Chapter 77 Military Training

When the last maple leaf fell, the big news that the court had been waiting for for a long time finally arrived. After several months of investigation, the censors who were sent to various places to supervise the royal family and vassal states returned one after another and submitted memorials to the court, reporting their observations and experiences over the past six months.

It should be said that due to some kind of custom of concealing the truth among relatives, such publicly submitted memorials were generally reluctant to openly attack clan members, for fear of being branded as instigating the emperor to mistreat his own flesh and blood; but the emperor's beloved relatives were too capable of mischief, and even if the memorials tried their best to cover up, one could easily see the various outrageous actions contained therein, which stunned even the knowledgeable court officials and made them unable to help themselves.

By October 30, the matter had caused another earth-shaking wave. A joint memorial signed by Wang Runlian, the censor of the Censorate who was ordered to inspect the southeast, and Hai Gangfeng, the magistrate of Shangyu County, was sent to the capital. It directly exposed the various inside stories of the clan members in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Southern Zhili provinces. The content of the memorial was simply shocking - bullying men and women, plundering population, annexing land, and beating officials were already the necessary tricks for the domineering clan members, and they were so common that there was no need to explain more; the coastal princes had a huge geographical advantage, but they even colluded with the Japanese and Portuguese to engage in smuggling, and even had the idea of ​​winning over the Japanese pirates to change the dynasty!

These vassal states had inquired about Master Feixuan's preferences in advance, and knew that he would most likely go to Hubei to visit his parents' graves on his 60th birthday, so they had secretly recruited Japanese assassins, planning to send a comet to hit the sun while Master Feixuan was boating on the lake - anyway, Emperor Da'an was easily soluble in water, and there was more than one person who died suddenly and bizarrely!

This plan was extremely crude and was easily discovered by Shangyu County Magistrate Hai Gangfeng. He then surrounded the palace using the royal flag of Imperial Envoy Wang Runlian, seized a full set of evidence from the secret room, and sent it directly to the capital.

When this set of things was handed over to the emperor, one can imagine the rage he aroused. On that day, the important ministers of the cabinet did not even dare to go home. They all gathered in the duty room in the palace and sat quietly, waiting for news with bated breath. Fei Xuan Zhen Jun did not disappoint them and immediately handed them a note dripping with ink:

"I have just received an urgent letter from Zhejiang Province, which has been sent over 800 miles away, stating the crimes of the various tribes. They are so brutal and shocking that I am horrified after reading them. I have ordered the Cabinet and the six ministries to discuss them publicly!"

There are dozens of characters of different sizes and messy strokes, which look like the handwriting of a child. Everyone present knew at a glance that it was written by the emperor himself while he was ill. The fact that he was willing to write such a note despite having trembling hands due to the aftereffects shows how angry Master Feixuan and Emperor Wanshou were!

The lord was humiliated and the minister died. The lord was so furious that the minister could not help but be indignant at the monarch; but as the most loyal and intimate friends of the imperial power, the Chief Minister Yan Ge Lao and the Second Chief Minister Xu Ge Lao only passed the note around once, then put it on the desk, returned to their seats, closed their eyes and sat quietly, without saying another word.

It was clearly a request for the cabinet to discuss the matter publicly. If you receive the note and say nothing, wouldn't that make you look like you're deceiving the emperor and disobeying the emperor? Everyone was full of doubts and didn't know what was going on, so they just kept silent.

After a quarter of an hour of silence, everyone was finally convinced by these two old foxes. Li Zaifang, who had just been ordered to convey the imperial edict, hurried back, grabbed the note on the table and lit it on the oil lamp, then sternly warned the important officials present not to leak it and just pretend that there was no such edict.

Facing the ministers' questions, Eunuch Li hesitated again and again, and finally sighed:

"It's not the right time yet!"

