Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 92
"See the Second Highness..."

At noon, as Zhu Gaoxu finished his meal in Wuying Hall, he left the palace without rest and went to the Song Dynasty Duke's Mansion.

Amidst the singing of the soldiers outside Song Guogong's mansion, Zhu Gaoxu turned over and dismounted, looked at the familiar faces in front of him, and couldn't help but smile: "Lin Wuliu, how are you doing lately?"

The soldiers on duty today are brothers from Baihu, named Xu. Zhu Gaoxu has been seeing them every other day in the past few months, so he is naturally familiar with them.

While asking about the current situation of his brothers, he handed Chi Huan's reins to spearman Lin Wuliu.

"Life is pretty good, almost the same as when you were here, Your Highness. Wang Baihu treats us as well as you."

Lin Wuliu didn't expect that Zhu Gaoxu could remember his name, and he was flattered for a moment.

"Okay, if you have any difficulties, ask Wang Jian to come to see me at the front guard square of the Fujun."

After Zhu Gaoxu finished speaking, he patted the shoulders of Lin Wuliu and another soldier next to him, and then entered the Duke of Song's mansion.

"Your Highness" By chance, Wang Jian walked out of the palace and immediately bowed with a smile and bowed to Zhu Gaoxu.

"Haha, you are so happy, are you going to be promoted again?" Zhu Gaoxu bowed in return, which gave Wang Jian enough face, and at the same time he asked curiously.

"How can..." Wang Jian laughed: "I have only been a Baihu official for less than two months, and I have no military exploits. How can I be promoted?"

Facing his words, Zhu Gaoxu nodded in agreement, and then curiously asked: "Is the Duke in the front yard?"

"No, I have been studying in the backyard these past few days." Wang Jian shook his head and replied. Upon hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu also nodded and walked into the Duke of Song's mansion.

But before leaving, he seemed to remember something, turned around and patted Wang Jian on the shoulder: "Tomorrow I will ask some brothers who are fine to come to my courtyard for a meal. I haven't had a good time to catch up with my brothers yet."

"Yes!" Wang Jian smiled broadly and bowed honestly.

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

He read military books as always, but at the same time he also read some Four Books and Five Classics to enrich himself.

In the previous conversation with Zhu Gaochi in Wuying Palace, he almost understood the ideological issues between him and Zhu Gaochi.

Zhu Gaochi, like Zhu Yunwen, although he did not say it directly, always felt that Confucian scholars and civil servants should not do some errands.

Indeed, before Zhu Gaoxu entered the Wuying Palace, the imperial censor in Beijing rarely went out to inspect the capital, because most of the people who held this official position were Confucian scholars with reputation, knowledge, and character. However, this did not mean that they could sit in the capital. The reason for getting paid for nothing.

If a group of people who flaunt themselves as incorruptible do not go to the local area to do business, what is the difference between them and the clay sculptures in the temple? Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but laugh.

"What are you laughing at?"

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

"The Duke..." Zhu Gaoxu put down the "Book of Secretaries" in his hand, stood up and returned the salute.

After Feng Sheng came over and took a look at the "Book of Secretaries" he put down, his face showed a bit of surprise: "Can you still read this kind of book?"

"Haha..." Zhu Gaoxu smiled awkwardly: "If you want to be in charge of a place in the future, you can't rely entirely on the officials of the county and king to govern the place. You have to have some skills yourself."

There is nothing wrong with his words, because he has always felt that he does not understand the people of Ming Dynasty well enough.

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

If he himself doesn't understand what people of this era think, how can he approach them and gain their support?

If you want to gain the support of the people just by distributing fields, then so many peasant uprisings in history will not fail.

The policy of strengthening the military in later generations is very useful, but the policy must be combined with the background of the times to be used to its full potential.

If Zhu Gaoxu cannot understand the people's thoughts, then he can only imitate cats and imitate tigers.

Of course, the more important point is that Zhu Gaoxu was unable to use the land allocation policy to motivate his subordinates, because today's Ming Dynasty does not lack farmland at all, but lacks people and animal power to farm the land.

On the basis that land division was ineffective, he could only seek other things to motivate his subordinates.

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

Obviously, he knew that Zhu Gaoxu had some questions to ask him, and this was also the case.

