Chapter 376 The Southern Expedition and the Northern War 41 Battle of North Korea II
Yang Hao looked at the letter again, then called one of his subordinates over and said, "Sir Jiang, you have handled the official documents of North Korea. Check the signature of this letter, the authenticity of the seal..."
He folded the letter and only showed Mr. Jiang the last part of the signature seal. Mr. Jiang looked at it for a long time and nodded and said, "The signature seal and the terms of the title are both false. This should be the official document of the Ministry of Rites of North Korea..."
Yang Hao waved his hand, and Master Jiang retreated, and Yang Hao's pale face turned red: "Good you, a Korean vassal state, my heavenly dynasty treats you as much as a mountain, and he actually does this kind of slutty."
Zhang Chengji quickly said: "Sir, this matter is very important and involves the matters of the vassal states. Is it necessary to be authentic or not?"
Yang Hao waved his hand unceremoniously: "This document must be true. The North Korean army shrank in the Battle of Sarhu, which led to our army's defeat. This document proves that they had actually been with Nu Ke for a long time. Collaborating and sending troops to help our Celestial Empire is just pretending to be..."
In fact, Yang Hao thought in his heart: Finally, he found another reason to shirk responsibility.
He himself had doubts about the authenticity of the thing at hand, but these are secondary issues. For the Liaodong governor Yang Hao, the most important question now is: how to defeat the Battle of Zhang in Sarhu. Liberation responsibility.
...
Yuyao, Zhejiang, Jiangnan Xinlian Army Camp.
Yu Zigao was dressed in armor and rode on a horse and watched the dusty playground. There were rows of new soldiers wearing Mingjun robe clothes practicing. In his opinion, the so-called elite soldiers selected from various departments in Jiangnan were on the playground. Even the soldiers of the Chinese Army's new battalion were inferior to those of the Chinese Army.
Yu Zigao has suffered repeated setbacks in the Ming Dynasty officialdom, and his youth's spirit has been exhausted. He was first appointed as the Wuhu Governor General, and then was appointed as the Ning Shao Governor General. Under Xu Guangqi and Xiong Tingbi, he actually presided over the basic training of the new army. He transferred his position as Chief of Fujian and several officers he met in Qiongya General, Qianhu Ma Sheng, Baihu Yang Shijue, Deputy General of Jianning Wei Chen Xifan, etc. to his subordinates, making his baseline The officer team was barely built, while the appointment power of the other grassroots officers was not in his hands. Most of them were a large number of slaves from the Xie family who forced them into Yuyao. A few were recommended by Xiong Tingbi and Xu Guangqi. Most of the officers under the general of the Zhejiang General of the Ming army were greedy for the relatively high military pay of the new army. The children of the Xie family who knew nothing were stuffed into the middle of the officers, which was the Xie family's attempt to control the new army. A means.
In this way, the Jiangnan New Army encountered endless troubles from the beginning. Such a grassroots officer team made Yu Zigao's training of recruits start with training instructors, because the first batch of soldiers recruited and selected by the new army had already 5,000. So many, he can't train himself no matter what.
Yin Feng started the army with hundreds of guards and hired a large number of mercenaries from the Netherlands and Portugal as instructors, so he started from scratch and established a basic officer group of the Chinese army. Xu Guangqi and Xiong Tingbi trained the new army, only I knew to buy new firearms, but they didn't know the organizational structure, strategies and tactics of the firearms army. The Ming Dynasty also rejected Xu Guangqi's suggestion to recruit Western officers as teachers, and only allowed Western gunners to enter the Ming Dynasty to coach the new gunners. Xu Guangqi repeatedly issued memorials to request the recruitment of Western officers, but before the court agreed, the Chinese army decisively captured Macau. At this point, the Chinese army completely controlled the overseas relations between the Ming Dynasty and the Western Regions. Of course, the Ming Dynasty did not think so. What kind of relationship should be developed overseas? However, Yin Feng did this to cut off any possible direct connection between the Ming Dynasty and the Westerners. Now, Xu Guangqi has been separated from overseas except for a few Jesuit missionary friends. Have news and exchanges.
Yu Zigao was introduced to Xu Guangqi by Fujian General Chen Yourong, and he also regarded this training of the new army as his last chance to achieve success.
As a literati, although Xu Guangqi knew some advanced Western firearms, he had no idea how to train a firearm-turned army. Since the plan to introduce Western officers was not feasible, he could only rely on Yu Zigao now.
Xu Guangqi fully trusted Yu Zigao, including military organization, weapon equipment, officer selection, military discipline, playground drill... As long as Yu Zigao thought of it, Xu Guangqi would support him to let go of the execution as long as he proposed it.
The problem is that Yao Zongwen, the chief minister of the Husbandry who represented the court to supervise the army, and Xiong Tingbi, the Nanjing steward who nominally led the new army. As the imperial envoy of the court, Xu Guangqi, the assistant minister of the Nanjing Ministry of War, although the new army was established under his full advocacy. , but he can only be used as an imperial envoy to supervise the training of the new army.
Yao Zongwen kept urging the training of troops to form an army, and constantly asked Yu Zigao to coach the new soldiers to shoot as soon as possible. The new bird gun-the improved version of the early Chinese Guardians had been sent to the soldiers. This was in Macau. The quality of the former Portuguese arsenal was better than that of the bird guns issued by the Ministry of War of the Capital.
