(New books for collections, recommended votes, please, please!) Your attention is the motivation for my writing, thank you! ）

"Oh, it's back! So fast? "Miao Quanchen and Wang Shishan set off for Batavia, and it took less than 50 days before and after, and there were more than 15 merchant ships of the Kunpeng caravan together, even if they sold all the goods, it would take a month to return to Fuzhou so quickly.

"Invite them over!" Geng Jingzhong hurriedly commanded. No matter what the outcome of the matter is, it is still necessary to face it. Geng Jingzhong expelled the distracting thoughts in his head, exhaled lightly, sat up straight, took a sip of tea, and waited for the two of them.

"Subordinates see the prince!" As soon as Miao Quanchen and Wang Shishan entered the hall, they saluted Geng Jingzhong.

"Uncle Miao and Uncle Miao are both old people in the house, there is no need to be like this, please sit down and watch the tea!" Geng Jingzhong waved his hand and said, and at the same time motioned for his subordinates to serve tea. Looking at the expressions on the faces of the two, it doesn't look like they have encountered a setback, could it be that things have been done in such a short time? "Look at the appearance of Uncle Miao and Uncle Miao, the trip to Batavia"

"Thanks to the blessing of the prince, we are fortunate not to be dishonored!" Miao Quanchen had just sat down and heard Geng Jingzhong's question, so he immediately stood up and replied.

"Oh!" Geng Jingzhong was overjoyed, and finally heard the good news again after more than a month. "Sit down and say, what's going on?"

At that moment, Miao Quanchen did not reserve and informed Geng Jingzhong of the entire agreement they had reached with Nescas, including the detailed numbers. "The details were like this, the Dutch had no intention of avenging the Spaniards. There is no intention to go against our Ponytail Army. According to subordinates, you can inquire. The Netherlands and Spain are also feuding, and the relationship is not good at all, so it would be very good not to pinch each other. When the subordinates returned, the Kunpeng caravan of fifteen large ships and thirty Dutch merchant ships loaded 3,000 Dutch war horses in advance and arrived on Luzon Island, and then we returned on a sea ship alone. ”

"This, uncle, didn't I say you, Uncle Miao doesn't understand, don't you understand? You sail on the sea as a sea-going ship. In case there is nothing bad cuò, what a strict zhòng thing it is! You will never be allowed to do such a dangerous thing in the future. Geng Jingzhong said unhappily, he is indeed a little afraid, the sea is the most unpredictable, a sea ship sailing, the danger will be greatly increased, and there is no one to ask for help if something happens.

Wang Shishan was robbed of Geng Jingzhong like this, and his face was really a little unbearable, but if he thought about it, it was indeed his own negligence and his own anxiety. Think about it from the other side. Geng Jingzhong is also concerned about him, no! "Yes, my subordinates know their mistakes!"

"I didn't mean to blame my uncle. Just be sure to pay attention to these next time. Geng Jingzhong waved his hand and said. Then a smile appeared on his face again: "I really didn't expect that the Dutch actually bred so many horses in India, it's really a big deal, our business is too cost-effective!" plus the freight, it will be allocated to fifty big silver dollars for a horse, although this is more expensive than buying from Wu Sangui, but it is much more secure! ”

"Also, Uncle Miao, last time you went to the UK, there should have been a few people over there, right? Remember the task they were responsible for? Geng Jingzhong asked with a slight tilt of his head.

Miao Quanchen's eyelids closed, and his head was running rapidly. "Back to the prince, he left a part of the manpower, and their main task is to make friends with the British nobles, and at the same time to find out the intelligence of the British Netherlands, Spain and France, especially to pay close attention to the movements of the British and Dutch. Lord Wang, you said that Britain and the Netherlands will start a war again in recent years, and the manpower left behind is to find out this information! ”

"Well, they've worked hard!" Geng Jingzhong nodded appreciatively, "If you go thousands of miles to the ocean to carry out a mission, it is likely that you will never come back!" Uncle Miao, when I look back, remember to take more care of their family, and when I return from completing the task, I will personally hang a medal on them! ”

"The subordinates thanked the prince on their behalf! Did the prince think of something else that he wanted them to do at the moment? Miao Quanchen frowned slightly, and then said.

