Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

The ruins were cleared quickly, and all the ruins at Hefei's place had been cleared up.Xue Yong came to Wu Shigong to ask for instructions: How should He Fei and those people be arranged?

He Fei and the others hadn't trained for a few days in the military training of the Bingma Division. Now, the building of Wu Shigong's gambling house was also started by the craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry. It will take some time until it is completed.The shopkeeper Zheng is also very dedicated, watching at the construction site every day.So for a while, those casino guards didn't have any errands at all.

Wu Shigong thought about it, and must train them well.He asked Xue Yong: Is there any place where these people can be trained?Xue Yong replied to Wu Shigong, "There is a place in Xue's residence."Outside the capital, there is a Zhuangzi who specially trains the guards of the Xue residence.But what to train these people?

Wu Shigong showed Xue Yong the military training plan he had drawn up.After Xue Yong read it, he didn't have much to say about physical training, but raised objections to queue training.Xue Yong said: The content of the training of soldiers in the Ming Dynasty was basically immediately dismounted, and few soldiers were trained in formation.

But Wu Shigong remembered that in modern times, apart from the military parade, although he couldn't see the use of queue training in other places, no matter when the army was training new recruits or in the military training for university entrance, queue training was always the most important thing. Important subjects to train.Since it is so important, it must have a major effect.Wu Shigong also couldn't understand the reason, so he stubbornly told Xue Yong that the queue training must be the focus, and it should reach half of the daily training time.

In the rest of the time, besides the fixed-time physical training, I went to train what Xue Yong said to get off immediately.Xue Yong can only express his obedience to my uncle's arrangement.Moreover, Xue Yong said that he would find two experienced veterans from the Beijing camp to take charge of the military training.

However, Xue Yong told Wu Shigong that he had already inquired about it among the guards of the casino.None of those people knew how to ride a horse.This surprised Wu Shigong.And the Mongols can't ride horses?Wu Shigong didn't know that these Mongolian descendants were fake Mongolians just like himself.After so many years of Sinicization, the Mongolian blood in his body has been diluted to the point where even Han Li couldn't extract it with the method of refining the true spirit blood (see "The Legend of Ordinary Cultivation of Immortals" for details).

In addition, in the Ming Dynasty, not to mention owning horses, it was a big expense to raise horses.If you want to raise a horse well, in addition to feeding grass, you have to feed Jing fodder every day.Eggs are even added to the jing feed.How did this allow people from poor families like He Fei to get in touch with horses?Regardless, Wu Shigong told Xue Yong to hire an equestrian instructor for these people.Be sure to get them to ride horses.

Xue Yong asked Wu Shigong again, what kind of protective weapons should be equipped with these people?Xue Yong told Wu Shigong that there are actually weapons in the Xue Mansion, but they cannot be allocated to He Fei and others, because the number of guards in each Hou Mansion is rationed.For the Xungui family, if there are too many guards carrying weapons, the emperor will be worried.

However, the people Wu Shigong recruited this time, He Fei, used the name of protecting Wu Shigong's property - gambling house guards.This kind of statement is also barely said in the past.But it is absolutely not allowed to equip these guards with weapons.It can only be equipped with some sticks or something.

So it turned out so, Wu Shigong asked Xue Yong, "Then can these gambling house guards be equipped with daggers?"

Xue Yong replied: "With some daggers for self-defense, that's fine."

Wu Shigong was about to take advantage of the loophole, so he thought of making a dagger with a longer back handle and a hollow at the end of the back handle.In that case, if you put this dagger on a wooden stick, wouldn't it be a spear?

But such a special dagger requires a special build.So Wu Shigong asked Xue Yong: Do you know any blacksmith with better craftsmanship?

Xue Yong really knew him.The blacksmith he knew was a blacksmith in the Beijing camp, and his craftsmanship was among the best in the Beijing camp.Moreover, the blacksmith's tone was relatively tight.Wu Shigong decided that it was him.

