"See Second Highness......

At noon, with Zhu Gaoxu finishing his meal in the Wuying Palace, he left the palace and went to the Song State Mansion without rest.

In the singing of the soldiers outside the Song State Mansion, Zhu Gaoxu turned over and dismounted, looked at the familiar faces in front of him, and couldn't help laughing: "Lin Wuliu, how are you doing?" ”

Today's soldiers and horses on duty are the brothers of the hundred households, and Zhu Gaoxu has been able to meet them every other day in the past few months, so he is naturally familiar with each other.

While asking about his brothers' current situation, he handed the reins of the red rein to the spearman Lin Wuliu.

"The days are not bad, almost the same as when Your Highness was here, Wang Baihu is as good to us as you are."

Lin Wuliu didn't expect Zhu Gaoxu to remember his name, and he was a little flattered for a while.

"Okay, if there is any difficulty, ask Wang Jian to come to the front guard of the army to find me."

Zhu Gaoxu said, patted Lin Wuliu and another soldier next to him on the shoulder, and then entered the Song State Mansion.

"Your Highness" happened to be that Wang Jian walked out of the mansion, immediately bowed down with a smile on his face, and bowed to Zhu Gaoxu.

"It's just that I'm wearing a guilty body now, even if I want to be good for you, I'm afraid it's useless."

"If you can help, help, I don't want him to get ahead of me."

Faced with his words, Zhu Gaoxu also nodded in agreement, and then asked curiously: "Is Guogong in the front yard?" ”

According to common sense, reading Liu Ji's book should be able to understand the combat form in the early Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Gaoxu raised his hand and humbly asked Feng Sheng: "Guogong, I recently watched the history books of the previous dynasty and found that all the armies in the late Yuan Dynasty were the elite who fought and came out, but for some reason, our army can always stand out." ”

Even though there was still a large area of arable land in the outer city of Nanjing at that time, which could feed hundreds of thousands of people in Nanjing, it was too late.

In this regard, Zhu Gaoxu did not slap his swollen face and become fat, but returned the salute: "The kid is really confused, please teach the prince." ”

"Hehe......" Zhu Gaoxu smiled embarrassedly: "If you want to sit in the local area in the future, you can't rely on the county king's subordinate officials to govern the place, and the kid himself must have some ability." ”

"This ......" Feng Sheng was rarely asked by Zhu Gaoxu, and he pondered for a long time, but he never said an accurate number, and finally could only say vaguely:

Its combination of arms is mainly pikemen, and its tactical thinking is based on mobile attack, which makes the Ming infantry look like the traditional infantry of ancient times.

Zhu Gaoxu couldn't give this answer......

The policy of strengthening the army in later generations is very useful, but the policy must be combined with the background of the times in order to be brought into full play.

Looking at Feng Sheng's back, Zhu Gaoxu didn't come back to his senses for a long time, and seemed to have been hit by Feng Sheng's words.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu left, and then came to the inverted seat room where he often studied.

"In addition, regarding the strategy of using troops, I remember that in the first year of Hongwu, His Majesty talked to Liu Qingtian about the difference between our army and the rest of the armies."

"I want to too, it's just grandpa's ......," Zhu Gaoxu smiled bitterly.

"If you march and fight in the future, you must not show your emotions, lest you shake the morale of the army."

But if war breaks out, these workshops will be able to produce armor and firearms at full capacity, and this speed and output Zhu Gaoxu has also seen from the song.

Feng Sheng walked over and glanced at the one he put down, with a little surprise on his face: "You still read this kind of book?" ”

Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Ji's understanding of military issues precisely reflects the two extremes.

Feng Sheng turned around and walked out of the inverted room with his crotch in steps.

However, when he was about to walk out of the inverted room, Feng Sheng suddenly stopped and turned his head to look at Zhu Gaoxu.

The only thing that can really affect him is the future Battle of Jingjing, and how to get his own protection under the permission of old June.