·

It's indeed not the right time. When Master Feixuan is furious, he may be able to act recklessly, but after he sobers up and regains his senses, he has to face the cruelest problem - if the princes and vassals are merely committing many evil deeds, there is actually room for easing; once it involves rebellion, both sides must have a showdown to determine who is superior and who lives or dies. Since both sides are ready to show their cards, the other side's accomplices, allies and relatives will of course fight to the death at all costs and use all means at their disposal - if the Japanese pirates and Portuguese troops are really pulled in during the struggle, what can the court do?

The only thing that can suppress the army is the army. But now, if we count on our fingers, the border troops of the nine borders must guard against Mongolia and protect the capital, and they must not be used. The garrisons in various provinces have long been cut due to the empty treasury. As for the garrison troops in the capital...

When Master Feixuan counted on his fingers until this point, he couldn't help but feel a strong sense of guilt.

All we can say is that the cycle of cause and effect is unavoidable. Master Feixuan has been squandering money, corrupting the government, and stirring up internal strife in the capital for so many years, and now he has finally waited for the day when his evil deeds will pay off. The emperor didn't dare to know or even think about how many troops in the capital were drawing empty salaries, or how much combat power the few remaining ones had - this amount of troops could only stay in the city and act as paperhangers. If they were really dragged to the seaside and the two armies were to confront each other, the entire court would be in tatters!

If things really get to that point, there will probably be more than just a few stupid princes who would have ideas about it.

If you don't have soldiers, you can't speak forcefully. Even the old giant baby can't do anything about the objective laws. So no matter how furious Master Feixuan was, how angry he was like a puffer fish, how angry he was like a grasshopper, or how angry he was like a groundhog, in the end he could only let Li Zaifang retrieve the imperial edict and suppress the matter temporarily. After all, an open secret does not mean a secret that is made public. If this matter is brought to light, it will be more than a thousand pounds, and the emperor’s face will definitely not be saved. Treat it with indifference and make a big deal out of it. This is the only safe and convenient way.

Lord Yan and Lord Xu are shrewd and capable, and they are experienced in state affairs. This is what makes them so powerful. He has been in charge of the imperial court for more than ten years, and has been able to maintain his power even when faced with sudden major changes. There is a good reason for this.

Of course, the Da'an court did not reach the end of the dynasty, and the country's organizational and deterrent powers still remained. It is unrealistic to expect Lao Deng to work hard to reform politics, but if he tries to take revenge after enduring humiliation, he can still build a strong army by saving some money and recruiting troops wherever he can. As long as the imperial court swallows its anger and acts like a coward for a year or two, it can still prepare a big move to deal with all the rebellions.

As for how to vent the anger of the turtle bastard's garbage time in the past year and a half, the only thing we can do is to make the important officials suffer.

However, there seems to be some subtle changes in the current political situation. On November 8, Master Feixuan, who had basically recovered, left Xiyuan where he had been recuperating for half a year and led important officials to pay homage to the mountain tomb. After worshipping all the ancestors, Master Feixuan personally went to the outskirts of the capital to watch some kind of "firearms military exercise" organized by the prince of Duke Mu.

The emperor was not interested in military affairs, and the fact that he was willing to brave the cold wind to make such a trip to the outskirts of the capital was already a special favor for the sake of his new favorite minister. This specially prepared military exercise did not seem to be anything special. The marching and stepping in the beginning were just mediocre. It was not until the troops fired volleys of muskets that the emperor, who was sitting on a high place, suddenly straightened up and squinted his eyes to look carefully.

No matter how weak the military strength of the Beijing garrison is, the current emperor has seen and experienced it before and knows how powerful firearms are. They had seen musket drills before, but this time the accuracy and range of the shooting were greatly increased; after a volley, the front-row soldiers retreated to reload, and the back-row soldiers provided cover. After half a cup of tea, the back-row soldiers finished reloading and fired again, quickly suppressing any possible counterattack.

Master Fei Xuan was surprised: "Why is it so fast?"

