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

Chapter 221 Zhu Di’s Hope

Zhang Yifan didn't want to say anything at first, but would wait until he had an on-site inspection.However, now that he heard Zhu Di's questioning and saw that everyone else in the palace also wanted to know very much, he thought for a moment and changed his mind, thinking that it would be okay to speak out first.

So, he looked at Zhu Di with an expectant face and said: "There is a long-distance communication method that can be used, which is to build a signal tower on the highest mountain top. If the enemy is discovered and the signal tower sends out a signal, then we can It can be transmitted over a long distance. I think this method can solve the problem you just mentioned!"

When Zhu Di heard this, he couldn't help being speechless. With a disappointed look on his face, he said to Zhang Yifan: "Yifan, you... isn't this a beacon tower! This thing has been around for a long time, don't you know?"

Xu Da and others were also disappointed after hearing this.I thought there was some good solution, but unexpectedly, it turned out to be Beacon Tower's solution. Who doesn't know this?
After all, the Prince Consort was from Liujiacun. He might be talented in other areas, but he had no experience. He thought he had come up with a good idea, but it turned out to be something that had already been used.

Thinking about this, Xu Da also spoke and explained to Zhang Yifan: "The beacon tower can indeed send messages and let us know that the enemy has entered the border. However, the beacon tower cannot let us know the specific situation and movements of the enemy. We can only It’s just about knowing how many enemies have entered the pass. Just the number of enemies can be communicated by burning a few piles of beacon fire. If there are more, there will be nothing we can do!”

Listening to his detailed explanation, Zhang Yifan smiled slightly and said: "I know the beacon tower, but I am talking about the signal tower. Different from the beacon tower, the signal tower can convey more information, and can even talk to people, and can A detailed explanation of the enemy’s situation.”

"What?" Zhu Di was very surprised when he heard this. He was overjoyed and immediately asked, "Tell me, tell me, what does this signal tower look like? Can it explain the enemy's situation in detail?"

Xu Da and the others were also surprised when they heard this, but the expressions on their faces were mostly skeptical.

After so many years of fighting, or in other words, since ancient times, I have never heard of such a signal tower. It not only has the convenience of a beacon tower, but can also make up for the shortcomings of a beacon tower?

impossible?

Compared to them, Zhu Di, who knew Zhang Yifan better, was overjoyed.He knew that if Zhang Yifan said it existed, then it really existed!
Zhang Yifan listened and explained confidently: "This signal tower can be understood as the appearance of a person. It can express different words through different expressions of hands and feet. I have a way to express this to express different words later. Let’s solve it. The current problem is to know if there is a suitable hilltop in the north to build this signal tower to facilitate the transmission of messages!”

Speaking of this, he paused and then seriously added: "With the help of a telescope, you can see farther and more clearly. Of course, this method of signal towers also has a disadvantage. If it is raining or snowing, There are also heavy foggy days, the view will be blocked, and it may not be possible to deliver the message.”

When Xu Da heard this, he was immediately overjoyed. As a famous general who had led troops in wars all his life, he knew the importance of the message. He was the first to ask: "Prince-in-law, you can probably explain this kind of message clearly." To what extent?”

As for the flaws of the weather, it doesn't matter.After all, beacon towers are also affected by weather.And this kind of extreme weather is still rare after all.If the message could really be conveyed clearly, its impact on the war would be absolutely unpredictable.

When Zhang Yifan heard the question, he turned to look at Xu Da, who looked surprised and expectant, and replied without hesitation: "Theoretically, it can be as detailed as talking to a person, but it will take a long time to deliver the message, so it will be more complicated." It’s concise and concise, but it can still explain the details clearly.”

Having said this, he emphasized: "So, the location of the signal tower is very important. In addition, a group of soldiers with flexible minds must be selected to do this. After I figured out the code, I trained them and taught them how to transmit information."

Zhu Di, Xu Da and others couldn't understand the meaning of coding, but they could feel Zhang Yifan's confidence after listening to Zhang Yifan's words, knowing that he had indeed come up with a good solution.The key point is how to use actions to express what you want to say.

At least for them, they still couldn't imagine it.But smart things are left to smart people.

