Early Ming Dynasty: Turning Clouds and Rains into New Learning Saints

Chapter 123 Sudden Arrival
Zhu Di was taken aback for a moment, obviously, he didn't expect Zhang Yifan to say that.

After recovering from his senses, Zhu Di was overjoyed immediately, and quickly stretched out his hand to grab Zhang Yifan's shoulder, and at the same time asked joyfully, "Quickly, is there any way to improve?"

As long as Zhang Yifan says there is a better one, the facts prove that it is really good!
Zhang Yifan had been wary of him for a long time. As soon as he saw him extending his claws, he immediately took two steps back and sternly warned: "Stop, if you catch me again I won't say anything!"

"Hehe!" Zhu Di chuckled, stood still, and did not chase after him. He just said, "Okay, you say, I won't arrest you!"

After a pause, he added: "Actually, I am like this because I am close to you, you know? I haven't arrested others yet!"

After hearing this, Zhang Yifan said angrily: "No need!"

He felt like a mirror in his heart, this Zhu Di was somewhat dissatisfied with his unwillingness to stay in the army, and deliberately used his strength to show off.

After finishing speaking, Zhang Yifan said seriously: "Look, if you had packed the gunpowder and the gravel in paper in a certain amount in advance, wouldn't it be faster to load it? Then the gunpowder can be torn open and directly Pour it in, and you don’t even need to tear up the gravel?”

Hearing this, Zhu Di hadn't recovered yet, but the commander was very excited, and couldn't help saying: "The law of the son-in-law is very good, very good!"

Obviously, in terms of these details, the commander who has experienced actual combat is more sensitive than Zhu Di, and he immediately realized the benefits of quantitative loading.

When Zhu Di heard this, he turned his head and glanced at him. Seeing that he was so happy, he knew that this improvement was better than he imagined, so he turned around and said the same: "Not bad, is there anything else?"

After hearing this, Zhang Yifan pointed at a certain part of the squatting tiger cannon and said: "Also, you are the igniter of the cannon. You don't need to sprinkle the gunpowder powder like this. Can you make it like a thread with gunpowder wrapped in it? This is how to ignite the gun." Isn’t it more convenient?”

What he said was actually the fuse. This thing was invented very late, probably not until the [-]th century.Of course, at this time, the requirements are not so high, as long as there is progress compared with spreading gunpowder to ignite.

It was also this backward ignition method that caused the fire door gun at this time to generally require two people to operate, which was too troublesome.

Hearing this, Zhu Di immediately said loudly without even thinking about it: "Yes, that's a good idea!"

After he finished speaking, he hesitated for a moment, then glanced at the commander and saw that he was also happy. Then he came back to his senses and added: "It's really good, is there anything else?"

"There are not so many. I can think of two areas for improvement. That would be great!" Zhang Yifan looked at him angrily and reminded him, "That fuse is not that easy to make. You can make it first!"

If the gunpowder is directly wrapped in paper, the gunpowder will leak, spill, hollow, etc., and it still takes a little effort to make it well.

"Your Highness, will you go find a craftsman to try this fuse...?" The commander took the initiative to interrupt again and asked Zhu Di for instructions.

As a veteran in the army, he knew immediately that the fuse proposed by the Prince Consort would probably have a very big impact. For example, the fire door gun would be improved. In the future, the fire door gun might not need two people to operate it, which would be very important for military combat. Strength will be greatly improved.

When Zhu Di saw that he was so active, he knew that Zhang Yifan's improvement measures were better than he expected. He was so happy that he naturally would not refuse to agree.

After watching the commander stride away, Zhu Di stretched out his hand and noticed Zhang Yifan's guarded look, so he took his hand back and rubbed it, then said with a smile: "It's meal time, I'll treat you to something delicious. how?"

"That's pretty much it!" Zhang Yifan nodded expectantly after hearing this.

So, he followed Zhu Di away.

It was already dinner time and he was hungry.

As a result, what he never expected was that this classmate Zhu Di actually brought him a large bowl of rice with several large pieces of fat on top.

