Dragon Sea Empire

Yang Hao looked at the letter again, and then called one of his masters over and said, "Master Jiang, you have handled the official documents of the North Korean country, and have a look at the authenticity of the inscription and seal of this letter..."

He folded the letter and only showed Mr. Jiang the last part of the signed seal. Mr. Jiang looked at it for a long time before nodding his head and said: "The signed seal and the title are both true. This should be an official document from the Ministry of Rites of Korea..."

Yang Gao waved his hand, Master Jiang retreated, and Yang Gao's pale face was blushing: "Well, you Korean feudal kingdom, my heavenly court treats you with great kindness, and you actually act like this."

Zhang Chengji hurriedly said: "My lord, this is a big matter, involving the affairs of the vassal state, whether the authenticity of this official document is still necessary..."

Yang Hao waved his hand impolitely: "This official document must be true. The Korean army flinched in the Battle of Sarhu, which led to our army's defeat. This official document proves that they have actually fought with Nu Chief for a long time. Collusion, sending troops to help our celestial dynasty is just pretending..."

In fact, what Yang Gao thought in his heart was: he finally found another reason to shirk responsibility.

He himself has doubts about the authenticity of the item at hand, but these are secondary issues. For Liaodong Economic Strategy Yang Gao, the most important issue now is: How to prepare for the failure of the Battle of Sarhu Zhang Get rid of responsibility.

……

Yuyao, Zhejiang, Jiangnan New Army Camp.

Yu Zigao was in full armor, riding on a horse and looking at the dusty playground, where rows of new army soldiers wearing Ming army uniforms were practicing. In his opinion, the so-called elite soldiers selected from various ministries in the south of the Yangtze River were on the playground. It's not even as good as the soldiers in the new barracks of the Chinese Army.

Yu Zigao has now suffered repeated setbacks in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, and his youthful vigor has been exhausted. He was first appointed as a general in Wuhu, and then a general in Ningshao. He actually presided over the basic training of the new army under Xu Guangqi and Xiong Tingbi. He transferred the General Manager of Fujian Province and several officers he met when he was General General of Qiongya, such as Ma Sheng from Qianhu of Funingwei, Yang Shijue from Baihu, and Chen Xifan, Deputy General of Jianningwei, to his subordinates, making his backbone The officer team was barely set up, and the appointment of the rest of the grassroots officers was not in his hands. Most of them were born by a large number of servants of the Xie family who were forced in by the Xie family in Yuyao, and a few were promoted and recommended by Xiong Tingbi and Xu Guangqi. The officers of the Zhejiang General Army of the Ming Army, most of these people were greedy for the relatively high salary of the new army, and those Xie family children who knew nothing were stuffed among the officers, it was part of the Xie family's attempt to control the new army means.

In this way, the Jiangnan new army has encountered endless troubles from the very beginning. Such a team of grassroots officers made Yu Zigao's training of recruits start with the training of instructors, because the first batch of recruits for the new army has already reached 5000. As much as he can't train alone anyway.

Back then, Yin Feng started to build the army with a guard of hundreds of people, and hired a large number of mercenary officers from the Netherlands and Portugal as instructors. Only then did he build up the core officer corps of the Chinese Army from scratch. Xu Guangqi and Xiong Tingbi trained the new army, only They knew to buy new firearms, but they didn’t know anything about the organizational structure, strategy and tactics of the Firearms Army. The Ming court also rejected Xu Guangqi’s proposal to recruit Western military officers as instructors. Xu Guangqi repeatedly issued memorials requesting the recruitment of Western military officers, but before the imperial court agreed, the Chinese Army decisively captured Macau. So far, the Chinese Army has completely controlled the overseas relations between the Ming Dynasty and Western countries. Of course, the Ming Dynasty did not want to However, Yin Feng cut off any possible direct connection between the Ming court and Westerners. Now, except for a few Jesuit missionary friends, Xu Guangqi has cut off overseas relations. There was an audio exchange.

Yu Zigao was introduced to Xu Guangqi by Fujian General Shen Yourong, and he also regarded this training of the new army as his last chance to become famous.

As a literati, although Xu Guangqi knew some advanced Western firearms, he had no idea how to train an army with firearms. Since the plan to introduce Western officers was not feasible, he could only rely on Yu Zigao now.

Xu Guangqi had complete trust in Yu Zigao, troop establishment, weaponry, officer selection, troop discipline, playground drills... Whatever Yu Zigao thought of, as long as he put it forward, Xu Guangqi would support him to let him go.

The problem lies in Yao Zongwen, who came to supervise the army on behalf of the imperial court, and Xiong Tingbi, the Nanjing manager who nominally commanded the new army, and Xu Guangqi, who was the imperial envoy of the imperial court and the Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing, although the new army was established under his full advocacy , but only as an imperial envoy to supervise the training of the new army.

Yao Zongwen kept urging soldiers to train and form an army, and kept asking Yu Zigao to teach the soldiers of the new army to shoot as soon as possible. A total of 2000 of the new bird guns, an improved version of the early matchlock guns of the Chinese Guards, have been distributed to the soldiers. The quality of the guns produced by the Portuguese arsenal before the occupation was better than those issued by the Ministry of War in the capital.

