Even if he talks about soldiers on paper, Zhu Houzhao also knows soldiers.

Twenty Franc cannons were arranged in a row, Zhu Houzhao walked over and looked at it, patted the barrel and said: "The size is similar to the 'little general', but this cannon is more beautiful." The 'Little General' is a five-short figure, resembling Wu Dalang, and your Franc machine gun is Pan Jinlian, who is tall and thin, and has a very slender posture. ”

Such a judgment of the difference in artillery is simply overwhelming.

Wang Yuan explained: "Your Majesty, the advantage of this cannon is that it has a fast rate of fire, it can fire at least 16 cannons in a quarter of an hour (14 minutes and 24 seconds), and a skilled gunner can even fire more than 20 cannons!" ”

"So fast?" Zhu Houzhao's interest suddenly increased.

The ancestor of modern artillery, recognized as the mortar cannon of the Yuan Dynasty, was learned from the Mongols in Europe, and Zhu Yuanzhang also learned it from the Mongols.

Zhu Yuanzhang competed with Zhang Shicheng that year, and used forty artillery pieces in the attack on Suzhou, and there was also artillery in the Poyang Lake water battle with Chen Youliang.

At that time, the pursuit of artillery in both China and the West was the same, the thicker the better, and the bigger the better, mainly used to attack fortified cities. However, after the Mongols were driven back to the steppe, the heavy artillery was useless, and the artillery of the Ming army began to rapidly miniaturize, paying more attention to the maneuverability of the artillery.

As a result, there are various calibers of "general guns", which belong to small and medium-sized field mortars, which you can understand as an enlarged version of Yongle handguns.

In the Chenghua years alone, the Third Bureau of the Central Committee created "300 generals of all kinds". At that time, the guards in Shanxi had 600 "big and small generals" - note that the "generals" (cannons) in the Zhengde period were not the same weapons as the "generals' cannons" in the Jiajing and Wanli periods.

Zhu Houzhao carefully asked how to use the Franc cannon, and said impatiently: "Quickly fire a few cannons and try it." ”

Wang Yuan immediately asked his gunners, with the assistance of the Francophone gunsmith, to fire five cannons in a row with the same cannon.

Zhu Houzhao was overjoyed: "Sure enough, I shot fast, and I hit far!" ”

This is for sure, the Franc cannon belongs to the rear-loading cannon, and the Ming general's gun belongs to the front-loading mortar cannon.

Mortar cannons have a short range and great power, and it is better to use them to destroy city walls, but when they are used as small field guns, they are obviously not professional.

When the Ming army fought with the Mongols, it did not fire with artillery in advance. Instead, after the Mongols broke through the firepower net of firearms and crossbows, they suddenly fired a close-range salvo with mortars, and often fired scattered shells such as iron sand, iron sheets, and stones.

The timing of the attack is earlier than the javelin projection.

From a certain point of view, the various general guns of the Ming Dynasty are actually better used than the Franco cannon. Because the Mongols were mainly cavalry, and most of them were light cavalry in loose formations, mortars that fired scattered bullets could cause greater damage in an instant!

Wang Yuan suddenly asked, "Your Majesty, I don't know if the Shenji Battalion has ever been stationed?" ”

Zhu Houzhao shook his head and said: "They are scattered in the various camps in Beijing, and they are not concentrated. ”

Wang Yuan suggested: "The Shenji battalion can be used centrally, and the cavalry should also be concentrated." ”

The Shenji Battalion in the Ming Dynasty had 3,000 at the beginning, but after Yu Qian reformed the Beijing Camp, the thousands actually exceeded 3,000. However, it is rarely used in the battlefield, but is scattered among various battalions to carry out multi-arm coordinated operations. The same is true of artillery, which is either used to defend the city or dispersed among the troops.

It was only Zhu Di's personal expedition that he was able to concentrate on the use of firearms, artillery and cavalry.

In the battle of Hulan, 30,000 Wara cavalry charged the Ming army. Zhu Di gathered the Shenji battalion, and the fire guns carried out five-stage round fire, and all kinds of large and small general artillery salvos were fired, instantly disrupting the enemy's formation, and the cavalry on both wings of the Ming army took the opportunity to rush out and crush the tens of thousands of Mongolian cavalry in one fell swoop.

