Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

PS: [Important reminder (there is no charge for this content)] Chapters 316 to 356 are about the rectification of officialdom and the suppression of rebellions in Jiangnan. They do not contain any theoretical knowledge. They are all practical content. If you are not interested, you can jump directly to Chapter 366. "Class" will contain theoretical knowledge content from now on.

"Civil coup?" Jiang Xinghuo frowned slightly.

Civil uprisings are not unfamiliar. They have been recorded countless times in the annals of history. Even in some poor and remote areas, two or three civil uprisings occur every year. However, in Jiangnan,

Jiang Xinghuo vaguely felt that the historical line seemed to have shifted slightly under his influence.

Because there were indeed floods in the summer and April of the first year of Yongle, but there was no news of civil unrest.

How did he know?

Of course Jiang Xinghuo has not read "Records of Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty" seriously, but "The Chronicles of the Ming Dynasty: Flood Control in Jiangnan" is a simulation test of classical Chinese reading in the college entrance examination.

"In the summer and April of the first year of Yongle, Xia Yuanji, the Minister of Household Affairs, was ordered to control floods in the south of the Yangtze River. At that time, Jiaxing, Su, and Song prefectures were suffering from frequent floods. They repeatedly issued orders but failed to supervise the administration, so this order was given."

In the final analysis, strictly speaking, the flood incident has something to do with Jiang Xinghuo's prayer for rain, but it has little to do with it.

The premise of artificial rainfall is that there are already conditions for rain. Regardless of whether he prays for rain or not, this heavy rain that lasts for several days or even more than ten days in Jiangnan will happen, but it will happen in March or April. Month question.

Emperor Yongle had also been reminded in advance to make preparations. Jiang Xinghuo had done everything that could be done at the moment, such as dredging rivers and mobilizing disaster relief food.

Furthermore, it can be said that the root cause of floods in various prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River is not even rain.

The reason lies in the serious neglect of the maintenance of water conservancy projects and the extreme lack of attention to river dredging by the civil servant group that was briefly in power since Emperor Jianwen ascended the throne.

Naturally, the water conservancy project is because nothing will happen if it is left alone for a year or two. The reason why river dredging is not taken seriously by the Jiangnan gentry is not because they are really short-sighted to the extreme. River dredging is beneficial to their own families. transports.

The crux of the problem is that the tides along the coast of eastern Zhejiang, such as the famous first-line tide, are very powerful. Every time the rivers entering the sea are dredged, they will soon be pushed back by the tides.

Over and over again, spending money in vain, but never seeing results, it is like spending money to reclaim the sea in Jingwei, and no one is willing to do it.

However, without dredging the tributary rivers that enter the sea, the result is that when floods occur, the floodwaters cannot be discharged into the sea, causing the paddy fields to become a swamp.

But I'm afraid it's useless to say this. It's just Jiang Xinghuo thinking in his heart.

Jiangnan gentry may not know how to organize themselves, but the cause and effect will always be attributed to Jiang Xinghuo.

——Nanjing prays for rain, but Jiangnan suffers disaster.

Now that things have come to this, someone has to clean up the mess.

Jiang Xinghuo gently breathed in the moist water vapor and suppressed the fluctuations in his heart: "I understand. I will deal with the matter here for a while, and then I will rush to the palace with you."

Zheng He left as promised, and Wang Bin asked tentatively: "Master National Preceptor?"

"Go to the military academy first and finish the matters at hand."

Everything is chaotic, but there are priorities. If you want to go to Jiangnan to provide disaster relief, then you have to put aside the matters at the military academy. But now is the critical period for the Ming Army's military reform pilot. As the vice-principal, you can't directly Put down your picks, and before leaving, you should explain what you have to do and arrange it.

Surrounded by the guard soldiers, Jiang Xinghuo walked slowly down the mountain from Yanzijitou.

The altitude of Yanzijitou is only a few tens of meters. Thirty-six meters to be precise, but the distance of the mountain trail that needs to be walked cannot be calculated based on the height. It was raining and the ground was slippery, and it took a long time to walk before going down.

Below Yanziji is the Ming Dynasty Royal Military Academy, and further outside is the station of the tax guards.

Looking from a distance, the military camp was still lit despite the rain, and there were soldiers patrolling. Not far away was a training ground and a shooting range.

Well, this shooting range is not that shooting range. These days' firecrackers, like artillery, are probabilistic weapons. They rely on firepower density and do not test the shooting accuracy of individual soldiers at all. The targets at the shooting range are surprisingly big, and the only requirement is to aim at something else. It's okay if it's too outrageous. Practice more and don't go to the battlefield and shoot blunderbuss into the sky. This is not a joke. Even if you have been on the battlefield before, but you have changed your job and become a novice fire gun soldier, it is very common for you to shoot blunderbuss into the sky when you are nervous. .

Recently, Zhu Gaoxu has been so busy that no one can see him. He is working hard to train these tax pawns.

