Chapter 511

If more than 2,000 hoplites are difficult for European countries, they can be obtained, at least the Spanish Empire or the United Kingdom of the Netherlands have this strength.

Even now, Spain still nominally retains five heavily armed knights, of course, this is only nominal, and the nominal army of more than two million in the original Chongzhen Dynasty only exists on paper, and how many hoplite cavalry can fight, I am afraid that only God will know.

But what shocked them the most was not actually the artillery of the Ming Dynasty, hundreds of artillery, how many of their European countries have this strength, even if it is Venice, as a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, don't look at their small country and small population, but in fact, they have a lot of artillery, and more than 200 large-caliber artillery pieces have been deployed in Venice City alone, if you count the naval guns of the navy, there are more than three or four thousand.

If you count the per capita artillery possession, Venice is definitely the country with the highest per capita artillery possession in the world, and there is no one, when Venice had the smallest population, there were only more than 185,000 people, but they had nearly 3,300 artillery pieces, and an average of six people had one artillery.

This ratio is really frighteningly high, and now unlike in history, Europe has a very limited understanding of the Ming Dynasty, and once Spain also tried to conquer the Ming Dynasty with 20,000 horses.

In fact, 20,000 horses are still the indigenous army of most of the colonies, but in recent years, the Ming Dynasty has become more and more active, and in the Indian Ocean, in the Pacific Ocean, and in the Atlantic, you can see the Ming warships and sailors.

What scared European countries the most, in fact, the infantry of the Ming Dynasty, especially the Dutch and the Spaniards, they were all beaten by the army units of the Ming Dynasty, and they knew very well the true strength of the Ming Army, whether it was the Spanish Army or the Dutch Army, in front of the Ming Army, there was absolutely no chance and ability to fight back.

The officers and men of the Ming Army, there were seven or eight thousand people, waving their arms in unison and walking forward with uniform steps. Still, it's so neat! A force of seven or eight thousand people, no matter which direction you look at it, is a neat line, the amplitude of the swing of the arms, the size of the pace, almost exactly the same, how is this done!

Walking in the forefront is the first regiment of the first brigade of the Ming Royal Army, the earliest of this army, when Cheng Shijie served as Dengzhou Weizuo Qianhu, they have been established, later, Cheng Shijie was promoted to the garrison of the Ning Navy, after the establishment of the Ning Navy, their first battle was to launch the Dengzhou Mutiny.

Almost in a bloodless way, he took Dengzhou City, and even captured Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai, and then pacified Kong Youde's rebellion, and then crossed Liaonan to the east and won a great victory in Haizhou.

Whether it is Jiannu, or Mongolian, whether it is a small book, or the Dutch, whether it is in Liaodong, or in the southeast, whether it is the Central Plains, or the west, they can be seen.

These are warriors who have struggled out of the sea of corpses and blood! In fact, Cheng Shijie also played a little trick during the military parade, this time the parade, whether it was cavalry, artillery, infantry and naval soldiers, all of them had no recruits, and the average person was at least in the army for more than three years, and the average person was beheaded at least five years or more.

Cheng Shijie watched this army appear, and immediately said: "Drums!" ”

"Knock Knock Knock ......"

With the sound of war drums, Cheng Shijie stood at the head of the city and said, "Attack!" ”

As soon as Cheng Shijie's voice fell, the Ming infantry unit that was parading seemed to have suddenly returned to the bloody battlefield where the remnants of the sun were like millions of corpses. All the soldiers' faces turned full, and their eyes became sharp and sharp.

Their hands clenched their weapons, and they looked at the black battle flag without blinking, and a bloodthirsty aura slowly rose from them, as if they had returned to the battlefield, the enemy army came all over the field, the horns were continuous, and they also rushed up all over the mountains and fields, and it was always this black battle flag that rushed to the front.

They were all ten horsemen and one horizontal column, a total of more than twenty horizontal columns, carrying rifles on their backs, sabers facing the sky, and the hooves of the horses were neatly raised and neatly lowered. Behind were more than 2,000 infantrymen, black cloaks, black uniforms, only the cold light of bayonets flickering, following the generals to advance layer by layer.

At this time, Cheng Shijie, who was standing at the head of the city, was full of spirit, Emperor Chongzhen looked at Cheng Shijie on the city wall under the city, and his heart was very sour, all of this originally belonged to him, but now, it all belongs to Cheng Shijie.

