Pingluan Road City is the old city built in the Tang Dynasty, which was originally the seat of the Lulong Festival Envoy, and in the Liaojin and Jin dynasties, it was continuously expanded and strengthened because of the geographical location connecting the inside and outside of the Guan. In terms of area alone, it is not inferior to many prosperous cities in the Southern Song Dynasty. But it was much more empty, and there were large areas of wasteland in the city, which seemed to be vast and sparsely populated.

But these wastelands are now filled with shacks and families of refugees. There were no pedestrians on the road, and most of the houses along the street were not open, and the doors were closed, so you could see that the people in the city were still quite flustered.

Chen Dexing did not stay in Guo Kan's official office, but chose a Buddhist temple as his temporary residence. The temples in the north are much simpler than in the south, with mostly loess rammed walls, painted red or yellow after being plastered, and the roofs are mostly thatched, and only the Daxiong Treasure Hall has tiles.

When Chen Dexing arrived, the monks and nuns in the temple had disappeared, and several Tiandao Taoists who accompanied the army were directing the people to carry out a simple renovation - turning the temple into a Tiandao Taoist temple!

Although the Northern Ming Dynasty did not plan to eliminate the two sects of Buddhism and Taoism, they would still change some temples into Tiandao Taoist temples to ensure that every county town would have a Tiandao temple.

In addition, the Northern Ming Dynasty also strongly opposes the celibacy of monks and non-marriage, and strictly prohibits any sect that prohibits monks from marrying and having children - in a country with a population of only more than 700,000, not only is it a crime to be celibate, but even late marriages and commoners under the age of thirty-five, serf women and widows are not allowed!

Chen Dexing's festival hall was set up in the original Daxiong Treasure Hall, and the Buddha statues were invited away. A thick feast was spread on the ground, and two rows of tables were placed on both sides of the main hall, and a map table made up of several square tables was placed in the middle. Directly opposite the gate, at the innermost point, there is a screen with a map of the world drawn on it. The desk and chair used by Chen Dexing are in front of the desk.

"Guo Kan." Chen Dexing is now sitting upright behind the desk. looked at a black-faced strong man standing in front of him with an honest face, it was Guo Daxia's original traitor Guo Kan. Looks honest. However, I don't know how much more than the Guo Jing written by Jin Daxia, I can't take it lightly!

"The minister is here." Guo Kan responded neither humbly nor arrogantly.

"Why are there so many refugees in Pingluan City?" Chen Dexing did not have a harrier tanning to reduce neon, and the starling sheath was obedient

"It was the minister who summoned them into the city."

"Why?"

"It's an order from the Yanyun Dawanhu Mansion," Guo Kan said, "The Dawanhu Mansion ordered the ministers to gather at least 5,000 people from more than 5,000 households, plus 20,000 stone of grain, and send them to Yanjing." However, before the ministers could carry it out, the king's soldiers arrived. So these people crowded into Pingluan City. ”

"What? Mobilize the people to Yanjing!? Zhang Shijie, who accompanied Chen Dexing to meet Guo Kan, blurted out, "Why do you want to mobilize so many people to Yanjing?" ”

"I don't know." Guo Kan replied.

Chen Dexing snorted coldly: "The Mongols must not have any good intentions!" ”

Guo Kan said with a smile: "The Mongols play these tricks, it only shows that they can't beat us." It depends on intrigue to win. However, the soldiers are not strong enough, and any strategy is useless. ”

"The Mongols are not strong enough?" Chen Dexing looked at Guo Kan.

"It used to be strong enough, but now it's enough to choke."

Guo Kan smiled: "Now that there are cannons, steel knives, and steel armor, the Mongols' set is outdated." But...... With all due respect, although the Ming army now has steel armor, it is not used in the right place. Steel armor is a militaristic weapon, which should be used for the edge of the army, like the edge of a knife. Instead of guarding the commander, hidden behind the three armies.

If the king gives his ministers 2,000 pairs of steel armor. Weichen's 3,000 foot soldiers can break 10,000 Mongolian cowardice. If you build a few more of these elite troops, supplemented by artillery, light cavalry and ordinary foot soldiers, you will have a Mongol army of 200,000, and there is nothing that cannot be broken. ”

"The Lone King's Guards Division is also going into battle. They are all steel-armored heavy riders. Chen Dexing said lightly.

Chen Dexing's concept of plate armor came from European knights and cuirassiers, so he also wanted to equip a heavy armored cavalry according to the gourd painting.

But Guo Kan shook his head again and again, and said, "I think." Heavy cavalry is not as good as heavy infantry after all, if it is for the convenience of movement. You can march on horseback and dismount to fight on foot. The minister has already tried through the steel armor sent by the king. It is indeed light and sturdy, far better than any willow leaf armor and fish scale armor. Infantry wearing such armor is not only convenient to move, but also not afraid of bows and crossbows. If you use spears, swords and shields to form a phalanx, you can ride with foot. ”

Walker riding?

Chen Dexing looked at Guo Kan suspiciously. Of course, the Northern Ming Army had the method of infantry and cavalry, but it did not rely on steel-armored infantry, but relied on artillery, crossbows, spears and light cavalry to cooperate with each other. Relying solely on the infantry phalanx and riding on foot still sounds a bit unreliable.

However, it was Guo Kan who put forward this opinion. If you use the experience of the battle array, I am afraid that no one in the Northern Ming Army can compare with Guo Kan. And with the familiarity with the Mongol cavalry, no one can come out of Guo Kan's right.

"Guo Qing, how do you plan to use the steel-armored infantry?" Chen Dexing thought about it and asked.

