Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 927 0922 [Martial Arts Performance]

The day before the hunting season began, Zhu Ming moved into Dongxi Garden.

During this period, the first things that were compiled into data from the exchanges between Eastern and Western scholars were political systems, kings, and wise ministers.

Although Zhu Ming didn't think much of it, he still read it as interesting information.

As he read on, Zhu Ming was surprised to find that Mulek's grandfather, the prime minister, was really awesome.

During his tenure, he established systems, determined the calendar, reformed the tax system, streamlined the military, built post stations, dug canals, promoted education, and encouraged industry and commerce...

Universities were also established in all major cities, which not only taught general knowledge and doctrine, but also offered subjects such as philosophy, history, astronomy, medicine, and literature.

These Seljuk universities, like the official schools of the Ming Dynasty, were funded by the imperial court and had a large amount of real estate as subsidies.

In addition to free room and board, students can even receive scholarships!

However, with the assassination of the prime minister and the turmoil of the Seljuk split, many of these schools were closed down for a time, and several of them have been reopened in the past twenty years.

The most famous one at present is called Nizemiah University.

The school is a sprawling complex of brick buildings outside Baghdad that was supported by grants from the Caliph during the war.

Now the Seljuk Sultans are rushing to provide funding, not only to win over scholars and students in the university, but also to rely on the university to continuously train officials.

Several consecutive prime ministers graduated from this university.

Others such as Shahs and Governors also often hired political officials from this university.

Judging purely from the number of schools and students, the Seljuks had basically met the conditions for imperial examinations and could have offered examinations like those during the Sui and Tang dynasties.

After reading the story of this legendary prime minister, Zhu Ming picked up a copy of The Rubaiyat.

This book is extremely famous, especially during the Republic of China period, and was translated into multiple versions by Guo Lao, Hu Shi, Wen Yiduo, Xu Zhimo, Zhu Xiang and others.

It was created at Nizamiyya University in Baghdad, just a few years after the author's death.

The Ming Dynasty translation version is very interesting. The translated title of "The Rubaiyat" is "Arabic Quatrains".

The previous Seljuk envoy, Abu, had already started translating with the Ming Dynasty's Hanlin officials.

He had not finished the translation when he returned to China, but he translated the general meaning of all the poems into plain language.

The Ming Dynasty's Hanlin officials were so bored that they actually translated all the Persian quatrains into quatrains based on these plain words!
Correspondingly, the quatrain poems brought back from China were translated into quatrains by the Seljuk poets.

Rubaiyat is a quatrain.

Even the rhyming rules for the last words of each line are the same as those of Chinese quatrains.

More than twenty works of the author of The Rubaiyat, who had died only a few years ago, were brought back to Luoyang.

Two of them are extremely important.

One is the Seljuk calendar revised by this person.

A book called "Algebra" can solve quadratic equations in a simple way, but the author doubts that there is no conventional solution to cubic equations.

This author is not only a poet, astronomer and mathematician, but also a physician and philosopher.

He also came from a humble background, his father was an Arab craftsman who made tents.

Even someone with such a background could become a famous scholar, which shows that the imperial examination system established by the Seljuks was really a success.

"Dong dong dong dong!"

The clock rang, and Zhu Ming put down his book, blew out the lamp, and went to sleep.

The automatic alarm clock has been invented, but it is a bit large and needs to be further reduced in size and improved before it can be put on the market.

However, the clock towers in major cities have begun to adopt this method.

……

After waking up early in the morning, Zhu Ming put on the Heavenly King Armor and rode his horse to the Tiansijian Horse Farm in the south.

A temporary platform for reviewing generals was built there, and Zhu Ming sat on the platform in armor, with heavily armored guards guarding him on both sides.

First, civil and military officials above the fifth rank lined up to bow to the emperor.

"Call the envoys from all nations!"

The envoys, deputy envoys and guards from more than 30 countries, all wearing their own armor, came forward one after another.

If you don't bring it, the Ming Dynasty will issue standard armor.

More than 200 people lined up in two rows and saluted Zhu Ming in a disorderly manner.

What etiquette is followed depends on the customs of each country.

Zhu Ming is not Zhu Di, who must force envoys from all nations to kneel down.

At that time, Timur's envoy refused to kneel, and Zhu Di could only laugh it off. Could he have killed the envoy? The envoy was Timur's prime minister.

