Needless to say, how Sanyang cares, Xiucai's rebellion has not been successful for three years, and these people in the cabinet have left Zhu Gaochi, and they really don't have any energy at the moment.

Within a few days, the results of the examination law were transmitted to Beizhili, and those who should be transferred to Nanjing from Beizhili were not only Lu Xiang and Mo Lin, but also a large number of middle and low-level officials.

That's it.

Zhu Gaoxu rode a high-headed horse and led a team of personal soldiers through the streets and alleys to the camp in the west of the city.

The current scale of Beijing City is far from comparable to Jiang Xinghuo's previous life, and even compared with the Qing Dynasty, in terms of population size and city area, it is far behind.

As one of the ruling centers of the Yuan Dynasty, the population of the Yuan Dynasty was originally large.

However, after General Xu Da's Northern Expedition, the Yuan court fled north, taking with them a large number of officials, troops, and civilians, leaving the Ming army with almost an empty city.

After more than 20 years of recuperation, the Hongwu Dynasty recovered a little, but the Battle of Jingjing broke out immediately.

The battle to defend the city of Beiping was very hard, and the local manpower was almost squeezed out with the successive battles, and the streets of Beijing now seemed a little empty.

In fact, the population of Beijing is only about 100,000 now, which is not as large as the number of people in a community in Huilongguan in Beijing in later generations.

Among the 100,000 or so people, most of them are military dependents, and not many civilians have fled.

"How are the people being relocated from Shanxi and Shaanxi?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked casually.

He was twenty-three years old, but he looked much older than his actual age, his skin was much darker than when he was in the south, he had a big beard that was better than his father, and he wore a dark blue military general's robe, with a long sword at his waist, and he looked heroic.

"It has already begun, and it is expected that in the spring of next year, there will be people who will move in one after another, and there will also be people who have fled the war and will move back."

The destruction of the entire north and the Central Plains was far greater than that of the south.

The south is not the main battlefield, and the only losses are the laborers who were captured as civilian husbands and the soldiers who went to the battlefield, and the entire Youyan and even the hinterland of Hebei have all been reduced to the main battlefield, and they are the kind that has been repeatedly sawed, and the whole has become a flesh and blood mill, especially Zhao Zilong's hometown Zhending, which is called a tragedy. The camp of the Zhending battalion has not been changed, but the soldiers inside have changed one stubble after another as if cutting leeks, and the soldiers of the Shanxi Command Department have been exhausted, and even the Shaanxi soldiers have been emptied by a quarter.

It is precisely for this reason that the Qin and Jin feudal domains became bigger after the Battle of Jingjing.

The exercise that Zhu Gaoxu is going to visit today was specially prepared to be used against the Qin and Jin domains.

Today is the day when the guards of Beijing gathered for exercise, and the commanders of all the guards and offices have already led their troops out of the city to participate, along with Xu Huizu, the Duke of Wei, Gu Cheng, the Marquis of Zhenyuan, and Guo Zi, the secretary of the Beijing Branch.

As for the two unlucky bastards of Licheng Hou Shengyong and Ping'an, they are still drinking the northwest wind on behalf of the north.

It was not a good place, with the Jin clan to the south and the Mongol Tatars to the north, and they had very few soldiers and horses, and if anything changed, it would be the result of being sandwiched back and forth.

"Drive!"

Zhu Gaoxu and his entourage galloped on horseback, after passing through the city gate, they came to an empty school field in the south, and the other side also heard the sound of rumbling horses' hooves at this time, only to see a team of knights galloping towards them, led by a burly man, about forty years old, dressed in iron armor, coming down from the horse, like a tiger descending the mountain, it was Xu Huizu, the Duke of Wei.

Far away from the oppressive atmosphere of Nanjing, although there are no cronies and generals around him, Xu Huizu at this time is obviously much more free and easy than when he was in Nanjing.

"The sky is high and the clouds are wide here, and there is a lot of pride between the horses and songs."

"A good man is open-minded since he lives here, and he has stayed in the north for a long time, but he is unwilling to return to Yungui."

At this time, the old general Gu Cheng also rode forward.