However, Yao Zongwen didn't understand: a group of people who could shoot does not mean that they became an army. His purpose as a military supervisor actually had two: one was to supervise the new army for the court, and the other was to help Yuyao. The Xie family and other wealthy businessmen and gentry in Jiangnan supervised where the money they paid had been spent.
Xiong Tingbi was also urging Yu Zigao to train a new army as soon as possible, but he was worried about the military pay. The first period of the new army had been spent; and when raising military pay again, many gentry in Jiangnan were ruling due to the economy adopted by the Chinese army. The revenge and even violent acts of raiding the house to drive away the house, so he retreated. The eunuch Gao Cai, the governor of Nanjing, suggested arresting several wealthy businessmen and scouting the house to subsidize military pay. This suggestion was automatically ignored by Xiong Tingbi, and Xu Guangqi even opposed it sternly.
In any case, Xiong Tingbi is the Jiangnan Strategy, and the new army's military pay will be on his head. Therefore, he urged Yu Zigao to speed up the training of the new army, mostly for the shortage of food and salary, especially the ten bronze cannons. Shooting training is too expensive, and each shooting costs five taels of silver; the Portuguese gunner Alexander, who came to the barracks with the cannon, had a monthly salary of up to 30 taels of silver, which was worth 10 Ming soldiers. The monthly salary is totaled, and he is also reimbursing training fees every day, which is simply burning money. Ordinary Ming soldiers only have two major training sessions a month, and better troops only last five to ten days apart. The new army soldiers were trained continuously forever, and the rest of the day was trained without waiting for the day of bathing every ten days. This was set by Yu Zigao according to the Chinese army system. Rules, the daily food consumption caused by this is already amazing.
Today, Xiong Tingbi, Xu Guangqi, and Yao Zongwen all came to the New Army camp together to see the first collective meeting of the New Army. They expect that the New Army has begun to take shape within three months, so that they can go to the court. Let me explain.
From Yu Zigao's perspective, these 5,000 new soldiers have just reached the level of training in the Chinese Army's new recruit battalion. In the eyes of the other three, this neat queue and lively shooting exercises have refreshed them. .
Xiong Tingbi, who was riding on the horse, turned his head and came to Yu Zigao, and breathed a long sigh: "General Yu Shen, you are worthy of being the leader of the general. This new army has been trained by you to be like a strong army, Lord Xu , You really did not read the wrong person,"
Xu Guangqi smiled and bowed, "Don't dare, Lord Xiong, this General Yu Shen was recommended to me by General Chen Chen of Fujian..."
Yu Zigao was a little proud and hurriedly bowed and said, "The two adults are over-reputable. The new army is still in its initial size. The future training will be much more difficult. What physical training, queue marching training, etc. I only ask for The military salary is sufficient, so that the brothers can practice with peace of mind. It is estimated that they will be able to go to the battlefield in half a year."
Xiong Tingbi and Yao Zongwen shouted almost at the same time: "What, it will take half a year,"
Yu Zigao nodded helplessly: "It will take four months at the earliest before they can go to the battlefield. Moreover, the arrangements of the new army's ammunition replenishment, baggage and vehicles must be in place at the same time."
Xiong Tingbi shook his head when he heard this: "General Yu, according to the Western gunpowder sample you provided, the workshop of Nanjing Military War Bureau cannot be made for the time being, only the capital can do it. According to the gunpowder formula in Qi Shaobao's "The True Record of Military Training", To supply 4,000 bird guns with direct medicines for training for 20 days per month (Note: the launching medicine in gunpowder guns), the Nanjing Ministry of War can only barely provide them. I don’t need to hide them from you. Everything is because of the lack of money: Liaodong In the war crisis, the imperial court's money was spent on Liaodong, and we can't take care of our side for the time being..."
Yao Zongwen continued: "General Yu, this first salary is as much as one million taels. If it were the Nine-Border Army, it would be able to support tens of thousands of troops. You always call for a shortage of wages, weapons, gunpowder, and so on. How much is needed is the bottom,"
Yu Zigao sighed: Practicing a new army of firearms is actually equivalent to re-establishing a military supply system within the Ming Dynasty system. This is simply to rebuild the entire Ming army's military supply system from top to bottom. Yu Zigao now understands it. No matter how hard he tried, as long as he was doing things within the Ming Dynasty system, it would be difficult for him to do things according to his own ideas.
Yu Zigao sighed again: "Mr. Xiong, Lord. Yu has done his best, but the new firearms must ensure the supply of ammunition, otherwise this bird gun is not as good as a spear, and soldiers must be trained every day, otherwise Can't go to the battlefield..."
Xu Guangqi comforted him and said, "General Yu, don't worry, I will return to the capital in the near future, and I will definitely win the military pay for the new army. However, the new army really needs to become an army soon. Maybe after the beginning of spring next year, there will be a situation in Liaodong. If the changes change, the new army will have to go to the battlefield.”
Yu Zigao had no choice but to thank Xu Guangqi for his empty promise, so he had to bow down to express his gratitude.
Xiong Tingbi also sighed secretly, but he was still calm on the surface. He suddenly pointed to the front and said, "Who is the one in the left camp? His soldiers are the most orderly."
Yu Zigao looked up and said with a smile: "This person is Luo Xiaoming, whose courtesy name is Deguang, and is the nephew of Zhejiang General Luo Qing. I originally thought he was just a playboy, but unexpectedly he was against the new army. The training method is mastered very quickly, and you can endure hardships and use your brain..."