"When His Majesty was in Haozhou, he was famous for his spear, and the twenty-four generals under his command also used spears as the main soldiers."

"I already know what happened today, I think you can't feel comfortable being caught in the Wuying Palace."

In terms of the art of war he learned from reading military books, the foot soldiers should form a formation to protect themselves, and slowly advance to ensure that the army will not suffer heavy losses.

Such a differentiation can be seen by Zhu Gaoxu from the whereabouts of his uncle Xu Huizu and Cao Guogong Li Jinglong during this time.

"No, I've been studying in the backyard for the past few days." Wang Jian shook his head and replied, and when he heard this, Zhu Gaoxu also nodded and walked into the Song State Mansion.

As soon as he thought of this, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but think about how to end the Battle of Jingjing as soon as possible.

Feng Sheng mentioned the 'little Zhu Dudu', and before that, the only person who could be called Zhu Dudu was Zhu Gaoxu's cousin, Zhu Yuanzhang's nephew, and Zhu Wenzheng, the great governor who defended Hongdu.

After he said this, Feng Sheng also showed a helpless look on his face: "In this right and wrong place in the capital, it is better for you to leave early." ”

It's just that in the face of the future situation, Zhu Gaoxu is even more reluctant to let Zhu Yunwen put the sword on his neck.

"Ying Guogong's matter, I have also heard some ......" Feng Sheng said in surprise, and said with a smile:

Zhu Gaoxu was also a lot calmer by what he said, so he escorted him out of the inverted room.

"If it is said that the fields are divided equally, such as Zhang Shicheng and Mingsheng, they have also divided the fields equally, but when they arrive at the battlefield, their subordinates scatter and flee when they are frustrated.

"When Your Majesty heard this, he said, 'The soldiers are also conspiring, because the enemy will win, how can it be muddy in the ancients, and I will personally watch the battle formation of the arrows, and the opening and closing of the battle array is changing in an instant, and the impermanence of the wind and clouds is bound to change through its ears, so why not talk about the ancient Faye.'"

If he himself does not understand what the people of this era think, then how can he approach them and gain their support?

"This still depends on how well the local guards are trained and how the local war is going."

Such success cannot be replicated, so in the twenty-seventh year of Hongwu now, the infantry who dared to hold guns and hedge with cavalry like a generation of Ming troops began to become fewer and fewer.

As always, he flipped through the military books, but at the same time, he would also read some of the Four Books and Five Classics to enrich himself.

"Although I see you as a handsome talent at the moment, you haven't really led the troops to fight, and no one knows whether you are the little Zhu Dudu or the little pony."

If Zhu Gaoxu can't understand the thoughts of the people, then he can only follow the cat and the tiger.

The Ministry of Industry and private iron-smelting workshops have produced a total of more than 30 million catties of iron, most of which are invested in agricultural tools, and only a small amount is invested in military production.

If you want to fill the 100-mile-long city wall of Nanjing City, you have to stand at least 60,000 people side by side, and if you want to hold it, it is difficult for 200,000 people to do it.

"I'll tell you about the Northern Expedition first......" Feng Sheng began to talk about the characteristics of the Ming army from the Northern Expedition, and then talked about the battle of Luliang, the battle of Caijiazhuang and so on, which involved the details of the elite of the Ming army.

It's a pity that Zhu Wenzheng buried his future, which is regrettable.

He stroked his beard and calmed down before explaining: "At that time, most of our army was born in Lianghuai peasant households, and in the land of Lianghuai, the people would make good use of spears as representatives of martial arts, so most of the generals and soldiers who could fight well liked to call themselves "lance marshals", or take their surnames with spears as nicknames. ”

On the basis of the ineffectiveness of the division of land, he can only seek other things to motivate his subordinates.

If you want to quell the Battle of Jingjing as soon as possible, you can only blitzkrieg Nanjing and successfully surround Zhu Yunwen in Nanjing.

