The drill did not last long, and after the drill was over, the cavalry was still arrayed in the distance, but the thousands of households of the horse army came over in turn.

Wang Yan nodded to them, rewarded them one by one, and on behalf of the imperial court, went to Wuchang to purchase some meat for the army, and rewarded the soldiers with a little silver, the amount was not much, just a meaning, indicating that the court and he valued the horse army very much.

After rewarding these thousand generals and cavalry, Wang Yan entered the camp surrounded by everyone, and then turned over and dismounted.

He handed Wang Wendao over to a confidant guard to take care of, and then entered the big tent with many generals.

In the tent, Wang Yan glanced at the many generals in front of him, especially at Tan Tai, Zhang Cunren, Tong Tulai and other generals, and then said loudly: "The imperial court failed to enter Xuzhou this time, you should have read the military report." The cavalry of the Qing army is superior to our dynasty, and we must admit this. In the northern plains, we hit Xuzhou, he cut off our grain road, we divided our troops to guard the grain road, and he attacked the main force of our army, in short, it came and went like the wind, maneuvered freely, and it was not easy to deal with! ”

Speaking of this, Wang Yan paused, and the faces of the people in the tent became serious.

If it is a head-to-head duel, the Ming infantry will set up a formation, the artillery will press the formation, the spears will be like a forest, and the self-generated fire will bombard in rows and take turns, and they will not be afraid of the cavalry.

The reason why the cavalry is terrifying is mainly because of his mobility ability, which may be inferior to the infantry army compared to the frontal hard attack.

The Ming army's northern expedition must go deep into the northern plains, hundreds of miles of grain routes, how to maintain, and the main infantry army cannot always remain in a state of formation. As soon as the infantry moved the camp and relaxed, the cavalry would rush in waves, and the disadvantage of the infantry was too obvious.

"The Qing army marched west to Zhunger, and the cavalry of the Manchu Qing Dynasty has been further strengthened!" Wang Yan looked at everyone and said solemnly: "The enemy is still very strong, and the horse army of our dynasty still needs to be improved." The matter of training, the court and the lonely will leave it to you! ”

"We will definitely live up to His Highness's trust!" Everyone clenched their fists in awe.

"Good! As long as everyone is attentive, the court will not hesitate to reward! Wang Yan nodded, "Lone here makes a promise, if you help the imperial court train 60,000 elite cavalry capable of fighting, those below the marquis will be promoted to one level, and the marquis and above will be given to the descendants according to their merits." ”

After speaking, Wang Yan's eyes swept over everyone, especially a few generals, half of what he said was said to Tan Tai and a few people, which was equivalent to promising to let them do a good job, as long as they practiced fine horses, the Ming Dynasty would not treat them badly, and they could still have glory and wealth.

At the same time, this is also said to Zhao Shenkuan, Qin Shangxing and other generals, there is indeed a gap between the cavalry of the Ming army and the cavalry of the Manchu Dynasty, the advantage of the Ming Dynasty is that the discipline is strict, but the cavalry personal skills are often not as good as the Manchu Qing, and the horse army needs the guidance of Tan Tai and other generals to train the cavalry better and improve the tactics.

Although Wang Yan had just arrived at the barracks, he saw the contempt and exclusion of the generals of the Ming army outside the barracks.

The exclusion of generals is not conducive to the training of cavalry, so Wang Yan draws a piece of bread for everyone in the tent, and if they want to get this cake, they must work together to train the cavalry together in order to get a reward.

Wang Yan wanted 60,000 elite cavalry, not one or two thousand particularly powerful cavalry, which required the Ming generals to exchange experience with the generals.

After listening to Wang Yan, Qin Shangxing, Zhao Shenkuan and the others couldn't help but look at each other, then turned their heads to look at Tan Tai and the others, and finally hugged their fists together.

Wang Yan smiled slightly when he saw this, "Lonely, that's all there is to say!" If you train cavalry, if you have any ideas and requirements, you can take advantage of being alone, and quickly say it, as long as you can do it alone, after you return to Nanjing, you will think of helping you do it! ”

As he spoke, Wang Yan stretched out his hand and motioned for them to sit down on either side.

"Your Highness, you have something to say!" Everyone sat down on both sides, and Zhang Cunren stayed in the middle and saluted.

Wang Yan smiled slightly, and said in a calm tone: "General Zhang is well aware of the characteristics of the Ming and Qing armies, and if he has any opinions, he can directly say it!" ”

Zhang Cunren was originally a deputy general of the Ming Dynasty, and later descended to the Qing Dynasty with Zu Dashou, Wang Yan said that he was familiar with the characteristics of the Ming and Qing armies, and there was nothing wrong at all. He knew the Guanning Iron Cavalry and the Eight Banners of the Qing Army, which could indeed provide a lot of things for the Ming army to train cavalry.

"Your Highness, I think that the Ming Army has the characteristics of the Ming Army, and you don't have to completely learn some Eight Banners things!" Zhang Cunren arched his hand and said.

As soon as he opened his mouth, he attracted Wang Yan's attention, and even the generals of the Ming army below looked at him.

Intellectually speaking, the cavalry of the Ming army is indeed inferior to the Eight Banners of Manchuria, so the generals of the Ming army, even if they do not admit it verbally, have the intention of moving closer to the Eight Banners in training.

After all, the Eight Banners cavalry are elite, and they naturally want to learn from the strong, even Wang Yan thinks so, so Zhang Cunren said this, which is equivalent to breaking his inherent concept, making him think out of the box, and immediately attracting him.