"In the near future, I will send another group of people to Europe to carefully examine the history of European countries, especially the movements and political changes of European countries in the last hundred years, and so on, just like this time, if we could have known earlier that the relations between Spain and the Netherlands were already tense, we might not have had to make so much effort to bring the British in the first place. But now it's better to participate in the East alone, let them fight with the Dutch, let's just watch the play on the sidelines. We are also wrong, there are more British here, and the Spaniards should not dare to come over again! Speaking of which, Geng Jingzhong really feels that the world is impermanent, which is described by an old saying, it should be "Saiong loses his horse and knows whether he is blessed!" ”

"In terms of manpower, it's still up to you, Uncle Miao, you've been to Europe once, you should know what kind of person is suitable for this important task. But this time you don't have to go anymore, these things are not difficult, presumably there is no problem with the old ones you pick out to do these things well. ”

"Okay lord!" Miao Quanchen nodded and should come down.

"Uncle!" Geng Jingzhong turned his head to Wang Shishan and said.

Wang Shishan had been quietly listening to Geng Jingzhong and Miao Quanchen talking, and suddenly heard Geng Jingzhong calling himself, and immediately sat up straight. "In!" Although he is Geng Jingzhong's brother-in-law, Wang Shishan is really a little afraid of this nephew, he didn't feel it before, but in recent years, his eldest nephew has become more and more majestic, more powerful than his old man, so that he is a little nervous every time he faces it!

"You'll have to be responsible for transporting the horses next! For more than a year, the imperial court has been staring at our Fujian, and the number of merchant ships in the Kunpeng caravan has not increased, and this time it is a matter of importance, and a few ships must be allocated to speed up the transportation of horses. Let's add five more, plus the fifteen you went to Batavia last time, and make twenty of them, and it will not be a problem to bring back three thousand horses from India at once. ”

"Lord Wang, the East Indies is not our territory, so should we let the navy send a fleet to escort it?" Wang Shishan asked.

"Of course! The East Indies were not very far from Luzon, but it was under the jurisdiction of the Dutch, and there were still many pirates there. Let's go once. may have been shocked by the reputation of our Mawei Navy. But if you keep transporting goods back and forth, it's hard to guarantee that they won't take risks, those guys are outlaws, don't worry, we will go and clean them up sooner or later! As for the escort, I will tell Wang Zhenbang that the navy stationed on Luzon Island should not move, they also have a mission. Send a new detachment over, but we won't be able to get the ships to help transport the cargo this time, and we'll make the Dutch laugh to death!" ”

"Huh!" Seeing Geng Jingzhong smile, Wang Shishan was also in a happy mood, although he had to get rid of the caravan for a while, but compared to this mission, it was more important to transport horses. The Dutch were far stronger in the East Indies than the Spaniards, and nearly 100,000 horses were slowly bred from the original hundreds, and 30,000 were to be brought back this time. That's enough time for them to work for about three months.

"It's just our own caravan transportation, and the speed is slow. I think the Dutch must have had a lot of caravans. I wonder if it will be difficult to hire their merchant ships to help with transportation? Geng Jingzhong asked out loud.

"Lord Wang, those Dutch merchants heard that they could come to our Fujian to build a merchant hall and open a factory in our place, one by one they don't know what to do, this time we can transport back five thousand war horses to Luzon in such a short time, and half of the credit has to be attributed to the Dutch merchant ships. In the future, we can still hire them to help transport them together, according to the number of 5,000 horses transported at a time, it only takes six times to transport them all, and the time should only be three months! Wang Shishan replied with a smile.