His words have always been his problem, and he really doesn't understand why the Ming infantry actually dares to collide with the cavalry head-on and charge.

It can be said that the development of such an infantry system that surpassed the ancient tradition in the early Ming Dynasty was also the result of the strong pressure of the Mongolian iron cavalry in the north, and was forced out by the objective environment.

After all, as the strongest force in Nanjing, the two elite cavalry of Dianqian Leopard Taowei and Dianqian Hezhou Wei were buried in the Central Plains battlefield, and the remaining soldiers were difficult to even defend the city.

Zhu Wenzheng, that is a genius who captured Yingtian at the age of 20 and served as the governor of the capital at the age of 25, controlling the Chinese and foreign military.

This group of people has a very thin cultural foundation, they can't read a basket of big characters, and there are frequent wars throughout the year, so there are fewer opportunities to read ancient books and study ancient military affairs, so their understanding of the use of tactics comes more from their own exploration.

Others don't know what he's going to do in the future, but can he not know it himself?

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but ask Feng Sheng after contemplation.

"Hehe, you're full of spring, and you're going to be promoted again?" Zhu Gaoxu returned the salute, giving Wang Jian enough face, and at the same time asked curiously.

"Hehe......" Feng Sheng smiled dumbly: "It's that I'm old and confused, I'm afraid you also have more than enough heart and not enough strength." ”

A group of people who claim to be honest and honest, if they don't go to the place to do things, what is the difference between it and the clay sculptures in the temple, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help laughing.

"Then Liu Qingtian said that His Majesty said, 'Ren will be in Your Majesty, and the victory will not be as good as the victory of the Lord.'" However, His Majesty often wins without adhering to the ancient law, which is also difficult. ”

As a result, in the battle of Caijiazhuang described by Feng Sheng, the Ming infantry not only achieved high-speed movement in formation, but also did not leave any flaws for the Mongolian cavalry, and the performance was amazing.

After a while, he glanced at Zhu Gaoxu and had to say: "You are young and precocious, and you learn the art of war several times faster than others, but it's a pity that you are limited to talking about war on paper. ”

However, Zhu Gaoxu didn't think it was strange when he thought about it carefully, after all, the Ming Dynasty rose in the south, and the climate here made the Ming army have to face the absolute disadvantage of its own cavalry.

Since he knew that something was bound to happen, and he couldn't stop it, he could only do his best to minimize the impact of the Battle of Martyrdom.

If each of the capitals under the Governor's Office of the Five Armies goes all out to build armor and firearms, it can make 5,000 sets of armor, hundreds of artillery, and thousands of bronze guns every month, and many capitals can make more than 80,000 sets of armor every month, and nearly one million sets of armor throughout the year.

There was nothing wrong with what he said, because he had always felt that he didn't know enough about the people of the Ming Dynasty.

The Battle of Caijiazhuang took place in the thirteenth year of Hongwu, and the highlight of this battle was that the Ming army almost relied on pure infantry to defeat the Mongol cavalry, which was twice as numerous as its own.

His words revealed an intelligence to Zhu Gaoxu, that is, the combat strength of the Ming army today is seriously differentiated, and it is no longer as good as the overall combat strength when the country was founded.

"Because the pikemen who are good at making pikes can often be promoted to become wealthy, and they are admired by the sergeants and soldiers, when facing the northern cavalry, many pikemen are proud to stab the cavalry, and they can't wait for the cavalry to charge and form a battle to defend it."

"Yes!" Wang Jian smiled and was honest.

This wry smile is worth a thousand words, Feng Sheng quickly understood the meaning, and subconsciously touched his long beard.

If he lived longer, he could even live to the Jianwen period, so that Zhu Di knew what the beating from his cousin was.

Otherwise, even if you are the crown prince and the prince, what can you do, it is not that after a word is finished in the Fengtian Palace, the heads of people under the temple fall.