The Venetian consul Francesco Erizzo cautiously asked, "Your Majesty the Emperor, how many men does the Ming have in an army like this?" ”

Cheng Shijie really can't answer this question, the army of the Ming Dynasty has uncertainties, first of all, the army troops, the regular army has a total of thirty-nine brigades, but these thirty-nine brigades have arrogant autonomy, such as the brigades stationed in the north, they will gather the surrounding tribal cavalry, and they will also temporarily arm a certain servant army because of war or practical needs.

This number is very arbitrary, if we only count the number of soldiers on the military department's roster, the army soldiers currently total 39 brigades and 18 independent regiments, and the total number of troops is 979,653.

If we count the number of navies, the navy currently has eight fleets under its jurisdiction, and the eight fleets have 32 strike squadrons under its jurisdiction, with a total number of more than 476,900 troops.

The biggest uncertain number is actually in the Tusi Army, they are soldiers in wartime and people in their leisure time, I am afraid that Qin Liangyu, as the commander of the Tusi Army, does not know how many people there are in the Tusi Army. For example, the number of people participating in this battle will be more, it may be more than 700,000 people, and the next battle will not need too many people, the number of Tusi troops may be 500,000, and the minimum time is more than 300,000.

"I can't tell now, it should be more than two million!"

Cheng Shijie's attitude towards the data reported by the military department is as casual, after all, the military's path is very wild now, and without Cheng Shijie's order, when it is time to do it, there will be absolutely no ambiguity, they will let a group of soldiers retire immediately, and then participate in the war in the name of the civilian exoneration regiment.

"Should?"

Francesco Erizzo was a little laughing and crying, I am afraid that all countries in the world except for the Ming Dynasty are increasing the number of generals as a way to promote force, and the Ming is a country that is so casual on this issue.

Cheng Shijie said lightly: "There is indeed no way to determine the detailed figures, Daming is currently in Siberia, the Indochina Peninsula and Central Asia region continue to use troops, every moment there will be soldiers killed or injured, every year soldiers will be conscripted into the army, every moment there will be corresponding soldiers, apply for retirement from active service." Even the number of soldiers in the military department changes at any time! ”

Now the Ming Dynasty adopts a military service system that combines compulsory military service and voluntary military service, relying on the Ming Dynasty's successive victories in foreign wars, the welfare and social status of the army have been greatly improved, if the review of joining the army is released, the army of the Ming Army has skyrocketed to 10 million people, and it is definitely not a problem.

Now the number of troops is not the most important issue of the Ming Dynasty, just like the population of the Ming Dynasty, there will be newborn babies born every moment, and people will die unexpectedly, coupled with backward information, it is difficult to do the detailed data of later generations, which can only be an approximation.

Anthony, the governor of the Dutch East India Company, listened to Cheng Shijie casually say that the Ming Dynasty had more than two million troops, and a deep sense of powerlessness rose in his heart.

Now there are no two million people in the Netherlands at all, until the 39th year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1700), the population of the Netherlands, about 1.9 million people, thanks to its advanced maritime vision, marine technology, geographical location, trade spirit and maritime exploration and other factors, became a powerful maritime country and won maritime supremacy.

During the same period, the Russian Empire, the Spanish Empire, the Ottoman Turkish Empire, the Qing Empire, the Kingdom of France, the Kingdom of England, the Mughal Empire, etc.

Not a single one dared to contend with the 15,000 ships of the Dutch, the "coachmen of the seas", at sea.

The Netherlands during the Golden Age created many world firsts, and it was these firsts that supported the Netherlands to become a maritime power.

However, it is a pity that in this time and space, the Dutch have just risen, and they have not even had time to take away Dayuan Island from the Spaniards, they were pressed to the ground by Cheng Shijie and rubbed, the rise of the Netherlands in history mainly relies on the wealth obtained in the East.

However, even in the heyday of the Netherlands, with more than 15,000 sailing ships of all kinds and more than 900,000 tons of tonnage, the current Ming Dynasty has surpassed the tonnage of the heyday.

More than two million troops, this is a figure that makes the whole of Europe desperate, the Spanish envoys and delegates don't have much to worry about, the last thing they lack is land, if the Ming wants, they can give more land to the Ming, anyway, Spain does not have so many people to run these lands.

