capital of the Mongols, and it once brought together the world's gold and silver wealth, as well as beautiful craftsmen.
And not far from the edge of the Taran Namur River is the famous North Sea, Lake Baikal!
Drinking by the Ma River, looking around the majestic grasslands and mountains.
Zhu Di, who was riding his horse with his head held high and his hooves raised, looked up to the sky and shouted, "It's been five hundred years! The Han family's cavalry is back after five hundred years!"