Zhu Gaoxu raised his hands and bowed, and humbly asked Feng Sheng: "My lord, I recently read the history books of the previous dynasties and found that all the armies in the late Yuan Dynasty were elites who fought hard. But for some reason, our army always stands out."

"If we talk about dividing the land equally, people like Zhang Shicheng and Ming Sheng also divided the land equally. However, once they arrived on the battlefield, their troops broke up and fled when they were frustrated. It is not as good as our army, which was able to face the Northern Cavalry and know all the dangers ahead. , but still lying on the gun."

What he said was a problem he had always had. He really didn't quite understand why the Ming infantry dared to collide and charge head-on with the cavalry.

According to the tactics he learned from reading military books, the infantry should form formations to protect themselves and advance slowly to ensure that the army will not suffer heavy losses.

As a result, at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming army's pikemen grabbed their spears and charged the cavalry, crushing the Mongolian cavalry many times. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty warlords had a headache when they saw the Ming pikemen.

"Well...hehe"

Feng Sheng pondered for a moment, and after a long time he thought of something and suddenly laughed.

He stroked his beard and calmed down before explaining: "At that time, most of our army members were born from farmers in the Lianghuai River. In the land of the Lianghuai River, the people regarded the good use of spears as a symbol of strong martial arts, so most of them were able to conquer those who were good at fighting. Generals and soldiers like to call themselves "Marshal of Spears", or they may use their surname and spear as a nickname."

"His Majesty was famous for his skill with spears when he was in Haozhou, and all 24 of his generals used spears as their main soldiers."

"Later, His Majesty went to Dingyuan to establish his own company, and also required the army to use spears to compare their martial arts. He often tested the spear skills of the soldiers in the school, and many soldiers received awards for this."

"Because those who are good at using spears often get promoted and make a fortune, and are admired by the army's sergeants. Therefore, when facing the Northern Cavalry, many spearmen are proud to stab the cavalry, and wait for the cavalry to charge and then form a formation to defend."

Feng Sheng talked about an atmosphere among the Ming army in the early Ming Dynasty. This atmosphere made Zhu Gaoxu feel novel, but before he could think about it deeply, Feng Sheng said again:

"In addition, regarding military strategy, I remember that in the first year of Hongwu, His Majesty once talked with Liu Qingtian about the differences between our army and other armies."

"His Majesty once said that defeating the enemy lies in the troops, and controlling the troops lies in the generals. If the troops are not controlled, the general will be incompetent, and if the general is not a man, the army will be defeated. Therefore, when the two armies are in a life-or-death battle, it is better to have good generals than to have good soldiers."

"Then Liu Qingtian said that Your Majesty said, 'Your Majesty has your generals, and the victory of the general is not as good as the victory of the Lord. However, I see that Your Majesty often wins without adhering to ancient methods, and this is difficult for him."

"His Majesty heard the words and said, 'Soldiers plan, because the enemy's victory is not necessarily the same as in ancient times. I have personally been a target to watch the battle formation. The opening and closing of the battle array are amazing. They are changing in an instant, just like the impermanence of the wind and clouds. The momentum will change.' No time to talk about ancient Dharma."

Feng Sheng recounted the conversation between Liu Ji and Zhu Yuanzhang. At first glance, it seemed that Liu Ji was simply flattering Zhu Yuanzhang. However, if we analyze the background of their conversation in depth, a very real question arises. In front of my eyes...

Were the military tactics of the early Ming Dynasty inherited from "ancient methods"?

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 civilians.

This group of people has a very poor cultural foundation and cannot read a lot of Chinese characters. In addition, there are frequent wars all year round, so they have fewer opportunities to read ancient books and study ancient military affairs. Therefore, their understanding of the use of tactics comes more from their own exploration.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Ji's understanding of military issues exactly reflected the two extremes.

According to Zhu Gaoxu's knowledge, although Liu Ji was a scholar, he read a lot of books and wrote two military works, "The Essentials of the Art of War" and "A Hundred Battles".

Normally speaking, you should be able to understand the combat situation in the early Ming Dynasty by reading Liu Ji's book.