"That's it?" Zhang Yifan was speechless as he looked at the bowl that Zhu Di stuffed into his hand.

When Zhu Di saw it, there was obviously a trace of satisfaction on his face, and he said to Zhang Yifan: "Why, isn't it enough? Seeing that you performed well today, I can give you another piece! You know, the most popular person in the army is this one Rice with big fat meat!”

"..." Zhang Yifan was speechless after hearing this. He knew that Zhu Di was trying to squeeze him again.

Okay, just eat what you want. We are not picky about food. We just eat and live with the soldiers!

Zhang Yifan thought to himself and started eating.Although it is a bit greasy, I have to say that it is very satisfying.

When Zhu Di saw it, he couldn't help but froze for a moment, obviously a little surprised.

When he came back to his senses, he had the same bowl and started eating it with Zhang Yifan.

Not far away, the soldiers who had finished eating saw that the prince-in-law was eating the same thing as them, and they all looked at Zhang Yifan with more respect.

For them, no matter what you look like outside, the only way to gain their true recognition is to win their hearts.

Zhu Di did it, and now, after Zhang Yifan has done several things, he has been recognized by them.

........................

As the time for the competition came, everyone in the capital, driven by interested people, began to pay attention to this competition.

There is a memorial from the imperial censor, saying that this competition is a rare event, a battle between the old and the new in the Ming Dynasty. All civil and military officials can watch the battle together to show the emperor's attention and fairness.

Hu Weiyong and the others then echoed, saying that experienced veterans would be able to give more pointers, no matter how they dealt with King Yan and his son-in-law, or with Sapphire.

In fact, he was afraid that Lan Yu would give in, or that Zhu Yuanzhang would be partial.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang knew it well, he pretended not to know and pretended to agree.

Therefore, the day of the competition was lively.

The civil servants and military generals did not go to the Yamen to do their work first, but rushed to the Jingying Campus to watch the theater and eat melon.

Military generals on horseback and civil servants in sedan chairs slowly gathered into a crowd and arrived at the capital camp.

Along the way, when I met familiar people, I chatted with each other in a relaxed and comfortable way.

However, it was hard for Zhang Yifan, one of the parties involved.

On weekdays, he would definitely sleep until he woke up naturally.But on this day, it didn't work. The genius Meng Mengliang was awakened by Zhu Jingjing.

They put him into warrior uniform, had breakfast, and rushed to meet Zhu Di when it was still dark.

Compared with Zhang Yifan, Zhu Di was full of energy, as if he had endless energy.Seeing Zhang Yifan arriving, he was still in the mood to tease him: "I thought you would be late today!"

"Don't tell me, if Jing Jing hadn't urged me, I would have been late." Zhang Yifan said, looked at the sky and said, "Look, it's still dark today!"

"No, it should be a cloudy day today." After hearing this, Zhu Di shook his head and said, "Before, it would have been dawn long ago!"

"Oh, it seems to be!" Zhang Yifan yawned, remembering.

Seeing him like this, Zhu Di couldn't help but gloat: "I heard that my father is planning to assign jobs to you after the competition. Then you will have to get up early every day!"

When Zhang Yifan heard this, he suddenly felt bad.

This classmate Zhu Yuanzhang was very energetic, and then asked his courtiers to accompany him early in the morning. He really had no human rights at all!
"By the way, the two improvements you mentioned later have been tested and are indeed very good!" Zhu Di remembered something and said to Zhang Yifan, "Father already knows about it and is very happy."

"Can you give me a day off? Let me tell you, I can only come up with good ideas when I'm full of sleep and refreshed!"

After hearing this, Zhu Di looked at him with contempt and said, "Go and tell Father yourself. I remember that my second brother was lazy and was spanked by Father himself, and he used a military stick!" "..." Zhang Yifan heard this, My heart suddenly went cold.

When he came back to his senses and was about to ask about the situation again, Zhu Di became serious, looked at the time, and gave the order to set off.

After hearing this, Zhang Yifan did not dare to be immoral and immediately followed his military orders.

