Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 064: The Drums of War in the Southwest (I)
As Sun Chengzong had lived in Datong, the most important military town in the Ming Dynasty, for many years, how could he not know the logistics system of the Ming Dynasty's fried eggs today. Therefore, when Liu Jing said that he would definitely not be able to reach Mubang within three months, he certainly did not get annoyed, but nodded gently.
"Haha, Commander Liu, I brought you a little gift this time."
"Oh, this is rare. A scholar-official gives me something. Not many generals in this dynasty can enjoy such treatment."
"General Liu may not have heard clearly just now. I am the one who brought the things. The one who delivered the things was His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
When Liu Jing heard the words "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince", he immediately put away his playful expression and stood up solemnly: "Does Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince also know my humble name?"
"Haha, not only do you know, but you should also know him very well. Liu Shuai, would you like to hear what His Highness thinks of Liu Shuai?"
"I am all ears."
"Your Highness said that Liu Shuai is loyal to the country. He is very skilled in martial arts and is very popular with the army, so it is worth looking forward to seeing the troops he leads on the battlefield. However, the military discipline of Liu Shuai's soldiers is really bad. In the past, they aided Korea to fight against the Japanese invaders and really harmed the people of Korea... Your Highness also said that for an army to maintain morale, allowing soldiers to harm the people is certainly a way, but this method is often difficult to sustain. Moreover, once such an army is in a desperate situation, it will often collapse suddenly..."
"Your Highness, what you said... really makes me, panic~"
"Haha, General Liu, please take a seat. And please give the order to bring in the iron box I brought with me."
…
"Liu Shuai, this is the telescope that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince gave you."
"telescope?"
"Haha, as the name suggests, it's a mirror that can see far away. Liu Shuai, do you want to try it? Yes, that's right, just stick your eyes on it."
After awkwardly putting his eye to the lens tube, Liu Jing quickly put the telescope down. Then he put it up again to take a look, and put it down again. After that, he blinked, thought for a while, stood up quickly, ran out of the main hall, and observed around with the telescope in the open space outside the hall. Then he ran back with a fanatical look on his face: "Master Sun! Divine weapon! Divine weapon! With this, the enemy can't hide, and can't ambush our army!"
After saying this, Liu Jing hurriedly identified the direction again, and after finding the direction of Beijing City in the northeast, he simply knelt down and bowed: "I thank His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for being so considerate of us warriors. I really have no way to repay your kindness! I can only fight hard to kill the enemy and live up to the Crown Prince's high expectations!"
Then Liu Jing handed the monocular telescope to several of his generals at the banquet, which immediately caused exclamations and thanks.
"Master Sun, how much is this, uh, telescope that the Crown Prince gave you this time?"
"Not many, only three. These are all the qualified products of Honghe Manor before I left the capital."
In the historical plane, Westerners first came up with glass that could be industrially produced, and then the profession of lens grinder came into being. By the early 17th century, Western Europe already had many mature people in the relevant industry who were able to make convex and concave mirrors of various degrees. However, it was not until 1608 that a chance opportunity allowed Western European craftsmen to realize that overlapping two lenses could allow them to see farther or smaller objects. As a result, the telescope and microscope were invented.
In this dimension, telescopes and microscopes in Western Europe would definitely appear earlier. However, Zhu Youdong didn't care about that. After getting the lens grinder that Matteo Ricci found for him, he immediately asked them to start grinding various lenses and then assemble them. However, time was limited, so it was not until the day when Sun Chengzong set out that the three telescopes were assembled.
"Your Highness spent a lot of money on these three telescopes. He asked the Jesuits to send Western craftsmen to Honghe Manor, and spent five or six thousand taels of silver. After these two Western craftsmen came to the manor, the crown prince offered a high commission. If not, I would not be able to get such things when I go south."
"We are grateful to the Crown Prince for caring for us. When we go to Mubang, we must wipe out the Burmese bandits and enhance the prestige of our Ming Dynasty."
"Haha, General Liu, generals, the production capacity of these telescopes is limited, and there are only three of them. But there are thirty of these crescent-shaped swords, which are enough for everyone here to use."
"Crescent Blade?"