At this moment, some people kneel on both knees, some kneel on one knee, some hold their chests and bow, and there are many other subdivisions.

For example, kneeling on both knees, some messengers just kowtowed, some put their hands together, and some suddenly prostrated themselves on the ground.

The way of bowing with the chest crossed is also different. Some people cross their hands on the chest, while others place one hand diagonally on the chest.

The Minister of Rites Hu Anguo felt very uncomfortable when he saw it.

He felt that by training in advance and unifying the envoys' movements, he could demonstrate the majesty of the coming of all nations.

Several painters stood on both sides of the platform, and had already captured the scene of the worship. They took out their brushes and quickly sketched out the basic form. The rest could be taken home and polished slowly.

It is estimated that several paintings of "All Nations Coming to Pay Homage" can be produced.

When the messengers stood aside, Zhang Guangdao came on horseback and said, "The six armies are ready. Please review them, Emperor!"

"Qiang!"

Zhu Ming stood up and drew his sword: "Parade."

Troops came one after another through the farmlands. Although the wheat had been harvested, other crops were still planted in the fields.

For farmland that has been trampled, autumn crops must be exempted and compensation for young crops must be paid.

This is what the Northern Song Dynasty did. Regardless of whether the funds could be distributed to the peasants, the imperial court would have allocated funds for the military parade.

The central army in Luoyang and Kaifeng has withdrawn from the field army and has been reorganized into the imperial guards of the two capitals.

The unit numbers are: Shen Ce, Shen Wu, Shen Xiao, Shen Ji, Long Xiang, Hu Yi, Ying Yang, Bao Tao.

There was also another palace guard: the Yulin.

If the regular civilian and logistical personnel are included, the total number of these nine troops is close to 100,000.

Not all of them were stationed in the two capitals, but also occupied important transportation routes.

The garrison locations around Luoyang are: Yanxi Town, Liuquan Town, Yique Town, Baibo Town, and Goushi Town. The garrison locations around Kaifeng are: Chenqiao Town, Guoqiao Town, Banqiao Town, Chicang Town, and Luguan Town.

The military camps were some distance away from the towns, and the daily consumption from the soldiers made the businesses in these towns more prosperous.

The conscription and discharge systems have also been reformed, divided into two models: internal town and external town.

Neizhen is a provincial capital where wars are seldom fought, and each county has a certain number of conscription quotas.

Children from farming families could sign up voluntarily. If a county could not gather enough soldiers, it would compulsorily recruit soldiers from families with more than two men.

New recruits from prefectures and counties are sent to the provincial capital for training. Based on their training results, they are assigned by the general and the commander-in-chief to various troops throughout the province to formally enlist. Given the existing transportation conditions, they can only be deployed within the province.

The basic service period for soldiers in the inner garrison troops is five years.

If you cannot be promoted after the time limit, you will be forced to retire.

This system has led to a significant increase in military spending.

The outer towns are frontier areas.

The basic service time ranges from eight to fifteen years, depending on the local population size, and recruitment of ethnic minorities is allowed.

If an emergency occurs and the border troops are insufficient in number, troops from the inner garrison will be dispatched immediately to replenish them.

Moreover, all the common people in the border areas must be organized into baojia groups and receive militia training. When there is no time to transfer troops from the inner towns, local baojia militia will be directly recruited.

As for the 100,000 central troops in the two capitals, the soldiers are recruited from provinces across the country, and the basic service period is still five years!

This was because they were afraid of repeating the mistakes of the Northern Song Dynasty, where the imperial guards were all locals of the capital. As a result, nepotism was rampant, with most officers being the sons of nobles who were uneducated and unskilled, and soldiers hanging around until they were in their 50s or 60s and not retiring, and they covered up for each other and withheld military pay.

In the Ming Dynasty's central army, if an officer was promoted to a certain level, he would be transferred to local troops for training.

Mid-level officers of the border army who perform well will be transferred to the central army, and after a few years of experience, they will be transferred back to their original units.

As I said, military spending has increased significantly as a result!

If financial constraints arise a hundred years from now, future rulers and ministers will certainly abolish the existing system.

But as long as it is not abolished, the Ming army can remain vibrant.