There are quite a few musketeers now, and both the imperial guards and the border troops are equipped with them. However, primitive black powder was very troublesome to ignite. Before each shot, it was necessary to use a fuse to ignite it laboriously and time-consumingly, and if not handled properly it might even cause the barrel to explode. After firing, the barrel must be carefully cleaned of the residue and debris from the burning of gunpowder, otherwise it might misfire. Even well-trained musketeers might only fire three or five volleys in a battle, with an average of one shot every quarter of an hour. Due to various restrictions, its lethality and deterrent power are really insufficient. Until now, it can only be used as an auxiliary force and it is difficult to influence the situation on the battlefield.

But if you can fire a volley in half a cup of tea, the effect will be completely different!

Fei Xuan Zhenjun and Wanshou Emperor were not very familiar with military affairs, but they were no fools after all. With just his superficial knowledge, he could guess the effect of rapid shooting - if a volley was fired every half a cup of tea, the fire suppression of the musketeers would be greatly enhanced. Without the need for cooperation and cover from other arms, they could also march quickly in formation alone and quickly pour projectiles into the distance, forming absolute oppression. In this way, the entire logic of the battlefield would probably change!

When he thought of this, Zhenjun's heart surged, and he couldn't help but ask one more question:

"How did you do that?"

"I have learned from the experience of foreign craftsmen and improved the gunpowder by adding some saltpeter." Mu Qi said respectfully, "In addition, these fire guns have also been modified. The barrels have been rifled and flints have been installed at the firing point, so they do not need to be ignited with a matchlock."

Master Feixuan obviously didn't care about any technical details. After hearing the two words, he nodded casually and stared at the soldiers lined up on the flat ground again. Mu Qi stepped back silently, glancing at the subtle expressions of the important officials around him. Obviously, none of the ministers who could accompany the emperor to inspect the military exercise were mediocre. After watching it once, they could more or less guess the tremendous power of this new type of musket on the battlefield. In addition to being shocked, they were also jealous, and their expressions were inevitably a little strange.

Mu Qi remained calm and also looked into the distance. After all, the times will limit people's vision. The elites present may have vaguely guessed the effectiveness of rapid shooting, but it was difficult for them to realize what an epoch-making product they were witnessing - nitrate gunpowder, flintlock guns, rifling, the firearms revolution that dominated human warfare for two hundred years, the only magic weapon for imperialism to conquer the world, was born ahead of schedule at this moment.

The birth of great military revolutions is always so silent and ordinary that even the most remarkable people find it difficult to realize the great significance of simple operations at the first time - even if the answer has been deliberately placed in front of them. After the volley demonstration, the target shooting performance began. A dozen wooden dummies were pushed up eighty feet away, wearing armor that had been dummied out from some warehouse. The specially selected soldiers half-knelt, raised their guns, squinted their eyes to aim, and then hit the bull's eye with a bang; the craftsman wearing an iron pot on his head immediately rushed over, took off his armor and showed it to the platform - the effectiveness of nitrate gunpowder and conical bullets was indeed extraordinary. After penetrating the iron sheet, it tore the lining and left a pigeon egg-sized wound on the chest.

The power was obviously far greater than the previous broken muskets, and far beyond the expectations of the emperor's ministers, so everyone couldn't help but smile with joy; but this smile was still too shallow, too reserved, and too insignificant, far from worthy of the status that this shooting should have - shooting through armor from eighty feet away, the rapid reloading of the secondary troops meant that the walking musketeers already had the ability to threaten armored cavalry; after occupying the terrain, an effective fire suppression was enough to cause serious casualties to the cavalry, and even completely destroy the survivability of the horses, completely controlling the battlefield.

The absolute advantage of cavalry over infantry was finally reversed.

Before the emergence of firearms, the only weapons that could deal with cavalry were cavalry, and infantry was merely an auxiliary and restrictive reserve. Successive dynasties in the Central Plains struggled to maintain the horse policy in order to always have a cavalry force ready to guard against the northern desert, even if it cost a huge amount of money.

——And now, the offensive and defensive situation has been reversed!