Seeing Gu Cheng coming, Zhu Gaoxu, who believed in the reins of the horse and let the war horse pacing, tightened the reins, turned over and dismounted and hugged his fists and said, "Old General Gu!" ”

There was a look of respect on his face, which made him look extremely respectful.

Xu Huizu dismounted early, and at this time he walked a few steps quickly, wanting to help Gu Cheng get off the horse, but Gu Cheng turned over by himself and landed on the ground neatly.

"King Qin and King Jin have been restless lately."

Gu Cheng handed over the horsewhip to the guards, and led the way to the high platform of the school field, which was different from the use of wood in the south, this high platform was simply made of earth and stone.

Xu Huizu didn't dare to accept this, but Zhu Gaoxu had no scruples.

"It's strange to be able to settle down."

If you look at it from the perspective of later generations, then it seems that after the Battle of Jingjing, the original Yan King Zhu Di ascended the throne and became the emperor, he sat firmly in the world.

But in fact, at the end of the first year of Yongle, this is not the case.

The first is that Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen is still missing, although after a series of purges and reforms, the power of Jianwen's former ministers is not as good as before, and the group of people who are most loyal to Emperor Jianwen have been beheaded, but no matter what, Emperor Jianwen is the real orthodox successor to the throne, and his influence still exists.

This so-called influence, of course, does not mean that Emperor Jianwen can still gather troops to resist and regain the treasure, but that if he does not jump out, there will always be people who have nostalgia for the old master, perhaps more dissatisfied with the new dynasty and the new policy, and use this name to gather people's hearts.

If Emperor Jianwen really came out, things would be simpler, and he would just send troops to wipe them out.

But he disappeared!

It's not that Zhu Di didn't send someone to investigate, but the problem is that he still can't find out if he is poor and falls into Huangquan.

In this way, although this influence will gradually disappear over time, and after ten or eight years, it will not be effective, but it will always be disgusting, and most importantly, it will give the vassal king an excuse to oppose Zhu Di.

The most feared thing for Zhu Di is the Qin and Jin feudatories, which each have tens of thousands of brave and warlike veterans.

The two feudal domains of Qin and Jin, in terms of bloodline and legal theory, were closer to the throne than Zhu Di.

Even if Zhu Biao is the heir, it should be the second line of the Zhu family, King Qin, to inherit the throne, and King Qin will not inherit, so it will be the turn of the third King of Jin, if it is according to the normal patriarchal inheritance order, no matter how it is calculated, it will not be the turn of King Yan.

If you don't talk about the law, you just talk about "the king of the strong soldiers and horses", then the matter is also very troublesome.

On this throne, King Yan can sit, but our King Qin and King Jin can't sit down?

It doesn't make sense.

And the strength of the people is much stronger than Zhu Di at the beginning of the Jingjing.

At the beginning of Zhu Di's martyrdom, the three guards were seriously weakened, and they were all transferred out of the fortress, but the Qin and Jin feuds were all in their hands.

The two feudal domains of Qin and Jin, because their three guards are all supernumerary, so the soldiers and horses in their hands add up to forty or fifty thousand, all of them are veterans of a hundred battles, and the territory of the two is connected, once the army is raised, Shaanxi Guanzhong and Shanxi will be connected.

The combination of Guanzhong and Shanxi, is it familiar?

These are the two geographical units that can naturally form the closed kingdom, and they are the foundation of the out-and-out kingship.

Great Qin, Great Sui, and Great Tang Dynasty all achieved the imperial industry with this.

If Qin and Jin really join forces, then they can use Taihang Mountain and Qinling Mountains as city walls, and only hold a few openings such as Tongguan and Jingcheng Road.

Once the Qin and Jin feudal domains completed this separation, they only needed to face Ping'an and Sheng Yong in the north, as well as He Fu in Ningxia and Song Sheng in Gansu, and the northern defense line of the empire was obviously heavy on the east and light on the west, with more troops in Liaodong and Northern Zhili and few troops in the west, so it is likely to form the kind of situation in the Jingnan period, and the troops in these places will not play a big role.

At the time of the Jingjing, the local armies in Shanxi and Liaodong were responsible for flanking and containing, but after the main force was hurt twice, it was basically abolished.

What is the difference between Shanxi and Liaodong at that time and Daibei and Ganning in the future?