The face of the Ottoman envoy who had a bad relationship with the Ming Dynasty was very ugly, the combat effectiveness of the Ottoman army could only be regarded as average, they were now expanded, with more than 350,000 army troops, including as many as 1,000 artillery pieces, placed in Europe, belonging to the behemoth that made the soil tremble.

But the problem is that the Ottoman Empire's army is far from enough in the Ming Dynasty, especially the murderous elite troops in front of them, ten to one, and the Ottoman Empire has no certainty of victory.

Francesco Erizzo asked, "Your Majesty, when are you going to send the Ming army to Venice?" ”

"Count the time, it's almost in Northern Gandia!"

Cheng Shijie said: "Francesco, you have learned Chinese well, you must vigorously develop education, children are the future of the empire!" ”

Francesco Erizzo said: "Minister, when you are going back, you will start building the school, but only on the teacher's side...... His Majesty the Emperor is also required to send teachers. ”

"There's no problem with this!"

Daming is different from other countries, especially for the importance of education, before Daming was not a chance, now Ding Xinchao provides free education, so the enthusiasm of adults is also very high.

Cheng Shijie looked at Sun Zhili and said, "How many graduates are there from the school this year?" ”

"This, I haven't counted it seriously!"

Sun Zhili said: "According to previous data, there are at least 700,000 graduates from schools above middle school alone! ”

Listening to this figure, the European delegates were collectively silent, and there are some facts, which are really hurtful to say.

Even Venice, the most economically developed city, has a population of more than one million, but there are less than 30,000 students who can go to school and get education.

This is the country with the highest percentage of education in Europe, and it is very difficult for Great Britain to find 30,000 literate people, but Spain has 30,000 students, but the question is, how many people are there in the Spanish Empire?

How important is language?

In Europe, someone who can speak a few words of Chinese can become a translator, and the whole family will be lifted out of poverty and become rich in no time. The treatment of some translators made the petty and petty bourgeoisie extremely jealous.

Daming now scholars, mainly concentrated in the old era of readers, quickly accepted the concept of new learning, they already have a very strong foundation, can be admitted to the Xiucai people, themselves are scholars, Xiucai can be much more difficult than the key universities in later generations.

There are only 40 places in a county in three years, and an average of more than a dozen people a year, such results are enough to be in Qingbei.

In the face of Daming's inadvertent confidence and strength, which made the representatives of European countries very hurt, Daming was too strong, so strong that they had no will to resist.

At the same time, the injured people also included Emperor Chongzhen, Chongzhen looked at the cheering crowd, one by one beaming with joy and not as if he was fake, he muttered: "Do all the people really hate the Zhu family and welcome the new king?" ”

Queen Zhou reminded: "Your Majesty, be cautious." ”

With the end of the military parade in Andingmen, Cheng Shijie and Xiang Hui left on the imperial chariot, he was too far away to see the canopy of the imperial chariot, but he couldn't see Cheng Shijie and Xiang Hui sitting on it.

A sense of sadness arose, he had never been so grand when he succeeded to the throne as emperor!

Now Emperor Chongzhen is very hurt, but Emperor Chongzhen also understands that the more he is ignored now, the safer he will be.

Cheng Shijie's biggest headache is that when the emperor needs to be posthumously sealed the Seven Temples.

The seven temples refer to the four relatives (ancestors, great-grandfathers, ancestors, fathers) temples, Eryou (fathers and grandfathers of the ancestors) temples and ancestral temples, after becoming the Son of Heaven, the ancestors of their own families also have to follow their descendants to enjoy the "blessings", receive incense worship, and then the Son of Heaven will set up the Seven Temples of the Son of Heaven to worship their ancestors.

His seventh ancestor can't make it up, and the Ming officials found all the seventh ancestors for Cheng Shijie, the nominal father Cheng Yongxing, the nominal grandfather Cheng Guiping, the great-grandfather Cheng Fumin, the great-grandfather Cheng Longfei, and then Cheng Zhongyong, the ancestor Cheng Wanbing.

Establish Cheng's seven temples, change Zhu's temple, but not Cheng Shijie but agree with Zhu's first emperor, the temple is divided into two, the left is Zhu's, the right is Cheng's, Zhu's is thirteen temples, Cheng's seven temples are posthumously sealed.

Cheng Shijie promulgated the edict of enthronement and issued the first holy decree: "Abolish the endowment, and the Cheng family will never enjoy the endowment!" ”

(End of chapter)