After a while, Yun Xi said, "I have a rough understanding of the current method of casting cannons in the imperial court, which is similar to what you said, about the same. After that, you discuss with the Ministry of Works officials what you can do better. ”

After that, Yun Xi casually asked him what he thought about the use of firearms. Liu Mingzhao recommended Li Cheng to Shangzhiwei Yulin Zuowei as an official at that time, in addition to saying that he was good at building firearms, but also because he also had a unique way of using firearms to fight, so Yun Xi asked as usual. However, Yun Xi didn't think Li Cheng could really have any opinions.

But Li Cheng surprised Yunxi. "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the cannon is not enough, and the method of use is not much different from the method of using catapults many years ago, and it can be used as much as possible; But the firebolt is not a simpler crossbow. ”

"The range of a hand crossbow is not as great as that of a firebolt, and it is necessary to use a very complex foot-mounted crossbow to shoot farther than a firebolt; But the hand crossbow is more accurate than the firebolt, and the projectile of the firebolt flies out and has no idea where it will fall. ”

"Therefore, the method of using a firearm cannot be similar to that of a hand crossbow. To use the firecracker, you must have the soldiers lined up in a neat line, packed to the brim, and stop when they are within the range of the firecracker, and the generals must rely on gongs and drums to give orders and fire projectiles at the enemy, so that the firearms can be useful. ”

"Even in the face of enemy infantry and archers, the projectile must not be fired before the enemy reaches the range of the firebolt, and the offender must be dealt with heavily, and the projectile can only be fired after the enemy enters the range of the firebolt. In the face of a volley of firearms, few armies in the world can continue to charge, and they will inevitably retreat, and at this time, the cavalry will be dispatched to pursue it and win a great victory. ”

"If you are facing cavalry, because the guns are very slow to reload, one volley will not be able to reload the second round of enemy troops will rush to the front of the formation, so it must be used in conjunction with spearmen or spearmen to form a phalanx. Although the grass people had never used it, they also drew up a kind of phalanx. As he spoke, he described his imaginary phalanx and drew it on a piece of paper.

The more Yunxi listened, the more pleasantly surprised. Isn't this one of the phalanxes composed of pikemen and musketeers used by the Furak people in history? And the queue mentioned before, isn't it just lining up to be shot?

He suddenly looked at Li Cheng differently. The phalanx at the back is just that, since ancient times, various phalanxes have been used to ride on foot regardless of whether it is useful or not, but the queue in front of it can be regarded as an invention.

At the same time, Yun Xi also had some doubts in his heart: If Li Cheng was so capable, he would be very famous in history, why had he never heard of this person?

What he didn't know was that after Li Cheng was captured by the Ming Dynasty, he was also reused by Zhu Di because he was good at making firearms, and later became an official until the Ministry of Industry. However, there is no biography of him in the history of the Ming Dynasty, and there is very little record of him in the Ming Records, so his reputation is not obvious.

Li Cheng continued: "It's just that if the musketeers are allowed to line up to meet the enemy or form a large formation with the spearmen, the training of the soldiers must also be more strict. The musketeers must be trained to meet the enemy in formation, and they are not timid in the face of the enemy's bows, crossbows, stones or even cannonballs when marching, and the queue is neat and even the pace must not be disordered, if someone is killed by the enemy, the people in the back row must go forward to make up for it, until they enter the range of the musket and fire the projectile according to the general's order. ”

"If you form a phalanx, the requirements will be more relaxed, but you must also train diligently, so that the soldiers can change formations quickly and accurately, so that they will not be confused by the arrival of the enemy cavalry."

Li Cheng finally said with some regret: "If you want to train soldiers in this way, you must make them know the name of righteousness, and reward them with generous rewards, so that soldiers will use their lives." At that time, my father had no righteous name before he sought to usurp the throne, and the country was poor and the people were poor, and it was difficult to reward the soldiers, so except for the elite guard in the hands of the late father, it was impossible for the rest of the soldiers to train like this. If there was such an army in Annan last year, the number of people did not need to be more than 5,000, even if it would still be defeated by the Ming Dynasty in the end, it would definitely be able to leave a deep impression on the Ming generals. ”

Because of admiring Li Chenglai, Yun Xi couldn't help but make a joke: "There is no need to have such an army, Annan's army has blocked the army in Duobang City for more than a month and is not allowed to go south, which has already impressed the officers and soldiers of the army." ”

Li Cheng didn't know that Yun Xi was joking, and immediately mistakenly thought that Yun Xi was dissatisfied with him talking like this, so he immediately knelt down and said, "Grass people Meng Lang." ”

"Li Aiqing is flat." Yun Xi said, "I don't mean to blame you. You are right, if there is such an army, it will be enough to deal with tens of thousands of troops by surprise, and the army will suffer heavy casualties, which is comparable to the Battle of Pingzhang. ”

"In the battle of the army to conquer Annam, the performance of Annam's soldiers has been very good, if it were not for the transfer of defense, I am afraid that it will take two more months for the army to capture the city of Duobang, and this battle will be delayed for many more days."

Yun Xi briefly commented on the performance of Annan's army, and brought the topic back: "What you said about the fire soldiers forming a phalanx alone and forming a phalanx with the spearmen I think it makes a lot of sense, and it's worth trying. ”

"I will allow you to join the left guard of Yulin as a general, and for the time being, I will serve as a staff officer of the guard, and assist the commander and the rest of the generals to train the army according to your ideas."

Yun Xi has long wanted to promote the shooting of the queue in the army, and he changed the training method of the upper guards last year and accelerated the speed of firearms equipment to prepare for this, but the training was not completed at that time, so there was no change for the time being, and now it is just using Li Cheng's method to promote.

Of course, in the future, the Ming army may fight in many complex terrains, and there may not be room for firearms to line up in many places, so it is necessary to continue to study other combat methods.

'In the future, eleven upper guards, one of them is an artillery guard, one or two is a cavalry guard, and the rest are infantry guards. Yun Xi thought.

"In addition, Li Aiqing also went to the Ministry of Industry to talk to the officials who supervised the manufacture of firearms about the method of building firearms just mentioned. Yun Xi said to Li Cheng again.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Li Cheng immediately knelt down and said.

"Li Aiqing, although you used to be a native of Annam, and even led troops to fight against the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty is a kingdom, and I am not a narrow-minded person, so I will not care about the past. What's more, you have already entered the Ming Dynasty, and now you are the real Ming people. As long as you work for the Ming Dynasty with peace of mind, I will never be biased. ”

"Your Majesty is broad-minded, the grass people will definitely serve the Ming Dynasty wholeheartedly, and they will never dare to hide their secrets." Li Cheng said again.

Yun Xi smiled at his sycophant, said a few more words, and let him go down.