These local powerful factions may not really do their best, after all, He Fu, Ping'an, and Sheng Yong were all from the Southern Army camp when they were in Jingjing.

Therefore, if you can't preemptively besiege and control the two feudal domains of Qin and Jin in the fiefdom, and then want to attack Shaanxi and Shaanxi, which are connected, it will be really difficult, and even if you put down the rebellion, you will have to pay a huge price.

Therefore, it is impossible to let go of the Qin and Jin domains in any case, and this completely predictable future is too dangerous.

But the Qin and Jin domains are not stupid, what the court can see, they can also see.

Therefore, in the past year, the correspondence between the Qin and Jin feudal domains has never been interrupted.

The letter written by Zhu Di before, "The Marquis of Jin is lazy jade, there is no queen to ridicule", was only a small earthquake and did not play a substantive role, and now the connection between the Qin and Jin domains is getting closer and closer.

The three of them talked a few more words, and as they talked, the soldiers and horses assembled for the drill were also in their respective positions.

Naturally, it is impossible to really pull out a knife and do a cold weapon exercise.

Generally speaking, the infantry is running in formation, and there are various wooden weapons to fight, as well as wrestling and other shows.

Cavalry is to show horsemanship, as well as cavalry archery.

Now the army under the jurisdiction of the military capital of Beijing is left behind, and it is impossible to say that it is old, weak, sick and disabled, but there is no need to count on how elite it is, and those who can really fight are taken to the south by Zhu Di.

Look at it for a long time, and see a lot of excitement.

Seeing that Gu Cheng was gradually getting a little impatient, Zhu Gaoxu grinned and said, "Old General Gu, you might as well go with me to see something interesting." ”

"Interesting?"

Zhu Gaoxu pulled Gu Cheng to the other side, and Xu Huizu also got up.

Seeing that the main generals had left the stage, the confrontation between the wooden weapons and the full-body armor in the audience became more and more relaxed.

The cavalry lined up on the other side, and Zhu Gaoxu and his entourage marched to the north side of the school field, where a shooting range was set up, but it was a drill for the firearms unit.

"Bang bang bang!"

"Bang bang bang!"

After a volley of firearms, the target fifty paces away looked like it had been hit.

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu and others coming, a jujube red horse ran over, and the man on the horse turned over and dismounted, knelt down on one knee and said: "General Qiyu, the defense effect of the new armor is quite amazing!" ”

Zhu Gaoxu said with satisfaction: "Very good, take us to have a look!" ”

They walked a little further north and came across the target.

It is said that it is a target, but it is not very accurate, to be precise, it is a few pairs of armor.

These armors were Jiang Xinghuo's gift to Zhu Gaoxu.

Seeing that the outer layer of the armor was a little tattered, Xu Huizu was a little puzzled.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't explain, but took a new set of armor from the other side and asked someone to help him change it.

In the era of cold weapons, especially in the Song Liao Jinxia period, as the forging technology of the armor came to its peak, the armor began to become heavier and heavier, such as the Buren armor of the Song Dynasty, which was composed of 1825 armor leaves, and the general weight could reach 58 Song Jin (1 Song Jin is equal to 1.2 city jin) or more, which was the result of the Song Dynasty Emperor's order to prohibit the standard armor to be so heavy at most and not to be added up.

On the real battlefield, in order to complete the armor arms race, stronger than the enemy's protection, usually by increasing the number of armor leaves to improve the protection, the archer after entering the battle armor is 66 Song Jin Well, since ancient times, the archers are more hanging on the wall, and the gunner is 70 Song Jin, but depending on the battlefield situation, the archer armor can be increased to 70 Song Jin in a short time, and the gunner is increased to 88 Song Jin.

This directly led to the fact that the sleeve armor of the Han Dynasty and the Liangdang armor of the Northern and Southern Dynasties period basically did not exist alone, and if a pair of armor wanted to be completely draped, it was almost necessary for someone to assist from the side.

After Zhu Gaoxu put it on, he asked Gu Cheng and Xu Huizu next to him, "How does this armor work?" ”

Gu Cheng looked at the armor, then at Zhu Gaoxu, and praised: "This body is really strong!" The evil of the ancients is nothing more than that. ”

Xu Huizu smiled: "I'm afraid I can compare with the tiger idiot." ”

"Haha!" Zhu Gaoxu raised his head and laughed, "This armor is not heavy, but it is a little tighter." ”

"Come, Wei Guogong, cut me."

