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

Chapter 192 Yifan is a good son-in-law
Everyone present actually knew that they came to inspect this team from Xiangshan County mainly to watch them fire artillery.

At this time, as a decree was passed down, the barbarian cannon built by the capital was dragged onto the field and handed over to the soldiers of the Armed Forces.

In the stands, Zhu Yuanzhang said: "The prince-in-law said that the sergeants who came out of the Armed Forces Hall will be more receptive. There is no such artillery in Guangdong, let's see how well they do!"

After hearing this, the military generals on the stage became more focused.

After receiving the bombardment of the artillery, the soldiers of the Armed Forces formed a group of about ten people, grouped the five artillery pieces handed over to them, pushed them on the artillery position, and began to familiarize themselves with the artillery.

About two miles away, there was a huge target, simulating a city gate in a siege.The purpose of these artillery pieces is to blast through the city gate from a distance of two miles.

After looking at it for a while, Zhu Di said strangely: "What are they doing? What does that mean?"

As he spoke, he raised one of his hands, made a fist, raised it with a thumbs up, and looked at it. He didn't find anything special.

Speaking of the people in the stands, of course Prince Zhu Biao was the most familiar with artillery firing.He had been silent before, but when he heard his fourth brother's question, he smiled and explained: "They are using the thumb ranging method to initially estimate the distance between the target and the artillery, and they will return it later." We will conduct a preliminary test of the gun, then adjust the elevation angle, ammunition amount, etc., and quickly adjust the gun's aim."

After hearing this, Zhu Di looked at Zhu Biao and asked, "Brother, have you seen them practice before? How is your accuracy?"

Hearing the conversation between the two of them, except for Zhu Yuanzhang who had already heard Zhu Biao's explanation, no one else had heard it. Therefore, when they heard that the firing seemed very complicated, they all felt very strange and looked at Zhu Biao and listened to him. explanation of.

Zhu Biao smiled and said to his younger brother: "Isn't there no artillery in Xiangshan County? They are just simulating, calculating the amount of ammunition, elevation angle, distance, etc. How accurate the final result will be is unknown."

Having said this, he paused and then said: "They learn arithmetic in the Military Academy, but it's the kind I've never seen before. Anyway, it looks like they have a good skill. Let's take a look first. It's a mule. It’s a horse, I’ll find out soon!”

Sure enough, just as Zhu Biao finished speaking, he saw a flag being lit up over the artillery position. When the General Jinyiwei saw this, he immediately reported: "Your Majesty, the sergeant of Xiangshan County requested a test of the artillery!"

Zhu Yuanzhang listened and nodded in agreement: "That's right!"

So, the stands responded with flag waving.Then, over at the artillery position, a puff of gunpowder smoke rose into the sky, and the flames flashed past the muzzle of the blasting cannon.

Almost at the same time, a loud "boom" sound came.

However, the people present were not frightened by the loud sound.Everyone is almost looking at the target in the distance.

I saw an iron egg fall to the ground near the target, and then ejected, but unfortunately, it did not hit the target.

However, in the stands, Deng Yu said in surprise: "This artillery fire is really accurate. Although it missed, the direction was correct!"

The artillery accuracy of the Ming Dynasty at this time was random.Not only is it a smoothbore, but there is no front sight or anything like that, so it's all about feeling.

When Zhu Biao heard what he said, he smiled and explained: "The prince-in-law said that two points can determine a straight line. If you aim at the target, it will be three points and one line. There will definitely be no wrong direction."

After Deng Yu heard this, he smiled and said: "The prince-in-law knows so much, I have to obey him!"

When he came to the capital to watch the original competition, he was already very shocked.

The Prince Consort not only invented the Mandarin Duck Formation, but also improved gunpowder, and also presented Tiger Crouching Cannon, Ten Thousand Enemies and Explosive Packs, which greatly benefited him during the Western Expedition against Tibet.Unexpectedly, the prince-in-law also knew other things, and he couldn't help but admire him.

Zhu Biao listened and answered with a smile, with a little pride in his tone: "This brother-in-law is a genius!"

