"Since ancient times, we have had people who worked hard, people who worked hard, people who asked for their lives for the people, people who sacrificed their lives to seek the law, and people like these people who would rather die than give in to defending the land. What are these people? It is the backbone of our country, and the great spirit on which our nation has survived for thousands of years...

The Battle of Songshan, in the previous wars of the Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin, may not be much in terms of the scale of the war and the importance of the war. But for the imperial court and for the Ming Dynasty, every Ming soldier who sacrificed in this war was a hero who defended the country and the people.

… In our country, it is not uncommon for warriors to die generously, but there are not many tough and tenacious fighters. In this battle for the defense of Songshan, these Ming soldiers who fought until the last moment and did not give up are really a model that every Ming soldier should learn...

Therefore, I and the base camp unanimously decided that the newly replenished and rebuilt army would be named the Matsuyama Hero Division. I hope that you will inherit the legacy of the martyrs, carry forward the spirit of the defense of Songshan, and inherit the indomitable fighting spirit of these martyrs..."

Chongzhen stood on a temporary high platform at the foot of Songshan, and after sacrificing the martyrs who died in the defense of Songshan, he gave a speech to thousands of soldiers in the audience.

In addition to the Songshan Hero Division, which had just been recruited and supplemented, there were some generals in Jinzhou City and the imperial camp around Chongzhen.

For Man Gui's blessing in disguise, the generals of Liaoxi were naturally envious and jealous, but they were not dissatisfied with the emperor's decision. Because this time, the Liaoxi armies with sufficient soldiers and food really did not have a record of shooting, even in last year's Jizhou Defense Battle, the Liaoxi Army at least had the merit of recapturing the Santun camp to boast of.

And this time, they were besieged in the city by the Houjin army, and basically did nothing. The Houjin army, which did not have effective siege means, did not intend to exchange human lives for the city this time, and the artillery on Jinzhou City would have no use.

The only outstanding battles in this war were fought between the Jurchens and the Mongols who surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, especially that Du Du had just betrayed the Houjin Dynasty and had no foundation in the Ming Dynasty. In contrast, the Liaoxi armies, which were strongly supported by the imperial court, were even more humiliating.

However, the generals of Liaoxi finally knew that it was His Majesty the Emperor to whom they were loyal who commanded these Jurchens to fight against the Mongols. Even if they were not convinced by these barbarians who had submitted to the Ming Dynasty, they would not dare to compete with His Majesty the Emperor for credit.

Now that His Majesty the Emperor personally endorsed the defense of Songshan and covered up the defeat of the Liaoxi armies, naturally no one would fight with Mangui.

It's just that everyone is not convinced, although the armies are now beginning to be reorganized, but the strength in everyone's hands is also saved little by little on weekdays. Like Man Gui, it has never been possible to quickly replenish his troops after every battle.

Moreover, the troops replenished to Man Gui this time were not new recruits and the old and weak who were eliminated by each army, but the elite troops drawn from various armies, and even the emperor personally allocated a guard cavalry battalion to Man Gui.

Now the 4,500 people around Man Gui are not as elite as the 4,000 men and horses before the war, but they are not far behind, as long as they train for a year and a half, I am afraid they will be stronger than the previous troops.

It is impossible for the generals to say in their hearts that they are not sour. However, in addition to being full of laurels, many generals realized that it would probably not be possible to preserve their strength as before. The armies that avoided the war and feared the war were either degraded or dismantled and scattered, and only an army like Man Gui who dared to fight would be given priority to receive supplies from the imperial court.

Just when the generals in the audience were thinking, Chongzhen finally ended his speech, and the solemn soldiers in the audience immediately raised their weapons under the leadership of the officers and shouted "Long live my emperor" to Chongzhen on the high platform.

The sun shone on the blades of these weapons, shining a small half of the pine mountain, and a flock of wild birds were frightened by the shouts of the soldiers and flew out of the forest, this scene was like a martyr who died here to return the salute to the emperor and colleagues, which made people feel awe.

After Yue Tuo and Zilharang returned to Shenyang together, they heard that the Khan had not been in court since his return to Shenyang, so he immediately rushed to the Khan's palace in the center of the city with Zilharang, wanting to ask to see Huang Taiji.

Under the leadership of the palace guards, Yue Tuo and Zierharang bypassed the Chongzheng Palace, which was still under construction, and walked up to the Phoenix Tower in the north. It took three years to build the Phoenix Tower, erected on the blue brick pedestal of more than one zhang high, built with three floors, three drops of water rest mountain style pavilion, the top is paved with yellow glazed tiles, inlaid with green trimming. From a distance, it really looks like a phoenix bird ready to go.

When the two went upstairs, Huang Taiji was standing on the highest floor looking at the scenery in Shenyang City. When Yue Tuo and Zierharang saw the back of Huang Taiji standing by the railing, they immediately curtshowed their knees, which woke Huang Taiji up.

After turning around, Huang Taiji immediately stepped forward with a smile on his face to help the two of them, and said to the two of them kindly: "You have worked this expedition, why don't you go home to see your wife and family first, but come to me first." ”

Yue Tuo immediately replied: "When the minister heard that the Khan had returned to Shenyang, he closed his door. The minister was worried about whether the Khan was unwell, so he took the liberty to come to see the Khan, and asked the Khan not to blame the minister for being rude. ”

Zilharang also said: "Today, the rise and fall of our country is all related to the body of the Khan, if the Khan is in good health, what is the difference between this and the sky falling, the minister also asked the Khan to leave the court as soon as possible, so as to be the right thing to hear and hear." ”

Yue Tuo then said: "If the Khan King is worried about the failure of this expedition, the minister thinks that it is not necessary. When King Khan planned this expedition, didn't he say a long time ago that this time we were just exploring the reality of Ning Jinming's army?