Zhu Gaoxu pulled out the waist knife of the soldier next to him and handed it to Xu Huizu.

After Xu Huizu heard this request, he looked a little embarrassed.

I've never heard such a strange request, but what might I do if I really cut Zhu Gaoxu?

It will definitely not be hacked to death, Zhu Gaoxu has rough skin and thick flesh and is still wearing armor, and if he doesn't greet him to a vital place, he won't hack anyone to death.

"Don't worry, I've tried, can you still be stronger than me?"

Zhu Gaoxu smiled: "You just need to cut it and try it, and see if you can break the defense?" ”

Xu Huizu looked at Gu Cheng.

In terms of title, of course, he is one level higher than Gu Cheng, he is a duke, and Gu Cheng is a marquis; In terms of military rank, he is a three-star general, and Gu Cheng is a five-star lieutenant general.

But these things that do not involve real power are of little use in the territory of Beizhili.

Gu Cheng is much older than him, after the "death" of Geng Bingwen, Marquis of Changxing, and the death of Guo Ying, Marquis of Wuding, he is almost the only surviving veteran of the founding of Hongwu.

And Gu Chenggong also works a lot, and he is more trusted by Zhu Di, for Zhu Di, this is the person who can entrust the soldiers and horses of the entire nest with his safety.

Now in the military governor's mansion left behind in Beijing, Gu Cheng is also his top boss.

All in all, Gu Cheng is the biggest here, Gu Cheng doesn't speak, he really doesn't dare to cut.

But at this time, Gu Cheng seemed to be watching the excitement and not thinking it was a big deal, touched the silver beard, and said with a smile: "Cut it." ”

Xu Huizu had nothing to say, only said, "Okay." ”

He took out a long knife, slowly raised it, and pointed it at Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhu Gaoxu stood in place and didn't move, let him cut it, Xu Huizu didn't dare to use great force, only felt that the blade cut down the armor, there must still be some distance from the inside, so he couldn't get an inch, as if he was blocked by something.

"Huh"

"Push harder."

Xu Huizu slashed again, and it was still the same.

"With all your might."

Xu Huizu really didn't believe in evil, and the waist knife in his hand slashed at the armor with all his strength, but the result was still the same, and even the mouth of the waist knife was a little open.

Xu Huizu frowned, he looked at Zhu Gaoxu and said, "What kind of material is this armor made of, no matter how much the knife can't break it." ”

"The nail pieces forged from low-phosphorus steel are also mixed with molybdenum."

Zhu Gaoxu said mysteriously.

He knew that Xu Huizu definitely didn't understand what low-phosphorus steel was, so he continued to boast: "Ordinary armor, it is forged from iron, and there are very few steel armor, and even if there is, it is a semi-pulled steel made by frying steel, which is far from real steel." ”

Xu Huizu and Gu Cheng are very clear about this.

The cost of steel is very high, and even the Great Unification Dynasty can only afford iron armor, not steel armor, in terms of the standard armor of the army.

In this way, it is not surprising that since the armor is made of steel, it has this degree of hardness.

And Zhu Gaoxu's words continued: "And the steel used in this armor is several times stronger than ordinary steel!" It was smelted by my master using a new steelmaking method and special mineral deposits. ”

"How many times stronger?" Gu Cheng was a little unconvinced.

Several times must be Zhu Gaoxu's bragging, but how strong it is, Gu Cheng and Xu Huizu really don't know.

Seeing that the two didn't believe it, Zhu Gaoxu simply asked the soldiers to show them the defensive ability of the armor.

Sure enough, whether it is a bow and arrow, a spear, or an iron bone, it is difficult to cause any damage to this new type of armor, and only by using a giant axe, sledgehammer, and strong crossbow can the obvious effect be seen.

It is indeed stronger than ordinary iron armor.

If that's all it takes, then it seems that it can only be called a strengthened version of the armor, after all, the armor can also defend against bows and spears, and it is also generally effective against heavy blunt weapons and strong crossbows.

"Several times stronger", it seems a bit bragging.

But that's not all.

