While the Japanese grocery store was anxiously waiting to be summoned, Zhu Cihong was talking with three foreigners in the Great Gong Hall. The three foreigners are John Tang and Alfonso. López and Shi Ruien. Among them, this Shi Ruien is the mercenary captain Ryan Stein from Germany, who, like many Westerners who arrived in China in this era, has a Chinese name. Because the "Stein" in his surname Ryan Stein means rock in German, John Tong named him Shi Ryan.

The 45-year-old German spent 20 years on the battlefields of Germany's Thirty Years' War and four years in the English Civil War. He has never been a high-ranking general, but he is just a veteran of the battlefield, and the biggest official he has ever been is the head of a mercenary group - in fact, he can also be seen as a military contractor, who gets a contract and a deposit from an irregular monarch, and then recruits soldiers on his own, buys equipment, forms an infantry regiment, and then goes into battle to earn money.

And after the end of the English Civil War, Ryan Stein, who had served for the King of England, was offered another contract from the Far East—not from John Town, but from the Dutch East India Company.

It turned out that Anthony of the Dutch East India Company. Fan. Governor Dimen learned that the strongman on the island of Java, the Sultan of Agung, was seriously ill and felt that there was an opportunity, so he sent people back to Europe to recruit mercenaries, hoping to start a war after Sultan Agung's death.

And this Ryan Stein was one of several mercenary captains hired by the East India Company. However, after traveling thousands of miles to Batavia with dozens of men, Rheinstein and his men fell ill one after another due to the lack of adaptation.

This situation was very common in Batavia, and the East India Company did not want to lose these mercenaries who had been transported to the East with great difficulty, so they sent them to Macao, where the climate was more comfortable, to recuperate. Hopefully, they will gradually get used to the heat and humidity of the south.

While Ryan Stein and others were raising troops in Macao, they met John Tong who was heading south from Yangzhou.

As an envoy of the Ming court, John Tang asked the governor of Macau, Shi Paul, for help - Zhu Cihong hoped that Shi Paul would follow the precedent of Chongzhen's second year and send a mercenary group of more than 400 people and provide a batch of weapons.

Of course, Paul Sch was full of promises - the operation in the second year of Chongzhen not only improved the relations between Macao and the Ming court, but also won many arms orders for Macao.

In addition, the Ming court did not let Macao send troops and weapons in vain, but paid 57,000 taels of silver!

And this time, the conditions of the Ming court seem to be more favorable! It was not to pay more, but to ask the Portuguese Viceroyalty to send envoys to Nanjing for a long time...... This is an opportunity for the Kingdom of Portugal to establish direct contact with the Ming Dynasty!

Therefore, after receiving Zhu Cihong's order, Shi Paul immediately collected 1,200 turtledove-foot firecrackers and 12 3-pounder field guns and handed them to John Tong.

He also found Reinstein, who was recuperating in Macau, and hired Reinstein, who could not adapt to the hot climate of Java, and more than 40 other German mercenaries at the same price as the Dutch.

Let them and John Tong as well as the Governor's Office of Macau, Alfonso. López's envoys escorted the equipment provided by the Governor's Office of Macao to the north first.

For Ryan Stein, who has been in the war in Europe for half his life and is just a mercenary captain, this trip to Nanjing will not only change the trajectory of his life, but also open his eyes!

While in Dantu Town, he saw the socket bayonet for the first time, and also saw an infantry regiment in an all-musket configuration. On the way from Dantu Town to Nanjing, he also obtained a fixed paper shell ammunition through John Tang...... It's also an eye-catching innovation!

According to John Tang, this innovation also came from the regent and crown prince of the Ming Empire......

And today, something that Shi Ruien didn't expect happened. The young crown prince of the Ming Empire conversed directly with Shi Ruien in English after learning that he could speak fluent English!