However, Zhu Gaoxu once looked through his two military books, but he was disappointed because a large part of these two military books imitated or even plagiarized the military works of the previous generation. Even "Pelvin Wanquan Formation" was copied into the book. .

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

Perhaps it was for this reason that Feng Sheng's words appeared in the conversation between them, "However, His Majesty often wins without adhering to ancient methods, which is difficult for him."

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

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

In response to this, Zhu Gaoxu did not try to make a fool of himself, but bowed in return: "The boy is really confused, please enlighten me."

"Where should I start..." Feng Sheng didn't know where to start for a while, so he pondered for a long time, and it wasn't until a word of time passed that he started talking about several wars.

"Let me tell you about the Northern Expedition first..." As he said that, 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, etc., which involved the details of the elite Ming army. .

The Battle of Luliang was a battle in which Fu Youde led [-] spearmen and defeated Li Er, Zuo Cheng of the Yuan Dynasty in a frontal charge. Zhu Gaoxu had already heard about this battle, so compared to the Battle of Luliang, the Battle of Caijiazhuang made him more curious.

The Battle of Caijiazhuang took place in the 13th year of Hongwu. The highlight of this battle was that the Ming army relied almost exclusively on infantry to defeat the Mongolian cavalry, which was twice as many as its own, in a pincer attack.

You must know that before the Ming Dynasty, if the armies of the past dynasties did not have a tight infantry line, they would not be able to withstand the impact of cavalry. When the infantry moved in formation, it was more difficult to maintain the formation and could easily be broken up by the impact of enemy cavalry.

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

Throughout the history of ancient wars, the Ming army's tactical thinking of using infantry to maneuver and attack cavalry was rare, and it was rare to see successful battles, but it flourished in the wars of the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties.

Examples like this abound in the Pingxia War and the Northern Expedition.

There were so many examples that Feng Sheng talked for a whole hour, during which he drank three cups of tea, while Zhu Gaoxu listened and served.

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

Because the Ming army relied too much on infantry, even if the Ming army increased the number of cavalry, it could not change the Ming army's basic idea of ​​​​mobile combat with infantry.

According to Feng Sheng, Zhu Yuanzhang once gave an order to King Zhu Fan of Jin. When mentioning the tactical principles of the army, Zhu Yuanzhang believed that the use of infantry should be "along with the cavalry and then attack from a flank", and constantly emphasized the need to train offensive infantry rather than defense. Type infantry.

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

Its arms composition is mainly composed of pikemen, and its tactical thinking is based on mobile attack as its basic principle. These characteristics make the Ming Dynasty's infantry look less like the traditional infantry in ancient times.

However, Zhu Gaoxu didn't find it strange if he thought about it carefully. After all, the Ming Dynasty emerged in the south, and the climate here forced the Ming army to face the absolute disadvantage of its own cavalry.

Although large-scale racecourses for breeding war horses were established in the Jianghuai area during the rule of the Yuan Dynasty, in fact due to the abandonment of the racecourses and climatic factors, the number of qualified war horses that can be provided here is very limited.

Due to the serious shortage of horses in the Ming army, the tasks of mobile attack and flank protection had to fall on the infantry in many cases.

It can be said that the development of such an infantry system that surpassed ancient traditions in the early Ming Dynasty was also the result of the strong pressure of the Mongolian cavalry in the north, and was the product of objective circumstances.This kind of success cannot be replicated, so now in the 27th year of Hongwu, there are fewer and fewer infantrymen who dare to hold a gun and confront the cavalry like the Ming army did.

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

"My lord, today's Ming Dynasty still has as many spearmen as it did in the early days of the country."

"This..." Feng Sheng was rarely stopped by Zhu Gaoxu's question. Even though he pondered for a long time, he never gave an accurate number. In the end, he could only say vaguely:

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

His words revealed information to Zhu Gaoxu, that is, the current Ming army's combat strength is seriously divided and is no longer as good as the overall combat strength at the founding of the country.

This kind of differentiation can be seen by Zhu Gaoxu from the whereabouts of his uncle Xu Huizu and Cao Guogong Li Jinglong during this period.

Xu Huizu and Li Jinglong were both good at training troops. They had often trained troops in the north before, but now they have been traveling back and forth between Fujian and Zhejiang provinces in the past few months. Obviously, the combat effectiveness of the guards in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces is worrying.