Zhu Gaoxu clapped his hands and asked people to take out another kind of armor.

"What is this?"

Looking at the armor in front of them, Gu Cheng and Xu Huizu were a little afraid to confirm it.

It looks a bit like cotton armor, but not quite like it.

Different from the more traditional leather armor, iron armor, and paper armor, because cotton entered China and was planted on a large scale relatively late, it was only at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty that cotton armor just began to appear, and after the Mongols perished in the Southern Song Dynasty, cotton began to be planted on a large scale in China after the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty.

Compared with leather armor, iron armor, and paper armor, cotton armor has some advantages, such as simple production process, low cost, and good cold and warm performance, especially suitable for the cold climate in the northern winter, and also has a good resistance effect for firearms in the Yuan Dynasty.

So at that time, two kinds of cotton armor were developed.

A kind of cotton armor is made of cotton pressed layer by layer, it can be called "pure cotton armor", made of cotton and cloth, the structure is the same as the fat cotton jacket, the cloth is wrapped in cotton, and the surface is carefully contained with threads to avoid cotton displacement. This kind of cotton armor must be soaked in water and stepped on, and the tighter the better, so that it is light and easy to use. But also makes it look like a cotton coat.

According to the records of the Ming Dynasty, this kind of cotton armor is "seven catties of cotton, sewn with cloth such as a jacket, the arms are kicked with the feet, and the degree is not fat and swollen, dried and harvested, and the rain is not heavy, the mildew is not rotten, and the gun can not be seriously injured." ”

Another kind of cotton armor is made of cotton, paper, cowhide composite production, generally called "armor", from the popularity of words, and the first kind of cotton armor is not compared, only in the south only a small amount of equipment, see in the middle of the Ming Dynasty Qi Jiguang written "Ji Xiao Xinshu" "today choose its advantage, infantry only have armor, with silk cloth is not equal, if paper, cotton is thin, then the arrow can also enter, regardless of lead, now must be an inch thick. Method: In front of the use of dense silk, can be up to the knee, too long will be inconvenient for the mud, too short can not cover the body".

But no matter what kind of cotton armor, at this juncture in the early Ming Dynasty, it is used with iron armor.

Because cotton armor or armor is a defense layer composed of multiple layers of tough long fibers to resist external attacks, but it has no effect on strong penetrating punctures, so when it comes to actual combat, the soldiers will put the iron armor on the outside, and the cotton armor is worn inside, which is equivalent to wearing a "bulletproof vest" inside, and using two layers of armor to increase the chance of survival.

But the armor in front of him is completely different from the cotton armor like a fat cotton jacket.

Because not only are there layers of copper nails on the outside, but it can be seen from the inside that it is made of the same material as the armor they cut just now.

"Bubble nail cotton armor!"

Zhu Gaoxu proudly introduced: "First wet the cotton, repeatedly pat, make a very thin cotton sheet, and then embellish a number of such cotton sheets into a very thick and solid cotton cloth, and then in the production of armor, first take a layer of such thick cotton cloth lined with iron armor, and then spread a layer of thick cotton cloth on the outside of the iron armor, so that two layers of cotton cloth wrap the iron armor after sewing, and then fix it with copper nails inside and outside, so that a piece of armor is made, this armor is firmly wrapped by the cotton cloth because the iron armor is hidden under the cotton armor, and it is not exposed." ”

Gu Cheng and Xu Huizu immediately realized that this was equivalent to combining the current cotton armor and tie armor to invent a new kind of armor!

This kind of armor can not only resist the fire through the outer cotton sheet, but also resist the puncture wound through the inner steel sheet, and the cotton plate can even cause a certain cushion for blunt force injuries, which perfectly solves the weakness of the traditional armor piercing although it is strong, but it is difficult to resist blunt weapons and firearms.

In fact, the cotton armor (cotton-iron composite armor) made of cotton-iron composite materials should actually be called "cloth iron armor" or "cloth armor", which has a very strong defensive power, and the defense effect against firearms, knives and guns, bows and crossbows is very good, and it is very suitable for northern operations.

Now it was invented by Jiang Xinghuo in advance, given to Zhu Gaoxu as a gift, and put into the next actual combat for testing.

(End of chapter)