In the next few days, Wu Shigong took some free time and followed Xue Yong to the blacksmith's workshop in the capital camp.The blacksmith looked about 40 years old, and his skin was tanned.

Xue Yong introduced to Wu Shigong: "Uncle, this is Master Yang."

The blacksmith immediately kowtowed and said: "Little Yang Goudan pays respects to your lord."

Yang dog egg?The name has a strong rustic flavor.Wu Shigong didn't care what kind of bastard it was, and asked Yang Goudan, "Can you make all kinds of knives?"

That Yang Goudan was very confident, patted his chest and said: "As big as the Qinglong Yanyue Knife, as small as a nail clipper, as long as it is a knife, there is absolutely no problem."

Wu Shigong appreciates Yang Goudan's self-confidence.He told Yang Goudan the requirements and characteristics of the dagger he wanted to build.Unexpectedly, after listening to Wu Shigong's ideas, Yang Goudan put forward several suggestions for improvement based on Wu Shigong's ideas.He is indeed a connoisseur.

Xue Yong on the side joked, "Master Yang's craftsmanship is really nothing to talk about."

Wu Shigong became more interested.As a person with a strong factor of violence, Wu Shigong then asked that dog Yang: "Then you know how to make a musket?"

Yang Goudan thought for a while and said to Wu Shigong: "My lord is asking about firecrackers. There is one for the small ones here, let me have a look at it first." Yang Goudan took out a pair of firecrackers from the back of the workshop. To Wu Shigong.

Wu Shigong held the firecracker and was taken aback by its appearance.

The firecracker is taller than Wu Shigong's 1.8 meters, and the barrel is very thin, which is about the same thickness as the barrel of the pistol Wu Shigong played in the previous life.What power can this gun have?Wu Shigong asked: "Is this firecracker able to shoot birds?"

Unexpectedly, Yang Goudan replied proudly: "Your Excellency is wise. This firecracker is called a bird blunderbuss." Yang Goudan really felt very proud.Because in the Ming Dynasty, there were no seamless steel pipes, and there was no lathe. It really took some real skills to make such a thin iron pipe by hand.

Wu Shigong didn't care about Yang Goudan's complacency anymore, he asked Yang Goudan his request for the firecracker.Wu Shigong himself drew the appearance of the smoothbore shotgun he played with in his previous life on the paper, and said to Yang Goudan, "Can you make a firecracker like this?"

Yang Goudan looked at the pattern on the paper, and asked Wu Shigong strangely: "Your Excellency, you want to make such a simple firecracker?" What's the problem with the iron pipe?

Wu Shigong thought to himself: It's good if you have confidence.Thus, Wu Shigong and Na Yang Goudan reached a deal.Make 150 daggers and 150 sabers.Although the guards of the casino cannot carry the saber for the time being, there is nothing wrong with having it ready.

In addition, Wu Shigong ordered five long-fire guns and ten hand guns.A total of 500 taels of silver was added up.However, Wu Shigong told Yang Goudan to make both the firecracker and the pistol for him to have a look at first. If there is anything wrong, after modifying the shape, let Yang Goudan make it.

After leaving the blacksmith workshop, Wu Shigong thought to himself: The firearms of the Ming Dynasty are not as backward as imagined.

Wu Shigong was right. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the small and medium-sized firearms in the Ming army were indeed not backward compared to those in Europe. It was just that they lagged behind in cannon, but not by many.But why did China's firearms fall behind so much in modern times?

This is mainly due to two aspects:

The first reason is: the future Manchu government did not pay much attention to firearms.

The first is: the eunuchs and officials who supervised the manufacture of firearms in the Ming Dynasty squeezed the craftsmen who made firearms very hard, and treated these craftsmen as slaves.Moreover, because these eunuchs and officials wantonly embezzled the materials for making firearms, the quality of the firearms produced in the Ming Dynasty was very low, and when using firearms, some phenomena such as bombing the chamber often occurred;

The second is: the eunuchs and officials who managed the arsenal in the Ming Dynasty did not distribute the weapons and firearms they managed to the generals who used them.Instead, these generals bought them in disguise through bribery.And we already know that the military pay of the Ming Dynasty already included the purchase cost of weapons, so in order to save some money for themselves, these generals were unwilling to "buy" these expensive firearms;

Finally: The Ming army was undertrained.When seeing Manchu troops, they would often panic and fire out of range of their firearms.They also used low-quality firearms that were not powerful enough, which made the firearms basically no threat to the troops of the Qing Dynasty.