“...... His Royal Highness the Crown Prince," said Shi Ruien, speaking in ancient German English, "the phalanx of the Spaniards is actually constantly changing. The early Spanish phalanx resembled a moving baston with a phalanx of pikemen in the center and a small musket phalanx on each of the four corners. In this way, the entire large array can be like a castle, facing enemies surging from all directions. Four of the small musket phalanxes, when facing an enemy coming from one direction, could form a larger horizontal formation of two small musket squares and fire under the cover of the spears.

When enemy cavalry or infantry approached, the musketeers retracted into a phalanx of musketeers, which were not very dense and there were always gaps to accommodate a small number of musketeers. In order to maximize the power of a small number of musketeers, heavy muskets are often paired with Spanish phalanxes......

However, this tactic has been phased out in the last decade or two, as more and more cases have shown that firepower is the decisive factor. Once the musketeers were defeated in an engagement, it was impossible for the pikemen to attack under the enemy's firepower. The more popular tactic now is the phalanx tactics improved by the Dutchman Morris, which is said to be a phalanx, but in fact it is not necessarily square, in most cases, it is a horizontal formation of six to eight rows. The spear was in the middle, and the musket was on the sides. This formation is easy to assemble, but it is more complicated to use.

So I think that your practice of attaching bayonets to muskets will eventually become popular all over the world, and the long guns will become obsolete. Of course, the musket itself also needed to be improved, and a flintlock pistol with greater reliability and longer range was needed. ”

"Really?" Zhu Cihong thought about it, it seems that this is really the case, in the 18th century, Westerners did not play with spears very much, and this Shiyang man was quite discerning, "But that is in the future, for now, is the all-musket team too radical?" ”

"It's hard to say, it depends on the actual situation on the battlefield," Shi Ruien has also been thinking about this question for the past two days, "but I think whether an all-musket team is feasible depends on the level of cavalry and artillery...... In a purely infantry-to-infantry engagement, the all-musket team should have a better chance of winning.

In fact, in the European theater today, the infantry fighting in the Dutch or Swedish phalanx would sometimes form three columns of musketeers in six rows in depth in two columns and one column, and then fire a salvo. ”

The current European battlefield is actually in the stage of transition from phalanx tactics to line infantry tactics. The more popular tactics were the Maurice phalanx and the Gustavus phalanx, which was based on the Spanish phalanx, increasing the proportion of musketeers, while reducing the depth, from more than ten rows to about six.

However, the organization of these two phalanxes, as well as the Spanish phalanx, was more complicated, and it was troublesome to simply group the pikes and muskets in the same company. Sometimes the muskets are weighted and heavy, and some extra swords, shields, or halberds are added.

In contrast, the line infantry tactics of pure musket company formation were actually relatively simple.

"But I don't have a strong field artillery," Zhu Cihong shook his head, as if he was a little worried, "I don't have a strong cavalry either...... I guess I still need a Morris or Gustavian phalanx, right? ”

"You're right," said Shi Ruien, smiling, "but your cavalry is okay, but the horses are a little worse, and perhaps you should buy some of their folded horses from India." I also recommend that your cavalry and infantry be dressed in lighter plate armor...... The kind of plate armor worn by the Japanese mercenaries of Governor Zheng (referring to Zheng Zhilong) was sufficient.

In addition, the arquebuses used by your army are outdated, and I recommend gradually replacing them with the latest flintlock pistols...... Flintlock pistols with bayonets will sooner or later completely obsolete long guns.

However, each new tactic has a gradual process of refinement, and being too aggressive is a risk. So I advise you to train and equip some Dutch team, it is not difficult, as long as you trust me fully, my people can organize a model regiment for you in 6 months. A few more officer corps will arrive later, so you'll soon have four exemplary regiments using Dutch tactics.

As for artillery, it's more troublesome...... Field artillery can be purchased from Macau. In fact, Governor Sch Paul has prepared 12 bronze 3-pounder field guns made in Macao. However, it is difficult to train qualified field artillery gunners, and if you are in a hurry to get an artillery company capable of field combat, I recommend recruiting Westerners to use those artillery first. If there are five or six artillery batteries, the chances of victory in the field will be greatly increased. ”