In the sixth year of Hongxi, after Zhu Gaoxu returned from Tai O, he arranged to attack the Sulu State (Philippines), and only mobilized 20,000 soldiers and horses, and in less than a year, he completely attacked the Sulu State.

The Ming army was extremely ruthless, and the rebels were killed, and the remaining adults were surrounded to plant sugar cane, and the children were educated by the Ming army, and soon conquered the entire Sulu country.

The battle lasted for about ten months, gained hundreds of thousands of people, and plundered nearly 10 million riches.

In the seventh year of Hongxi, the Ming army, which had rested for a while, attacked the Boni country again, and it was easier to break through it in half a year.

At this point, in the entire South Asian region, except for Majapahit (Java), all the countries of another time and space were included in the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

In the eighth year of Hongxi, Zhu Gaoxu transferred the commanders of various prefectures to reform the military system.

At this time, after several years of conscription and reduction, the entire Daming Naval and Land Division had dropped to less than two million.

The land area of the Ming Dynasty has more than doubled, but the number of soldiers and horses has greatly decreased.

The imperial court left only ten guards and more than 50,000 soldiers and horses in most provinces and regions.

For example, in Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Jiangxi, Huguang, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hebei, and Jiangnan, among the 15 provinces, except for Hebei and Shaanxi, there are 20 guards and more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, and the rest of the provinces have more than 50,000 soldiers and horses, with a total of 850,000 horses and horses in 15 provinces.

Later, Gansu, Liaodong, Daning, Nuergan, Jiaozhi, Saigon, Malacca, Daao, Dayuan, among the nine places, Liaodong had 100,000 soldiers and horses, and the rest each had 50,000 soldiers and horses.

These nine places have a total of 500,000 soldiers and horses.

In addition, the newly conquered Sulu State and the Boni State established Nanyang Province, with a total of about 50,000 soldiers and horses, each with five guards.

So far, the Daming Buqi has been reduced to 1.45 million, far lower than the 2.2 million in Yongle.

In addition to the foot cavalry, Daming also has eight water divisions.

Daming originally had Zhejiang Sailors, Fujian Sailors, Jiangnan Sailors, Guangdong Sailors, Jiaozhi Sailors, Saigon Sailors, Malacca Sailors, and now Nanyang Sailors, a total of eight sailors.

Each water division has about five guards, more than 25,000 people, and a total of 200,000 eight water divisions.

In the ninth year of the entire Ming Dynasty to Hongxi, a total of 1.65 million people were in the land and water departments.

At this time, Daming's territory is more than twice as large as Yongle, and there seem to be fewer soldiers and horses, will it be insufficient?

Of course not, because in the past eight years, many soldiers have been retired, and they can be called up for the army at any time during the war, and now the Ming army can be retired after five years, and the army will always be young and strong, and it can be said that the overall combat effectiveness has always been maintained at the highest level.

Although it is only 1.65 million troops, it is many times stronger than the more than 2 million in Yongle.

In the ninth year of Hongxi (1415), July.

Emperor Zhu Gaoxu had just returned from Sichuan last month, and he had not stayed in the imperial city for two days, and then went to the western suburbs of Beijing.

The cabinet has been operating normally for several years, the longest time the emperor, he has not been in the imperial city for nearly a year, and he is actually running as before, and now the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty are very happy, it doesn't matter if there is an emperor or not.

I guess some people are still thinking, it's better to never have an emperor, emperor, you go out to play every day, don't come back.

The western suburbs were originally a warehouse of the Ministry of Industry, and later rebuilt into the Firearms Bureau of the Science and Technology Department of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

On this day, the Firearms Bureau test-fired a new firearm, and Zhu Gaoxu came to the scene with some military generals with great interest.

Many of the generals were acquaintances, and after several years of transfer, most of the main and important generals returned to Beijing.

Important generals such as Qu Neng, Zhang Fu, Sheng Yong, and Ping'an have all returned to Beijing, and some people have heard the rumors, and the emperor seems to want to do something big again.

The army of the Ming Dynasty is already so strong, the emperor is going to make trouble, and the generals who have been silent for two people have a faint feeling that there is another war.

Today, there are many veterans of martyrdom and rebellion, everyone is watching from the side, and the emperor seems to be talking to Yang Yuanfeng of the Firearms Bureau.

After a while, the emperor returned in high spirits, and then beckoned everyone to come over, and the emperor took the lead to the shooting range.

As soon as the generals arrived, several teams of sergeants ran over in the distance, holding weapons in their hands that everyone had never seen before, Sheng Yong's eyes were sharp, and he immediately shouted: "Fire gun? ”

During the Jingjing, the southern army often used firearms, but obviously, the firearms that Hong Xi had just made were different from the ones they had seen.

This fire gun is already very similar to the Lu Mi gun in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

Under the guidance of Zhu Gaoxu, the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty directly jumped over the arquebus and created a flintlock pistol.

The principle of arquebuses and flintlock pistols is similar, as long as there is a reminder from someone who knows a little and the technology is in place, it is easy to skip directly.

Da Ming is now in place in one step and has entered the point of flintlock pistol.

"Come on." The emperor called everyone to his side, and took a pole in his own hand, and signaled to everyone: "This is my Ming 15-style flintlock pistol, the gun weighs nine catties, the gun is one hundred and thirty-five centimeters long, the effective armor-piercing range is sixty steps, and the maximum range can be one hundred and twenty steps." ”

The generals were in an uproar, and many people couldn't believe it.

But there were also objections, and Ping'an's big mouth immediately said: "Isn't this thing very slow?" It's useless after a shot? When you encounter cavalry, you will be miserable. ”

At that time, the range of the Ming army's firearms was only within twenty or thirty paces, and usually there was no chance to hit a second shot after one shot.

At that time, Sheng Yong was the best at using it in the Ming army, and he also achieved results, although he was still not generally recognized by the Ming army.

Although the generals didn't dare to say anything, they all looked at Ping An and should feel that Ping An was right.

The combat effectiveness of the Ming army is almost invincible, and you can retire after five years as a soldier, but you don't have to retire, and many people don't retire until ten years.

Ten years of training, on the horse can ride and shoot, dismounted can be hand-to-hand combat, almost is the peak of Mongolia and the peak of the gold combination.

Not to mention Asia, the whole world is invincible, not to mention the overwhelming artillery.

So in the eyes of the generals, this firearm is useless.

The emperor was not angry, and said with a smile: "This flintlock pistol is not the same as a firecracker, a skilled archer can shoot ten rounds per quarter of an hour, although the ignition rate is only about seventy percent now, but if there are more of them, the power is still quite large." ”

Someone immediately tacitly calculated, ten rounds in a quarter of an hour, and an average of nearly a hundred breaths for one shot.

Even if the maximum range is one hundred and twenty paces, after the opposing cavalry enters, you shoot a shot, and after a hundred breaths, the cavalry will already be in front of you.

"Or can you only do one shot?" Someone wondered.

"It depends on how you fight?" Zhu Gaoxu laughed, and then waved his hand: "As long as the method is done properly, it will be difficult for cavalry to get close in the future." ”

"Ready." Song Meng was the first to shout on the side.

In a hurry, the sergeants at the scene lined up with guns one after another, and quickly formed five horizontal formations.

Zhu Gaoxu's flintlock pistol, the time for the three-stage shot was not enough, but the five-stage shot was almost just right.

Everyone was puzzled, but they all looked at it one by one, everyone trusted the emperor very much, but they still didn't understand, why the cavalry couldn't get close in the future? You can shoot ten rounds in a quarter of an hour, is it possible that the opposing cavalry is crawling over?

(End of chapter)