They don't know that the signal tower introduced by Zhang Yifan, or the way of thinking, was originally invented during the French Revolution, and it was the result of many revisions. It was praised by the French at that time. Included in the four great inventions of mankind: printing, gunpowder, the compass, and "symbolic language for long-distance communication."

What Zhang Yifan wants to do is to create the best signal tower in history, that is, to use the least combination of expressions to convey information. The key point is of course coding.

In the next few days, after Zhang Yifan settled down in Prince Yan's Mansion, he immediately started planning the signal tower.

As for the coding method, he decided to compile a small book with commonly used words, and then use the horizontal and vertical coordinates to identify one of the words.The advantage of this is that any word can be determined by only two horizontal and vertical coordinates.

As for the signal tower, as long as there are ten different representation methods from 0 to 9, the operation will be simple and the structure will not be complicated.

Zhang Yifan drew the structure of the signal tower on paper, and Zhu Di immediately asked someone to build the signal tower.In order to see clearly, the signal tower should be as large as possible.

While they were busy at this time, Li Shanchang did not stop for a moment and quietly went south back to the capital.He didn't even tell anyone else, he just left a letter saying he wouldn't bother them, but he was actually afraid of being asked to stay.

When he looked back at the Peking City that was about to be invisible, Li Shanchang had a smile on his face that showed success: he had finally deceived the prince-in-law into the front line, and there would be no results in three to five years.If one of them fails and something unexpected happens, that would be better.

As the number one hero who followed Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the world, he had been in Peiping for two or three months, so he naturally understood the situation in Peiping very well.That is, there is no advantage at all over the Mongolian and Yuan armies.If you just stay within the Great Wall, it's not that big of a deal.But if anyone can't hold back and wants to attack, the strength of both sides will inevitably change, which is very dangerous.

And King Yan, hehe, just wanted to make great achievements.If Xu Da hadn't been watching, he would have been out of seclusion long ago.Now that he goes back and the prince-in-law comes, it may strengthen King Yan's determination to go to war.

The show is about to begin!When the time comes, I will be "waiting for good news" in Nanjing!
Thinking of this, Li Shanchang stopped looking back and went straight south!

What Li Shanchang probably didn't expect was that no one cared about his departure at all.All the generals were staring at the signal tower mentioned by the Prince Consort.

One advantage of concentrating on doing things is that it is easy to do what you want to do.

As soon as Zhang Yifan's signal tower drawings came out, Zhu Di asked Zhang Yifan to demonstrate the real thing the next day.

The signal tower erected on the ground is somewhat similar to a human arm, with movable joints. It can represent the ten numbers from 10 to 0 in 9 different ways by swinging the two arms. It is also simple to do.

While Zhang Yifan directed them to make corresponding gestures, he took out the code book he had worked on and explained it to Zhu Di and Xu Da who were standing beside him.To put it bluntly, the transmission method of this signal tower is actually very easy to understand.That is to first translate what you want to say into numbers according to the code book, and then use different gesture combinations to transmit the message through the signal tower.As long as you see it, you can pass it on.With a telescope, you can see farther away.

Although Zhang Yifan said before that this kind of signal tower transmits messages just like talking to people, it is still a bit exaggerated.However, it is undeniable that compared to the beacon tower, this one can really speak.

And Chinese characters can be concise and comprehensive, which is more efficient than Western alphabet transmission.

After Xu Da understood how the entire signal tower operated, he was overjoyed and immediately decided to go out and select the hills himself to see where to deploy the signal tower to cover as many areas as possible.

This task does require experienced generals to do it, but it is undeniable that this is also a hard job.However, Xu Da didn't care. As long as this was done well, the Mongolian Tatars would either not enter the pass. If they entered the pass and the weather was good, the imperial officers and soldiers would be able to know them well.

If it reaches this level and cannot deal a heavy blow to the invading enemy, then it is really better to go back to farming.

On Zhu Di's side, he immediately selected agile soldiers from across the army, and Zhang Yifan provided training on how to operate the signal tower.

Most of the military lieutenants are illiterate.As a result of the selection, it was found that most of them were those who were training in the Armed Forces.

