On the night of the first day of the Lunar New Year, I invited Queen Mother Xie Daoqing back to Ningqian Palace, accompanied by three concubines including Quan Jiu and Yu Shi.
During the dinner, Xie Daoqing was smiling all over her face. She was just like an ordinary old lady. She was kind and kind. She kept talking to everyone about her daily life. She also told Quan Jiu from time to time to be careful on the road and take good care of my daily life and diet.
For the first time, I felt that Xie Daoqing was like a mother-in-law. She was completely different from the strong and cold Queen Mother before. However, this feeling was still very warm, and it seemed to be a good start for the first year of Xianchun.
On the third day of the first lunar month, I got up very late, and it was not until noon that I took Quan Jiu and set off for Kuaiji.
It is only over 100 kilometers from Lin'an to Kuaiji, and it is expected to take at most two days to arrive.
The accompanying guards were led by Lan Yu and one hundred imperial guards under Shen Mo. Since Yun Zhongfei led fifty guards to protect the Gunpowder Department at the foot of Luoshi Mountain, I did not add additional manpower.
In my team, in addition to Lan Yu, Shen Mo, Wen Zhang, there are also great experts like Yuan Ji. Originally, Yuan Ji was planning to transfer Ye Dongsheng and Yao Chaohui, but I don’t think it is necessary in my own territory. , and Long Ya had a lot of things to do, so he refused the two of them to accompany him.
Among the civil servants, I only took Lu Xiufu and Wen Tianxiang with me. As for why I took them with me when I accompanied Quanjiu home to visit relatives, neither of them asked much.
The emperor drives six is an act of ancient Chinese etiquette. When the emperor goes out, the car he rides is pulled by six horses, which is the famous "the emperor drives six", and the other auxiliary cars can only drive four.
I sat in a four-wheeled luxury carriage pulled by six horses and followed the group. The carriage was very spacious and equipped with beds, chairs and other simple furniture, and even a stove to boil water. Quan Jiu only brought The two accompanying maids were sitting in a carriage pulled by four horses at the back. The last carriage was carrying gifts, which were nothing more than some Lin'an specialties. Yuan Ji Xiaoqi and others were also riding horses like the guards. .
Three carriages were traveling in the middle, with several royal guards carefully surrounding them. There were very few pedestrians on this official road. In this era, few people went out under the age of fifteen.
It was my first time to travel in this kind of horse-drawn carriage. The fashion felt strange at first, but after a while, I felt that it was still quite bumpy. After all, the horse-drawn carriage was not as stable as a car, and the official road at this time was far less smooth than the highways of later generations.
As time went by, I gradually felt tired, and spent the afternoon of the first day in a daze.
I began to adapt to it the next day, maybe because I kept practicing martial arts for two months.
"Xiao Qi, go and call Yuan Ji, Wen Tianxiang, Lu Xiufu and Wen Zhang."
When I was just about to make tea, four people had already arrived.
"Wen Zhang, you are the youngest here, you are responsible for pouring tea."
"Yes, Your Majesty, Your Majesty, your car is really big."
I smiled and said, "I called you here to discuss my new army in the future. After Yun Bofei comes back, the chance of successful development of muskets will greatly increase. By then, I will equip all the new troops with muskets and use firearms." Come and fight against the Mongolian cavalry."
Wen Zhang poured the tea and said: "Can the emperor's musket be of such great use? I think my fist is more effective."
I took a sip of tea and said: "In future wars, muskets will definitely completely replace the existing swords, guns, bows and arrows. Even your master Daofa, Mr. Yuan and others will be hard-pressed to match this. You don't need to question this, you will know it when the time comes. Concubine Quan's hometown has a large villa built on the mountain. It is sparsely populated and not far from Lin'an. It is only a few hours away. I plan to build a secret military camp there with about a thousand people. According to the method of the Youth Guard Conduct training. After the muskets are developed, all firearms will be used as weapons, and based on this, we will gradually expand. Eventually, we will establish a new army of more than 100,000 people to completely replace the existing border troops and forbidden troops. In this Before the new army is formed, I still need to be careful, lest Jia Sidao and others take the opportunity to attack. By the way, Song Rui, Jun Shi, have you made any progress in contacting the Xiang army?"
