Zhang Xiangan saw Hong Chengchou asking himself, smiled and said: "Xia Guan knows that Lord Ni's grenade is made of iron, and after the explosion, the shell is blown into pieces of iron to hurt people, and this mine should also use an iron shell to increase its power, as long as it is made of iron, you can use a magnet to explore."

Ni Yuanlu nodded and said: "What Master Zhang said makes sense, but I am afraid it is a little difficult to make a mine into a grenade, after all, the effect of direct damage through a layer of soil is smaller. ”

Seeing that they had taken the topic away, Sun Chengjiao said a little unhappily: "How to increase the power of landmines Yuan Lu will think about it again, now let's talk about how to consolidate the north, the emperor means that the north has no worries to let go of the army in the south, and the rebellion in the south is pacified, so that he can concentrate on dealing with the Mongols and Jurchens, I don't know what the emperor thinks the minister is right?" ”

Apocalypse said: "It is Mr. who really understands me, and everyone here is an expert, and it depends on Mr. and all of you here to do it." ”

Seeing that the apocalypse spoke politely, everyone was in high mood for a while, and they came up with ideas to find a way. Some said that they should dig a wide pit for horses, and widely spread a horse rope so that the Mongols could not walk an inch on horseback; Some said that they could recruit more soldiers to increase the army, so that the Mongols would not dare to move lightly, so as to achieve the goal of surrendering the army without a fight; Others said that the old cannon could be carried to the Great Wall, even if it was not good to make the enemy look at it, it was chilling ♀, and Hou Sui said: "Why does the emperor only think about guarding?" ”

As soon as Hou Sui's words came out, everyone thought what did you mean? Is it impossible to use troops in two places in the imperial court? Tianqi didn't react for a while, and asked, "What good ideas does Lord Hou have?" ”

Hou Sui said: "The emperor is prepared for the Mongols and Jurchens, and everyone is right when he only says that he is defending, and it is feasible to dig horse pits, cloth and horse ropes, increase troops, and go to the city with old artillery." But there is no impermeable wall in the world, and once the enemy knows that we are in a suspicious position because of the lack of troops, it will attract the enemy's attack. The minister means that now the Jurchens have the intention of fighting with the Mongols, it is better to negotiate with them, so that they will be suspicious and dare not act rashly against me, and let them fight with each other non-stop. ”

Tianqi thought for a while and asked Sun Chengzong: "What does Mr. think?" ”

Sun Chengzong said: "It's not bad to take the initiative to ask for negotiations, the emperor had a talk about negotiating with the Jurchens half a year ago, it is better to say that you can negotiate now that it is empty, and see what the Jurchens say." If Huang Taiji was willing to send someone to negotiate, neither the Mongols nor the Jurchens would act rashly during the negotiation. ”

Tianqi said: "Okay, then send someone to send a letter to the Jurchens, let them send someone to negotiate as soon as possible, and at the same time tell Lin Dan Khan that the mouth of the two rivers has been repaired, and let him restrain his subordinates not to attack the Ming army again, and now talk about how to go to the south to quell the rebellion." ”

Sun Chengzong said: "The two rebellions of Luxury Chongming and An Bangyan have been fighting with the imperial court for six years, and from the perspective of their momentum, they are showing a trend of decline, and it is estimated that they are now tired. Now to quell the rebellion, you only need to send Neng Chen to coordinate the materials, send brave generals to defend the main roads and then fight with the rebels, and when their soldiers are exhausted and the people are dissatisfied, they will fight a decisive battle, and then a battle can be decided. I just don't know if the emperor has any requirements? Will you want to achieve other goals through this counterinsurgency? Because the minister heard that the emperor said that he wanted to train and rectify the army through counterinsurgency and war. ”

Tianqi said: "Sir's words are very true, the two bandits of Xuan Chongming and An Bangyan are just candles in the wind, and it is enough to blow a breath∞ which means that through this counterinsurgency, a Mu will be created, and all the Tusi will be abolished one by one, so that there are only officials dispatched by the central government in the land of Daming." As for the training and rectification of the army, it is also a consideration, and we should not be in a hurry or rush in this matter, but we should do it slowly and step by step, so as not to turn around and do this kind of thing again. ”

Listening to the words of the Apocalypse, Sun Chengzong also showed a surprised expression, and the others gasped, thinking that the abolition of the Tusi system was equivalent to being the enemy of dozens of Tusi armies on all sides, and it was uncertain whether it would cause chaos in the world.

Sun Chengzong said: "This thing is difficult to do, a bad one will lead to a big disaster, I don't know if the emperor has a chance of winning in his heart?" What are the odds? ”

Tianqi said: "As long as you keep it secret, you have a chance of winning, just like fighting extravagant Chongming and An Bangyan, because they rebelled and beat them, no one can say anything, and it must not be difficult for others to find some faults, as long as it is not clear that the imperial court wants to abolish the Tusi system." Relying on the first is that my mountain infantry battalion has been formed, and once this thing is done, it will be renamed the Ming Royal Army, and I believe that Zhang Jing'an and his subordinates have not been eating dry food this year. The second is that I have 20,000 troops in Beijing and 20,000 in each of the Liaodong Military Region, and these 40,000 troops can be used to besiege the enemy. ”

Sun Chengzong said: "Since the emperor has a chance of winning and relying on it, then let's think of a specific way, whoever thinks of a good idea can come and listen." ”