However, Yao Zongwen didn't understand: a group of people can shoot, but it doesn't mean they become an army. His purpose as an army supervisor actually has two purposes: one is to supervise the new army for the imperial court, and the other is to help Yuyao The Xie family and other wealthy businessmen and gentry from Jiangnan supervised where their money was spent.

Xiong Tingbi is also urging Yu Zigao to train a new army quickly, but he is worried about the military salary, the first phase of the new army salary has been spent; and when raising the military salary again, many gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, because of the economic policy adopted by the Chinese army Gao Cai, the eunuch guarding Nanjing, suggested arresting a few wealthy businessmen and ransacking their homes to subsidize the military pay. This suggestion was automatically ignored by Xiong Tingbi, and Xu Guangqi even sternly opposed it.

In any case, Xiong Tingbi is the manager of Jiangnan, and the salary of the new army will fall on him. Therefore, he urged Yu Zigao to speed up the training of the new army, mostly because of the problem of insufficient food and salary, especially for the ten bronze cannons. Shooting training is too expensive, and each shot costs five taels of silver; the Portuguese gunner Alexander who came to the barracks with the cannon was paid as much as 30 taels of silver per month, which was worth 10 soldiers of the Ming army. The monthly salary is summed up, and he is still reimbursed for training expenses every day, which is simply burning money. Ordinary soldiers of the Ming army only practice twice a month, and better troops only spend five to ten days apart. Every day comes to practice in a queue and brandish swords and guns, but the soldiers of the new army are training non-stop except for the bathing day once every ten days. This is set by Yu Zigao according to the system of the Chinese Army According to the rules, the daily food consumption caused by this is already amazing.

Today, Xiong Tingbi, Xu Guangqi, and Yao Zongwen all came to the new army barracks together to watch the new army's first general assembly of the whole army. Let me explain.

From Yu Zigao's point of view, these 5000 recruits had just reached the level of training in the Chinese army's new barracks, but from the perspective of the other three, the neat formation and lively shooting exercises had already refreshed their eyes and ears. .

Xiong Tingbi, who was riding on the horse, turned his horse's head and came to Yu Zigao's side, heaved a long sigh: "General Yu, you are worthy of being the queen of the general, this new army has been trained by you to look like a strong army, Mr. Xu , you really read the right person, "

Xu Guangqi smiled, cupped his hands and said, "Don't dare, Mr. Xiong, this General Yu was recommended to me by Mr. Shen Yourong, General Shen of Fujian..."

Yu Zigao was somewhat proud of himself, and hurriedly bowed his hands and saluted: "The two adults are over-reputed. Right now, the new army is still beginning to take shape, and the training in the future will be much more difficult. What kind of physical training, marching training, etc., I just ask The military pay is sufficient, so that the brothers can practice with peace of mind, and it is estimated that they should be able to go to the battlefield in half a year."

Xiong Tingbi and Yao Zongwen shouted almost at the same time: "What, it will take half a year,"

Yu Zigao nodded helplessly: "It will take four months at the earliest before they can go to the battlefield. Moreover, the new army's ammunition replenishment, transportation vehicles, etc. arrangements must also be in place at the same time,"

Xiong Tingbi shook his head when he heard the words: "General Yu, according to the samples of Western gunpowder you provided, the workshop of the Weapons and Warfare Bureau of the Nanjing Ministry of War can't make it for the time being, only the capital can do it. To supply 4000 rods of gunpowder for 20 days of training per month (note: the propellant in gunpowder guns), the Nanjing Ministry of War can only barely supply, and I don’t need to hide it from you. It’s all because of the lack of payment: Liaodong In the crisis of the war, all the money of the imperial court is spent in Liaodong, and we can't take care of us for the time being..."

Yao Zongwen went on to say: "General Yu, this first payment is as much as one million taels of silver. If it were changed to the Nine Frontier Army, it would be able to support tens of thousands of troops. You are always complaining about lack of salary, lack of weapons, and lack of gunpowder. How much is the bottom line?"

Yu Zigao sighed: Training the new army of firearms is actually tantamount to re-establishing a military supply system within the Ming Dynasty system. This is simply to rebuild the entire military supply system of the Ming Army from top to bottom. Yu Zigao has now understood No matter how hard he tried, as long as he was doing things within the Ming Dynasty system, it would be difficult for him to do things according to his own ideas.

Yu Zigao sighed again: "Lord Xiong, Lord Yao, Yu has done his best, but the new army of firearms must ensure the supply of ammunition, otherwise the bird gun is not as good as the spear, and the soldiers must train every day, otherwise Can't go to the battlefield..."

Xu Guangqi comforted him and said, "Don't worry, General Yu, I will return to the capital in the near future, and I will definitely get the court's military salary for the new army. If there is any change, the new army will have to go to the battlefield.”

For Xu Guangqi's empty promises, Yu Zigao had no choice but to bow his hands to express his gratitude.

Xiong Tingbi also sighed secretly, but he remained calm on the surface, suddenly pointed to the front and said: "Who is the commander of the left battalion? His soldiers are the most orderly."

Yu Zigao looked up and said with a smile: "This person is Luo Xiaoming, whose name is Deguang. He is the nephew of Luo Qing, the general soldier of Zhejiang. The training method is quickly mastered, and I can endure hardships and use my brain..."

……