Of course, this does not mean that firearms can kill people immediately after they are perfected. There has never been a weapon in world history that can sweep the world and be invincible as soon as it comes out. The most fundamental and fatal change in the battlefield mode lies in the cost - today's new musket costs thirty taels of silver. If the production volume is further expanded after technological advancement, Mu Qi is confident that the cost can be reduced to less than ten taels. And a well-trained cavalry horse, especially an armored one, will definitely cost more than eighty taels of silver even in a natural horse-breeding area like Mobei.

Ten taels of silver worth of firearms were exchanged for eighty taels of silver worth of war horses. Anyone with a little common sense could see that this war could no longer be fought.

Firearms are certainly not invincible, but economic laws are truly irresistible. When the agricultural civilization that had taken a step half way into industrialization could resist or even counterattack nomadic peoples at a lower cost, the trend of history was already determined. From Emperor Xiaowu of Han to Emperor Taizong Wen of our dynasty, the endless struggle and torture between the Central Plains and the Mobei for thousands of years is finally coming to an end.

The invisible hand of economics is indeed extremely powerful, and you cannot deny it.

However, standing at this delicate moment of transition, witnessing the curtain of history slowly opening the first crack, Mu Qi looked around, but all he saw was Old Deng, a man with a fake smile, a wrinkled face and a lot of lawsuits on his mind. All he saw were empty and boring official greetings, and there was no one to whom he could confide his feelings. With such an ups and downs wave coming towards him, he could only stand there silently without saying a word.

At this moment, among the millions of people in the world, he is probably the only prophet who can glimpse the truth of history. But things like prophets and prophecies have indeed been so lonely from ancient times to the present.

·

For pure laymen like Feixuan Zhenjun and important civil officials, it is useless to talk about values ​​and reasons. If you want to come, just come with practical stuff. Mu Qi also understood this principle very well. After the musket show was over, he immediately had more than twenty Feixuan Zhenjun No. 3 machines dragged up. As the saying goes, "How can I get a magical weapon to guard the four directions?" Rockets were launched to blast him to pieces. A row of volleys shook the earth and blew up a sea of ​​fire and flying rocks in the distance. The wooden boats, wooden men and iron armor used as targets were all turned into pieces under the high temperature.

Seeing such a powerful force, Master Fei Xuan was overjoyed and exclaimed in praise:

"Good, good, good! With such a divine weapon, I have nothing to worry about!"

The important officials surrounding him bowed quickly and congratulated the emperor in unison. Everyone understood each other tacitly, and knew that this military exercise was indeed just the right kind of comfort and a great way to ease the situation. When the emperor was feeling depressed and nauseated by the possible rebellion of the vassal kings, his close and caring ministers just happened to present weapons that could turn the tide and deter the villains. How could such close and caring loyalty and ability not make the emperor happy and overwhelmed?

Compared with this, even Lord Yan and Lord Xu, who had been versed in political scheming for a long time, could not help but take a step back.

The prince lowered his hands in thanks and was very polite, not overstepping his bounds because of the praise. The emperor was more and more satisfied as he looked at it, and asked another question:

"You've been running to the suburbs every day for the past few months, just to practice this?"

"Yes." The prince replied respectfully, "I have modified the elixir again (hearing the word elixir, the corner of Huang Gong's mouth twitched again), borrowed the ideas of Western craftsmen to modify the musket, and hired some people to practice this new musket in the suburbs every day. These are just some trivial skills, which are insulting to Your Majesty."

The emperor raised his eyebrows and looked at the soldiers lined up in the distance: "Are these just the people you hired? Not the soldiers in the Beijing camp?"

"Only Your Majesty can mobilize the Beijing Army. How dare a minister interfere?" The prince said immediately, "These are all charcoal workers hired in the capital. They are honest, hardworking, and know the rules. The most feared thing about muskets is improper storage and fire and explosion. These workers deal with charcoal all year round and have a lot of experience in fire prevention. I considered it again and again before I paid to hire them."