"We have been in contact one after another. Because Jia Sidao has many eyes and ears in the Xiang army, I am also cautious. Some Xiang soldiers in Yangzhou, Jiangxi have expressed their allegiance to Your Majesty."
"Well, don't be impatient about this, lest it be self-defeating." I continued, "I plan to recruit the new army in Kuaiji as servants of the imperial concubine. Nowadays, there are more refugees from the north, and these people often have enemies of the country.
Wen Zhang, you need to cultivate a group of young guards with excellent quality and good conduct as soon as possible among the youth guards.
Young man, please join the new army in Kuaiji. In addition, Junshi, please go back and write a letter to Mr. Li, asking him to privately send military lieutenants who are good at training and leading troops to come to Kuaiji to serve as instructors. The number should be around twenty.
, but he must be a loyal person."
"I obey the decree." Lu Xiufu and Wen Zhang responded.
"Wen Zhang, you remember that I said when you recruited young guards, you should choose those with good eyesight."
"Go back to your Majesty, I will remember you."
"You all know the style of the sudden musket. There are similarities between the future musket and the sudden musket." I took Wen Zhang's long sword, held the scabbard with both hands, closed one eye, and made an aiming gesture, saying
, "This is the shooting action of the musket in the future, and the range of the musket will be from a hundred meters to a thousand meters, so I require the young guard to have good eyesight."
Wen Zhang took the sword back and tried it according to my posture, but he was still at a loss.
I know that Wen Zhang didn’t understand at all, and he didn’t explain: “I will divide the training of this new army into two steps. The first is to focus on training the new army’s physical strength and endurance in accordance with the existing basic training model of youth guards.
By working with a team, the fighting ability of an individual soldier can be reduced. After this step is basically passed, firearms simulation training can be carried out."
"Wait a minute, Your Majesty, what is simulation?" Wen Zhang asked.
"There are two types of firearms and equipment for the new army, one is the musket, and the other is the grenade. I don't know the specific time of success of these two firearms. Before that, I will make a batch of similar-looking things to replace the training, such as
For grenades, I will use stones instead, so that the new army can throw stones quickly, accurately and far. Once the official firearms come out, they will be able to use them easily. Another example is muskets. I will make a batch of them according to the pattern of muskets.
The mold allows new troops to conduct aiming training and be able to maintain these basic postures for a long time."
Wen Zhang nodded and said, "This is feasible."
"Song Rui, Jun Shi, and Wen Zhang, the three of you will later participate in the command of the new army. As for the new army's combat methods, I will talk to you after the firearms are released. For now, you only need to remember,
You just have to have an open mind.”
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Okay, I've been sitting in the car for most of the day. Let's go out and ride a horse."
I have never ridden a horse, but fortunately at Zhao Hehui, I rode on the horse and tightened the reins. It was also in style, but I didn't dare to go too fast. Yuan Ji next to me followed closely, as if I was afraid that I would fall off.
.
In the evening, we came to a mountain forest. The forest was so dense that except for the trees in front of us, we couldn't see clearly what was going on in the forest.
Shen Mo, who was clearing the way in front, came to me and said, "Your Majesty, will you camp here tonight?"
"How far is it from Kuaiji?"
Shen Mo pointed to a road beside the mountain forest and said: "Go back to Your Majesty and walk along the official road for about five miles until you reach the boundary of Kuaiji."
Quanjiu said: "Guan family, this mountain forest is huge. We can reach Kuaiji City through the mountain forest, and the distance is much closer. However, horses and vehicles cannot pass. If we walk along the official road, it will still take half a day to reach Kuaiji City.
"
I thought for a while and said: "Then let's camp here. We don't have to be in a hurry. Let's rest for the night and set off again early tomorrow morning."
Shen Mo said: "Yes, Your Majesty, I will make arrangements right now."
Yuan Ji looked at the forest and suddenly said to Lan Yu: "Take a few people into the forest to have a look."