Moreover, all the veterans who have retired from the army are potential sources of high-quality soldiers.

With a war mobilization order, as long as the logistics can keep up, hundreds of thousands of soldiers can be mobilized in minutes and go directly to the battlefield without any training.

"Bang bang bang!"

Fifteen hundred Yulin soldiers marched in neat steps, most of them were heavy armored infantry, and a small number were heavy armored cavalry.

Gu San stepped forward and saluted: "I am the Imperial Guard, please review your majesty."

Zhu Ming pointed his sword sideways, and the Yulin Army marched past in a line and stood in a neat line at a place in the parade ground.

Of course, it is impossible to bring all the 100,000 imperial guards here.

Only 30,000 people were mobilized today.

The mere appearance of the Yulin Army was enough to shock those small countries.

Especially in the small countries in Nanyang, South Asia and Southeast Asia, the weather is hot in many places, and the armor is relatively simple. It would be hot to death if you are wrapped in armor.

The armor of the Yulin Army in front of them made them terrified.

The infantrymen were all covered in heavy armor, with only their eyes and mouths exposed. They also carried spears, bone darts, bows and arrows, both long-range and short-range weapons, as well as blunt weapons that could penetrate armor.

The cavalry was heavily armored, and the mere presence of 200 cavalry was enough to intimidate. With just a few heavy cavalry and some ordinary troops, it was enough to wipe out the small country.

The Seljuk Prime Minister Mulek was able to remain calm at this time.

Because the Seljuks also had heavy cavalry, which was the Sultan's guards directly under the Sultan, equipped with spears, swords, hammers and crossbows.

Soon, the firearms arrived!
The eight imperial guards, namely Shen Ce, Shen Wu, Shen Xiao, Shen Ji, Long Xiang, Hu Yi, Ying Yang and Bao Tao, are all composite military forces.

Not all the Shenji Army is composed of firearms soldiers, nor is all the Baotao Army composed of archers.

Charioteers, gunners, musketeers, spearmen, archers, grenadiers, cavalry, light cavalry... every unit is equipped with these types of troops.

They can fight individually or in coordination.

In special circumstances, they could also combine different types of troops. For example, if they went to Mobei, the cavalry and light cavalry could be drawn out, and the cavalry of each army could form a pure cavalry team to charge.

Compared with the decisive battle with the Jin Kingdom, the types of troops have changed.

The sword and shield soldiers were directly cancelled, while the number of muskets, artillery and cavalry increased.

That is, the defense is slightly reduced, and the long-range firepower and high-mobility troops are enhanced.

As a prime minister, Mulek knew how to fight and was a veteran Seljuk general. In the decisive battle with Yelu Dashi, he was appointed as the deputy commander-in-chief.

At first, Mulek didn't quite understand.

Until the armies begin their drills!
However, the armies retreated one after another, and the Shenwu and Shen Ce armies began to march.

The cavalry of the other six armies were separately drawn out and launched a surprise attack imitating the grassland cavalry.

Military trumpets sounded one after another, and the Shenwu and Shen Ce armies quickly formed a chariot formation.

The arrows without arrowheads were shot from afar by the cavalry. The defenders simply resisted with spears, and then the cavalry retreated when they could not break into the chariot formation.

Mulek was confused and didn't quite understand.

However, only when the attacking cavalry left far away did the defenders dare to show their true strength.

Some logistics personnel erected a large number of straw men as targets, and the farthest straw man was actually two miles away.

"Boom boom boom!"

The large-caliber field artillery fired first, followed by musket fire, then artillery short-range cannonballs, and then crossbow volleys. When the crossbow fired the third arrow, the musket that had fired before fired the second bullet, and then the grenadiers threw bombs and exploded continuously.

The straw men erected in front either fell down or were covered with bullet holes and arrows.

The envoys from various countries were in dead silence.

The Ming officials cheered.

Mulek opened his mouth wide. He imagined himself as the commander of the attacking side, leading the cavalry to attack the chariot formation.

It's probably collapsed by now.

"kill!"

The brave cavalry and light cavalry in the chariot formation suddenly rushed out from various passages, and they wanted to chase and kill the fleeing enemy.

Soon, all the straw men that were still standing were chopped down by the cavalry.

Mulek began to doubt his life: How should he fight this kind of military formation?
(End of this chapter)