Lan Yu also got up early early.Of course, he got up early out of habit, not on purpose.Leading his men, he arrived at the school grounds first.

Standing in front of the five hundred sergeants, there was no need to look back to organize the team. The men behind him all had serious expressions and stood very neatly, as if they were one person, exuding a murderous aura.

Anyone who sees it will know that this is an elite who has been killed on the battlefield for a long time.

The civil servants and military generals who had arrived naturally commented immediately, and no one dared to say anything that underestimated this army.

Many people even began to whisper in private, introducing Lan Yu's achievements.

"I'm afraid you don't know. I once heard His Majesty say that among the generals in the army, in terms of bravery, the first one is King Kaiping, the second is Yingchuan Marquis, and the third is him."

"Is it really that powerful?"

"No, let me tell you the few things I know..."

"..."

If Lan Yu was not particularly famous before under the cover of famous generals, then at this moment, he is really famous.

Including Chang Yuchun's evaluation of him, Zhu Yuanzhang's evaluation of him, as well as his major and minor wars, were all revealed.

In the end, many people stared at Sapphire in amazement, obviously knowing that Sapphire was more powerful than they thought before.

At this time, Zhu Di led his men to appear on the school field, and they also gathered in front of the stage at the same time.

As soon as this team appeared, it immediately attracted everyone's attention.

"Yes, this is also an elite team. The team marches in an orderly manner and has momentum!"

"Aren't you talking in vain? These are 500 people selected from the emperor's guards. Can they not be elite?"

"You guys say this is boring. I just want to ask, what kind of weapon is that? Why haven't I seen it before?"

"I haven't seen it before either. What a strange weapon!"

"..."

Listening to the discussion from the civil and military officials, Lan Yu originally wanted to ignore it, but finally turned around to see what kind of weapon it was, which surprised the generals in front.

As a result, Lan Yu frowned at this look.

It wasn't just because he saw that strange weapon, but because he saw that King Yan's subordinates turned out to be a mixture of multiple types of arms.

As a veteran in the army, he naturally knows how to coordinate the arms. If each arm is given full play to its strengths, he will definitely have a greater advantage over a single arm.

But the problem is, everyone knows that it is best for multiple arms to cooperate in combat, but it is also very difficult to cooperate with multiple arms to combat.

The strengths and weaknesses of each arm, which arm and which arm, under what circumstances cooperation will be good, under what circumstances cooperation will be self-defeating, and so on, it is all a science.Unless you are proficient in the theory of the art of war and familiar with the advantages and disadvantages of arms, you will not be able to figure it out.

Even Sapphire herself has some experience in simple multi-army coordination.However, for complex multi-arms coordination, especially the more different arms, he felt more strenuous and did not try.

So here comes the question, how can this 16-year-old Yan Wang come up with the best combination of arms and train his troops?
In the past, he only taught martial arts training in Zhongdu. It was impossible for him to have the ability to create his own formations, especially the most difficult multi-arms coordination formations!
Thinking of this, Lan Yu couldn't help but turn her head and look at the empty seat on the general stage.

That's the emperor's seat!
That's right, in Lan Yu's mind, only Zhu Yuanzhang has the ability to help his son like this.Whether it is a famous general who compiles a formation with multiple arms, or it is simply a formation compiled by Zhu Yuanzhang himself, it is very possible.

However, in only three months, could King Yan master the complex multi-arms coordination formation?
To be honest, Lan Yu was still a little skeptical.

As for the current situation, King Yan's men also look elite. The team is neat and there is no chaos in the march.However, for these, Lan Yu attributed this more to the fact that these sergeants were originally selected from the emperor's guards.

After a while, when you go back and start the competition, it will be clear whether it is a mule or a horse.

When Lan Yu was thinking about it, suddenly, she heard some movement and turned her head to see that it was the emperor leading a group of civil and military officials.What shocked him even more was that some of the famous founding generals who were leading the army outside also came.

No, behind Zhu Yuanzhang, there were no surprises in the civil service, including South Korean Duke Li Shanchang, Prime Minister Hu Weiyong, the former left censor, Wang Guangyang, who was promoted to right prime minister just two days ago, and so on.

