Out of the Tiger Festival Hall, Zheng Chenggong waved his hand, and his soldiers stayed there, taking Chen Kai to the school field of the town mansion by himself, and he was completely defenseless.

It is obvious to show faith. Rao is like this, Chen Kai also knew that Zheng Chenggong had studied kendo and honed his will with Zheng Zhilong's friend in his early years, the Japanese swordsman Hanafang Quan Uemon, and returned to Fujian at the age of seven, and since then he has also followed Zheng Zhilong's second brother Zheng Zhihu, fourth brother Zheng Hongkui and others to practice martial arts and boil up their bodies. It is not known how the martial arts are exact, but ordinary people like him who have no martial arts background estimate that seven or eight may not be close.

Zheng Chenggong strode in front, and from time to time explained the layout of the town hall to Chen Kai, who was respectfully walking behind. Through the corridor, the two soon came to the big school.

At this moment, the colonel is practicing on the field, and it seems that there are four or five hundred people. The practice of assassination with guns, and the swords and shields sometimes slashed and sometimes blocked according to the officer's commands, and even when Zheng Chenggong explained to Chen Kai, he used a shield to protect his body, rolled on the ground, and then swept out with a knife, which seemed to be quite technical.

The majority of the soldiers used these two hand-to-hand weapons, and on the sides of the school grounds, archers and bird-shacklers also practiced.

Out of curiosity about firearms, when Chen Kai saw the birds, he focused more attention on them. However, compared to the archers who shoot at the target with their bows and arrows, the already small number of bird-gunners are only there to repeatedly carry out loading and aiming training, and they don't even use gunpowder for loading, let alone live ammunition.

"Mr. Chen is interested in birds?"

Chen Kai shook his head with a smile, but did not speak, but continued to observe the training of the soldiers.

On the school field, knives and guns sparkled in the sun. The soldiers sweated like rain, and the sound of killing shook the sky, supplemented by the unified red military uniforms of the Ming army, which showed the courage of the warriors.

The soldiers were dressed in short fights and had no armor. Chen Kai remembered hearing someone say before that the armor rate of the Ming army in the south was relatively low, and there was a problem that it was not easy to maintain in a humid and hot environment, and it was more about the weather in the south, especially in summer.

However, the scene in front of him made him a little strange, especially when he thought of the officers and soldiers on the boat that had brought him before, which strengthened his thoughts.

"This is the most elite battalion leader under the command of the country's surname, right?"

As soon as Chen Kaifu spoke, Zheng Chenggong was also stunned. This army is not actually a battalion leader, but a town's soldiers and horses. After Zheng Chenggong took over the South Australian Association, he recruited soldiers and organized troops in six towns. In fact, the strength of each of these six towns is only half of the battalion head under the original South Australian Association, and more still have to try to install the generals under their command.

"As Mr. Chen expected, this is the Qinding Town under the command of Benbo, and most of them are veterans who have been in the army for a long time."

The town of Pro-Ding sounds more like the pro-soldier family Ding team. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the core elite under the command of the military generals is the elite troops composed of pro-soldiers and family members, with different levels and different proportions of empty salaries, and the number of pro-soldiers and family members is also different, such as Liao Shuai Li Chengliang, more than 1,000 pro-soldiers and family members under his command, and the Mongols and Jurchens have no place to fight back on the battlefield, but the number of beheadings in previous battles is the largest, and it is often much worse.

This pro-Ding town sounds like a pro-soldier family team, but it looks more like an elite composed of veterans to finalize the victory and defeat at key times and key positions. This is especially true for Zheng Chenggong's department, which has a large proportion of recruits as a whole.

"Mr. Chen has been in Jiubianxiong Town for a long time, and I think I have seen the demeanor of the border army. In Mr.'s opinion, what is the difference between Benbo's pro-Ding Town and the elite of the Nine Sides? ”

Zheng Chenggong asked for advice, Chen Kai turned his head, looked at Zheng Chenggong, and then said: "The students have only seen the border army in Datong Town, but in the impression of the students, the border army is seriously in arrears, and many military households and soldiers send their wives and daughters to pick up customers in exchange for a livelihood, and there are also many military households in Datong City who ask for food on the roadside. When the battle began, there were many deserters, and many of them became bandits and bandits. As for the pro-soldier team of the general, deputy, staff, and tourist, the students really didn't have a chance to see it. ”

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the military towns in the Nine Border and the interior were very seriously in arrears, but the Guanning Army was an exception. Especially in the Chongzhen Dynasty, this bias is even more obvious, which is tantamount to further corrupting the military discipline of the Ming army. Of course, the military salary of the Guanning Army is relatively sufficient, but the military discipline is also not very good, the most famous of which is the Chu Town Zuo Liangyu of the Guanning Army, who is definitely the most powerful contender for the first place in the list of military discipline in various military towns at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

Chen Kai had seen a similar description when he was reading a book on the Internet, and at this moment he threw his backhand to Zheng Chenggong, which could be regarded as an answer. Next, he looked at the drill for a while, and then turned to Zheng Chenggong and said, "If you don't mind, can you take the students to see the average level of each town?" ”

"Average?"