"That's the best! They want to open a business hall and build a factory here, so they have to help us and listen to our arrangements. Besides, it takes time for them to build a merchant house and a factory, and it will cost them three months to help us transport horses, no matter how cost-effective they are! ”

"Well, we didn't use their ships for nothing. But the prince, these 30,000 horses are also a lot of silver, plus the cost of hiring Dutch merchant ships, this must not be nearly two million taels of silver, this "Wang Shishan in his heart dozens of days ago calculated the cost of purchasing military horses, just a simple calculation scared him a lot, sure enough, the army is the most money-burning, a horse can be used for seven or eight years, if it is really like the prince said, back to form a cavalry of 10,000 people, people eat horses and chew plus cavalry equipment, on average, it will cost almost a million taels every year. Until this moment, he still wanted to say to Geng Jingzhong, let's form a part less!

Geng Jingzhong looked at Wang Shishan's appearance of wanting to speak and stopped, thinking that he was worried about the matter of silver, so he waved his hand and said: "Uncle is not worried about the matter of silver, what we don't lack now is silver." We took Luzon Island, and there was a lot of silver money seized, although most of it was shipped back as trophies, but Brother Li still left some left, and how much needed to buy horses this time was withdrawn from there, if Brother Li didn't have it, he would send someone to ask me for it! ”

"Okay! The subordinates must complete the task in accordance with the law! Geng Jingzhong had already said this, and Wang Shishan had no choice but to do so. It's just that he has never spent money so lavishly, and he always feels a little unaccustomed. The Kunpeng caravan he is in charge of, every time he buys and ships goods, a large amount of silver comes in the account back and forth, which is like now, it is going to go out with a large amount of silver, and there will be no return at all.

"That's it, the matter will be handed over to you, uncle! Hey, I don't dare to see my aunt and cousin when I always let you run around like this! Geng Jingzhong said with some emotion, although his brother-in-law is not too outstanding in ability, and there are people in the ocean trading company who are more capable than him, but after all, this is his own uncle, and the trading company still has to be in the hands of his own family to be safe. But Wang Shishan is less than fifty years old, and he has been running around in the past few years, and he is getting older than before.

Wang Shishan's heart was hot, his eldest nephew still knew that he felt sorry for his uncle, no matter how majestic he was, after all, he was still his blood relative, this time he was sensational, and his tears almost fell! "Lord Zhong! It's my duty! ”

"After my brother-in-law at home, you still call me Brother Zhong'er, you always called me that when I was a child. We haven't been close for a long time, and the family is divided! Uncle Miao, you too, no matter what kind of prince or prince you have, you can just call me Brother Zhong at home! Geng Jingzhong said with a smile.

"Hey!" Wang Shishan responded with joy, at this moment he really felt that Geng Jingzhong was different from him.

Miao Quanchen doesn't think so, he is close to the prince. It can't compare to Wang Shishan and Geng Jingzhong, who are uncles and nephews. He can only be regarded as an outsider. Or a subordinate or a servant, anyway, he sold his life to Geng Jingzhong's son Geng Jimao decades ago. At this moment, the prince is polite, he can't take it too seriously!

In the mountains ten kilometers north of Fuzhou City, Houlong Village, next to Yulan Creek, a branch of Pandu Creek, has now become a secret training base for the Mawei Marine Army. According to Geng Jingzhong's previous report to the imperial court, most of Geng's army was restructured into the Mawei Navy, and a small part of the army was retained. The number of marines in the Mawei barracks has never exceeded 5,000, and the rest are scattered on various island military bases. This time the cavalry was trained. Of course, you have to pick a better place.

There was a lack of fresh water on the island, and the horses needed forage was a problem, so the horses could not be allowed to eat seaweed. Choosing to choose, Bai Xianzhong chose the place of Houlong Village, which is surrounded by mountains, and a narrow open space about two kilometers long and three hundred meters wide in the middle can just be used as a cavalry training ground, not to mention that there is plenty of fresh water here, not far from Fuzhou, and it is convenient to transport forage. Among the high-ranking generals of the entire Mawei Army, it was impossible for Zeng Yangxing and other generals to come out alone to train cavalry. The subordinate staff are not considered admirals. In the Marine Army, only Bai Xianzhong and Jiang Yuanxun were veterans of Liaodong and were proficient in equestrianism, and the cavalry in the Geng family army was originally led by them. Among the Han cavalry, that is, Wu Sangui's Guanning Iron Cavalry can be compared with the elite cavalry of the nomads, but Bai Xianzhong and other veterans are also not convinced, as long as there are excellent war horses, plus their excellent soldiers now, they can train a more elite cavalry.