But before leaving, he seemed to remember something, turned around and patted Wang Jian on the shoulder: "Tomorrow, I will call some brothers who are okay to eat in my courtyard, I haven't caught up with my brothers yet." ”

Therefore, in the face of Feng Sheng's praise, Zhu Gaoxu was panicked and weak-hearted.

Zhu Wenzheng was just planning to defect, but he, Zhu Gaoxu, was really preparing to rebel......

Feng Sheng gave a very high evaluation, so high that Zhu Gaoxu himself couldn't help but stand up in fear and shook his head: "Guogong has praised it falsely, how can I deserve this praise." ”

With his age and status at that time, I am afraid that he would preside over the Northern Expedition with Xu Da, and even restrain Xu Da.

Throughout the history of ancient warfare, the tactical thinking of the Ming army to use infantry to maneuver and flank cavalry, and won the battle was rare, but it bloomed in the war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty.

"Why do you sweat so much on your forehead?" Feng Sheng looked at the frightened Zhu Gaoxu, and said with a dumb smile:

Ask yourself, although he is Lao Zhu's grandson, but in the final analysis, he is only one of Lao Zhu's dozens of grandsons, if he really threatens Zhu Yunwen in the future, will Lao Zhu really not bear to kill himself?

You must know that before the Ming army, if the armies of previous dynasties did not have a tight infantry line, they could not resist the impact of cavalry at all, and when the infantry moved the formation, it was difficult to maintain the formation, and it was easy to be scattered by the impact of the enemy cavalry.

In this way, the productive forces are more powerful than the countries of the world of the same era combined.

Suddenly, Feng Sheng's voice sounded in the window, Zhu Gaoxu looked up, and sure enough, he saw Feng Sheng walking towards the front yard.

He couldn't get a steam engine, a breech gun, a train, or anything, but it was still possible to make flintlock pistols and arquebuses with craftsmen.

Judging from Zhu Gaoxu's understanding alone, in the 26th year of Hongwu last year, more than 32 million stone was collected from taxes and grain alone.

At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, most of the military leaders in the Jianghuai region were from grassroots civilian backgrounds.

Zhu Gaochi, like Zhu Yunwen, although he didn't say it directly, he always felt that Confucian scholars and civil officials should not do some errand work.

It can be said that after listening to the content of this hour, Zhu Gaoxu only felt that the Ming Dynasty soldiers were an outlier among the infantry of the ancient dynasties.

Obviously, he knew that Zhu Gaoxu had some questions to ask him, and this was exactly what happened.

As long as Zhu Yunwen's idea of cutting the domain remains unchanged, Zhu Gaoxu must prepare.

To put it mildly, the so-called military level and military technology are floating clouds in the face of absolute productivity, which is why the Yan army can only fight with the southern army in the field, but it cannot occupy other cities except Beiping, Yongping, and Hejian for a long time.

"Guogong, today's Ming Dynasty, how many more can there be like the spearmen at the beginning of the country."

From here, Zhu Gaoxu can see that Liu Bowen's own understanding of military affairs does not come from his own personal experience, but more from books.

Zhu Gaoxu was silent for a long time, he knew very well how difficult this task was, so he had to have a team that obeyed his orders and was powerful in battle.

After saying that, Feng Sheng slowly stood up, looking at the posture and preparing to go back to the backyard.

"Laughing at what?"

It can be said that if he didn't want to go to Zhang Shicheng because he complained about Zhu Yuanzhang in the end, then he would be the early Ming version of Huo Quai.

Today, the only way to avoid being threatened with your life is to sit in that chair.

Indeed, before Zhu Gaoxu entered the Wuying Palace, there were few times when he went out of Beijing to inspect in the imperial history of Beijing, because most of the people who held this official position were Confucian scholars with reputation, knowledge, and style, but this was not a reason why they could sit in the capital and get their salaries for nothing.

He no longer had expectations for Zhu Yunwen, and the Battle of Jingjing undoubtedly buried hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers that Zhu Yuanzhang spent more than 20 years training.