When the troops of the Qing Dynasty faced the blow of firearms, they saw that the effect of firearms was almost negligible, so the effect of firearms was seriously underestimated.How can they pay attention to firearms in the future?

The second reason is that the different historical backgrounds lead to different emphasis on firearms.

Let's look at Europe first.Since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Europe has entered a period of frequent wars.Therefore, the use of firearms, a brand new weapon, produced a revolutionary military change.

The Swiss phalanx, born out of cold weapons, created the famous Spanish phalanx, which combines hot and cold weapons.With the improvement of firearm use tactics and the improvement of firearm quality, gradually, in these phalanxes, cold weapons completely disappeared, and became a phalanx that used all muskets.That is to say, in the war movies we watched describing this era, the soldiers lined up in square formations, and under the rhythm of drums, they held muskets and rushed forward.

Many people, including the author, thought these soldiers were stupid when they were young. Don't they bend down to hide and seek to avoid bullets?In fact, there is a reason here.At the time, adopting this tactic produced the least casualties.We must remember that in war, there is no joke, and the standard actions taken by all soldiers are exchanged for countless blood.

In order to deepen everyone's impression of this point, here is another example: During World War II, the Japanese devils retreated bullets when fighting bayonets for the sake of Bushido spirit.What is ridiculous is that even now, there are still many works mocking the stupidity of those Japanese devils.Let's think about it, a nation that could despicably launch "September [-]th" and shamelessly attack Pearl Harbor, how could he unload the bullet when fighting the bayonet for the sake of the spirit of bushido?The purpose of doing this must be to reduce your own casualties (friends who are interested can check this information).

With the maturity of the tactics used by the phalanx of pure muskets, Napoleon creatively used artillery as a firearm, and then swept across the European continent.Under such a background, the research and development of firearms has received the greatest attention in Europe.

And in China?After the Manchu Qing government established the Qing Dynasty, except for several rebellions when the country was founded.Domestic politics were very stable before the Opium War, which made firearms have no motivation to develop.

In the use of firearms, there is another very important issue, which is the firearms square.The "three-segment she" we often see in works is only a small aspect of the use of the firearms phalanx.But far from all.

In fact, in the Ming Dynasty, there was already a talented general who took the prototype of the firearms formation, and that was Qi Jiguang.It was such a prototype that also allowed Qi Jiguang to achieve a brilliant record of annihilating thousands of Japanese pirates (all with heads) in the war against Japanese pirates, with less than ten casualties.This prototype is actually only a layer of paper away from the European firearms phalanx.

Then why didn't the future generals inherit and develop?

We can see the reason from "Sun Tzu's Art of War".The "Sun Tzu's Art of War" that I see now makes people feel like the table of contents and general outline of a book on the art of war.With Sun Tzu's character of being such a good teacher, why didn't he write how to train, how to march, how to camp and how to arrange in battle into "Sun Tzu's Art of War"?

And not only "Sun Tzu's Art of War", but also the art of war books of various art of war masters in the future, there is no such content.The main reason for this is that the rulers of all dynasties destroyed or collected these contents in the art of war books.Don't let other people see it and prevent them from rebelling.

However, Qi Jiguang's Art of War book was handed down miraculously, but because of the above reasons, it could not be handed down outside in the Ming Dynasty at that time.In addition, the generals of the Ming Dynasty were basically illiterate, so there was no way to talk about inheritance and development.

But today, in Wu Shigong's arrangement for Xue Yong, he insisted paranoidly on the queue training of the gambling house guards, which is precisely the basic training of the firearms phalanx.This can only show that Wu Shigong has finally opened a golden finger.