The 5,000 horses exchanged from Wu Sangui's side, after being carefully selected again, selected the 3,000 strongest horses and began to form a special cavalry battalion. There were not many soldiers in the cavalry battalion, and according to the configuration of one man and three horses, it was just a thousand people. However, considering that the cavalry was about to be expanded on a large scale, Geng Jingzhong added another 500 men to the army, and after the training of this group of veterans was almost restored, he sent them to guide the training of new cavalry. These 1,500 people were all selected from the more than 10,000 old soldiers brought by Geng Jiajun from Liaodong, and many of them had not touched a horse for six or seven years, but they were also counted as half of them who grew up on horseback, and as long as they recovered for a period of training, they could basically get back to their previous feelings. Most of them are under forty years old, and this is still the prime of life, so it doesn't matter if the training intensity is higher.

When Geng Jingzhong came to Houlong Village, half of these cavalrymen were wrestling one-on-one. Cavalry also needs to undergo comprehensive training through some projects like infantry, that is, basic training. Wrestling, equivalent to today's wrestling, is one of them, and hand-to-hand fighting, also known as boxing, is like today's sanda, walking, running and jumping with weight; There are various methods such as the use of instrument routines. These training programs have a long history, and are not only a regular activity for soldiers, including cavalry, but also a sports activity for ordinary people in ancient times. These trainings for cavalry warriors are the minimum requirements for enhancing physical strength, endurance, agility, and the use of weapons.

However, there are many differences in the way each branch is trained. Compared with infantry and chariot training, cavalry training has obvious characteristics, and even heavy reforms have been made. Cavalry and chariot crews had to train horses in many disciplines. On the surface, they seem to be the same, but in essence they are very different. According to the function of the horse, the horse used in the chariot belongs to the type of use, and its driving ability is trained, so that its use skills can be used as much as possible. For cavalry, not all horses can be ridden on the battlefield, and they use all passenger horses, and their limbs and body shape are obviously different from those of the pulling horse. Riding the maton guò training so that it can better exploit the potential of the multiplication on the battlefield. On the whole, it is relatively simple and easy to train a chariot horse; Training cavalry horses is more complicated and difficult. Of the 5,000 war horses traded from Wu Sangui, there were only 3,000 that caught Bai Xianzhong's eyes!

For Bai Xianzhong, who is proficient in training cavalry, if you want to use a horse, you must first train the horse. Although Ma Tong is human. But after all, it's a beast. To make it more receptive to the knight's intentions. Make the horse's power a productive exertion. It is necessary to focus on people, and try to communicate the relationship between people and horses, so as to make people and horses embodied. In this regard, it is not easy, and it is quite necessary to carefully and patiently adjust the war horse to make it establish "after-effect behavior". Under normal circumstances, the trainer must maintain a close, peaceful relationship with the warhorse. Even if it is a fierce horse, it should be caressed. To relieve itching, provide them with clean drinking water, add grass and materials, and wash them frequently, so as to relieve their fear and increase the emotions between people and horses. In this regard, the 1,500 veterans who were selected have done very well, they have also been in contact with horses since childhood, how to raise horses, and how to communicate. It can be said that everyone has their own experience!

The domestication process has a great influence factor, and the difficult movements of taming war horses are trained. It is inseparable from the harness, especially the connection, the bridle, and the bridle (network) are interconnected to form a sensitive conduction system. The following is further illustrated by taking the training of war horses to lie down as an example. Pull one side of the slow rope, transmit to the horse, the bit, the horse's gums, and the corners of the mouth to produce an unbearable sense of oppression, force the horse to lie down, after lying down, immediately ease the reins, relieve the pressure of the hip on the mouth corners, gums, and at the same time give praise or rewards to the horse, including food rewards. If the war horse wanted to comply, it could be punished appropriately. So pull one side of the reins -- one of the horse's head is deviated -- compress the corners of the gums and mouth -- lie down and ease them one by one -- the side reins -- lift the pressure on the corners of the gums and mouth -- praise or reward.