People are most afraid of thinking imprisonment, Wang Yan became interested, and immediately asked: "General Zhang, what do you think, say it and listen to it!" ”

Zhang Cunren actually had an idea to say, just because he had been excluded before, and he mentioned it to Qin Shangxing and others, and they didn't want to listen, but now Wang Yan was interested, and he immediately perked up, "Your Highness, I think that the Manchurian Eight Banners and the Mongolian Eight Banners are good at riding and shooting, which has something to do with their living environment, the Manchus and the Mongols have been good at shooting and hunting since they were children, which we Central Plains people can't compare with at all, even if they are retrained, it is impossible to surpass them in riding and archery techniques." ”

Zhang Cunren is telling the truth, people have been playing bows and riding horses for more than ten years, why did the Ming army catch up with them after training for a few years? He said the truth, but in the ears of many generals, it was very harsh, and some people even glared angrily, and the eyes clearly asked him, "What do you mean?" Does that mean we'll never be able to beat Eight Flags? ”

Wang Yan's face was also slightly gloomy, but he urged: "You go on!" ”

Zhang Cunren was encouraged, so he continued: "I think that when I train cavalry, I don't have to practice cavalry, archery is not easy, and it is even more difficult to shoot horsemanship, and it takes time, and it is not as good as the Eight Banners..."

"What do cavalrymen practice when they don't practice riding and archery?" Zhang Cunren was talking, and the next Ming general Guo took the card, directly interrupting his words.

The arrogant soldiers and fierce generals below also don't listen to their opinions.

Wang Yan frowned when he saw this, and said in a sullen voice: "Listen to General Zhang!" ”

Zhang Cunren gratefully bowed his hand to Wang Yan before continuing: "Humble duty doesn't mean that you don't practice at all, but I don't think there's any need to spend too much effort. His Royal Highness's Five Loyal Army, one of the characteristics of which is that the military law is strict, and he feels that the cavalry of our dynasty does not need to emphasize too much on individual cavalry and archery skills, but because of the emphasis on the ability to fight collectively, and improve the establishment and military discipline, the horse army can charge repeatedly and quickly assemble after being dispersed. As for personal combat strength, the humble position thought that it could be compensated for by equipment, such as the cuirass made by the Ministry of Industry for the cavalry, which was basically immune to the killing of the Qing army's bow and arrow. ”

Speaking of this, Zhang Cunren gave up his hand again, "I think that the imperial court can study more new equipment for the Ma army, such as the three-eyed gun, if the performance can be strengthened, then the humble position thinks that it is much more convenient for the Ma army to use firearms than to learn the bow of the Eight Banners." Therefore, I think that when I train the horse army, we should highlight our own characteristics, and there is no need to practice according to the tactics of the Eight Banners! ”

Wang Yan is the best at accepting words, he listened to it and thought for a moment, he couldn't help nodding frequently, only learning from others, it is impossible to surpass others, the Ming army should indeed highlight its own characteristics, but it is not realistic to change the training methods of the entire army.

"General Zhang's suggestion, I think it should be taken seriously." Wang Yan pondered for a while, and then said: "In this way, transfer out 5,000 cavalry and hand them over to General Zhang for training, and when you drill in the autumn next year, you will compete with other horse troops. ”

Wang Yan said this, even if other generals had opinions, they couldn't say it, so they could only train hard and compete in the coming year.

Speaking with facts, this has almost become the tradition of the Ming army, it is better to fight than to fight, this atmosphere also continues to the government affairs, many innovations in the Ming Dynasty, basically choose a place to try out, and if there is an effect, it will be promoted throughout the country, which is also a characteristic of Wang Yan's governance.

Saying that, Wang Yan smiled, "As for the equipment of the cavalry, the Lone Association will entrust the Ministry of Engineering Academy to develop it, not only to equip the horse army with good armor and guns, but also to equip you with a fast run that can be pulled by war horses." Last year's Nanjing school review, 1,000 Wusheng troops easily defeated 5,000 infantry troops in a tight formation with war horses and accelerated artillery! ”

"Thank you, Your Highness! The humble post must train 5,000 cavalry and wait for His Highness to review it! Zhang Cunren heard Wang Yan's promise and immediately saluted with joy.

Wang Yan waved his hand, and then said, "Which of you has anything to say?" ”

Encouraged by Zhang Cunren, Tan Tai suddenly stood up and saluted: "Your Highness, the imperial court wants to go on a northern expedition, and I think that in addition to training cavalry, I can also equip the infantry with inferior horses, and I don't need them to ride to fight, as long as I can ride horses to speed up the march." In this way, on the northern flatlands, the imperial army could quickly maneuver and offset the mobility of the Qing army. ”

Wang Yan really gained a lot today, the Ming army's firearms were sharp, and the range far exceeded that of bows and arrows, and the cavalry of the Qing army now faced the dense infantry of the Ming army again, and it was guaranteed that they would not be able to speak.

If you can match the self-generated firefighters with war horses, it can indeed make up for the lack of cavalry.

Thinking of this, Wang Yan couldn't help but glance at Tan Tai and Zhang Cunren, and it seemed that it was still worth it to leave these people who knew the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

Just as traitors were a huge threat to the Ming Dynasty, these traitors were also a huge threat to the Manchus, who knew the Manchus too well and knew the weaknesses of the Manchus.

This suggestion can also be implemented, just imagine a team of elite soldiers, running more than 200 miles a day, then the war will be interesting. However, to achieve this, it is still necessary to have a horse, and Wang Yan felt that it was necessary to write a letter to He Tengjiao.

(End of chapter)