In terms of the weapons and equipment of the tax guards, they are not fully equipped with firecrackers. They have artillery, but they lack systematic artillery command, staff, and non-commissioned officers.

Let’s talk about the fire gun first. As a pure firearm test unit appointed by Emperor Yongle, most of the resources and production capacity of the War Bureau are used to develop the original matchlock gun, which is the "Yongle Year Fire Gun". No need to be surprised by this naming rule. In the 28th year of Hongwu's reign, the naming of generals and cannons has long been a common practice within the Ming army.

It's just that the matchlock gun looks simple. If it wants to meet the production standard, it still needs various designs, tests, modifications, and the level of casting technology, so it won't be built for a while. The soldiers of the Tax Guard Guards We can only practice with the previous fire blunderbuss and the wooden gun with the blunderbuss blade.

In terms of artillery, Jiang Xinghuo fell into the vicious cycle of "soldiers lack knowledge and cannot learn basic artillery operations" and "military students have knowledge but are unwilling to be artillerymen." Jiang Xinghuo had no skills at all times and could not spend a period of time training the first batch of artillerymen.

The nobles of Jingnan were from middle and lower-level officers, and their children have a relatively high illiteracy rate. However, the children of the founding nobles of Hongwu generally have read a lot of books, so now they can only be used as doctors and leave a few people behind. I have recently compiled a book to see if these military students can understand it themselves.

Looking closer, the lights in the military academy are brightly lit, and the countless tents in the tax guard barracks on the outside are like a huge forest, guarding the buildings in the middle.

This is the first true martial arts and military academy in the Ming Dynasty!

In front of the school gate, there are two white marble lion statues several feet high.

There are two lions holding beads in their mouths, their eyes wide open, lifelike.

In front of the two stone lion statues, stood a group of vigilant military students, wearing armor and holding sharp blades with cold blades.

They are all carefully selected and are the next generation of officers in the Ming Dynasty.

"Master Imperial Master!"

Seeing Jiang Xinghuo approaching, the military cadets saluted one after another with loud and neat voices.

When this scene fell in Wang Bin's eyes, he couldn't help but feel a little surprised.

Obviously, after praying for rain, the majesty of the national master has been initially established in the minds of the noble disciples.

Although these military cadets pretend to be members of the military, there is probably still a big gap between them and the veterans of the tax guard.

But like the Imperial Academy, the Imperial Military Academy of the Ming Dynasty, although the nominal supervisor/principal is not the emperor himself, they are all regarded as disciples of the emperor in a certain sense. It is not that Zhu Di has never thought of becoming the principal before, but the civil servants On such a trivial issue, they expressed strong objections. Why did the emperor prefer military academies so much? There was no emperor who personally served as the supervisor of the Imperial Academy?

Therefore, the current principal of the military academy is a senior general, Qiu Guogong Qiu Fu.

Qiu Fu's coaching philosophy is different from Jiang Xinghuo's.

Well, this again involves the issue of the educational philosophy of military schools. In other words, since the decline of martial arts in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the philosophy of training officers has been a piece of shit.

According to Qiu Fu's idea, military cadets should naturally be able to wield swords and lift stone locks. As for Tao Lue's art of war, just study "Sun Tzu's Art of War", "Six Tao and Three Strategies", "Wei Liao Zi" and "Li Weigong Questions and Answers".

Jiang Xinghuo's educational philosophy is completely opposite.

Since we are training officers, physical fitness certainly requires certain requirements, but it is by no means the most important condition.

What are the most important conditions? Do you want to learn the art of strategy and war?

Neither.

That stuff is for senior generals to learn, and military school students are trained as grassroots officers. In the future, most of them will stay at the middle-level officer stage for a long time and are the backbone of the Ming army. But these backbones do not need to spend a lot of time studying these things. What senior generals study, what they need more is teaching materials that guide them in planning and commanding specific campaigns and battles.

Jiang Xinghuo does not have the ability to compile other teaching materials for infantry and cavalry, but for the Fire Gun Soldiers and the future Fire Gun Cuirassiers, as well as the artillery, Jiang Xinghuo is capable of compiling actual combat textbooks. First, solve the problem of availability. It can be improved version by version later.

But the problem in the military academy now is that after the actual combat test of the Jingnan Campaign, the military concept of "cavalry is king" is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. The cavalry looks down on the infantry, the infantry looks down on the artillery soldiers, and the artillery soldiers look down on the artillery.

From the transferred teachers to the military students below, they all have this idea, and it is difficult to change the trend of thought in a short time.

The soldiers in the tax guard were able to obey Zhu Gaoxu's orders and become artillerymen and artillerymen. That was because Zhu Gaoxu had the final say in the tax guard.

But not in the military academy. Although Jiang Xinghuo has a high status, his right to speak is not high. At this time, the Ming army is most concerned about military merit and qualifications. Jiang Xinghuo has no military merit at all. Why should these battle-hardened Uncle Hou listen to you? Guidance in the military field?