Guo Kan said seriously: "The minister's idea is to use the three of pikemen, sword and shield hands, and archers to work together to form an army. Among them, the spearmen and sword and shield bearers all wear steel armor. Two thousand pikemen, three hundred sword and shield men, and six hundred archers. The three formed a phalanx, with spears as the city, swords and shields as protection, and bows and arrows to shoot from afar. On the battlefield, the array of spears will not disperse, no matter whether they advance or retreat, they will move in formation. Swords and shields can be used flexibly, either to protect archers, to cover the flanks of pikes, or to engage enemy foot soldiers in hand-to-hand combat. ”

In fact, what Guo Kan proposed was the phalanx tactic, and the current Northern Ming Army is also evolving in this direction - the evolution of tactics is often accompanied by the improvement of weapons and equipment and the change of combat terrain. Moreover, there will be a gradual process.

The earliest tactics of the Northern Ming Army were horizontal formations/columns, which were inherited from the Perak Water Army. Because the terrain in which the Perak Navy fought at that time was relatively rugged and complicated, it was unlikely to encounter attacks from powerful cavalry. Therefore, the tactics of the horizontal formation/column can not only develop firepower, but also be more flexible.

And now that the Ming army has entered the plains and grasslands, facing the powerful Mongolian cavalry, it is natural to change tactics and introduce phalanxes.

The question now is only how to arrange the phalanx, how to maneuver, and how to mix and coordinate the various arms.

In this regard, the inexperienced staff officers of the Ming army were naturally inferior to Guo Kan, who had been in battle for a long time.

Chen Dexing pondered for a moment and said, "There are no 2,000 pairs of steel armor lone kings, and you will be given 1,200 pairs at most in a month...... As for this phalanx tactic, let's try it out now in your brigade of soldiers. ”

Guo Kan thought for a while, nodded and said: "Okay, 1,200 pairs are enough, the sword and shield bearers are all equipped with steel armor, the pikemen are equipped with 900 pairs of steel armor, 1,200 pairs of leather armor, and the archers have no armor." However, the king, you still have to give your ministers a few cannons and hundreds of horses of the Eight Banners. ”

"Okay, that's it!" Chen Dexing didn't know that the phalanx tactics proposed by Guo Kan were very close to the Spanish phalanx in history. Just replace the archers with musketeers, and the sword and shield players with halberders, and you're in a proper Spanish phalanx!

But then again, it doesn't make much sense to swap the crossbowman for an arquebus. Because the early arquebuses had a short effective range, they were mainly used against enemies wearing plate armor - because of the advances in European metallurgy in the 15th and 16th centuries, bows and arrows were no longer sufficient to deal with infantry wearing simple plate armor. That's why arquebuses will come to the stage of history.

For the current Northern Ming Army, it is really of little significance to develop arquebuses with an effective range that is inferior to bows and arrows.

……

"King, there is something unclear about the lower officials, I don't know if I should ask?"

"Just ask." The prince of the last brother unfolded Kublai Khan's handwritten letter and looked down, and said to Liu Xiaoyuan, who came to deliver the letter.

"I don't know why the king wants to let so many people enter Yanjing City?"

"Ah, this is ......," Brother Mo shook his head, "This is not the meaning of the Lone King, it is the order of the Great Khan. ”

"Great Khan?" Liu Xiaoyuan was stunned for a moment, then thought of something, and asked in a low voice, "Does the Great Khan want the king to transport all the grain and grass from Yanjing to Juyong Pass?" ”

Brother Mo was stunned for a moment, raised his head and glared at Liu Xiaoyuan, "Who told you about this?" ”

Liu Xiaoyuan smiled: "It was guessed by the lower officials...... The Great Khan first concentrated the people and Yanjing, then transported the grain and grass to Juyong, and finally abandoned Yanjing, so that hundreds of thousands of people could eat poor Chen Dexing, right? ”

Brother Mo snorted: "What the Great Khan wants to do, I and other courtiers can't hear about it, but if there is a will, just do it!" Liu Chengzhi, you know a lot, but you can't talk nonsense! If you break the matter of the Great Khan, I'm afraid you can't afford to eat it! ”

"The lower official understands that the lower official will not say it to others." Liu Xiaoyuan's face was colorless, but his thoughts were churning in his heart. Kublai Khan is worthy of a generation of heroes, and he really does everything to fight a war!

This is to take the hundreds of thousands of Han people in Yanjing City as hostages - if Chen Dexing wants to distribute his military rations to the people, then it won't be long before these hundreds of thousands of mouths can eat up the military rations of the Northern Ming Army!

If Chen Dexing was ruthless in letting hundreds of thousands of people starve to death, not to mention losing the hearts of the people of Yandi, the loss of hundreds of thousands of Han people alone would greatly reduce the benefits obtained by the Northern Ming Dynasty from occupying Yanyun.

At this time, Brother Mo picked up the pen and wrote something on a raft, and casually instructed Liu Xiaoyuan: "Liu Chengzhi, you go back this time, don't go to Juyong Pass, go to Yizhou, go out of Feihukou, and take a detour to Jining to wait for the Great Khan." ”

"Don't go through the mediocrity pass?" Liu Xiaoyuan's eyes rolled, and he seemed to think of something again. "What does the king mean...... Want to avoid the four kings of the host country? ”

Brother Mo glanced at Liu Xiaoyuan and sneered: "It's smart to be smart...... You're just going to avoid the hosts! The Lone King will send someone to escort him, and he will leave tomorrow! As for today, you will stay in the Lonely King's Mansion and will not leave half a step! (To be continued......)