The emperor has twelve personal guards, each with an official establishment of 5,600 men.

The twelve royal guards were naturally fully staffed, but only about 18,000 of them met Zhu Ying's requirements, and the rest were all over 35 years old.

From this we can see that the personal guards are basically all veterans. Even those who are younger have been following Zhu Yuanzhang in battles since they were in their teens.

As the emperor's personal guards, they are naturally the most elite and loyal soldiers among all the guards.

The Ming Imperial Palace, behind the Chunhe Palace, next to the former site of the Fengtian Hall.

There is enough open space here, and even with nearly 20,000 people here, it doesn't feel crowded.

Forty-five columns were already neatly arranged here. In front of all the soldiers, there was a temporary platform, which was large enough for even the soldiers at the back to see the platform clearly.

Zhu Ying stood on the high platform, looking down at nearly 20,000 soldiers below.

There was no sunshade canopy on the platform, but it was completely exposed.

At this time, the sun had risen high and it was approaching noon.

Zhu Yunwen arrived at the square early in the morning and was soon met by a coach. He was then assigned to a team at the front and began to line up.

Zhu Yunwen noticed that besides himself there were many other acquaintances, all of whom were princes and grandchildren of the emperor, and even many princes who were in their teens were included.

Like Zhu Yunwen, all these princes and grandchildren received Zhu Yuanzhang's edict to come here to participate in training.

They knew nothing except drill.

When they arrived, they were quickly greeted by a coach. They were not wearing royal costumes, but ordinary military uniforms.

A squad consists of 352 people, arranged according to their height and with intervals of less than half a meter.

Each team has two coaches, a chief and a deputy.

These coaches were the most outstanding ones selected by Zhu Ying from the Xuanjia Guards, and they were responsible for leading the training of the teams.

And the first lesson today is to stand at attention.

All the coaches began to teach them one by one how to stand, the requirements for standing, and the standards for standing.

It was not until more than an hour had passed that all the columns had finished rehearsing and began to stand at attention.

"It's just standing. What's the big deal? Everyone can stand."

This was the idea of ​​most generals and soldiers, as well as the idea of ​​the princes and grandchildren of the emperor, including Zhu Yunwen.

They thought it was some scary drill, but it turned out to be just teaching them how to stand.

That's not difficult.

Zhu Ying stood on the high platform, watching the army in front of him move, and stood like them.

He knew that, especially for the elite troops of the Ming Dynasty, one should not underestimate their endurance.

This is not the case with the delicate and tender students in later military training. Their physical fitness is completely incomparable. Even an ordinary vegetable seller can carry a load and walk dozens of miles.

Not to mention the elite soldiers.

So in order to ensure the effect of the military posture, Zhu Ying did not set a set time limit and just stood there until he could not bear it anymore.

Even a scholar like Zhu Yunwen could hold on for half an hour.

However, after an hour, most people's legs and feet began to feel weak.

Soon, the princes and grandchildren standing in the front row were the first to be unable to bear it.

"I don't want to do such boring exercises."

A prince grunted and sat down on the ground. Perhaps because it was an imperial edict, he did not leave.

Someone takes the lead, and soon the second and third come out.

The people who appeared now were all princes and grandchildren of the emperor, and their personal guards were not so weak.

Zhu Ying saw it clearly, but did not say anything, nor did he ask the coach to lift them up. He just continued to stand there quietly.

Two hours, which is four hours in later generations, had passed. More than 99% of the soldiers were still standing, but it could be seen that most of them could no longer hold on.

Almost all the princes and grandchildren of the emperor were wiped out, and only two of them were still gritting their teeth and holding on.

One of them is Zhu Quan, the seventeenth prince who has not yet been crowned king.

Zhu Ying was not surprised that Zhu Quan was able to persevere, but what surprised him was another person, Zhu Yunwen.

After looking at it several times, Zhu Ying was sure that he was not seeing things.

The emperor who only reigned for four years in history and the only emperor who was successfully rebelled against by a vassal king was Zhu Yunwen.

He actually persisted for four hours.

It's really hard to believe.

Zhu Ying saw that the time was almost up, so he waved his right hand, and immediately the flag bearer next to him began to signal with flags.

In today's world without loudspeakers, don't expect your shouting and giving speeches to be heard by nearly 20,000 people. It will be useless even if you shout until your throat is hoarse.

Flag signals are the best choice.

Seeing the flag bearer signaling, the coaches who were standing at attention next to the formation immediately shouted, "Sit down and rest."