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard it, he also said with a smile: "My son-in-law is still young, so don't praise him face to face, lest he will become proud and complacent."

He is both brother-in-law and son-in-law, which clearly shows that this is my Zhu family.

When Deng Yu, Li Wenzhong and others heard this, they naturally congratulated them again. Having such a smart son-in-law is just a waste of saliva anyway, and the emperor and prince are happy.

People lift people in flower sedan chairs!
Of course, the Prince Consort's abilities are indeed there, so it's not just a boast.

Zhu Di did not interfere, but looked at the artillery position in the distance and suddenly said: "Brother, do you have to be able to write and do math to play with this artillery?"

Zhu Biao listened and answered his brother with a smile: "According to Yifan, he said that artillery is a technical branch, the kind that requires knowledge."

When Zhu Di heard this, he fell silent.

What are you doing? Just fight. What else do you need to learn?

While talking on this side, the artillery position on the other side raised the flag again, which was an invitation to test the artillery again.

After a while, the agreed decree was issued, there was another roar, and a Yiyi cannon roared again.

In the stands, suddenly, everyone's eyes widened with disbelief.

I saw that the target that was serving as the city gate two miles away was hit without any deviation.

You know, for people of this era, two miles away is already very far.

On the battlefield, when the two armies faced each other, they were only separated by this distance.

Because of the long-range weapons of this era, the range of muskets was not as good as that of bows and arrows.However, even the most powerful archer cannot shoot that far.

Deng Yu asked in surprise: "Isn't this just a coincidence?"

Li Wenzhong heard this, and said with a smile in surprise: "If it's not a coincidence, the next time we face off against the Mongol Tartars, let the bombardment cannon be aimed directly at their commander's banner!"

There was also a look of surprise on Zhu Yuanzhang's face, and he immediately ordered: "Pass the message, set another target, farther away, and change the direction."

Seeing a general in uniform hurriedly delivering the order, Zhu Di suddenly said: "I bet you can still hit it!"

Only he dared to say this in front of Zhu Yuanzhang.

Hearing his words, others naturally looked at him.

Zhu Di met his father's gaze and immediately explained: "That boy Yifan is very good at it. He said it can be calculated. My son thought that it must be possible to calculate it. He can't be wrong! "

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang did not comment, but said lightly: "Let's wait and see first, don't make a conclusion so early!"

However, the result did not exceed Zhu Di's expectations. After the test, the officers and soldiers of the Military Equipment Hall adjusted the shooting parameters, and they hit again.

Zhu Yuanzhang then issued an order to set the target four miles away to see the effect.

This time, after the test, several artillery pieces were fired at the same time. The impact point of the iron bullets was right around the target, and the accuracy was slightly off.

However, as far as this era is concerned, that is absolutely accurate!

From four miles away, the naked eye can no longer tell whether it is a hit or not.

After this series of gunfire, it was enough to prove how powerful the artillery skills of the Armed Forces soldiers were.Or in other words, the range and accuracy of the artillery can indeed be calculated.

After the decree was passed down, Zhu Liangzu came to the stands with the auxiliary tools for firing.

He introduced artillery-related technologies to Zhu Yuanzhang and several famous generals, such as table rod ranging, thumb ranging, artillery elevation angle, etc.

During the explanation, the prince asked curiously: "What kind of pen is this?"

After hearing this, Zhu Liangzu immediately replied respectfully: "This is the pen made by the prince consort with lime. It can be used to write on this piece of wood covered with ink, and you can write again after wiping it off with your hand. The prince consort said, Neither writing brushes nor quills are suitable for battlefield use."

After speaking, he also gave a demonstration on the spot.

To be honest, the pen in Zhu Liangzu's hand is far inferior to the chalk of later generations, and he can only make do with it.But this simple pen is more convenient than ever.

Zhu Liangzu's numbers were written crookedly, but no one took them lightly because they couldn't understand what they were.

After the demonstration, Zhu Yuanzhang was very pleased and said to Zhu Liangzu: "You did a good job at Wu Beitang in Xiangshan County. Not only did you teach the skills without reservation, but you also learned how to fight with artillery. You are still a fool of Yongjiahou, continue Do your job well and remember this lesson!”