The whole process is connected in turn and repeatedly. As a result, the horse's central nervous system establishes a consolidated store of information, known as memory. Horses are not as easy to store information as humans but much more convenient than other domestic animals. With such patience and training, over time, as soon as the knight pulls the reins on one side, the horse immediately lies down. Turning left, turning right, forward, backward, accelerating, slowing down, etc., is achieved through guò harness or the special movements of the warrior, or even language, etc., but it is much easier than training to lie down. War horses, Zhengjia soldiers said: "Kill its ears and eyes, no surprise." Xi its relaxation, close its progress and stop, people and horses go on a blind date, and then you can make it. "As for the deep affection of the war horse for the knight, there are many vivid and typical examples in history, for example, after the death of Guan Gong during the Three Kingdoms period, the red rabbit horse died on a hunger strike without eating or drinking. This kind of emotion is built up over a long period of time. In particular, it is necessary for knights to love their horses with dedication, to be kind to them, and to put more work and patience into them.

In addition to the comprehensive training of warriors, that is, basic training and training of war horses. Fighters were also trained to get on and off their horses and ride on horseback steadily. A good knight, who does not step on the stirrup, leaps and rides; Dismount without stepping on the horse, -- leap down; From horse A to horse B, you don't need to get off horse A and then get on horse B, just jump down to complete the transfer. It is well known that a warrior is far less stable on a horse than on the ground. Once a horse walks or gallops, especially when "crossing the moat, climbing the hills, adventuring obstacles, overwhelming the great Ze, galloping strong enemies, and disturbing the public", he can still sit firmly on the horse, and he can be regarded as a good knight. For this reason, it is quite necessary to master the balance exercise on the horse, otherwise there is a danger of falling off the horse. Some cavalry of the agricultural ethnic groups in the Central Plains who have not undergone strict training, and those who fell off their horses due to nervousness and harm before the battle; It is not uncommon for the horses to fall off their horses due to improper balance during the rapid advance of the war horses, and only a few returned to the stage in the battle, and there were many who fell off their horses because they could not withstand the fierce blows. All these phenomena show that his riding skills are not perfect.

Not only did the cavalry need to ride steadily on a horse that was galloping on a bumpy road, but it also had to move freely on the horse, and practice a set of complex movements, such as shooting arrows from the bow to the left and right in the forward, backward, left and right; Swing your weapon and strike the opponent steadily and accurately; For the enemy's swift slashing stabs, it can safely dodge or shift ....... The above skills should be called "cavalry archery" in a broad sense, which is a necessary skill for cavalry. This alone is much more difficult than the infantry to exercise the bow and fight. Because the infantry is standing on the ground, or half-kneeling, or with their feet open, the bow is drawn accurately, the foundation is stable, it is easy to exert the strength of the whole body, the radiation range is longer, and the accuracy is higher. However, the cavalry is sitting on a horse and aiming and opening the bow, the horse is walking or galloping, the base is in motion, and at the same time, the target may also be in motion.

This is an interactive operation, and the difficulty is twofold; Second, the accuracy of hitting is reduced, so the skill of riding and archery to strike accurately and effectively at the opponent is by no means a one-day achievement, but the result of a long and arduous training under strict instruction. Judging from the current situation, those who can still achieve this point can do this, that is, the Guanning iron cavalry that Wu Sangui has been training, and the elite cavalry of the Eight Banners can do this, well, there are many Mongolian tribes, after all, people are nomads and grew up on horseback. But in the interior, that is, within the Great Wall, the total number of elite cavalry will not exceed 30,000. There are 8,000 iron cavalry in Guanning, and there can be 20,000 cavalry on the side of the imperial court, and the rest of the cavalry is just as average! But what Geng Jingzhong wants is not that ordinary cavalry, he must train real elite cavalry! (To be continued......)

PS: The younger brother has been busy with family affairs recently, and the update is a little unstable, but it has never been interrupted, and the average of 6,000 words per day is still about the same, and I still hope that the brothers will support me a lot, and I am grateful!