"Your Royal Highness, welcome to China!"

Prince Condé's mood soon improved, because unlike a group of uncles with cold eyebrows, the emperor of the Ming Empire was a very enthusiastic young man who could speak fluent French.

"Your Majesty, you speak French so well." The Prince of Condé had already bowed to Zhu Cihong, and then sat down on an embroidered pier - Zhu Cihong did not care much about etiquette, and would not entangle with foreign envoys who had diplomatic relations with equal relations for this issue.

Of course, the envoys of the vassal state must abide by the courtiers' festivals, and according to the etiquette of the Ming Dynasty, they should kowtow a few times. However, the foreign envoys who had diplomatic relations on an equal footing were not Zhu Cihong's courtiers from a legal point of view, but his guests.

"I learned from John Tang," Zhu Cihong said with a smile, "and he is also my teacher." ”

John Tang did not return to China with Prince Condorma and Li Shaoyou, he was waiting for the return of Innocent X, who was in poor health in his seventies and eighties.

Innocent X was a rather old-fashioned pope and was not very talkative. But Archbishop Kigi, the favourite to succeed the pope, is a more flexible figure. If he is elected, he may be able to find a mutually acceptable solution to the dispute over clerical power.

In addition, John Tong hoped to reach a treaty with King Philip IV of Spain aimed at avoiding direct conflict between the two countries.

Zhu Cixi paused, and Xu Ermo translated the content of his conversation with Kong Dai into Chinese and told the military attachés in the hall.

"Your Royal Highness," said Zhu Cihong, adding, "Father Tong has told me more than once about your great victory in Rocroix, and that was in 1643, right?" You were only 23 years old...... It's amazing! ”

The Battle of Rocroix was the famous battle of Grand Condé and the end of Spanish land supremacy!

"You've won the prize," said the Grand Condé, "you weren't even 20 years old when you commanded the Battle of Bloody Creek, and you were younger than I was then...... It was also a pretty remarkable battle! ”

The Battle of Xueliuxi and the Battle of Guishan are the two most detailed examples of battles in the Nanjing Jiangwutang - because the Jiangwutang has detailed information on these two battles, not only the Ming army's troops, equipment, pre-war maneuvers, wartime deployment, wartime maneuvers, battle losses, battle results and other data and formation maps, but also through the channels of Jinyiwei to collect information on the Qing army.

While waiting for Zhu Cihong's court to return to Nanjing, Prince Kong and his staff had repeatedly studied these two battles and some other battles between the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Ming Shun, and the Qing Shun, and even the information on the Battle of Sakhalin Island, which was obtained by the Ming embassy in Japan through the Matsumae family.

After studying these examples, the Great Condé was more certain of his judgment when he first saw the elite infantry and cavalry lineups of the Ming army.

Zhu Cihong said with a smile: "That was indeed a very crucial victory, and the current situation of confrontation between the north and the south was laid down by this battle and the later battle of Guishan. And I want to break this confrontation now, so I want your help...... Your Royal Highness, for the sake of friendship between the Ming and France, I hope that you will consider serving as my General Military Adviser and explaining to me and my generals the classic examples of the Thirty Years' War! Because although we have the same equipment and training as the armies of the European powers, we do not know how to use them most effectively, and we do not have enough experience. ”

Prince Condé smiled and said, "Your Majesty, I am willing to serve you...... However, I must point out that your army is not as equipped and trained as the armies of the great European powers! ”

"Really?" Zhu Cihong smiled and asked, "So where do you think we still have shortcomings?" ”

"Artillery and cavalry." "If your field artillery is not systematically equipped and trained alone, it is sufficient to deal with the Qing army in the north, but your mounted troops are outdated and not practical," Condé said. Therefore, at the campaign level, your enemy, the Qing army, has the initiative.

If it weren't for the fact that the low-cost mound fortresses limited the Qing army's strategic superiority and made it difficult for them to attack in your depth, you would have been even more passive. ”

"You're right," Zhu Cihong nodded, "Our weakness is indeed in the cavalry, the main problem is that there are no good war horses, and this problem is gradually being solved." ”

"No, Your Majesty, I'm talking about mounted troops, including but not limited to cavalry." "In fact, it's not a lack of knights or shock cavalry that keeps your army passive at the campaign level...... Rather, it lacked a cavalry unit that did odd jobs. ”

"Horseback troops doing odd jobs?" Zhu Cihong asked, "You mean the kind of light cavalry that undertakes reconnaissance, raiding, and battlefield blockade tasks?" ”

"It can also be mounted infantry," Condé laughed, "I noticed that the Qing Kingdom in the north currently controls the Mongolian steppe...... This means that they have a highly motorized mounted force, which should be difficult for your knights to compete with when it comes to light cavalry. So why not use the mounted infantry, armed with muskets and sabers? It seems that the Qing used such troops on Sakhalin, why don't you have the same troops? ”

"You mean dragoons?"

"Almost," said Condé, "it is actually a unit of odd work, which is very effective against backward nomads...... It can also play a greater role in the European theater. A few thousand troops armed with flintlock pistols that could fight on and off horseback could completely change the passivity of the Ming army at the campaign level. ”

Zhu Cihong shook his head: "But the rangers of the Qing army are good at riding and shooting, and their hand-to-hand combat ability is also very strong, and there are many of them!" ”

"Oh, that's right," said Prince Condé, "that troops on horseback have more initiative than troops marching on foot. The combination of the mobility of the horses and the flintlock pistol and the 3-pounder gun was the initiative...... Therefore, they do not have to engage the enemy on horseback, they may be able to set up an ambush, they may be able to attack at night, they may be able to dismount and occupy favorable terrain, or they may be able to flee.

And their target is not necessarily the enemy's scout cavalry, but also their food convoys, or unguarded villages, or wheat fields about to be harvested...... They can even form groups of 2,000 men or more, pull up 3-pounder cavalry guns and 24-pounder mortars to attack castles in the enemy's rear!

Of course, such miscellaneous troops are also very useful in the main battle! It can seize advantageous terrain, pursue remnants of the enemy, detour the enemy's flank or rear, set up ambushes on the battlefield, quickly reinforce or attack, and even pull a 3-pounder gun for maneuvering.

In case of defeat, they can also be responsible for covering the retreat of the main forces!

So, in my opinion, it is really not much use for you to spend so much money to bring in Arabian horses, and it is too expensive...... Those Chinese Humpty Dumpty horses are enough. With that money, it is better to get more heavy horses, they are very important for logistics and artillery mobility.

As for your hunky horsemen, they are very outdated and useless...... When used as shock cavalry, they needed large European horses to carry them on a fast run. They were put into close combat as dismounted knights, and were inferior to flintlock musketeers armed with bayonets. As for the ability to shoot arrows on horseback, it was of little use in the age of cannons and muskets. It's better to disband them, let these big guys be trained as officers, and then go to the grassroots to lead the troops. In the Thirty Years' War in Europe, the losses of rank and file officers were staggering! ”

The Ming military attachés in the Fengtian Hall listened to Xu Ermo's relay, "Prince Kong asks right", and they all put away their contemptuous expressions.

It seems that this iron king of France still has two brushes!

Of course, it is impossible to be convinced, but if you look at the emperor's face, let's go and make up for a few lessons!