Zhu Liangzu was not the only one who was stripped of his title or official position because of his mistakes, and then had his title and official position reinstated if he performed well later.

However, for Zhu Liangzu, he was overjoyed to be able to restore his title, and he immediately knelt down to thank him.

When Zhu Yuanzhang saw it, he said with a smile: "We are all old brothers who conquered the world together. As long as you abide by the rules, how can I ignore the friendship of the old brothers!"

After hearing this, Deng Yu, Li Wenzhong and others followed suit and thanked him.

By accident, Zhu Yuanzhang used Zhu Liangzu's incident to beat others.

At least Zhu Biao noticed that his father looked at Duke Wei a few more times when these courtiers were saluting him.

He felt like Ming Jing, his father took this opportunity to warn Duke Wei.

Seeing Zhu Liangzu gratefully returning to the queue of soldiers in the Military Beitang, Zhu Yuanzhang pointed at those people and said to several famous generals around him: "How about it, the Military Beitang that the prince-in-law has built in Xiangshan County is still very useful, right?" ?”

Before anyone else could speak, he continued: "They were just ordinary people more than a year ago, but now they have shown such performance, especially the artillery can fire accurately. I think there should be more weapons like this at the Armed Forces." Some, what do you think?"

Although he was asking a question, his attitude couldn't be more obvious.

You want to say how outstanding the performance of the sergeants of Xiangshan County Military Beitang is not necessarily, at least in the eyes of these famous generals, they are really not as good as those soldiers who fought in the founding of the country.

However, there are naturally advantages.

Zhu Yuanzhang is also a military master, and his level is also first-rate.What he emphasized was that using this Armed Forces model, a farmer could be turned into a good sergeant.

In addition, the sergeants of Xiangshan County Armed Forces also showed a shocking side in artillery technology.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang did not emphasize that these soldiers of Xiangshan County Armed Forces were new to artillery and were very proficient in these artillery, everyone understood that this was beyond the reach of ordinary soldiers.

When Deng Yu saw Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes looking at him, he did not hesitate and immediately replied truthfully: "Your Majesty is wise, once the Military Beitang comes out, our Ming Dynasty will no longer have to worry about qualified sergeants, and even these should be able to serve as General, as long as he has experienced some more battles, he should be able to serve as a junior officer in the army!"

When Zhu Yuanzhang saw him, he turned to look at Li Wenzhong.

Currently in the capital, these two princes are the only ones who are at war with each other the most.

When Li Wenzhong saw it, he followed suit and said, "General, I think it's really good. Wu Beitang is very good!"

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said: "Both my dear friends said so. I will send someone to ask the consort who created this military service hall to see what else he has to say? If there is no accident, then next year the governor will Let’s prepare the military preparation hall here!”

He made the decision and the matter was settled.

Zhu Di, who was on the side, listened to what they were saying, and suddenly said: "Father, my son, the navy, also wants to set up a military training hall. Can some of the sergeants from Xiangshan County be transferred to my son to serve as instructors? At least they are the most powerful in artillery!"

At this point, he was afraid that Zhu Yuanzhang would not give it, so he quickly added: "In naval operations, if artillery can be used to destroy enemy ships, it will be a decisive victory. Therefore, artillery is crucial!"

After Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he thought for a while and said, "Don't worry, I'll ask Yifan first and then talk."

The Wu Bei Tang incident was caused by Zhang Yifan.He hasn't figured out some details about Armed Forces yet, so he wants to figure them all out before making plans.

However, the matter of opening the Armed Forces Hall has already been decided.

Except for Zhu Liangzu, who was restored to his title, the other soldiers of Xiangshan County's Wu Beitang were given rewards and temporarily stayed in the capital.

Zhu Yuanzhang asked Mao Xiang, the commander of Jinyiwei, to send someone to quickly deliver a letter to Zhang Yifan.Of course, in the name of Prince Zhu Biao, Zhu Yuanzhang himself still did not communicate directly.

A quick ride back and forth, Zhang Yifan's reply was sent back just in time for the year before.

When Zhu Biao received Zhang Yifan's reply, he did not open it and read it, but sent it directly to the palace.