If today's Ming army uses the Qinling Mountains and the Huaihe River as the dividing line, then the elites of the southern army will gather in the southwest and Huguang, either to drive the seedlings and expand their business, or to intimidate the chieftains in Indochina and the Qinghai-Tibet region.

For example, although there are hundreds of thousands of registered guard troops in southern Zhili, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian and other places, the only ones who can fight are the Japanese guards around Nanjing and Ningbo, Zhejiang.

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 defense lines south of the Huaihe River in just one month.

After all, the two elite cavalrymen, the Dianqian Bao Tao Guard and the Dianqian Hezhou Guard, who were the most powerful forces in Nanjing, were killed in the Central Plains battlefield. It was difficult for the remaining soldiers to even defend the city.

If you want to fully fill the hundred-mile-long city wall of Nanjing City, at least 6 people must stand shoulder to shoulder. If you want to hold it, it will be difficult for 20 people to stand.

Even though there was still a large area of ​​cultivated land outside Nanjing at that time, which could feed the 10 people in Nanjing, it was already too late.

When he thought of this, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but think about how to end the Jingnan Campaign as soon as possible.

He no longer had any expectations for Zhu Yunwen, and the Battle of Jingnan undoubtedly ruined the hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers that Zhu Yuanzhang had spent more than [-] years training.

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

But facing the future situation, Zhu Gaoxu was even more unwilling to let Zhu Yunwen put the sword on his neck.

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

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

Historically, Zhu Gaoxu was not the main driving force behind Zhu Di's revolt. The person who really promoted Zhu Di's revolt was Zhu Yunwen.

As long as Zhu Yunwen's idea of ​​cutting down the feudal vassal remains unchanged, Zhu Gaoxu must make preparations.

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

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

He couldn't make steam engines, breech-loading guns, trains, etc., but it was still possible to unite craftsmen to make flintlocks and matchlocks.

It's just that he doesn't have people and territory of his own right now, so everything he can do cannot be done now, otherwise it will be making a wedding dress for Zhu Yunwen.

In terms of scale, the current handicraft industry of the Ming Dynasty can completely explode the entire world.

Judging from what Zhu Gaoxu knows only, in the 26th year of Hongwu last year, more than [-] million shi were collected in taxes and grain alone.

The Ministry of Industry and private iron smelting workshops produced a total of more than [-] million kilograms of iron materials. Most of these iron materials were used in agricultural tools, and only a small amount was used in military production.

But with this small amount of iron, more than 3000 pairs of armor, 170 horse-mounted sabers, more than [-] bows, and [-] million arrows were produced.

In addition, there are a thousand bronze cannons with mouths and a thousand bronze handles.

You should know that this amount of production is only a quota to prepare for emergencies, so many craftsmen are not involved in making armor and firearms.

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

If each of the commanders under the command of the Fifth Army Commander-in-Chief puts all their efforts into making armor and firearms, they can produce five thousand sets of armor, hundreds of artillery pieces, and thousands of copper blunderbuss every month. The total number of commanders and commanders can produce more than [-] pieces of armor every month. sets, nearly one million sets of armor can be made throughout the year.

This kind of productivity is more powerful than that of all the countries in the world combined at the same time.

To put it bluntly, the so-called military level and military technology are nothing in the face of absolute productivity. This is why the Yan Army can only fight with the Southern Army in the field, but cannot occupy other cities for a long time except Beiping, Yongping, and Hejian.

If he wanted to put an end to the Jingnan War as soon as possible, he could only attack Nanjing with a blitz and successfully surround Zhu Yunwen in Nanjing.

Zhu Gaoxu was silent for a long time. He knew very well how difficult this task was, so he must have a unit that obeyed his orders and had strong combat power.

"I already know what happened today. I guess it won't be easy for you to be trapped in Wuying Hall."

While Zhu Gaoxu was thinking, Feng Sheng suddenly spoke about what happened in Wuying Palace.

In this regard, Zhu Gaoxu naturally thought of the fact that the head of the three palaces entered Wuying Palace to manage politics, but for him, this matter had no influence on him at all.