However, on the general's side, Duke Xu Da of Wei, Duke Li Wenzhong of Cao, Duke Feng Sheng of Song, and Duke Deng Yu of Wei were also present.Of course, there was actually another Duke, Chang Mao, Duke of Zheng, but he was ignored by Lan Yu, his uncle.

What shocked Lan Yu was that these princes should all be guarding the frontier to prevent the remnants of the remnants from invading the frontier, so why did they come here?

They are coming, what will happen over the border?
In fact, Lan Yu was not the only one who was shocked, but when these princes appeared, many people didn't even know about them beforehand, and they were all as shocked as Lan Yu.

Even sharp-eyed people could tell that Wei Guogong and the others seemed a little tired, so they might have rushed back.

All of a sudden, all the civil and military officials were curious, thinking: What on earth happened to make these princes come back in such a hurry?

They never thought that these princes might have been specially called back by Zhu Yuanzhang to watch this competition.

Because in their understanding, the combination of King Yan and the Prince Consort cannot be Lan Yu's opponent at all.

That is to say, Prime Minister Hu Weiyong was a little suspicious and thought about this.

Because he was the prime minister of the Ming Dynasty, all major military and state affairs had to pass through his hands and then be presented to the emperor.He knows best if something big has happened that would require the ministers guarding the border to come back for discussion.

Obviously, no, at least Hu Weiyong didn't think there was anything that would make these princes leave the northern Xinjiang they were guarding and rush back to the capital.

You must know that at this time, the southwest, west, north, northeast and other places of the Ming Dynasty were all controlled by the former Yuan Dynasty, and they had strong troops. What if these famous generals invaded when they were away?
Hu Weiyong also discovered that these princes had arrived in the capital when he went to the Forbidden City early this morning to wait for the emperor to come with him.

No, at this time, he followed Zhu Yuanzhang to the general platform. When he stood on the side of the civil servants, his eyes were looking at the several famous generals opposite him, and then he turned to look at King Yan, murmuring in his heart. .

Looking at this posture, it seems that King Yan will definitely win!
If this is the case, based on Hu Weiyong's understanding of Zhu Yuanzhang, it is really possible for the founding emperor to risk the frontier being attacked by the former Yuan army to recall these famous generals to watch this competition.

The reason is very simple. Just like Hu Weiyong wanted greater power, he was also very clear about the founding emperor's desire for power.Recall these famous generals of the state and let them see how powerful the emperor's son is in leading troops to fight. He can defeat a veteran general in the army at the age of 16!

This is a kind of demonstration, silent, but it can make the imperial power more powerful, suppressing these famous generals who dare not have any dissent!
If this is the case, Hu Weiyong felt a little bit bitter in his heart, and dared to think of a way to let all civil and military officials watch this competition, wouldn't it fall into the emperor's favor?

Thinking of this, Hu Weiyong couldn't help but look at Lan Yu again.He still couldn't imagine that with Lan Yu's ability, he would lose to King Yan who was only 16 years old and had never actually led an army to fight?
Unless Lan Yu loses on purpose!

However, these famous generals are watching. What ability does Lan Yu have to prevent them from seeing that he deliberately lost?
If it can be seen, then Zhu Yuanzhang's doing so is self-defeating, and it will damage the authority and credibility of the emperor!It is even more unimaginable to call the frontier coach back to the capital with such a great deal of violence!
Thinking of this, Hu Weiyong's mind was confused: what the hell is going on?What kind of medicine was sold in the gourd of the founding emperor?

In fact, it's not just him.Even the Dukes, who had just returned from Kuai Ma, were confused at this time.For example, Xu Da, who guarded the front lines of Shanxi and Peiping, had to face more than 20 enemies, entrenched outside the pass and in Liaodong.

Although, according to the emperor's wishes, he made a strange move, which should make the Tartars chaotic for a while.But after all, the enemy was very powerful, so he rushed back in a hurry, but he had nothing to do, just to watch a competition between his sons-in-law?

(End of this chapter)