In fact, most of the nobles in the Da'an Dynasty held military positions, so relying on their ancestors' influence to gather dozens of soldiers from the Beijing camp for drills in the suburbs was not a big deal. But the prince's attitude of keeping a distance from military power was very good and satisfied the emperor.

——However, what made the emperor more satisfied and even surprised was the prince’s vision in selecting people. The Beijing Camp has been established for a long time and is in a state of decay. The network of interests within it is so intricate that even Master Feixuan finds it difficult to sort out everything. The imperial power could not rest assured that powerful new weapons would be handed over to such experienced soldiers; however, a group of workers who came from the lower classes, had clean backgrounds, and were honest and loyal would undoubtedly be a refreshing change and would open up a whole new situation.

Military power is something that can never be controlled by a few official seals. In theory, the emperor has the power to mobilize all troops, but in reality, the longer the troops are stationed, the more complicated the chain of interests becomes, and eventually it will become so slippery that even the monarch will find it difficult to control. At this time, starting from scratch to form a new army that is strong, clean, and has no interest ties with the old forces became the emperor's only secret recipe for consolidating his military power.

However, reorganizing the army requires a huge cost in time and energy, and often relies on the monarch's personal military talent. Emperor Wuzong trained troops in the Leopard Room for more than a decade, but in the end it was just a mirage and empty talk; not to mention the current emperor's rotten style.

So, now that this huge pie has been dropped on his head, the emperor is pleasantly surprised but also vaguely incredulous, and can only ask again:

"Are you really a charcoal burner? How long have you been training?"

"I am a foolish minister, it took me more than three months." The prince answered honestly: "Practicing with a musket is not difficult, as long as you know how to listen to instructions and aim. Most workers can read and recognize left and right, and most farmers are hardworking and can stand hard work. If you practice a few times, you will be able to do it well. I call it a combination of workers, farmers and soldiers..."

The emperor had no idea what terrible words the Prince of Duke Mu had said. He only heard half of it and couldn't help laughing out loud - it took more than three months to train useful musketeers! The advancement of technology has indeed completely changed the political strategy. After the speed and difficulty of military training were greatly reduced, the emperor could easily pull out a usable team in the capital!

Of course, the army trained in this way cannot be said to have any quality, and its organization and discipline may not be as good as the military training of college students in later generations. But it doesn't matter, as long as you can understand some basic tactics after mastering the musket, even if you only rely on advanced weapons to unilaterally ravage, you can definitely be regarded as a considerable fighting force!

With such a considerable fighting force in hand, the authority of the emperor, the central government, and the court would be completely changed and would never be the same again!

The emperor has strong soldiers and horses, and the essence of imperial power is military power. Now that there is hope for the expansion of military power, it is no wonder that Master Feixuan is so ecstatic that he cannot restrain himself. His laughter becomes louder and higher, almost revealing a rare loss of composure.

"Good boy, good boy, you are very capable!" He exclaimed in admiration, no longer caring about the flowery etiquette, and used straightforward and simple language: "Our Zhu family has a loyal minister like you, what can't be accomplished? Your method is really great, wonderful!"

As if he was flattered by the praise, the prince immediately bowed down, with a look of suppressed joy on his face, without a trace of falsehood:

"Yes! I will be loyal to the country and do a good job for the workers, peasants and soldiers."

The emperor smiled and said, "You have accomplished such a practical thing, which is indeed a great achievement. The court will not forget it."

This is about rewarding according to merit. Master Feixuan had been ruling alone in secret for decades, and generally speaking, he was clear about rewards and punishments. Since the prince of Duke Mu had helped him greatly consolidate his military power and wiped out the humiliation of being bullied by the vassal kings, the emperor must of course repay him well and give him full rewards.

If you follow the True Lord, you will have meat to eat. This is an irrefutable truth.

The prince immediately replied: "How dare I take credit for this? This little achievement is due to the care of your majesty and the help of other officials. For example, Hai Gangfeng, the magistrate of Shangyu, once helped me recruit Western craftsmen along the coast to improve the muskets..."