"People say that the back waves of the Yangtze River push the front waves, but you are scared into this virtue just by listening to a sentence."

In addition, there are 1,000 copper cannons in Lankou, and 1,000 copper guns are unified.

For example, although there are hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses in Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian and other places, I am afraid that only the soldiers around Nanjing City and the area around Ningbo, Zhejiang Province can fight.

If he wants to raise a strong army in the future, he must cultivate faith for them.

On Feng Sheng's face, he saw a bit of a heroic twilight scene.

As long as the king is suspicious of you, then all you can do is wait to be killed.

There were so many examples that Feng Sheng spoke for a whole hour, drinking three cups of tea during which Zhu Gaoxu was listening and waiting.

"How can you ......" Wang Jian smiled: "I have only been an official of 100 households for less than two months, and I have no military achievements, how can I be promoted." ”

The battle of Lüliang is a battle in which Fu Youde led 2,000 pikemen to charge head-on to defeat Li Er, the left of the Yuan Dynasty, and Zhu Gaoxu has already heard of this battle, so compared with the battle of Lüliang, the battle of Caijiazhuang made him more curious.

Zhu Gaoxu in history was not the main driving force behind Zhu Di's rebellion, and the person who really promoted Zhu Di's martyrdom was Zhu Yunwen.

Although large-scale horse farms for raising war horses were established in the Jianghuai region during the reign of the Yuan Dynasty, in fact, due to the desertion of horse farms and climatic factors, the number of qualified war horses that could be provided here was very limited.

Feng Sheng pondered for a moment, and after a long time, he didn't know what he thought, and suddenly laughed.

It is important to know that this amount of production is only produced in a fixed amount for emergencies, so many craftsmen are not involved in the production of armor firearms.

"I'm like a lake with fallen leaves, I can only drift down the river."

"Your Majesty won't let you go, you won't be able to leave, so you can only calm down and learn some skills from me."

In the early Ming Dynasty, did the tactics of the army inherit from the "ancient law"?

Examples such as this abound in the Pingxia War and the Northern Expedition.

Xu Huizu and Li Jinglong are both good at military training, and they often trained in the north before, but now they have been running back and forth between Fujian and Zhejiang provinces in the past few months, and it is obvious that the combat effectiveness of the guards in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces is worrying.

At this moment, Zhu Gaoxu was stunned.

Feng Sheng said a kind of atmosphere in the Ming army in the early Ming Dynasty, which made Zhu Gaoxu feel novel, but before he could think deeply, Feng Sheng said:

Zhu Gaoxu did not want these soldiers to be buried in the Central Plains, because they should have been used by the Ming Dynasty to expand the territory.

Feng Sheng told the conversation between Liu Ji and Zhu Yuanzhang, and at first glance, it seems that Liu Ji is simply patting Zhu Yuanzhang's ass, but if you deeply analyze the background of the two people's words, then a very realistic problem is placed in front of you......

In terms of volume, the current Ming handicraft industry can completely explode the whole world.

Even if he is willing to die, what about Zhu Di? What about Zhu Gaochi?

If you wanted to gain the support of the people just by distributing the fields, then so many peasant uprisings in history would not have failed.

"Later, His Majesty went to Dingyuan to set up his own door, and also asked the army to compare martial arts with spears, and often tested the spear skills of soldiers, and many soldiers were rewarded for this."

Of course, the more important point is that Zhu Gaoxu could not use the policy of land division to motivate his subordinates, because the current Ming Dynasty did not lack arable land at all, but lacked people and animal power to farm.

"Guogong ......" Zhu Gaoxu put down what he was holding, got up and saluted back.

In Feng Sheng's mouth, Zhu Yuanzhang once gave an order to Zhu Li, the king of Jin, in which when mentioning the tactical principles of the army, Zhu Yuanzhang believed that the use of infantry should be "flanked by cavalry", and constantly emphasized the need to train offensive infantry, rather than defensive infantry.