Seeing that everyone was silent, Sun Chengzong said to Chen Qiyu: "Lord Chen is thoughtful, you can talk about it first." ”

Chen Qiyu was thinking about it, and listened to Sun Chengzong's words, so he said: "There are more than 40,000 main forces around the two rebels of Luxury Chongming and An Bangyan, which belong to the general army of Guizhou and Sichuan towns, and there are more than 100,000 Xunchi reserve troops in Sichuan, Guizhou, Huguang, Guangdong and other places. Now that the emperor wants to add 30,000 mountain infantry battalions and 40,000 construction troops, the minister thinks that the emperor wants to divide and rectify the people in those troops, and everything has a beginning. ”

Apocalypse nodded and said, "You have a point, keep talking." ”

Chen Qiyu said: "The key to putting down the rebellion is not the 50,000 main force of the rebels, but the hundreds of thousands of local people. 50,000 bandit troops can be wiped out, hundreds of thousands of local people are one of their clans, only when the division and collapse can not be indiscriminately killed, otherwise the others will definitely resist in a cold heart, and the emperor's idea of abolishing all the toasts can only be in vain. ”

Tianqi nodded and said: "I understand that even if all the Tusi along the border are abolished and reassigned to the management of liuguan in the future, the obedience of the local people is still very important∞ when thinking about whether I can attack, I will consider the future construction, and demolish all the houses in those dangerous places to avoid the recurrence of banditry, and at the same time repair houses and build houses in convenient places to build Shetun army and people, which is also the reason why I sent 40,000 construction troops." ”

Chen Qiyu said: "The minister means to divide the garrison troops into two, and those who want to make meritorious contributions through the war will be distributed to Zhang Jing'an's troops, so that they can teach these people hand in hand; Those who don't like to fight are assigned to Zhao Shujiao generals, so that his soldiers can also teach these people, and they will be used in many places in the future. ”

Tianqi said: "It's not bad that Lord Chen can think of these things in a hurry, it's very desirable to slowly come to counter-insurgency and reorganize the army, what other ideas do others have?" The main thing is the specific method. ”

Hou Sui said at this time: "Since the emperor does not want to destroy the rebels in a hurry, the minister has a strategy that can be slowly planned, but it can be accomplished." Five years ago, the minister once patrolled Guizhou, and had a certain understanding of the topography and people's conditions there, where it was mostly mountainous and rainy and slippery, known as 'the sky has no three sunny days, and the land has no three miles of flat', and it is not easy to march and fight. The people there are brave and stupid, and they are mostly Yi people, and they have innate prejudices against the Han people and are easy to be incited. Now that the rebels are besieged in it, we should use the strategy of taking the camp step by step to reform the bandits and the people together. ”

Tianqi thought for a while and said, "Lord Hou's words are very agreeable, please tell me how to do it step by step?" ”

Hou said: "First of all, we should separate the attackers and defenders to avoid loopholes that allow the traitors to escape. At present, there are too many garrison troops of more than 100,000 people, and they should hold the dangerous places like mountains, and they would rather retreat in order to hold on to the places that are not easy to defend, so that tens of thousands of people can be freed up. The original main force of more than 40,000 people guarded the main road to prevent the rebels from attacking and escaping, so they could kill the enemy without seeking help. ”

Hong Chengchou asked: "Lord Hou means that the current troops do not seek to kill the enemy, but only seek to hold the danger and even retreat, so who will fight the traitors?" Although Zhang Jing'an's mountain infantry battalion is well-trained, it only has 30,000 men, and I am afraid that it will be difficult to take on the heavy task. ”

Hou Sui said: "The mountain infantry battalion is the main force, and generally speaking, the main force is not used to fight for attrition, and their role is to temporarily capture prominent positions. ”

Hong Chengchou was even more puzzled: "The original men and horses are used for defense, and the elite soldiers transferred over are only used to grab territory and not as the main force to fight, who will fight the tens of thousands of rebels and hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of rebels?" You can't kill the enemy with those tens of thousands of garrison troops and 40,000 construction troops, right? ”

Hou Sui said: "Exactly! Lord Hong, don't be impatient, please listen to the next official's words. The emperor's intention is that this suppression of the rebellion is only one of them, and the other means to rectify the army, and the current army is mostly composed of military households, and the combat effectiveness is low, not to mention the will to fight. Rather than forcing them to fight, let them choose whether they want to be a soldier and kill the enemy or change their careers to become a civilian. As far as the minister knows, the emperor has the idea of letting the 40,000 construction troops retreat to the people, but I don't know if it is true? ”

Apocalypse said, "I do have the intention of turning them into people, but I haven't found anyone to replace them for the time being. ”

Hou Sui said: "As long as the emperor is willing to divide the current millions of nominal troops according to his wishes, he will get powerful fighting troops and construction troops, which will alternate in turn, and the strength of the army and the strength of the country will be just around the corner." ”

Tianqi thought for a while and asked, "Do you mean to let the people taught by Zhao and Zhang Jing'an be the teachers, and the people from the other garrisons to be the main force in building houses and fighting the enemy?" ”

Hou Sui said: "It's cruel to say, but the truth is that it should be like this, the real main force cannot be used to fight for consumption, and those who survive the consumption can become the main force." Only an army that has passed the test of blood and fire is a mature army, and only in actual battles can the combat effectiveness of the army be tested, and this combat effectiveness can be the ability to fight with the enemy, or the ability to build roads and houses. ”