The battle of Jingnan has proven that the elite cavalry can conquer the world. Why do you let the firecrackers and artillery soldiers ride on top?

It's useless to talk about how powerful the musketeers and artillery soldiers will be in the future. You have to come up with the real thing.

But now, the officers of the firearms unit have not been well trained, and there is no way to prove the correctness of the theory.

This becomes a chicken-and-egg paradox.

These matters cannot even be solved by Zhu Gaoxu's help and words. They can only be solved by Jiang Xinghuo himself. However, the flood happened again. The original idea of ​​training the key officers of an artillery unit was shelved. Jiang Xinghuo We can only find another way.

Fortunately, Jiang Xinghuo found a reliable helper.

In the vice principal's office, Jiang Xinghuo saw the person he was waiting for.

"I've met Principal Jiang."

Soon, a tall man wearing pierced armor and a long knife hanging on his waist came out and held his hands and fists towards Jiang Xinghuo with an extremely respectful expression.

This person's name is Liu Sheng. He was a hereditary guard of hundreds of households in Yanshan. He experienced more than twenty battles in the Jingnan Campaign. Due to his accumulated military exploits, he was promoted to the governor of the Zuo Army. If the historical line does not change, in the future, he will be regarded as Zhang Fu's deputy pacified Annan and sealed the throne.

Of course, what's more important is that Liu Sheng is the future commander of the Shenji Battalion, and he personally organized the first formally organized artillery force in Chinese history.

In the historical line of Jiang Xinghuo's previous life, in the eighth year of Yongle, Liu Sheng followed Zhu Di on the northern expedition, arrived at Huiqujin, and led the Shenji camp firearms unit as the vanguard, defeating Arutai; in the ninth year of Yongle, Liu Sheng followed the army on the northern expedition. , led the Shenji camp firearms troops in a fierce battle, suddenly losing their temper, once again showing their power.

This person is almost the only person in this era and among the teachers in the military academy who can understand Jiang Xinghuo's artillery philosophy.

"Liu Qianshi, I'm afraid the previous plans will be put on hold for the time being."

Jiang Xinghuo smiled helplessly, briefly explained to Liu Sheng, and then pulled out several handwritten books from the bookshelf in his office.

"You should study these books first and pick a few smart boys who understand mathematics to learn them. If there are any problems in mathematics that you cannot understand, you can go to the President's Reform Affairs Office to find Mr. Zhuo."

Liu Sheng couldn't wait to take the four books from Jiang Xinghuo's hand. The titles of the books were not written on them, but the front pages were covered with white paper.

This couldn't help but make him more curious.

When the Royal Military Academy of the Ming Dynasty was established, Liu Sheng hit it off with the vice-principal. It should be noted that Liu Sheng had personally experienced severe beatings with firearms from the Confederate Army. Therefore, he was also keenly aware of the changes that firearms have made in the form of warfare.

But Liu Sheng was like a blind man groping in a dark world. Even if he realized the power of firearms, he still had to figure out how to form a firearms unit, how to train soldiers and officers, how to select equipment standards, and how to solve logistical problems. .These matters are difficult for him to solve by relying only on his own strength. However, his colleagues are still obsessed with the armored horse and believe that it will forever dominate the battlefield.

Therefore, Liu Sheng had been very lonely until he met Jiang Xinghuo.

Jiang Xinghuo's insights into the use of artillery made him feel enlightened.

Therefore, Liu Sheng was very eager to learn more artillery knowledge from Jiang Xinghuo that could not be learned from others.

But now that Jiang Xinghuo is still here, Liu Sheng is too embarrassed to read it in person.

Jiang Xinghuo rubbed his eyebrows, stood up and said.

"You take a look first, I'm going to the palace to see the saint."

Liu Sheng sent Jiang Xinghuo away, feeling really itchy in his heart, so he went to the corridor and read the four books compiled by Jiang Xinghuo.

Liu Sheng opened the blank book cover. There was a name on the title page. Judging from the title of the book, it was a complete set of tutorials.

"Introduction to Artillery 1: Definition of Six Thousand Four Hundred Dividers of a Circle and Use of Distance Measurement with Rulers"

"Introduction to Artillery II: Basic Shooting Concepts of External Ballistics and Horizontal and Vertical Projectile Dispersion"

"Introduction to Artillery III: Different Ballistic Curve Functions of Two Shooting Methods at High and Low Ranges"

"Introduction to Artillery: Artillery Observation Balloon Semaphore and Air-Ground Coordination Concept"

What Liu Sheng didn't know was that in the future, the first draft of the "Four Books" in the famous series of textbooks that had influenced countless generations of military officers in the Ming Dynasty and had been revised and reprinted millions of copies, nicknamed the "Four Books and Five Classics in the Firearms World", appeared in his in hand.

It was raining on the corridor. Liu Sheng looked at the book in his hand and was fascinated for a moment.