Want to go home to farm and write books?

You wish! How could I let you succeed?

However, Zhu Youxiao thought it was okay to train troops in Tongzhou.

Of course, it is not enough to just train the troops. I have to get involved in this matter myself, otherwise the Donglin Party will interfere. What's the point of training the troops?

As for the current Minister of War, Cui Jingrong, what can we say about him? He's pretty average.

The key point is that the current ministers in the court are simply unable to do anything. The reason is very simple: the Donglin Party has been jumping around.

The Donglin Party, which controlled the censors, had been making a lot of noise in recent years. Or rather, this situation existed from this time until the end of the Ming Dynasty.

Censors criticize officials who are doing their jobs, causing them to make big mistakes if they do big things and small mistakes if they do small things. Then they simply stop doing their jobs. At most, they will be impeached for being a figurehead.

In Zhu Youxiao's opinion, the censors must be changed. It was these self-proclaimed upright people who were jumping around and making the Ming Dynasty a mess.

Cui Jingrong is in this situation. He basically dares not say or do anything, and does not dare to express his opinions on matters in Liaodong.

Of course, there is a crucial reason, Cui Jingrong is also a member of the Donglin Party.

According to the original history, Cui Jingrong was dismissed from his post for sheltering the famous "Six Gentlemen of Donglin" including Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou, so he resigned from the court and returned home.

"The Donglin Party is really good at brainwashing and moral kidnapping." Zhu Youxiao sighed softly. Political correctness is not acceptable!

Not to mention this era, even in some so-called democratic superpowers of later generations, what has the extreme political correctness become? Black people and transgender people are simply invincible.

Zhu Youxiao thought about it and decided that this needed to be changed.

Of course, training a new army is the most critical thing for Zhu Youxiao at the moment.

Without a gun in hand, what is the point of speaking? The emperor's words are like farts. The biggest reason for local governments to lose control is that the central government has lost its authority.

Where does the central government’s authority come from?

The answer is also very simple. The central government’s army can no longer fight. When your army can no longer fight, what authority do you have?

"Chen Hong, summon Xu Guangqi to Beijing." Zhu Youxiao asked Xu Guangqi to come to Beijing without thinking.

It is impossible for this person to return to Tianjin to farm. Now is the time to use people. How could Xu Guangqi let him go?

Forget about going back to Tianjin. Come, come, come to my bowl. Don't you want to train your troops? It's just right for you to train your troops for me.

Since he thought of Xu Guangqi, Zhu Youxiao naturally thought of another person, named Bi Maokang.

Bi Maokang, courtesy name Menghou and pseudonym Dongjiao, was a native of Shanglu, She County. He was a Ming Dynasty official and weapons expert. He authored "Illustrated Explanations of Military Equipment," a book that catalogs various firearms and poison crossbows, describing their manufacture, use, and power with illustrations and text. The book states, "What the barbarians fear most about China is firearms." The book was banned in the 46th year of the Qianlong Emperor's reign.

Zhu Youxiao was naturally more needed. Bi Maokang first introduced the flintlock rifle (called the self-igniting fire gun in the book) in his "Illustrated Explanation of Military Equipment".

The musket's matchlock ignition device was improved to a flint-based ignition device, thus overcoming the weakness of matchlock ignition being sensitive to wind and rain.

When a flintlock gun is fired by placing a flint on the ignition device, the shooter pulls the trigger, and the dragon head placed on the trigger strikes down and rubs against the flint to produce fire. Sparks fall into the charging chamber, causing the gunpowder to burn, generating gas thrust and shooting the projectile out.

This type of gun can be fired by continuously pulling the bolt and striking the flint, thus simplifying the firing procedure and increasing the firing rate.

The development of the flintlock rifle was a major improvement in individual soldier rifles. Its transformation and completion were roughly in the same period as those in Europe. However, it was not promoted in a timely manner in China. It was only during the reign of Emperor Kangxi in the early Qing Dynasty that it was used as the emperor's hunting rifle.

How could Zhu Youxiao give up the flintlock rifle?

In Zhu Youxiao's opinion, his new army should just stop using those fancy tricks and go straight for the golden finger!

Small steel cannons and flintlock rifles, paired with Qi Jiguang's chariots.

The principle of chariot camp is very simple, which is to use chariots to stop the attack of enemy cavalry and limit the speed of horses.

Zhu Youxiao believed that cavalry was not necessary for the battle in Liaodong. How big was Liaodong? Was cavalry really needed to charge back and forth?

Liaodong is not a grassland. As long as the chariot camp is pushed forward, with the cavalry serving as scouts and guards on both wings, and equipped with small cannons and flintlock musket volleys, can the Jurchens withstand the attack?

Of course, this is just Zhu Youxiao's guess.

Because the effect was unknown without actual combat, Zhu Youxiao still felt that this was the right thing to do.

The reason is very simple. It has been proven that the original method is not feasible. People like Lu Xiangsheng, Zu Dashou, etc. are all famous generals, but they just can't win. Zhu Youxiao also felt like he had seen a ghost.

No matter what, the worst that could happen is the loss of the country. It's the same whether it's lost at the hands of Chongzhen or lost at my own hands. So I just act recklessly and do it.

"Chen Hong, do you know Bi Maokang?" Zhu Youxiao looked at Chen Hong and asked.

"Your Majesty, Bi Maokang is the Prime Minister of Shuntian Prefecture." Chen Hong looked at Zhu Youxiao cautiously, fearing that his emperor would lose his temper.

Shuntian Prefecture Chancellor?

Zhu Youxiao really didn't expect that he would be the chancellor of Shuntian Prefecture?

Shuntian Prefecture is easy to understand. It was a prefecture located in the capital (now Beijing). The Shuntian Prefecture Cheng was the adjutant of the Shuntian Prefecture Yin.

"Summon him to the palace." Zhu Youxiao nodded. It would take some time to summon Xu Guangqi, after all, he was in Tongzhou. Of course, Tongzhou was not far away.

But in comparison, the Shuntian Prefecture government office is much closer. Since Xu Guangqi can't come for the time being, it is better to summon Bi Maokang first!

Zhu Youxiao sat in the chair, still thinking about his plan to increase the number of troops.

The flintlock musket has a greater advantage than cavalry, which is that it is easy to produce more soldiers.

It is very difficult to train a good cavalryman, as he must be proficient not only in horsemanship but also in archery. However, a flintlock soldier only needs to be trained to stand in line, load bullets and pull the trigger.

Once industrial production capacity catches up, the speed of military production will definitely not be matched by cavalry.

What are the advantages of Ming Dynasty?

The answer is simple: there are too many people.

If food supplies and military industrial production capacity can keep up, how many soldiers can the people mobilize?

In Zhu Youxiao's opinion, giving him five million shouldn't be a problem, right?

Of course, we are talking about professional soldiers here. How far can five million professional soldiers, equipped with cannons and flintlock rifles, go?

Zhu Youxiao felt that he could fight to the horizon.

"Without money, there's no way to train soldiers. Without soldiers, there's no power. Without power, there's no money. It's a vicious cycle!" Zhu Youxiao sighed softly, "No wonder the emperors of the Ming Dynasty had to use eunuchs to raise money! Without money, nothing can be done. It seems we should learn from the emperors of the Han Dynasty!"