Resting does not mean you can walk around freely, but you should sit still and slowly recover your strength.

Anyone who whispers or talks to others will be immediately scolded loudly by the coach.

Most of the princes and grandchildren had no one to communicate with.

Zhu Ying did not arrange them together, but inserted them into each team.

In total, there were less than forty princes and grandchildren who came, and basically there was only one person in each team, cutting off their chances of communication.

In this way, when a person sits down and everyone around him is standing, it is easy to cause shame.

The princes and grandchildren who had sat down before did not sit for long before standing up again obediently.

The coaches pretended not to see them.

Most of the royal guards here were of course very familiar with the princes and grandchildren who had lived in the palace for a long time, so they pretended not to see them.

A quarter of an hour later, as the flag bearer waved flags, the coaches began to order all the soldiers to stand up and start free training.

The formation was arranged by Zhu Ying according to the military parades of later generations.

There are twenty-five people in the front, fourteen rows in depth, and two coaches, the chief and deputy coaches.

In addition to the coach, there is a junior coach in each row.

These young coaches were also selected from the Xuanjia Guards to lead the Royal Guards in training.

Basic training including distinguishing left from right, marching in step, and how to maintain formation.

This kind of basic training may be the training content of everyone for the whole day except for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

This time, Zhu Ying did not introduce himself.

Almost all the guards knew of his existence, not to mention the Black Armor Guards.

Except for Zhu Quan and Zhu Yunwen, the other princes and grandchildren of the emperor were basically confused.

When the morning training was completed and lunch started, Zhu Ying had already left.

He no longer needs to lead the team in training himself. The coaches from the Black Armor Guards will train these "new recruits" hard according to the previous training methods.

"How's Grandpa? After watching for the whole morning, have you learned anything?"

At the left door behind Jinshen Hall, Zhu Ying asked the old man with a smile.

"The truth is simple. It is only today that I truly understand this truth. The training method of my grandson is very simple for anyone."

"It is such a simple method. Repeat it over and over again so that the soldiers can truly remember it and cooperate with each other, and then they can achieve great success."

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed and said that after the morning court session, he did not review the memorials, but went directly to watch his eldest grandson training the soldiers, blatantly learning from him.

He watched the soldiers disperse and have their meal, then turned back into the house.

"Grandpa is right. In my grandson's opinion, individual bravery in war is really not worth mentioning in the face of united fighting."

“How to bring out the strength of everyone and cultivate a higher fighting spirit is the essence of this training method.”

"My grandson is not exaggerating. Even if the King of Kaiping were still alive, he would not have the courage of ten men. In front of the soldiers who absolutely obey military discipline, there is no possibility of stopping him."

There was a very strong sense of pride in Zhu Yingwen's tone.

Zhu Yuanzhang was a little surprised when he heard this. His eldest grandson was not a proud person. On the contrary, he was even overly modest.

Why are you so proud of training your soldiers?

Zhu Yuanzhang certainly didn't know that this pride did not come from Zhu Ying himself, but from the later generations' perception of soldiers.

While the grandfather and grandson were talking, they seemed to have forgotten about the princes and grandchildren who were complaining.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Ying both fought their way through the battlefield with their bare hands. To them, such training was not worth mentioning and they were too lazy to pay any attention to it.

Unlike other periods, when Zhu Yuanzhang was in power, the royal family's descendants were all doing well, except for some who were really weak.

At least they would not disobey the orders of the coaches as royals.

"It seems easy for us to see these drills of our great grandson. How long will it take for the soldiers to take shape?" Zhu Yuanzhang said with some anticipation.

The Black Armor Guards that we had seen in the military camp on the outskirts of the city before had become so powerful after only twelve days of training.

In this regard, Zhu Yuanzhang was also a little impatient.

"Don't worry, Grandpa. These soldiers are even more elite. In my opinion, they should be able to complete the initial training in just seven days."

Zhu Ying estimated and said.

"Okay, let's wait seven days and see the might of the Ming army trained by our eldest grandson."

"When that time comes, we will gather all the civil and military officials to enjoy the show together at Fengtian Square."

Zhu Yuanzhang said with some excitement.

Of course, such soldiers are trained to be seen by others, not only by the ministers, but also by the people of the world.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang instructed: "When the time comes, we will issue an imperial decree to have all the tribute envoys in Tianjie Temple come here."

"We are looking forward to the soldiers trained by our grandson to spread the military might of the Ming Dynasty and make it known both at home and abroad."