What can really affect him is the future battle of Jingnan and how to get his own bodyguard under the guidance of Lao Zhu En.

But his thoughts couldn't be too obvious, so when faced with Feng Sheng's words, he deliberately sighed:
“I am like a fallen leaf on a lake, I can only drift with the current.”

After he said these words, Feng Sheng also showed a look of helplessness on his face: "The capital is a place of right and wrong. It would be better for you to leave early."

"I think so, but grandpa's side..." Zhu Gaoxu smiled bitterly.

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

After a moment, he glanced at Zhu Gaoxu and had to say: "You are young and precocious, and you can learn the art of war several times faster than others, but it is a pity that you can only talk about it on paper."

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

"It's just that I am guilty now. Even if I want to help you, I'm afraid it will be useless."

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

Having said that, Feng Sheng also sighed: "It's a pity that marching and fighting are not chess. Those who can conquer those who are good at fighting often do not learn the tactics from military books."

"Although I think you are a handsome man now, you haven't really led an army to fight. No one knows whether you are Commander Xiao Zhu or that little Ma Su."

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

Feng Sheng's evaluation was so high that Zhu Gaoxu himself could not help but stand up and shake his head in fear: "The Duke of the country praised me so much. How can I deserve such praise?"

Zhu Wenzheng was a genius who captured Yingtian at the age of 20 and became the governor at the age of 25, controlling all Chinese and foreign military forces.

It can be said that if he did not want to seek refuge with Zhang Shicheng because he complained about Zhu Yuanzhang, then he would be the early Ming Dynasty version of Huo Qubing.

With his age and status at the time, he might have presided over the Northern Expedition together with Xu Da, or even restrained Xu Da.

If he lived longer, he could even live until the Jianwen years and let Zhu Di know what a beating from his cousin was.

It's a pity that Zhu Wenzheng ruined his future by himself, which is regrettable.

Therefore, facing Feng Sheng's praise, Zhu Gaoxu was panic-stricken and guilty at the same time.

If others don't know what he is going to do in the future, how can he not know it himself?

Zhu Wenzheng only planned to defect, but he, Zhu Gaoxu, was actually preparing to rebel...

"Why is there so much sweat on your forehead?" Feng Sheng looked at the frightened Zhu Gaoxu and said with a dumb smile:
"People say that the waves behind you in the Yangtze River push the waves ahead, but you, the wave behind you, were frightened into this kind of behavior just by hearing a word."

"If you are marching and fighting in the future, you must not show your emotions, so as not to shake the morale of the army."

After saying that, Feng Sheng stood up slowly, looking ready to go back to the backyard.

Zhu Gaoxu calmed down a lot after what he said, so he protected him and walked out of the reverse room.

But when he was about to walk out of the reverse room, Feng Sheng suddenly stopped and turned to look at Zhu Gaoxu.

At this moment, Zhu Gaoxu was stunned.

On Feng Sheng's face, he saw something of a hero in his twilight years.

"I have also heard some things about Duke Ying..." Feng Sheng said in surprise, and said with a smile:
"If you can help, then help. I don't want him to get ahead of me."

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

"Haha..." Feng Sheng smiled hoarsely: "I'm just confused. I'm afraid you are too weak to do what you want."

Feng Sheng turned around and walked out of the room.

Zhu Gaoxu did not see him off, but stood in the room, looking at his stooped back under the setting sun, and his whole body fell silent.

What if you were young, brave, good at fighting, managed the country, and conquered a large territory?
As long as the king is suspicious of you, all you can do is wait for him to be killed.

In today's world, the only way to avoid being threatened with your life is to sit on that chair.

Otherwise, even if you are the prince or the heir apparent, what will happen? It will not be the end of your words in the Fengtian Palace and the death of people in the temple.

Looking at Feng Sheng's back, Zhu Gaoxu didn't come back to his senses for a long time, as if he was hit by Feng Sheng's words.

Ask yourself, although he is Lao Zhu's grandson, in the final analysis he is just one of Lao Zhu's dozens of grandsons. If he really threatens Zhu Yunwen in the future, Lao Zhu will really not have the heart to kill him. ?

Zhu Gaoxu couldn't give this answer...

(End of this chapter)