The so-called crescent blade is similar in shape to the ordinary crescent blades of the Ming Dynasty. However, thanks to the use of thermometers, the establishment of new blast furnaces, the popularization of hydraulic machinery, and the investment regardless of cost, the sharpness, hardness and rust resistance of the crescent blades produced in Honghe Village have reached a very high level.
Of course, it would be easy for Honghe Manor to make plate armor now. However, Zhu Youdong was only the grandson of the emperor, not the emperor. He had to consider the emperor's reaction when making military supplies. The knives and armor of Honghe Manor were more for scientific research. There were only a few samples and they would not be mass-produced. On the other hand, Liu Jing was going to lead his army to fight in the tropical rain forest. You gave them plate armor? Afraid that if the Burmese army didn't come to fight, everyone would become teppanyaki?
So, just give them some high-quality knives. It is better for the southern army to wear leather or cloth armor.
"Oh, this knife is really a good one!" The warriors present had all been through hundreds of battles with Liu Jing, so they would naturally know whether a knife was good or not once they held it in their hands.
"Your Highness has treated us so well, I shouldn't raise any difficulties. But Lord Sun, this is the law of the country. It's already very good for my soldiers to march thirty miles a day. Even for His Highness, what if we march forty miles a day? We still can't reach Mubang within three months."
"Haha, don't worry, General Liu. Let me ask you first, if you don't have to worry about food along the way, how many miles can General Liu's soldiers travel every day?"
"Well, this time the court wants me to lead a total of 12,000 people from one town and three guards in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan to march south. If we don't consider food, the soldiers of my town can march 60 to 80 miles a day. The soldiers sent by Chongqing Guard are mainly Ma Xuanfu (Qin Liangyu's husband Ma Qiancheng)'s Shizhu Baigan soldiers, who can also walk this distance every day. As for Guangnan Guard and Erhai Guard, they are much closer to Mubang than me, so even if they climb 20 miles a day, it will be enough for three months."
In the early days of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang implemented the Weisuo system for the national army. Its basic organizational structure is: small flag, general flag, hundred households, thousand households, and general commander. The soldiers of the Weisuo usually cultivate the military settlements. In wartime, the court will send senior officers to gather troops to fight under the organization of officials at all levels of the Weisuo. According to Zhu's idea, on the one hand, I can raise a million soldiers without spending a grain of food on the people, which can greatly save money. On the other hand, it prevents military generals from guarding one side for a long time, thus forming a vassal town.
However, after more than 200 years of operation, the garrison system was on the verge of collapse. Not to mention that the garrison officials had degenerated from middle and lower-level officers to landlords, and the garrison soldiers either fled or became tenant farmers. The rule that the court would only temporarily send high-ranking generals when foreign enemies invaded did not apply to the northern border.
So during the Xuande period, facing the revived Mongolia, the Ming government had to set up permanent generals in Shaanxi and Shanxi - this was the beginning of the Ming Dynasty's military garrison system.
During the Jiajing period, Japanese pirates ravaged the southeastern coast, and dozens of garrisons were in ruins, making it impossible to effectively resist the pirates. The Ming government had no choice but to implement the military garrison system in the southeastern coast as well.
The so-called military garrison, part of its soldiers come from the garrison soldiers, and part of them come from recruitment. The biggest difference between the garrison soldiers and the garrison soldiers is that the garrison soldiers bring their own dry food to fight, while the garrison soldiers are paid by the state. In addition, the military garrison has officers of all levels: garrison, commander, guerrilla, lieutenant general, deputy general, general, etc. Its generals are permanent.
By doing so, the combat effectiveness is improved, but the burden on the country is also increased. At the same time, it is easy to create a situation where the soldiers are at the mercy of the generals.
(By the way, during the reign of Emperor Tianqi, as the situation in the northeast became increasingly worse and the national finances became increasingly tight, the Emperor Jiuqian cancelled the military towns in the southeast in order to balance revenue and expenditure. Then the elite soldiers and generals in these military towns all became pirates, which made Zheng Zhilong famous.)
Generally speaking, the current Ming Dynasty has both military garrison and garrison systems. Generally speaking, the combat effectiveness of military garrison soldiers is stronger than that of garrison soldiers.
However, there are exceptions among the garrison soldiers, such as the white-pole soldiers in Shizhu.
But no matter how strong the army is, it still needs to eat, especially during a long forced march.
"General Liu, please let the generals wait outside the tent for a while. I have something to tell you in secret."