"Yes."

As he spoke, Chen Kai nodded heavily, Zheng Chenggong also seemed to feel that Chen Kai seemed to have made a discovery, and with a sigh, he motioned for Chen Kai to follow him to the outside of the main town mansion.

Out of the gate of the main town hall, the soldiers followed. Leaving the mansion is different from being in the mansion, this is their duty, and Zheng Chenggong did not signal them to leave again.

In front of the gate of the town is Guiding Street, and there is a stone tablet erected on the street, which reads "Fujian and Guangdong boundary" three big characters. Nanao Island belongs to Fujian and Guangdong provinces in the Ming Dynasty, of which Shenao and Longao belong to Raoping County, Chaozhou Prefecture, Guangdong, and Yunao and Qingao belong to Zhao'an County, Zhangzhou Prefecture, Fujian.

According to the division of the Ming court, the right battalion in the east is under the jurisdiction of Guangdong, and the left battalion in the west is under the jurisdiction of Fujian, which is numbered as the second battalion of Guangdong and Fujian respectively. Zheng Chenggong took over the military power, recruited new soldiers, scattered the veterans, and turned the two battalions into six towns. Among them, the five towns of the land division are Qinding Town, Left Pioneer Town, Right Pioneer Town, Left Protection Town and Right Protection Town, and the first town of the Water Division is Louchuan Town. Qinding Town was stationed in the general town government, and the other four towns of the Lu Division were stationed in the barracks of the original Guangdong and Fujian Second Battalions.

Chen Kai followed Zheng Chenggong straight to the former Guangdong Battalion military camp to the west, where the left and right pioneer towns were practicing. The two did not make a report, and the soldiers guarding the door just glanced at Zheng Chenggong, saluted respectfully, and then entered the barracks by them and observed around the barracks.

Compared with Ding Zhen, most of the movements of the soldiers in front of him were still a little rusty, especially uneven, so that even Chen Kai could hear the officers' scoldings from time to time.

One of the technical problems is that Chen Kai took a closer look and soon noticed that the proportion of pikemen in Zuo Xianfeng Town in the army was much higher than that in Qinding Town, and the proportion of sword players in the army who relied on breaking the formation was inevitably much less. What's more, many of the pikemen used wooden spears that were not spears at all, but sharpened wooden spears. As for the archers, there are only bows and arrows, not even a bird's gun, and even so, the proportion of archers is not as high as that of Qinding Zhen.

This is the case with the left pioneer town, and Chen Kai went to see the right pioneer town with Zheng Chenggong, and it is generally the same. These two towns are not only inferior to Qinding Town in terms of weapons and skills, but also military uniforms, and most of the soldiers are still wearing the clothes of ordinary people, and at first glance they think it is a peasant rebel army.

These two towns are like this, and the other two towns must be like this. Chen Kai hesitated for a moment, and then said to Zheng Chenggong: "If it's convenient, can the surnamed Guo take the students to see the workshop for building weapons?" ”

Workshop?

Zheng Chenggong saw that Chen Kai had no intention of changing, so he nodded and left the barracks with him and a group of personal soldiers.

The workshop was established after Zheng Chenggong raised his army, and the original plan was to be placed in the main town mansion, but Qinding Town occupied too much space, so it could only be placed in the city. Luckily, the workshop wasn't too far from the barracks, and they were soon there. When I looked up, I saw a courtyard fenced with adobe and wooden fences. Before I stepped into it, I could already hear the sound of striking iron.

Zheng Chenggong's own soldiers flashed their waist cards to the guards guarding the door, and the latter moved out of the way. It was a bustling sound, but when you stepped in, there were only three blacksmith's shops, which were simple enough to have only one wall, and the roof supported by thick wooden columns, two larger sheds made of pure bamboo and wood, and a small courtyard. On closer inspection, in front of each stove was a group of blacksmiths, some three, some two, and the two sheds were all carpenters, making the large and small pieces of wood in their hands with all kinds of tools to make them into the shape they needed.

Even more conspicuous than these craftsmen are the overseers in the workshop. These people stared at the craftsmen under their jurisdiction like thieves, and they couldn't even blink their eyelids. When they found out that Zheng Chenggong had arrived, these overseers were even more energetic, especially one of them who was the most big-shouldered and round-waisted, whipping one whip after another at anyone they regarded as lazy, and even the sound of striking iron was drowned out by them in a trance.