Now that the reality of the Ningjin Ming Army is real, we finally have some understanding, although the Ming Army has made some improvements in the past two years, it has not grown to the extent that it cannot be dealt with.

As for the matter of Yiju, it was purely accidental. If it weren't for Du Du's rebellion and the incompetence of the Karaqin Ministry, how could Da Beile and Haoge fall headlong into the trap of the Ming Emperor, so that Du Du could take advantage of it..."

Huang Taiji waved his hand, interrupted Yue Tuo's words and said, "The reason why I haven't been to the court is not for this. On the battlefield, how can there be a hundred victories, even if the father sweats out to hunt, there is a time to return empty-handed. ”

Without waiting for Yue Tuo and Zilharang to ask, Huang Taiji walked to the table in the middle of the room, which was covered by a white cloth, and lifted the white cloth. He said to the two of them, "You all come over and take a look, do you recognize what this is?" ”

Yue Tuo recognized it at the first glance when he saw the things on the table, it was just a sand table. As a leading general, he is no stranger to auxiliary command and combat tools such as maps and sand tables.

But when he saw it a second time, his heart chuckled. Jierharang, who was standing next to him, couldn't help but admire: "What a fine sand table, it is simply lifelike, and it has figured out the terrain of our eastern Liaoning, Shenyang, Liaoyang, Beizhen, Jinzhou, Changbai Mountain, Yiwulu Mountain, Liaoshui... I don't know if it's the craftsman's handiwork, and the Khan King should reward him heavily. ”

Just when Yue Tuo and Zierharang were amazed, Huang Taiji took out a ruler from the edge of the platform, gestured on the sand table and said, "You probably don't know that there are still some wonderful things about this sand table. Each square of the ruler in my hand represents 2 miles of land on the sand table. So, just by looking at this sand table, we can know the distance of the place, and we don't have to calculate the mileage separately. ”

Yue Tuo, who originally thought that this sand table was already quite good, said even more movingly at this moment: "If this is the case, wouldn't those young people who don't know geography be able to learn by looking at this sand table without running around?" This is a militaristic weapon used to teach young people. Is it because of this that the Khan is closed? ”

When Yue Tuozheng felt that he seemed to have found a reason, Huang Taiji shook his head and said, "I didn't go out because of this, do you know the origin of this sand table?" ”

Yue Tuo and Zilharang glanced at each other, and found that the other party was at a loss, so they both said to Huang Taiji: "The ministers don't know, and I ask the king of Khan to show me." ”

Huang Taiji looked at the sand table and sighed and said, "It was made by Tuna." ”

Zilharang was still thinking about who Tuna was, and Yue Tuo had already said: "Ao, it turns out that Tuna came back from the Ming Kingdom to send intelligence, I didn't expect him to have such a skill, this is to congratulate the Khan King on winning people." ”

Huang Taiji said with no joy on his face: "He didn't have this ability before, he learned it from that military academy."

I originally thought that a child who grew up in the palace and had never been on the battlefield, even if he ran an officer school, was probably a villain trick for those who wanted to flatter the emperor, at most he would teach some things like the martial arts scriptures of mounted archery.

Father Khan once said that the ability to march and fight requires a knife and a gun to kill generals on the battlefield, and sitting in a room and reading a few books will not make a general.

Now look at this tuna, I don't think my father Khan's words are all right. ”

Yue Tuo looked at this sand table in disbelief, but he quickly returned to normal and said: "Being able to make such a sand table does not mean that they can go into battle and fight, it can only be said that their craftsmen are good, is the King Khan too worried?" ”

Zilharang did not agree with Yue Tuo's words, but he felt that this was not the time to express his opinion, so he simply chose to remain silent.

Huang Taiji said without looking back: "According to Tuna, this military academy is divided into five sections: infantry, cavalry, logistics, staff officers, and artillery.

The first thing students need to learn after entering the school is literacy and mathematics, and students in each subject are required to learn the most basic picture reading and drawing. In other words, there are soldiers who have been on the battlefield in this military academy.

With the experience they gained on the battlefield, and such teaching, do you still think that this is a trivial matter? ”

Yue Tuo and Zilharang were speechless for a moment, and if Eight Banners wanted to train young generals, they could only continue to use war to hone them. But after all, people will die on the battlefield, and for every outstanding talent cultivated, at least two or three people died in obscurity on the battlefield.

Since the Mandate of Heaven Khan raised his army, although there have been many famous generals among the Jurchens, the population of the Jurchens in Jianzhou has not increased significantly, and it is completely dependent on the annexation of those savage Jurchens to maintain the population consumption on the battlefield.

As the number of savage Jurchen tribes decreased, this method of population filling would soon become untenable. At that time, how to ensure that the quality of the Eight Banners generals did not decline became a difficult problem.

The reason why the Jurchens were able to defeat the Ming people repeatedly was because they relied on a small but elite number of troops and the excellent command of generals with rich experience in actual combat. The reason why the Ming people failed, in addition to the poor training of the army, was that those Ming generals rarely had actual combat training. Holding the city and being beaten passively is not the same thing as commanding a large army to fight in the field after all.

If the Ming army can continuously train qualified generals in this way, then it will be a disaster for Houjin.