In this regard, Zhu Gaoxu naturally thought of the matter of the elders of the three mansions entering the Wuying Palace to manage the government, but for him, this matter could not affect him at all.

Zhu Gaoxu did not send him, but stood in the house, looking at his rickety back under the slanting sun, and the whole person was silent.

This kind of infantry mobility of the Ming army is indeed very rare, Rao is Zhu Gaoxu thought about it again and again, and he could not find similar cases in the history of ancient wars, and could only find similar examples from the soldiers of modern times.

Sometimes, even if he doesn't want to, fate doesn't allow him.

It's just that his thoughts can't be too obvious, so in the face of Feng Sheng's words, he also deliberately sighed:

"If Your Majesty agrees to release you, after a few years of training, you may be able to reduce the pressure on the north."

Looking at it this way, it is not difficult to understand why after the Battle of Lingbi, the Southern Army could no longer stop the Yan Army, and lost all the defensive lines south of the Huai River in only one month.

Suddenly, Zhu Gaoxu didn't know what to say, or he couldn't say anything at all.

"Confused?" Feng Sheng smiled and stroked his long beard, looking a little happy.

Rao is you young and brave and good at fighting, governing the country and securing the country, how about laying down a large territory?

In the previous conversation with Zhu Gaochi in Wuyingdian, he almost understood the concept of him and Zhu Gaochi.

However, this small amount of iron material eventually produced more than 13,000 pairs of armor, 21,000 horse-step sabers, more than 35,000 bows, and 1.7 million arrows.

"Well...... Huh"

Perhaps it is precisely for this reason that in the dialogue between them, Feng Sheng's words appeared: "However, His Majesty often wins without adhering to the ancient law, which is also difficult."

However, Zhu Gaoxu once looked through his two military books, but he was greatly disappointed, because most of these two military books imitated or even copied the military works of the previous generation, and even copied them into the books.

"Your Majesty once said that the enemy is in the army, and the army is in the general. If the army is uncontrolled, it will not be in charge, and if it is not human, the army will be defeated. It is better to have elite soldiers than good generals when the two armies are defeated or defeated. ”

Due to the serious shortage of war horses of the Ming army, the task of maneuvering the offensive and protecting the flanks had to fall on the infantry in many cases.

While Zhu Gaoxu was thinking, Feng Shenghu opened his mouth and talked about the things in the Wuying Palace.

As far as Zhu Gaoxu knew, although Liu Ji was born as a literati, he was well-read and wrote two military works.

As a result, at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the pikemen of the Ming army charged with the cavalry with their spears, and the cavalry of the Mongols was crushed many times, which made the warlords of the Yuan Dynasty at the end of the Yuan Dynasty have a headache when they saw the pikemen of the Ming Dynasty.

"Where to start......" Feng Sheng didn't know where to start for a while, so he muttered for a long time, and only after a word had passed before he opened his mouth to talk about a few wars.

Due to its excessive reliance on infantry, even if the number of cavalry increased after that, it could not change the basic idea of the Ming army to fight with infantry mobility.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but look at Feng Sheng, and Feng Sheng also walked into the upside-down room and sat on the bed used for resting.

Having said that, Feng Sheng also sighed: "It's a pity that this march and war is not a game of chess, and those who can recruit good fighters often do not learn the art of war from military books." ”

Today's Ming army, if the Qinling Huai River is used as the dividing line, then the elite of the southern army are gathered in the southwest and Huguang, either to catch up with Miao and expand the industry, or to deter the Tusi of the Indochina Peninsula and the Qinghai-Tibet region.

To put it bluntly, in Liu Ji's view, there is a big difference between the operational principles of the army in the early Ming Dynasty and the operational principles in the "ancient law."

It's just that he doesn't have his own people and territory at the moment, and everything he can do can't be done now, otherwise he will make a wedding dress for Zhu Yunwen.

Zhu Gaoxu is not very proficient in science, but as a soldier for two years, he also has a general understanding of the process of firearms.