Seeing that the seal was not opened, Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Zhu Biao, opened the envelope without saying anything, took out the letter and read it.

Zhu Biao found that his father had a serious expression when he read the letter.

However, after Zhu Yuanzhang finished reading, he showed a little smile and said: "This boy still refuses to practice calligraphy properly. You can tell at a glance that Jing Jing wrote it for him!"

After finishing speaking, he asked the eunuch beside him to pass the letter to Zhu Biao for reading.

As for himself, while Zhu Biao was reading the letter, he was tapping the imperial case rhythmically with his knuckles, obviously thinking about something.

After Zhu Biao finished reading, he came back to his senses and asked, "What do you think?"

Obviously, there are many things now, Zhu Yuanzhang will ask his son's thoughts and cultivate his son's ability.

After Zhu Biao heard this, he answered Zhu Yuanzhang: "Be prepared for danger in times of peace. Even if the world is at peace, we should not abandon military affairs. We should practice the method of despising military force and emphasizing literature. Civility and military are the two legs of a man, and they cannot be long or short. In response to these remarks, my minister I deeply agree!"

Speaking of this, he quickly added: "When I was still in Xiangshan County, I heard Yifan chatting and said that he lived by the sea. I heard people who went to sea said that in this world, apart from what we know, There are also countries further away. When the Mongol Empire swept across the world, they traveled to other places."

"The countries over there are not unified like ours, but have many small countries attacking each other. However, because the royal families of various countries are related to each other, and they have religious sects to mediate, there will be no Qin unification of the six countries."

"In this way, their military power will definitely not be weak. The emergence of firearms will make up for the lack of manpower. If this continues, and the Ming Dynasty's military power does not develop, one day in the future, there will be more than just surrounding foreign enemies."

When Zhu Biao said this, he emphasized: "In this way, we must be prepared for danger in times of peace, and we must pay equal attention to civil and military affairs. There must be county schools, government schools, and Imperial College for civil affairs, and military affairs must also have hierarchical military preparation halls. Erchen believes that this is indeed the case! In the former Song Dynasty, Abandoning military force and focusing on culture, for the rest of his life he will be weak and can be bullied."

After saying this, he hesitated for a moment, and then continued: "As for Yifan saying that the highest-level military service hall requires the Ming Emperor to serve as the sacrificial wine, I am a little confused. My father must be the sacrificial wine. No problem, but if I don’t tell you, how can the future Emperor of the Ming Dynasty be the sacrificial wine of the Military Beitang?"

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he smiled slightly and said: "What that boy means is that both civil and military students are students of the Ming Emperor, and respecting teachers and teaching is our Chinese tradition. In this way, the Ming Emperor does not have the ability to teach civil and military students. , but they must have this title. As for those who teach them civil and military skills, they can be instructors, doctors, etc. "

Zhu Biao was nudged by his father and suddenly realized: "Yifan, this kid, is putting all his efforts into thinking for us!"

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang was also happy and said: "Yifan is a good son-in-law!"

She has no selfish motives and only thinks of ways to ensure the longevity of the Ming Dynasty. This daughter, Jing Jing, is really worth marrying!

There is a deeper matter in Zhang Yifan's letter, which Zhu Yuanzhang did not mention because it was not necessary, which is the benefit of the establishment of the Military Beitang.

In his letter, Zhang Yifan proposed setting up military training halls at different levels. Students could come from the military or civilians. In the end, the Ming Emperor would firmly control the army and would not let it become the private army of a certain general.

This is an issue that Zhu Yuanzhang has always been very concerned about.He had thought about Song Taizu releasing his military power over a glass of wine, and he had also thought about being more ruthless. However, Zhang Yifan came up with a third solution.

Of course, this is definitely not very safe, and other measures are needed.

But no matter what, it gave Zhu Yuanzhang a new choice.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said to Zhu Biao: "That guy mentioned his fish floss in the letter. I think it's okay, so I'll let the fourth one buy it first and try it!"

This can be considered a reward!That kid is now focused on Xiangshan County. Half of the three-year period has passed!

　Ask for support!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)