Fortunately, a signal tower only requires one literate person. It does not matter if the other guards and operators of the signal tower are not literate.Even some signal towers are only used for transfer. It doesn't matter if none of them can read. You just need to record the content expressed by the signal tower and do it again.

A month later, when Zhang Yifan's training was almost complete, Xu Da had also returned and marked all the hills to be deployed on the map.

Generally speaking, it is mainly along a horizontal line of the Great Wall, and then there are three vertical lines from the border of Shanxi to Shanhaiguan. With a relatively large grid, it basically radiates the entire area north of Beiping.

Next, naturally, Xu Da chose the hilltop to build a signal tower and deploy soldiers to operate and guard the signal tower. All the telescopes in the army were first collected and distributed to the soldiers in these signal towers.They will have to wait for a new batch of telescopes to arrive from Nanjing before they can be re-equipped with the military generals.

In early November of Hongwu 13, these deployments were basically completed, and then came the practice stage.

The message is transmitted to the designated signal tower here in Peiping, or the message is transmitted to Peiping from the signal tower on the border.In the beginning, if you are not proficient, you will make mistakes.When the weather is bad, some signal towers are too far away, making it difficult to see clearly with a telescope.

Regarding these situations, Zhang Yifan, Xu Da and others are thinking of ways to improve or use remedial measures to optimize this signal tower communication method.

It is undeniable that regardless of the shortcomings of this signal tower, for this era, it has an unparalleled speed advantage.

In just half a day, Beiping can know what is happening anywhere.This was simply unimaginable before.

With this signal tower as an aid, the experienced Xu Da immediately re-adjusted the deployment of troops.As for how to deploy, Zhang Yifan didn't understand.According to Zhu Di's explanation, it seems that he intentionally exposed his flaws, and there is something that can quickly deploy troops. There are adjustments.

Recently, Zhang Yifan has been hearing Zhu Di’s nagging: It’s already winter, so the Mongolian Tatars are coming, right?

In the past, he was afraid of the Tatars coming to harass him, but now, Zhu Di is looking forward to the Tatars coming!
According to Zhang Yifan's impression, there is indeed a record in the original history: In the first month of the 14th year of Hongwu, Yuan general Duoer Buhua and others invaded Yongping.Xu Da was ordered to lead an army with Tang He and Fu Youde to fight against it.

However, Zhang Yifan's butterfly wings have now caused great changes.Therefore, he could not guarantee that in the first month of next year, Duo'er Buhua from outside the pass would come to attack again?

Since he couldn't be sure, he simply didn't say anything.

Peiping in winter is colder than Nanjing.When the cold wind howled, it was even more freezing.

Therefore, most of the time, Zhang Yifan stayed in the house and did not dare to go out.Fortunately, there are heated kangs here in the north, so the house is absolutely warm.

Briquettes, a convenient and easy-to-use heating material, had been brought over by Zhu Di and spread throughout Beiping.

Xu Da has even ordered that it be promoted in Shanxi.According to the news Zhang Yifan heard, people in the north are saying that this winter will not be cold anyway!This made Zhang Yifan almost believe it, and he escaped back to the house after two days!

It started to snow heavily outside, and in Prince Yan's Mansion, Zhang Yifan and Zhu Di's family were cooking hot pot.

Zhang Yifan ate vigorously. The meat in the hot pot was authentic lamb, but Zhu Di didn't have much appetite. He just said to Zhang Yifan: "I said Yifan, now that we are strong, there is nothing more we can practice. I think Is that okay? How about going out to fight when the flowers bloom next spring? "

After hearing this, Zhang Yifan continued to brush the lamb without raising his head, and said at the same time: "Shit, I don't think it's enough. Just look at the sudden musket in the army. It's an eyesore. The signal tower thing has come to an end. When I look back, I will Replace this musket!"

The musket is the most primitive musket, not as good as the matchlock. Whether it is power, shooting distance, or reloading speed, it is crushed across the board.As a time-travelling person, he naturally looked down on the sudden musket.

When Zhu Di heard this, he was immediately overjoyed. His brother-in-law had another good idea.Just when he was about to ask further questions, he heard rapid footsteps coming from outside.

(End of this chapter)