In this regard, Zheng Chenggong did not stop it, but focused his attention on Chen Kai. At this time, Chen Kai watched the leather whip drawn, and then looked at the craftsmen, who were beaten by the overseers, they were still doing their work silently, and they didn't even dare to scream in pain, and those who were not targeted by the overseers were just silently manipulating the tools in their hands, doing the work in their hands like machines.

Chen Kai stood there quietly, carefully watching everything that happened in the workshop, and he didn't even open his mouth, even Zheng Chenggong. In the end, the overseers and craftsmen were a little hairy.

"Guo surnamed Ye, students don't need to go elsewhere to investigate, or go back to the main town first, students still have one or two things to confirm."

Chen Kai was like this, and Zheng Chenggong didn't say anything. So, the two left here in a hurry and returned to the Tiger Festival Hall in the main town mansion. Before Zheng Chenggong could swallow the glass of water, Chen Kai asked the first question.

"Dare to ask the surname of the country, the soldiers and horses in the six towns, how much is the shortage of weapons, and how much has the workshop made so far?"

According to Chen Kai's posture, it is clear that he is eyeing the workshop and weapon manufacturing. These things have always been the responsibility of Zhongzhenbo Hong Xu, but in addition to the workshop, Hong Xu also has to take care of the civil affairs and maritime trade in South Australia, and distractions are inevitable. However, the speed of weapon manufacturing in the workshop has not been too slow, only a few craftsmen, all with the care of the overseers, it is not easy to do this job now.

However, since Chen Kai is a scholar, these things have always been and should have been the responsibility of civil officials, not to mention that Zheng Chenggong also wanted to explore Chen Kai's success, so he simply answered Chen Kai's question 1510.

According to Zheng Chenggong's description, South Australia agreed to organize 2,000 soldiers, and when Zheng Chenggong took over the military power, there were only more than 1,500 people. This is not very high in other military towns in the late Ming Dynasty, and there are many people who eat more than fifty percent to support their families, and this loyal and brave marquis is already a model among military generals.

In the past few months, Zheng Chenggong has recruited about 2,000 recruits into the camp, adding up to 3,5600 soldiers, but the arsenal of the South Australian Association does not have so many weapons.

Fortunately, this place has been regarded by Zheng Zhilong as his own territory, and there are more than 2,000 weapons of all kinds in the military camp and arsenal combined, from bird guns, bows and arrows to waist knives and spears, and counting the artillery used on the ship and in the city, it is enough to equip such a 2,000-person association, and there is still a surplus. However, the weapons were all prepared by Zheng Zhilong when he was in charge of the South Australian Association, and they were not well maintained over time, and many weapons were damaged to varying degrees.

In the first two months of the army, the blacksmiths and carpenters in the workshop worked overtime to repair the broken weapons, and by the time the repair was completed, there were nearly 2,000 working weapons. Even the bird guns and artillery in it, with their technical level, really can't be repaired, and they can only continue to be thrown in the arsenal to rust.

As a result, there is still a huge shortage of fifteen or six hundred weapons. Fortunately, Zheng Chenggong robbed his own sea ship in Layue, confiscated a batch of goods worth 100,000 taels of silver and the payment, used this money as start-up capital, purchased a batch of iron, and sent people into the mountains to cut wood.

After three months of unremitting efforts, the craftsmen have created more than 800 weapons, which is indeed quite a lot. However, the shortage is still as high as more than 700 pieces, which is only half completed.

"To tell the truth, Ben Bo had agreed with the generals yesterday that he would send troops to Fujian in June to recover the lost territory. However, the weapon building really couldn't keep up, and Benbo could only let those recruits fight with wooden guns. ”

The implication of Zheng Chenggong's words is very clear, that is, to see how much Chen Kai can do. It's just that Chen Kai didn't answer, but asked Zheng Chenggong for a pen, ink, paper, and inkstone, and wrote and drew on it.

"What kind of symbol did Mr. Chen write about?"

Chen Kai used Arabic numerals to perform vertical calculations in front of Zheng Chenggong's desk, and Zheng Chenggong naturally couldn't understand it. Chen Kai didn't explain much, but just replied that he had learned from a Taixi missionary in his early years, and the speed of operation was faster than that of using arithmetic chips, so he continued his addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

"If the students are not mistaken, according to the work efficiency estimate of the first three months of the workshop, it will take nearly three months to fill the shortfall."

"Exactly, Zhong Zhenbo said the same thing yesterday."

Hearing this, Chen Kai couldn't help but nodded, then smiled slightly, and said a wild word that Zheng Chenggong never forgot for the rest of his life.

"If the country surnamed Ye sends troops after June 15, there is a month and a half, and the students can ensure that every soldier who goes out can go into battle with real weapons."