It would be fine if you mentioned something else, but why did you mention Hai Gangfeng? The emperor clapped his hands:

"County magistrate? What county magistrate? I think he is qualified to be a prefectural governor!"

What the hell! Even though everyone had expected this, they couldn't help but pause in their hearts - in just over half a year, he jumped from a seventh-rank county magistrate to a fourth-rank prefect. How could this be a promotion? This is clearly a swing and throw upwards!

Everyone looked at each other, and the same consensus emerged in their hearts:

The emperor is dizzy!

Sure enough, the emperor was still not satisfied and asked again:

"All meritorious officials must be rewarded, and the court must not treat any of them unfairly. Do you have any other candidates?"

The emperor was so enthusiastic that the prince was visibly stunned. He replied hesitantly:

"There are also Supervisory Censor Wang Runlian and Command Assistant Qi Yuanjing, who also traveled back and forth and made a lot of efforts..."

"Then the probation period will be reduced by two years, and the performance of the Ministry of Personnel will be recorded as excellent." The emperor said without hesitation: "The Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War should remember this. If there are any vacancies in the future, let them try first."

Master Feixuan really had no impression of these two people, and of course he was too lazy to assign them any official positions; but despite this, with the emperor's words as a basis, it could at least save them ten years of hard work in the officialdom; the so-called sunny road to success would most likely start here.

Of course, no matter how promising their future may be, two minor officials of the sixth or seventh rank are simply not in the eyes of the current bigwigs. This personnel appointment was just an appetizer. The important officials present held their breath, waiting for Prince Mu to make his big move.

...However, the prince simply bowed his head and thanked him once more, then stood up and retreated into the crowd, remaining silent without saying a word.

His behavior was so unusual that even Master Fei Xuan couldn't help but ask:

"Everyone else has already been rewarded, why don't you want something?"

"Your Majesty has promoted me to a high position and given me important positions. This is already an unexpected honor. How dare I ask for excessive rewards!" The prince replied sincerely, without any falsehood in his tone: "I only want to do a good job in training soldiers and making firearms. I dare not ask for any other undeserved honors."

emperor:…………

The important official who was listening carefully: …………

—No, buddy, are you serious?

According to the hundreds of years of compromise between the imperial power and the nobles in the dynasty, the emperor must reward the children of the nobles after they have made such outstanding and significant achievements. The best and most appropriate reward is to allow meritorious officials to expand their influence in the army and appropriately place their old friends, students and servants in the army - the imperial court has gone through hundreds of ups and downs, and the emperor's favor is nothing but a mirage, and only the foundation in the army is the cornerstone for the nobles' long-term prosperity. Therefore, at such a critical juncture, most of the nobles would take on the responsibility and would never back down in the bargaining.

You are being humble at this time, is there anything wrong with your brain?

No matter how much you train, the army you train will ultimately be used by others. The so-called bitter regret is that one has to weave golden thread year after year to make wedding dresses for others; all the hard work goes to the imperial power for nothing, while he only gets two low-level official appointments - is Prince Mu of Duke Mu crazy?

No matter whether he was crazy or insane, the prince still stood where he was, watching the situation with his eyes open. The emperor's reward would not be given a second time. Since I did not speak up to fight for it, I would have handed over the opportunity to divide the territory in the army, and there would be no room for turning back.

Such behavior is really beyond common sense. Either he has a brain disease and is insane and incomprehensible, or he is a rare loyal minister in the world who is truly loyal to his master and his country without any selfish desires. But perhaps because they had seen too many human stars in the court, the old masters stared blankly for a moment, feeling so shocked that they could not speak:

Is it possible that such a rare creature still exists in today's Da'an Dynasty?

·

Of course, the astonishment of the ministers was one thing, and Master Feixuan’s reaction was another. After realizing that Mu Qi was sincere and did not want to get involved in military power, the emperor, who had been stunned for a moment, finally reacted. Then in an instant, he laughed out loud again, and the laughter seemed to come from the Baihui acupoint on the top of the head, making people's scalp numb!

What else could make the emperor more satisfied than this?