I don't know how, in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the firecrackers and artillery of the Shenji battalion were actually dispersed to various units.

The same is true of cavalry, because there are fewer and fewer horses, and it is difficult to form large cavalry units. The generals of the guards regarded the cavalry under their command as treasures, and they were not willing to give them to others for centralized command.

However, this time it was different, because the general commander was the emperor!

"If Erlang has any ideas, just say it." Zhu Houzhao said.

Wang Yuan said: "Your Majesty, the minister wants the command of the Shenji Battalion. At the time of the battle, the cavalry of all divisions should also be grouped together and commanded by the ministers. ”

Zhu Houzhao thought for a while and said, "Yes, you are a person who knows the soldiers." I can transfer the Shenji battalion immediately, but the cavalry can't do it for the time being, and I'll talk about it after the various departments are assembled. ”

A part of the Shenji battalion, led by Zhang Yong, was stationed in the Datong avant-garde; The other part of the Shenji Battalion was personally led by Zhu Houzhao and stationed in Yanghewei.

According to this kind of military deployment, Zhu Houzhao still spared his life.

Don't look at himself at the forefront of the Great Wall, but there is a Beijing camp led by Zhang Yong in the west, and Wang Yuan leading troops in the east, and it is not too dangerous for the emperor to be surrounded - the premise is that he must be able to carry it for a while, and don't collapse before the reinforcements arrive.

After the exchange between the two monarchs and ministers, Wang Yuan's forces were expanded again.

The eunuch Zhang Zhong led the Shenji battalion to move to Tianchengwei for Wang Yuan to dispatch at will, with a total of 3,500 firearms and 30 small generals' cannons (field mortars).

The eunuch Wei Bin led 3,000 battalions to move to Tianchengwei for Wang Yuan to dispatch at will, with a total of 2,000 armored cavalry (wearing only chain mail).

Zhu Houzhao himself had 500 cavalry around him, all of them heavy cavalry, expanded from 200 leopard cavalry - of these 500 heavy cavalry, one-third were Mongols, and Zhu Houzhao often wore Mongolian clothes for personal training.

The emperors of the Ming Dynasty, as long as they liked to fight, especially loved to wear Mongolian clothes, and even Ming Xuanzong had a portrait of wearing Mongolian clothes.

For the next month, Wang Yuan spent training troops, mainly training the coordination between various arms.

Zhu Houzhao became more and more anxious, because the eighth month of the lunar calendar was already in the mid-autumn season, and the little Mongolian prince might come at any time.

But in September, there was no shadow of the Mongols, and Zhu Houzhao was afraid that he would wait for a year in vain!

Zhu Houzhao ordered the Nine Frontier Guards to send scouts every day to inquire about the military situation, and they must report the enemy situation immediately.

Time passed little by little, and in the blink of an eye, it was October, and Wang Yuan had been training troops in the border areas for more than 40 days.

It's finally here!

"Report!"

"Qi Qi mighty general, Yulin discovered the Mongol army. The enemy crossed the Great Wall in three ways, the exact number is unknown, but at least tens of thousands. At present, he has bypassed Yulinwei and is burning and looting everywhere! ”

"It's finally here," Zhu Houzhao was happy and angry, and complained, "This little Mongolian prince is too faceless, and the general personally guards Yanghe, why doesn't he join Yanghe?" ”

The Mongol army did choose to attack the town of Datong.

However, Zhu Houzhao and Wang Yuan were stationed in the northeast of Datong Town, while the little Mongolian prince entered from the northwest of Datong Town.

The little Mongol prince did not attack the guards at all, but bypassed the border acropolis, burning and looting goods and people everywhere.

In the past, as long as the Mongols did not attack the acropolis, the defenders of the border towns were too lazy to attack. When the Mongols had enough of grabbing it, they would leave, and the border army would go out of the city to "regain the lost territory", or follow over the Great Wall and kill some Mongolian herdsmen as a military merit to report to the imperial court.

The Mongolian herdsmen on the border between the two countries were also miserable, they were not qualified to go to Daming to rob with the army, but were often killed by Ming officers.